Christopher O'Donnell , PHD is Vice President, WRDM and Partner at Pfizer Ventures. Chris is responsible for identifying, evaluating, making and managing equity investments aligned with the future directions of Pfizer. He currently has responsibility for Pfizer’s investments in Adapsyn Bioscience, Arkuda Therapeutics, Arrakis Therapeutics, Kestrel Therapeutics, Mitokinin, MindImmune, Parthenon Therapeutics, Pyxis Oncology (PYXS), Storm Therapeutics, Strata Oncology and Triana Biomedicine. He is also responsible for managing our investment in the Mission BioCapital and Phoenix Venture Partners funds. His prior investment responsibilities include BioAtla (BCAB), Kymera Therapeutics (KYMR), Morphic Therapeutic (MORF) and Petra Pharma.

Chris brings 20+ years of scientific leadership, a strong track record of delivering clinical candidates across multiple disease areas and modalities, and proven ability to build and lead highly engaged teams. He built and led the Applied Synthesis Technologies group within R&D to help accelerate the delivery of Pfizer’s small molecule portfolio. Prior to that, Chris built and led Pfizer’s Antibody Drug Conjugate Oncology Medicinal Chemistry group which delivered new linker, payload and conjugation methods resulting in over 7 conjugates entering clinical development. Chris started his career in the Neuroscience Medicinal Chemistry group where he invented and helped deliver numerous clinical candidates.

Chris received his BS in Chemistry from the University of Illinois-Urbana/Champaign and his PhD in Chemistry from the University of Wisconsin-Madison and joined Pfizer after completing post-doctoral studies at the University of California - Irvine