John Mckearn

John McKearn is a longtime life-sciences investor and drug-development executive at RiverVest Venture Partners, the St. Louis–based venture firm he joined in 2008. He came aboard as a Venture Partner and was promoted to Managing Director on May 3, 2011; as of 2026 he transitioned to a Senior Advisor role, where he continues to serve as a central scientific voice in the firm's biopharmaceutical strategy. He holds a Ph.D. in immunology from the University of Chicago and a B.S. in biology from Northern Illinois University (he and his wife Cassandra endow NIU's McKearn Fellows Program).

Before venture capital, McKearn spent roughly 16 years at G.D. Searle / Pharmacia (now part of Pfizer), rising to Global Head of Research, where he helped guide the development and launch of more than a dozen major pharmaceuticals. Earlier in his career he was a research associate at Washington University, a senior scientist at DuPont (E.I. DuPont de Nemours), and a member of the Basel Institute for Immunology. Immediately prior to RiverVest he served as President and CEO of Kalypsys, Inc., a private biotech company in San Diego.

His scientific credentials are unusually deep for an investor: he is named on more than 50 patents in cancer treatment and inflammatory disease. That translational focus is how he describes his own motivation: *"What has always motivated me is the translation of rigorous science into medicines that can meaningfully change patients' lives."* At RiverVest he has taken numerous board seats and helped structure early financings, including a co-led $38.5 million Series B for Otonomy that closed in August 2010.

• Invests in early-stage biopharmaceutical companies — RiverVest's stated preference is for *products with a known path to clinical approval* rather than open-ended platform plays.
• Draws on personal domain expertise in immunology, oncology, inflammation, drug discovery, and clinical development/commercialization when evaluating deals.
• Looks for companies addressing significant unmet medical needs with demonstrated safety and efficacy signals in early clinical work; the firm emphasizes pre-money valuation and return potential.
• Works across the venture lifecycle, from very-early company formation (the Archer Seed Fund) through Series financings and toward exit via acquisition or IPO.
• Says yes based on the science-to-medicine translation story: *"the translation of rigorous science into medicines that can meaningfully change patients' lives."*