Biography

Garheng Kong has served as a director of the Company since December 1, 2013 and Lead Independent Director since June 2023. Dr. Kong also serves as the Chair of the Nominating and Corporate Governance Committee for the Company. Dr. Kong is the managing partner of HealthQuest Capital, a healthcare-focused investment firm, a role he has held since he founded HealthQuest Capital in 2012. He was previously a general partner at Sofinnova Capital, a position he held from 2010 to 2013. Before joining Sofinnova, Dr. Kong was a general partner from 2000 to 2010 at Intersouth Partners, a venture capital firm where he was a founding investor or board member for various life science ventures, several of which were acquired by large pharmaceutical companies. Prior to his investing career, Dr. Kong was employed by GlaxoSmithKline, McKinsey & Company, and TherOx. Dr. Kong has served on the board of directors of Venus Concept Inc., a medical technology company, since June 2017, when HealthQuest made an investment in Venus Concept and also currently serves on the board of directors of Xeris Pharmaceuticals, a biopharma company (formerly Strongbridge Biopharma plc, where Dr. Kong served on the board of directors since 2015). Dr. Kong previously served on the board of directors of Alimera Sciences, Inc., a pharmaceutical company that specializes in the commercialization and development of ophthalmic pharmaceuticals, from October 2012 to May 2023 and of Histogenics Corporation, a public biotechnology company, from July 2012 until February 2019, each of which he joined in connection with an investment by Sofinnova, and Avedro, Inc., a commercial-stage ophthalmic medical technology company, from April 2017 until November 2019. Dr. Kong also previously served on the Board of Melinta Therapeutics, a pharmaceutical company formerly known as Cempra Pharmaceuticals, from September 2006 until June 2019. Dr. Kong also sits on the boards of Duke University Medical Center, Be The Match, Dell Children’s Foundation, UT President’s Commercial Advisory Board, and the Austin Healthcare Council. Dr. Kong received undergraduate degrees in both Chemical Engineering and Biological Sciences from Stanford, and earned an M.D., Ph.D. and MBA from Duke University.