NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Forepont Capital Partners is delighted to announce the appointment of Dr Ismail Kola as a senior partner in their Venture Capital Team. Additionally, Dr. Kola will lead Forepont’s Incubation Fund (FIF).
Dr Kola will play a key role in the conception and launch of Forepont’s next generation of pioneering biotechnology and life science companies as well as serve as an ongoing strategic resource for all companies in the Forepont ecosystem supporting their clinical development strategies. Additionally, he will serve on the board of directors of several portfolio companies. Dr Kola will join Forepont Capital Partners Investment Committee.
Dr Kola joins Forepont from UCB, where he has served as Chief Scientific Officer since 2009. Prior to that, he was the Chief Scientific Officer at Schering Plough. During his distinguished career, he has served as Professor of Human Molecular Genetics, Monash University Medical School and Director of the Research Center for Functional Genomics and Human Disease. He holds Adjunct Professorships of Medicine at Washington University, St Louis, Missouri, USA and Monash University Medical School, Melbourne, Australia; a Foreign Adjunct Professorship at The Karolinska Institute, Stockholm, Sweden; and is a William Pitt Fellow at Pembroke College, Cambridge University, UK. Dr. Kola is the holder of 10 patents and is author or co-author of 159 peer-reviewed papers and commentaries.
“Ismail brings expertise, scientific knowledge and a network that can only come from one of the most successful pharmaceutical and biotech scientists in the world. The ability to identify winners early is what makes a research scientist a Chief Scientific Officer. Quite simply, this is what Ismail brings to our team,” said Senior Partner Mark Goldstone.
“The opportunity to help Forepont and its uniquely creative ecosystem of companies really captured my imagination," said Dr. Kola. "Their focus on improving outcomes and efficiencies through any scientific platform makes this opportunity most appealing. Today we need to look to all aspects of science and breakdown the barriers between silos in order to solve some of our biggest medical challenges without the traditional costs to do so. Mentoring a new generation of science entrepreneurs will add to the pleasure of the challenge.
About Forepont Capital Partners. Headquartered in New York with offices in London & Paris, Forepont Capital Partners, deploys capital to fuel growth of new medicines and technologies that drive better healthcare outcomes. Forepont is currently closing its second Venture Capital Fund.
