Christoph Westphal Leaving GSK’s SR One to Focus on Longwood Founders Fund

[Update: 3:12 pm ET] Christoph Westphal, the Boston-based biotech mover/shaker, is leaving GlaxoSmithKline (NYSE: [[ticker:GSK]]) later this year to focus on Longwood Founders Fund and other business interests, according to a press release this morning. Westphal is currently president of SR One, GSK’s venture capital arm. London-based GSK is also an investor in Longwood Founders Fund, the relatively new VC fund started by Westphal, Michelle Dipp, and Rich Aldrich.

Westphal originally came to GSK in 2008 through its $720 million acquisition of Sirtris Pharmaceuticals, the anti-aging biotech firm where he was CEO and co-founder. Before that, he was a general partner at Polaris Venture Partners in Waltham, MA, and a founder of Alnylam Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ: [[ticker:ALNY]]), Momenta Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ: [[ticker:MNTA]]), and Acceleron Pharma, among other companies. In 2010, Westphal left the CEO post at Sirtris to focus on VC as head of SR One.

GSK’s chairman of research and development, Moncef Slaoui, said in a statement: “Christoph remains a committed advisor to [Sirtris’s] efforts as well as leaving us with a stable foundation in place at SR One. I believe that Christoph’s contributions have made a significant impact in GSK and I am very pleased that he chose to remain within the company for an extended period following the acquisition. In addition to his achievements at Sirtris, he has brought an entrepreneur’s perspective to our thinking on deals to help us implement R&D’s strategy to diversify through external collaborations and venture capital investments.”

[Update: 3:12 pm ET]. Dipp, who has worked with Westphal at Sirtris and GlaxoSmithKline, will also be leaving her job at Glaxo this year to focus on Longwood Founders Fund, according to a spokesperson for Longwood. Both Westphal and Dipp have agreed to stay at Glaxo until their successors are recruited. Dipp and Westphal are expected to make their transitions to Longwood Founders Fund in the third or fourth quarter of 2011, the spokesperson said.

Author: Gregory T. Huang

Greg is a veteran journalist who has covered a wide range of science, technology, and business. As former editor in chief, he overaw daily news, features, and events across Xconomy's national network. Before joining Xconomy, he was a features editor at New Scientist magazine, where he edited and wrote articles on physics, technology, and neuroscience. Previously he was senior writer at Technology Review, where he reported on emerging technologies, R&D, and advances in computing, robotics, and applied physics. His writing has also appeared in Wired, Nature, and The Atlantic Monthly’s website. He was named a New York Times professional fellow in 2003. Greg is the co-author of Guanxi (Simon & Schuster, 2006), about Microsoft in China and the global competition for talent and technology. Before becoming a journalist, he did research at MIT’s Artificial Intelligence Lab. He has published 20 papers in scientific journals and conferences and spoken on innovation at Adobe, Amazon, eBay, Google, HP, Microsoft, Yahoo, and other organizations. He has a Master’s and Ph.D. in electrical engineering and computer science from MIT, and a B.S. in electrical engineering from the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign.