Board of Directors

Corey Goodman is Chairman of the Board of iPierian. He was most recently the President of Pfizer’s Biotherapeutics and Bioinnovation Center, South San Francisco, and currently serves as director and scientific advisor to a number of biotech companies. Born in Chicago, Corey attended Stanford University as a Searle Scholar and earned his B.S. in Biology with distinction and honors. He was an NSF Fellow at the University of California Berkeley and earned his Ph.D. in Neurobiology. He was then a Helen Hay Whitney Postdoctoral Fellow at U.C. San Diego. He was a Professor at Stanford University and U.C. Berkeley for over two decades, and is currently an Adjunct Professor at the University of California San Francisco in the Departments of Anatomy and Biochemistry. While on the faculty at Berkeley, Corey was an Investigator with the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Evan Rauch Professor of Neuroscience, co-founder of the Wills Neuroscience Institute, and Head of the Division of Neurobiology. Corey was elected a member of the U.S. National Academy of Sciences, a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and a member of the American Philosophical Society. Among his many scientific honors are the Alan T. Waterman Award from the National Science Board, the Gairdner Foundation International Award for Achievement in Medical Sciences, the Wakeman Award, the March of Dimes Prize in Developmental Biology, and the Reeve-Irvine Research Medal. Corey has advised numerous biotechnology companies, and co-founded two of them: Exelixis and Renovis. He served as the President and Chief Executive Officer of Renovis from 2001 until 2007 when the company’s merger with Evotec was announced. Among his many public service roles, Corey is Vice President of the McKnight Endowment Fund for Neuroscience, a member of the Health Section Governing Body for the Biotechnology Industry Organization (BIO), the California Council on Science and Technology, and the boards of BayBio and the Bay Area Science and Innovation Consortium (BASIC). He is former Chair of the National Research Council's board on Life Sciences.

Dr. Ashley Dombkowski joined MPM Capital in 2000. Before joining MPM, she was a public market investor and Healthcare Equity Analyst covering biotech, medical device, and pharmaceutical stocks for Tiger Management, L.L.C., a diversified hedge fund. Prior to Tiger, Dr. Dombkowski followed the all-cap universe of public medical technology stocks as an Equity Research Associate at Dresdner RCM Global Investors. Her national media appearances have included outlets such as CNBC, and she was recognized as one of the Most Influential Women of 2010 by the San Jose/Silicon Valley Business Journal.  Dr. Dombkowski holds a Ph.D. in Mathematics from Rice University and a B.A. cum laude and with Departmental Honors from Wellesley College. 

Bob has more than 25 years of experience in venture capital and has served as a director of many public and private companies. He is a former director of the National Venture Capital Association and President of the New England Venture Capital Association. In addition, Bob has been recognized by the prestigious Forbes Midas List as one of the top venture capitalists in the industry, and has earned the 2008 HBS Healthcare Alumni Achievement Award. Bob has been an investor in many successful healthcare service, medical device and biotechnology companies. Before co-founding Highland, Bob was a general partner at a Boston-based venture capital partnership. Immediately prior to entering venture capital, he spent four years as the Executive Director of the John A. Hartford Foundation. He also was the Chief Executive of the Clark Foundation and the Burden Foundation. Bob is a former Assistant to the U.S. Secretary of Commerce and an Assistant to the head of the international division of the U.S. Treasury. Bob graduated from Harvard College, with an A.B. in History, and received his MBA from Harvard Business School. Bob is involved in many activities related to venture capital, healthcare and social enterprise. Currently, he is a member of the Advisory Board of the Department of Health Care Policy at Harvard Medical School and the Advisory Board of the Harvard - MIT Division of Health Sciences & Technology. Also, Bob has been a faculty member at the Harvard Business School since 2001. At HBS, he teaches a second year course called Entrepreneurship and Venture Capital in Healthcare, and at KSG, he teaches a course called Entrepreneurship in the Private, Public, and Social Sectors. Additionally, Bob is a Member of the Council on Foreign Relations, a Board Member of the NHP Foundation, a National Board Member of The Smithsonian Institution, and an Overseer of The Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum.

Beth joined Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers in May 2005 to work in the life sciences area. For the past 20 years, she has focused her career on introducing new innovative treatments for AIDS, arthritis, asthma, cancer, psoriasis, cardiovascular, metabolic, neurological and renal disorders. She introduced 10 innovative products to market and achieved over 40 regulatory approvals (including new indications and formulations) on a worldwide basis. These products have been successfully commercialized and have generated several billion dollars of revenue. Prior to joining KPCB, Beth was Senior Vice President, Global Development, and Chief Medical Officer at Amgen, Inc., the world’s largest biotechnology company. During Beth’s three years there, her responsibilities included: all stages of clinical research, regulatory affairs, safety, health economics/reimbursement and medical affairs. Prior to joining Amgen, Beth was a senior executive in research and development at Bristol-Myers Squibb Company and Merck & Co., Inc. She began her career in basic and clinical research at the National Institutes of Health specializing in immunology and infectious diseases. Beth received her BS from Barnard College magna cum laude, Phi Beta Kappa; and her medical degree from the University Of Miami School Of Medicine, alpha omega alpha. Her post-graduate training was completed at Johns Hopkins, George Washington School of Medicine and the National Institutes of Health.

Dr. Michael Venuti joined iPierian as president and chief scientific officer in February, 2010, and became chief executive officer in June, 2010. Prior to joining iPierian, Dr. Venuti served as chief executive officer and member of the board of directors at BioSeek, Inc, a company that uses high throughput biological systems for the discovery and development of human therapeutics, and which was acquired by Asterand plc. He previously served as chief executive officer and member of the board of directors of Discovery Partners International after initially joining as chief scientific officer in 2005, and which was merged into Infinity Pharmaceuticals in 2006. From 2001 through 2005, he held positions as senior vice president, Business Development and Pharmacogenomics, and senior vice president, Research and Preclinical Development at Celera Genomics, and served as the general manager of Celera South San Francisco. He served as senior vice president, Research and Preclinical Development, and chief technical officer at Axys Pharmaceuticals prior to its acquisition by Celera. Prior to joining Axys, Dr. Venuti was director of Bioorganic Chemistry at Genentech, Inc., and began his research career in medicinal chemistry at Syntex Research. Dr. Venuti holds an A.B. from Dartmouth College, and a Ph.D. in Organic Chemistry from The Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He is on the board of directors of Infinity Pharmaceuticals, and serves as a consultant to a number of biotech and venture capital groups.

Dr. Krishna Yeshwant is a physician, programmer, and entrepreneur who has been working with Google Ventures since its inception. He first joined Google as part of the New Business Development Team. Prior to Google, he helped start an electronic data interchange company that was acquired by Hewlett-Packard (HP) and a network security company that was acquired by Symantec (SYMC). He also co-authored the business plan for Diagnostics For All, which won both the Harvard Business School and MIT $100k business plan competitions. Previously, Krishna published several book chapters and journal articles in the field of computer guided surgery, completed research in tissue engineering, and developed and licensed multiple surgical devices. He has worked with the technology transfer offices of MIT, Harvard, and Massachusetts General Hospital. Krishna has a BS in Computer Science from Stanford University. He also earned an MD from Harvard Medical School and an MBA from Harvard Business School. He is completing his residency at Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston.