Dr. Avnur is the Chief Scientific officer at Quark Venture Inc, a Vancouver Canada based venture capital fund, (2016-present)
Dr. Avnur was responsible for Quark’s investments in 24 in life science startups including pharmaceuticals, Diagnostic, medical devices and AI. Representing Quark, Dr. Avnur currently serves as a board director on 12 of these 24 companies.
Roche Pharmaceuticals, Basel Switzerland. From 2009 – 2016, Dr. Avnur was the Global Head of Academic Innovation, Roche Partnering where she was responsible for creating/maintaining relationships with world leading academic institutions and world class scientific innovators, gaining Roche early access to future innovation. During that period Dr. Avnur was instrumental in the formation of nine startups. Dr. Avnur was also named Global Head of Neglected Diseases Roche Partnering 2010-2012.
Preceding her academic innovation leadership role, Dr. Avnur assumed responsibility for scientific evaluations of partnering opportunities and started the “Finder” group for Biomarkers for all therapeutic areas at Roche. She acted as Liaison between Roche’s Pharma and Diagnostic Divisions and contributed to Roche’s PHC (Personalized Health Care) initiative.
Prior to Dr. Avnur partnering roles, she worked in diagnostics and pharmaceuticals R&D for nearly 20 years. She held number positions, progressing from scientist and manager to global responsibilities. In this role, she was overseeing the
advancement of compounds from the bench into the clinic and was involved in the design and execution of early clinical studies that characterize the pharmacodynamics and clinical effects of a number of new compounds. Major scientific achievements include advancing three compounds (a PTHrP analog and two vitamin D analogs, for the treatment of postmenopausal osteoporosis) from early exploratory discovery research to the clinic. In her management roles, Dr. Avnur managed a group 44 scientists.
Dr. Avnur was named Distinguished Scientist, the highest scientific appointment at Roche.