Throughout Jim’s twenty year career with Sofinnova he has invested in thirty two companies. Twenty two of his investments have gone public and eleven have been acquired as private or public companies. He has funded companies where thirteen products were approved by the FDA or EMA. Jim is a member of the board of directors for ArriVent (AVBP), BioAge (BIOA), Natera (NTRA), Rapport (RAPP), Seaport, Y-mAbs (YMAB), and a board observer at Visen. Most recently he served as board member for Karuna (KRTX: acquired by BMS for $14B) and Chairman of CinCor (CINC: acquired by AstraZeneca for $1.8B).
Jim received a B.A. in Molecular Biology and B.A. Scandinavian Studies from UC Berkeley where he graduated with Honors and received the Departmental Citation. He subsequently completed the NIH sponsored Medical Scientist Training Program and received his MD and PhD in Immunology from Stanford University where he received the Novartis Foundation Bursary Award and was a Beckman Scholar. He authored or co-authored thirteen scientific articles and reviews, including three papers published in Nature.
Prior to Sofinnova, Jim worked at Bayer (Miles) and Sanderling. He has lectured on entrepreneurship at Stanford University and served on the boards of the Executive Committee at UC Berkeley, the National Venture Capital Association (NVCA) and the Biotechnology Innovation Organization (BIO). Throughout his career Jim has received numerous awards and in 2021 was selected as the recipient of the NVCA Excellence in Healthcare Innovation Award for his commitment to the advancement of healthcare innovation through his investment in groundbreaking biotechnology companies that are working on treatments and cures for the most deadly and costly diseases.
Jim previously served as a member of the board of directors or was an investor in the following fund VII – X companies: Amarin (AMRN), Apellis (APLS), Ascendis (ASND), Atsena, Audentes (BOLD: acquired by Astellas), Auris (EARS), Bolt (BOLT), Durata (DRTX: acquired by Actavis), CinCor (CINC: acquired by AstraZeneca), Edge (PDSB: acquired by PDS Biotechnology), Hyperion (HPTX: aquired by Horizon Pharma), Iterum (ITRM), (KRTX: acquired by BMS), Nucana (NCNA), Obseva (OBSV), PregLem (acquired by Gedeon Richter), Salveo (acquired by Catamaran), and Tesaro (TSRO).
