Ken Drazan leads the Johnson & Johnson Innovation Center in carrying out the organization’s mission to access early external innovation. Ken’s background includes more than 13 years in the healthcare industry and 12 years in the hospital and academic worlds.

Ken works with the California IC Team and partners with the other JJICs and the R&D, business development, and business leaders across Johnson & Johnson to identify, shape and on-board the most promising science and technology opportunities at universities, academic centers, tech- and biotech companies, with the goal of catalyzing early-stage innovation and bringing transformative medicines, devices, and consumer products to Johnson & Johnson.

A liver transplant surgeon by training, Ken spent several years at Stanford University before moving into entrepreneurial leadership roles in the biopharmaceutical industry and subsequently in the venture capital world. Ken’s deep background in science, his business experience, and his strong ties to the Bay Area life science community provide a unique combination of skills and expertise to his leadership of our California IC.

Previously, Ken co-founded Bertram Capital Management in 2006. He served as General Partner of this family of growth equity funds focused on middle-market equity investments in business services, consumer products, light manufacturing, and healthcare services. He was also Co-Founder and Chairman of EnGen Bio, a virtual company focused on novel therapeutics in infectious disease and oncology.
 
Ken has held a variety of entrepreneurial leadership positions, including Founder, Chief Executive Officer, and Director of Arginox, a venture-backed company developing nitric oxide targeted medicines for critical care. He also held executive positions at Genesoft Pharmaceuticals, Inc., a company that developed anti-infective therapeutics in collaboration with the Department of Defense and for consumer markets.

Ken earned his B.A. in Economics from Yale College and received his M.D. Cum Laude from State University of New York. He completed his residency and Postdoctoral Fellow at UCLA Medical Center, with a focus on surgery and microbiology.