Nao Gamo, PhD was appointed to the role of Chief Operating Officer of the MDC-Verte Fund.
She adds this to her already extensive and impressive resume as Vice President of Business Development, MDC Studio, Associate, Verte Family of Funds, Founder and Chief Executive Officer of her grant consulting firm, and Executive Women in Bio (EWIB) Chair, Women in Bio – Capital Region Chapter.
Headquartered in Baltimore, the MDC-Verte Fund is a joint initiative between the MDC Studio and the Verte Opportunity Zone Fund, Inc, focusing on providing capital to support innovation in the earliest stages of a company’s development.
The MDC-Verte Fund focuses on the early stages to bridge the gap between idea and traditional forms of investment funding, since acquiring early capital “from Friends and Family” and angel investors is often a limiting factor in launching a technology. This holds especially true for medtech startups given the resource-intensive nature of deep-tech innovation.
In this role, Dr. Gamo will seek out early-stage medical technology companies located in federally designated Opportunity Zones, perform due diligence, and assist with investments in companies. She is excited to work with potentially high-growth, socially impactful companies, with a team committed to making economic impact in the community.
More About Dr. Gamo
Dr. Nao Gamo is a neuroscientist-turned-entrepreneur with a passion for connecting the MedTech entrepreneurial community, and making the translation of research findings into commercial and clinical applications more accessible and scalable. Following 15 years as an academic researcher in neuroscience, she is now the Vice President of Business Development at the MDC Studio, a startup studio building health and medical technology companies; Associate at the Verte Family of Funds, a family of ventures funds investing in high-growth companies located in Opportunity Zones; and an independent grant and manuscript consultant. She also serves as a Board member and volunteer for the Metro Baltimore chapter of NAMI, and Chair of the Executive Women in Bio Committee for the Capital Region Chapter of Women in Bio. Dr. Gamo has been recognized as a RealLIST Connector 2021 (for “leaders growing Baltimore’s tech and entrepreneurship network”); Women in Bio Capital Region Chapter’s 2021-2022 Rising Star; and a finalist for the 3rd Annual BioBuzz Awards – Community Builder Award in 2022.
Dr. Gamo received her BS degrees from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where she double majored in Brain and Cognitive Sciences and Music. She received her PhD in Neurobiology from Yale University and completed a Postdoctoral Fellowship in the Molecular Psychiatry Program at the Johns Hopkins University.
