Stephanie Venn-Watson
DVM, MPH

Co-Founder, Chief Executive Officer

Stephanie Venn-Watson

Stephanie is a serial entrepreneur who has successfully launched Epitracker, Seraphina Therapeutics,two clinical research programs within the Department of Defense and non-profit sector, and founded public health education programs in the community and at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Her novel approach to discovering therapeutic candidates for animals and humans has been featured on NPR’s Science Friday, CBS, BBC, National Geographic, Biocom’s Annual Dinner (2014), J&J Innovations: Powerful Ideas Series (2015), San Diego Venture Group’s Hot Topic Series (2015) and Cool Companies (2017), LA BioMed Innovation Showcase (2016), and San Diego’s Innovation Showcase (2017). She has over 60 peer-reviewed scientific publications and book chapters and is the lead inventor on over 40 issued and pending patents. For her entrepreneurial work in the health industry, Stephanie was awarded the Department of Human and Human Services Secretary’s Award for Innovations in Disease Prevention and Health Promotion.

Stephanie received her B.S. in Animal Physiology and Neuroscience from UC San Diego, D.V.M. from Tufts University, M.P.H. from Emory University, and was a National Research Council Associate with the Armed Forces Medical Intelligence Center. Stephanie has worked for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, World Health Organization, and Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency. She is an Albert Schweitzer Fellow for Life.

Did you know?

Beyond Epitracker and Seraphina, Stephanie has dedicated her career to improving animal and human health, including leading investigations on the impacts of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill on wild dolphins, chairing investigations into unusual marine mammal stranding events, founding the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's Healthy Pets, Healthy People program, and founding the Gap Junction STEM program for veterinary students and middle school kids.

Literature

Meet the rest of our team

We are a consortium of scientists, doctors, dreamers & innovators. We believe that if we can impact health at its core, we can change the world from the inside out.

Eric Venn-Watson

Eric Venn-Watson

MD, MBA

Co-Founder, Chief Operating Officer

Eric is a practicing physician and entrepreneur. He served over 25 years as a Navy and Marine Corps physician, working with the special forces community to improve their health and fitness. Additionally, Eric founded multiple companies in the drug discovery, healthcare analytics, and medical device industries. He is passionate about developing medical technologies that improve the practice and delivery of healthcare on a global scale.

Kim Kamdar

Kim Kamdar

PhD

Co-Founder, Board Chair

Kim is a Managing Partner of Domain Associates, a life sciences venture capital firm, and has been involved in numerous cutting-edge therapeutic start-ups. She was also a research director at Novartis, where she led a team to uncover small molecules that modulated signaling pathway networks.

Nicholas Schork

Nicholas Schork

PhD

Co-Founder, Senior Scientist

Nicholas is a Distinguished Professor and Director of the Quantitative Medicine and Systems Biology Division at Translational Genomics Institute, an affiliate of The City of Hope. In addition, as a leader in the design and analysis of studies of longevity, Nicholas is Scientific Director for the National Institute of Health’s National Institute of Aging-sponsored Longevity Consortium.

Edward Dennis

Edward Dennis

PhD

Scientific Advisor

Ed is a Distinguished Professor of Chemistry, Biochemistry and Pharmacology specializing in lipid research at the University of California San Diego School of Medicine. Ed, who is a graduate of Yale University and Harvard University, was Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of Lipid Research and has 375 peer-reviewed publications, including roles of fatty acids in health.

Ronald Krauss

Ronald Krauss

MD

Scientific Advisor

Ron is a Senior Scientist and Director of Atherosclerosis Research at Children's Hospital Oakland Research Institute and Adjunct Professor in the Department of Medicine at UCSF and the Department of Nutritional Sciences at UC Berkeley. Ron is a graduate of Harvard University, is board-certified in internal medicine, endocrinology and metabolism, and is a Fellow of the American Society of Nutrition and American Heart Association. He has 450 peer-reviewed publications, including leading papers on dairy-based fats and health.