Amplifying innovation in healthcare

Through investment and project management, we amplify the value of pre-commercial projects with high value potential to a stage where they can commercialize.​

Bridging the translational gap

Life science translation faces a persistent gap between basic research or drug discovery and clinical proof-of-concept. The scarcity of private investment in early-stage medical device and diagnostic development drives the need for inventors to leverage alternative funding sources to advance innovation. Amplify will provide the resources to develop promising therapeutics, medical devices, and diagnostics, focusing on discoveries from the Mass General Brigham hospitals, including Massachusetts General Hospital and Brigham and Women’s Hospital.
We will develop a translational plan alongside the PI, and then will operate the project on their behalf.

Therapeutics

Dione T. Kobayashi, PhD, Operating Partner

Amplify seeks to work closely with MGB Investigators to develop their innovative therapeutic projects into commercializable assets. Just as innovation takes many forms, Amplify projects will span diseases and therapeutic modalities. Investigators with projects that aspire to create therapies for patients who require new and better medicines are encouraged to contact Dr. Kobayashi.

Illustration of DNA and test tubes
Physician looking at an operating room on a tablet

Devices & Diagnostics

Erin McKenna, MBA, Operating Partner

Amplify is interested in working with MGB investigators to develop and advance medical device and diagnostic technologies with the ability to have significant impact on improving patient care.  Amplify projects can serve a variety of unmet clinical needs and utilize a broad range of technology types.  Investigators with projects with transformative potential are encouraged to contact Erin McKenna.

Our team

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Roger Kitterman

Managing Partner
Bio

Roger Kitterman

Vice President, Venture

Roger is Vice President, Venture and Managing Partner of the Partners Innovation Fund. In this role, he leads the Innovation Fund and Licensing teams. Roger also serves as Executive Director of the Boston Biomedical Innovation Center, an NHLBI funded program to develop technologies in the areas of heart, lung, blood, and sleep.

Roger has been with the Partners Innovation Fund, a $140 million fund investing in Partners spinouts, since its launch in 2008. He is an experienced venture capital investor with more than 20 years in the industry and has guided multiple venture-backed companies through the earliest stages of development. He has also been the startup CEO for three venture-backed companies and is a founder of Mass Medical Angels. He has previously served as a partner at life science-focused venture funds in the Boston area. Roger began his venture capital career in Eastern Europe with the Bulgarian- American Enterprise Fund, a $55 million venture capital fund. Roger holds an MBA in Finance and Business Development from the Columbia Business School and an AB from Harvard College. Representative investments include Adheron Therapeutics, CoStim Pharmaceuticals, Daktari Diagnostics, Provasculon, and RaNA Therapeutics.

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Dione Kobayashi, PhD

Head of Therapeutics and Operating Partner, Amplify
Bio

Dione Kobayashi

Head of Therapeutics and Operating Partner

Dione is an accomplished executive scientist and a proven value creator with a successful record of drug development and company creation. Dione has led or participated in raising capital for seed, Series A, or Fund entities. She is passionate about developing new medicines for serious diseases and experienced in leading groups across numerous disease areas and therapeutic modalities including antibodies, antisense oligonucleotides, enzymes, gene therapy, and small molecules. Dione Co-Founded 1787 Bio, Imara, and Eperia, and has held leadership roles at Cydan Development, Alector, the Spinal Muscular Atrophy Foundation, and Rinat/Pfizer. Dione received her Ph.D. in Neuroscience at the University of Edinburgh and began her career at Genentech and Elan Pharmaceuticals. Currently, Dr. Kobayashi is an advisor or board member with the Bluefield Project to Cure Frontotemporal Dementia, Muscular Dystrophy Association Venture, NF2 Biosolution, RDMD, and Save Lydia.

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Erin McKenna

Head of Medical Devices and Operating Partner, Amplify
Bio

Erin McKenna

Head of Diagnostics and Operating Partner

Erin has been the Deputy Director and Senior Project Manager in the Boston Biomedical Innovation Center (B-BIC), a life science accelerator program funded by the National Institutes of Health. Projects receiving B-BIC awards have generated over 25 times their initial return on investment. Prior to that, Erin developed her expertise in medical device product development and commercialization at Boston Scientific in a variety of roles. She started her career in Research and Development at Boston Scientific and launched several vascular grafts and peripheral embolization products before shifting her focus to identifying and implementing company-wide product development lifecycle process improvements. She received her MBA and MS degrees from Babson College, her BE from Stevens Institute of Technology, and holds 9 issued patents. Erin is also a board observer at Cytrellis Biosystems, Platelet Biogenesis, and Third Pole Therapeutics.

Ronald Cobb

Ronald Cobb, PhD

Operator in Residence, Amplify
Bio

Ronald Cobb, PhD

Operator in Residence, Amplify

Ron is an accomplished molecular biologist with over 30 years of biopharmaceutical and medical device research and development experience. He has a proven track record developing multiple therapeutic modalities including monoclonal antibodies, therapeutic proteins, live attenuated bacterial and viral vaccines, as well as gene and cell therapy products from early-stage research through Phase 1 and Phase 2 clinical development. Prior to his role at Amplify, he was Chief Scientific Officer at Ology Bioservices, Inc. Previously, he was Director of Research and Development at RTI Surgical, Inc. leading a team that launched over 20 new products. In his career, he has worked in several therapeutic and medical device areas including immunology, cardiovascular, infectious disease, and most recently gene therapy. Ron received his BA in Biology from Wake Forest University in Winston-Salem, NC. He earned his PhD in Biochemistry from the Medical College of Georgia in Augusta, GA.

Rob Hubbard

Robert Hubbard, PhD

Operator in Residence, Amplify
Bio

Robert Hubbard, PhD

Operator in Residence, Amplify

Robert is an accomplished medicinal chemist with expertise in multiple therapeutic modalities, such as: small-molecules, antibody-drug conjugates and nanoparticles. Prior to his role at Amplify, he was the Vice President, Head of Drug Discovery at Coho Therapeutics. Previously, he was a Director of Medicinal Chemistry at Vividion leading a team to discovery novel bifunctional degraders. In his career, he was worked in several therapeutic areas including oncology, immunology and most recently in neuroscience. Robert received his BS in chemistry at Indiana University, Bloomington, IN. Subsequently, he received his MS and PhD in chemistry at University of Rochester, Rochester, NY.

Tom Backus

Tom Backus

Venture Associate, Amplify
Bio

Tom Backus

Venture Associate, Amplify

Tom is a Venture Associate within Amplify, the early-stage translational fund of Mass General Brigham Ventures. At Amplify, he focuses on areas of commercial diligence and operation, supporting investment and future company creation. He started his career in preclinical biotech research at Biogen, before moving to an MGB Ventures portfolio company, Keros Therapeutics, where he was a first-day hire. Post Keros IPO, he worked as a consultant for Putnam Associates, providing global biopharma clients with strategic insights focusing on opportunity assessment, competitive landscaping, commercialization, and access. Tom holds a BSc in Neuroscience and an MBA from Northeastern University.

Amplify

Kendall Square Location

One Main Street, Suite 510

Cambridge, MA 02142