Westlake Village BioPartners Appoints Mira Chaurushiya, Ph.D., as Senior Partner

LOS ANGELES, Jan. 6, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Westlake Village BioPartners ("Westlake") today announced the appointment of Mira Chaurushiya, Ph.D., to the position of senior partner. Dr. Chaurushiya will be a full investing partner at Westlake. She joins the firm from 5AM Ventures, where she spent more than six years growing and building next-generation life sciences companies.

"We are excited to welcome Mira to Westlake Village BioPartners," said Beth Seidenberg, M.D., co-founding managing director of Westlake. "Mira is an experienced investor who has deep knowledge of both science and business. From concept to commercialization, she brings a deep understanding of what makes a company successful and will help us deliver outstanding results for our portfolio companies and partners. We're honored to have Mira on our team."

"There's nothing more fulfilling than working at the intersection of translational science and medicine – a place where you see the output of your efforts becoming something truly meaningful for patients," said Dr. Chaurushiya. "Westlake is leading the way to establishing the Los Angeles biotech hub. As a native of L.A., I am looking forward to expanding our life sciences ecosystem and helping the world's most innovative companies achieve their potential."

Dr. Chaurushiya is a fellow of the Society of Kauffman Fellows. After her postdoctoral fellowship in physiological chemistry at Genentech, a member of the Roche Group, Dr. Chaurushiya joined 5AM Ventures as an associate and took on positions of increasing responsibility, culminating as a partner. During her tenure at 5AM Ventures, she invested in and served as director or observer on the boards of multiple organizations, including Precision Nanosystems (acquired by Danaher), Ideaya Biosciences (IDYA), Enliven Therapeutics, Escient Pharmaceuticals, Magnetic Insight, Novome Biotechnologies, Purigen Biosystems, and TMRW.

"Mira comes to Westlake Village BioPartners with experience building life sciences companies from the ground up," said Sean Harper, M.D., Westlake's co-founding managing director. "As a biologist who worked in industry research at Genentech before entering the venture capital industry, Mira has an impressive track record in both biological sciences and life sciences investing which will aid Westlake and our entrepreneurs as we continue to build our portfolio of companies."

Dr. Chaurushiya received her Ph.D. in biological sciences from the University of California, San Diego in conjunction with the Salk Institute for Biological Studies, where she was awarded the Martin Kamen Thesis Prize in Biochemistry. She received her bachelor's degree in biology from Carleton College. She also serves on the board of Biotech Connection Bay Area, a non-profit that focuses on career development for academic scientists.

About Westlake Village BioPartners 
Westlake Village BioPartners is a Los Angeles area-based venture capital firm focused on incubating and building life sciences companies with entrepreneurs who have the potential to bring transformative therapies to patients. Westlake manages more early-stage venture capital solely from the greater Los Angeles area than any other firm. The Westlake model is built on the founding team's unique experience in successfully identifying and developing breakthrough therapies and building organizations, based on their extensive R&D experience. For more information, please visit www.westlakebio.com.

SOURCE Westlake Village BioPartners