# Vijay Pande

> Vijay Pande is a Trinidadian-American scientist turned venture capitalist who convinced Marc Andreessen to make his first biotech bet. He spent 16 years as a Stanford professor pioneering computational biology, founded the Guinness World Record-holding Folding@home project that turned millions of home computers into a disease-fighting supercomputer, then built a16z's Bio+Health fund into a $3 billion+ powerhouse. Now he's co-founding VZ.VC to focus on AI-driven healthcare innovation - proof that you can go from writing video game code as a teenager to reshaping how Silicon Valley funds the future of medicine.

- **Role:** Co-Founder & Managing Partner at VZ.VC
- **Organizations:** VZ.VC, Andreessen Horowitz (a16z), Stanford University, Folding@home, Globavir Biosciences, Octant Bio, BioAge Labs
- **From:** Trinidad
- **Nationality:** Trinidadian-American
- **Education:** B.A. in Physics, Princeton University, Ph.D. in Physics, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Postdoctoral Fellowship (Miller Fellow), University of California, Berkeley
- **Known for:** Founded Folding@home, which earned a Guinness World Record in 2007 for most powerful distributed computing network, Built a16z Bio+Health fund to over $3 billion under management, Authored or co-authored over 300 peer-reviewed scientific papers

## Career timeline

- **1988** — Graduated from Langley High School; won 4th place in Westinghouse Science Talent Search
- **1988-1989** — Video game developer at Naughty Dog, working on PC/Amiga ports and game design
- **1992** — Graduated from Princeton University with B.A. in Physics
- **1994** — Contributed as character designer to 3DO fighting game Way of the Warrior (portrayed character Gulab Jamun)
- **1995** — Received Ph.D. in Physics from MIT under professors Toyoichi Tanaka and Alexander Grosberg
- **1996-1998** — Miller Fellow postdoc at UC Berkeley, Department of Physics
- **2000** — Founded Folding@home distributed computing project at Stanford
- **2002** — Named Frederick E. Terman Fellow; recognized as TR100 (top 100 innovators under 35 by MIT Technology Review)
- **2003** — Awarded Henry and Camille Dreyfus Teacher-Scholar Award
- **2006** — Received Irving Sigal Young Investigator Award from the Protein Society
- **2007** — Folding@home recognized by Guinness World Records as most powerful distributed computing network
- **2008** — Elected Fellow of the American Physical Society
- **2012** — Received Michael and Kate Bárány Award for Young Investigators from the Biophysical Society
- **2014** — Co-founded Globavir Biosciences, an infectious disease startup
- **2015** — Joined Andreessen Horowitz as ninth general partner; founded Bio + Health Fund; received DeLano Award for Computational Biosciences and Camille and Henry Dreyfus Distinguished Chair in Chemistry
- **2024** — Transitioned from Bio+Health leadership role to AI-focused role at a16z
- **2025** — Stepped down from Andreessen Horowitz after a decade
- **2026** — Co-founded VZ.VC with Zack Werner, focusing on AI-driven healthcare; raising up to $400M for first fund

## Achievements

- Founded Folding@home, which earned a Guinness World Record in 2007 for most powerful distributed computing network
- Built a16z Bio+Health fund to over $3 billion under management
- Authored or co-authored over 300 peer-reviewed scientific papers
- Holds 6 patents in computational biochemistry
- Convinced Marc Andreessen and Ben Horowitz to make their first biotech investment
- Served as Henry Dreyfus Professor of Chemistry at Stanford University
- Directed Stanford's Biophysics program, leading team of 50+ faculty members
- Made computational biology accessible through distributed computing
- Pioneered use of AI and machine learning in drug discovery

## Latest updates

- **2026-01** — Announced VZ.VC fundraising efforts at J.P. Morgan Healthcare Conference, targeting up to $400M for first fund
- **2025-06** — Stepped down from founding partner role of a16z Bio+Health strategy after more than a decade
- **2025-12** — Co-founded VZ.VC with Zack Werner to focus on AI and consumer health investments

## Links

- Website: https://pandelab.org
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/vijay-pande-phd-4b53342
- Twitter/X: https://twitter.com/vijaypande
- GitHub: https://github.com/VijayPande
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/vijaypande/

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Profile page: https://yespress.io/vijay-pande
Published by YesPress — https://yespress.io
Last updated: 2026-05-03