Jeff Goater '97, '00M (MS), '01S (MBA), '04M (MS)

James Jeffrey Goater, Jr. is the president and CEO of Surface Oncology, Inc. a biotechnology company developing new immunotherapies to treat cancer located in Cambridge, Massachusetts. At Surface Oncology, Goater led the completion of the company’s $120 million initial public offering in April 2018, enabling the advancement of two product programs into clinical trials, and helped grow the organization to approximately 80 employees. Prior to Surface Oncology, Goater served as CFO of Voyager Therapeutics, an AAV gene therapy company focused on neurodegenerative diseases, where he was one of the members of the founding management team. Previously, he spent nearly a decade in investment banking, most recently as a managing director at Evercore, advising on more than $100 billion in strategic transactions in the biopharma industry.

A proud graduate of the University of Rochester, Goater earned a bachelor of arts in biology and two masters of science degrees in pathology and microbiology and immunology. He also earned a master of business administration from the Simon Business School where he received the Kauffman Entrepreneurship Award from the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation.

Additionally, Goater helped develop a gene therapy approach for inflammatory joint disease. The University of Rochester patented this approach as “light activated transduction using long wavelength ultraviolet light for cell targeted gene delivery.” In 2001, Goater used this technology to help start LAGeT, Inc., a biotechnology company focused on developing novel AAV gene therapy to treat orthopedic-related disorders.

Goater has co-authored 15 peer-reviewed publications and one review article, and has served on the board of Vaccinex, Inc. since 2013.