MENLO PARK, CA -- (Marketwire) -- 01/07/13 -- InterWest Partners, a leading diversified venture capital firm, is pleased to announce that Doug Fisher, M.D., has been promoted to partner. Since joining InterWest in 2009 as a principal, Dr. Fisher has focused on investments in molecular diagnostics, biotech and medical devices. In 2012, Dr. Fisher sourced and led new investments in Sera Prognostics and Obalon Therapeutics, where he represents InterWest on the board. In addition, Dr. Fisher is a director at USDS, Cardiac Dimensions and Gynesonics. He is an observer on the boards of Integrated Diagnostics, Invuity and Labrys. Dr. Fisher played a key role in licensing technology for Integrated Diagnostics where he also served as an interim executive early in the company's growth.

"Since joining InterWest, Doug has been a great individual and team contributor," said Nina Kjellson, general partner, InterWest. "Whether finding new investments, advising companies on strategy or assisting them with fundraising, Doug is an asset to the firm and to our portfolio. We congratulate him on this well-deserved promotion."

"One of the roles I enjoy most is working with company founders to take their visions and help turn them into high functioning businesses," said Dr. Fisher. "It is exciting helping turn their ideas into new products that improve the lives of patients."

Prior to joining InterWest, Dr. Fisher was a vice president at New Leaf Venture Partners where he spent three years focusing on biopharmaceutical, medical device, and diagnostics investments. He was involved with several successful investments, including Interlace Medical (acquired by Hologic), Stromedix (acquired by Biogen) and Pearl Therapeutics. Dr. Fisher also worked at The Boston Consulting Group where he was a member of the Health Care Practice Area, and Centocor (a J&J operating company) where he developed product strategies in new disease areas for Remicade.

Dr. Fisher received an A.B. in economics and a B.S. in biology from Stanford. He has an M.D. from the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine and an M.B.A. from Wharton.

About InterWest

For more than 30 years, InterWest has partnered with exceptional entrepreneurs to build winning technology and life sciences companies. With more than 200 years of combined operating and investing experience, the firm's investing team has raised $2.8B, completed more than 70 IPOs, and participated in nearly 60 upside acquisitions. As the firm invests InterWest X, a $650M fund, the InterWest team continues to believe that providing capital is just the beginning of a long-term collaboration with entrepreneurs to turn their vision into a thriving company.

The firm's past successful investments in life sciences include: AkaRx (acquired by Eisai), ArthroCare, Aspreva Pharmaceuticals (acquired by Galenica group), CNS Therapeutics (acquired by Covidien), Cor Therapeutics (acquired by Millennium Pharmaceuticals), Corixa Pharmaceuticals (acquired by GlaxoSmithKline), Coulter Pharmaceuticals (acquired by Corixa Pharmaceuticals), Cubist Pharmaceuticals, Epicor Medical (acquired by St. Jude Medical), Inspire Pharmaceuticals, IntraLase (acquired by Advanced Medical Optics), Kai Pharmaceuticals (acquired by Amgen), LenSx Lasers (acquired by Alcon), Myogen (acquired by Gilead), NovaCardia (acquired by Merck), Spinal Dynamics (acquired by Medtronic), TheraSense (acquired by Abbott Labs) and Ventritex (acquired by St. Jude Medical).

The firm's past successful investments in information technology include: CIENA, Copper Mountain Networks, Crystal Semiconductor (acquired by Cirrus Logic), CubeTree (acquired by SuccessFactors), Cyrix (acquired by National Semiconductor), Edify (acquired by Security First Technologies), Epocrates, Kalpana (acquired by Cisco), Lightera (acquired by CIENA), Lombardi Software (acquired by IBM), Network Computing Devices, Open Silicon (acquired by Unicorn Investment Bank), PlaceWare (acquired by Microsoft), Platform Solutions (acquired by IBM), Radius, Rendition (acquired by Micron Technology), Sierra Logic (acquired by Emulex), SiTera (acquired by Vitesse), Silicon Graphics, Stratacom (acquired by Cisco) and Xilinx.