Mitchell J. Blutt

Mitchell J. Blutt

Mitchell J. Blutt is an American physician-businessman, and he is one of the first physicians to play a prominent role on Wall Street^[1] by drawing on his medical training to identify investment potential in healthcare companies. He is the founder and CEO of the New York-based healthcare investment firm Consonance Capital and the former Executive Partner of J.P. Morgan Partners. He is also a Clinical Assistant Professor of Medicine in the Department of Medicine at Weill Cornell Medical College and the Graduate School of Medical Sciences of Cornell University.

Physician-businessman

A 1978 summa cum laude graduate of the University of Pennsylvania, Blutt created his own undergraduate course of study, the precursor to today’s biological basis of behavior major.^[1] As a graduate of the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine (1982) he completed his medical residency at the New York Hospital/Cornell Medical School (1985). He held the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Clinical Scholars Fellowship at Penn while simultaneously receiving his MBA from Wharton (1987). Blutt was hired in 1987 by what became J.P. Morgan Partners. During his 18-year career there he was involved in finding and negotiating acquisitions, primarily in the healthcare industry.^[2]

Medicine and business

From 1987 to 1999, Blutt spent four days at his investment office and one day a week at Cornell University Medical Center to teach and tend to patients. He cited his access to a network of medical professionals whose judgment he trusts an advantage and companies are often reassured when a physician is involved in negotiations for healthcare related investments.^[1] While initially Blutt had focused almost exclusively on healthcare, his investment interests expanded to include everything from Israeli high-technology to real estate and show business.

Consonance Capital

Dr. Blutt remains a Clinical Assistant Professor of Medicine at Weill Cornell Medical College. In 2005 he founded Consonance Capital, an investment firm focused on equity investments in the healthcare industry. Consonance Capital went into business in 2005 investing in stocks of small public health-care companies as a buy-and-hold investor.^[3] The hedge fund, managed by Consonance Capital Management, currently manages approximately $1 billion. Partnered with Dr. Blutt in the hedge fund are Dr. Benny Soffer and Kevin Livingston.

Dr. Blutt also launched a private equity program managed by Consonance Capital Partners with partner Benjamin Edmands. Other partners include Nancy-Ann DeParle, who has more than 20 years’ experience as a policy official, private equity investor and corporate board member in the health care industry.^[4] DeParle was Administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services under President Bill Clinton and also served as the Healthcare Czar under President Barack Obama.^[5] Before joining the White House, DeParle was a Senior Advisor and Managing Director at J. P. Morgan Partners from 2001 to 2009, where she was a member of the Healthcare Group.^[6] Consonance Capital Partners actively invests in privately owned healthcare companies that are similar in character to the public companies in which Consonance invests. The PE fund completed its financing at $500 million.^[7] Consonance Capital, both the hedge fund and the private equity fund, have a total capitalization of approximately $1.5 billion.

Consonance Capital has public market and private equity professionals immersed in the health sector full-time in one conference room sharing knowledge, a hybrid model that offers advantages owing to specialization.^[3]

Read more: Different Drum - The Deal Pipeline - http://www.thedeal.com/magazine/ID/041666/dealmakers/different-drum.php#ixzz229qjH1oj

Professional memberships and services

Blutt has held memberships in dozens of associations and committees and served on numerous boards, among them The Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson’s Research, which is credited with innovations that streamlined the funding process for scientific research.^[8] He has been the subject of numerous interviews and profiles in the press, is a sought-after speaker and has contributed articles to scholarly journals as well as columns on “Intelligent Investing” for Forbes.^[9] He is a former Trustee of the University of Pennsylvania and of Penn Medicine, the medical school and health system of Penn, of the Brearley School and was on numerous past corporate Boards of Directors, including Cardinal Health and Fisher Scientific.^[10] Currently he is a member of the New York Academy of Medicine; the International Board of Governors, Peres Center for Peace; the Board of Overseers, School of Arts and Sciences, University of Pennsylvania ^[11] Dr. Blutt also serves on the Dean's Council at Weill Cornell School of Medicine as well as on the Board of The Commonwealth Fund,^[12] a health policy research foundation.^[12] Dr. Blutt's philanthropy includes multimillion-dollar contributions to Penn; in 2007 his support was recognized with the School of Medicine’s Alumni Service Award.^[1] Mitchell Blutt has also supported music at Penn through endowing the Blutt Singer Songwriter Symposium, which has brought such legends to Penn as Lou Reed, Patti Smith, Graham Nash, Rufus Wainwright and Questlove.^[13]

Family

Blutt married Margo Krody, a former New York City Ballet dancer in 1993. They have three children, Jill Blutt, a student and singer-songwriter,^[14] Eliza Blutt, and Emerson Blutt, who are both students.

References