Luke Evnin, Ph.D.
Dr. Luke Evnin is co-founder and Senior Advisor at MPM BioImpact. He co-founded the predecessor company, MPM Capital, in 1997 with Ansbert Gadicke, M.D., and opened the San Francisco office in 1999.
In recent years, as a key component of his MPM activities Luke has been a co-founder and served as Chairman of the Board for seven MPM portfolio companies including Blade Therapeutics, Harpoon Therapeutics (NASDAQ: HARP), Maverick Therapeutics (acquired by Takeda), Potenza Therapeutics (acquired by Astellas), Tizona Therapeutics and Werewolf Therapeutics (NASDAQ: HOWL). He has contributed as a co-inventor in several of these companies as well as MPM portfolio company Oncorus (NASDAQ: ONCR). From October 2017 to August 2019, Dr. Evnin served as the interim Chief Executive Officer of Werewolf Therapeutics Inc. (now publicly traded), where he continues to serve as Chairman of its board of directors. In addition, he currently serves as a director for seven other public and private companies.
Luke has also served on the board of directors of many other public and private companies over his 29-year venture capital career, including past service as a director for EnteroMedics Inc. (now known as ReShape Lifesciences Inc.), Idun Pharmaceuticals (acquired by Pfizer), Intercell AG, Costim Pharmaceuticals (acquired by Novartis), Pacira Pharmaceuticals Inc., and Sonic Innovations, Inc.
Luke also serves as Chairman of the Scleroderma Research Foundation, a not-for-profit entity where he has contributed for over 20 years. He has devoted time to the External Advisory Board at the Lewis-Sigler Institute for Quantitative Genomics External Advisory Board at Princeton and at QB3 at the University of California- San Francisco. In recognition of MPM’s novel work to finance and build companies which may have a significant impact on cancer care and cures globally, Luke is a co-recipient of the 2017 Global Oncology Visionary Award.
Previously, he honed his skills as a venture capitalist at Accel Partners where he was involved in biopharmaceutical, medical device and healthcare service investing as an analyst and then General Partner at Accel Partners (1990-1997). Dr. Evnin holds a Ph.D. in Biochemistry (1990) from the University of California at San Francisco (UCSF) and an A.B. magna cum laude in Molecular Biology (1985) from Princeton University. He is an enthusiastic athlete (squash, tennis) and a wine collector.