Tim Clackson
Tim Clackson is a scientist and biotechnology leader with 30 years of experience building teams and companies, primarily in oncology. He has led the development of multiple precision medicines for cancer patients, including several approved therapies, and created significant value through strategic capital formation, partnerships, and M&A.
Tim was most recently CEO of IDRx, a precision oncology company developing a potential best-in-class therapy for GIST, acquired by GSK for up to 1.15bn. Previously he was CEO of Theseus Pharmaceuticals, President of Xilio Therapeutics, and President of R&D at ARIAD Pharmaceuticals where he led the development of three approved precision medicines prior to the company’s acquisition by Takeda for $5.2bn.
Tim trained as a postdoctoral fellow at Genentech, received his Ph.D. in Biology from the University of Cambridge and his B.A. in Biochemistry from the University of Oxford. He has served on the boards of multiple private and public companies as well as the Massachusetts Biotechnology Council (MassBio).
David Mackey
Dave Mackey is the CFO of Catalyst Health Ventures (CHV). He’s responsible for the financial management, reporting, audit, tax, legal and administrative functions of CHV and brings over 20 years of finance, legal, operational and transactional experience to the firm.
Prior to joining CHV, Dave held senior roles at two Catalyst portfolio companies, serving most recently as Chief Operating Officer at PanTher Therapeutics after previously serving as President and Chief Financial Officer at Lantos Technologies. Prior to that, he was the Chief Financial Officer at AgNovos Healthcare, where he led finance, administration and business development.
Before joining the MedTech industry, Dave was an investment banker at J.P. Morgan in New York, where he advised companies and investment firms on mergers, acquisitions, divestitures, IPOs, follow-on offerings, and debt financings. He began his career as a corporate attorney at Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher, where he focused his practice on M&A and securities offerings. Dave received a J.D. from the University of Pennsylvania School of Law and a B.A. from Colorado State University.
Manish Bhandari
Manish Bhandari, MD, E-MBA, is the Founder and Managing Partner of Angel Physicians Fund, a venture capital firm that supports early-stage healthcare technology companies. He is also Medical Oncologist and Chief of Innovation & Oncology at St. Elizabeth Healthcare in MidWest USA. With over two decades of experience in the healthcare sector as a clinician, research investigator, and as a MedTech investor, he advises five large MedTech funds nationally.
As a medical oncologist, healthcare executive, and strategy consultant, Manish brings a combination of clinical, operational, and financial expertise to identify, evaluate, and invest in promising opportunities in the healthcare sector. His work is driven by a mission to improve patient outcomes, advance medical innovation, and drive healthcare transformation. He also serves on the Board of Directors of several portfolio companies in oncology, where he provides strategic guidance, industry insights, and mentorship to the founders and management teams. Additionally, he advises Catalyst Health Ventures and AngelMD, two leading healthcare investment platforms. Manish has multiple publications and patents in the field of oncology and medical devices, was named "Doctor of the Year" by Cincinnati Magazine in 2018, and bestowed a lifetime achievement award by a cancer patient support group in the U.S.
Manish is a graduate of Harvard Medical School and a board-certified medical oncologist from the University of Michigan-Ann Arbor, with an executive MBA from McKinsey & Co.
Dan Wildman
Dan Wildman is President of Wildman Ventures, LLC., where he serves as a member of the Board of Directors or as a Strategic Advisor for several early-stage organizations and publicly-held companies. Dan applies his expertise and more than four decades of experience to advancing the development program for PanTher’s lead candidate, PTM-101, and selecting and prioritizing other SagittariTM platform products.
Prior to joining PanTher Therapeutics, Dan was at Johnson & Johnson where he led the Digital Surgery Strategy initiative and served as worldwide President of Depuy Synthes Spine, the second-largest spine surgery business in the world. Previously, he served as Worldwide President of Ethicon Biosurgery, where he led the development and commercialization of a novel combination product based on a biomaterial and biologic formulation. The biosurgery business at Ethicon now exceeds $2.0B in revenue and continues to be one of the fastest-growing companies in Johnson & Johnson’s medical device portfolio.
Maria Palasis
Maria Palasis, PhD, is Chief Executive Officer and Board Director of Lyra Therapeutics, a combination product biotechnology company she took public in 2020.
Maria is also on the Advisory Board of Beta Bionics. Prior to Lyra Therapeutics, she was President, CEO, and Board Director of both Arsenal Medical and its spin-out, 480 Biomedical. Maria also served in senior leadership roles at Boston Scientific Corporation, focused on the development of drug-device combination products. In 2021, she was elected to the National Academy of Engineering for outstanding contributions to the design of medical devices and drug delivery systems.
Maria holds a BS and PhD in Chemical Engineering from the University of Cincinnati and completed her postdoctoral fellowship in Molecular Biology at the University of Cincinnati School of Medicine.
Darshana Zaveri
Darshana Zaveri is a Founder and Managing Partner of Catalyst Health Ventures (CHV). She is actively involved in all aspects of fund management including investments and capital raising and has led several investments in the medical device, women’s health and diagnostics markets.
She led CHV’s investments in Augmenix (acquired by Boston Scientific), nVision Medical (acquired by Boston Scientific), Maxwell Health (acquired by SunLife), Aria CV, PanTher Therapeutics, AtaCor Medical, Instylla, Avive, Rejoni and Venova Medical. She currently (or previously) represents CHV on the Boards of all companies.
Prior to joining CHV in 2007, Darshana was an Investigator at Vertex Pharmaceuticals, and an integral part of drug development programs in oncology, metabolic disease, and immunology. Previously she worked at Genome Therapeutics, a Massachusetts-based biotechnology company and at the Dana Farber Cancer Institute.
Darshana currently serves as an advisor of the Deshpande Center for Technological Innovation at MIT, (a foundation that helps MIT students and faculty commercialize breakthrough technologies and inventions), as a Board Director of The New England Venture Capital Association (NEVCA) and as a lead advisor to the Portfolia FemTech fund (an investment fund designed for women).
Darshana received an M.P.A. from Harvard University, an M.A. in Cell and Molecular Biology from Boston University, and a B.S. in Biochemistry from Bombay University in Bombay, India.
