Investment Banking

Barry Blake is the Global Co-Head of Investment Banking at SVB Leerink. In this role, Mr. Blake co-leads the firm’s healthcare investment banking strategy and initiatives, with a focus on Healthcare Services & Technology. With 25 years of experience, Mr. Blake has built extensive relationships and has proven expertise in healthcare services, leveraged finance and with financial sponsors.

Mr. Blake joined the firm in 2021 from Guggenheim Securities where he was a Senior Managing Director focused on advising healthcare services companies. While at Guggenheim, Mr. Blake worked on many transactions including, but not limited to, the $10B sale of Envision to KKR; the $4B sale of Kindred Healthcare to a consortium comprised of TPG, Welsh Carson and Humana; the $2.4B sale of American Medical Response to KKR and the $1B sale of Almost Family to LHC Group. Prior to this, Mr. Blake was the Head of Global Healthcare Mergers and Acquisitions for Citigroup and worked in the M&A and Healthcare groups at JP Morgan and Lehman Brothers.

Mr. Blake earned his Bachelor of Arts in Economics from Hendrix College, and his Masters of Business Administration from the Amos Tuck School at Dartmouth College.

He serves as a member of the Board of Trustees for each of The Hopkins School in New Haven, CT and Hendrix College in Conway, AR.

Dan Dubin, M.D., is the Vice Chairman and Head of Biopharma Investment Banking at SVB Leerink and sits on the firm’s executive committee.

For over 20 years, Dr. Dubin has advised life sciences companies and investors and has executed numerous financing, partnership, and M&A transactions for clients. Prior to joining the firm in 1999, Dr. Dubin co-founded MEDACorp, a provider of insights on the commercial potential of biotherapeutics and medical devices to healthcare companies and investors. Preceding the founding of MEDACorp, he was an Instructor in Dermatology at Harvard Medical School and held a staff appointment at the Brigham and Women’s Hospital where he was the Ambulatory Medical Director of Clinical Dermatology and a member of the Clinical Executive Committee.

Dr. Dubin serves as a director of Olivo Labs and has served as a director of Leerink Partners and Living Proof. Additionally he has served as Chairman of MetaWorks, which was sold to UBC in 2005. He also served as a member of the Science and Strategy Advisory Committee to GSK/Stiefel and an advisor to SKS Ocular.

Dr. Dubin is a graduate of Dartmouth College and Harvard Medical School and completed both an internship in Medicine and a residency in Dermatology at the Massachusetts General Hospital. He has published over 30 manuscripts in peer reviewed publications and performed a NIH training fellowship at the Harvard Skin Disease Research Center.

Gabe Cavazos is a Managing Director in Investment Banking at SVB Leerink.

Mr. Cavazos joined SVB Leerink in 2008 from J.P. Morgan where he was a member of the Mergers & Acquisitions group in the New York office. He covers East Coast and European biopharma companies and has 10+ years of transaction experience, including more than 80 transactions across M&A advisory, equity and equity linked financings. Prior to J.P. Morgan, Mr. Cavazos spent eight years in the pharmaceutical industry at Merck and Pfizer.

Mr. Cavazos earned his M.B.A. from the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University and a B.S. from The University of Michigan.

Rahul Chaudhary is the Head of Equity Capital Markets at SVB Leerink and has successfully led the team for almost a decade. Since joining the firm, Mr. Chaudhary has led the execution of over 300 bookrun offerings, including more than 85 IPO’s.

Prior to joining the firm in 2009, Mr. Chaudhary was an integral part of Merrill Lynch’s ECM group, where he focused on origination and execution of healthcare equity and equity-linked transactions. He began his career at Merrill Lynch in 2004 in the Investment Banking group focusing on the consumer sector where he worked on a variety of equity, debt and M&A assignments.

Mr. Chaudhary earned a B.A. in Finance from the University of Illinois.

Jon Civitarese is a Managing Director in Investment Banking at SVB Leerink.

Mr. Civitarese was one of the firm’s earliest employees when he joined SVB Leerink in 1995, providing advisory services to high-net-worth individuals in the Private Client Group prior to moving to Investment Banking. Since 1999, his activities have included advising public and private life science companies on strategic initiatives and equity capital financing as part of SVB Leerink’s investment banking team. In addition to his primary banking responsibilities, Mr. Civitarese has also served as a senior member of the Capital Markets team since 2001.

Mr Civitarese began his career by serving in the U.S. Army as an infantry soldier, and later graduated from the University of Maine.

Jed Cohen is a Managing Director in Investment Banking at SVB Leerink covering the Medical Devices sector.

Mr. Cohen has over 25 years of healthcare investment banking experience, including 12 years at Citigroup and three years at UBS prior to joining SVB Leerink. Jed’s transaction experience includes advisory work and financing assignments with clients across the healthcare industry, with an exclusive focus on “middle market” / emerging growth segments of the medical technology industry since 2000.

He received a B.S. in Economics from the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School.

Jeff Danesis is a Managing Director of Investment Banking at SVB Leerink and oversees the firm’s Physician Services Investment Banking franchise.

Mr. Danesis’ career spans over 12 years of healthcare investment banking expertise and over 30 closed transactions. He has extensive deal experience in physician-centric businesses with a particular emphasis on physician practice management and outpatient provider models. Notable recent transactions include advising Austin Radiological Association on its partnership with Radiology Partners; the recapitalization of Dermatologists of Central States by Sheridan Capital Partners; the recapitalization of Charlotte Radiology by Welsh, Carson, Anderson & Stowe to form U.S. Radiology Specialists; the sale of Midwest Center for Dermatology and Cosmetic Surgery to an undisclosed buyer; and the sale of Cleveland HeartLab by Quest Diagnostics.

Prior to joining the firm in 2014, Mr. Danesis was a Director in the Healthcare Group at Lazard and a member of the Healthcare Investment Banking Group at Wachovia Securities.

Mr. Danesis earned his M.B.A. from the University of Chicago and his B.A. from Northwestern University.

Mike Drendel is a Managing Director in Investment Banking at SVB Leerink.

Mr. Drendel brings over 20 years of investment banking experience. Prior to joining the firm in 2015, Mr. Drendel worked at Lazard as a Managing Director advising specialty pharmaceuticals companies in M&A transactions.  Prior to Lazard, Mr. Drendel worked in the healthcare investment banking group at Wells Fargo Securities on a variety of advisory and corporate finance transactions. Mr. Drendel’s deal experience includes sellside M&A and buyside M&A for both private and public companies, debt and private equity recapitalizations, and equity and equity-linked capital markets transactions.

Mr. Drendel earned his M.B.A. from the University of Chicago and his bachelor of business administration degree from the University of Notre Dame.

Peter M. Fry is a Managing Director at SVB Leerink leading our Alternative Equities business. Mr. Fry has over 25 years of experience on both sell-side & buy-side and will initially focus on providing At-The-Market (ATM) transaction services to our clients.

Prior to joining the firm, Mr. Fry was a Managing Director and Head of Alternative Equities at H.C. Wainwright & Co. He held similar leadership roles at Guggenheim Securities and Burrill & Company. Earlier in his career, Mr. Fry spent eight years as Senior Investment Officer at Kingsbridge Capital and was a Senior Healthcare Banker and Head of Public/Private Placements at Investec Inc. and RBC Capital Markets.

Mr. Fry earned a B.A. in Economics and Finance from Bucknell University.

Murphy Gallagher is a Managing Director in Investment Banking at SVB Leerink covering the Biopharma sector. Mr. Gallagher focuses on biopharma companies in western North America and Asia.

Prior to joining the firm in 2009,  Mr. Gallagher was a member of the Global Healthcare Investment Banking Group at Merrill Lynch in San Francisco. He has expertise in capital markets, mergers and acquisitions and strategic advisory assignments.

Mr. Gallagher earned a B.A. from Georgetown University

Michael Giaquinto is a Senior Managing Director in Investment Banking at SVB Leerink covering the Medical Devices sector.

Mr. Giaquinto has nearly three decades of healthcare investment banking experience, including 20 years of transactions focused on Medical Devices. Prior to joining the firm in 2018, Mr. Giaquinto served as the Head of Medical Devices & Diagnostics at Greenhill where he spent 10 years dedicated exclusively to providing mergers & acquisitions advisory services to his clients. Prior to Greenhill, Mr. Giaquinto spent more than a decade at Citigroup where he served as Co-Head of its U.S. Healthcare Group. He also worked in the health care groups of UBS and Kidder, Peabody. Mr. Giaquinto has worked on more than 150 financings and M&A transactions valued at over $100 billion during his career.

Mr. Giaquinto earned his M.B.A. from the J.L. Kellogg Graduate School of Management at Northwestern University and a B.S. in Accounting from Boston College.

Dan Lepanto is a Senior Managing Director at SVB Leerink and is an integral part of the Mergers & Acquisitions team.

Prior to joining the firm in 2008, Mr. Lepanto spent 10 years in various roles, most recently as Managing Director, at Cowen and Company where he executed mergers and acquisitions for clients in a number of sub-sectors of the Healthcare industry. Prior to joining Cowen and Company, Mr. Lepanto was a member of the Mergers & Acquisitions group at Wasserstein Perella.  Mr. Lepanto has worked on many transactions including the announced sale of Huntsman to Hexion / Apollo Management, the sale of NPS to Shire, the sale of Cynosure to Hologic, the sale of TKT to Shire, the sale of GelTex to Genzyme, the merger of Total Renal Care with Renal Treatment Centers and the acquisition of Vivra by Gambro.

Mr. Lepanto earned his B.S. in Finance with High Honors from Pennsylvania State University.

Ryan Lindquist is a Managing Director in Investment Banking at SVB Leerink and leads the firm’s Diagnostics and Life Science Tools practice.

Mr. Lindquist has been exclusively focused on clients in Medical Devices, Diagnostics and Life Science Tools since joining the firm in 2009 from Merrill Lynch’s Global Healthcare Investment Banking Group, where he spent his time working with clients across the Healthcare industry. Prior to joining Merrill Lynch in 2005, he was a consultant at Deloitte. Over the course of his career, Mr. Lindquist has advised clients on over 60 M&A advisory assignments and debt, equity and equity-linked financings.

Mr. Lindquist earned his M.B.A. with high honors from The University of Chicago and his B.A. in Economics from Lehigh University, where he was elected to Phi Beta Kappa.

Irena Melnikova, Ph.D., is a Managing Director in Investment Banking at SVB Leerink covering the Biopharma sector. Dr. Melnikova advises clients on equity financing strategies, including private placement financings, initial public offerings, alternative go-public strategies and follow-ons.

Dr. Melnikova was previously a Director of Investment Banking at the firm in 2005. A few years later she took the role as Principal at TVM Capital, a global life sciences venture capital firm, investing in biopharmaceutical and medical technology companies. Before rejoining SVB Leerink in 2014, Dr. Melnikova was a Managing Director at Burrill & Company, and prior to that, Director of Strategy and External Innovation at Sanofi responsible for identifying partnering opportunities in the Northeast U.S.

Dr. Melnikova earned an M.S. with Honors in Chemical Engineering from Russian University of Chemical Technology and a Ph.D. in Molecular Medicine/Molecular Biology from the University of Texas.

Robert Minear is a Senior Managing Director of Investment Banking focused on leading the firm’s financial sponsor origination efforts to further enhance the firm’s growing private equity and leveraged finance businesses. With over 20 years of investment banking experience, Robert has advised a wide variety of domestic and international financial sponsor and strategic clients in connection with, inter alia, mergers and acquisitions, divestitures, spin-offs/split-offs, restructurings, recapitalizations, buyouts, takeover defense, proxy contests and capital raisings.

Mr. Minear joined the firm in 2021 from Guggenheim Securities where he was a Senior Managing Director in the Healthcare Services Investment Banking Group focusing on advising companies and financial sponsors in the healthcare services sector. Prior to that, Mr. Minear was a Managing Director and Head of Healthcare Services Mergers and Acquisitions in Jefferies Group’s Healthcare Investment Banking practice and a member of the M&A groups at UBS, both in New York and London, and Deutsche Bank.

Mr. Minear received his Master’s degree in Aeronautical Engineering from Imperial College, University of London.

Prasanth “Burri” Rao-Kathi is a Senior Managing Director at SVB Leerink and leads the firm’s Convertibles business.

Prior to joining the firm in 2016, Mr. Rao-Kathi was the Head of Equity-Linked (Convertibles) Origination in the Capital Markets group at Bank of America Merrill Lynch. Mr. Rao-Kathi joined the ECM group at Merrill Lynch in 1999 and worked on a number of Merrill Lynch’s landmark convertible innovations over the last 15 years including: Contingent Conversion, Contingent Payment, Bond Hedges, HiPrs, Collateralization, Simultaneous Bond and Stock Repurchases, and Prepaid Forwards in conjunction with new issues. Prior to joining Merrill Lynch, Mr. Rao-Kathi worked in Fixed Income Swaps Marketing and Trading and Corporate Finance/ Mergers and Acquisitions at J.P. Morgan.

Mr. Rao-Kathi is a Magna Cum Laude graduate of Georgetown University with double majors in Finance and International Business and a minor in English. He received his M.B.A. in Finance from the Wharton School of Business at the University of Pennsylvania.

Byron Webster is a Managing Director in Investment Banking at SVB Leerink and is focused on the Specialty Pharmaceuticals sector. Mr. Webster has over 13 years of experience advising pharmaceutical companies on M&A, private and public financing assignments.

Prior to joining the firm in 2015, Mr. Webster worked Lazard where he was a Vice President in the Healthcare Group. Prior to Lazard, Mr. Webster began his career at Wells Fargo Securities.

Mr. Webster earned a B.A.  summa cum laude from Wake Forest University.

Barry Blake is the Global Co-Head of Investment Banking at SVB Leerink. In this role, Mr. Blake co-leads the firm’s healthcare investment banking strategy and initiatives, with a focus on Healthcare Services & Technology. With 25 years of experience, Mr. Blake has built extensive relationships and has proven expertise in healthcare services, leveraged finance and with financial sponsors.

Mr. Blake joined the firm in 2021 from Guggenheim Securities where he was a Senior Managing Director focused on advising healthcare services companies. While at Guggenheim, Mr. Blake worked on many transactions including, but not limited to, the $10B sale of Envision to KKR; the $4B sale of Kindred Healthcare to a consortium comprised of TPG, Welsh Carson and Humana; the $2.4B sale of American Medical Response to KKR and the $1B sale of Almost Family to LHC Group. Prior to this, Mr. Blake was the Head of Global Healthcare Mergers and Acquisitions for Citigroup and worked in the M&A and Healthcare groups at JP Morgan and Lehman Brothers.

Mr. Blake earned his Bachelor of Arts in Economics from Hendrix College, and his Masters of Business Administration from the Amos Tuck School at Dartmouth College.

He serves as a member of the Board of Trustees for each of The Hopkins School in New Haven, CT and Hendrix College in Conway, AR.

Dan Dubin, M.D., is the Vice Chairman and Head of Biopharma Investment Banking at SVB Leerink and sits on the firm’s executive committee.

For over 20 years, Dr. Dubin has advised life sciences companies and investors and has executed numerous financing, partnership, and M&A transactions for clients. Prior to joining the firm in 1999, Dr. Dubin co-founded MEDACorp, a provider of insights on the commercial potential of biotherapeutics and medical devices to healthcare companies and investors. Preceding the founding of MEDACorp, he was an Instructor in Dermatology at Harvard Medical School and held a staff appointment at the Brigham and Women’s Hospital where he was the Ambulatory Medical Director of Clinical Dermatology and a member of the Clinical Executive Committee.

Dr. Dubin serves as a director of Olivo Labs and has served as a director of Leerink Partners and Living Proof. Additionally he has served as Chairman of MetaWorks, which was sold to UBC in 2005. He also served as a member of the Science and Strategy Advisory Committee to GSK/Stiefel and an advisor to SKS Ocular.

Dr. Dubin is a graduate of Dartmouth College and Harvard Medical School and completed both an internship in Medicine and a residency in Dermatology at the Massachusetts General Hospital. He has published over 30 manuscripts in peer reviewed publications and performed a NIH training fellowship at the Harvard Skin Disease Research Center.

Christine Del Corsano is a Managing Director and Business Manager of Investment Banking at SVB Leerink.

Since joining the firm in 2009, Ms. Del Corsano has been responsible for managing the overall operations of the department including strategic planning, financial and business reporting and analytics, people management and recruiting.

Prior to SVB Leerink, Ms. Del Corsano spent over 10 years at Merrill Lynch and held a variety of business and financial management positions, including COO of the Healthcare, Energy & Power and Technology Investment Banking groups. Prior to this role, she was a Senior Specialist at New York Life Insurance Co.

Ms. Del Corsano earned her B.S. in Accounting from St. John’s University.