Jonathan Root

Who is Jonathan Root?

As a physician, Jon Root evaluates investments in the medical field with a practitioner's eye. A common investment criteria when evaluating business opportunities in the biotechnology or medical devices fields is: does this solution meet, or begin to address, an unmet clinical need? Jon goes beyond that: is the innovation easily usable? Jon spent nine years in clinical practice before joining USVP in 1995 as a Ewing Marion Kauffman Fellow in venture capital. He became a general partner in 1997. Before USVP, Jon was on the faculty and clinical staff at The New York Hospital-Cornell Medical Center in New York City. There he was an Assistant Professor of Neurology and Director of the Neurology-Neurosurgery Intensive Care Unit. He is board certified in neurology. Jon is on the boards of Altus Pharmaceuticals, Raven biotechnologies, OncoMed, Proteolix and Sequent Medical; he is active with USVP's investment in Ascenta. Jon holds an A.B. in Economics from Dartmouth College, an M.D. from the University of Florida College of Medicine, and an M.B.A. from Columbia University.