More About Ben
Ben Portney, PhD, is an investing partner on the Bio + Health team. He is a scientist and entrepreneur with a focus on investing in early stage companies building platforms for novel therapeutic discovery and development. He is involved with companies including: Orbital Therapeutics, insitro, BigHat Biosciences, Rezo Therapeutics, and Octant Bio.
Before joining Andreessen Horowitz, Ben was a Senior Associate at Flagship Pioneering, where he worked as part of a venture-creation team to found and grow several biotechnology companies. Prior to Flagship, Ben received his PhD in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology from the University of Maryland, Baltimore, studying the role of epigenetics in cancer plasticity. His graduate work resulted in publication in multiple peer-reviewed journals and several pending patents.
Ben holds a PhD in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology from the University of Maryland, Baltimore and a BS in Biology from the University of Maryland, College Park. He is a proud native of Baltimore and passionately believes that the Wire is the best TV Series of all time.
Latest Content
-
Jordi Mata-Fink, PhD, cofounder of Gate Bioscience, joins Vineeta Agarwala and Ben Portney of a16z Bio + Health.In this episode, Jordi discusses how he and his cofounders are working to commercialize a novel class of therapeutics, termed "molecular gates."
-
Each new modality needs to find its platform-disease fit—the diseases it is uniquely suited for. But finding fit has increasingly turned into a fight; many have crowded into the same indications. With an expanding arsenal to treat disease, how will patients, clinicians, and the market determine what tool to use?
