David Cristina

David completed his Licenciatura (B.Sc.) in Microbiology and Genetics at Universidade de Lisboa and received a Ph.D. in Genetics of Aging from work he developed at the University of California, San Francisco.

From 2009 onward David spearheaded Instituto Gulbenkian de Ciência's Technology Transfer Office.

In 2011, he went on to found the biotech startup Acellera Therapeutics out of research developed at Instituto de Medicina Molecular, which received several awards (Idea2Product, Building Global Innovators, BES-Inovação e ANJE Jovem Empreendedor) and went on to raise private investment and public funding. David also founded the consulting firm Triple Helix Technologies focused on non-dilutive funding opportunities for research institutions and companies.

In 2012, David was invited to join the Cabinet of the Secretary of State for Entrepreneurship and Innovation as a Member (Adjunto), and later joined the Cabinet of the Secretary of State for Science with his role focused on public policies to maximize economic impact of R&D.

In 2015, he joined the Venture Capital Fund Portugal Ventures as part of their Life Science and Medtech investment team. David currently sits on the board of the startups Lymphact, Immunethep and Biotrend.