Garrett Vygantas

Garrett is a frequent lecturer at UCSF's Center for BioEntrepreneurship and has advised in the formation of numerous biotech start-ups. Garrett completed his Transitional Residency at the University of Pennsylvania and holds MD and MBA degrees from Georgetown University as well as a BS in biochemistry from Boston College.

Garrett is founder and GP of Riverine Ventures, an early-stage VC focused on the intersection of Medicine and AI across molecules, machines and megabytes. Previously, Garrett led healthcare investments at OSF Ventures at OSF, a 15-hospital integrated delivery system, where he focused on investing in healthcare companies making an impact in the provider-patient ecosystem. Before OSF, Garrett was a Partner with Jump Capital where he led investments in healthcare and life sciences for Chicago-based Jump Capital.

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Earlier, Garrett was Founding CEO of NewBridge Pharma, a Dubai-based specialty pharmaceutical company commercializing innovative therapies, medical devices and diagnostics across emerging markets. During his tenure, the company grew to 100+ employees, raised $65 million in financing over 3 rounds, and created $470 million in nominal value. 

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Garrett was also an Entrepreneur-In-Residence and Director with the Burrill Venture Group where he sourced, evaluated, and structured new investment opportunities across biotech, pharma, life science, and healthcare spectrums. 

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Earlier in his career, Garrett founded Ceratotech and co-founded Mitre Medical and TherOptix. At Genentech, he helped launch Lucentis for the treatment of age-related macular degeneration. Garrett previously worked with the Health Care Investment Banking group at Cowen and in business development at the biotech company EntreMed.

Garrett is a member of Kauffman Fellows Class 13, and performed his fellowship under mentor Steve Burrill at Burrill & Company. He later served as mentor to Peter Johnson, Class 20.