About Us
About us
Our Story
AIM-HI was born when Dr. Sujuan Ba, Franklin Salisbury, and Charlie Weatherspoon – realized a major obstacle to their vision for the National Foundation for Cancer Research:
some of the most promising oncology therapeutic discoveries and early-stage companies were failing due to lack of seed funding before they can get to the clinic.
Our Mission
Therapeutic development in pre-clinical stage is both an expensive and risky investment, which is enough to scare away most traditional VCs. Dr. Ba, Mr. Salisbury and Mr. Weatherspoon co-founded AIM-HI in 2019 with the commitment to bridging this “Valley of Death” and providing the support that these entrepreneurs and researchers need.
With the initial grants from NFCR, AIM-HI has since invested in nineteen promising start-ups, fourteen of these companies have since received additional investments from other investors and one company secured a commercial licensing from a large medical device company.
The AIM-HI Venture Competition was born, a first of its kind program to specifically support scientist-entrepreneurs in the oncology arena that combines investment funding with coaching, advising, and building a continous global network.
Now, AIM-HI is looking to break barriers yet again in the non-profit impact investment landscape. Our non-profit aims to achieve the “Evergreen Model” of charitable giving and impact investing. Returns on successful portfolio investments will be re-invested back into promising oncology discoveries and startups in a self-perpetuating cycle. AIM-HI plans to to create a sustainable model for cancer research funding and STEM entrepreneurship.
Our Team
Sujuan Ba, Ph.D
Co-Founder & Chief Executive Officer
Kwok Leung, Ph.D.
Chief Financial Officer
Jonathan Larsen
Director of Global Communications
Ella Ye
Scientific Programs & Communications Manager
Board of Directors
Matt Tremblay, Ph.D.
Chairman
Charlie Weatherspoon
Co-founder
Silas Deane
Director
Rose Wang, MBA
Director
Mark Baran
Director
Alfred Slanetz, Ph.D.
Director
Strategic Advisors
Webster K. Cavenee, Ph.D.
Director of Strategic Alliances, Ludwig Institute for Cancer Research
Pamela Garzone, Ph.D.
Chief Development Officer, Anixa Biosciences
Chih-Kao Hu, Ph.D., MBA
Management Consultant, Qral Group
Raju Kucherlapati, Ph.D.
Paul C. Cabot Professor of Genetics, Professor of Medicine, Harvard Medical School
Lou Lieto, Ph.D., J.D.
Partner, Wilson Sonsini
Scott Lippman, M.D.
Distinguished Professor of Medicine & Associate Vice Chancellor for Cancer Research, UC San Diego Health
Jimmy Lu, J.D., MBA
Co-Founder & Managing Director, Eos BioInnovation
Patty Obermaier
Vice President, US Health and Life Sciences, Microsoft
Program Advisors
Tonino Belmonte
Founder & Venture Partner, Carthona Capital
Carlo M. Croce, M.D.
Professor of Internal Medicine, The Ohio State University
Aleksandra Filipovic, M.D., Ph.D.
Head of Oncology, PureTech Health
Dimitra Georganopoulou, Ph.D.
General Partner, Qral Ventures
Jennifer Grandis, M.D.
American Cancer Society Professor, University of California San Francisco
Beverly Lu, Ph.D.
Investment Manager, Health, Emerson Collective
Amy Millman
President & Co-Founder, Springboard Enterprises
Gregory W. Mitchell, Ph.D., J.D.
Senior Counsel, Wilson Sonsini
Eifion Phillips, Ph.D., J.D.
Patent Attorney
Kanaga Sabapathy, Ph.D.
Head, Division of Cellular and Molecular Research, National Cancer Center Singapore
Michael Salgaller, Ph.D.
Supervisory Invention Development & Marketing Specialist, National Institutes of Health/National Cancer Institute
Paul Schimmel, Ph.D.
Professor, Department of Cell and Molecular Biology, The Scripps Research Institute
Fei Shen, Ph.D.
Managing Director, Boehringer Ingelheim Venture Fund USA
Thea Tlsty, Ph.D.
Professor of Pathology, University of California San Francisco
Daniel D. Von Hoff M.D., F.A.C.P.
Physician-in-Chief & Distinguished Professor, Translational Genomics Research Institute
Barbara Weber, M.D.
President & CEO, Tango Therapeutics
Partners and Sponsors
