Mr. Buten has more than 20 years of experience in healthcare investing as well as 15 years as an advisor in investment banking and strategic structuring of deals for both small and large capitalization companies. In 2021, he joined Biohaven Pharmaceuticals as Chief Financial Officer. Prior to Biohaven, he served as managing director of Foresite Capital Management for nearly a decade. Mr. Buten’s prior roles include healthcare portfolio manager at Catapult Capital Management LLC / Millennium LP, co-founder and co-manager of Sapphire Capital Partners LLP, a co-founder and a partner at Argus Partners, a Managing Director and Head of Healthcare Investment Banking for Needham & Company, LLC, and Director in Investment Banking at Smith Barney Inc. He holds a B.S. in Economics from The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania.
Team Category: Board of Directors
An entrepreneur turned venture capitalist, Mr. Thorp is Co-Founder and General Partner of Hatteras Venture Partners, a venture capital partnership that manages over $700 million across six vintages. Since 1995, he has co-founded eight companies in the life science arena. Mr. Thorp has led investments and numerous strategic transaction processes in a range of life science companies, including biopharmaceuticals, medical devices, diagnostics and research informatics. These companies include: ArtusLabs, Asthmatx, Inc., Clearside Biomedical, Embrella, G1 Therapeutics, Kymera Therapeutics, Lysosomal Therapeutics, Inc., PhaseBio Pharmaceuticals and Synthematix, Inc. Mr. Thorp serves as Chairman of PhaseBio Pharmaceuticals Board of Directors and is on the boards of Clearside, GeneCentric Therapeutics, Seaport Diagnostics, StrideBio and Vigil Neuroscience. He is also on the Strategic and Scientific Advisory Board of Brii Biosciences. Mr. Thorp serves on the Chancellor’s Philanthropic Committee at University of North Carolina (UNC) at Chapel Hill, the Board of Visitors of the Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center at UNC-Chapel Hill and on the board of the North Carolina School of Science and Mathematics Foundation. He holds a M.P.P. from Harvard University and a B.A. in Mathematics and Art History from UNC-Chapel Hill.
Artizan’s President and Chief Executive Officer, Dr. Martell, is a seasoned biopharmaceutical executive with high-impact, results-oriented breadth and depth in clinical development, medical affairs and business development across a range of therapeutic areas from first-in-human through approval and commercialization. She brings extensive scientific acumen to her leadership roles and has been a pivotal leader or major contributor in the success of six marketed products: Kadcyla®, Elelyso®, Intermezzo®, the trastuzumab biosimilars Ogivri®, as well as secondary indications for Pradaxa® and Sutent®. Dr. Martell has held leadership and C-suite executive roles at companies including Kura Oncology, where she led the Menin Inhibitor Program, and at Juniper Pharmaceuticals, where she led the development program for a Bob Langer-created drug/device technology that was out-licensed for $131M. She started her pharmaceutical career at Pfizer, where she had roles of increasing responsibility that included Clinical Team Leader for Sutent® GU solid tumors in the Oncology Business Unit and, ultimately, Biosimilars Medical Head. She began her clinical investigation career at Yale with a Career Development Award, where she led a therapeutic cocaine vaccine trial and was a Robert Wood Johnson Clinical Scholar. Dr. Martell was a practicing physician at Yale for 20 years and remains active as an Entrepreneur in Residence at the Office of Cooperative Research. She holds a B.Sc. in Microbiology from Cornell University, an M.A. in Molecular Immunology from Boston University and an M.D. from The Chicago Medical School. Dr. Martell is board certified in Internal and Addiction Medicine.
A seasoned expert in technology commercialization and economic development, Dr. Soderstrom, for over 20 years, was Managing Director of Technology Commercialization and Faculty Innovation at Yale University’s Office of Cooperative Research, where he commercialized inventions resulting from Yale’s scientific research including patent license agreements, strategic corporate partnerships and the formation of new business ventures. He was also responsible for facilitating a robust ecosystem that supports faculty entrepreneurship. His work has helped form more than 30 new ventures including Molecular Staging (acquired by Qiagen), Achillion Pharmaceuticals (NASQ: ACHN), Protometrix (acquired by Invitrogen), Iconic Therapeutics, HistoRx (acquired by Genoptix), Kolltan Pharmaceuticals (acquired by Celldex), Arvinas (NASDAQ: ARVN) and Artizan Biosciences. Collectively, these companies have raised over $750 million of venture capital funding. He helped create the Academic Venture Exchange, designed to connect highly successful serial entrepreneurs with startup opportunities at major research universities. Previously, Dr. Soderstrom was the director of program development for Oak Ridge National Laboratory after serving for 10 years as director of technology licensing for Martin Marietta Energy Systems. In the Office of Technology Applications, he directed a group of 10 professionals responsible for negotiating license contracts and cooperative research and development agreements. Dr. Soderstrom was a founding board member and past president of the Association of Federal Technology Transfer Executives and a member of the Licensing Executive Society. At the Association of University Technology Managers, his roles included president, vice president for public policy and member of the executive committee of the board of directors. He frequently lectures and teaches seminars on various aspects of technology commercialization and economic development within the United States and abroad. Dr. Soderstrom has testified before Congress on technology transfer issues and served as an expert witness in several patent infringement litigations and contract disputes. He received his Ph.D. from Northwestern University and his B.A. from Hope College.
Dr. McGrath has over 22 years of clinical research and pharmaceutical business development experience. He is currently Chief of Corporate Strategy & Business Development at Biohaven Pharmaceuticals. Dr. McGrath previously spent more than a decade at Bristol-Myers Squibb (BMS) serving in varying roles of responsibility including Vice President, Business Development, Head of Search & Evaluation and Executive Director in Business Development responsible for neuroscience and virology business development. During his tenure, the business development group executed over 50 major transactions in oncology, neuroscience, cardiovascular, fibrosis, immuno-science, virology and genetically defined diseases. In addition, Dr. McGrath was responsible for overseeing BMS’ venture capital investment portfolio ($350 million) and provided leadership for all global external partnering activities. His initial role with BMS was as a director of clinical research in the virology clinical development group, where he became Group Director and the REYATAZ® Development Lead. Dr. McGrath oversaw multiple clinical virology programs resulting in seven major FDA filings for REYATAZ® and SUSTIVA®, and over 60 EMEA procedures submitted and fulfilled. Prior to BMS, Dr. McGrath was a physician-researcher in the Division of Geographic Medicine and Infectious Disease at Tufts-New England Medical Center, and an Assistant Professor of Medicine at Tufts Medical School in Boston. From 2002 to 2004, he was based at the Africa Center for Reproductive Health and Population Studies in KwaZulu Natal, South Africa, where he established an NIH-funded post-graduate training program in medical informatics with the University of KwaZulu Natal School of Medicine and worked on HIV clinical studies. Dr. McGrath earned his undergraduate degree at University College Dublin, his M.D. from the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland, and his M.P.H. from the Harvard School of Public Health. He completed his residency in internal medicine at St. Elizabeth’s Medical Center, and fellowship in Infectious Disease at Tufts-New England Medical Center.
A chemist, entrepreneur and professor, Dr. Thorp is Editor-in-Chief of the Science family of journals. Prior to Science, he was provost of Washington University. He currently serves as the Rita Levi-Montalcini Distinguished University Professor, holding appointments in both chemistry and medicine. Dr. Thorp joined Washington University after spending three decades at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (UNC), where he served as the 10th chancellor until 2013. He earned his B.S. in chemistry from UNC and his Ph.D. in chemistry from the California Institute of Technology, working with Harry B. Gray on inorganic photochemistry. He completed postdoctoral work at Yale University with Gary W. Brudvig, working on model compounds and reactions for the manganese cluster in the photosynthetic reaction center. Dr. Thorp holds an honorary Doctor of Laws degree from North Carolina Wesleyan College and is a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, the National Academy of Inventors and the American Association for the Advancement of Science. In his research career, he studied electron-transfer reactions of nucleic acids, developed technology for electronic DNA chips and cofounded Viamet Pharmaceuticals, which developed oteseconazole, now held by Mycovia Pharmaceuticals, which has submitted a new drug application following successful Phase 3 trials. Dr. Thorp is a venture partner at Hatteras Venture Partners, a consultant to Ancora and is also on the board of directors of the College Advising Corps. He has co-authored two books on higher education: Engines of Innovation: The Entrepreneurial University in the Twenty-First Century and Our Higher Calling: Rebuilding the Partnership Between America and its Colleges and Universities, both from UNC Press.
A seasoned entrepreneur and biotech executive, Christy Shaffer, Ph.D. has 30 years of experience in the life science industry ranging from clinical scientist and international project leader at Burroughs Wellcome Co. to President and CEO of Inspire Pharmaceuticals. She is currently a General Partner at Hatteras Venture Partners. Dr. Shaffer joined Inspire as its first full-time employee, growing the company from 20 scientists to 250 employees and ultimately raising over $300M for the company, including its IPO in 2000. Under her leadership, Inspire was named as “Best Place to Work for Scientists” by the Scientist magazine, and “Best Place to Work in North Carolina” before her retirement in 2011 and ultimate acquisition by Merck. In addition to serving as Artizan’s Chair, she is a board member of four other Hatteras portfolio companies: Clearside Biomedical, GrayBug Vision (Chair), Trefoil Therapeutics and Perfuse Therapeutics. Dr. Shaffer also serves on several non-profit boards including RTI International, the Chordoma Foundation and the Council for Entrepreneurial Development. She is a receptor pharmacologist by training, earning her Ph.D. in Pharmacology from the University of Tennessee Health Science Center. Dr. Shaffer received her post-doctoral training at The Chicago Medical School and UNC-Chapel Hill.