Team

Ron Laufer, M.D. Senior Managing Director

Ron started his career as a physician and entrepreneur, before moving into venture capital. He was a co-founder of Lilly Ventures, the venture capital arm of Eli Lilly & Company, and later a managing director at Visium Asset Management, a healthcare-focused investment firm, before joining MedImmune Ventures in April of 2010.

Ron received his B.Sci., M.D. and M.P.H. from Hebrew University, and an M.B.A. from the Harvard Business School. He is currently an adjunct Professor of business administration at the Kelley Business School.

Samuel Wu, M.D., Ph.D. Managing Director

Sam joined MedImmune Venture’s West Coast Office in September of 2010 from SV Life Sciences, where he was a principle for eight years, investing and working with a broad range of biopharmaceutical, platform and medical device companies. Previously, he was an Engagement Manager with McKinsey and Company's Pharmaceuticals and Medical Products practice, where he led teams of consultants serving clients on M&A, portfolio analysis and other strategic issues.

Sam holds an A.B. magna cum laude in Biochemistry from Harvard College, attended Stanford University School of Medicine where he earned an M.D. and a Ph.D. in Biochemistry as a Howard Hughes Predoctoral Fellow, and trained in Internal Medicine at the University of California, Los Angeles.

Michael Gutch, Ph.D. Managing Director

Mike joined MedImmune Ventures in September 2011 from H.I.G. BioVentures, a life-science focused investment fund. Previously, he was with Lilly Ventures, the corporate venture capital arm of Eli Lilly & Company. While at Eli Lilly, Mike was also a member of the Corporate Finance and Investment Banking group, where he focused on mergers and acquisitions and licensing transactions.

Mike currently serves as a member of the Board of Directors for Southeast BIO, a member of the Johns Hopkins Alliance for Science & Technology Development, and a member of the Business Advisory Board for the Alzheimer’s Drug Discovery Foundation. Mike earned his Ph.D. in Cellular and Molecular Pathology from the State University of New York at Stony Brook and was a post-doctoral research fellow at both UCSF and the Cold Spring Harbor Laboratories. He earned his M.B.A. in finance from Indiana University.

Isai Peimer Principal

Isai Peimer joined MedImmune Ventures in August of 2010. Before that Isai worked as a venture capitalist at Visium Asset Management, a healthcare-focused investment firm based in New York. Previously, he worked as an investment banker at J.P. Morgan and as a Specialty Pharmaceuticals analyst at Alliance Bernstein. Prior to Wall Street, Isai was a management consultant and focused on corporate strategy for the pharmaceutical and biotech sectors; he began his career as a scientist at Merck.

Isai is a graduate of Emory University where he earned a B.S. in Chemistry summa cum laude, and earned his M.B.A. from the Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth.

Tyrell Rivers, Ph.D. Senior Associate

Tyrell joined MedImmune Ventures in 2009. Previously, he spent eight years at Merck where he most recently directed global business initiatives for securing catalysis technologies, clinical drug supply, and key CRO services to support the expanding R&D pipeline. At Merck, he also led technology innovation of live virus and conjugated protein vaccines, increasing operational efficiency and process reliability.

Tyrell earned his B.S. in Chemical Engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, a Ph.D. in Chemical Engineering from University of Texas at Austin, and his M.B.A. from the New York University Stern School of Business.

Melissa Alban

Melissa joined MedImmune Ventures in 2009. She previously was a Business Manager and assistant to the President and CEO of Emerging Science and Technologies Group, an engineering firm developing homeland security, military and robotic technologies. Before that, she was Office Manager for eight years for Care Health Services, a high volume, seven professional practice.

Melissa earned her B.A. in Social Work and Sociology from McDaniel College, and started her career as a client advocate for Family & Children's Services in Westminster, MD.