About Us
Our Mission
Fountain’s mission is to develop a pipeline of therapeutics that treat the underlying cause of degenerative diseases by utilizing our proprietary technology to elucidate the biology of cellular resilience. By targeting cellular resilience, we are pioneering a new way to treat the many diseases that arise from aging.
Our Team
We are leaders in aging research and computation. Our team collaborates and combines our expertise in aging biology and computation to achieve our mission to develop novel therapeutics to treat chronic degenerative diseases.
Management
Thomas Rando, MD, PhD
Co-Founder, Executive Chairman, Board of Directors
Joseph Rodgers, PhD
Co-Founder, Director of Biology
Tom Cheung, PhD
Co-Founder
Simon Tsang, PhD
Chief Business Officer
Thomas Rando, MD, PhD
Co-Founder, Executive Chairman, Board of Directors
Dr. Rando has more than 20 years of experience in aging research and has published over 150 research articles on stem cell aging and tissue repair.
Dr. Rando is the director of the UCLA Broad Stem Cell Research Center. At UCLA he is a professor in the Departments of Neurology and Molecular, Cell and Developmental Biology. Prior to joining UCLA, Dr. Rando served as the director of the Glenn Center for the Biology of Aging at Stanford University School of Medicine. While at Stanford, he was a professor of neurology and neurological sciences and deputy director of the Stanford Center on Longevity. Dr. Rando also served as chief of the neurology service and director of the Center for Regeneration, Repair, and Restoration (CTR3) at the Veterans Affairs Palo Alto Health Care System (VAPAHCS), where he was previously director of the Rehabilitation Research and Development Center of Excellence/REAP and Geriatric Research, Education and Clinical Center. Dr. Rando is a founding director of the Muscular Dystrophy Association clinic at the Stanford Medical Center.
Dr. Rando has been a pioneer and leader in the use of heterochronic parabiosis to study the role of blood and circulating factors in the biology of aging. In 2005 Dr. Rando published a seminal Nature paper demonstrating that factors in young serum can directly reverse many aspects of cellular and tissue aging. Publications from his lab have over 25,000 citations and he has given more than a hundred keynote lectures over the years at a variety of national and international research conferences and high-profile research and medical institutions. He actively serves as editor and board member of numerous scientific journals, including the Journal of Cell Biology, EMBO Journal, PLoS Biology and Aging Cell.
Dr. Rando is a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and the National Academy of Medicine and a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Sciences. Over the course of his career, Dr. Rando has received more than 40 award nominations. He is a former Paul Beeson Physician Faculty Scholar in aging, awarded by the American Federation for Aging Research and a former Ellison Medical Foundation senior scholar in aging. In 2005, he received an NIH Director’s Pioneer Award for his groundbreaking research in stem cell biology. He was also a member of the Advisory Council of the NIH’s National Institute of Aging, and holds board positions at numerous institutions, including Max Planck Institute for Biology of Ageing and the Buck Institute for Age Research
Dr. Rando serves on the scientific advisory board of several biotechnology and pharmaceutical companies, including NDLX Health Sciences and Novo Biosciences Inc. He previously served on the scientific advisory board of Fate Therapeutics, a $1.2 billion market cap company.
Dr. Rando received a B.A. from Harvard College, and holds an M.D. from Harvard Medical School and a Ph.D. in cell and developmental biology from Harvard University.
Joseph Rodgers, PhD
Co-Founder, Director of Biology
Dr. Rodgers has 18 years of experience in aging biology, stem cell and regenerative biology, and intermediary metabolism, and has published extensively in the field.
Dr. Rodgers co-founded Fountain in 2018 when he was an Assistant Professor at The Eli and Edythe Broad Center for Regenerative Medicine and Stem Cell Research at the Keck School of Medicine of The University of Southern California. In 2019 he joined Fountain fulltime. Over his career, Dr. Rodgers has authored many high-impact publications in Nature, Nature Medicine, Cell Metabolism, Molecular Cell, and PNAS. His research has been cited over 10,000 times. He has received the American Federation of Aging Research (AFAR) Junior Faculty Award, The Baxter Family Foundation Faculty Fellow Award, and the National Institute on Aging K99 Award for his research on aging and tissue repair.
Dr. Rodgers received a B.S. in chemistry and biology from John Carroll University and holds a Ph.D. in biochemistry, cell and molecular biology from The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. He completed postdoctoral fellowships at Stanford University and the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute at Harvard Medical School.
Tom Cheung, PhD
Co-Founder
Dr. Cheung has more than 15 years of experience in stem cell biology, cell metabolism and aging research.
Dr. Cheung is the S H Ho Associate Professor of Life Science at Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST). His research aims at increasing the understanding in adult stem cell function in the context of tissue regeneration, disease and aging. He is the director of the HKUST-NanFung Joint Laboratory and the HKUST-BGI Joint Research Center, and the associate director of the HKUST biosciences central research facility. Dr. Cheung was a recipient of the Croucher Innovation Award in 2015 for the study of molecular regulation of stem cell aging. He has authored numerous publications, including multiple publications in Nature, Cell Stem Cell, Molecular Cell and Developmental Cell.
Dr. Cheung holds a Ph.D. in biochemistry for the University of Colorado at Boulder and completed postdoctoral work at Stanford University School of Medicine.
Simon Tsang, PhD
Chief Business Officer
Dr. Tsang joined Fountain in April 2023. In addition to being CBO at Fountain, he is also an Operating Partner with Pivotal bioVenture Partners, where he provides strategy, business development, and operational leadership for multiple portfolio companies. Prior to Pivotal, he held strategy and business development roles of increasing responsibility across big pharma (MedImmune/AstraZeneca, Amgen), biotech (Tesaro, 28-7, Constellation), academia (Massachusetts General Hospital), and consulting (L.E.K.). He enjoys the creative combination of strategic analysis and deal-making to bring meaningful change for patients. Dr. Tsang’s projects have spanned pharmaceuticals, software, and medical devices across many therapeutic areas. His transactional expertise encompasses M&A, global and regional strategic collaborations, co-promotions, platform partnering, and spin-outs, on both the buy- and sell-side.
Board of Directors
Thomas Rando, MD, PhD
Co-Founder, Executive Chairman, Board of Directors
Dr. Rando has more than 20 years of experience in aging research and has published over 150 research articles on stem cell aging and tissue repair.
Dr. Rando is the director of the UCLA Broad Stem Cell Research Center. At UCLA he is a professor in the Departments of Neurology and Molecular, Cell and Developmental Biology. Prior to joining UCLA, Dr. Rando served as the director of the Glenn Center for the Biology of Aging at Stanford University School of Medicine. While at Stanford, he was a professor of neurology and neurological sciences and deputy director of the Stanford Center on Longevity. Dr. Rando also served as chief of the neurology service and director of the Center for Regeneration, Repair, and Restoration (CTR3) at the Veterans Affairs Palo Alto Health Care System (VAPAHCS), where he was previously director of the Rehabilitation Research and Development Center of Excellence/REAP and Geriatric Research, Education and Clinical Center. Dr. Rando is a founding director of the Muscular Dystrophy Association clinic at the Stanford Medical Center.
Dr. Rando has been a pioneer and leader in the use of heterochronic parabiosis to study the role of blood and circulating factors in the biology of aging. In 2005 Dr. Rando published a seminal Nature paper demonstrating that factors in young serum can directly reverse many aspects of cellular and tissue aging. Publications from his lab have over 25,000 citations and he has given more than a hundred keynote lectures over the years at a variety of national and international research conferences and high-profile research and medical institutions. He actively serves as editor and board member of numerous scientific journals, including the Journal of Cell Biology, EMBO Journal, PLoS Biology and Aging Cell.
Dr. Rando is a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and the National Academy of Medicine and a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Sciences. Over the course of his career, Dr. Rando has received more than 40 award nominations. He is a former Paul Beeson Physician Faculty Scholar in aging, awarded by the American Federation for Aging Research and a former Ellison Medical Foundation senior scholar in aging. In 2005, he received an NIH Director’s Pioneer Award for his groundbreaking research in stem cell biology. He was also a member of the Advisory Council of the NIH’s National Institute of Aging, and holds board positions at numerous institutions, including Max Planck Institute for Biology of Ageing and the Buck Institute for Age Research
Dr. Rando serves on the scientific advisory board of several biotechnology and pharmaceutical companies, including NDLX Health Sciences and Novo Biosciences Inc. He previously served on the scientific advisory board of Fate Therapeutics, a $1.2 billion market cap company.
Dr. Rando received a B.A. from Harvard College, and holds an M.D. from Harvard Medical School and a Ph.D. in cell and developmental biology from Harvard University.
Ash Khanna, PhD, MBA
Partner, Pivotal bioVenture Partners (US)
Ash Khanna, Ph.D., M.B.A., joined Pivotal in 2017. Ash brings 20 years of experience in the venture capital, pharmaceutical and biotech arena. Most recently, he co-founded SutroVax, a Pivotal bioVentures portfolio company, where he served as Chief Business Officer. Previously he was President & Chief Business Officer of Imagen Biotech, a VC-backed startup developing treatments for severe ophthalmic diseases. Prior to his operating roles, Ash was a Principal at SV Life Sciences (SVLS), a healthcare focused venture capital firm, where he led and managed investments in many biotech and diagnostic companies including, among others, Ophthotech, Mpex Pharmaceuticals, Good Start Genetics and Itero Biopharmaceuticals. He started his career in the pharmaceutical industry at Bristol-Myers Squibb where he held various positions including Team Leader responsible for the clinical advancement of multiple Diabetes programs including the currently marketed products, Onglyza® (Dipeptidyl peptidase-4 inhibitor) and Farxiga® (SGLT2 inhibitor). Ash is a co-inventor on the Onglyza® patent. Ash has an M.B.A. from The Wharton School and a Ph.D. in Pharmaceutics from SUNY-Buffalo. He is also a Kauffman Fellow and initially trained as a pharmacist.
Alex Morgan, MD, PhD
Partner, Khosla Ventures
Alex Morgan, M.D., Ph.D., is a Partner on the investment team at Khosla Ventures where he has a special focus in biotechnology, healthcare, data science, and AI/ML. Alex has an M.D. and Ph.D. in biomedical informatics from Stanford, with a dissertation on machine learning methods in precision medicine under the supervision of Atul Butte. Alex has completed additional graduate work in biology and physics and a short postdoctoral fellowship in biochemistry and genetics with Ronald W. Davis at the Stanford Genome Technology Center.
As a scientist, he has published over 50 scientific publications, primarily at the intersection of computer science, biology, and healthcare. As an inventor, he has licensed IP to three separate companies. As an entrepreneur, he has worked as an early employee or co-founder at a range of startups. He currently sits on the boards of some of Khosla Ventures’ investments, including Deep Genomics and HeartVista.
Alex is committed to improving access to healthcare to underserved communities through community service, and served as co-manager of the volunteer-staffed Arbor Free Clinic in Menlo Park, where he also worked as head of IT and helped develop and deploy their electronic medical records system. Alex is particularly interested in helping to advance diversity in STEM fields, including technology entrepreneurship.
Scientific Advisory Board
Biotech Exec, founder Maxygen, founder Alexza
(legacy member, company building entrepreneur)
Head of AI/Digital at Gates Foundation
(ex-Apple head medical): applications beyond drug discovery
