Asha Nayak joined New Leaf Venture Partners in 2010 and became a Vice President in 2011. Prior to joining New Leaf, Asha spent seven years at Medtronic Cardiovascular as a Senior Principal Medical and Scientific Advisor. At Medtronic, she created and led several new therapy development programs, evaluated investment and acquisition opportunities, and represented the Cardiovascular business unit on corporate-wide strategy teams. Prior to joining Medtronic, Asha consulted for numerous early-stage medical device companies. Throughout her industry career, she has maintained a clinical practice at the Stanford VA Hospital. She has numerous issued and filed patents, publications in peer-reviewed journals and textbooks, and has lectured on various topics including medical device innovation.

Asha received a B.S. in Biochemistry from Florida State University and M.D. and Ph.D. in Neuropharmacology / Neurophysiology from the University of Colorado. She was a Rotary International Scholar at the University of Bristol in England, and completed Internal Medicine Residency and Biodesign Innovation Fellowship programs at Stanford University.