Michael Powell, Ph.D., General Partner, joined
Sofinnova Ventures in 1997. In his 20 years of pharmaceutical development experience, Mike has worked on 20 clinical products and authored almost 100 papers and books, including a 1,100-page treatise on vaccine design. He is really a scientist/entrepreneur at heart. As a pilot, diver, trapshooter, fisherman, skier and dinosaur hunter, Mike is the Indiana Jones of Sofinnova Ventures.

Prior to joining Sofinnova Ventures, Mike was Group Leader of Drug Delivery at Genentech (1990-97) where his focus was developing new therapeutics. In 1987 he was part of the founding team of Cytel; as Director of Product Development, he was responsible for the company's early growth that culminated in a successful IPO. Before this he was Scientist and Project Team Leader at Syntex Research, where he held several positions that provided an appreciation and overview of the many aspects of traditional drug development.

Mike had the honor of being the first scientist from the biotechnology industry to be elected a Fellow of the American Association of Pharmaceutical Scientists. He was also an Adjunct Professor at the University of Kansas, an Editorial Board Member of J. Pharm. Sci., and a Scientific Advisor to the Controlled Release Society. Mike is currently Board President of AVAC (AIDS Vaccine Advocacy Coalition), a past Advisor to the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, a Strategic Advisor to OneWorld Health, and a Founding Venture Advisory Board member of the IAVI Innovation Fund.

At Sofinnova Ventures, his interest is in clinical-stage product companies, particularly in the oncology, endocrine and neurology areas.

He received his Ph.D. in Physical Chemistry from the University of Toronto in 1981, and completed his post-doctorate work in Bio-organic Chemistry at the
University of California, where he was subsequently a faculty member (1981-84).

Mike can be reached at (415) 228-3387 or powell@sofinnova.com.

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