The Formative Years

Much to my parent’s dismay, I spent my early years in Costa Rica, playing soccer believing, “Football is Life”. My parents were immigrants who had fled discrimination and persecution, and for whom education had been the ladder to escape. As a result, my parents were pretty traumatized – preferring I be more studious but the reality was, soccer gave me a better and more complete lens on the world – yes it was fun, but more importantly, it was also about the teamwork, collaboration, and spontaneity (have the ball will play). At the same time, it afforded me an opportunity to be with people from virtually every socio-economic background and age. Thereby allowing me to develop my own unique understanding and appreciation of the social fabric of a society, the types of challenges that poor and disadvantaged individuals face almost daily, and the importance of obtaining a good education and access to healthcare to remove barriers to success.

Late in my high school education, we moved to Paris as my father went on sabbatical. There I learned French and became much more disciplined and focused on my education. While the transition was tough, our family values; a positive attitude, hard work, and tenacity supporting each other, got my sisters and I through it. This was a formative time for me, in which I was influenced by a few great teachers, two parents with eclectic and broad interests, and my reading of Darwin’s “On the Origin of Species”. That book was the game changer that narrowed my interest in the biological sciences.

The idea of a career in medicine started to emerge as the most impactful way to change patients’ lives and so I moved to the US to start that journey. The initial focus was to improve my English – but ultimately I ended up securing a scholarship from Rice University. After graduating, I believed I was destined for a brilliant career as an academic researcher and the next step on that path was to study Biochemistry and Molecular Biology at McGill University in Canada. I completed my Ph.D., I got married, moved to Toronto, and started my post-doctoral training at the Ontario Cancer Institute, which at the time was home to many of the world’s leading scientists.

Deviating from a Linear Trajectory and Embracing Risk

By the time I completed my post-doctoral training, the funding model for medical research, particularly for new investigators had pretty much dried up (sounds like this might be my first exposure to the realities of VC). Fortunately, serendipity interceded, and one of my academic mentors encouraged me to consider going into the industry. This was of course pure heresy and it felt like a huge risk, one that might forever dislodge me from my path. But, with some trepidation, I chose to embraced that risk and doing that ultimately gave me a huge degree of freedom to consider several alternative innovative research opportunities outside of academia. This included an offer for a basic research position at a small pharmaceutical company in Toronto that was putting in place a major program to develop a vaccine for HIV/AIDS. Over the next 13 years, the program expanded significantly, I ultimately ended up leading a multifunctional global program that included multiple collaborations with other innovative biotech start-ups, and the firm expanded multi-fold through a series of M&A activities. With growth came bureaucracy, and just as I started to think about “what next” I was offered an opportunity to join a VC firm. I knew nothing about VC and being a life sciences investor had never been a goal of mine, BUT the prospect of helping founders and entrepreneurs translate scientific innovation into therapeutics for clinical unmet needs was something that really excited me. This has ultimately turned out to be the most interesting and rewarding professional undertaking in my career particularly after Peter joined and we led the buy-out that allowed us to build the firm in our vision and with our values. My family is often surprised to see how happy I have been at Lumira, but the reality is this isn’t a job, it’s my passion. My journey is a reminder that in life one has to openly embrace risk, and be tenacious but also flexible enough to allow us to recognize and capitalize on unforeseen opportunities.

What Drives Me Today

Learning about the latest innovations in life sciences and talking to founders and serial entrepreneurs about their dreams and goals is a key driver in my daily activities. There is nothing more stimulating than discussing with them and my partners at work the opportunities that emerge from the application of the latest innovations.

I thrive in environments where teamwork is the norm and where knowledgeable, visionary colleagues challenge each other respectfully to achieve consensus and alignment of goals. My investment objective is to only support passionate founders and entrepreneurs who want to build transformative businesses with clearly defined therapeutic outcomes that may improve patient lives.