Our Team

We are a diverse group of innovators, investors, technologists, philanthropists, and global health practitioners coming together with the same goal – solving health security challenges through innovation and impact investment.

Leadership

Andrew Nerlinger

Executive Director

Dr. Andrew Nerlinger is a physician, venture capital investor, and social impact innovator. He is the Executive Director of the Global Health Security Fund, a Geneva-based nonprofit that supports impact investment in global health security innovation. He is also the Co-founder of PandemicTech, an Austin-based venture philanthropy launched in 2016 that supports health security innovators on the front lines of fighting pandemic infectious disease threats. Andrew is a Venture Partner at Bill Wood Ventures, an Austin-based family office that invests in early stage technology companies, and he previously served as Partner at Vesalius Ventures, a Houston-based telemedicine and digital health venture capital firm. He is a graduate of the Yale University School of Medicine (MD) and the University of Notre Dame (BS, mathematics and philosophy).

Lisa McDonald

President, Board of Directors

Dr. Lisa McDonald is a physician entrepreneur with extensive experience in innovation ecosystem development, technology commercialization, and global health impact investment. She currently serves as President of the Global Health Security Fund (GHS Fund), a Geneva-based nonprofit that supports impact investment in health security innovations with a focus on the Global South. The GHS Fund leverages innovation ecosystem development and investment models that Lisa began developing as co-founder and Managing Director of PandemicTech, an Austin-based firm launched in 2015 that invests in and supports innovators developing technologies to prevent, detect, and respond to infectious disease threats. Lisa then founded the Texas Global Health Security Innovation Consortium (TEXGHS), a grassroots innovation ecosystem formed within the University of Texas at Austin that brought together over 100 global technology-focused organizations during the earliest stages of the COVID-19 pandemic. Lisa served as the Director of Healthcare at Austin Technology Incubator, the longstanding incubator of the University of Texas at Austin, from 2017-2023 where she worked with over 50 startups and graduated 10 portfolio companies following either successful acquisition or funding rounds. Lisa earned a Doctor of Medicine (MD) from Yale University School of Medicine, a Master of Science in Technology Commercialization (MSTC) from the University of Texas at Austin McCombs School of Business, and a Bachelor of Science (BS) in Chemistry from the University of Texas at Austin.

Bill Wood

Board of Directors

Based in Austin, Texas, Bill Wood is one of the most experienced venture capitalists in Texas. His track record spans over three decades and parallels the emergence of Austin as one of the world’s strongest technology driven economies. He has provided start-up financing, board level guidance and mentoring to dozens of start-ups, several of which have sustained multi-billion dollar market capitalizations.

Bill founded or co-founded two of the most active venture firms in Texas. In 1984, he was one of the original founding partners of Austin Ventures which went on to become the largest firm in the region with over $3 billion of capital under management. In 2006, he founded Silverton Partners which is now the most active venture firm in the state. In 2018, Bill retired from Silverton Partners but continues to invest in early stage companies through his family office (Bill Wood Ventures).

Bill is a past recipient of the Ernst & Young Entrepreneur-of-the-Year award. He was also the winner of the Austin Technology Summit’s “Pillar of the Community” award, recognizing his lifetime contribution to the community. Finally, he was the inaugural inductee into the Austin Technology Hall of Fame.

Bill graduated from Brown University, Phi Beta Kappa and Magna Cum Laude. He received his MBA from Harvard University. Bill has served on the Board of Trustees of Brown University and is a Trustee Emeritus of the University.

Elina Viitaniemi

Board of Directors

Director at ESCA CancerSupport; former Global Health and Innovation Expert at UNAIDS; Co-Founder and manager of the Health Innovation Exchange (HIEx). Experienced international professional, directing a Swiss cancer supper organization. Connecting governments and health response implementers to relevant new technologies and innovations, and supporting the sustainable scale-up and financing of new technologies for health. Skilled at creating connections and facilitating partnerships, passionate about creating transformation at a human level through through kindness, respect and a profound inner change.

Biju Jacob

Lead Advisor for Innovation

Dr. Biju Jacob is an experienced leader in innovation strategy, research infrastructure and startup advisory with a decade of experience in early-stage discovery, clinical research, and regulatory affairs. Academically trained as a medical geneticist and a serial entrepreneur by passion, he has advised 100+ biomedical/healthcare startups in conceptualizing, building, and running new ventures. He is currently Lead Advisor for Innovation at the Global Health Security Fund, a Geneva-based nonprofit that supports impact investment in global health security innovation. He was previously Country Director for India with the United Nations Joint Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) Health Innovation and Investment Exchange, Entrepreneur-in-Residence at the Narayana Hrudayalaya Mazumdar Shaw Cancer Center, and Group Head for Clinical Research & Healthcare Innovations at Narayana Health. He is a recipient of the BIRAC Innovation 2024 Award, ISBA National Award for Entrepreneurship 2010, and CV Raman Young Scientist Award 2007. He holds a PhD in Human/Medical Genetics and an MS in Biotechnology from Bangalore University.

Luis Ochoa Carrera

Lead Advisor for Biosafety and Biosecurity

Mr. Ochoa currently serves as the High-Containment Lab/Pandemic Safety Manager and Responsible Official for the Select Agent Program for the Office of Environmental Health and Safety at Michigan State University. From October 2019 to June 2021, he worked as the Director of the Epidemiological Surveillance and Research Laboratory Network of the Mexican Institute for Social Security (IMSS) and from March 2013 to October 2019 he served as BSL-3 Lab Coordinator at the National Reference Laboratory in Mexico. He is currently the President of the American Biological Safety Association (ABSA-International) and is a founding member and past President of the Mexican Biosafety Association (AMEXBIO). Mr. Ochoa has served as a mentor of different mentoring programs for Sandia National Laboratories, the Next Generation Global Health Security Network, and the IFBA Mentorship Program. He is also Senior Advisor for PandemicTech, member of the IFBA Board of Directors, and is a Certified Biosafety Professional from IFBA in four disciplines. He holds a Master´s Degree in Public Health Management focused on Biological Risk Management from Universidad del Valle de México.

Darja Könnig

Program Manager

Dr. Darja Könnig is a scientific professional with a strong track record in cutting-edge research in regenerative medicine and clinical trial management and regulatory affairs in oncology and nuclear medicine. Her work has always been strongly driven by a passion to translate innovative solutions into patient benefit. She won a business model competition ‘Science to Startup’ at Humboldt Universität Berlin, received a design award at Berlin’s first Science Hackathon and a teaching award for the development and implementation of a multidisciplinary curriculum at the Berlin-Brandenburg School for Regenerative Therapies.

Prior to her current position, Darja contributed to global health efforts as a member of the World Health Organization (WHO) UN-Biorisk Working Group within the Health Emergencies Programme, under the leadership of Executive Director Dr. Michael J. Ryan. In this role, she supported internal coordination of WHO Health Security activities.

Currently, Darja is a Project Officer at the International Rainwater Harvesting Alliance (IRHA), a Geneva based NGO focusing on rainwater management in vulnerable communities, using ecosystem-based adaptation (EbA) to improve water and food security, health and biodiversity in order to build sustainable resilience to climate change.

Darja earned a PhD in Biology and Regenerative Medicine from Julius Wolff Institute – Charité Universitätsmedizin Berlin and Freie Universität Berlin. She further holds a degree in Sports Management, and a Master of Science from the Freie Universität Berlin.

Ambassadors

Laura and John Arnold

Ambassadors

Laura and John are the Founders and Co-Chairs of Arnold Ventures, a philanthropy dedicated to improving the lives of all Americans through evidence-based policy solutions that maximize opportunity and minimize injustice. They believe philanthropy should be transformational and should seek through innovation to solve persistent problems in society. As co-founders, Laura and John actively engage in the organization’s overall direction and daily execution. Laura is an attorney and a former oil company executive. John is an investor.

Senior Fellows

Jade Mason

Senior Fellow

Jade Mason is an expert in Health Security and a Senior Fellow at the Global Health Security Fund. Since 2021, Jade has worked at the World Health Organization (WHO) Headquarters in the Health Emergency Programme’s Executive Office, under the leadership of Executive Director Dr. Michael J. Ryan. Her work has primarily focused on strategic and policy matters related to Health Security, particularly with regard to Biorisk. As of January 2024, Jade has resumed her role at WHO as a Project Officer.

Prior to joining WHO, Jade completed a Master of Science in Global Health at the University of Geneva, where she specialised in One Health capacity in fragile contexts. She then spent an additional year at the University as a researcher, furthering her work by concentrating on building innovative community-led solutions to address One Health challenges in the Kakuma Refugee Camp in Kenya.

Additionally, Jade holds a Bachelor of Science degree with a major in Human Anatomy and Public Health and a Bachelor of Commerce degree with majors in Management and Economics.

Join the GHS Fund Team

Join our virtual innovation ecosystem to explore opportunities to join the GHS Fund team and learn more about how you can support innovative solutions to health security challenges.