Ricardo Henriques

Ricardo is the CEO of Hovione Capital, a VC firm that invests in early-stage life sciences projects across Europe. Hovione Capital was founded by the shareholders of Hovione Pharma, an International Pharmaceutical Company with manufacturing sites in the US, Ireland, China and Portugal.

Ricardo is a Harvard/MIT-educated Scientist with experience in Venture Capital, Drug Development, Licensing, Business Development and Market Analysis.

Ricardo was previously a Senior International Business Analyst at BIAL, an international R&D-based Pharmaceutical group headquartered in Portugal. BIAL recently developed two proprietary CNS drugs currently in the global market. BIAL commercializes products in more than 50 countries, directly or through partners.

Ricardo was also a Life Sciences Investment Manager at Portugal Ventures where he managed 6 portfolio Biotech companies and scouted for new deals. Portugal Ventures is the largest Venture Capital firm in Portugal with €260M AUM and 100+ portfolio companies.

Ricardo performed his PhD work at Harvard University from 2009 to 2015 at Prof. Judy Lieberman’s laboratory. There, he discovered hundreds of new miR-200c target genes and generated the first-ever genome-wide map of miR-200c target genes, a microRNA involved in embryogenesis and cancer. His research has been published in prestigious journals such as Oncogene, Journal of Clinical Investigation and Biotechnology Progress.

Ricardo was also a Research Assistant at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (2006-2008) where he developed a proof-of-concept for using micro-bioreactors as a novel tool for high-throughput screening.

Ricardo holds a B.Sc. in Biochemistry from the University of Lisbon, and a Ph.D. in Molecular Biology from the New University of Lisbon, both approved with the Highest Honors.