# Michael Vidne

> Michael Vidne is a Columbia-trained applied mathematician turned biotech founder who has spent the last decade moving cancer medicine from the lab bench to the clinic. He led the diagnostics company NovellusDx as CEO, steered its pivot into the precision-oncology drug developer Fore Biotherapeutics, and now builds at the intersection of AI, data, and healthcare as founder and CEO of the stealth-mode Baobab Therapeutics. His through-line: using rigorous models of complex systems - first neurons firing in the retina, later signaling pathways inside a tumor cell - to make treatment decisions that actually fit the patient in front of you.

- **Role:** Founder & CEO at Baobab Therapeutics (stealth mode)
- **Organizations:** Baobab Therapeutics, Fore Biotherapeutics, NovellusDx, McKinsey & Company, Columbia University
- **Nationality:** Israeli / American
- **Education:** Ph.D., Applied Mathematics - Center for Theoretical Neuroscience (statistical models of the visual system), Columbia University
- **Known for:** Earned a Ph.D. in applied mathematics from Columbia University's Center for Theoretical Neuroscience, publishing work on the network activity of 250+ simultaneously recorded retinal ganglion cells., Led NovellusDx as CEO through its transformation from a diagnostics company into a precision-oncology drug developer., Helped engineer the creation and U.S. launch of Fore Biotherapeutics, whose lead asset is the BRAF inhibitor plixorafenib (PLX8394).

## Career timeline

- **2004-2011** — Ph.D. in applied mathematics at Columbia University, modeling the network activity of retinal ganglion cells at the Center for Theoretical Neuroscience.
- **~2011-2013** — Consultant in the West Coast office of McKinsey & Company.
- **Early 2010s** — Founding member of IBT, a non-profit advancing Israel's neuroscience industries; led the neuromorphic technologies program and presented findings to the President of Israel.
- **2014** — Director of business development at NovellusDx, a Jerusalem-based personalized-medicine company building a functional, live-cell platform to read cancer driver mutations.
- **2018-2021** — Chief Executive Officer of NovellusDx, leading its pivot from diagnostics toward precision-oncology therapeutics.
- **2020** — NovellusDx in-licenses BRAF inhibitor PLX8394 (plixorafenib) from Plexxikon/Daiichi Sankyo and raises a $57M Series C (OrbiMed, Novartis Venture Fund, Wellington Management).
- **2021** — NovellusDx establishes Fore Biotherapeutics in the U.S.; Vidne moves from CEO to Chief Business & Strategy Officer, continuing to lead Israel-based operations.
- **2023-present** — Founder & CEO of Baobab Therapeutics, a stealth-mode venture working at the intersection of AI, data, and healthcare/drug discovery.

## Achievements

- Earned a Ph.D. in applied mathematics from Columbia University's Center for Theoretical Neuroscience, publishing work on the network activity of 250+ simultaneously recorded retinal ganglion cells.
- Led NovellusDx as CEO through its transformation from a diagnostics company into a precision-oncology drug developer.
- Helped engineer the creation and U.S. launch of Fore Biotherapeutics, whose lead asset is the BRAF inhibitor plixorafenib (PLX8394).
- Founding member of IBT, a non-profit to advance Israel's neuroscience industries; presented the neuromorphic technologies program to the President of Israel.
- Founded Baobab Therapeutics to apply AI and data science to medicine.

## Latest updates

- **2025-05** — Fore Biotherapeutics, the company Vidne co-founded, raised additional capital in a round reported at roughly $38M (total funding across the lineage approaching $204.5M).
- **2024-2026** — Vidne is building Baobab Therapeutics in stealth mode, focused on AI, data, and healthcare, and posts on responsible use of AI and large language models in drug development.

## Links

- Website: https://fore.bio
- LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/in/michael-vidne-7575294

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Profile page: https://yespress.io/michael-vidne
Published by YesPress — https://yespress.io
Last updated: 2026-06-10