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.