Our Team
Many Backgrounds. Different Perspectives. Persistently Curious.
MEET THE TEAM
GARRETT HEFFNER, PhD
Entrepreneur in Residence
DANIEL GRAU
Advisor
MICHAEL SHERMAN, MD
Venture Partner
ALEX MARTINEZ-FORTE
Analyst, Strategic Finance
SONIA KARTHA, PhD
Associate
ERICH SCHELLER, PhD
Director of TechAtlas
GARRETT HEFFNER, PhD
Entrepreneur in Residence
Garrett Heffner is an EIR at RA Ventures, focusing on genetic medicines. In this role, he will work to evaluate and incubate early-stage therapeutic programs. Garrett has over 20 years of experience in cell and gene therapy, including over 12 years in roles of increasing responsibility in biotech companies, including with Bluebird Bio, Audentes Therapeutics, and Ambys Medicines, and he was most recently the VP of Gene Therapy at Voyager Therapeutics. Garrett has worked cross-functionally across the landscape of in vivo and ex vivo genetic medicine modalities, often at the interface of payload design, platform research and manufacturing, IND-enabling activities, bioanalytical and computational biology, and strategy. Garrett received a BS with honors from the California Institute of Technology while publishing his first paper with Dr. Paul H. Patterson, holds a PhD in Immunology from Stanford University, where he studied hematopoietic stem and progenitor cells with Dr. Irving L. Weissman, and completed his post-doctoral training at Childrens Hospital Boston/Harvard Medical School studying ES/iPSC specification to the hematopoietic fate with Dr. George Q. Daley.
DANIEL GRAU
Advisor
Daniel Grau, an experienced biotech entrepreneur and operating executive, currently serves as CEO and Director at Avilar Therapeutics, a leading extracellular protein degradation company. He is also an Advisor to HotSpot Therapeutics and recently served on the Board of Directors at Research Alliance Corporation I (merged with POINT Biopharma) and at TetraGenetics (acquired by AbCellera). Prior to Avilar, Mr. Grau was CEO at Sojournix, President at Heptares Therapeutics (acquired 2015), CEO at Cortria (acquired 2010), and COO at CombinatoRx (IPO 2005). He also served as member of the Product Advisory Board at Concert Pharmaceuticals and as an Advisor to Nimbus Therapeutics. Early in his career, Mr. Grau worked with multi-national pharma companies including Pharmacia, Pharmacia & Upjohn, and Eisai as a management consultant focused on corporate strategy, M&A, and new product launch. Prior to management consulting, Mr. Grau was Director of Marketing & Business Development at a clinical information technology startup. Mr. Grau earned his BA with High Honors from Davidson College, where he was awarded a Dana Honor Scholarship and elected to Phi Beta Kappa, and his MPhil, MA, and MAR degrees from Yale University, where he was awarded the Day Graduate Prize and was the recipient of a Mellon Fellowship in the Humanities.
MICHAEL SHERMAN, MD
Venture Partner
Michael Sherman is a Venture Partner at RA Ventures. Prior to joining RAVen, Michael was the Executive Vice President and CMO at Point32Health, formed by the merger of Harvard Pilgrim Health Care and Tufts Health Plan. Prior to Point32Health, Michael served as CMO of Harvard Pilgrim Health Care, the Corporate Medical Director at Humana and also served as Vice President of Network and Consumer Solutions for UnitedHealth Groups subsidiary Ingenix (now part of Optum). Michael has also previously held the position of Vice President and General Manager at Thomson Medstat (now part of IBM Watson Health), as well as held management roles at Immusol, a San Diego-based biotechnology company, HealthAllies, an organization created to provide discretionary medical benefits to the cash-pay market, and Da Vita, a national provider of dialysis services. Before pursuing an M.B.A. at Harvard Business School, Michael received his M.D. from Yale and practiced as a cardiac anesthesiologist. He also holds a B.A. in Anthropology and Natural Sciences and an M.S. in Biomedical Anthropology from the University of Pennsylvania. Michael is chair of the Board of Managers of the Harvard Pilgrim Health Care Institute. He holds additional board appointments with several well-respected nonprofit organizations, including the Institute for Clinical and Economic Review (ICER), the Personalized Medicine Coalition, the Harvard Business School Healthcare Initiative, NEHI (Network for Excellence in Health Innovation), and the Massachusetts Rare Disease Advisory Council.
ALEX MARTINEZ-FORTE
Analyst, Strategic Finance
Alex Martinez-Forte is an Analyst, Strategic Finance at RA Capital Management. Alex’s primary responsibility at RA Capital is to partner with the Investment Team to develop quantitative analyses to support investment decisions and inform portfolio management. Alex comes to RA from Mirai Advisory, where he specialized in financial risk and data science and developed machine learning algorithms to support banks managing regulatory and operational challenges. Prior to Mirai Advisory, he held a Financial Analyst role at Wainwright Investment Counsel. Alex has a BA with a triple-major in Finance, Economics, and Math from UMass Lowell.
SONIA KARTHA, PhD
Associate
Sonia Kartha is an Associate with the TechAtlas division of RA Capital Management. Sonia’s primary responsibility at RA Capital is to create competitive landscapes of drugs and medical devices for disease indications and capabilities. Sonia has a BA in Chemistry and a PhD in Bioengineering, both from the University of Pennsylvania.
ERICH SCHELLER, PhD
Director of TechAtlas
Erich Scheller is the Director of the TechAtlas division of RA Capital Management. Erich’s primary responsibilities are to drive internal and external strategic and diligence initiatives and oversee the workflow and professional development of TechAtlas Associates. Prior to this role, Erich mapped a number of competitive landscapes including lung cancer, obesity, and chronic kidney disease. Erich holds a BA in English Literature and Language from Harvard University and a PhD in Microbiology from the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill. His graduate research investigated the role of fimbria in Bordetella adherence and virulence.