Carol Gallagher made a lot of money for Frazier Healthcare Ventures by leading of one of its portfolio companies, and now she’s going to see if she can help the firm in a new way.
Gallagher, the former CEO of Seattle-based Calistoga Pharmaceuticals, a Frazier investment sold to Gilead Sciences for up to $600 million in 2011, is joining Frazier Healthcare Ventures as a full-time venture partner.
Frazier has some new money to put to work in healthcare investing, having raised a $377 million fund that closed at the end of September. The firm, which has offices in Seattle and Menlo Park, CA, splits its resources between growth equity investments of existing companies, and some early-stage venture investments like Calistoga.
Gallagher (an Xconomist) has stayed close to the firm the last couple years since she left Calistoga. She serves on several biotech boards, including two members of Frazier’s portfolio—San Diego-based AnaptysBio and Ann Arbor, MI-based Atterocor.
Gallagher lives in San Diego, and says she plans to stay there, while working several days a week out of Frazier’s Menlo Park office. She said she plans to focus on oncology, as she has through much of her career, as well as other diseases where patients need better therapies.
“I will be assisting in sourcing and evaluating opportunities for new investments as well advising and nurturing existing portfolio companies when appropriate. I am very pleased to have the opportunity to continue to look for and foster innovations for patients,” Gallagher said.
Considering how male-dominated the venture capital business is, I felt the need to ask Gallagher if she had any reservations about getting into this line of work. Here’s what she said via email:
“As I noted in my Xconomy “Lean-in” article, I believe in actively managing your own career and this opportunity to join Frazier Healthcare is a natural progression in my career. I believe all organizations benefit from diversity and I will continue to look for opportunities to support this philosophy in our industry.”
