Vice President, Venter Investments, Johnson & Johnson Innovation

Marian Nakada has over 30 years of experience in the pharmaceutical industry, starting her career at the laboratory bench at Centocor and moving to a research leadership role before Centocor’s acquisition by Johnson & Johnson.  She later transitioned to Janssen business development and eventually joined JJDC in 2013.   

Marian has a A.B. in Biology from Harvard and a Ph.D. in Pharmacology from the University of Pennsylvania.  She has authored 62 peer reviewed publications and 14 book chapters and is a past reviewer for the NIH Pharmacology Study Section.   She is currently on the Boards of Navitor and a stealth NewCo and is a Board Observer for ONL Therapeutics, Aetion, Iterative Health, Arkuda Therapeutics and Rome.  

Marian is also a grass roots co-founder of IgniteVC that is working to champion change through its diversity & inclusion efforts. Outside work, Marian is a Board Member at InnerCity Weightlifting whose mission is to amplify the voice and agency of people who have been most impacted by systemic racism and mass incarceration.