Dione Kobayashi, PhD, is Head of Therapeutics and Partner with Amplify. Previously, she was Vice President of Preclinical Translation at Cydan Development, where she managed diligence, and led scientific projects and seed companies as CSO. Prior to Cydan, Dione held roles as a Director at the neurodegeneration startups Alector and Annexon and the venture philanthropy-oriented Spinal Muscular Atrophy Foundation. In addition Dione spent a decade working as a scientist and research program leader at Genentech, Elan, and Pfizer in both prevalent and rare disease indications.
Dione has a BSci degree from MIT, an MSci degree from the University of Hawai’i at Mānoa, and a PhD in Neuroscience from the University of Edinburgh.
Dione has launched or cofounded multiple companies in the CNS, gene therapy, and rare disease space, and has raised capital for Seeds, Series As, and a Fund. Dione is an advisor, board member, or investment committee member to Armatus, the Bluefield Project, the Brain Tumour Research-Novel Therapeutics Accelerator, Cure CMD, the Muscular Dystrophy Association, NF2 BioSolutions, and Pivotal BioVenture Partners, and has served as Interim CSO for Mass General Brigham Ventures-funded NewCos.