Alex Barkas, Ph.D.
Managing Director, Prospect Venture Partners
Alex is a Managing Director of Prospect Venture Partners. Prior to co-founding Prospect Venture Partners I and II, Alex was a Partner at Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers (KPCB) from 1991 to 1997 where he focused on health care product company investments in the drug, device, and diagnostic sectors. Additionally, during his tenure at KPCB, Alex served as the founding CEO of two pioneering biotechnology companies, Geron (NASDAQ:GERN) and Connective Therapeutics (now Connetics, NASDAQ:CNCT). For both of these companies, Alex worked with the scientific founders to develop the companies’ initial business plans, in-license key enabling technology and products, recruit world class scientific talent and advisory board members, secure significant milestone-driven venture financing, and recruit experienced senior executive management teams.
Prior to KPCB, Alex was a founder and CEO of BioBridge Associates, a health care industry consulting firm from 1989 to 1991. From 1987 to 1989, he served as the Director of Technology Development at Advanced Biosearch Associates, a regulatory affairs advisory firm where he focused on medical product commercialization and medical device regulatory strategy. Alex’s research experience was gained at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, the Genetics Department at the Toronto Hospital for Sick Children, the Whitehead Institute at MIT, and Duke University.
Alex serves or has served on the Board of Directors of Connetics (NASDAQ: CNCT), Geron (NASDAQ: GERN), Novacept (acquired by Cytyc, NASDAQ: CYTC) and Tercica (NASDAQ: TRCA), and of Amicus, Archemix, Corazon, NeoMend, Structural GenomiX, SurgRx, Verus and several other privately-held companies.
Alex received a Ph.D. in Biology from New York University and a B.A. in Biology from Brandeis University, where he currently serves on the Board of Trustees and is Chairman of the University Science Advisory Board.