Team

Tracy Warren

Senior Managing Director, American Heart Association Ventures, Go Red for Women Venture Fund

Tracy Warren is an influential leader who devotes deep experience in entrepreneurship and early-stage venture capital investing to American Heart Association Ventures as Senior Managing Director. Passionate about women’s and children’s health, she leads the investment strategy for the Go Red for Women Venture Fund.

Notably, Tracy has been an active and successful investor in women’s health through Astarte Ventures, a firm she founded in 2013. Pre-seed investments in Alydia (sold to Organon for $240M), Maven Clinic (the first women’s health unicorn) and Materna Medical have produced significant cash on cash returns, validating the investment case for women’s health.

Tracy served as venture capital manager for Healthworx, the venture arm of CareFirst BCBS, prior to joining AHA Ventures. She was previously co-founder and CEO of Astarte Medical, a health IT start-up focused on early life nutrition and gut health for preterm and critically ill infants.

Among other game-changing roles, Tracy was co-founder and executive director of Fedimpact, which commercialized technologies from Department of Energy national laboratories, and co-founder, board chair and CEO of NellOne Therapeutics, Inc., a regenerative biologics company.

Tracy is a co-inventor on three patents and has authored numerous articles on early nutrition and pediatric care. Among many board positions, Tracy served on the Board of the Children’s Research Institute at Children’s National Medical Center, where she chaired the Technology & Innovation Advisory Committee, and the Clemson University Research Foundation Board. Tracy holds a BS in Accounting and International Business from New York University and MBA at Columbia Business School in Finance.

Elise King

Managing Director, American Heart Association Ventures

Elise King is Managing Director, Go Red for Women Venture Fund, an American Heart Association Ventures’ fund. She brings a lifelong passion for championing women’s needs and empowerment to this innovative, women’s health-focused fund.

Elise is responsible for sourcing and vetting companies that directly address cardiovascular health, brain health and related conditions that affect women exclusively, differently or disproportionately. Elise also supports the Fund’s portfolio companies.

Prior to joining AHA Ventures, she spent over four years at Human Ventures — a pre-seed and seed-stage venture capital firm in NYC. She ran the firm’s venture studio program, Humans in the Wild, before moving to the investment team. There, she invested in women’s health, the future of work, the care economy and other sectors. Earlier she worked in both the venture studio and the executive search divisions at Oxeon.

Elise began her career as a professional dancer. She performed for the renowned modern dance company, Jennifer Muller/The Works, and at venues such as The Joyce Theater, Jacob’s Pillow, Beijing’s The Egg, and others.

Elise is involved in All Raise, the leading organization for women in VC, and is a TechStars mentor. She holds a BA from Barnard College, Columbia University, where she graduated magna cum laude.

Ziza Phillip, MD

Investment Associate, American Heart Association Ventures

Dr. Ziza Phillip brings a unique blend of clinical experience and academic expertise to her role as Investment Associate for American Heart Association Ventures. She accelerates traction for the Social Impact Funds, Go Red for Women Venture Fund and the Studio Red venture studio by sourcing investment opportunities, conducting comprehensive due diligence and executing investment memos.

With a strong commitment to making a meaningful impact, Ziza brings nearly a decade of health care industry experience to American Heart Association Ventures. Her background spans from clinical practice and population health to systems thinking, giving her the knowledge and insight to promote innovative and socially responsible health-focused investments that advance the American Heart Association’s mission.

Ziza began her began her career as a primary care physician and transitioned into academic medicine as a lecturer at St. George's University School of Medicine while earning a master’s degree in public health. Most recently, she completed a Master of Translational Medicine degree — a joint program at UC Berkeley and UCSF — to further enhance her ability to translate scientific advancements into practical health care solutions.

Lisa Suennen

Managing Partner, American Heart Association Ventures

Lisa Suennen has spent more than 35 years in healthcare and technology as an entrepreneur, operating executive, venture capitalist and strategy consultant. She has worked broadly across health care including digital health, medical devices, health services and especially at the convergence between these sectors.

As Managing Partner of American Heart Association Ventures, Lisa spearheads the diverse investment initiatives of the American Heart Association. Under her leadership, AHA Ventures drives positive change and amplifies the Association’s mission by investing in companies that deliver cardiovascular and brain health solutions in general medical technology, women’s health and the social drivers of health.

Among many storied accomplishments, Lisa has held General Partner roles at several venture funds, including Manatt Ventures, Psilos Group and GE Ventures, where she led the health care venture fund and sat on the overall GE Ventures Investment Committee. Lisa has also held executive-level operating roles at Canary Medical, Merit Behavioral Care and Manatt, Phelps & Phillips. Lisa was co-founder and CEO of CSweetener, a company focused on matching mentors with rising health care leaders (sold to HLTH Foundation).

She chairs the Scientific Advisory Board of the NASA-funded Translational Research Institute for Space Health and the International Investment Committee of the Australian & Victorian government-funded ANDHealth Digital Health Fund, and serves on the advisory boards of several emerging companies. Lisa is a Fellow of the Aspen Institute’s Health Innovators Fellowship and on faculty at the UC Berkeley Haas School of Business where she teaches the annual class on health care innovation and investment. Lisa writes the Venture Valkyrie blog and is an internationally sought-after author and speaker.