Michelle Dipp

Michelle Dipp, M.D., Ph.D., is a co-founder and CEO of OvaScience,^[1] a company focused on improving the success of IVF, as well as a founder and partner of Longwood Fund, a healthcare venture capital firm that founds and invests in healthcare companies.^[2]

Career

Dipp is currently the CEO of OvaScience, a life sciences company focused on the discovery, development, and commercialization of new treatments for infertility. Dipp co-founded the company in 2011 with Richard Aldrich, M.B.A. and Christoph Westphal M.D., Ph.D., of Longwood Fund,^[3] fertility expert and Harvard Medical School Professor Jonathan Tilly, Ph.D. of Massachusetts General Hospital, and aging expert and Harvard Medical School Professor David Sinclair, Ph.D.^[4] Dipp's leadership of OvaScience was highlighted by the Boston Globe in October 2012^[5] and in February 2013 by the Boston Business Journal;^[6] Tilly's research was named one of the top 25 science stories of 2012 by Science News.^[7]

In February 2010, it was announced that Dipp, along with Christoph Westphal and Richard Aldrich, launched a venture capital firm, Longwood Founders Fund LP.^[8]

Prior to launching Longwood Founders Fund in February 2010, Dipp was the senior vice president and head of the Centre of Excellence for External Drug Discovery (CEEDD) at GlaxoSmithKline (GSK). Prior to managing GSK’s CEEDD, Dipp was the Vice President of Corporate Development at Sirtris,^[9] which developed new drug candidates that target the sirtuins—a recently discovered family of enzymes that appear to control aging—to treat diseases of aging, including Type 2 Diabetes, inflammatory diseases, and cancer. Founded in 2004 by Christoph Westphal and David Sinclair, Sirtris was one of the first pharmaceutical companies focused on the sirtuin platform. Dipp led the acquisition of Sirtris by GSK in 2008 for $720 million.^[10]

Before joining Sirtris as a founding employee, Dipp worked in health care private equity at The Wellcome Trust, London. Dipp did her post-doctoral research in the departments of Pharmacology and Cardiothoracic Surgery, John Radcliffe Hospital, Oxford. She is the author of a recently published book titled "Pulmonary Hypertension and Hypoxic Pulmonary Vasoconstriction: The Role of Calcium Sensitization".^[11] She holds an M.D. and a Ph.D. in pulmonary physiology from the University of Oxford.

Dr. Dipp serves on the Biotechnology Industry Organization’s (BIO) Emerging Companies Governing Board, the Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center Board of Trustees, the Boston Symphony Orchestra Board of Overseers, and the MassBio Advisory Board. In March 2015, Dr. Dipp was elected to join the World Economic Forum’s Young Global Leaders (YGL).^[12] In September 2015, Dr. Dipp was named to Fortune Magazine's 40 Under 40 list. ^[13]

References