Alex Real, MD-PhD, is an Investor at ARTIS Ventures where he focuses on investing in both healthcare and life sciences companies.

Prior to ARTIS, Alex pursued a career as a physician-scientist, and graduated from Stanford University with a B.S. in Biomaterials Engineering, B.A. in English Literature, and M.S. in Materials Science.   His Masters work, under the direction of Jennifer Cochran, PhD and Sarah Heilshorn PhD, focused on engineered proteins as building blocks for bio-inspired materials and molecular therapeutics.

His PhD research under the supervision of Arvin Dar, PhD focused on small-molecule protein interactions and molecular glues, specifically in the kinase-inhibitor space, and his thesis work on the structural mechanism of the drug Trametinib was published in Nature in 2021.

Clinically, Alex completed his Medical Doctorate at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai and his intern year at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center.  He moved to the west coast to pursue radiation oncology residency at UCSF prior to starting with ARTIS.

Before pursuing a career as a physician-scientist, Alex was an avid ballet dancer – training at the School of American Ballet and later dancing professionally with the Los Angeles Ballet.  He still enjoys dance, music, and theater of all kinds and is a supporter of the arts in Northern California.

Andrew McLean is an Analyst at ARTIS Ventures.

Prior to joining ARTIS, Andrew held a strategy and business operations role at Rentana, an early-stage property technology company. He also gained experience interning at two middle-market private equity firms: Altamont Capital Partners, a generalist firm based in Palo Alto, and Bluewater Energy LLP, an energy-focused firm in London. Additionally, Andrew interned at Silicon Valley Data Capital, an early-stage venture firm focused on technology, and spent time sourcing as part of Harvard Undergraduate Capital Partners while in college.

Andrew holds a B.A. in Philosophy with a secondary concentration in English from Harvard University. Outside of work, he enjoys reading, cooking, running, traveling, and trying new restaurants.

Austin Walne is a Partner at ARTIS Ventures.

Austin is focused on investing in breakthrough technologies, primarily at the convergence of technology and biology. Before ARTIS, he advised institutional investors in the secondary market for private company shares and held positions in software development and product management in a variety of sectors. Previously, he managed political and public affairs campaigns at the state and federal levels for candidates, interest groups, and corporations including serving as digital director for a major presidential campaign.

Austin serves as a Board Director of Second Front Systems and is a Board Observer at Locus Biosciences. Previously, he was a Board Director at Stringify and a Board Observer at Looksharp.

Austin received his B.A. in Communication Studies from the University of Tennessee and holds FINRA Series 62, 63, 65 licenses

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Investments & Boards

Locus Biosciences, Second Front Systems, Modern Meadow, Network Bio, Enklu

Brandon Wilson, PhD, is Co-Founder and CEO of Range Biotechnologies. Previously, he founded Verre Vert which aimed to reduce carbon emissions through the wine industry supply chain, and also developed an ‘indestructible’ wine bottle. He is a graduate of the University of Rochester and Stanford. At the latter, he developed platform technologies and assays to quantify the molecular composition of biological samples, and, during his postdoc, researched single molecule protein sequencing, DNA nanotechnology, and next-generation sequencing. This laid the foundations for Range Biotechnologies, where he and his colleagues are unlocking translational proteomics for the next stage of human health.

Cameron Pye is the CEO and co-founder of Unnatural Products, a biotechnology platform company focused on advancing macrocyclic peptide therapeutics. Cameron earned his undergraduate degree from Whittier College and a PhD in organic chemistry from UC Santa Cruz, where he conducted research in Scott Lokey’s lab. His work there revolved around exploring structure-property relationships of natural and synthetic cyclic peptides, often in collaboration with pharmaceutical companies.

It was in Lokey’s lab that Cameron met his co-founder, Joshua Schwochert, and together they launched Unnatural Products with a mission to make macrocyclic peptide medicinal chemistry scalable and repeatable, leveraging parallel chemistry and machine learning. Under Cameron’s leadership, the company has raised over $35 million in equity financing and secured business development deals with major partners like BridgeBio and Merck, totaling over $850 million in aggregate deal value. Outside of his work, Cameron enjoys trail running, riding motorcycles, and spending time with his partner and dog in the scenic Santa Cruz mountains.

Fereydoun Firouz is a Pioneer at ARTIS Ventures. He is the former Chairman and CEO of Stallergenes Greer, a global biopharma company. Prior to Stallergenes Greer, he co-founded and was managing partner of Gurnet Point Capital, an investor in life sciences companies, in addition to serving as managing director of Waypoint Capital Inc, a Swiss-based family office.

As a Pioneer, Fereydoun brings a wealth of Biopharma and leadership experience to the ARTIS portfolio after a 25+ year career at Biopharma company Merck Serono, which he ultimately led as President and CEO of the US business EMD Serono.

Henry Klingenstein is a Partner at ARTIS Ventures. Henry primarily covers healthcare technologies and contributes to deal sourcing, duediligence, and portfolio support. Prior to ARTIS, Henry incubated Spur Laboratories, a computational medicine startupusing machine learning algorithms for diagnostics, as a researcher in Sendhil Mullainathan’s lab at the University of Chicago. He also previously worked at Quid, an ARTIS portfolio company, where he focused on healthcare and industrialclients. Henry holds an MBA from the Stanford Graduate School of Business and an AB from Harvard College. He was also a fellow at LongitudeCapital.

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Investments & Boards

Eko, ‍Ozlo Sleep, Climax Foods, ONI, Mytos, FIG, Glyphic, Locus

With over a decade at the forefront of digital health, Jason has a proven track record of commercializing and scaling innovative solutions that improve patient outcomes and access to care.

As Eko Health’s co-founder, Board Director, and Chief Business Officer, Jason has led the company's growth from a seed-stage startup to a global leader in cardiac disease early detection, with over 500,000+ digital stethoscopes deployed, 250+ health system partnerships, and $165M+ million in venture financing. He also developed strategic collaborations with 3M, FIGS, AstraZeneca, Mayo Clinic, and Astellas Pharma.

Jason is passionate about leveraging AI and telehealth to enhance the early detection of life-threatening conditions, and serves as a commercial advisor and investor to venture-backed founders developing novel early detection solutions. He is committed to improving LGBTQ+ visibility across the startup and healthcare ecosystems, and is an advisor and investor with Gaingels, the largest private investor syndicate dedicated to supporting inclusion within the VC ecosystem.

Marc Lajoie, PhD is co-founder and CEO of Outpace Bio. Prior to Outpace, Dr. Lajoie co-founded Lyell Immunopharma, where he led a technology development team focused on protein and cell engineering, playing a key role in creating product candidates and overcoming the mechanisms driving T cell dysfunction. Dr. Lajoie completed his postdoctoral studies in David Baker’s lab at the University of Washington, where he helped pioneer the ability to create new biological functions with de novo protein design. He completed his PhD in George Church’s lab at Harvard University, where he created the first genomically recoded organism with a reassigned genetic code and co-founded GRO Biosciences. Dr. Lajoie was named 30 under 30 in science by Forbes Magazine in 2012, 35 Innovators Under 35 by MIT Tech Review in 2019, and Endpoints 20 under 40 in biopharma in 2021. He has authored more than thirty scientific publications and is an inventor on nineteen published patent applications.

Megan Daugherty is the Director of Communication and Administration at ARTIS Ventures. Megan brings over 10 years of event planning and guest relations experience to the ARTIS team, previously working at Northern California’s top hotels and restaurants.

Megan was a key member of the hospitality team at the Ritz-Carlton Half Moon Bay and played an integral role in the opening of the Michelin-starred Madera at the Rosewood Sand Hill Hotel. She has spent time at some of SF’s most beloved restaurants, including Three-Michelin Starred Quince and the Michelin-starred Mourad.

Michael Yang is an Operating Partner at ARTIS Ventures.

Like most people Michael began his career in an entry-level position, working in sales at Pfizer. But from there he’s the first to say he always zigged when everyone else zagged. While he thought he would end up in a marketing leadership role, a series of great opportunities led him to several management positions, including President of CNS and Immunology at Janssen Pharmaceuticals. He then spent several years as Chief Commercial Officer at ACADIA Pharmaceuticals, focusing on addressing major unmet needs in neuroscience before becoming president and CEO of ViaCyte where he led the regenerative medicine company's acquisition to Vertex Pharmaceuticals.

Here, Michael shares why thinking creatively about go-to-market and exit strategies is crucial, why you need to master making the complex simple, why he likes stressful situations, and why your assigned projects should be just the tip of the iceberg.

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Michelle Carnahan is a seasoned healthcare leader and CEO, currently serving as President of Thirty Madison. She has propelled the company to unicorn status through strategic growth in chronic condition management. With over 20 years of experience in startups and Fortune 500 companies, Michelle is known for transforming corporate cultures and leading successful funding rounds. She also advises on healthcare business and commercial strategies, contributing her expertise to the evolving healthcare landscape.

Niraj Mehta is a Partner at ARTIS Ventures.

Niraj is focused on on sourcing, diligencing, and supporting companies in the therapeutics space.

Niraj currently holds 5 board seats across the ARTIS portfolios. Previously an ARTIS Fellow, he holds a PhD from Stanford University in Chemistry, where, under the mentorship of Dr. Elizabeth Sattely, he contributed to multiple scientific publications in top-tier journals, including a first-author publication in Cell. Niraj has vast experience in therapeutic drug development and genetic drug markets; before joining ARTIS, he led business development eMorts at Emcure Pharmaceuticals, a large multinational generic drug company. Niraj completed his undergraduate studies with a BS in Chemical Engineering from UCLA.

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Investments & Boards

OverT, Delix, and Pi Bio

Omair Khan is a Partner at ARTIS Ventures.

Khan is focused on sourcing, diligencing, and supporting companies in the therapeutics and healthcare technologies sectors. Khan currently holds 5 board seats across the ARTIS portfolios.

Previously an ARTIS Fellow, Khan is pursuing his MD-PhD dual degree at Stanford University with a focus on stem cell biology and regenerative medicine under the mentorship of world-renowned immunologist and stem cell biologist, Dr. Irving Weissman. Khan was recently selected as a recipient of the Paul and Daisy Soros Fellowship for New Americans, a fellowship for individuals with sustained accomplishments who are poised to make significant contributions to their fields of study and the United States at large. Before joining ARTIS, Khan had diverse experiences spanning clinical medicine, industry, global health, and government. Khan completed his undergraduate studies with a BS in Molecular, Cellular, and Developmental Biology and Global Health Studies from Yale University where he was awarded the Edgar J. Poell Prize for most outstanding thesis.

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Investments & Boards

Onto Health, All in Bio, OverT, and Slope

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Incubated

Onto Health

Richard Fuchs is a Pioneer at ARTIS and the CEO of Opyn. Formerly, he was the SVP of Strategy, Sales and Innovation at Walmart Health & Wellness, and prior to Walmart, Richard was a 10 year veteran at Elevance Health (fka Anthem) where he served as the Head of Integrated Growth Verticals, supporting the commercial and specialty business division. Richard serves on the Board of Directors for nine organizations across the healthcare industry, and brings more than 2 decades of experience in growth strategy and payer relationships.

Richard Pulik is the Chief Financial Officer of Roivant Sciences, having joined in September 2021. He brings over 20 years of experience, previously serving as Global Head of Business Development & Licensing, Oncology at Novartis. He was a member of Novartis's Innovation Management Board and Oncology Leadership Team. Pulik has also worked at Bank of America Merrill Lynch, Monitor Group, and UBS Investment Bank, focusing on healthcare sector mergers and acquisitions.

Stig Hansen has been President and CEO of Kimia Therapeutics since January 2023. He co-founded Carmot Therapeutics in 2008, where he led the advancement of Chemotype Evolution and developed a pipeline that includes three clinical-stage incretin modulators for metabolic diseases. Prior to Carmot, Hansen was Director of Biology at Sunesis Pharmaceuticals, where he invented Chemotype Evolution. He holds an MS in biochemistry and a PhD in molecular and cell biology from the University of Copenhagen and was a Novartis Fellow studying mammalian brain development at UC Berkeley.

Stuart Peterson is the Founder and Managing Partner of ARTIS Ventures.

He led early stage investments for the firm in media giant YouTube, targeted cancer therapeutics leader StemCentrx, data storage leaders Cohesity and Nimble, and networking leaders Aruba and Versa Networks. He has been recognized as a Forbes Midas List honoree, TechCrunch VC of the Year Finalist, and both NY Times, CB Insights Top 100 VC honoree, and more.

Stuart currently sits on the Board of Directors for Transparent Health Marketplace, IDbyDNA, Locus BioSciences, Versa Networks, TAE LifeSciences, Rad AI, Affect Therapeutics and Crediwatch, and is a Board Observer and Adviser to Cohesity, Seed Health, Aether Biomachines, Enklu, Fabric Genomics, Excision BioTherapeutics, FIG, and more.​

Stuart received his B.A. in Economics from the University of California, Los Angeles and M.B.A. in Analytic Finance from The University of Chicago’s Graduate School of Business.

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Investments & Boards

Stemcentrx, YouTube, Rad AI, Locus Biosciences, IDbyDNA, Seed, Opyn, Versa, Affect Therapeutics, Palantir, Modern Meadow, Cure, Cohesity, TAE Life Sciences, Fabric Genomics, MycoMedica Life Sciences, LUCA Biologics, Network Bio

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Incubated

FIG

Traci Keen leads with visionary expertise in transforming the fertility and specialty healthcare landscape. With a unique blend of analytical prowess and emotional intelligence, Traci drives innovation and strategic growth, focusing on democratizing access to high-quality care. She spearheads initiatives to streamline patient and provider experiences, enhance our product and partnerships, and expand impact.

Traci's leadership is characterized by her commitment to building bridges, fostering collaboration, and creating solutions that address critical industry challenges. Her approach emphasizes resilience, creativity, and systemic solutions, ensuring she remains at the forefront of the healthcare revolution.

With a background in financial management and a passion for operationally efficient and future-oriented solutions, Traci excels in navigating complex challenges and guiding her team toward a better, more inclusive future for healthcare.

Tracy is a biophysics PhD student at UCSF where she is co-advised by Katherine Susa and Jim Wells. Prior to graduate school, she spent time in the Narlikar lab studying chromatin phase separation. She previously studied mathematics and biochemistry at UC Berkeley where she also worked in the Heald lab investigating novel regulators of mitotic spindle assembly.  She has diverse interests and appreciates exploring biology at different scales. 

Her current research focuses on transmembrane signaling in immune cell receptors, with the ultimate goal of enabling new therapeutic approaches to modulate immune cell function. She is leveraging proteomics, protein engineering, and biophysical approaches to understand how these receptors function and how their signaling pathways can be tuned. 

Outside of science, she enjoys running, reading, backpacking, skiing, and culinary snobbery