After years guiding Pfizer innovation initiative, Schoenbeck takes venture role at Canaan

ARTICLE | Management Tracks

In new role, the VC aims to combine elements of academic background with industry knowledge to create and develop new medicines

By Paul Bonanos, Director of Biopharma Intelligence

April 18, 2024 12:17 AM UTC

Innovation leader Uwe Schoenbeck has left Pfizer for a VC role at Canaan, with the expectation of blending lessons from his prior roles in academia and industry to guide early-stage scientific findings along the pathway to becoming promising medicines.

Schoenbeck was SVP and CSO for external science and innovation at Pfizer Inc. (NYSE:PFE), where he led the pharma’s Centers for Therapeutic Innovation (CTI) program in recent years. That initiative, established in 2010, was designed to tighten ties between the pharma and academic scientists, working closely together at locations in San Francisco, Boston, San Diego and New York…