Team
Our team
John Gustofson
John Gustofson is the Head of Chugai Venture Fund, LLC (CVF). John brings over 25 years of experience in both Venture Capital investing and Business Development. Most recently, John was a Managing Director at AbbVie Ventures where he served as Board member at Disarm Therapeutics, Caraway Therapeutics and Ribometrix Inc and a Board Observer for Ribon Therapeutics, Palleon Pharmaceuticals, Calimmune Inc., and Kala Pharmaceuticals. Prior to that, John held Business Development positions at AstraZeneca, Altus Pharmaceuticals, Therion Biologics and Boston Life Sciences. He also spent 3 years in life science consulting. John holds a Master’s Degree in Molecular Biology and an MBA.
Taku Fukuzawa, Ph.D.
Taku Fukuzawa joined CVF in 2023. He started his career in Chugai Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd. (Chugai) in 2007 as a biologist in drug discovery. He was engaged in drug discovery research on metabolic diseases and the SGLT2 inhibitor tofogliflozin. In 2012, he was a founding member of Chugai Pharmabody Research in Singapore, where he led several antibody drug projects as a senior scientist, including the anti-complement C5 recycling antibody crovalimab. He was also involved in projects using Chugai’s proprietary antibody and mid-size molecule technologies and played a critical role in advancing multiple programs into the clinical stage. As a manager of non-clinical pharmacology group, he worked on a wide range of research topics including hematology, ophthalmology, renal diseases, cardiac diseases, auto-immune diseases, rare diseases, and so on. He received his PhD in biology from Tokyo Institute of Technology in Japan.
Tatsushi Kodama, Ph.D.
Tatsushi Kodama joined CVF in 2023. Before Joining CVF, he worked in the Science & Technology Intelligence Department in Chugai since 2019. He led various open innovation related projects across multiple therapeutic areas including oncology and ophthalmology and multiple modalities including gene therapy and digital patient monitoring tool. He started his career in Chugai in 2010 as a biologist in oncology drug discovery. He engaged in drug discovery research on ALK kinase inhibitor alectinib for non-small cell lung cancer. He was transferred to Chugai Pharmabody Research in Singapore in 2016, where he led several bispecific antibody drug projects. He received his PhD in pharmacy from Osaka University in Japan.
Yoshikazu Ando, Ph.D.
Yoshikazu Ando has had a distinguished career in the pharmaceutical and biotechnology industries. Prior to joining CVF, as a member of the Chugai Partnering team, he excelled in collaborations between Roche or other biotech partners and Chugai, sealing agreements that strengthened partnerships. After joining Chugai in 2019, he played a key role in the licensing of Chugai’s antibody engineering technology. He spent seven years at a trading company, where he promoted research collaborations between major Japanese pharmaceutical companies and overseas biotech companies, concluded licensing agreements, managed research projects and expanded biotech markets.
With a PhD in medical science from Kyoto University and research at RIKEN/Kyoto University, He analyses immune cells, genetically modified mouse models and the role of GTPases in cancer. His diverse background is an asset to the CVF team.
