Elona is a Managing Director of DEFTA Partners and heads the investment function for its healthcare technologies fund. The fund focuses on early-stage investments in innovative therapeutic and digital health technologies including regenerative medicine, point of care devices, and sensor technologies. Elona’s career spans more than 20 years in the drug development sector, initially at Genentech and then at the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine (CIRM). She has held leadership roles in business development, legal and regulatory. In this capacity she oversaw $1 billion of investment in regenerative medicine research and clinical programs, the creation of a $40M induced pluripotent stem cell bank and a re-vamping of intellectual property regulations governing CIRM grants. At Genentech Elona managed legal matters relating to Raptiva and the company’s Spanish manufacturing subsidiary while also engaging in matters of regulatory policy and strategy. Elona currently serves as a Director on the boards of Endogena, Abilitech, Aegle, BioEclipse and Orig3n.