Sean Evans is Associate, Venture Investments at Johnson & Johnson Innovation – JJDC, the strategic investment arm of Johnson & Johnson. He focuses on pharmaceutical investments in East North American companies that are strategically aligned to Johnson & Johnson. Prior to J&J, Sean was Director, Business Development & Alliances with Johns Hopkins Technology Ventures (JHTV) at Johns Hopkins University (JHU). Sean spent over seven years at JHTV evaluating early-stage life science academic innovation, supporting the JHU life science startup ecosystem, as well as establishing a variety of university-industry research collaborations focused on co-developing novel therapeutics, diagnostics, and medical devices. Outside of his role at Hopkins, Sean also co-founded a biotech company, Cogentis Therapeutics, focused on developing a peptide-based therapeutic for neurodegenerative disorders. 

Sean received a BA in Biology (2003) from College of Charleston followed by an M.S. in Biotechnology (2008) and a Ph.D. in Molecular Microbiology and Immunology (2014) from Johns Hopkins University. In his doctoral program, Sean’s work focused on better understanding mechanisms used by HIV aimed to overcome the host innate response to infection. His work culminated in the discovery and characterization of a novel host factor critical for viral infectivity. His work has been published in several leading journals, including Nature and Cell Reports.