Team

William S. Marshall, Ph.D., is an independent life sciences consultant to various biopharma companies, investors, foundations and academic institutions. Prior to that he was the President, Chief Executive Officer, Co-Founder, and Director of miRagen Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ: MGEN). miRagen discovered and developed a series on microRNA modulators, three of which demonstrated clinical proof of concept in the areas of hematological malignancy, fibrosis, and induction of neo-angiogenesis. miRagen merged with Viridian Therapeutics in 2020. Prior to founding miRagen, Dr. Marshall was Vice President of Technology and Business Development for Bioscience at Thermo Fisher Scientific. In this role, he was responsible for leading technology assessment and strategic planning for the Thermo Fisher Biosciences Division, a unit with revenues of approximately $1 billion that manufactures and supplies a wide range of products and services across the general-chemistry and life-sciences arenas.

Dr. Marshall was one of the scientific founders of Dharmacon, Inc., which was acquired by Fisher Scientific International, serving as the Executive Vice President for Research and Operations and General Manager. Prior to joining Dharmacon, Dr. Marshall served in many capacities at Amgen, Inc., most recently as Associate Director of Research, Site Head for Research and Head of the Nucleic Acid and Peptide Technology Department. In these positions, he participated in a wide variety of therapeutic development approaches throughout the drug discovery process leading to the development of clinical candidates.

Dr. Marshall earned his B.S. in biochemistry from the University of Wisconsin-Madison and his Ph.D. in chemistry in the laboratory of Professor Marvin Caruthers at the University of Colorado at Boulder. He is author and co-author of over 50 research papers and 80 patents. Dr. Marshall currently serves on the Board of FluoroFinder, LLC.

Mike Clayman, M.D., co-founded Flexion Therapeutics in 2007 and served as its president and CEO, from its inception in 2007 to its acquisition by Pacira Biosciences in 2021. During that time, he guided the discovery and development of ZILRETTA® for osteoarthritis-related knee pain. He also serves as Chairman of the Board of Anokion and Nido Biosciences and as a Board member of Adipo Therapeutics.

Before founding Flexion, Dr. Clayman had a distinguished career at Eli Lilly and Company, leading divisions engaged in a broad range of functions, from discovery research to clinical investigation to global regulatory affairs. Among his roles, he served as general manager of Chorus, Lilly’s early-phase development accelerator, and as vice president of Lilly Research Laboratories. Prior to Lilly, Dr. Clayman was an assistant professor in the School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, where his research centered on the immunopathogenesis of renal disease.

Dr. Clayman is the recipient of the Physician Scientist Award from the National Institutes of Health. He earned a B.A., cum laude, from Yale University and an M.D. from the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine. Following an internship and residency in Internal Medicine at the University of California, San Francisco Moffitt Hospitals, Dr. Clayman completed clinical and research fellowships in Nephrology at the University of Pennsylvania.

Michael Ross, Ph.D. serves as a Managing Partner of SV Life Sciences, SVLS. He was the tenth employee at Genentech, where he worked for 13 years in various roles including team leader and Vice President of Development. Dr. Ross also started Genentech’s protein engineering and small molecule discovery effort as Vice President of Medicinal and Biomolecular Chemistry. He was the founding CEO of Arris Pharmaceutical, MetaXen, ExSAR, and CyThera, now Novocell, and was also Managing Partner at Didyma, LLC, a biotechnology management consulting firm.

Dr. Ross currently serves or has served on the board of directors of several biotechnology companies, including Aderis Pharmaceuticals, Adimab, Alinea, Archemix, Arris Pharmaceuticals, Arsanis, Carta Proteomics, CyThera, Glycofi, Epimmune, Genencor, Ikano, Itero Biopharmaceuticals, Link Medicine, MetaXen, Mpex, NKT Therapeutics, Rempex, Rinat, Sutro Biopharmaceuticals, and Xenova. He also serves on the faculty of Thayer School of Engineering at Dartmouth College.

Dr. Ross received his Bachelor of Arts, A.B., from Dartmouth College, his Doctor of Philosophy, Ph.D., degree in chemistry from the California Institute of Technology, Caltech, and completed a Post-Doctorate program in molecular biology at Harvard University.

Christian serves as Vice President and Head of AbbVie Ventures, where he directs AbbVie’s strategic venture capital investments into emerging science and technologies in core therapeutic areas of interest with a team of dedicated investment professionals located in Cambridge, MA, San Francisco, CA, and Oxford, UK.

He joined the organization in July 2022 from Atlas Venture, where helped conceive, launch, and operate the next generation of biotech companies as Entrepreneur in Residence, EIR. Prior to Atlas, Christian served as Global Head of R&D External Innovation at the Servier Group and Managing Director of Servier BioInnovation. An established leader in external innovation and partnering in the biotechnology sector with deep experience in both academic research, early-stage venture, and commercial business development – having held prior roles at Pfizer Worldwide Research and Development and at Biogen Corporate Development and Strategy – Christian is passionate about the use of human genetics, translational ‘omics, and human biology for the identification and validation of novel targets, biomarkers, and patient segmentation in early-stage R&D.

Trained in human genetics, neurobiology, and biochemistry in the U.S., Germany, England, and Switzerland, Christian holds a Ph.D. from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA, and M.Sc. and B.Sc. degrees from the Technical University of Munich, Germany. He completed a postdoctoral fellowship at Harvard Medical School and Boston Children’s Hospital, Boston, MA.

Mike Dial, Ph.D. serves as General Partner with Hatteras Venture Partners, an early-stage, healthcare-focused venture capital firm. Mike has over 15 years of experience working with early-stage life science and healthcare companies. Prior to joining Hatteras in 2009, Mike worked for Silicon Valley Bank as a Vice President in their Corporate Finance Group focused on emerging tech and life science companies and venture capital funds. He started his career as an analytical chemist at the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences and has held additional research scientist positions in the Department of Biochemistry at UNC-Chapel Hill and the UNC Michael Hooker Proteomics Center. He has performed research in the fields of cell cycle regulation, proteomics, and cancer therapy. Mike has held various operating roles in Hatteras portfolio companies and has been a founding investor in multiple biotech companies, including G1 Therapeutics, Atsena Therapeutics, and Ribometrix.

Mike is a Professor of the Practice at Kenan-Flagler Business School at UNC-Chapel Hill and holds a Ph.D. in biochemistry and biophysics from UNC-Chapel Hill.

Hakan Goker, Ph.D., is Managing Director of M Ventures and heads the biotechnology investments covering healthcare and life sciences. Hakan joined M Ventures in 2013 and has been investing in the sector for 15 years. Previously, Hakan was a partner at Aescap Venture investing in European opportunities. Hakan started his investment career at Atlas Venture where he was part of the investment team in London focusing on global investment opportunities in healthcare and medical technologies across the U.S., Europe, and Asia.

He was instrumental in the creation and financing, business, and R&D strategies of multiple companies in their formation years including Orphazyme, Bicycle, Nimbus Discovery, and f-Star while at Aescap and Atlas. Hakan continues his active investing role and represents M Ventures on multiple portfolio companies. He comes from an academic background receiving his Ph.D. in oncology from the Institute of Cancer Research/ University of London, UK and continuing his scientific career with post-doctoral work at the Breakthrough Breast Cancer Centre/Royal Marsden Hospital. He gained his B.Sc. Hons, from University College London. Hakan is based in Amsterdam at the M Ventures head office.