Leadership

Brian G. Atwood
Director

Brian G. Atwood has served as a member of our board of directors since our inception. In 1999, he co-founded and currently serves as a Managing Director for Versant Ventures, a healthcare-focused venture capital firm. Prior to founding Versant Ventures, Mr. Atwood served as a general partner of Brentwood Associates, a venture capital firm. Mr. Atwood also serves on the boards of several pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies, including Cadence Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ: CADX), Five Prime Therapeutics, Groove Biopharma Corporation, Helicos BioSciences Corporation (NASDAQ: HLCS), Immune Design Corp., OpGen Inc., PhaseRx Pharmaceuticals, Spark Diagnostics, Trius Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ: TSRX) and Veracyte, Inc. Mr. Atwood also served on the board of Pharmion Corporation from January 2000 until the company’s acquisition in 2008. Mr. Atwood holds a B.S. in biological sciences from the University of California, Irvine, a M.S. in ecology from the University of California, Davis, and an M.B.A. from Harvard University. We believe that Mr. Atwood possesses specific attributes that qualify him to serve as a member of our board of directors, including his experience in the venture capital industry, his years of business and leadership experience and his financial sophistication and expertise.