Rusty Kelley is the Managing Director of the Retinal Degeneration Fund (RD Fund), the venture arm of the Foundation Fighting Blindness. Kelley is responsible for external investment opportunities that strategically aligns with the Foundation’s therapeutic mission. Prior to FFB, Kelley directed several translational programs at the Burroughs Wellcome Fund, and prior to BWF was the head of preclinical at Tengion, a tissue engineering biotech out of Boston Children’s Hospital and Wake Forest University. Earlier in his career Kelley served in clinical development at PPD, and in the pharmaceutics and analytical chemistry divisions for AAIPharma. Kelley received a BA in Chemistry from UNC Chapel Hill, and a PhD in Pharmacology at LSU’s Health Sciences Center. Kelley was then awarded an American Heart Association postdoctoral fellowship at the School of Medicine at UNC Chapel Hill, and recently earned an MBA from Duke University. Kelley currently serves as a co-founding Director of Opus Genetics, a Director at SparingVision and Nacuity Pharmaceuticals, and a Board Observer for Atsena Therapeutics and Amber Bio.
