Blavatnik Fellowship in Life Science Entrepreneurship

Overview

The Blavatnik Fellowship in Life Science Entrepreneurship offers Harvard Business School alumni and Harvard-affiliated postdocs the opportunity to create new ventures around promising life science technologies while developing their leadership talents.

The program is a full-time, salaried, residential fellowship, providing practical support and strategic resources:

• Salary and benefits
• Operating funds for company formation
• Community of alumni Fellows and industry experts
• Mentorship from the Blavatnik Key Advisory Board and Life Science Leaders Network
• Access to innovative technology
• Working space in the Pagliuca Harvard Life Lab

How to Apply

Ideal candidates are HBS alumni who have graduated within the last 7–10 years and post-doctoral researchers within the first 5 years of their training program in a Harvard program or research lab.

Admissions cycle for the 2021 – 2022 cohort is January 4 - February 12, 2021 with offers for the eighth cohort by late March. To apply, complete the application form, review the Community Standards, Confidentiality, and IP Agreement, and submit all required documents to blavatnikfellowship@hbs.edu.

For planning purposes, the admissions schedule is:

• January 4 Admissions open
• February 12 Applications due
• February 23 Interview Day
• March 8 Decision letters sent

Resources & Opportunities

Community

A network of over 60 business and life science leaders and 30 distinguished past Fellows can provide tactical and strategic guidance. Past fellows have created 23 companies in industries including devices, therapeutics, diagnostics, consumer health, and health IT and raised more than $370 million through venture funding, grants, awards, and angel investors.

Leadership

The Fellowship is led by faculty chair Peter Barrett, PhD and Tracy Perry, assistant 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 Life Science 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 60 seminars with key industry experts. Workshop topics are based on the Fellows’ current needs to build business acumen and 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

2020–21 Fellows

Sophie Bai

MBA 2020

Sophie Bai (MBA 2020) is the founder and CEO of a biotech company using novel transdermal drug delivery technologies to get large molecules into the skin. She has been passionate about life sciences since she was a teenager. At the age of 16, Sophie discovered an anti-aging compound and got a minor planet (Planet No.25045) named after her to recognize her scientific discovery. Formerly, she worked with Professor Robert Langer from Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) on various drug delivery technologies to cure prostate cancer, lung cancer, and Type I Diabetes. She also worked at the Boston Consulting Group and Bain Capital Private Equity, focusing on healthcare and life science investing, operations, and strategies. Sophie serves on the board of Old Silver Venture Capital, a biotech and material science-based investment firm and holds advisory roles at various biotech companies including XtalPi, the leading drug discovery company using artificial intelligence. She received her BS in Chemical Engineering from MIT and MBA from HBS.

Paul Casinelli

MBA 2020

Paul Casinelli (MBA 2020) is passionate about identifying exciting ideas and bringing them to market. He has deep experience in the technology industry and has held senior positions overseeing product management, go-to-market and corporate strategy in startups and publicly traded companies including Brightcove where he led a team as the vice president of product marketing and Strategy. During his Fellowship year, Paul plans to build the foundation for a promising new therapeutic option for those suffering from ALS. His interest in ALS originated when his aunt was diagnosed with the disease and became a candidate for a novel immune cell therapy. Currently, he is working with the scientific team from the Vaccine and Immunotherapy Center (VIC) at Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) on an immune cell therapy that treats neurodegenerative disease, specifically ALS. Paul has a BA with high honors in Political Science from Boston College and an MBA from HBS.

Gregory Ekchian

PhD 2018

Gregory Ekchian (PhD) is an entrepreneur, engineer, and innovator, and the first Harvard-affiliated postdoc selected as a Blavatnik Fellow. He has spent his career at the interface of academic research and life science start-ups, creating and translating novel technologies from the lab to patients. His doctoral research in collaboration with Brigham and Women’s Hospital, a major teaching hospital of Harvard Medical School, focused on the development and first-in-human evaluation of a novel oxygen sensor. In recognition of his work, he was named to the 2020 MIT Technology Review Innovators Under 35 list. As the cofounder and CEO of Stratagen Bio, Greg is developing and translating a suite of novel oxygen sensors into the clinic to personalize treatments across a wide range of clinical indications. Stratagen Bio was recently accepted to join the Pagliuca Harvard Life Lab and plans to take residency in 2021. Greg is passionate about empowering young entrepreneurs through active mentorship and has created resources to assist others in translating innovations from academia. Greg holds a BS in Biomedical Engineering from Boston University and an MEng and PhD in Materials Science and Engineering from MIT.

Zack Morrison

MBA 2020

Zack Morrison (MBA 2020) is an entrepreneur and engineer with a passion for bringing breakthrough products to market. As a Blavatnik Fellow, Zack plans to develop sensing technologies for surgical applications. Prior to business school, he worked as a design engineer and engineering manager for biotech and medical device companies in the San Francisco Bay Area. Most recently, he worked at Auris Health where he developed instruments for robotic surgery. Morrison holds multiple patents for medical devices and is a recipient of the Kaplan Fellowship for excellence in the life sciences and the Robert F. Jasse Award for entrepreneurship. Zack holds a BS in Mechanical Engineering from Washington University in St. Louis, an MS in Mechanical Engineering from Carnegie Mellon University, and an MBA from HBS.

Carlos Rodriguez

MBA 2017

Carlos Rodriguez (MBA 2017)) is focused on digitizing biomanufacturing. He brings diverse experience in business development, corporate strategy, technical operations, and finance. During his Fellowship year, Carlos will explore how artificial intelligence and automation can transform traditional methods of fermentation and cell culture. The results could improve the manufacturing of microbial-based treatments and gene and cell therapies for patients affected by cancer, inflammation, autoimmunity, and rare diseases. Most recently, Carlos gained entrepreneurial experience as a director at Evelo Biosciences, a biotechnology company founded by Flagship Pioneering. Earlier in his career, he advised healthcare companies as an investment banker and as a strategy consultant. He was named Credit Suisse MBA Fellow, Flare Capital MBA Scholar, and Rock Health Research Fellow. He is currently a mentor with NEVCA’s Hack.Diversity program for aspiring technology professionals. Carlos earned an AB in economics from Princeton University and an MBA from HBS.

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.