William J. Link, Ph.D. is a Founder and Managing Partner of Flying L Partners and a Founder and Managing Director of Versant Ventures. Dr. Link specializes early-stage investing in medical devices. Prior to co-founding Versant Ventures, Dr. Link was a general partner at Brentwood Venture Capital and has over two decades of operations experience in the healthcare industry. Dr. Link was previously Founder, Chairman, and CEO of Chiron Vision, which was sold to Bausch and Lomb in 1997.
Prior to Chiron Vision, Dr. Link founded and served as President of American Medical Optics (AMO), a division of American Hospital Supply Corporation, which was sold to Allergan in 1986. Later, he served on the Board of AMO’s successor company, Advanced Medical Optics (AMO) which was acquired by Abbott in 2009 and then by Johnson and Johnson in 2016. Before entering the healthcare industry, he was an Assistant Professor in the Department of Surgery at the Indiana University School of Medicine. Dr. Link currently serves on the board of several private companies and five public companies, Edwards Lifesciences, Glaukos, Lensar, Oyster Point Pharma, and Tarsus Pharmaceuticals. He received his B.S., M.S., and Ph.D. from Purdue University.