Michael Rome

Michael Rome is a Managing Director at Foresite Capital, where he heads the firm's therapeutics investing practice. He joined the firm in 2016 and was promoted to Managing Director in May 2020. His mandate spans the full lifecycle of drug-development investing — company incubation and formation, syndicated private financings, crossover rounds, and public-market investments. He has served as a board director and officer at multiple publicly traded and private biotechnology companies.

Rome comes from a deep scientific background. He earned a BS in Molecular, Cell, and Developmental Biology from UCLA and a PhD in Biochemistry from Caltech, where he was a National Science Foundation Fellow. He grew up in a scientific household — his father has run an academic research lab for more than 40 years — and credits his technical training with letting him "really get into the details of what our portfolio companies are doing." Before moving into investing, he began his finance career as an analyst at DAFNA Capital Management, a healthcare-focused investment manager, where he says he became "instantly hooked" on combining his two passions, science and investing.

At Foresite, Rome has held board and board-observer roles across a broad portfolio, including Affinivax (observer), Alumis, Avenzo, Candid, CG Oncology (observer), Khartis, Kinnate Biopharma, KymaThera, Nurix (observer), Pharvaris, RayThera, Remix Therapeutics, Turning Point Therapeutics (observer), Theseus Pharmaceuticals, and XinThera. He describes his approach as balancing responsiveness to market conditions with a long-term investing horizon.

• Sector: Concentrated in therapeutics and biopharma — companies working to get "actual drugs into patients" in areas of high medical need (e.g., oral treatments for chronic inflammatory diseases like psoriasis and rheumatoid arthritis as alternatives to injectables).
• Stage: Flexible across the lifecycle — incubates and co-founds new companies, leads/participates in private and crossover rounds, and invests through IPOs and public markets.
• What makes him say yes — three stated signals:
• Leadership: Prefers seasoned, repeat entrepreneurs who can weather the inevitable surprises of startup and drug development.
• R&D team: Looks for teams that can execute across all functions — supply chain, regulatory affairs, and clinical development.
• Technology & impact: Backs concepts with a credible path to real drugs reaching patients in high-need indications.
• In his own words: "We look to back concepts that will result in getting actual drugs into patients." He also stresses "this delicate balance of adjusting to market conditions while being a long-term investor."