The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation is trying to get more biotech entrepreneurs to work on global health, and it just hired another venture capitalist to give the initiative a boost.
Charlotte Hubbert, a former vice president at H.I.G BioVentures and associate at Seattle-based Accelerator, is joining the Gates Foundation as a program investment officer on the program related investments team, she said in an e-mail.
Hubbert, who did postdoctoral research on stem cells in the University of Washington lab of Randall Moon, is the second biotech VC to join the Gates Foundation in the past year. Bob More, formerly a partner with Frazier Healthcare Ventures and Domain Associates, arrived last summer.
Here’s what Hubbert said in a note to friends and colleagues this morning:
I am excited to work with Bob More and the Program Related Investments team to apply the principles and rigor of venture capital investing to support the Gates Foundation initiatives in Global Health. I believe this is a unique and unprecedented opportunity to support the best and brightest entrepreneurs in our community to tackle the diseases and issues that impact the poorest in the world. While [the foundation has] a mission of singular dedication, I see great potential for synergy with issues relevant to biotech globally. I look forward to continuing to work within the venture community to identify great ideas and entrepreneurs, and build great companies in support of these goals.
When asked what Hubbert brings to the foundation, More said: “Scientific acumen, VC experience, empathy for the difficulty of starting up companies. And she seems like a nice person.” [Updated comment: 1:10 pm PT] Robert Nelsen, managing director of Arch Venture Partners, added: “They both have fantastic reputations and with Bob’s leadership of the group, experience and VC contacts and Charlotte’s energy I expect great things.”
