Elaine Hamm Ph.D

CEO Ascend BioVentures

As CEO, Dr. Hamm manages Ascend. Dr. Hamm evaluates the commercial potential of life science technologies and manages early stage life science startups. In addition to Ascend, Dr. Hamm is also the President and COO of Otologic Pharmaceutics, a clinical stage company developing a therapeutic for hearing disorders. Prior to joining Ascend BioVentures, Dr. Hamm served as COO for a portfolio of early stage pharmaceutical companies ranging from diabetes to hearing loss to infectious disease. Dr. Hamm has 10 years of professional leadership experience in the commercialization of early stage pharmaceutical therapeutics and diagnostics with experience in technology transfer, market analysis, and commercialization of preclinical and clinical stage products. She has designed and served as the Director for several statewide start-up accelerator programs. Dr. Hamm also has experience in equity and nonequity funding of early stage companies and has been directly involved in closing almost $30M in equity investment deals, with a focus in the pharmaceutical industry. In addition to her commercialization experience, Dr. Hamm previously worked as a Senior Protein Chemist in discovery and pre-clinical development of new chemical entities. Dr. Hamm received her PhD in Microbiology from the University of Oklahoma and holds several licensed US and International patents.