Blavatnik Fellowship in Life Science Entrepreneurship

Overview

The Blavatnik Fellowship in Life Science Entrepreneurship offers Harvard Business School (HBS) alumni and Harvard-affiliated postdoctoral researchers the opportunity to advance new ventures around promising life science technologies and develop their leadership talents during a 12-month fellowship year. This unique opportunity allows fellows to work closely with leading biotech industry and biomedical authorities, receive programmatic guidance and mentorship, and join a community of entrepreneurs shaping the future of science.

How to Apply

Ideal candidates are HBS alumni who have graduated within the last 7–10 years and Harvard-affiliated postdoctoral researchers within the first 5 years of their training program in a Harvard program or research lab. Postdocs can continue technical and commercial development of their existing scientific research during the fellowship year.

Admissions will open on January 24, 2022 and close on February 14, 2022. Selected applicants will be interviewed on March 3, 2022 by the admissions committee and fellowship offers for the ninth cohort will be sent by March 11, 2022. To apply, please complete the online application form.

Resources & Opportunities

Community

A network of over 90 business and life science leaders and 35 alumni Blavatnik Fellows can provide tactical and strategic guidance. Past fellows have created companies including devices, therapeutics, diagnostics, consumer health, and health IT and raised more than $468 million through angel investors, seed and funding rounds, seed, grants, and venture funding. An additional $244M was raised when a Blavatnik Fellow's venture went public.

Leadership

The Fellowship is led by faculty chair Peter Barrett, PhD and Tracy Perry, associate director. The members of the Key Advisory Board, leading industry and biomedical authorities, provide programmatic guidance as well as one-on-one mentorship to Blavatnik Fellows. The Health Care Leaders Network provides opportunities for developing industry contacts and networking in the Boston area through a variety of programs.

Professional Development

The program has hosted over 70 seminars with key industry experts. Workshop topics are based on Blavatnik Fellows’ current needs to build business acumen and executive leadership skills. Past topics include “Effectively Communicating to Win Financing,” “How to Lead as a First-Time CEO,” and “Building a Team in a Startup Culture.”

Industry Access

Fellows build a network of connections across the life science industry in various ways. They are matched with Key Advisory Board members who serve as their mentors throughout the program. In addition, Fellows attend industry conferences and events including the annual Harvard FUSION Symposium, cohosted by the Fellowship and the Blavatnik Biomedical Accelerator, which integrates perspectives from science and business to explore the promise of an emerging field, bringing together entrepreneurs, scientists, business leaders, investors, and innovators for a day of exploration and networking.

“Bringing life science innovations to the global population is more crucial than ever. The Blavatnik Fellowship mentors future leaders who want to make important advancements, take risks, and commercialize biomedical discoveries.”

• Srikant M. Datar
• George F. Baker Professor of Administration
• Dean of the Faculty

2021–22 Fellows

Dan Ahlstedt

MBA 2021

Dan Ahlstedt (MBA 2021) is an engineer and member of the EnPlusOne Biosciences team at the Wyss Institute. During his Blavatnik Fellowship, he will support the business development effort for EnPlusOne’s novel enzymatic RNA synthesis platform. The team believes their unique platform will allow researchers to unlock new RNA modifications and therapeutic molecules, while simultaneously improving product quality, purity, and cost compared with traditional synthesis methods. EnPlusOne is currently focused on scaling their technology platform and fostering strategic industry partnerships. Dan has had a passion for biotechnology and the rare disease space for many years. Previously, he worked as a process engineer at Sanofi supporting large-scale GMP manufacturing and was selected to lead downstream purification engineering efforts for a new continuous biomanufacturing facility. In that role, he led the design, construction, and validation of all chromatography operations. Named the Digital Factory of the Future, the building was eventually awarded the 2020 ISPE Facility of the Year Award. Dan earned his BS in Chemical Engineering from Northeastern University and an MBA from HBS.

Ying Kai Chan

PhD 2015

Ying Kai Chan (PhD 2015) is an innovator and entrepreneur passionate about translating cutting edge scientific discoveries to transformative therapies for patients. During his Blavatnik Fellowship year, he will explore opportunities and technologies in ocular gene therapy. Most recently, Kai served as Chief Scientific Officer of Ally Therapeutics, which he co-founded with George Church, and worked on gene therapies for ophthalmic and neuromuscular disease indications. Previously, he performed his postdoctoral research work at Harvard Medical School (HMS) and the Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering, where he became Principal Investigator and led projects on AAV gene therapy, mRNA vectors and live attenuated vaccines. Kai holds multiple patents, and was a recipient of the inaugural STAT Wunderkind award in 2017. He has served on gene therapy panels at NIH, FDA and disease foundations and is an appointed member of the Immune Responses to Gene & Cell Therapy Committee of ASGCT. Kai earned a BA summa cum laude in Neuroscience and minor in Philosophy from Washington University in St. Louis, an MS in Biological Sciences from Stanford University, a PhD in Microbiology and Immunobiology and a Certificate in Human Biology and Translational Medicine from HMS.

Jannine Versi

MBA 2014

Jannine Versi (MBA 2014) is the co-founder and COO of Elektra Health, an innovative women's health company. Elektra helps women navigate the menopause transition with access to evidence-based virtual care, education, and community. As a Blavatnik Fellow, Jannine will be focusing on Elektra’s digital product and growth strategy. Jannine has spent over a decade working in healthcare, tech, and government. She was on the founding team of Cityblock Health, a tech-driven healthcare provider focused on underserved communities, incubated within Google / Alphabet’s Sidewalk Labs. She’s also held roles at Google and in the Obama Administration, where she was a senior political appointee and the chief of staff of a federal agency. Jannine earned her BA from the University of Pennsylvania, an MBA from HBS, and was a Fulbright Scholar in India.

Ananya Zutshi

MS/MBA 2021

Ananya Zutshi (MS/MBA 2021) is passionate about using exciting science to bring life-changing therapies to market for patients. During her Blavatnik Fellowship year, she will work on leveraging an innovative new technology platform to create next generation cancer therapeutics. Prior to graduate school, Ananya was a project manager at a leading contract development and manufacturing organization in the pharma/biotech industry, preparing and managing project plans for clients focused on biologics. Additional expertise gained through roles in GMP Operations, Process Engineering, Business Development, and early-stage biology and technology investing have given her a holistic view of a complex industry. Ananya earned a BSE in Biomedical Engineering from Duke University, where she graduated with distinction and received the Howard G. Clark Award for Outstanding Independent Research for her gene therapy and tissue engineering work under Dr. Farshid Guilak, and graduated with a dual MS in Engineering Sciences from the Harvard School of Engineering and Applied Sciences as well as an MBA from HBS where she was a recipient of the Kaplan Life Sciences Fellowship.

Faculty Chair

Peter Barrett

PhD, Senior Fellow at Harvard Business School

In addition to his work at Harvard, Peter is a Partner at Atlas Venture, an early stage life science venture capital firm. Since 2002, Peter has been involved in the creation of several novel therapeutic and drug discovery platform companies. Prior to Atlas he was co-founder, executive vice president, and chief business officer of Celera Genomics, and held senior management positions at Applera. Peter is currently chairman of Obsidian Therapeutics, Zafgen, Cadent Therapeutics, and Synlogic and sits on the boards of Indalo and Perkin Elmer.

Peter received a BS in chemistry from Lowell Technological Institute (now known as the University of Massachusetts, Lowell) and a PhD in analytical chemistry from Northeastern University. He also completed Harvard Business School’s Program for Management Development.