Michelle Dipp

Michelle Dipp is an American scientist, businesswoman, and investor who is known for her medical research and her private equity and venture capital experience around life sciences.^[2] She currently serves as Co-Founder and Managing Partner at Biospring Partners and serves on the board of Abzena.^[3]

Early life and education[]

Michelle Dipp was raised in El Paso, Texas.^[4] Her mother was a nurse in the ER and her father was a businessman. She has one sister, Margaret Dipp, who served as head of investor relations at Longwood.^[5]

Dipp attended the all-girls school Loretto, a private high school in Central El Paso where she graduated in 1994.^{[citation needed]} She received a Bachelor of Surgery in 2021 and a PhD in Physiology and Pharmacology in 2005 from the Brasenose College, University of Oxford.^[6] Her dissertation was on pulmonary hypertension.^[7][5]

Biography[]

Dipp was appointed to the governing board of the Biotechnology Industry Organization’s Emerging Companies section in December 2013. By the end of 2013 she and Westphal had joined the approximately 100 overseers of the Boston Symphony Orchestra; BSO overseers advise the Board of Trustees on various matters including fundraising.^[8][9] In October 2014 she joined the board of directors of Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center.^[10] By 2015 she had joined the board of directors of the New England Venture Capital Association.^[11]

Dipp was invited to speak at the Great North American "Think In" by Brasenose College to discuss life sciences in the United States with her almamater.^[12]

Career[]

After graduating from Oxford, Dipp went to work for Wellcome Trust in its private equity division.^[13] Wellcome was an early investor in Sirtris Pharmaceuticals,^[14] which was founded in 2004 by scientist David Sinclair, venture capitalist Christoph Westphal, serial entrepreneur Andrew Perlman, Richard Aldrich, Richard Pops, and Paul Schimmel.^[15][16] The company focused on resveratrol formulations and derivatives as activators of the SIRT1 enzyme.^[17] The company's initial product was called SRT501, and was a formulation of resveratrol.^[18]

Westphal recruited Dipp to join Sirtris in 2005 and she became the Vice President of Corporate Development.^[19] Sirtris went public in 2007 and was subsequently purchased and made a subsidiary of GlaxoSmithKline in 2008 for $720 million; Westphal remained CEO of the subsidiary and was also appointed senior vice president of GSK's Center of Excellence for External Drug Discovery (CEEDD).

2008–2010[]

In 2008, Dipp worked with Westphal, Aldrich, and Alexey Margolin to found Alnara Pharmaceuticals, which was created to develop ways to formulate biopharmaceuticals so they could be taken by mouth, instead of by injection.^[20]Timmerman, Luke (October 30, 2008). "Alnara Pharmaceuticals Aims to Make Biotech Drugs You Can Swallow, And That Go Right Where They Belong". Xconomy.</ref>

In February 2010, Dipp, Westphal, and Aldrich formed a new venture fund called Longwood Founders Fund.[18][19] Prior to launching Longwood Founders Fund, Dipp was the senior vice president and head of the Centre of Excellence for External Drug Discovery (CEEDD) at GlaxoSmithKline (GSK).

In April 2010, Westphal stepped down as CEO of Sirtris. Dipp took over as senior vice president of CEEDD; this made her the youngest senior VP in all of the world's top ten pharmaceutical companies.^[21]

In August 2010, the Longwood team co-founded VeraStem by providing seed funding and office space its offices, with Westphal serving as CEO and chairman of the board; Verastem aimed to isolate cancer stem cells and then discover drugs that would selectively kill them.^[22] The company held its IPO in 2012.^[23] GSK/Sirtris terminated development of SRT501 in late 2010.^[24] In 2013 GSK shut down Sirtris and its development candidates were absorbed into GSK, where research and development continued.^[25]

2015–2020[]

In January 2015 Longwood and Dipp helped found Flex Pharma^[26] In November 2016 Dipp and Longwood helped launch Axial Biotherapeutics, which aimed to modulate the gut-brain axis to treat neurological diseases; its strategy at launch was open with company considering developing drugs to influence the gut microbiota as well as probiotics; Dipp took a board seat. In October 2017 Dipp became the Managing Director at General Atlantic,^[27][26] a global growth equity firm based in New York City. While at General Atlantic, Michelle launched their first life sciences investment platform and served as a member of the life sciences investment committee. Michelle served as a Board Observer for Ginkgo BioWorks and as a board member for PathAI and Immunocore.^[28]

In 2020, Dipp founded Biospring Partners with Jennifer Lum to conduct venture capital in the life sciences industry. Investments for Biospring Partners include funding for Abzena^[29] who were subsequently selected to work on the antibody cocktail for COVID 19 treatment.^[30]

Awards[]

• Named as one Fortune Magazine's "40 under 40"^[31]
• Named one of 187 "Young Global Leaders" by the World Economic Forum.^[32]
• American Business Awards 2008 nominee^{[citation needed]}
• 101 Top Female Founded Investment Firms to Follow^[33]

References[]

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