The rest of the 100 (in alphabetical order): Jorge Aquino, director of the ventures program, Johns Hopkins Technology Ventures
As director of the ventures program at Johns Hopkins Technology Ventures, Jorge Aquino has a prominent role on the steering committee of the $65m Bluefield Innovations, established by Johns Hopkins University and healthcare investment firm Deerfield Management in 2017 to finance early-stage therapeutic research projects.
Bluefield’s first investment was made early this year, consisting of an undisclosed amount of funding for research led by Prof Marikki Laiho into how cancer cells use the cellular pathway provided by the enzyme RNA polymerase 1.
Before setting up Bluefield, Deerfield worked with Johns Hopkins on numerous occasions. For example, in 2016 the firm led a $45m series B round for fibrosis-treatment spinout Blade Therapeutics.
Aquino has been at Johns Hopkins Technology Ventures since 2015, and is also responsible for leading the university’s FastForward accelerator. His previous role was at Canon Biomedical, the life sciences division of imaging corporation Canon.
