Third Rock Ventures

A biotech executive with over 30 years in senior R&D and leadership roles, she joined Third Rock Ventures in 2016, where she focuses on the formation, development, and strategy of portfolio companies. She previously served as CEO of Eleven Biotherapeutics and Taligen Therapeutics, and held senior roles at Novartis, Millennium Pharmaceuticals, and Wyeth.

Andrea van Elsas joined Third Rock Ventures as a venture partner in 2020 and became partner in 2022. He was previously CSO at Aduro Biotech, co-founded BioNovion, held immuno-oncology roles at Organon, and is a co-inventor on the original anti-CTLA-4 patents behind ipilimumab.

Physician who joined Third Rock in 2007 and led partner development efforts, building relationships with biotech and pharma executives and serving as CBO or CEO of portfolio companies at launch, including work on the Agios-Celgene collaboration. Holds a B.A. from Columbia, an M.D. and MBA from the University of Pennsylvania.

Cary Pfeffer led Third Rock Ventures' partner development efforts focused on building relationships with R&D and business executives at major biotech and pharmaceutical companies. He served as CBO or CEO for multiple portfolio companies at launch and played a key role in facilitating strategic collaborations across the portfolio, including a notable global collaboration between Agios and Celgene in cancer metabolism.

A physician with extensive experience building and leading biotech companies, focused on forming companies developing novel therapeutics. He has been a clinical professor at UCSF Medical School and an attending physician at the San Francisco VA Medical Center since 1997, and previously co-founded Portola Pharmaceuticals, serving as its president and CEO.

Craig Muir led the identification and integration of drug discovery and development technology platforms across Third Rock's portfolio, built platform systems for R&D and informatics, and contributed to scientific diligence. He helped expand the firm's San Francisco presence. He joined in 2007 and holds a B.S. in Physiology and Chemistry from UC Davis.

Jeffrey Tong is a Partner at Third Rock Ventures, where he draws on operational experience building and growing early-stage biotechnology companies to focus on drug discovery and development across the firm's portfolio. Before joining Third Rock in 2016, he was Executive Chairman of Delinia, CEO of Nora Therapeutics, and part of the founding management team at Infinity Pharmaceuticals. Earlier in his career he worked at McKinsey & Co and was a founding researcher at the Harvard Bauer Center for Genomics Research. Across his career he has raised capital from equity markets and pharma partnerships and led companies from preclinical through Phase 3 development, integrating science and business strategy.

Partner at Third Rock Ventures who joined in 2022, previously president and CEO of Constellation Pharmaceuticals until its 2021 acquisition and chief business officer at Jounce Therapeutics through its IPO. He holds an MBA from Columbia and a biochemistry/economics degree from Rutgers, and serves on boards at Flare Therapeutics, Synnovation, and TRIANA Biomedicines.

Kevin Gillis is Partner and Chief Operating Officer at Third Rock Ventures, which he joined in 2008. With more than 25 years of financial leadership and management experience, he leads the firm's non-investment activities, including internal operations, finance, legal, communications, and administrative functions. He also oversees fundraising and manages the firm's limited partner relationships. He is especially interested in the firm's preventive medicine initiatives and their potential to change how cancer and other serious diseases are treated.

Mark Levin co-founded Third Rock Ventures in 2007, joining after more than 30 years of launching and building biotechnology companies. Before Third Rock, he co-founded Millennium Pharmaceuticals in 1993 and served as its chief executive officer; the company was later acquired by Takeda Oncology. At Third Rock, he focused on the formation, development, and strategic governance of the firm's portfolio companies. He met Third Rock co-founders Bob Tepper and Kevin Starr during his time at Millennium.

Neil Exter is a retired partner at Third Rock Ventures, which he joined in 2007, where he concentrated on the formation, development and strategy of new companies. He brings more than 30 years of operating, business development and strategy experience spanning emerging and established biotechnology and technology companies. He trained as an electrical engineer, earning degrees from Cornell and Stanford before completing an MBA at Harvard Business School.

Reid Huber is a Partner at Third Rock Ventures, which he joined in 2018, where he works on the formation, development and strategy of the firm's portfolio companies. He brings more than 25 years of operating experience in biotechnology, including as a member of the founding scientific team at Incyte in 2002, where he later served as Executive Vice President and Chief Scientific Officer. Earlier in his career he held roles of increasing responsibility at Dupont Pharmaceuticals and Bristol-Myers Squibb, and he completed postdoctoral training at the National Institutes of Health. His investing interests center on companies combining disease genetics, data science and translational medicine to create new medicines.

Robert "Bob" Tepper is a physician-scientist and co-founder of Third Rock Ventures, where he has been a partner since 2007. Before venture, he spent more than three decades building and running R&D organizations in biotech, including serving as president of R&D at Millennium Pharmaceuticals, where he helped transform the company from a drug discovery operation into a fully integrated biopharmaceutical company. He also co-founded Cell Genesys/Abgenix. At Third Rock he concentrates on company formation, scientific strategy, and evaluating new company ideas across the firm's portfolio.

A physician scientist who spent over 20 years at Harvard Medical School, heading the Laboratory of Developmental Immunology and MassGeneral Hospital for Children. He later led a franchise at Merck and co-founded Abide Therapeutics, acquired by Lundbeck in 2019.

Venture Partner at Third Rock Ventures focused on creating, developing, and setting strategy for new biotechnology companies. Previously Chief Business Officer of Beam Therapeutics and held business development roles at Celgene, and serves as an independent board director for Kezar Life Sciences.

Physician-scientist who joined Third Rock Ventures as a venture partner in 2020 and became partner in 2022. He previously served as Chief Medical Officer and Head of Translational Development at the Gates Medical Research Institute and led Translational Oncology at Merck Research Laboratories.

Jeb Keiper has over two decades in biotech leadership and strategic transactions. He was CEO of Nimbus Therapeutics from 2014 to 2025, where the company raised over $600 million and oversaw the zasocitinib deal with Takeda. He earlier held senior business development roles at GSK Oncology and worked at Pfizer, McKinsey, and TransForm Pharmaceuticals.

Jeffrey Finer is a physician-scientist who joined Third Rock Ventures as a Venture Partner in 2016, where he focuses on drug discovery and development opportunities across the firm's portfolio. He brings roughly 30 years of research and clinical experience, including 18 years leading drug discovery programs, preclinical development, and translational medicine efforts, and has moved several first-in-class drugs into the clinic. He has developed technology platforms integrating science, instruments, and informatics, holds several patents, and has published widely in peer-reviewed journals. He earned his M.D. and Ph.D. in Biochemistry from Stanford and B.S. degrees in Chemistry and Biology from MIT.

John Keilty is a venture partner at Third Rock Ventures, where he works with the platform team to develop and refine technology roadmaps across the portfolio, focusing on identifying and integrating drug discovery and development technology platforms. Before joining Third Rock in 2014, he spent nearly 13 years at Infinity Pharmaceuticals, ultimately serving as vice president of information technology and informatics, where he oversaw information systems, software development, computational science, biostatistics, clinical data management and clinical informatics. He holds a biology degree from Clark University and a master's in bioinformatics from Brandeis University. He is based on the East Coast.

A scientist by training who focuses on new company formation and therapeutic discovery and development, keeping patients central to her work. She co-founded and co-led TESARO before its acquisition by GSK and has held executive leadership roles across biotech and pharma, developing medicines primarily for cancer patients. She holds a B.S. from Purdue, a Ph.D. in Immunology from UT Southwestern, and completed post-doctoral fellowships at Harvard; she joined the firm in 2023.

Richard Ransohoff is a neurologist who serves as a Venture Partner at Third Rock Ventures, where he focuses on neuroinflammation research and development opportunities. He joined the firm in 2018 from Biogen, and before that spent 30 years at the Cleveland Clinic, where he founded and directed the Neuroinflammation Research Center within the Lerner Research Institute. Trained as a neurologist, he cites a formative moment early in his career — a snowbound day when his clinic was still packed with patients — as a lasting motivation for his work in biotech.

Steve Paul is a physician-scientist with over 40 years of experience in neuroscience, molecular neuropharmacology, and CNS drug discovery and development. He spent 18 years at the NIH, including as scientific director of the National Institute of Mental Health, followed by 17 years at Eli Lilly and Company where he rose to Executive Vice President for Science and Technology and President of the Lilly Research Laboratories. He co-founded several CNS-focused biotech companies, including Sage Therapeutics, Voyager Therapeutics (where he was president and CEO), and Karuna Pharmaceuticals (where he served as CEO and chairman). He first joined Third Rock Ventures in 2010 and returned in 2018 as a venture partner, and remains a professor of psychiatry and neurology at Washington University in St. Louis School of Medicine.

Ton Schumacher is a Venture Partner at Third Rock Ventures, where he works on forming new companies in immunology and immuno-oncology. He is a senior member at The Netherlands Cancer Institute and a professor of Immunotechnology at Leiden University. Earlier, he founded AIMM Therapeutics and T cell factory (which was acquired by Kite Pharma) and served as CSO of Kite Pharma EU. His research on T cell recognition in human cancer has earned him honors including the Amsterdam Inventor Award, the Queen Wilhelmina Cancer Research Award, the Meyenburg Cancer Research Award, and the William B. Coley Award.

Vyas Ramanan is a Venture Partner at Third Rock Ventures, which he joined in 2016, where he helps build new biotech companies at the intersection of biological insight and drug discovery technology to advance medicines for serious diseases. Early in his time at the firm he was involved in the launch of Maze Therapeutics and spent subsequent years helping build its team toward first-in-class medicines. He holds undergraduate and graduate degrees in bioengineering and economics from the University of Pennsylvania, and a Ph.D. from the Harvard-MIT Division of Health Sciences and Technology.

Adam Tebbe joined Third Rock Ventures in 2023 as Vice President of Platform Operations, focusing on applying technology and data science across the portfolio. He holds a B.S. in Computer Science & Biology from Saint Francis University and an M.S. from the Genome Science and Technology program at the University of Tennessee.

CPA overseeing financial strategy and operations for the funds, management company and early-stage portfolio companies, with over 20 years of financial accounting experience in biotech and life sciences. She joined Third Rock Ventures in 2008 and holds a B.S. in Accounting and Finance from Boston College.

Amanda Chan handles fund reporting, analysis, operations, and tax matters at Third Rock. She previously worked as a Fund Controller at Dynamo Software and as a Tax Manager at PwC, and is a licensed CPA.

Angelo manages Third Rock's San Francisco office, handling operations and administrative support. He has prior experience in the tech and hospitality industries.

Ava Brunelle joined Third Rock Ventures in 2023 as a Senior Associate in Fund Accounting. She holds a B.S. in Accounting and an M.S. in Taxation from Bentley University.

Chris leads Third Rock's recruiting team, focused on attracting talent to the firm and its portfolio companies. He joined in 2010, holds a B.S. in Physiology from the University of Massachusetts, and is a former United States Marine.

Danielle Abdelahad leads Third Rock Ventures' People function, joining in 2025 after leading People & Culture at Jnana Therapeutics through its growth and acquisition. She previously held HR and people operations roles at TRV portfolio companies bluebird bio and Abata Therapeutics, as well as at Wellington Management.

A physician-scientist with over two decades of drug discovery and development experience, David previously held senior R&D leadership roles at Merck and Eli Lilly and served as chief scientific officer at several biotech companies. He began his career as a faculty member at Harvard Medical School.

Erin Moore provides administrative support to venture partners at Third Rock and collaborates with the firm's Discovery project teams. She is motivated by the impact of life sciences work on patients.

Gabby oversees Management Company reporting, analysis, day-to-day operations, and tax matters at Third Rock. She previously served as a Finance Director at Bain Capital and spent several years in tax at EY working with real estate and private equity clients; she is a licensed CPA.

Jason Gehrke joined Third Rock Ventures as an Entrepreneur-in-Residence in 2024, focusing on building immunology and genetic medicine companies. He previously held research leadership roles at Beam Therapeutics, including the BEAM-201 program, and holds a PhD in gene editing from Harvard.

Julie Yang, PhD, is VP of Project and Portfolio Analytics at Third Rock Ventures, joining in 2026 after investment roles at TCG Crossover, Leaps by Bayer, and Bain Capital Life Sciences, plus earlier work as a scientist at Dicerna Pharmaceuticals. She holds a PhD in molecular biology from Weill Cornell and an MBA from INSEAD.

Kevin leads technology R&D at Third Rock, developing platforms and services for wet lab and data sciences across drug discovery and development. Before joining in 2021, he spent a decade building and leading life science technology startups, including as EIR at Biological Engineering Ventures and as President and CEO of Gen9 (acquired by Ginkgo Bioworks), with earlier roles at Life Technologies, Millennium Pharmaceuticals and Applied Biosystems.

Laura Vitale is a Senior Executive Assistant at Third Rock Ventures who provides administrative support to the human resources and recruiting teams. She holds a B.S. in Communications from Salem State University and has been with the firm since 2010.

Lee provides administrative support to Third Rock Ventures' operations team, assisting with planning and strategy initiatives. She has spent the past decade working in biotech.

Lisa supports Third Rock's recruiting team with executive search and internal recruiting across all levels. She joined in 2021 and holds a B.S. in Marketing Management from the University of Massachusetts, Boston.

Immunology and infectious disease drug developer who joined Third Rock Ventures as an Entrepreneur-in-Residence in 2024. She previously served as SVP and Head of Research and Translational Medicine at Vir Biotechnology and led development programs at Regeneron, and co-chaired the NIH's ACTIV partnership during COVID-19.

Nasra supports Third Rock's HR functions, including benefits administration, employee relations, and policy updates, and assists with HR and recruiting events. She previously worked as an administrator for an intensive care unit and holds a B.S. in Psychology from Suffolk University.

Olie Luchitsky joined Third Rock Ventures in 2023, providing administrative support to associates, principals, and projects. She previously worked at healthcare technology company 100Plus as one of its earliest employees and brings over a decade of operational experience.

Paul Melone joined Third Rock Ventures in 2023 as Senior Director of IT after 22 years in various roles at Infinity Pharmaceuticals. He holds a B.A. from St. Anselm College and a B.S. in Civil Engineering from Catholic University.

Tracy Williams supports the firm's operations by providing administrative assistance to partners, venture partners, and staff. She joined Third Rock in 2016 and studied at Salem State University.

Walter Kowtoniuk, a Ph.D. in Chemical Biology from Harvard, focuses on genetics and genomics to inform disease biology and drug discovery. He works at the intersection of science, business, and strategy to launch patient-centric biotech companies.

Zoe Angell is a Senior Executive Assistant at Third Rock Ventures who joined in 2008 and manages operations and administrative functions for partners and venture partners. She holds a B.F.A. from the Rhode Island School of Design.