MICHAEL BARAN, MBA, PHD is Executive Director, WRDM and Partner at Pfizer Ventures. Mike is responsible for identifying, evaluating, making and managing equity investments aligned with the future directions of Pfizer. He currently has responsibility for Pfizer’s investments in Anjarium Biosciences, Autobahn Therapeutics, Capstan Therapeutics, Interius BioTherapeutics, ImCheck Therapeutics, ImmunOs Therapeutics, Mediar Therapeutics, Parthenon Therapeutics, TRex Bio, and VitaDAO. His prior investment responsibilities include Accelerator Life Science Partners, Bluelight Therapeutics, AnTolRx, and Netvation DL. Mike is an Adjunct Assistant Professor in the Department of Biomedical Engineering at Stony Brook University and plays an active role in the NY/NJ early life science ecosystem as a Mentor in Residence for Rutgers University, a Venture Advisor for Venture Forward, and a Venture Advisor for eLabNYC.

Prior to his current role, Mike held responsibilities in R&D portfolio strategy as well as managing scientific affairs for the R&D President’s office at Pfizer. Mike joined Pfizer from Nexomics Biosciences, a structural biology biotech company which he co-founded in 2006. Prior to his involvement at Nexomics he worked within the NIH Protein Structure Initiative’s Northeast Structural Genomics Consortium coordinating protein structure production efforts, including bioinformatics, protein expression/purification and 3D protein structure determination.

Mike received his BA in Biochemistry from Syracuse University, holds an MBA from Rutgers Business School, and a PhD in Biochemistry from Robert Wood Johnson Medical School / Rutgers, the State University of New Jersey.

Email: [email protected]