Ron Laufer, MD
Senior Managing Director
Ron started his career as a physician and entrepreneur, before moving into venture capital. He was a co-founder of Lilly Ventures, the venture capital arm of Eli Lilly & Company, and later a managing director at Visium Asset Management, a healthcare-focused investment firm, before joining MV in April of 2010.
Ron received his B.Sci., M.D. and M.P.H. from Hebrew University, and an M.B.A. from the Harvard Business School. He is currently an adjunct Professor of business administration at the Kelley Business School.
Samuel Wu, MD, PhD
Managing Director
Samuel Wu joined MV in September of 2010. Before that, Sam was a principal at SV Life Sciences for eight years, where he invested in and worked with a broad range of biopharmaceutical, platform and medical device companies. Previously, he was an Engagement Manager with McKinsey and Company's Pharmaceuticals and Medical Products practice, where he led teams of consultants serving clients on M&A, portfolio analysis and other strategic issues.
Sam holds an A.B. magna cum laude in Biochemistry from Harvard College, attended Stanford University School of Medicine where he earned an M.D. and a Ph.D. in Biochemistry as a Howard Hughes Predoctoral Fellow, and trained in Internal Medicine at the University of California, Los Angeles.
Isai Peimer
Principal
Isai Peimer joined MV in August of 2010. Before that Isai worked as a venture capitalist at Visium Asset Management, a large healthcare focused fund based in New York. Previously, he worked as an investment banker at J.P. Morgan and as a Specialty Pharmaceuticals analyst at Alliance Bernstein. Prior to Wall Street, Isai was a management consultant and focused on corporate strategy for the pharmaceutical and biotech sectors; he began his career as a scientist at Merck.
Isai is a graduate of Emory University where he earned a B.S. in Chemistry summa cum laude, and earned his M.B.A. from the Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth.
Tyrell Rivers, PhD
Senior Associate
Tyrell joined MV in 2009. Previously, he spent 8 years at Merck where he most recently directed global business initiatives for securing catalysis technologies, clinical drug supply, and key CRO services to support the expanding R&D pipeline. At Merck, he also led technology innovation of live virus and conjugated protein vaccines, increasing operational efficiency and process reliability.
Tyrell earned his B.S. in Chemical Engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, a Ph.D. in Chemical Engineering from University of Texas at Austin, and his M.B.A. from the New York University Stern School of Business.
Frank Top, MD
Venture Partner
Frank joined MedImmune in June 1988 as Executive Vice President and was elected to the Board of Directors where he served from 1988 to 2003. He became MedImmune's Medical Director in 1990, and held that position until he was appointed Senior Vice President of MedImmune Ventures in 2004. Frank retired from MedImmune at the end of 2010, but continues to serve as a Venture Partner with MedImmune Ventures.
Prior to joining MedImmune, Frank was Senior Vice President for Clinical and Regulatory affairs at Praxis Biologics from 1987 to 1988. Before that, he served for 22 years in the U.S. Army Medical Research and Development Command, where he was appointed Director and Commandant, Walter Reed Army Institute of Research, in 1983. Frank holds an M.D. cum laude and a B.S. in Biochemistry from Yale University.
Maggie LeFlore, PhD
Venture Partner
Maggie joined MedImmune Ventures as a managing director in 2007, moving into a Venture Partner role in 2011.She was previously Head of R&D Ventures at AstraZeneca, during which time she spent two years on assignment to Advent International working with their Healthcare and Life Sciences venture capital investment team. From 2001 to 2005, Maggie was the Global Alliance Director for Global Sciences and Information at AstraZeneca, where she led an international group responsible for evaluation, negotiation and management of global technology platform collaborations. From 1985 to 2001, Maggie held business development and scientific management positions at Hybridon, OSI Pharmaceuticals and Marion Merrell Dow Pharmaceuticals.
Maggie originally trained as a biophysical chemist, earning a B.S. in Chemistry from the University of Kansas and a Ph.D. in Physical Chemistry from Indiana University. She then trained in molecular and cellular biology as a post-doctoral fellow at the National Institutes of Health.
Melissa Alban
Melissa joined MV in 2009. She previously was a Business Manager and assistant to the President and CEO of Emerging Science and Technologies Group, an engineering firm developing homeland security, military and robotic technologies. Before that, she was Office Manager for eight years for Care Health Services, a high volume, seven professional practice.
Melissa earned her B.A. in Social Work and Sociology from McDaniel College, and started her career as a client advocate for Family & Children's Services in Westminster, MD.