Andy Firlik –

VCJ Fact Sheet for Andy Firlik

Born: Prior to the world’s first human xenograft liver transplant.

Education: Studied biology at Cornell University and Oxford University; received his MBA from the University of Pittsburgh, and his MD from Cornell University Medical College.

Career Path: Andy Firlik is a partner with Canaan Partners, which he joined in 2000. He was previously a co-founder and principal of Cortex Consulting, where he served as a consultant to Mayfield Fund and several early stage health-care companies. He is a co-founder and scientific advisory board member of a medical device company named Vertis Neuroscience Inc., and also co-founded LaunchCyte LLC, a Pittsburgh-based health-care seed stage investor and business accelerator. Firlik has many published articles to his credit, and currently holds a clinical faculty appointment in the Department of Neurosurgery at the Yale University School of Medicine.

Venture Focus: Health care

Greatest Accomplishment: As a neurosurgeon: helping a family of a spinal cord-injured child find meaning.

Biggest Mistake: Not realizing sooner that medical innovation is my passion.

If you weren’t a VC, you’d be a? catastrophy management triage specialist: I like pressure.

Pet Peeve: People who don’t realize that they have something to learn from everyone.

Did You Know? Parents of boyhood friend gave me the nickname “Package Deal” when I was in seventh grade.

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