Paul Klingenstein founded Aberdare in 1999.
His recent focus has been on technologies which drive transformational efficiencies in care, leading Aberdare commitments in areas such as personalized medicine (Clovis Oncology) and biosensor systems and data analytics (mc10, RxAnte). Earlier at Aberdare, he helped establish the firm as a leading healthcare venture investor through commitments to more traditional technologies such as drug discovery and development (Pharmion, Ironwood, Anacor) and highly engineered interventional devices (Nevro, Ablation Frontiers).
Prior to founding Aberdare, Paul was an advisor to the Rockefeller Foundation, where he helped launch an early public private partnership (IAVI), directed at finding a broadly effective vaccine for HIV.
At Accel Partners (1986 – 1997) he led a highly successful healthcare effort. He invested in and served on the board of Aviron, Isis Pharmaceuticals, Viagene, Neurex, Glycomed, US Behavioral Health, Amerigroup, Xomed Surgical Products, and others.
After working as a field biologist and Outward Bound instructor in Africa, he began his investment career at Warburg Pincus in New York. In the early 1980s, he had the opportunity to be a participant in an earlier wave of systemic transformation, through his involvement in first generation biotechnology (Synergen, Vestar) and managed care (U.S. Healthcare).
Paul serves on the board of the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, The London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, Nia Tero and the Campaign Legal Center. He is a former Board Chair of the International AIDS Vaccine Initiative and of Juma Ventures, and a former Trustee of the Taft School and of the Marin Country Day School.
He is a rancher, fisherman, and backcountry pilot, and received his AB in anthropology from Harvard and his MBA from Stanford.