Michael Ehlers

Michael Ehlers, Ph.D., is chief scientific officer and venture partner at Apple Tree Partners (ATP), a leading life sciences fund. He is also chief executive officer of two ATP portfolio companies: Intergalactic Therapeutics and Ascidian Therapeutics, each cutting-edge start-up biotechnology companies focused on genetic medicines and gene therapy. Dr. Ehlers earned his bachelor’s degree in chemistry from Caltech. He holds M.D. and Ph.D. degrees from the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine.

Prior to joining ATP and its portfolio companies in 2019, Dr. Ehlers was executive vice president for research & development at Biogen. Before Biogen, Dr. Ehlers was group senior vice president for biotherapeutics and chief scientific officer for neuroscience at Pfizer where he created and advanced the Neuroscience and Rare Disease portfolios at Pfizer. Before entering his industry career, he was George Barth Geller Professor and an Investigator of the Howard Hughes Medical Institute at Duke University Medical Center, where he pioneered studies on neuronal organelles and the trafficking of neurotransmitter receptors.

Dr. Ehlers has authored over 100 scientific papers, has served on the Editorial Boards of Annual Reviews in Medicine, Annual Reviews in Pharmacology and Toxicology, the Journal of Neuroscience, the Journal of Biological Chemistry, and Molecular and Cellular Neuroscience, and sat on advisory committees of the National Institutes of Health. He is a member of the McKnight Endowment Fund for Neuroscience Board of Directors, serves on the advisory boards of several private foundations, and advises major pharmaceutical, venture, academic, government, and biotech organizations.