Industry Roadtrip: Venture Capital

Ian Johnston has a B.S. in biomedical engineering from Rutgers University working in microfluidics developing assays to detect inflammation and infections in high-risk surgeries. He attended the University of Pennsylvania to pursue my PhD in pharmacology, specifically cardiovascular and hematologic pharmacology. He worked on modeling diseases to understand their pathogenesis and investigate novel therapeutics. During my time at UPenn, He also worked at the Penn Center for Innovation, the patent office, assessing technologies throughout the Penn community. Additionally, for 4 years of his PhD, he worked in the health consulting club out of Wharton Business School, elevating to VP of Consulting. This led him to 2 years in life science strategy consulting in Boston at a firm called Putnam Associates. Last September, Ian joined the Engine working on the investment team where they invest in tough tech across the realms of climate change, human health, and advanced systems.

Themasap Khan is Vice President at Civilization Ventures, where he leads the firm’s scientific due diligence and academic outreach programs. Themasap first started working at CV in 2018 as an Associate at the inception of Civilization Ventures’ second fund. Themasap received his Ph.D. from Stanford University in Stem Cell Biology and Regenerative Medicine, where he was an NSF Graduate Research Fellow and Stanford Graduate Fellow. His research focused on using stem cell biology, genome engineering, and live imaging to elucidate biological mechanisms underlying neuropsychiatric disorders. Themasap’s thesis work on cerebellar organoid models was published in Nature Medicine in 2020. Prior to Civilization Ventures, Themasap consulted for CRV, Menlo Ventures and Biotech Connection Bay Area. He also started and led a successful tutoring business while at Stanford. Themasap obtained his B.S. in Neuroscience from NYU where he also did primary research in stem cell biology and cancer.