Niall O’Donnell joined RiverVest in 2006 as a Kauffman Fellow and associate and became a managing director in 2014. He has been instrumental in developing and shaping the firm’s successful biopharmaceutical strategy, which includes putting patients first, supporting entrepreneurs, and earning the trust of investors. Since joining RiverVest, Niall has founded or co-founded five biopharmaceutical companies, directed clinical strategy, co-founded key patents, and helped to raise over a billion dollars in venture capital for early-stage companies addressing significant unmet medical needs. He is currently a board member of Engrail Therapeutics, Atalanta Therapeutics, Glycomine, Sparrow Pharmaceuticals, and Wugen. Previously, Niall was an immunologist at Johnson & Johnson Pharmaceutical Research and Development in San Diego, where he was part of a successful cross-disciplinary team of chemists and biologists that drove small-molecule anti-inflammatory drugs into clinical trials. Niall earned a Ph.D. in Biochemistry from the University of Dundee, Scotland, and an M.A. in Biochemistry from Pembroke College, Oxford. He completed his postdoctoral work at the University of California, San Diego, and later earned an MBA from the University of California, San Diego – Rady School of Management. In 2024, the Rady School awarded Niall the Sullivan Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation Achievement Award.