Kathy joined Thomas, McNerney & Partners from Piper Jaffray, where she was a health care analyst focused on medical technology companies. While at Piper, Kathy covered over 20 companies in the medical device, medical supply and diagnostic areas. Her background also includes experience in new product development at Solvay, S.A. (in a division that is now part of Pfizer). Projects at Solvay included the development of vaccines for the prevention of viral infections. Kathy was also a Senior Scientist in molecular biology at the University of Minnesota, where she worked on the development of molecular biology based assays for the detection of infectious agents. Kathy is currently a board member of CAS Medical Systems, Inc. (CASM) and VertiFlex, Inc. Kathy serves or has served in advisory roles to portfolio companies Torax Medical, Inc., Atritech, Inc. and AxioMed Spine Corporation. She is also the incoming President of the Mid-America Health Care Investors Network (MHIN) and is a member of the Executive Leadership Team for the American Heart Association’s Go Red for Women campaign. Her educational background includes an M.S. degree in Microbiology from the University of Minnesota and an M.B.A. from the University of Minnesota's Carlson School of Management, where she was a Robert and Gail Buuck Scholar.