Blog

Location: Cambridge

Chong Xu, Ph.D.

Chong Xu is a Partner at F-Prime. He focuses primarily on biopharmaceutical and medical technology sectors. He also works closely with the Eight Roads Ventures Asia team to manage portfolio companies and new investment opportunities in China. At F-Prime, Chong has been involved in a number of company formations including as a founding investor of AlphaGen Tx, Pediatrix, Skyline Tx, K36 Tx, and RareStone Group. Other companies Chong holds or has held board positions also include OnCusp Tx, Remunix, Shinobi Tx, Sironax, Semma Tx, Adagene, Innovent, etc. Prior to joining F-Prime in 2015, Chong was a management consultant at McKinsey and Company, a hedge fund healthcare equity analyst at Massif Partners and Affirmed Healthcare, and a researcher focusing on developmental neurobiology at Temasek Life Sciences Laboratory in Singapore.

Chong holds a Ph.D. in Cell Biology from University of Virginia and a MBA from Darden School of Business, University of Virginia. He received his B.S. in biology from Zhejiang University, China.

Jessica Alston, Ph.D.

Jessica is a Partner at F-Prime and focuses primarily on the biopharmaceutical and medical technology sectors. Prior to joining F-Prime in 2015, Jessica was an engagement manager in McKinsey and Company’s Boston office, where she focused on pharmaceuticals and medical products and advised companies across a range of strategic, organizational, and operational topics. She began her career at MIT Lincoln Laboratory in the Biodefense Systems group, where she worked on developing novel techniques for the detection of biological agents.

Jessica holds a Ph.D. in genetics from Harvard University and received her BS in biology from Duke University.

Stacie Weninger, Ph.D.

Stacie Weninger, Ph.D. is the President of FBRI and a Venture Partner with F-Prime Capital. Dr. Weninger focuses on advancing neuroscience research and early-stage therapeutics through strategic collaboration, investment, and advisory roles. Through these activities, she contributes to the translation of early discoveries into novel therapeutics and helps to build innovative neuroscience companies.

She currently serves as CEO and Chairman of the Board of Directors at Rugen Therapeutics, and serves on the Boards of Aratome, Atalanta, Engrail, and Tenvie Therapeutics. She was a founding member of the Board of Directors at Denali Therapeutics (NASDAQ: DNLI) and Neumora Therapeutics (NASDAQ: NMRA) and has held Board roles at companies including Annexon Biosciences (NASDAQ: ANNX), BRI-Alzan (acquired by MeiraGTx), Digital Cognition Technologies (acquired by Linus Health), Enspectra, Inscopix (acquired by Bruker Corporation), and Sironax.

In addition to her work in biotech investing, Dr. Weninger serves in leadership and advisory roles for several different organizations, including the Board of Target ALS, the Governing Board of the Michael J Fox Foundation Targets to Therapeutics Initiative, the External Advisory Board of Boston Children’s Hospital’s Rosamund Stone Zander Translational Neuroscience Center, and the Harvard Experts in Residence (XIR) network. Dr. Weninger also chairs the Collaboration for Alzheimer’s Prevention, which seeks to share learnings and best practices to facilitate clinical trials in early-stage Alzheimer’s disease. She is also a member of the Scientific Advisory Boards of Denali Therapeutics, the Breuer Foundation, Brown University’s Carney Center for Alzheimer’s Disease Research, Harvard Blavatnik Biomedical Accelerator Fund, the Indian Institute of Science’s Centre for Brain Research, MIT’s Yang-Tan Center for Molecular Therapeutics, and the UK Dementia Research Institute, among others. Dr. Weninger was previously the President of Alzforum for over a decade and continues as a special advisor to the site.

Prior to joining F-Prime, Dr. Weninger was Senior Director of Science Programs at the Fidelity Foundations, where she oversaw biomedical research funding initiatives. Earlier in her career, she served as Project Manager and Senior Analyst for the Task Force on Women in Science at Harvard University and was a Senior Scientific Editor at Neuron (Cell Press). Dr. Weninger began her career as a postdoctoral research fellow in Dr. Bruce Yankner’s lab at Boston Children’s Hospital and Harvard Medical School.

Dr. Weninger received her Ph.D. in neuroscience from Harvard University as a Howard Hughes Medical Institute predoctoral fellow and earned a B.S. in chemistry with highest honors from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Shervin Ghaemmaghami

Shervin joined F-Prime in 2012 to help start the technology fund. He focuses on startups building tools for scientists (e.g., Benchling, BenchSci, Albert), engineers (e.g., ReadMe, Codeship – acquired by CloudBees, Cloudant – acquired by IBM), and modern fintech infrastructure (e.g., Recurly – acquired by Accel-KKR).

Shervin began his venture career at Polaris Partners and previously held operating roles at The Atlantic and several MIT spinouts. He also worked for McKinsey & Company in the U.S., Europe, Asia and Middle East. Shervin was born and raised in London, and has undergraduate and master’s degrees in Engineering from both the University of Cambridge and MIT.

David Jegen

David is Managing Partner of F-Prime’s Tech Fund. He invests at the intersection of fintech and enterprise software, and has led investments in Flywire (NASDAQ: FLYW), Toast (NYSE: TOST), Snapdocs, Kensho (acquired by S&P Global), FutureAdvisor (acquired by BlackRock), Quovo (acquired by Plaid), EVEN Financial (acquired by MoneyLion), Vendr, 1upHealth, Notabene, TradeBlock (acquired by CoinDesk), Papaya Payments, Unison, Tradier, Axoni, Parrot Software, Canoe Intelligence, and Cloudant (acquired by IBM). David was co-founder of Sensoria and VP of Product Strategy at Into Networks, an F-Prime Capital-backed company. David was also a senior executive at Cisco Systems and held early positions with J.P. Morgan and BCG.

David graduated from Harvard Law School and earned degrees in economics and accounting from Indiana University. David is passionate about Fintech Sandbox, a nonprofit he co-founded in 2015 to serve fintech entrepreneurs by aggregating data and infrastructure for free during a startup’s development phase. Fintech Sandbox has supported 200+ startups and fostered a vibrant organization with more than 5,000 community members. He also serves on the Boards of Artists for Humanity and the Mass Fintech Hub. He is the father of two lovely teens with whom he shares the inspiration that comes from living with his wife Cindy and her poetry, stories, and pursuit of social justice.

Carl Byers

Carl Byers brings significant operating experience in healthcare IT to his role as Partner. He was on the founding team at athenahealth, Inc. (Nasdaq: ATHN), where he served as Chief Financial Officer from 1997 to 2010. Carl was responsible for the company’s finance, legal and corporate technology teams and served as a key advisor to the CEO. When athenahealth was a private company, he built the company’s financial systems and led seven rounds of equity and subordinated debt financing. Carl led athenahealth’s 2007 Initial Public Offering, which the Wall Street Journal named as the year’s most successful. In his tenure, he also held various operational roles at different times. Prior to the founding of athenahealth, Carl was a Senior Consultant in Booz, Allen & Hamilton’s New York office, where he worked in the financial services and health insurance industries. Carl teaches finance at Harvard’s Chan School of Public Health where he is an Adjunct Lecturer on Health Policy and Management. He was appointed by Governor Charlie Baker to the Massachusetts Digital Health Council.

Carl holds a B.A. from Wesleyan and is a graduate of the Harvard Kennedy School’s Mid-Career Masters in Public Administration program.

Ketan Patel, M.D.

Ketan Patel is a Managing Partner with F-Prime and has worked in the healthcare sector as an investor, consultant, and physician. Prior to joining F-Prime in 2007, Dr. Patel advised biopharmaceutical and medical device companies on brand strategy, clinical development plans, and business development activities in the corporate consulting division of Leerink Swann & Company. Dr. Patel served as a physician at the VA Boston Healthcare System and at Weill Cornell Medical Center-New York Presbyterian Hospital and Memorial-Sloan Kettering Cancer Center where he completed his internal medicine training.

Dr. Patel focuses on investing in therapeutics and medical device companies and has served on the Board of Directors of ABK Biomedical, Aclaris Therapeutics (NASDAQ:ACRS), Avalyn Pharma, Avivomed, Bicara Therapeutics (NASDAQ: BCAX), Caplin Steriles, Comanche Biopharma, Enzene Biosciences, Eywa Pharma, Ivenix (acquired by Fresenius Kabi), Laurus Labs (NSE:LAURUSLABS), Medwell Ventures, Menlo Therapeutics (NASDAQ:MNLO), NextWave Pharmaceuticals (acquired by Pfizer), NFlection Therapeutics, Pediatrix Therapeutics, Rallybio (NASDAQ:RLYB), and Vicept Therapeutics (acquired by Allergan).

Dr. Patel is a graduate of Tufts University School of Medicine, where he received both his MD and MBA as part of that institution’s Healthcare Management Program and was elected to the Alpha Omega Alpha Medical Honor Society. He completed his undergraduate studies in biology and economics with highest honors at Rutgers University.

Jon Lim

Jon Lim is a Managing Partner who joined F-Prime in 2011 to launch our dedicated efforts in Healthtech + Services. His investments include F-Prime’s investments in Liazon (acquired by Towers Watson), PatientPing (acquired by Appriss Heath, now Bamboo Health), VitalWare (acquired by Health Catalyst), Artemis Health (acquired by Nomi Health), Lumere (acquired by Global Healthcare Exchange), Blue Rabbit (acquired by Wedgewood Pharmacy), Protenus (acquired by Bluesight), Benchling, BenchSci, Centivo, Equip Health, Kyruus, NOCD, OncoveryCare, Proximie, Rippl, TraceLink, US HealthVest and WelbeHealth. Jon was previously a Principal at Polaris Partners, where he was part of the teams that led investments in Phytel (acquired by IBM), Egnyte, Recurly, and Ocular Therapeutix (NASDAQ: OCUL). Jon began his investing career in 2002 as an Associate at Summit Partners, where his investments include MDVIP (acquired by Procter & Gamble) and Diagnostic Hybrids (acquired by Quidel). Jon also worked previously at Medtronic in their cardiac rhythm and disease management business.

Jon holds an M.B.A. from Harvard Business School and an A.B. in East Asian Studies from Harvard College, where he graduated magna cum laude.

Thomas Beck, M.D.

In Loving Memory of Thomas Russell Beck, M.D.
August 3, 1949 – May 25, 2020

It is with a profound and deep sense of sadness that F-Prime says goodbye to Executive Partner Tom Beck. Tom was an essential and beloved friend and colleague to us all. We will greatly miss Tom’s expertise, wisdom, rolled-up-sleeves hands-on hard work, avuncular guidance, generosity, sense of humor and indefatigable bon homie that he maintained to the very end. Through his work, Tom made a big impact on the biotechnology industry, and an even bigger impact on all of us.

Robert Weisskoff, Ph.D.

Robert Weisskoff, Senior Partner, joined F-Prime in 2004.  Robert has worked extensively in both academia and the bioscience industry for thirty years. Prior to F-Prime, he held various senior roles in R&D and Business Development at both pharmaceutical and medical device companies. In his academic career, Dr. Weisskoff was Associate Professor of Radiology at Harvard Medical School, on the faculty of the Harvard-MIT Health Sciences Technology (HST) Program, and performed research at Massachusetts General Hospital, where he was Associate Director of the MGH-NMR Center. There he worked at the intersection of basic research, medical technology development, and clinical research in a variety of areas. Robert is the author of over 100 peer-reviewed scientific papers, and an inventor on 6 US patents.

Robert holds a Ph.D. in Physics from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and an M.B.A. from Columbia University. He received his A.B. degree in Physics from Harvard University, graduating magna cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa.

Robert serves on the Board of Directors of Adela, Countable Labs, Plasmagen Biosciences, RareCyte, Shinobi Therapeutics, and Zenflow, Inc. He has previously served on the boards of Accuri Cytometers (acquired by Becton Dickinson), Caribou Biosciences (NASDAQ: CRBU), Farapulse (acquired by Boston Scientific), Ikano Therapeutics (acquired by UCB), Laurus Labs (NSE: LAURUSLABS), Structure Therapeutics (NASDAQ: GPCR), Surface Oncology (NASDAQ: SURF), Tetraphase (NASDAQ: TTPH), Transave (NASDAQ: INSM), Topaz (acquired by Sanofi Pasteur), ViewRay (NASDAQ: VRAY) and Xilio Therapeutics (NASDAQ: XLO).