Mark Charest, Vice President, joined New Leaf Venture Partners in 2012. Previously, Mark was an Associate and Kauffman Fellow at Panorama Capital where he served on the board of Itero Biopharmaceuticals and was a board observer at Presidio Pharmaceuticals and PowerVision. Mark joined Panorama from ZS Associates, where he led consulting engagements for a variety of global pharmaceutical companies focused on commercial strategy and optimization. Mark gained early healthcare investing experience as an Associate at Great Point Partners where he sourced and managed capital allocations in public and private healthcare companies. Prior to Great Point, Mark played a leadership role in several drug discovery programs in the oncology area as a medicinal chemistry lab manager at Novartis Institutes for BioMedical Research.

Mark received his Ph.D. degree in Chemistry and Chemical Biology from Harvard University as a National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellow and his B.A. in Chemistry with the highest honors from Rutgers University. During his graduate studies, Dr. Charest completed the chemical synthesis of tetracycline and made key contributions to intellectual property out-licensed to found Tetraphase Pharmaceuticals.