Jay B. Lichter, Ph.D. is an experienced biotechnology and pharmaceutical business executive and investor with 25 years of experience in management, scientific research, and business development.  Throughout his career, Dr. Lichter has applied his exceptional combination of business acumen and deep technical knowledge to creating commercially successful biotech companies and identifying the commercial potential of scientific discoveries at their earliest stages.  Dr. Lichter was an Avalon entrepreneur for four portfolio companies in Avalon V, Avalon VI and Avalon VII.  Prior to his work with Avalon, Dr. Lichter got his PhD from the University of Illinois and did postdoctoral research at Yale and Dupont Merck Pharmaceuticals company.  During his tenure as a managing director at Avalon, Dr. Lichter led 25 investments.  Between Avalon V and VI, Dr. Lichter worked as a licensing executive for Pfizer.  Dr. Lichter has executed over $6B in transactions and is the inventor on over 250 patents and patent applications.

Prior to joining Avalon as a Member of Avalon VIII, Dr. Lichter collaborated with Avalon and Mr. Kinsella on six investments, starting in 1993 when Dr. Lichter was recruited by Mr. Kinsella as the first employee and co-founder of Sequana Therapeutics, a portfolio company of Avalon Ventures V, L.P. (Avalon V).  In 2000, Mr. Kinsella recruited Dr. Lichter to be the CEO of XenoPharm, a drug safety company which Mr. Kinsella co-founded. Dr. Lichter drove the development of the company and its ultimate acquisition by Deltagen.  As Sytera’s Vice President of Operations and Business Development, Dr. Lichter held various roles in the company and was the inventor on key enabling intellectual property that led to the company’s acquisition by Sirion Therapeutics  Upon completion of his Ph.D., Dr. Lichter held postdoctoral positions in Human Genetics at Yale University and at the DuPont Merck Pharmaceutical Company.  Dr. Lichter received his B.S. and Ph.D. from the University of Illinois.