Pfizer Hires Venture Capital Star

Barbara Dalton, a known name among venture capitalists thanks to her tenure at SR One and EuclidSR, was recently hired to lead Pfizer's Strategic Investment Group, the In Vivo blog reports. By hiring Dalton, Pfizer is sticking to vc professionals with front-line experience and connections rather than shuffling people out from the corporate side of the business.

Dalton joins Debra Yu, formerly of Delphi Ventures and Bay City Capital, who helped start the group three years ago. She replaces Ilya Oshman and report directly to Ed Harrigan, senior vp of worldwide licensing and business development. “We are certainly pleased to have Barbara join us – she brings a great deal of experience, is very well-respected in the field, and will surely put her stamp on Pfizer’s venture investment group,” Harrigan writes the blog in an email.

What's interesting about Pfizer's vc effort is a decision to steer clear of the usual pharma R&D and, instead, is eyeing companies that might influence how pharmaceuticals are used, marketed or paid for. The group has built a significant portfolio in diagnostics. "She brings the needed talent and personality to the job that is important as our venture activity evolves to its new place in the organization," Yu also wrote in an email.

Prior to moving over to EuclidSR in 2003, Dalton had been president of SR One, one of the grand daddies of corporate venture programs in the pharmaceutical world, for two years. Founded by Peter Sears in 1985, SR One first invested on behalf of Smithkline Beckman. It has survived all these years as its corporate went through mergers.

Dalton became president in 2001 when Brenda Gavin, who took over for Sears in 1999, moved on to co-found Quaker BioVentures in 2001. Dalton left SR One in 2003 with two other principals to become full-time investors at EuclidSR, a New York venture capital firm. This group grew out of a partnership between Euclid Partners, a venture capital firm, and SR One. The firm that sought to invest in companies that benefited from the “convergence” of health care and information technology.

Hat tip to In Vivo