Christy Shaffer was the first full-time employee and eventual CEO of Inspire Pharmaceuticals, where she helped grow the company from a small R&D operation into a publicly traded biotech with hundreds of employees and over $100M in revenue before its acquisition by Merck. As a trained receptor pharmacologist and former clinical scientist at Burroughs Wellcome, she brings unusually deep translational and clinical insight to her early-stage life science investing at Hatteras Venture Partners, particularly focusing on helping first-time scientific founders navigate the transition from scientist to CEO based on her own experience making that journey.