Heath Lukatch

Biography

 Dr. Lukatch is Chairman of Satsuma's board of directors, which he joined in 2016. He is a Partner and Managing Director at TPG Biotech, and he currently represents TPG Biotech on the boards of Adynxx, Flexion (Nasdaq: FLXN), Lagunita Bioscience and Satsuma Pharmaceuticals.  Prior to joining TPG Biotech in 2015, Dr Lukatch was a Partner at Novo Ventures (US), where he helped establish Novo Ventures’ San Francisco office.  During his 9 years at Novo, Dr. Lukatch served as Chairman of Cianna Medical, Inogen (Nasdaq: INGN), NTP and Spinifex Pharmaceuticals (acquired by Novartis in 2015), and he served as a board member at Amira Pharmaceuticals (acquired by BMS in 2011), AnaptysBio, Elevation Pharmaceuticals (acquired by Sunovion in 2012), Flexion Therapeutics (Nasdaq: FLXN), FoldRx Pharmaceuticals (acquired by Pfizer in 2010), InSound Medical (acquired by Sonova in 2010), Nora Therapeutics and Synosia Therapeutics (acquired by BioTie in 2011), he was also a board observer at Alios BioPharma (acquired by J&J in 2014). Prior to joining Novo Ventures (US), Dr. Lukatch was a Managing Director responsible for biotechnology venture investments at Piper Jaffray Ventures and SightLine Partners, where his investments included Dynavax (Nasdaq: DVAX) and Fluidigm (Nasdaq: FLDM). Before Piper Jaffray Ventures, Dr. Lukatch worked as a strategy consultant with McKinsey & Company, where he was a leader in McKinsey’s biotechnology practice. Dr. Lukatch also served as co-founder and CEO of AutoMate Scientific, a biotechnology instrumentation company, and he has held scientific positions with Chiron, Roche Bioscience and Cetus, doing molecular biology, electrophysiology and protein chemistry, respectively.  Dr. Lukatch received his Ph.D. in Neuroscience from Stanford University where he was a DOD USAF Fellow, and his B.A. with high honors in Biochemistry from the University of California at Berkeley.

Research Interest

 Molecular Biology, Protien Chemistry, Electrophsiology