About Us

Tiba Aynechi is a General Partner of Norwest Venture Partners’ healthcare team with 20+ years of research and investment experience. Prior to joining Norwest, Tiba spent over ten years at Novo Holdings A/S, one of the top life sciences investment firms, with offices in the US and Europe. She has served on various public and private boards including iRhythm Technologies, Mirum Pharmaceuticals, Nkarta Therapeutics, Arcellx, Spruce Biosciences, and MDLive.  Earlier in her career Tiba was a banker focused on M&A, licensing, and financing transactions involving biotech/pharma. Tiba attended the University of California Irvine where she received a Bachelor of Science degree in Physics with a Biomedical concentration. She also holds a Ph.D. in Biophysics from the University of California San Francisco, where she also did her Postdoctoral Fellowship. Tiba is also a published author of scientific articles and book chapters in rational drug design.

Jim Cornelius is an accomplished global biopharmaceutical leader, with past board and leadership roles at Bristol Myers Squibb and Eli Lilly, as well as a recognized venture investor and philanthropist.

Mr. Cornelius served as Chairman of the Board of Mead Johnson Nutrition (MJN) from December 2009 to June 2017, when MJN was acquired by Reckitt Benckiser for $16 billion. Previously, he served as Chairman of the Board of Bristol Myers Squibb (BMY) from February 2008 to May 2015, and also held the title Chief Executive Officer from September 2006 to March 2010. BMY completed a successful transformation into a leading specialty biopharmaceutical enterprise during that time.

Mr. Cornelius served as Board Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Guidant (GDT) from November 2005 to April 2006, when it was acquired by Boston Scientific (BSX) for $27 billion. Previously, he was executive Chairman of the Board of Guidant and its senior executive starting from September 1994 when the Company was formed within Eli Lilly (LLY). Mr. Cornelius was a member of LLY’s Board of Directors and its Chief Financial Officer from 1983 until 1995.

In addition, he has served on the Board of Directors of a dozen private and public companies, including The Chubb Corporation, The DIRECTV Group and Given Imaging. Mr. Cornelius is currently Chairman of Cornelius Family Foundation and Cornelius Private Investments. He earned a B.A. magna cum laude and M.B.A. from Michigan State University.

Carl L. Gordon, CFA, Ph.D is a founding member, Managing Partner, and Co-Head of Global Private Equity at OrbiMed Advisors LLC, an investment firm. Dr. Gordon serves on the boards of several public and private companies. Additionally, Dr. Gordon was a Fellow at The Rockefeller University. Dr. Gordon received a B.A. in Chemistry from Harvard College and a Ph.D. in Molecular Biology from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Kent Hawryluk has nearly 20 years’ experience as a life sciences entrepreneur, leader and investor. Mr. Hawryluk is President & CEO and one of our co-founders.

Mr. Hawryluk was a Co-founder and Chief Business Officer of Avidity Biosciences, a genetic medicines company, from January 2013 to December 2019. Under his leadership, Avidity raised $130 million in equity financings and initiated a significant strategic partnership with Eli Lilly. Previously, he served as Co-founder and CEO of MB2, a clinical-stage company focused on diabetes and obesity, from May 2014 to March 2016. MB2 was acquired by Novo Nordisk in October 2015. Prior to MB2 and Avidity, Mr. Hawryluk co-founded Marcadia Biotech and served as its Chief Business Officer and Vice President, Business Development from January 2006 to April 2011. Marcadia, a pioneer in peptide multi-agonists of incretin receptors, was acquired by Roche in December 2010. Mr. Hawryluk served as a director of Gemphire Therapeutics, a public clinical-stage cardiovascular drug company, from February 2015 to February 2019. He has served as partner of Twilight Venture Partners, a private seed- and early-stage life science venture capital fund, since January 2003. Mr. Hawryluk holds a BA from Princeton University, an MBA from Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University, and an MS, Biology from Purdue University.

Patrick Heron is a Managing Partner of Frazier’s Life Sciences team. He joined the firm in 1999 and opened Frazier’s Menlo Park office in 2003. Throughout his 15 years as a Managing Partner, Mr. Heron has led or co-led investments across 30 companies. He has successfully partnered with entrepreneurs across a range of company types and stages, from early-stage drug discovery companies to $100M commercial-stage dermatology companies. Mr. Heron currently serves on the boards of Arcutis (NASDAQ: ARQT), Imago BioSciences, Iterum Therapeutics (NASDAQ: ITRM), Mirum Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ: MIRM), MBX Biosciences, Passage Bio (NASDAQ: PASG), ScoutBio, and SutroVax (NASDAQ:PCVX). He received his M.B.A. from Harvard Business School. He also holds a B.A. from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, where he is a Phi Beta Kappa graduate and Morehead Scholar.

Mr. Hoerter previously served as President, Chief Executive Officer and Director of Deciphera Pharmaceuticals until its $2.4 billion acquisition by Ono Pharmaceutical in 2024. Prior to leading Deciphera, Mr. Hoerter served in senior commercial leadership roles at Agios Pharmaceuticals, Clovis Oncology, Roche and Genentech. Mr. Hoerter currently serves as a Board member at ORIC Pharmaceuticals and as a member of its Audit and Compensation committees, and as a board member at C4 Therapeutics. Mr. Hoerter’s previous board experience includes Constellation Pharmaceuticals, which was acquired by Morphosys in 2021 for $1.7 billion, and Ignyta, which was acquired by Roche in 2017 for $1.7 billion. He holds a B.A. in Russian and Political Science from Bucknell University, PA; an M.B.A. from TIAS Business School, Tilburg University, The Netherlands; and a M.Sc. in Management from Krannert School of Management, Purdue University, IN.

Ed Mathers is a General Partner at NEA; he joined the firm as a Partner in August 2008 and is focused on biotechnology and specialty pharmaceuticals investments. He is a director of Rhythm Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ: RYTM), Synlogic (NASDAQ:SYBX), Trevi Therapeutics (NASDAQ: TRVI), Mirum Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:MIRM), and ObsEva (NASDAQ:OBSV), as well as a number of private life sciences companies. Prior to joining NEA, Mr. Mathers served as executive vice president, corporate development and venture at MedImmune, a biopharmaceutical company, and led its venture capital subsidiary, MedImmune Ventures. Prior to this, he spent 15 years at Glaxo Wellcome (GlaxoSmithKline), where he held sales and marketing positions of increasing responsibility. Mr. Mathers earned his bachelor’s degree in chemistry from North Carolina State University.

Ora Pescovitz, M.D. is a renowned academic leader, health care executive, pediatric endocrinologist and researcher, and has published extensively.

Dr. Pescovitz was named President of Oakland University in 2017. Previously, Dr. Pescovitz served as Senior Vice President and U.S. Medical Leader for Lilly Biomedicines at Eli Lilly and Company from 2014 to 2017. From 2009 to 2014, she was the University of Michigan’s first female Executive Vice President for Medical Affairs and Health System CEO. During this time, she led a system that included three hospitals, more than 120 health centers and clinics, and the University of Michigan Medical School, and was elected to the National Academy of Medicine. She has also held numerous leadership positions with a broad range of medical research, healthcare, and civic organizations, including president of the Society for Pediatric Research, president of the Lawson Wilkins (North American) Pediatric Endocrine Society, and chair of the March of Dimes Grants Review Committee. She earned her M.D. from the Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine, where she has earned Distinguished Alumni Awards from both the Feinberg School of Medicine and Northwestern University.

Steven Ryder, MD is a biopharmaceutical professional with over 35 years of global drug development experience. He has held various leadership and development roles, and has served as the Chief Medical Officer of Rallybio Corporation since January 2019.

Prior to Rallybio, Dr. Ryder was the Chief Development Officer at Alexion Pharmaceuticals, Inc. from July 2013 to December 2018 and was the founding President of Astellas Pharma Global Development, Inc. from April 2008 to April 2013. Dr. Ryder also worked at Pfizer Inc. for 21 years where he held positions of increasing responsibility, including head of worldwide clinical development.

Dr. Ryder is a past-President of the American Society of Clinical Pharmacology and Therapeutics and has held leadership positions in the Health Section Governing Board, Regulatory Executive Committee, the board of BIO, and the Science and Regulatory section of the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America (“PhRMA”). In addition, Dr. Ryder has served as the industry representative on the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s Metabolic/Endocrine Drugs Advisory Committee.  He has also held board positions at Reata Pharmaceuticals and Levo Therapeutics.

Dr. Ryder earned his Doctor of Medicine from the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai.