About Us

Investment Strategy and Management Team

Ellington Healthcare Partners I, L.P. is a venture capital fund guided by the deep and significant expertise of the members of its General Partner, NSIP LLC, all of whom are members of Ellington Healthcare Asset Management LLC, the Manager.

Tommy G. Thompson, the former Secretary of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, is the Chair of NSIP LLC, and Ellington Healthcare Asset Management LLC.

Dr. Anthony “Tony” Tether, the former Director of Defense Advanced Research Project Agency (DARPA), is the Chair of the Investment Committee. DARPA was created by President Eisenhower in 1958 never to let the United States be technically surprised as it was by the launch of the Russian satellite Sputnik.

The Fund seeks to invest in start-up and early-stage companies with unique therapeutic products and devices. Targeted investments are in the areas of Oncology, Nanotechnologies, Adult Stem Cells, and Bone Marrow Derived Cells that demonstrate potential breakthroughs in the treatment of disease or possess strong advantages over currently marketed products. Ellington seeks to be a lead or co-investor, making commitments in multi-stages up to $25 million while seeking returns on invested capital superior to those generally obtainable in the public equity markets.

The Fund’s team of Science Partners comprises three world-renowned experts in their fields, Drs. Elfenbein, Sackstein, and Kester, who provide Ellington unique insight and access into the rapidly developing advances in Nanotechnologies and Adult Stem Cell research and applications.

The Fund believes that Nanotechnology and Adult Stem Cell platforms provide some of the greatest economic potentials in medical science. Leveraging the expertise of its Science Partners, who are at the core of the information flow in these arenas, the Fund focuses its investments in opportunities with these attributes:

Nanotechnology holds great promise in optimizing pharmaceutical efficacy, delivery, and safety and has wide applications in oncology and infectious disease. In particular, nanomedicine has tremendous direct clinical applicability and commercial potential in diagnostics, imaging, treatment, and prevention.

Adult Stem Cell-based technologies can be used to regenerate tissue and support native processes leading to tissue repair. It is now well-recognized that adult stem cells can contribute directly to tissue regeneration by differentiation into relevant cell types. There is increasing evidence that Adult Stem Cells also provide remarkable tissue-sparing properties by promoting the growth of resident cells in tissues and by dampening the inflammatory response to tissue injury. Thus, these cells have a variety of clinical applications, ranging from stimulating tissue regeneration to controlling inflammation.

The Fund offers investors the potential for superior returns.

Fund Management Team

Tommy G. Thompson, former four-term Governor of Wisconsin and Secretary of the United States Department of Health and Human Services (“HHS”) from 2001 to 2005. He is Chairman of the Board of Directors of TherapeuticsMD, Inc., and Physicians Realty Trust (recently had an IPO and follow-on secondary offerings all of which were oversubscribed), and a director on a number of publicly and privately held companies. He was the former Chairman of the Board of Directors of AGA Medical Holdings and Logistics Health, Inc. (each of which was successfully sold) and CareView Communications, Inc. He is the former Independent Chairman of the Deloitte Center for Health Solutions and a former partner of the international law firm of Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld.

Anthony J. Tether, Ph.D., was the Director of the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) from 2001 to his retirement in 2009. DARPA is the principal Agency within the Department of Defense for research, development, and demonstration of concepts, devices, and systems that provide highly advanced new technology capabilities. As Director, Dr. Tether was responsible for management of the Agency’s projects for high-payoff, innovative research and development. During Dr. Tether tenure DARPA made grants of close to $25 Billion.

Gerald J. Elfenbein, M.D., is one of the leading international researchers in the fields of oncology, immunology, and stem cell transplantation. Most recently, he has served as Professor of Medicine at Boston University School of Medicine in Massachusetts, as Director of the Roger Williams Cancer Center (Providence RI), and as the Director of the Blood & Marrow Transplant Program at Roger Williams. Previously, Dr. Elfenbein was the Director of the Bone Marrow Transplant Program and Chief of Bone Marrow Transplant Service at the H. Lee Moffitt Cancer Center & Research Institute in Tampa, FL. He has authored or co-authored over 200 articles, books, and monographs.

Wayne Curtis “Curt” Weldon served 20 years in the United States House representing the Seventh Congressional District of Pennsylvania and represented the 6 mid-Atlantic States on the House Steering Committee. he served as the Vice Chairman of the Armed Services Committee, and Chairman of the Research & Development and Procurement Sub-Committees as well as Vice Chairman of the Homeland Security Committee. In these capacities Congressman Weldon was responsible for the oversight of tens of billions of research dollars allocated through dozens of the largest Department of Defense and Department of Energy agencies such as: DARPA, DTRA, MTEC, U.S. Army Medical Research and Material Command.

Robert Sackstein, M.D., Ph.D., is a Professor in the Departments of Dermatology and Medicine at Harvard Medical School and is a Physician of the Brigham & Women’s Hospital and the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute in Boston, MA. He is the Director of the Program of Excellence in Glycosciences for the Harvard Medical School and serves on the Steering Committee of the Regenerative Therapeutics/Tissue Engineering Program of the Biomedical Research Institute of the Brigham & Women’s Hospital. Dr. Sackstein has served on the Scientific Advisory Boards of Wyeth, Genzyme, and GlycoDesign. He currently holds several patents in breakthrough stem cell platform technology.

Admiral Jay M. Cohen was the 20th Chief of Naval Research and was the former Navy Chief Technology Officer. He was responsible for the $2B+/year Navy and Marine Corps Science and Technology (S&T) Program (involving basic research to applied technology portfolios and contracting), Cohen coordinated investments with other U.S. and international S&T providers to rapidly meet needs. Admiral Cohen was unanimously confirmed by the US Senate, he was sworn in as Under Secretary for Science & Technology at the Department of Homeland Security (responsible for DHS Research, Development, Test and Evaluation).

Brian Glenville, MD, started his business career by advising premier London merchant banks Morgan Grenfell and Deutsche bank on trends in new drug development. At the behest of the Goldman Family he became the medical director of Cardionetics Ltd which was later sold at a significant profit. Dr. Glenville is a venture partner of Meditech Partners and advises other life science venture capital funds. He has been a medical director, member of the Board of Directors, and Chairman of several startup Bio companies that have successfully gone to market. Currently, he is Chairmen of Azurepcr Ltd., a real time PCR company. Dr. Glenville was a pioneer of beating heart surgery and served on “European Union Initiatives” on artificial hearts and transplantation.

Granville A. Ungerleider has over thirty years of experience in developing innovative financial structures for healthcare and biopharma companies. He has pioneered, initiated, led and implemented a broad array of initiatives with an emphasis on financial restructurings, mergers and acquisitions, divestitures, private equity investments and public offerings of debt and equity securities during difficult and challenging financial markets. Mr. Ungerleider is the Managing Member of Whitemarsh Capital LLC, a firm that provides strategic and financial advisory services to early stage and mid-sized businesses in the healthcare, alternative energy, and technology industries and Managing Member of Whitemarsh Capital Advisors, LLC, a boutique investment bank.

Joseph M. Braunschek is a Managing Director of Whitemarsh Capital LLC. He is an experienced investment banking executive and advisor with a specialization in healthcare, hospital and nursing home financing. He has evaluated and analyzed hundreds of companies and financed over $1 billion of debt. During the recent turbulence in the senior housing finance market his loan portfolios achieved consistent superior returns by having the lowest defaults in the industry.

Daniel R. Berkove specializes in business development, regulatory issues, commercial strategy, and currently advises a number of governments on regulatory issues affecting key areas of national economies. He guided Metal-Tech, an international resource company, to a successful offering on the London AIM market.