Galya Blachman, Ph.D., Esq., serves as the General Counsel and Compliance Director of 5AM Ventures, a venture capital firm that invests in early life science companies. Dr. Blachman joined 5AM from AbbVie where she was on the legal R&D transactions team. Prior to that, she was a Director in the legal group of Stemcentrx before it was acquired by AbbVie in 2016. Dr. Blachman also currently sits on the Board of Directors and serves as the General Counsel of Biotech Connection Bay Area, a non-profit that focuses on career development for academic scientists. Dr. Blachman began her career at the law firm, Slaughter & May and also practiced intellectual property law at Simmons & Simmons. Dr. Blachman received her law degree in England and completed a postgraduate diploma in intellectual property law from Oxford University. She earned a Ph.D. in Pharmacology from Cambridge University and an M.Sc. in Pharmacology from the University of Cape Town, South Africa. She holds a B.Sc. degree in Biochemistry and Hebrew from the University of Cape Town.