Rodrigo Santos

Dr. Rodrigo Santos brings deep scientific expertise to biotech investing from his background as a molecular biologist at Genentech before earning his MBA from Berkeley Haas. His PhD from UCSF focused on cancer immunotherapy, and he worked on early CAR-T cell therapy research before the field exploded commercially. Rodrigo combines understanding of cutting-edge biology with investment discipline, evaluating which early-stage programs have genuine scientific merit versus those with flawed hypotheses. He excels at reading clinical trial data, assessing statistical significance, understanding endpoints, and predicting FDA review outcomes. Rodrigo was early to recognize checkpoint inhibitors' potential and correctly identified which companies had differentiated approaches in crowded therapeutic areas. His analysis spans oncology, rare diseases, gene therapy, cell therapy, and emerging modalities like RNA therapeutics. He evaluates pipeline risk, probability of success, peak sales potential, and whether valuations reflect realistic scenarios. Rodrigo understands that biotech investing requires stomach for binary outcomes—clinical failures wipe out value while successes generate enormous returns. Based in South San Francisco, he's embedded in the biotech hub while maintaining objectivity about an industry where hope often exceeds reality.