Our Team
Global Head of BI Venture Fund
Frank Kalkbrenner
Ingelheim, Germany
Therapeutics Investment Team
Sebastian Kreuz
Ingelheim, Germany
Philipp Müller
Ingelheim, Germany
Niklas Czeloth
Ingelheim, Germany
Johannes Zanzinger
Ingelheim, Germany
Fei Shen
Boston, US
Julia Kaufman
Boston, US
Kanad Das
San Francisco, US
Stefan Pflanz
San Francisco, US
Mia Hu
Hong Kong, China
Yifang Cui
Shanghai, China
Kathryn Liu
Shanghai, China
Zhaoying Xu
Beijing, China
Digital Health Investment Team
Oliver Reuß
Ingelheim, Germany
Alexander Ehlgen
Ingelheim, Germany
Adam Kundzewicz
Boston, US
Back Office
Yvonne Richter
Ingelheim, Germany
Deborah Fleming
Ridgefield, US
Kathrin Rohschürmann
Ingelheim, Germany
Iris Wang
Shanghai, China
Enabling Functions in Finance and Legal
Marc Schreder
Ingelheim, Germany
Markus Barner
Ingelheim, Germany
Timothy Arnheim
Ingelheim, Germany
Maximilian Zahn
Ingelheim, Germany
Mathias Heinrich
Ingelheim, Germany
Frank Kalkbrenner
Current role
Frank is the Global Head of the Boehringer Ingelheim Venture Fund and has been involved in several investments of the fund. He served as board member of STAT Diagnostica in Barcelona, which was sold to Qiagen in April 2018, Amal Therapeutics, which was sold to Boehringer Ingelheim in July 2019, NBE Therapeutics, which was sold to Boehringer Ingelheim in 2020, T-knife and Brainomix. Currently, he is on the Boards of Acousia Therapeutics in Tübingen, RinRi Therapeutics in Sheffield, eTheRNA in Niel, T3 Pharmaceuticals in Basel and RiboX Therapeutics in Shanghai. In addition, he is member of the Supervisory and the Advisory Board of Inserm Transfer Initiative, a French Seed Investment Fund based in Paris.Professional Background
Frank studied Medicine, did his PhD in Pharmacology and specialized in Pharmacology and Toxicology. He spent more than 10 years in academic research in the Max-Planck-Institute for Molecular Genetics in Berlin and in the Institute of Pharmacology of the Freie Universität, Berlin. His academic research focused on gene regulation by transcription factors and signal transduction mediated by ion channels and G proteins.
In 1997, he began his industrial career by joining Schering AG as senior scientist in Experimental Dermatology. In 1999, Frank moved to Boehringer Ingelheim and joined the department of Pulmonary Research. In 2005, he took over the responsibility for the Licensing Department. In this function, he was responsible for the licensing activities of the German Boehringer Ingelheim organization in various indication areas. In addition, he built up the NBE Research unit at the German Research site in Biberach.
In 2010 - shortly after its initiation - Frank joined the Boehringer Ingelheim Venture Fund.
Sebastian Kreuz
Current role
After joining the Boehringer Ingelheim Venture Fund in June 2019, Sebastian serves as a board member of Rewind Therapeutics in Leuven, Topas in Hamburg, smartbax in Munich, Quantro in Vienna and Abalos Therapeutics in Essen. In addition to contributing to the Venture Fund portfolio in the areas of immune oncology and regenerative medicine, Sebastian is focusing on strategic opportunities in the infectious diseases space.Professional Background
Sebastian studied Technical Biology at the University of Stuttgart and holds a PhD in Molecular Biology and Immunology. In 2004, he started his career in Pharmaceutical Industry as a scientist at Boehringer Ingelheim. Since then, Sebastian held various positions in different functions within the BI research organization covering responsibilities as Laboratory Head and Project Leader ranging from early stage drug concept work to advanced drug discovery projects in various disease areas. From 2015 to 2019, before joining the BI Venture Fund, Sebastian was working in the Research Beyond Borders department to implement an integrated R&D strategy for virus-based Gene Therapy as a novel treatment modalitiy for BI.
Mia Hu
Current role
Mia is currently an Investment Manager of Boehringer Ingelheim Venture Fund. She joined Boehringer Ingelheim Venture Fund in 2021 and is based in Hong Kong. Currently, she serves as a Board Member for Nuevocor in Singapore.Professional Background
Mia recevied a B.Sc from University of Saskatchewan in Canada and her Ph.D. in the School of Biomedical Sciences, University of Hong Kong. Her academic research focused on cancer therapy, stem cell, gene therapy, aging, tumorigenesis, DNA damage repair, mitochondrial biogenesis, virology, protein structure and embryonic development.
In 2017, she began her industrial career by joining China Resources Capital Management as Senior Vice President, leading several healthcare investment, including biotech, pharmaceutical, medical devices and healthcare service.
Johannes Zanzinger
Current role
Johannes joined the Boehringer Ingelheim Venture Fund in 2019 with 20 years of experience in pharmaceutical R&D and Business Development, which he led for Cardiometabolic Diseases at Boehringer Ingelheim over more than ten years. He serves as board member of HepaRegenix in Tübingen, DiogenX in Marseille, Eyevensys in Paris, Centauri Therapeutics in London and AgoMab in Ghent. In addition, he is member of the Supervisory and the Scientific Advisory Board of Advent France Biotechnology, a French Seed Investment Fund based in Paris as well as a member of the Strategic Committee of Innobio 2, a BPI fund based in Paris.Professional Background
Johannes studied Animal Sciences and Biology, and earned a PhD in Animal Sciences (Dr. sc.agr.) at the University of Hohenheim in 1992, followed by postdoctoral positions at the Medical Faculties of the Universities of Freiburg and Heidelberg, where he completed a postdoctoral thesis (Habilitation) and was appointed Associate Professor (Privatdozent) for Physiology in 1998. Johannes then started his industrial career in 1999 as a Group Leader for in vivo Pharmacology at Pfizer Global Research & Development (Sandwich, UK). He joined Boehringer Ingelheim in Research Coordination in 2002, and became Global Head of Business Development and Licensing for Cardiometabolic Diseases in 2009. In this function, he identified, championed and negotiated multiple partnerships with pharma, biotech and academia, and served on the Therapeutic Area Leadership Committee for Cardiometabolic Diseases. In addition to his role at Boehringer Ingelheim, Johannes still continues to act as an adjunct (Apl) Professor of Physiology at the University of Ulm.
Kanad Das
Current role
Kanad joined Boehringer Ingelheim Venture Fund in 2018 and is located in the San Francisco Bay Area. He serves as Board Member of Oncomyx in Phoenix, Actym Therapeutics in Berkeley and Libra Therapeutics in San Diego.Professional Background
Kanad joined Boehringer Ingelheim from Merck (MSD) where he was Director, Business Development and Licensing in their West Coast Innovation Hub. He evaluated assets in Immuno-Oncology, Cardiovascular and Metabolic Diseases and Ophthalmology in the preclinical space up to human proof of concept. Kanad started his career at Genentech as a post-doctoral fellow. He then worked as a medicinal chemist at KAI Pharmaceuticals, where he was an inventor of Parsabiv, approved in 2017 for the treatment of Secondary Hyperparathyroidism. After KAI, Kanad worked at Stanford University’s SPARK program, an academic accelerator designed to take basic science discoveries and bring them to fundable assets. He received his PhD in Chemistry from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst and a B.Sc. in Chemistry from UC Berkeley.
Fei Shen
Current role
Fei is currently the Managing Director of Boehringer Ingelheim Venture Fund USA. She joined the Boehringer Ingelheim Venture Fund in 2020 and is located in Boston, MA. She served as board member of Abexxa Biologics in Arlington. Currently, she is on the Boards of Rgenta Therapeutics in Cambridge, ArrePath in Princeton, xCures in Oakland and STRM. Bio in Cambridge.Professional Background
Fei received her Ph.D. in Neuropharmacology from Loyola University Chicago Stritch School of Medicine and a B.Sc in Biochemistry from East China University Science & Technology. In 2007, she started her industrial career at Theravance Biopharma as an in vivo pharmacologist and led a lab in driving multiple research projects from exploratory, lead optimization to development candidate nomination, including TD-1473 in Ulcerative Colitis, Ampreloxetine in Fibromyalgia, Velusetrag in Gastroparesis, TD-8954 in Post-operative Gastrointestinal Dysfunction. In 2015, she joined Boehringer Ingelheim Pharmaceuticals Inc. Global Immunology and Respiratory Disease Research in Ridgefield where she started as a Laboratory Head and became the Head of in vivo Pharmacology group in 2016. From 2015 to 2020, before joining the BI Venture Fund, Fei led a group of ~20 in vivo pharmacologists supporting the Immunology and Respiratory Portfolio for small molecule, antisense and antibody projects.
Julia Kaufman
Current role
Julia joined the Boehringer Ingelheim Venture Fund in 2022 and is located in Boston, MA.Professional Background
Julia received her Ph.D. in Immunology from the University of Rochester School of Medicine and Dentistry where her research centered on understanding the roles of fibroblasts and platelets as sentinel cells of the immune system. In 2002, she joined the Translational Immuno-oncology team in the lab of Molecular Neuro-Oncology at the Rockefeller University. As part of this academic research team, Julia focused on dendritic cell and T cell biology and the development of dendritic cell-based cancer vaccines, which led to successful completion of three Phase I clinical studies.
Julia joined Boehringer Ingelheim’s Immunology and Respiratory Disease Research group in Ridgefield, CT in 2014. Since then, she has served as a Laboratory Head, Disease Positioning Lead, and Research Project Leader. During this time, Julia has made a significant impact on the Immunology and Respiratory portfolio, including having led cross-functional teams to advance two small molecule programs through Start of Development and beyond.
Oliver Reuß
Current role
Right after his start in 2018, he has been involved in the first two digital healthcare investments, Brainomix and Wellth. Oliver is responsible for the Digital Healthcare investments in Europe and Israel. He serves as Board Member of Dopavision in Berlin, Perfood in Lübeck and Brainomix in Oxford.Professional Background
Oliver is a trained biologist and did his PhD in Molecular Biology with a focus on Infectious Diseases. Oliver spent 5 years in academic research at the Institute for Molecular Infection Biology at the University of Würzburg, where he focused on the characterization of oligopeptide transporters in pathogens.
After some time in business consulting, Oliver joined Boehringer Ingelheim in 2008. After various roles in business analytics, business development, in-licensing and strategy, Oliver built the Business Model and Healthcare Innovation group in 2014. The team was solely dedicated to scout, identify and pilot digital healthcare solutions for Boehringer Ingelheim’s pill business globally. In 2018, Oliver joined the Boehringer Ingelheim Venture Fund in the newly created Digital Healthcare investment arm.
Alexander Ehlgen
Current role
Alexander joined Boehringer Ingelheim Venture Fund in 2019. He is responsible for Digital Healthcare investments in Europe and Israel. He serves as Board Member of AIgnostics in Berlin, C-mo Medical Solutions in Lisbon and Tacalyx in Berlin. In addition, he is member of the Investment Committee of the High Tech Gründer Fund (HTGF III), the largest publicly backed Seed Investment Fund in Germany based in Bonn.Professional Background
Alexander is a physician, who received his medical degree from the University of Bonn, Germany. He also conducted academic research on myocardial perfusion and stress echocardiography at the University of Oxford, UK.
Alexander worked at a biotech start-up and major pharmaceutical companies in a variety of roles in clinical drug development. His focus was on novel imaging tracers and drugs in the cardiovascular and metabolic diseases areas. Alexander joined Boehringer Ingelheim in 2012 in Translational Medicine and in 2014 was appointed global head of the Translational Medicine and Biomarker Experts group responsible for translational medicine and biomarker aspects of novel pharmaceutical compounds at Boehringer Ingelheim. Together with the Boehringer Ingelheim Digital Lab he also developed a novel digital product that enables precision medicine concepts with biomarker data.
Yvonne Richter
Current role
supporting Sebastian Kreuz, Philipp Müller, Johannes Zanzinger, Niklas Czeloth
Deborah Fleming
Current role
supporting Fei Shen, Julia Kaufman, Adam Kundzewicz, Kanad Das and Stefan Pflanz.
Kathrin Rohschürmann
Current role
supporting Frank Kalkbrenner, Oliver Reuß, Alexander Ehlgen
Iris Wang
Current role
supporting Mia Hu, Kathryn Liu, Zhaoying Xu and Yifang Cui
Timothy Arnheim
Current role
Tim is Legal Counsel of the Boehringer Ingelheim Venture Fund and covers all legal aspects of the investments of the Venture Fund. Tim joined Corporate Legal Strategy & Governance as Senior Legal Counsel Boehringer Ingelheim Venture Fund in the group Corporate Legal Governance and M&A in February 2019. Within Corporate Legal Governance and M&A, Tim will be fully dedicated to the Boehringer Ingelheim Venture Fund.Professional Background
Tim is a fully qualified English attorney (Solicitor) and obtained his LL.M from University College London. Following his graduation from Cambridge University and the College of Law, London, he joined the international law firm, Allen & Overy, in London and was a partner for 20 years. His experience covers international legal work across a range of sectors and continents, including acting for funds, project/acquisition companies, banks, bond arrangers, development finance institutions and export credit agencies. In addition, Tim worked for Allen & Overy in Germany for seven years and is a fluent German speaker.
Maximilian Zahn
Current role
Max is a legal counsel advising the Boehringer Ingelheim Venture Fund in all legal aspects of its investments. Max joined Corporate Legal Strategy & Governance as Senior Legal Counsel in the group Corporate Legal Governance and M&A department in February 2023. Within Corporate Legal Governance and M&A, Max is fully dedicated to the BI Venture Fund.Professional Background
Max is a fully qualified German attorney (Rechtsanwalt) who studied law at the university of Würzburg. He holds a Master of Laws degree (LL.M.) from Vanderbilt University and is a Fulbright alumni. Following his graduation, he joined the international law firm Linklaters LLP in Frankfurt. Before advising the Boehringer Ingelheim Venture Fund, Max was a senior legal counsel at BI’s German legal department. His experience covers pharmaceutical sector expertise and international legal work with a focus on corporate law, mergers & acquisitions, joint ventures and other cooperations.
Mathias Heinrich
Current role
As member of the Corporate Finance/M&A department at Boehringer Ingelheim, Mathias is involved in deal activities as well as the monitoring and controlling of the portfolio companies of the Boehringer Ingelheim Venture Fund.Professional Background
Mathias joined the BI Venture Fund in 2023. Mathias studied business administration at Graduate School of Management in Leipzig, Germany and at Grenoble Ecole de Management, France and holds a master degree in business administration. He started his career in investment banking/M&A and transaction advisory services for Metzler Corporate Finance and Ernst Young. After 7 years, in 2014, Mathias joined BI’s M&A team where he accompanied various buy side and sell side projects. In total, Mathias completed more than 100 transactions during his career ranging from large corporate carve outs to biotech acquisitions.
Stefan Pflanz
Current role
Stefan joined the Boehringer Ingelheim Venture Fund in 2020 and is located in the San Francisco Bay Area. He serves as Board Member of TigaTX in Utrecht and Bodyport, in San Francisco.Professional Background
Stefan accomplished his PhD in 1999 at the University of Aachen, Germany, and then completed a Postdoctoral Fellowship at DNAX Research Institute in Palo Alto, California. He has since headed immunology research labs or groups at Micromet (2003-2006), Schering-Plough Biopharma (2006-2010), Gilead Sciences (2011-2016), and most recently at Boehringer-Ingelheim (2016-2020), across different indication areas including immune-oncology, infectious diseases, inflammatory conditions, and fibrosis.
Niklas Czeloth
Current role
Niklas joined the Boehringer Ingelheim Venture Fund in 2020 and will take over responsibilities in scouting and evaluation of new opportunities in the field of pharmaceuticals.Professional Background
Niklas studied Biochemistry at the University of Hannover and specialized in Immunology during his PhD and Post-Doc. In 2008, he started his pharmaceutical career at Biotest in Dreieich and was responsible for preclinical and translational aspects of biotherapeutic projects. Niklas joined BI in 2013 as project manager DMPK in the Biosimilars Business Unit. In 2014, he took over the role as Head of Biosciences Biosimilars and steered the pharmacology, toxicology and DMPK activities for the biosimilar portfolio. The last 2 years Niklas was responsible for leading international development projects in oncology, CNS and retinopathy indications in BI´s IPM department.
Philipp Müller
Current role
After joining the Boehringer Ingelheim Venture Fund in October 2020, Philipp serves as a board member of ImCheck Therapeutics in Marseilles and Asgard Therapeutics in Lund. In addition to contributing to the Venture Fund´s portfolio in the areas of immuno-oncology and immuno-modulation, Philipp engages in identifying cutting edge investment opportunities with groundbreaking therapeutic potential in the file of anti-infectives.Professional Background
Philipp studied Molecular Biology at the Biozentrum in Basel (Switzerland), holds a PhD in Biochemistry (2009) and has a long track record of working in translational immuno-oncology research, the infectious disease area as well as drug discovery within the pharmaceutical industry.
Philipp spent multiple years of translational immuno-oncology research in an academic environment (studying, amongst others, targeted agents, ADCs, CPIs, cancer vaccines, bispecific T-cell engager, immuno-cytokines, CD40 and CD137 agonists), during which he built and managed an extensive, global collaboration network with academic, biotech and pharma partners as well as published in high ranking scientific journals. He joined Boehringer Ingelheim in 2015 as a research team and project lead within the newly formed department of Cancer Immunology and Immune Modulation in Biberach an der Riss, where he specifically engaged in integration of outside innovation into the BI discovery strategy.
During his time within Boehringer Ingelheim´s R&D Philipp was leading multidisciplinary research teams, successfully moving two cargo armed oncolytic virus-based projects into development. He effectively managed stakeholders including both internal and alliance governance bodies and delivered IO research strategy for innovative novel platforms and new areas of biology. Contributing to Boehringer Ingelheim´s external innovation strategy he further identified, evaluated, initiated and managed alliances with multiple external partners.
In October 2020, he joined the Boehringer Ingelheim Venture Fund investing in clinical translation of pioneering therapeutic approaches, i.e. in the field of immuno-oncology, immuno-modulation and anti-infectives with a novel mode of action.
Yifang Cui
Current role
Yifang is currently an Investment Manager of Boehringer Ingelheim Venture Fund. He joined Boehringer Ingelheim Venture Fund in 2021 and is based in Shanghai. Currently, he is on the Board of Delonix Bioworks in Shanghai.Professional Background
Yifang gained PhD of Neuroscience in Hamburg University and MD in Shanghai Jiaotong University, extensive experience in industry drug discovery, both small and large molecules and applied experience in project management and IND filing.
Yifang has 9-year research experience in AbbVie Germany with broad and solid knowledge of neurodegenerative diseases, autoimmune CNS disorder and eye diseases. He also supported AbbVie Venture German for licensing-in and out project.
Marc Schreder
Current role
As member of the Corporate Finance/M&A department at Boehringer Ingelheim, Marc is involved in deal activities as well as the monitoring and controlling of the portfolio companies of the Boehringer Ingelheim Venture Fund.Professional Background
Marc holds a diploma in Business Administration from the University of Applied Sciences Frankfurt and absolved a vocational training as a qualified bank employee. Before joining the Group Accounting of Boehringer Ingelheim he spent seven years with an international audit company. After eight years in the Group Accounting Marc moved to the Venture Fund in 2021.
Markus Barner
Current role
Markus joined Corporate Finance and M&A at Boehringer Ingelheim as Head Fin. Venture Funds & Minority Investments in July 2020. Markus is responsible for the financial management of the BIVF holding entities, financial structuring of the acquisition and divestment processes as well as the monitoring and controlling of the portfolio companies.
Adam Kundzewicz
Current role
Adam joined Boehringer Ingelheim Venture Fund in 2022 and is based in Boston. He focuses on investments in digital health space. Adam serves as Board Member of Wellth in New York City and Optina in Montréal.Professional Background
Adam is a trained scientist with a PhD in neuroscience from University of Geneva, University of Lausanne and EPFL, Switzerland. He has published several articles in international peer reviewed journals and lectured at international conferences on developmental neuroscience and retinal degeneration.
Adam has started his career with Boehringer Ingelheim Corporate Market Access Team in 2012 as a Senior Global Payer Strategy Manager in Ingelheim, Germany. He was managing global pricing and market access strategies for the HCV and oncology portfolio and driving the development of innovative market access approaches and payment schemes. He then moved to the UK and Ireland in 2015 to head the Pricing and Contracting Team, working across the whole Boehringer Ingelheim prescription medicines portfolio. Adam returned to Germany in 2018 to lead the Strategic Market Access Initiatives as well as Tech Partnerships within the Global Healthcare Affairs and Patient Engagement Team. Prior to joining Boehringer Ingelheim Adam worked as a life sciences strategy consultant for IQVIA, IBM Watson Health Consulting and Simon-Kucher & Partners in Belgium, France, Germany, Poland and The United States. He also worked as a research assistant at Jules Gonin Eye Hospital in Lausanne, Switzerland and as a Junior Project Leader at AnalyCen in Poland and Sweden.
Kathryn Liu
Current role
Kathryn joined the Boehringer Ingelheim Venture Fund in 2023 and is located in Shanghai.Professional Background
Kathryn received her Ph.D. in Biochemistry from the National University of Singapore in 2012, and then completed her postdoctoral training at the Singapore Immunology Network, A*STAR. Her academic research centered on cell cycle regulation, infectious diseases, and T cell immunology.
Kathryn began her pharmaceutical industry career in 2015 as a senior scientist at Eli Lilly China Research and Development Center, focusing on the early drug discovery and preclinical translational research in metabolic diseases. In 2017, she moved to Fosun Kite Biotechnology, leading the clinical translational research on CAR T cell therapy. In 2021, Kathryn joined Zentera Therapeutics, taking charge of the translational research department for targeted oncology drug discovery, preclinical development, and clinical translational research. Throughout her career, she has also played a role in assessing external business development and collaboration opportunities, as well as managing external research partnerships.
Zhaoying Xu
Current role
Zhaoying joined the Boehringer Ingelheim Venture Fund in 2023 as an Investment Director. He is based in Beijing.Professional Background
Zhaoying has over 10 years of professional and research experience in biotech, venture creation, and management consulting. He received his Ph.D. in Neuroscience from Harvard University, focusing on mammalian cortical development and regenerative biology, and a B.A. in Biological Chemistry and Neuroscience from Grinnell College in the US. Zhaoying was a senior team leader for biopharma and diagnostic practices at a leading US healthcare strategy consulting firm, advising domestic and international clients on new technology and product development, R&D strategy, portfolio management, and business transactions. Before joining the BI Venture Fund, Zhaoying spent multiple years as the founding CEO of a venture-backed therapeutic startup in China, leading all aspects of company formation including development, CMC, fundraising, BD, and operations.
