Steve is an experienced biotech executive, venture investor, scientist, entrepreneur, and author. He currently advises life science companies on strategy. Previously he was CEO of Gemphire Therapeutics, Inc., a public biotech which he joined after 10 years as a Managing Director at Excel Venture Management (EVM), a firm he co-founded and which invested $225M across more than 40 life science companies. At Excel, Steve served as a Board Director of more than a dozen private and public biotech, medtech, diagnostics, and health IT companies with many successful exits. Prior to Excel, Steve held CEO and CSO positions at two life sciences companies.

Steve is currently a Director at Orionis Biosciences, Alexis Bio, iSpecimen, and Navigation Sciences. Steve began his career as a professor at Harvard Medical School and Brigham & Women’s Hospital where he published more than 130 scientific papers and was elected a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science and of the American Heart Association. He was an advisor to the Innovation Groups at the Cleveland Clinic and the Mass General Brigham. He received his Ph.D. from Duke University, post-doctoral training at Yale University, and his B.S. from Union College.

Steve loves innovation and has spoken widely, including at TED, TEDMED, and TEDx. With Juan Enriquez he co-authored Evolving Ourselves, a book that provides a sweeping tour of how humans are changing the course of evolution. Throughout his career, he has focused on translating scientific advances into solutions for patients.