Emmett Cunningham is a Senior Managing Director in the Blackstone Life Sciences group, having joined Blackstone as part of its acquisition of Clarus in December of 2018. Dr. Cunningham joined Clarus in 2006 as a Principal.

Dr. Cunningham has led investments in the medical technology, and biotechnology space including partnerships with pharmaceutical companies. Prior to joining Clarus, Dr. Cunningham was the Senior Vice President, Medical Strategy at Eyetech Pharmaceuticals, Inc. where he led the team that developed Macugen, a first-in-class product for the treatment of age-related macular degeneration. Prior to Eyetech, Dr. Cunningham was at Pfizer, Inc (NYSE: PFE). Dr. Cunningham is an internationally recognized specialist in infectious and inflammatory eye disease with over 350 publications.

Dr. Cunningham is a member of the Board of Directors of Annexon Biosciences, Galera Therapeutics, Graybug Vision, Lumos Pharma, and SFJ Pharmaceuticals Group, and serves on the Scientific Advisory Board of Aerie Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ: AERI). Dr. Cunningham is the founder and chairman of the Ophthalmology Innovation Summit (OIS) symposium held in conjunction with the annual meetings of the American Academy of Ophthalmology and the American Society of Cataract and Refractive Surgery.

Dr. Cunningham received an MD and MPH in epidemiology and statistics from Johns Hopkins University and a PhD in neuroscience from the University of California at San Diego (UCSD) for work done at The Salk Institute.