Steve Worland, Ph.D. serves as the CEO of Atomwise and has over 30 years of experience in corporate leadership and pharmaceutical R&D. He was previously President, CEO, and Board Member of eFFECTOR Therapeutics, which he co-founded in 2012. Prior to that, he was CEO of Anadys Pharmaceuticals, where he led the company through its acquisition by Roche in 2011. Before becoming CEO, he served as Chief Scientific Officer and President of Pharmaceuticals at Anadys.
Earlier in his career, he held senior positions at Agouron Pharmaceuticals, Warner-Lambert, and Pfizer, where his scientific research contributed to the discovery and development of Paxlovid® (nirmatrelvir), Inlyta® (axitinib), zotatifin, tomivosertib and other clinical-stage candidates. At Agouron, he was Vice President and Director of Molecular Biology and Biochemistry, remaining with the company through its acquisitions.
Dr. Worland earned a Ph.D. in Chemistry from the University of California, Berkeley, and completed a postdoctoral fellowship in Molecular Biology at Harvard University as an NIH fellow. He earned a B.S. with Highest Honors in Biological Chemistry from the University of Michigan. He serves on the Board of Directors at Blacksmith Medicines and has previously served on the boards of Tracon Pharmaceuticals, Forge Therapeutics, and GenMark Diagnostics.
Izhar Wallach received his M.Sc. and Ph.D. from the University of Toronto and his B.Sc. in Computer Science from the Israel Institute of Technology (Technion). His Ph.D. research focused primarily on developing algorithms to reduce biases in molecular docking, and his work has been widely published in scientific journals. Dr. Wallach has industrial research experience at Keddem Bioscience, a small-molecule drug discovery startup, where he developed novel algorithms for pharmacophore inference and the design of universal screening libraries.
Mike Varney is our Lead Independent Director and was most recently the head of Genentech’s Research and Early Development (gRED), serving as a member of the Roche Executive Committee.Dr. Varney was recruited to Genentech to build its small molecule discovery capability, which now accounts for more than 40% of Genentech’s development pipeline and has delivered Erivedge® and Cotellic® to the market.
Earlier in his career, Dr. Varney pioneered structure-based drug design as a founding employee at Agouron, where he contributed to the development of Viracept®, Xalkori®, and Inlyta®. In 2018, he was named a Hero of Chemistry by the American Chemical Society.
Robert Mittendorff is a general partner and leads healthcare at B Capital Group, a fund with $6 billion in assets under management (AUM). Dr. Mittendorff has been involved in investments and associated exits with a public equity or acquisition value exceeding $10 billion. Prior to joining B Capital, Dr. Mittendorff was a partner and co-head of healthcare at Norwest Venture Partners.
He is a board-certified emergency physician and a former public company operating executive. Before his career in venture capital, he served as Vice President of Marketing and Business Development at Hansen Medical Inc., which was acquired by Auris. He has launched multiple products, including the Magellan and Sensei X robots.
Linda Maxwell is an Operating Partner at DCVC and an accomplished surgeon, scientist, and innovator, with over 20 years of clinical experience. At DCVC, she leads the firm’s health tech thesis, identifying, investing in, and supporting founders transforming medicine and healthcare to drive outsized impact. Her work is guided by a sharp entrepreneurial instinct, pragmatism, and a commitment to serving the firm, founders, and patients.
Before joining DCVC, Linda founded the Biomedical Zone, Canada’s first hospital-embedded biomedical technology incubator. As Executive Director, she personally mentored over 100 medtech and digital health founders, whose companies have improved the lives of more than 67,000 patients globally.
Linda has been recognized as one of Canada’s Top 100 Most Powerful Women by the Women’s Executive Network, one of the Top 30 Women Making a Difference in Tech, and one of the Top 100 Accomplished Black Women in Canada.
Linda earned a bachelor’s degree with honors in biology from Harvard University, an MD from Yale University, and an MBA from the University of Oxford. She completed her residency and fellowship at the University of Toronto and is double-board certified.
Linda also serves on the boards of United Therapeutics (Nasdaq: UTHR) and ImmunityBio (Nasdaq: IBRX), is a certified Independent Corporate Director, and holds a federal appointment with the Public Health Agency of Canada.
Andrew W. Lo is a professor at the MIT Sloan School of Management and the Director of the MIT Laboratory for Financial Engineering. Prof. Lo founded AlphaSimplex Group LLC and QLS Advisors, co-founded BridgeBio Pharma, and serves as a Director of Roivant Sciences. He is also a member of the Board of Overseers of Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, a Research Associate at the National Bureau of Economic Research, an advisory board member of the NIH National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences, and a member of the NIH Cures Acceleration Network Review Board.
His accolades include Batterymarch, Guggenheim, and Sloan Fellowships; the Paul A. Samuelson Award; the Eugene Fama Prize; the IAFE-SunGard Financial Engineer of the Year award; the Global Association of Risk Professionals Risk Manager of the Year award; the Harry M. Markowitz Award; and the Managed Futures Pinnacle Achievement Award. He has also been named one of TIME’s “100 Most Influential People in the World.”