Michael Baran

Michael Baran is Head of Private Investments at Affinity Asset Advisors and Managing Partner of the Affinity Healthcare Strategic Opportunities Fund. The Fund is a private healthcare investment vehicle focused on clinical-stage biotechnology companies with near- to medium-term liquidity potential through IPOs, M&A, crossover financings, PIPEs, and other public-private market opportunities.

Mike brings nearly 20 years of experience across biopharma R&D, corporate strategy, business development, and venture investing. Prior to joining Affinity, Mike was Partner at Pfizer Ventures, where he was responsible for sourcing, executing, and managing venture investments aligned with Pfizer’s long-term strategic priorities. His investment responsibilities included Capstan Therapeutics, ImCheck Therapeutics, Interius Biotherapeutics, Anjarium BioSciences, Autobahn Therapeutics, Mediar Therapeutics, and TRex Bio, among others. Several of these companies have since generated strategic exits, including Capstan Therapeutics’ announced acquisition by AbbVie for up to $2.1 billion, ImCheck Therapeutics’ announced acquisition by Ipsen for up to €1 billion, and Interius Biotherapeutics’ announced acquisition by Gilead/Kite for $350 million. 

Before Pfizer Ventures, Mike held leadership roles across Pfizer’s R&D, portfolio strategy, scientific affairs, and market access organizations. His work included evaluating Pfizer’s R&D portfolio across value, risk, quality, and productivity; supporting the R&D President’s strategic agenda; and providing analytical support for payer and market access strategy. This cross-functional operating experience gives him a differentiated perspective on how large biopharma evaluates innovation, allocates capital, and makes partnership and acquisition decisions.

Earlier in his career, Mike worked within the NIH Protein Structure Initiative’s Northeast Structural Genomics Consortium, coordinating protein structure production efforts across bioinformatics, protein expression and purification, and 3D structure determination. He is also a co-founder of Nexomics Biosciences, a New Jersey-based biotechnology company focused on gene-to-structure services and early-stage drug target validation.

Mike earned his PhD in biochemistry from Robert Wood Johnson Medical School/Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey. He also holds an MBA from Rutgers Business School and a BS in Biochemistry/Information Technology from Syracuse University. He is currently an adjunct faculty in the Department of Biomedical Engineering at Stony Brook University.

• Biopharma: Vaccines
• Therapeutics: Blood & Lymphatic Disease, Cardiovascular, Dermatology, Diabetes, Metabolism, Endocrinology & Obesity, Gastroenterology & Digestive Disease, Immunology, Autoimmune & Inflammation, Infectious Diseases, Nephrology – Renal, Neurodegenerative, Oncology, Ophthalmology, Respiratory & Pulmonary, Transplantation, Regenerative Medicine – Tissue Engineering
• Biomedical: Genomics, Precision Health​
• Other: Rare diseases