Leadership Team
Joseph Hernandez
Chairman and Founder
Joseph Hernandez is the Founder and Senior Managing Partner of Blue Water Venture Partners, LLC. He has a background in company creation, early stage technology development, as well as private and public market financing. He brings leadership to the team, backed by a strong educational foundation in biology, medicine, molecular genetics, microbiology, epidemiology, marketing, and finance. ​
Over the course of his career, he has founded or led ten entrepreneurial companies in cutting edge areas of healthcare and pharmaceuticals. After years of building his career at Merck & Co. (NYSE:MRK) and Digene (acquired by Qiagen (NYSE:QGEN)), Mr. Hernandez founded and became the President and CEO of Innovative Biosensors from 2004 to 2009. Later, Mr. Hernandez served as the Founder and Chairman of Microlin Bio Inc. from August 2013 to January 2017 and as Chairman of the Board of Ember Therapeutics (OTCMKTS:EMBT) from April 2014 to January 2019. He was also the Chairman of Sydys Corporation from May 2016 to January 2019. In 2018, Mr. Hernandez founded Blue Water Biotech, an early stage biotechnology company focused on manufacturing a universal influenza vaccine in partnership with the University of Oxford in England. He has served as Chairman of Blue Water Biotech, Inc. since 2019.
Most recently, in January 2020, he founded and in May 2020 sold Noachis Terra, Inc. (acquired by Oragenics (NYSE:OGEN)) a company developing a vaccine for COVID-19. From May, 2020 to September 2021, Mr. Hernandez was also the chairman and chief executive officer of Blue Water Acquisition Corp. (NASDAQ: BLUW) (“BWAC”), a special purpose acquisition company which completed its initial public offering in December 2020. On September 9, 2021, Blue Water Acquisition Corp. consummated a business combination with Clarus. Mr. Hernandez served as a director of the post-combination entity, Clarus Therapeutics Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:CRXT) (“Clarus”), where he served as a member of the Audit and Compensation Committees.
Mr. Hernandez completed his undergraduate studies in Neuroscience, M.Sc. in Molecular Genetics and Microbiology, an M.B.A. from the University of Florida and a M.Sc. in Chronic Disease Epidemiology and Biostatistics from Yale University. He is currently completing his M.Sc. in Global Healthcare Leadership at University of Oxford in the United Kingdom.
Gabe Gutierrez
Chief Science Officer
Dr. Gutierrez has over 18 years of experience in drug development. Dr. Gutierrez was Principal Investigator on two development contracts with the NIH and USAID (<$100M) from which five programs were successfully entered into Phase 1 clinical trials.
Dr. Gutierrez has authored many scientific publications, named on seven patent applications, and serves as a review editor for the Frontiers in Immunology Journal. Dr. Gutierrez received his Ph.D. in Genetics from the University of Connecticut and performed his post-doctoral work in cell cycle in the laboratory of Dr. Phil Hinds at Harvard Medical School.
Betty Rose
Chief Operating Officer
Betty has over 20 years of diverse experience in operations management, strategic leadership, and process improvement. Her career includes highlights in both the healthcare and biotech industries. As a strategic leader, she has proven success in creating highly functional teams and developing internal processes. Betty was instrumental in the development of the initial operational processes for several of the first Accountable Care Organizations throughout Maryland and Northern Virginia and worked with numerous physicians to streamline the collection of sensitive Medicare data during the onset of the program.
She maintains a strong focus on start-up organizations and continues to use her experience and expertise to develop and enhance organizational efficiencies. Betty received a dual B.S. in psychology and business administration from the University of Maryland Global Campus.