Our Team
Many Backgrounds. Different Perspectives. Persistently Curious.
MEET THE TEAM
NIK OBHOLZER, PhD
Senior Director Omics and AI
ADAM TRAVIS, MD
Vice President of Corporate Development
KAT RIESEN
Senior VP, Finance
CASEY LESSARD
Legal Associate
DEREK DiROCCO, PhD
Partner
KEEGAN MUELLER
Fund Accountant
NIK OBHOLZER, PhD
Senior Director Omics and AI
Nik Obholzer is the Senior Director Omics and AI at Raven. Prior to Raven, Nik was a Director of Computational Biology at Kronos Bio. Over the course of his career, he has worked in academia, consulting, biotech, and pharma. Nik holds a PhD in Biology from Heidelberg University in Germany.
ADAM TRAVIS, MD
Vice President of Corporate Development
Adam Travis, MD is Vice President of Corporate Development at Raven, where he is focused on new venture incubation in healthcare services. Prior to joining Raven, Adam was VP Corporate Strategy at Teladoc Health - a scale-leading international provider of virtual and digital healthcare products and services. In this role, he was responsible for leading long-range strategic and financial planning, enterprise product and platform investment planning, and growth / GTM strategy for Teladoc’s largest business unit focused on services sold to US payers and self-insured employers. Adam began his career as a radiologist, but for the past 10+ years he has worked entirely in Strategy, GM, and Product leadership roles in health tech and healthcare delivery businesses and has advised clients and led Product and Commercial teams as an expert on care delivery innovation and value-based care. Prior to joining Teladoc through its acquisition of Livongo in 2020, Adam was a VP of Product Management and GM at Clarify Health and before that a Principal at Boston Consulting Group where he focused on growth and M&A strategy for clients spanning biopharma, medical device, payer, and provider sectors of the healthcare industry. He completed residency training and board certification in diagnostic radiology at University of Chicago Hospitals where he served as Chief Resident in 2012, and holds a Doctor of Medicine from University of Louisville School of Medicine and a Bachelor of Engineering in Biomedical Engineering with Honors from Vanderbilt University.
KAT RIESEN
Senior VP, Finance
Kat Riesen is the Senior VP, Finance at Raven. Kat’s primary responsibility is supporting newcos, portfolio companies and executives within Raven, focusing on strategic finance. Prior to joining Raven, Kat was a Partner at van den Boom & Associates where she provided accounting and finance services including new company formation through IPO and public company accounting support, SOX compliance implementation, and financial modeling to several public and private life science companies. Before entering the life science space, Kat held various accounting roles in the retail industry and started her career at Ernst & Young. Kat has a BS in Business Administration, majoring in Accounting from the University of Minnesota, Carlson School of Management. She is a CPA.
CASEY LESSARD
Legal Associate
Casey Lessard is a Legal Associate on secondment at RA Capital Management from Goodwin Procter LLP. While in law school, Casey worked as an associate at Duke Capital Partners, an investment entity supporting the university’s entrepreneurial ecosystem. In that role he led efforts related to sourcing, screening, diligence, and investor relations. Casey is also a member of Duke’s Entrepreneurial Leaders Network. Casey Holds a BS in Finance from the University of Florida and a JD and LLM (Law & Entrepreneurship) with honors from Duke University School of Law.
DEREK DiROCCO, PhD
Partner
Derek DiRocco is a Partner at RA Capital Management. Derek works on both public and private investments and serves as a Board Director for 89Bio, Achilles Therapeutics, iTeos Therapeutics, Connect Bio, CANbridge, and Werewolf Therapeutics. Previously, Derek covered solid tumor oncology landscapes. He conducted his postdoctoral research at Brigham and Women’s Hospital/Harvard Medical School, where he researched the role of the Wnt signaling pathway in mouse models of kidney disease, and was part of a team that discovered a stem cell subtype responsible for solid organ fibrosis. Derek holds a BA in Biology from Holy Cross College and a PhD in Pharmacology from the University of Washington.
KEEGAN MUELLER
Fund Accountant
Keegan Mueller is a Fund Accountant at RA Capital Management. His primary responsibilities are to assist with accounting, financial reporting, and investment valuation. Prior to RA, Keegan was a Senior Audit Associate at PwC. Keegan holds a BS in Business Administration in Accounting and Finance from Boston College.