Ravi Rao, PhD

Ravi joined Samsara BioCapital as a Venture Partner in 2022. Ravi has been a strategic leader in the research, development, manufacturing, or commercialization activities of 5 approved drugs (FASENRA®, LUMOXITI®, ONIVYDE®, KEYTRUDA®, and CYTOGAM®) and two biology discovery platforms (ATLAS™ Platform and TRex Discovery Platform). He is a company builder and has served as CEO of early-stage bio companies. Ravi served as the CEO of TRex Bio, where he conceptualized and built a company aimed at discovering new therapies to restore tissue homeostasis. Before that, he served as the interim CEO of Complexa, leading the turnaround of the organization. Before Complexa, as the Chief Business Officer of Vtesse, he played a critical cross-functional role in corporate strategy, product development, and financial operations, leading the company from Phase I to a fully enrolled global Phase III within 18 months. He was instrumental in the sale of the company after the enrollment of Phase III. Before Vtesse, he held increasing levels of responsibilities within corporate development and strategy consulting at Merrimack Pharmaceuticals, Genocea Biosciences, MedImmune/AstraZeneca, and Booz&Co. While at MedImmune, Ravi built the immunology product portfolio de novo as well as the crafting the journeys of several drugs, including FASENRA®, LUMOXITI®, DAXDILIMAB, and CYTOGAM®. Ravi holds a BS in Biology and Chemistry from the University of Wisconsin and a PhD in Biochemistry and Molecular Biophysics from the University of Pennsylvania.