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NYS Biodefense Commercialization Fund

Mentorship Program

Our mentorship program provides support from a network of industry experts across health care domains advancing health care technologies and innovations.

The Mentorship Program is centered on building out industry networks. Mentors are matched to projects using their expertise for project needs to successfully guide awardees on how to best advance their technologies closer to commercialization.

Please note: The Biodefense Commercialization Fund Mentorship Program has closed for participation.

This site is no longer being updated as of September 2024.

Mentors

Dedication. Expertise. Guiding.

Round 1, 2, and 3 Biodefense Commercialization Fund Mentors continue to provide industry expertise and guidance as awardees develop their path toward commercialization.

Round I

Adam Schoen

Partner, Brown Rudnick

Expertise: Legal, Intellectual Property

Round I & III

Akhila Kosaraju

CEO & President, Lecturer & Senior Advisor, Phare Bio, Stanford University

Expertise: Biosecurity, Pandemic Resilience, Infectious Disease

Round I

Alexander Kagen

Associate Professor, Site Chair, Mount Sinai

Expertise: Diagnostics, Entrepreneurship

Round I

Antonio Alvarez-Pinto

Senior Manager, Bayer Pharmaceuticals

Expertise: Regulatory

Round II

Sally Bowden

Founder and CEO, New Precedents

Expertise: Consulting, Devices, Regulatory, Quality, Academia to Commercial Scale-up

Round I & II

Ariella Trotsenko

Executive Manager, NYC Regional Innovation Network

Expertise: Business Development

Round I, II & III

Avi Rosenbaum

Founder, Advisors.Bio

Expertise: Biotechnology, Business Development, Investing

Round II & III

Bethany Hills

Partner, DLA Piper

Expertise: AI, Legal, Regulatory, Biotech, Healthcare, Consulting, Devices, Pharma, FDA-Compliance

Round I

Borys Shor

Partner, Bio Idea Group

Expertise: Biotechnology, Consulting, Entrepreneurship, Investing

Round I

Cira Cardaci

Assistant Manager, NY I-Corps Hub

Expertise: Startup Advisement, Entrepreneurship, Commercialization

Round I

Danielle Lewensohn

Director, IPR Management at RaySearch Laboratories

Expertise: Legal, Regulatory

Round I

David Bieber

CEO, Rehabilitation Health

Expertise: Entrepreneurship, Investing

Round I

Dennis Purcell

Founder & Sr. Advisor, Aisling Capital

Expertise: Venture Capital, Investing

Round I

Derek Brand

COO, New York Bio

Expertise: Commercialization, Network Builder, Entrepreneurship

Round I

Gunter Wessels

Founder, CRO, LiquidSMARTS

Expertise: Investing

Round I, II & III

Hanah Tran

Founder, Chief Strategy Officer, FHH Ventures

Expertise: NeutroInvesting, Venture Building for Exits, Fundraising Strategies from 0 to 1

Round I & II

Harrison Seidner

Director of Business Development, Fortress Bio

Expertise: Therapeutics, Biotechnology, Business Development, Consulting, Devices

Round I & III

Jason Dictenberg

Chairman, Evergreen Biosciences

Expertise: Drug Development, Diagnostics

Round I & II

Jason Novak

Counsel, Norton Rose Fulbright US LLP

Expertise: Artificial Intelligence/ Machine Learning, Biotechnology, Deep Tech, Healthcare, Legal, Medical Devices

Round I & II

Jeff Southerton

Owner/Consultant, Independent Consultant. (Ex-Pfizer)

Expertise: Business Development, Consulting, Pharmaceuticals, Research

Round I & II

John Blaho

Program Director, NYC Regional Innovation Network (NYCRIN)

Expertise: Biotechnology, Business Development, Entrepreneurship, Medical Devices, Operations, Research, Diagnostics

Round I

Jonathan Weiss

VP of Corporate and Business Development, Stellate Therapeutics

Expertise: Drug Development

Round I

Matthew Weinberg

Partner, Max Ventures

Expertise: Investing

Round I

Melissa Kim

CEO & Cofounder, Stealth Biotech

Expertise: Digital Health - healthcare strategy and operations across drugs & devices

Round II

Michael Mentesana

CEO, NexTec Neuroscience

Expertise: Biotechnology, Entrepreneurship, Healthcare, Medical Devices, Pharmaceuticals

Round II & III

Roman Tsibulevskiy

Counsel, Dentons Law Firm

Expertise: AI or Machine Learning, Deep Tech, Entrepreneurship, Legal, Devices, Patents

Round I & II

Rory Curtis

Founder, Rory Curtis Consulting

Expertise: Biotechnology, Business Development, Consulting, Entrepreneurship, Pharmaceuticals

Round I

Sumit Chanda

Professor, Sanford Burnham, previously Novartis

Expertise: Drug Development, Host-Pathogen Interaction

Round I, II & III

Thanos Papaioannou

Principal, Roivant Sciences

Expertise: AI, Biotechnology, Business Development, Entrepreneurship, Investing

Round II

Tom Brennan

Partner, Arch Venture Partners

Expertise: VC, Investing

Round II

Cat Donaldson

Executive Director, Alexandria LaunchLabs NYC

Expertise: Biotechnology, Business Development, Investing, Operations

Round II

Alisa Dong

Senior Director of Commercial Strategy, Roivant

Expertise: Academia, Biotechnology, Business Development, Consulting, Marketing & Ops, Pharma, Research

Round II & III

Gautham Pasupuleti

Founder & CEO, Biodesign Innovation Labs

Expertise: AI, Biotech, Business Development, Consulting, Deep Tech, Entrepreneurship, Healthcare, Marketing, Devices, Regulatory

Round II & III

Jack Smilovitz

CEO, RDC Israel

Expertise: Business Development, Communications, Consulting, Entrepreneurship, Healthcare, Investing, Marketing, Operations

Round II & III

Andrew Kabatchnick

Owner, Andrew Kabatchnick, CPA

Expertise: Entrepreneurship, Finance, Investing

Round II

Dennis Klinman

Consultant, Leitman Klinman Consulting

Expertise: Academia, Biotechnology, Consulting, Healthcare, Investing, Regulatory, Research

Round II

Phuong Nguyen

Tech Commercialization Fellow, Center for Biotechnology, Stony Brook University, BARDA DRIVe Accelerator

Expertise: AI, Biotech, Business Development, Consulting, Research, POC/Translational Projects, National Health Security Innovation

Round II

Richard Giersch

Executive Director, Life Science Washington Institute

Expertise: Academia, Biotech, Business Development, Consulting, Entrepreneurship, Investing, Operations, Funding Stack Strategy, Tech Transfer

Round II

Billie Jo (BJ) Kerns

Partner, P3 Acceleration Group

Expertise: Biotech, Business Development/Planning, Consulting, Healthcare, Marketing, Med Devices, Operations

Round II

Mariana Berenstein

CEO, Berenstein Consulting

Expertise: Academia, Biotech, Business Development, Consulting, Deep Tech, Entrepreneurship, Healthcare, Investing, Legal, Devices, Pharmaceuticals, Regulatory, Research, Gene Therapy, Patents, Tech Transfer, etc.

Round II & III

Joe Turner

CFO/CBO, Karma Biotechnologies

Expertise: Biotech, Business Development, Deep Tech, Entrepreneurship, Finance, Investing, Finance and Business Strategy

Round II

Harold Kleanthous

EVP Vaccine R&D Strategy & External Innovation, SK Bioscience USA Inc.

Expertise: Biotech, Vaccines, Molecular Microbiology

Round III

Bisrat Woldemichael

Strategy Manager, Boston Scientific

Expertise: Academic, AI, Biotech, Business Development, Consulting, Neuromodulation, Biopharma, Strategy & operations, ex-McKinsey

Round III

Adam LaPrad

CEO, Agility Health Partners

Expertise: AI, Biotech, Business Development, Communications, Consulting, Deep Tech, Entrepreneurship, Healthcare, Marketing, Devices, Operations, Regulatory, Research

Round III

Fernando Gómez-Baquero

Director of Runway and Spinouts, Cornell Tech

Expertise: Academia, 10-time entrepreneur in Semiconductors and Nanomaterials

Round III

Alexander Schubert

Partner, SciFounders

Expertise: Academia, Biotech, Deep Tech, Entrepreneurship, Investing, Medical Devices, Operations

Round III

Roy Katzenelson

Principal, lool Ventures

Expertise: Deep Tech, Entrepreneurship, Finance, Investing

Round III

Joseph Borrello

Head of Engineering, Mount Sinai BioDesign

Expertise: Academia, Biotech, Business Development, Deep Tech, Entrepreneurship, Healthcare, Medical Devices, Regulatory, Rapid Prototyping, Manufacturing, Testing/Experimental Design

Round III

Nicole McKnight

President and COO, Anergent Pharmaceuticals Inc.

Expertise: Academia, Biotech, Business Development, Entrepreneurship, Finance, Investing, Legal, Medical Devices, Operations, Pharmaceuticals, Real Estate, Regulatory, Research

Round III

Glennis Mehra

Director/Managing Director, Biolabs, NYU Langone

Expertise: Biotechnology, Business Development, Communications, Consulting, Entrepreneurship, Healthcare, Investing, Marketing, Medical Devices, Operations, Pharma, Real Estate, Research