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:
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
$370M
in collective funding
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.