Tomoko Ishikura

Tomoko Ishikura is the Managing Partner at Kicker Ventures, an early-stage healthcare venture capital firm based in San Francisco, California. With over 20 years of professional experience spanning business development and drug discovery, she previously served as a Business Development Advisor at Nipro and held strategic roles at UNICEF and PwC. Ishikura originally trained as a pharmacist and molecular biologist, earning a Master of Science from Kyushu University before completing her MBA at INSEAD. At Kicker Ventures, she leads the I/O and Global Fit Programs to facilitate cross-border commercial partnerships between the United States and Japan. She also serves as a board member at Co-Studio and actively mentors global entrepreneurs through several international accelerator programs. Her current focus remains on identifying and scaling science-backed digital health, biotechnology, and medical technology startups across global markets.