Our Team

Roderick Wong, MD, serves as Managing Partner and Chief Investment Officer of RTW. Rod is responsible for managing the firm’s investments focused on innovative drug development. Prior to forming RTW, he was a Managing Director and sole Portfolio Manager for the Davidson Kempner Healthcare Funds. Before joining Davidson Kempner, Rod held various healthcare investment and research roles at Sigma Capital Partners and Cowen & Company.

Rod simultaneously received an MD from the University of Pennsylvania Medical School and an MBA from Harvard Business School, and graduated Phi Beta Kappa with a BS in Economics from Duke University.

Rod has a keen interest in educating the next generation of life science entrepreneurs. He regularly sits on a variety of corporate boards. In addition, he serves as an Adjunct Associate Professor of Finance at NYU Stern and as an Advisor to the University of Pennsylvania Medical School’s PennHealthX Program. Rod also serves as Chairman of the RTW Charitable Foundation.

Sabera Loughran, serves as Partner, Chief Operations Officer at RTW. Sabera is responsible for oversight of the firm’s operational activities.

Sabera has more than twenty years of operational, financial, and compliance experience. She has extensive experience working at both buy and sell side firms. Before joining RTW, Sabera served as Director of Finance and Chief Compliance officer at Prime Logic Capital. Prior to joining Prime Logic, Sabera spent several years at Buckingham Capital Management as an operations and client service executive. She began her sell-side career in the Asset Management Division of Goldman Sachs, serving as a team leader of the Client Reporting Team of Private Wealth Management, and as a fixed income portfolio administrator and performance analyst. Sabera started her career as an auditor at the Unit Investment Trust internship program of Deloitte and Touche. Sabera received a BBA in Accounting, Summa Cum Laude, from Baruch College.

Naveen Yalamanchi, MD, serves as a Partner and Portfolio Manager at RTW. Naveen is responsible for the firm’s medical technology investments. He has more than 15 years of healthcare investment and research experience. Prior to RTW, Naveen was Vice-President and Co-Portfolio Manager at Calamos Arista Partners, a position he held from 2012 to 2015. Before joining Calamos, he held various healthcare investment roles at Millennium Management and Davidson Kempner Capital Management, where he worked with Rod.

Naveen serves on the board of directors of Rocket Pharmaceuticals, and also as a board observer for Dermtech, Ancora Heart, and Magnolia Medical Technologies.

Naveen graduated Phi Beta Kappa with a BS in Biology from MIT, and received his MD from Stanford University. He completed his surgical internship at UCLA Medical Center.

Stephanie A. Sirota, serves as a Partner and Chief Business Officer at RTW Investments, LP (“RTW”), where she is responsible for strategy and oversight of the firm’s business and corporate development as well as strategic partnerships with counterparties including banks, academic institutions, corporations, investors, and NGOs. She leads the business team on various types of domestic and cross-border transactions and is also responsible for shaping the firm’s governance policies underscoring impact and sustainability.

Stephanie has fifteen years of deal experience in financial services. Prior to joining RTW, she served as Director at Valhalla Capital Advisors, a macro and commodity investment manager. Stephanie also worked in the New York and London offices of Lehman Brothers, where she advised on various Merger & Acquisitions, IPOs, and capital market financing transactions with a focus on cross-border transactions for the firm’s global corporate clients.

Stephanie graduated with honors from Columbia University and also received a Master’s Degree from the Columbia Graduate School of Journalism. She has contributed to Fortune Magazine and ABCNews.com.

She serves as a director of RTW Venture Fund Ltd; President of the RTW Charitable Foundation; and Co-Chairman of Council of the New York Philharmonic.

Robert Aurigema, serves as the Chief Financial Officer at RTW Investments, LP (“RTW”). Robert is responsible for oversight of the firm’s financial and operating activities.

Robert has extensive management and leadership experience having spent over 25 years building, servicing and managing investment companies across almost all sectors, strategies and major geographies. Prior to joining RTW, Robert spent six years as Chief Operating Officer and Chief Financial Officer at Balyasny Asset Management, a global multi-strategy, multi-manager hedge fund. Prior to BAM, Robert was the Chief Financial Officer and Chief Operating Officer for Plural Investments, a multi-manager hedge fund that he helped launch. Robert started his buy-side career at SAC Capital, where he built and managed all middle and back office functions and teams globally as Director of Operations. Robert has also served as COO, CFO, and CCO of SECOR Asset Management, and Global Head of Operations at Avenue Capital Group. He began his sell side career as a vice president at Goldman Sachs in their Prime Brokerage Division. Robert started his career at Deloitte & Touche in their Financial Instruments and Strategies Division.

Robert received a BS in Accounting from Villanova University and is a licensed CPA. He holds certifications from University of Oxford in Executive Leadership and from the London School of Economics in Data Analysis.

Gotham Makker, MD, serves as head of Strategic Investments at RTW Investments, LP (“RTW”). Gotham has more than 17 years of healthcare industry experience. Prior to joining RTW, Gotham served as CEO of Simran Investment Group, LLC, a privately held equity investment fund. Before Simran, Gotham was a healthcare portfolio manager and principal at Citadel Investment Group LLC, a position he held from 2002 to 2005. Prior to joining Citadel, Gotham served in various analyst roles at Oracle Partners LP, covering biotechnology and medical device sectors. He began his career on the life sciences investment banking team at Hambrecht & Quist.

Gotham serves on the board of directors of Rocket Pharmaceuticals.

Gotham received his MD from the University of Nebraska Medical School, and he completed the Sarnoff cardiovascular research fellowship at Columbia University, College of Physicians & Surgeons and at Harvard Medical School, Brigham & Women’s Hospital.

Alice Lee, JD, serves as Senior Counsel at RTW and has over a decade of experience advising life sciences companies in corporate and transactional matters. Prior to joining RTW, she most recently served as a senior associate in the Life Sciences practice at Ropes & Gray LLP. Prior to that, she worked in the Intellectual Property Transactions and Technology practice at Sullivan & Cromwell LLP, and she began her legal career in the Mergers & Acquisitions practice at Cravath, Swaine & Moore LLP.

Alice received her law degree from Columbia Law School, where she served as a Senior Editor of Columbia Law Review and was a Harlan Fiske Stone Scholar. She earned an MS from Stanford University in Computer Science (with an emphasis in Bioinformatics), completed two years of pre-clinical coursework at Stanford Medical School, where she was an M.D. candidate, and graduated Phi Beta Kappa and summa cum laude with a BA in Philosophy from Columbia University. Prior to law school, Ms. Lee worked as a computational biologist at the H. Lee Moffitt Cancer Center & Research Institute at the University of South Florida and co-authored “The promise of gene signatures in cancer diagnosis and prognosis” included in the Encyclopedia of Genetics, Genomics, Proteomics and Bioinformatics and “Fundamentals of Cancer Genomics and Proteomics” included in Surgery: Basic Science and Clinical Evidence. She also worked as a software development engineer intern at Amazon.com.

Peter Fong, PhD, serves as Senior Managing Director, Head of Company Creation at RTW Investments, LP (“RTW”). In this role, Peter leads the firm's biotech new venture creation efforts, including serving as ICEO of the companies formed in this process. Peter also supports several other strategic initiatives and activities for the firm.

Prior to joining RTW, Peter worked at Flagship Pioneering in Cambridge as a member of the innovation team. In this role he led the creation and multiple financings of four Flagship companies and served as ICEO of each of them.

Peter previously worked at Genentech in Oncology Business Development, where he helped build Genentech’s oncology pipeline through partnerships. Peter led multiple key transactions for Genentech, amounting to more than $300M in upfront payments.

Prior to joining Genentech, Peter held various roles within business and corporate development in the industry. He led the New Ventures and Business Development unit at Memorial Sloan-Kettering; co-founded Carigent Therapeutics, spun out of Yale University; and worked as a chemist at General Electric prior to his graduate studies.

Peter received a PhD degree in bioengineering from Yale University, where he subsequently was a Brown-Coxe Postdoctoral Fellow, and his BS in biochemistry from Indiana University.

Brad Sitko serves as Managing Director of Strategic Finance at RTW Investments, LP (“RTW”). Brad is responsible for providing leadership and execution across the firm's key initiatives across new company formation, private transactions, business and corporate development and partnering, and the venture fund.

Brad brings over 15 years of 'swiss army knife' experiences to RTW including corporate strategy, business development, capital raising and M&A in life sciences and digital health. He has worked as a growth stage company executive, investment banker and strategy consultant. Before joining RTW, Brad led DNAnexus’ finance and operations teams as the company scaled its industry leading, cloud-based genomics IT platform. Prior to DNAnexus, Brad was a senior investment banker at MTS Health Partners executing more than 30 transactions accounting for $7B of M&A volume, capital raised and royalties monetized. Prior to joining MTS, Brad worked in corporate development and strategic planning at Pfizer. He began his career as a strategy consultant at Frankel Group, he advised biopharma companies on strategic planning, commercialization and market development strategies.

Brad received a BA in Bioethics from University of Pennsylvania and an MBA from Columbia Business School, with dual concentrations in Finance and Healthcare & Pharmaceutical Management.

Joshua Kennedy-Smith, PhD, serves as an Analyst at RTW, where he specializes in the chemistry of small and large molecules, intellectual property, as well as leads our efforts in particular disease and technology areas. Josh also leads RTW’s internship and outreach programs.

Josh has more than a decade of professional experience in the pharmaceutical industry as both a research scientist and manager. Prior to joining RTW, he served as Principal Scientist and Head of Externalization at Schrodinger. Josh has experience in the area of inflammation and autoimmune disease, and served as a key contributor on a number of kinase inhibitor programs still in development. He began his career at Roche as a medicinal chemist working on the team that discovered the drug Elpida (elsulfavirine) for HIV.

Josh received a PhD in Chemistry from University of California, Berkeley and a BS in Chemistry from University of California, Santa Cruz and appears as an author and inventor on over 35 publications and patents. He has worked globally at sites in the US, Switzerland and India.

Piratip Pratumsuwan, serves as an Analyst at RTW, where he is responsible for conducting research in specific technology areas for the firm. In particular, Piratip leads RTW’s comprehensive effort in gene therapy and gene editing, which spans across public and private companies as well as within academic institutions.

Piratip joined RTW directly from academia in 2014. He received an MA in Biotechnology from Columbia University, and a BS in Biochemistry from McGill University.

Tony Nguyen, serves as an Analyst at RTW, where he leads commercial analysis of biopharma and medical technology assets. He is also the founding member of the firm’s internal Valuation Committee.

Tony’s focus on the commercial viability of new drugs and technologies is a critical component of RTW’s work. We are living in an age where diseases are being redefined based on their genetic causes, and it is of paramount importance to understand the changing opportunity set of addressable patients across diseases.

Tony received a BS in Electrical Engineering from the National University of Singapore and an MBA from St. John’s University, both on full academic scholarship.

Nehal Gosalia, PhD, serves as Associate Director of Genetics at RTW Investments, LP (“RTW”), where she is expanding ongoing research efforts using genetic data and bioinformatics tools.  Prior to joining RTW, Nehal spent four years at the Regeneron Genetics Center, where she utilized bioinformatic and computational tools to interrogate large exome sequencing datasets associated with phenotypic data, including electronic health records, to address questions on how human genetic variation contributes to disease. During her time at Regeneron, Nehal co-authored six publications, including high profile publications in Science and the New England Journal of Medicine.

Nehal has a PhD in Molecular Biology and Genetics from Northwestern University and a BS in Biology with a minor in Business from the Illinois Institute of Technology.

Steven B. Saland, MD, serves as Research Manager at RTW, where he is responsible for enhancing the RTW research process related to the collection, organization, and analysis of data.

Steve graduated with a BS in Archaeology from Columbia University, and has traveled extensively throughout Western Europe, Central America, Sub-Saharan Africa and the Middle East to visit old excavation sites and sometimes participate in active archaeological digs. Steve received his medical degree from the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine and has trained in Anesthesiology and Critical Care.

Ovid C. Amadi, PhD, serves as an Analyst at RTW Investments, LP (“RTW”) where he is responsible for coverage of medical technology companies including medical devices, life science tools, diagnostics, and digital health.

Prior to joining RTW, Ovid was a Principal at Boston Consulting Group where he spent six years advising medical device companies, biopharmaceutical companies, and government institutions (including the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services) on strategic and operational initiatives spanning M&A transactions, supply chain management, and organizational effectiveness.  Ovid spent a year seconded to the World Economic Forum where he co-led the Value in Healthcare initiative in partnership with healthcare CEOs and public officials around the world.

Ovid received a PhD in Medical Engineering and Medical Physics from the Harvard / MIT Division of Health Sciences and Technology, where he developed microfluidic applications in developmental biology and regenerative medicine.  He also has a BS in Mechanical Engineering from MIT.

Lauren Cuje serves as a Venture Analyst at RTW Investments, LP (“RTW”), where she is responsible for expanding the fund’s research interests in new disease areas, as well as supporting efforts around new company formation.

Prior to joining RTW, Lauren worked as a consultant to the life sciences industry and within the asset management division of Goldman Sachs. Lauren received a MA in Biotechnology from Columbia University and a BA in Molecular, Cellular and Developmental Biology from the University of Colorado.

Chris Liu, PhD, serves as an Analyst at RTW, where he is responsible for oncology research as well as coverage of life sciences companies in China. Prior to joining RTW, Chris spent 5 years in Business Development at GenScript, where he primarily worked on antibody drug discovery and development including novel immuno-oncology targets. He also worked on the design and optimization of CAR constructs for CAR-T companies such as Kite, Juno, and Bellicum. Chris received a PhD in Biochemistry from SUNY Stony Brook and a BS in Chemistry from Fudan University. He also received his MBA in Finance and Management from NYU Stern School of Business.

Connor Williams, serves as an Analyst at RTW, where he is responsible for research in neurological disease. Connor is also actively involved in RTW’s efforts to better understand genetic drivers of disease more generally. Connor has experience as a lab researcher at The University of Hong Kong and contributed to a published work during his tenure at HKU. Connor received a BA in Biology and Psychology, and a MA in Psychology with a focus on Biopsychology from NYU.

James Bellush, PhD, serves as a Venture Analyst at RTW, where he is responsible for conducting research on novel genetic targets in several disease areas. Prior to joining RTW, James was a Research Fellow at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, where he developed genome sequencing and bioinformatics platforms to study how gene regulatory elements control transcription during animal embryogenesis.

James has a PhD in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology from Weill Cornell Graduate School of Medical Sciences and a BS in Biology from Moravian College.

Mike Christman, serves as Senior Director of Operations at RTW. Mike has more than a decade of accounting and operations experience in financial services. Prior to joining RTW, he worked at Atlantic Investment Management, Inc., serving as Assistant Controller. Before joining Atlantic, he served as senior fund accountant at Bellman Walter Capital, LLC. Mike began his career as an auditor at Pricewaterhouse Coopers. Mike received a BBA from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst.

Michelle Krinke, serves as Head Trader at RTW. Michelle has ten years of experience in financial services. Prior to joining, she worked at Sio Capital as the Director of Marketing.

Earlier in her career, Michelle worked as a fund accountant at Meridian Fund Services and in a sales role at Bloomberg LP. Michelle received a BA from the University of Texas at Austin and was awarded a full athletic scholarship for tennis.

Daniel Heuser serves as the Director of Technology. Prior to RTW, Daniel worked at Serengeti Asset Management, an investment firm with a focus on niche credit opportunities as the Manager of Technology. Daniel began his career in finance as an Infrastructure Engineer at Folger Hill Asset Management where he helped with the launch of the firm. Daniel received his degree in Information Technology from New York Institute of Technology.

David Moore, serves as Controller at RTW. David has over fifteen years of accounting, audit and fund administration experience. He previously worked at SS&C Technologies, Inc., as Director in their Fund Services division. Earlier in his career, David worked as a senior financial analyst at The Blackstone Group, L.P. and as a financial services associate at Arthur Andersen LLP. David is a licensed CPA in the State of New York, received an MBA from New York University and graduated summa cum laude with a BS in Accounting from CUNY Brooklyn College.

Krisha McCune, serves as Director of Operations at RTW. Prior to joining, Krisha was an auditor in public accounting at RubinBrown, LLP. Krisha is a licensed CPA, received an MBA from Lindenwood University, and graduated with a BA in Chinese from Duke University.

Lorrie Nathan, CPA, serves as Director of Valuations at RTW. She previously worked at Alvarez & Marsal, LLC, as a Manager in the Valuation Services group. Prior to Alvarez & Marsal, Lorrie was a Vice President at Citi where she worked in the Citi Treasury Investments Controllers group. Earlier in her career, she worked as an auditor at Ernst & Young LLP and EisnerAmper LLP.

Lorrie is a licensed CPA in the State of New York, holds a BBA in Accounting from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, and a MS in Finance from Baruch College.

Julia Enright, serves as a Business Development Associate at RTW. Julia serves on RTW’s business team and contributes to various efforts, including capital raising, counterparty relationships, impact initiatives, and content production. Prior to joining RTW, Julia spent three years as a healthcare investment banking analyst at Canaccord Genuity Group and Janney Montgomery Scott. Julia received her BBA from Villanova University.

Alex Acosta, JD, serves as Director of Compliance at RTW. Prior to joining RTW, she served as the Vice President of Legal and Compliance at Greentech Capital Advisors and Wafra Investment Advisory Group. Earlier in her career, Alex worked as a Compliance Associate at Goldman Sachs and an Operational Due Diligence Associate at Lyxor Asset Management.

Alex is a licensed attorney in the State of New York. She received her law degree from Fordham University School of Law and graduated magna cum laude from Florida International University with a BBA in International Business.

Michael Davidson serves as Assistant Director of Tax at RTW Investments, LP (“RTW”), where he is responsible for a variety of tax work related to specific investments, the RTW funds, and RTW principals.  Prior to joining RTW, Mike worked at Chilton Trust, a premier wealth management company that provides wealth management services and investment solutions to high net worth individuals, families, foundations, endowments and institutions.  Prior to joining Chilton, Mike worked at Aprio, the largest independent CPA-led business advisory firm based in Atlanta.

Mike graduated from Kennesaw State University with a Bachelor’s Degree in Accounting.

Alexandra Taracanova, PhD, serves as Director of Investor Relations at RTW, where she is responsible for the development and execution of the Investor Relations program for the RTW Venture Fund.  Prior to joining RTW, Alexandra served as Medical Science Liaison at Advanced Accelerator Applications (“AAA”), a Novartis Company, where she led clinical oncology research collaborations and was responsible for medical affairs strategy execution. Prior to joining AAA, Alexandra was a Life Science Specialist at LEK Consulting, where she provided consulting services to biopharmaceutical and medical technology clients.

Alexandra received her PhD in Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics from Tufts University School of Medicine. She was recognized as Dean’s Fellow for her academic achievements and her thesis work was published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. While in graduate school, Alexandra served as a Business Development Associate at MPM Capital in Cambridge, MA. Alexandra graduated summa cum laude with Bachelor of Science in Biochemistry from State University of New York Plattsburgh.

Maria Aronov serves as an Operations Associate at RTW Investments LP, (“RTW”). Prior to joining RTW, Maria was an associate at Three Bridges Capital, a hedge fund specializing in international equities. Before joining Three Bridges, she held various internships at UBS, Skybridge Capital, and NetSuite.

Maria graduated with a BS in Finance from Bentley University.

Jennifer Aoki serves as Research Coordinator at RTW Investments, LP (“RTW”). Prior to joining RTW, Jenn served in various roles at Blackstone, first as an Executive Assistant in Private Equity and later as Life Sciences Coordinator.

Jenn received her Master’s degree from Columbia University where she was a PhD Candidate in Biochemistry and Molecular Physics.  She has over a decade of research lab experience at Columbia University, Caltech, UCSF, and CSULA in both Molecular Biology and Organic Chemistry.  She graduated from California State University Los Angeles with a B.S. in Biochemistry.

Jamie Lynne Sullivan, serves as Administration Team Manager and Executive Assistant to the Partners at RTW Investments, LP. Prior to joining RTW, Jamie spent one year working as Executive Assistant for a software focused technology startup company. Prior to her move to a more corporate role, Jamie spent a decade working as a theatrical stage manager and on various film and television projects in New York City and Cincinnati, OH. Jamie graduated with a Bachelor of Fine Arts from Western Kentucky University.

Nathalie Perozo serves as Assistant to the Research Team at RTW. Nathalie has over ten years of administrative experience in the financial services sector. Prior to joining RTW, she held extended tenures as Executive Assistant at The Carlyle Group and Standard Bank of South Africa. Additionally, Nathalie served the thalassemia community for two years as Development Associate for Cooley’s Anemia Foundation.

Nathalie received a Master of Fine Arts in Creative Writing from The New School University, where she acted as Editor-in-Chief for LIT Magazine. She graduated from Queens College CUNY with a B.A. in Comparative Literature.

Amanda Sceiczina serves as Office Manager and Receptionist at RTW Investments, LP (“RTW”). Prior to joining, Amanda spent two years as a Customer Experience Specialist with a start-up recruitment firm in Australia focusing on employee satisfaction and client interaction. With a passion for helping others, her responsibilities naturally progressed to include office management, executive assistance and client experience.

Amanda received a Bachelor’s Degree in Business with a Minor in Health Studies from Texas Woman’s University.