Scientific Health Development

Managing Partner Andrew Offer leads the day-to-day investment process. He joined founders Philip Romano and Stuart Fitts in 2007, bringing a background in healthcare valuation and reimbursement analysis. The four-person team listed publicly also includes Mike Schotzinger.

Philip Romano was the sole outside investor in Julio Palmaz before the Palmaz stent became the world's first commercially approved coronary stent and created a multi-billion-dollar market. That angel success gave Romano and Stuart Fitts both the capital and conviction to launch SHD in 2006 as a dedicated medtech venture firm.

SHD invests directly in early-stage medtech companies rather than making fund commitments. The firm describes its strategy as providing limited partners with exposure to private medical-device companies that can reach value-inflection points and exits within a relatively compressed timeline.

SHD targets seed and start-up rounds, concentrating on companies that require smaller amounts of funding. The firm looks for technologies with attainable, near-term regulatory or clinical milestones, which separates it from venture firms that focus on longer-gestation therapeutic drug development.

The firm does not publicly describe a co-investment program. Its primary model is direct capital deployment into portfolio companies, with the investment team providing operational support in areas such as reimbursement strategy, financial planning, and governance.