Robert Overell is President of Foundation BioVentures, through which he helps early stage life science companies with corporate strategy. Prior, he was Founder, President and CEO of PhaseRx, a biotechnology company developing breakthrough RNA therapeutics. Prior to starting PhaseRx, he was a General Partner at Frazier Healthcare Ventures where he participated in raising over $600M of venture capital and invested over $60M in private venture-backed biotechnology companies. His venture experience spans the spectrum of investment risks and stages, from seed to late stage investing. He was a key figure in the founding and/or growth of several venture-backed companies, including Array Biopharma (NASDAQ:ARRY), and XenoPort (NASDAQ:XNPT). His investments included therapeutics, tools, reagents, instrumentation, bioinformatics and service businesses.
Dr. Overell joined Immunex in 1984, where he built and led research and development programs in cell and molecular biology, and led the development, manufacturing and clinical affairs for the first HIV gene therapy trial in the world, which was approved in 1991. Dr. Overell helped found the Immunex gene therapy spinout Targeted Genetics, where he directed the development of novel gene delivery vehicles. He was trained as a cell and molecular biologist and has published numerous publications and patents, including a landmark paper on cell transformation in Nature in 1983.