Deena Shakir is a Partner at Lux Capital, where she invests in transformative technologies improving lives and livelihoods. She is particularly interested in intersectional and underdog entrepreneurs building breakthrough companies to accelerate advances and equity in human and population health.

Since joining Lux in late 2019, Deena has led a number of investments across stages and sectors, including in women’s health (Maven Clinic, Alife, Adyn), digital health infrastructure (SteadyMD, H1), health equity (Waymark), and food tech (Shiru), and fintech (Mos and Ramp).

Prior to joining Lux, Deena was a Partner at GV (formerly Google Ventures), previously led product partnerships at Google for early stage products in healthcare, AI/ML and search at Google, and directed social impact investments at Google.org.

Before tech and venture, Deena had diverse partnership-centric experiences as an aspiring anthropologist, journalist, diplomat, aid worker and technologist. She was a Presidential Management Fellow at the U.S. Department of State under Secretary Clinton, where she helped launch President Obama’s first Global Entrepreneurship Summit in 2010. Her non-traditional path has cultivated Deena’s deep conviction in the potential of breakthrough ventures to positively transform the future and garnered her unparalleled network to help them achieve it.

A Forbes contributor, Deena is a frequent commentator and has been profiled in print and featured in broadcast in publications such as Fortune, TechCrunch, Marie Claire, Business Insider, Bloomberg, CNBC, and the Wall Street Journal. She was named a “top 30 under 40 in healthcare” by Business Insider, “top 9 women to watch in venture capital” by The Wall Street Journal, and “Top 50 in Digital Health” by Rock Health. She is a member of Fortune’s Most Powerful Women, Kauffman Fellows, Aspen Finance Fellows and the Aspen Global Leadership Network, the Council on Foreign Relations, and All Raise.

Deena self-funded her education through a variety of merit scholarships and side hustles, including co-founding her first company while still in college. She earned a joint BA in Social Studies and Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations from Harvard (where she delivered the graduation address) and an MA from Georgetown’s School of Foreign Service. She is currently a Lecturer in Management at the Stanford Graduate School of Business.