Vance Vanier

Dr. Vanier’s career in healthcare and innovation has spanned over two decades and has included successful roles as an investor, CEO, entrepreneur, and physician. Prior to CPF, Dr. Vanier was the President of Verinata Health which was acquired by Illumina in early 2013 in one of the largest venture-backed molecular diagnostic exits in the last decade. Verinata’s product, a non-invasive blood test, significantly replaced the need for amniocentesis in pregnant women and revolutionized the field of obstetrics around the world when its launched in 2012. Dr. Vanier’s responsibilities included scaling global revenue, marketing, health plan contracting, and clinical affairs. He managed the rapid revenue growth of non-invasive prenatal testing (NIPT) and the fastest health plan coverage adoption in the history of molecular diagnostics going from inception to over 180M covered lives in less than 2 years.

Before Verinata, Dr. Vanier served as President and CEO of Navigenics, a preventative genomics company acquired by Life Technologies. Dr. Vanier joined Navigenics as Chief Medical Officer in 2008. He was appointed CEO in late 2009, subsequently raised three rounds of venture capital financing, and brought on strategic investors and distribution partners including Procter & Gamble and Highmark. Prior to Navigenics, he served as a partner in the life sciences practice at Mohr Davidow Ventures (MDV), a two-billion-dollar venture fund, where he invested in molecular diagnostic and online health businesses.

Dr. Vanier received his M.D. from the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine and completed his residency training at the University of California, San Francisco, and Highland Hospital in Oakland. He received an M.B.A. from Stanford University, as well as dual bachelor’s degrees with honors. He continues to serve on the clinical faculty of Stanford Medical Center as an Assistant Clinical Professor. He was named a Henry Crown Fellow of the Aspen Institute in 2011, recognized as one of San Francisco’s Top 40 Under 40 in 2012 and Genetic and Biotechnology News’ GEN Ten Young Guns of Biopharma.