Dr. Palmer began his career in the startup world as Head of R&D at a JPL biotech company called Verrix, a spin-out from NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in California. He holds a Chemistry PhD from Caltech and spent 3 years as a Postdoctoral Research Scientist at Columbia University. His academic publications have been cited nearly 1,000 times, and he holds several issued US patents.

At Kairos Ventures, Dr. Palmer is responsible for leading the Physical Sciences Investment Team in sourcing and due diligence of opportunities across the sciences, broadly defined to include innovations in materials, energy, communications, catalysis, robotics, autonomous vehicles, and medical devices. In addition, he has operational responsibilities for and sits on the Board of Directors of a number of portfolio companies. Dr. Palmer also manages the relationships with several of Kairos Ventures’ university partners.

In his free time, Dr. Palmer goes on long hikes in the mountains with his chihuahuas, Ferrous and Morty.