Gil Kliman
gilkliman
Managing Partner
"It’s a privilege to work with visionary entrepreneurs who are creating the technologies and procedures that define the future of medical care. And it’s exciting to help them craft business strategies that propel and transform their ideas into market penetration and real-world success."
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Gil joined InterWest in 1996. As Managing Partner of the firm and the leader of InterWest’s Healthcare investment team, he invests in a broad array of healthcare opportunities, with a special interest in ophthalmology, digital health, and AI/robotics.
Gil pioneered InterWest’s highly successful ophthalmology franchise. He was an early investor in Avedro, Glaukos, LenSx, and IntraLase, all category-creating ophthalmic companies that became standard-of-care for eye surgery around the world.
As a successful digital health investor, Gil also built this important franchise for InterWest. He was the founding institutional investor in Doximity, helping to build it into the leading digital network for physicians, engaging over 80% of U.S. doctors, with over one million users. Gil and InterWest supported Doximity’s June 2021 blockbuster $4B value IPO, which subsequently generated the largest investment return in InterWest’s history. Prior to that, he led the Series A of Epocrates, the first mobile application for physicians, serving on the board through its 2011 IPO and continuing as an investor through its 2013 acquisition by athenahealth.
Gil currently serves as an independent board member of Glaukos (NYSE: GKOS), a pioneering ophthalmic technology company focused on the development and commercialization of breakthrough devices and drugs to transform the treatment of eye diseases, STAAR Surgical (NASDAQ: STAA), a leading ophthalmology company commercializing the EVO implantable contact lens for nearsightedness, and Orbis International, a global not-for-profit organization focused on preventing blindness. He is also a co-founder and program director of Eyecelerator, a first-of-kind ophthalmology innovation conference supported by a joint venture of the American Academy of Ophthalmology and the American Society of Cataract and Refractive Surgery. Previously, he helped to launch the Ophthalmology Innovation Summit (OIS), an ophthalmology business conference where he was an advisor and founding co-chairman from 2009 to 2019.
He is a former board member and lead investor in Doximity (NYSE: DOCS), Avedro (NASDAQ: AVDR, acquired by Glaukos), Epocrates (NASDAQ: EPOC, acquired by athenahealth), LenSx Lasers (acquired by Alcon), IntraLase (NASDAQ: ILSE, acquired by AMO), Neuronetics (NASDAQ: STIM), Restoration Robotics (NASDAQ: VERO, acquired by Venus Concept), and GoCheck.
A former practicing eye surgeon, Gil completed an ophthalmology residency at Wills Eye Hospital and a retina fellowship at Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary as a Heed Foundation fellow. He has a BA from Harvard University, an MD from the University of Pennsylvania and an MBA from Stanford University.
Over the last 20 years I have had the privilege of diverse life experiences as a laser researcher, practicing physician, startup company founder, and technology venture capitalist. I most enjoy being on the front edge of new technology waves, looking over the horizon for non-obvious opportunities... What I find exciting is working alongside visionary entrepreneurs, thinking non-traditionally, and helping to identify creative strategies to make pioneering ventures even more successful.
