AJ Velasquez-Mao

AJ joined Pivotal’s investment team in 2026, supporting the life science portfolio. Prior, he was an early-stage therapeutics investor at Dolby Family Ventures. Prior to Dolby, he was in equity research at Jefferies, supporting the coverage of 70+ publicly traded biotech companies. AJ has a PhD in Bioengineering from UC Berkeley and UC San Francisco, where he held fellowships by the NSF and NIH. His doctoral research centered on cardiorenal disease, linking the fluid mechanics of hemodialysis to platelet dysregulation and cardiac fibrosis. AJ completed his BS in Bioengineering at Rice University.