Christoph Westphal, Senior Advisor

As a Senior Advisor, Christoph works exclusively with Flybridge Capital Partners and its general partners to further the firm’s life sciences investment initiatives. In addition, Christoph is Chairman of the firm’s Life Sciences Advisory Board.

Background

Christoph serves as Chief Executive Officer and Vice Chairman of Sirtris Pharmaceuticals, a biopharmaceutical company developing and commercializing novel therapeutics that modulate sirtuins, a recently discovered family of enzymes that promotes the body's natural defense against disease. Prior to Sirtris, he was a General Partner at Polaris Ventures Partners. While at Polaris, Westphal co-founded, invested in, and served as CEO and Vice Chairman of Alnylam Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ: ALNY), Momenta Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ: MNTA), and Acceleron Pharma. Westphal also co-founded Nanosys and led investments in Advion Biosciences, Athenix, GI Dynamics, Hydra Biosciences and Saegis Pharmaceuticals. Previously he was with McKinsey and Company’s healthcare practice.

He has received numerous awards and recognitions including the 2006 Ernst & Young New England Biotech Entrepreneur of the Year Award, Boston Business Journal “40 Under 40” Award, and the MIT Technology Review 100 Award.

Education

Christoph earned a BA from Columbia University and received his M.D. and Ph.D. from Harvard Medical School.