Josh  Makower, MD

Josh joined us as an advisory Venture Partner in January 2024. As co-Founder and Director of the Stanford Byers Center for Biodesign, he is at the heart of the U.S. medical technology ecosystem.

Josh will help Sofinnova Partners evaluate investment opportunities in early-stage medical devices and digital medicine, while mentoring portfolio company leaders and bolstering Sofinnova’s presence in North America.

Josh co-founded Stanford Biodesign with Dr. Paul Yock 23 years ago and led the creation of the fundamental structure of the Center’s core curriculum and is the chief architect of what is now called “The Biodesign Process.” This curriculum and the associated textbook have been used at Stanford and across the world to train hundreds of thousands of students, faculty and industry leaders on the Biodesign process towards the advancement of medical innovation for the improvement of patient care.

“It’s an honor to work the team at Sofinnova Partners, having observed and respected the firm’s leadership and vision in the medical device space for many years,” he said when his appointment was announced.

Josh is also the Founder & Executive Chairman of ExploraMed, a medical device incubator that has created 11 companies since 1995. Transactions from the ExploraMed portfolio include NeoTract, acquired by Teleflex; Acclarent, acquired by J&J; EndoMatrix, acquired by C.R. Bard, and TransVascular, acquired by Medtronic. Other ExploraMed ventures include Moximed, Revelle Aesthetics, X9 and Willow.

Josh was a longtime Partner in NEA's healthcare practice. He sits on the boards of six companies and holds more than 300 patents and patent applications. Josh is a Member of the National Academy of Engineering, a Fellow of The National Academy of Inventors and The American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering, and was awarded the Coulter Award for Healthcare Innovation by the Biomedical Engineering Society in 2018.

He has an MBA from Columbia University, an MD from the NYU School of Medicine, and a bachelor’s degree in Mechanical Engineering from MIT.