Erik leads business development efforts for Kairos Ventures and is currently Executive in Residence for FastDetect.  Prior to joining the Kairos team, Erik was President & CEO of the rapid test manufacturing company Silver Lake Research in Los Angeles.  There, he led the laboratory development, regulatory approval, and global commercialization of many transformational diagnostic products and guided the company to its best financial performance in its 30-year history.  Erik has won nationwide brick & mortar contracts with Walmart and other retailers, executed continental distribution deals with top-level medical device companies, and lobbied the World Health Organization to recognize a particular rapid test in their 2021 Essential Diagnostics List (EDL).

Erik holds a Bachelor’s degree in Molecular Biology from Loyola Marymount University, a PhD in Pharmaceutical Sciences from USC, and completed a postdoctoral fellowship at Harvard Medical School.  He has published over 30 impactful manuscripts in top-tier journals such as Nature and Science.