We are thrilled to announce Session #7 of TII’s Virtual Coffee-Break Series! Our guest speaker, Albert Cha, M.D., Ph.D., Partner at Vivo Capital, will be interviewed by Larry Kochard, Chief Investment Officer at Makena Capital, on the topic of Life Science Investing: Doing Well By Doing Good!

Albert is a Partner at Vivo Capital and invests in private and public biopharmaceutical and medical device companies. He currently serves on the boards of Ascendis Pharma A/S (NASDAQ: ASND) and KalVista Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ: KALV). He was an investor in Aclaris Therapeutics (NASDAQ: ACRS), Biohaven Pharma (NYSE: BHVN), Menlo Therapeutics (NASDAQ: MNLO), Sierra Oncology (NASDAQ: SRRA), Ceptaris Therapeutics (acquired by Actelion), Neomend (acquired by Bard), Vicept Therapeutics (acquired by Allergan), Bioform Medical (BFRM, acquired by Merz), Biodel (BIOD), and Aspreva Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ: ASPV, acquired by Galenica). Albert was involved in founding NextWave Pharmaceuticals (acquired by Pfizer) and Prestwick Pharmaceuticals (acquired by Biovail). Albert is a co-founder of the annual Dermatology Summit and Dermatology Innovation Forum. Prior to Vivo, Albert worked at Oracle Corporation in pharmaceutical consulting and at the Palo Alto VA Hospital as a biomedical engineer. Larry is the CIO at Makena Capital Management and a member of Makena’s Executive Committee. He leads Makena’s Investment Committee and is also a Management Committee member. Larry was previously the CEO and CIO of The University of Virginia Investment Management Company (UVIMCO) for eight years. Prior to joining UVIMCO, Larry served as the CIO at Georgetown University and from 2001 to 2004, he was the Managing Director of Equity and Hedge Fund Investments for the Virginia Retirement System.