Financing Innovation in Science and Technology

Tim Hotchandani is a Senior Managing Director of Healthcare Services & Technology Investment Banking.

Prior to joining Leerink Partners, Mr. Hotchandani served as a Managing Director at Rothschild & Co, specializing in the coverage of Life Science Technology companies globally. Previously, he was a Managing Director at Deutsche Bank and began his career as an investment banking analyst at Lehman Brothers and Thomas Weisel Partners LLC.

Mr. Hotchandani earned a Bachelor of Business and Economics from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. He is also a CFA® charterholder.

Bernhard Sakmann, M.D., is a Senior Managing Director in Investment Banking at Leerink Partners covering the Medical Technology and Life Science Tools and Diagnostics sectors.

Prior to joining the Firm in 2024, Bernhard was most recently a Senior Managing Director at Evercore, providing strategic and financial advice to life science companies with a focus on medical technology and life science tools and diagnostics. Prior to joining Evercore in 2014, Bernhard spent over a decade in healthcare investment banking and in management consulting with Citigroup, Lehman Brothers and Oliver Wyman in New York and in London. Notable transactions for which Bernhard has been an adviser include Philips on its acquisitions of Biotelemetry and Capsule, GE on its acquisition of BK Medical and spin of GE Healthcare, Abbott on its acquisitions of St Jude Medical and Alere, Terumo on its acquisitions of Sequent Medical and Bolton Medical, Immucor on its sale to Werfen, Decipher on its sale to Veracyte, ArcherDx on its sale to Invitae,  Brooks Automation on its acquisitions of Genewiz and BioStorage Technologies, among many others.

He received a Doctorate in Medicine from Ludwig-Maximilians-University, Munich, Germany, a B.M. BCh. from Oxford University, UK, and a B.A. and an M.A. in Natural Sciences from Cambridge University, UK.

Justin Reed is a Managing Director at Leerink Partners where he is focused on advising companies in the medical device sector on M&A and public and private equity offerings.

Prior to joining the Firm in 2024, Justin was most recently Managing Director at Evercore in the strategic advisory business. While at Evercore he advised on many transactions across the medical device sector including GE Healthcare’s spin from GE, GE’s acquisition of BK Medical, Lunit’s acquisition of Volpara, Philips’ acquisition of Biotelemetry and Capsule, SHINE Technologies acquisition of Phoenix, Abbott on the sale of Angio-Seal to Terumo and the sale of Epocal to Siemens Healthineers, and Terumo’s acquisition of Sequent medical. Justin was previously the founder of several medical device companies and holds multiple patents and academic publications for medical device technologies.

He earned his M.B.A. from Berkeley Haas School of Business, Master of Science in Physics from the University of Washington, and a Bachelor of Science in Physics from the University of Washington.

Puneet Souda is a Senior Research Analyst at Leerink Partners covering Life Science Tools and Diagnostics. His research focuses on companies and technologies within the Life Science Tools subsector, the Diagnostics subsector, and selected areas of Pharmaceutical Services.

Prior to joining the Firm in 2014, Puneet was a Senior Associate at Citigroup covering Medical Devices. Before joining Wall Street, he spent over a decade in core and basic research labs at UCLA and Purdue University. In this work, he was a customer and collaborator of many Life Science Tools and Diagnostic companies. Puneet has direct experience in the acquisition, management, and utilization of many life sciences technologies for molecular analysis and diagnostics. He has co-authored over 45 peer-reviewed scientific papers and has built an extensive network of colleagues and collaborators among academic lab researchers and Life Science Tools suppliers.

He earned an M.B.A. from University of California-San Diego and undertook graduate study in biotechnology and earned a B.A. in Biology from Purdue University.

Barry Blake is the Global Co-Head of Investment Banking, and Global Co-Head of Healthcare Investment Banking at Leerink Partners. In this role, he co-leads the Firm’s healthcare investment banking strategy and initiatives, with a focus on Healthcare Services & Technology. With 25 years of experience, he has built extensive relationships and has proven expertise in healthcare services, medical devices and tools/diagnostics, leveraged finance, and with financial sponsors. Leading the Healthcare Services team at Leerink Partners, he has advised on numerous transactions, including the sale of LHC Group to Optum Health, a UnitedHealth Group Company, for $6B.

Barry joined the Firm in 2021 from Guggenheim Securities where he was a Senior Managing Director focused on advising healthcare services companies. While at Guggenheim he advised on many transactions including, but not limited to, the $10B sale of Envision to KKR; the $4B sale of Kindred Healthcare to a consortium comprised of TPG, Welsh Carson and Humana; the $2.4B sale of American Medical Response to KKR and the $1B sale of Almost Family to LHC Group. Prior to this, he was the Head of Global Healthcare Mergers and Acquisitions for Citigroup. While at Citigroup he worked on many transactions including, but not limited to, the $34B acquisition of Medco by Express Scripts. He also worked in the M&A and Healthcare groups at Morgan Stanley, JP Morgan and Lehman Brothers. While at JP Morgan he advised on many transactions including, but not limited to, the $4.8B acquisition of NextRx from Wellpoint by Express Scripts.

Barry earned his Bachelor of Arts in Economics from Hendrix College, and his Masters of Business Administration with high distinction from the Amos Tuck School at Dartmouth College.

He has served as a member of the Board of Trustees for each of The Hopkins School in New Haven, CT and Hendrix College in Conway, AR.

Caroline Cameron is the Chief Operating Officer of Investment Banking at Leerink Partners.

Prior to joining the Firm in 2024, Caroline was the Chief Operating Officer at Keefe, Bruyette & Woods (KBW, A Stifel Company). Prior to her time at Keefe, Bruyette & Woods, she worked in investment banking at Edgeview Partners (acquired by Piper Jaffrey), and as a research analyst at Fox-Pitt, Kelton and Macquarie Capital.

She earned a B.A. in Psychology and Economics from Hamilton College where she graduated Phi Beta Kappa.

Jim Kelly is a Senior Managing Director, Director of Research at Leerink Partners. Mr. Kelly is responsible for product management, analyst development and equity strategy.

Prior to joining Leerink Partners in 2015, Mr. Kelly worked at Credit Suisse, where he served in research management as an Associate Director of Equity Research in New York and was responsible for leading key, strategic initiatives in research product and process development. Prior to his ADOR role at Credit Suisse, Mr. Kelly spent 13 years in Equity Research covering the US Pharmaceuticals industry for Lehman Brothers, Goldman Sachs and Credit Suisse First Boston.

Mr. Kelly received his M.B.A. from Columbia Business School and earned his B.S. in Mechanical Engineering from Lehigh University.  Mr. Kelly also serves on the board of the Lehigh Business School Dean’s Advisory Council.

Christian Clark is the Associate Director of Research at Leerink Partners. He is responsible for product management, equity strategy and for leading key strategic initiatives. Prior to this role, Christian was the firm’s Business Manager of the Healthcare Services & Technology and MD&D investment banking team where he was responsible for managing the group’s overall operations including strategic planning, financial and business reporting and analytics, people management and recruiting.

Prior to Leerink Partners, Mr. Clark worked at Credit Suisse and held a variety of business and strategy positions within the Equities division. Prior to this role, he was a Fixed Income client consultant at Bloomberg LP.

Mr. Clark earned his B.S. in Finance (Summa Cum Laude) from Pennsylvania State University.