Life Sciences Technology Innovation Fellows Welcome Third Cohort

Twenty-nine Cornell MBA students in the Samuel Curtis Johnson Graduate School of Management, together with PhD candidates from across Cornell University and postdoctoral fellows from the Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, have joined the third cohort of Cornell’s Life Sciences Technology Innovation Fellows program, an interdisciplinary entrepreneurship and translation program offered by the Cornell SC Johnson College of Business.

The Life Sciences Technology Innovation Fellows program helps to prepare the next wave of startup leaders to launch, scale, and operate life science ventures within New York state. The program provides students with the entrepreneurial mindset, training, and judgment to aid them in developing and leading new life-science ventures. The program’s unique structure pairs graduate business students with doctoral researchers across Cornell’s campuses, inclusive of Cornell’s Tri-Institutional partners (Memorial Sloan Kettering and The Rockefeller University), to collaborate on real-world startup design and derisking.

“The Life Sciences Technology Innovation Fellows program is about preparing the human capital necessary for the ongoing group of the startup-driven innovation economy that New York is trying to build,” said program director Gregory Ray, PhD ‘14. “Investing in the entrepreneurial judgement of these soon-to-be leaders helps us translate cutting-edge innovation, facilitate economic growth, and address significant societal problems.

“Cornell, along with our partners, is uniquely situated to contribute to a better future,” Ray said. “We excel in the training of entrepreneurs, biomedical engineers, plant scientists, molecular biologists, businesspeople, physicians, investors, veterinarians, developers, and so much more. And this program builds on it all.”

Empowering entrepreneurs to innovate in life sciences

Throughout the course of the academic year, business and research participants will be matched with one another to form teams and take part in workshops that will cover various topics designed to lay a foundation for startup creation. They will also complete the Life Science Entrepreneurship in Practice course as part of the program. Upon completion of the coursework and program requirements, fellows will receive a certificate from the SC Johnson Graduate School of Management.

“I want to leverage my creativity and problem-solving skills in entrepreneurship to drive innovative marketing strategies in the life sciences field,” said Lindsey Pigott, MBA ‘25, a member of this year’s cohort. “By applying lessons I’ve learned in agility and customer-centric approaches, I aim to create impactful campaigns that resonate with professionals and patients. I aim to blend scientific rigor with entrepreneurial thinking to push the boundaries of what’s possible in life sciences marketing.”

Meet the Life Sciences Technology Innovation Fellows

Meet the business students who are 2024-25 Life Sciences Technology Innovation Fellows:

• Albert Charles, MBA ’25
• Ava Hoog, MBA ’25
• Brian Mikolasko, MBA/MS ’25 (Executive MBA/MS in Healthcare Leadership)
•  Edwin Torres, MBA/MS ’25 (Executive MBA/MS in Healthcare Leadership)
• Eric Wang, MBA ’25
• Fatmira Curovic, MBA/MS ’25 (Executive MBA/MS in Healthcare Leadership)
• Kelly Lu, MBA ’25
• Lindsey Pigott, MBA ’25
• Samyuktha Ravi, MBA ’25
• Teresa Craugh, MBA ’25
• Vera Yeh, MBA ’25
• Yash Jhavar, MBA ’25

“Through this program, I want to expand my knowledge and understanding of the biotechnology industry and its applications to solve real-world problems,” said Vishwas Mishra, a fifth-year year PhD candidate at the Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center. “I aspire to make science accessible to the larger populations and spread our knowledge and technological progress with the rest of the world.”

Meet the researchers who are 2024-25 Life Sciences Technology Innovation Fellows:

• Aiyana Fortin, PhD candidate (College of Engineering)
• Amir Mokhtare, Ignite Postdoctoral Fellow (Center for Technology Licensing)
• Azmain Alamgir, PhD candidate (College of Engineering)
• Ceyda Durmaz, PhD candidate (Weill Cornell Medicine)
• Eleanor Best, PhD candidate (College of Veterinary Medicine)
• Isidora Stankovic, PhD candidate (Weill Cornell Medicine)
• James Morningstar, PhD candidate (College of Engineering)
• Jiwoon Park, Post Doctoral Associate (Weill Cornell Medicine)
• Jon Albo, PhD candidate (College of Engineering)
• Kendall Lemons, PhD candidate (Weill Cornell Medicine/Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center)
• Mohammed Islam, PhD candidate (Weill Cornell Medicine/Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center)
• Nalan Karunanayake, Research Scholar  (Weill Cornell Medicine/Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center)
• Stephen Ruiz, PhD candidate (Weill Cornell Medicine/Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center)
• Urmila Sehrawat, Research Scholar (Weill Cornell Medicine/Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center)
• Vishwas Mishra, PhD candidate (Weill Cornell Medicine/Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center)
• Yi-Yuan Lee, PhD candidate (College of Agriculture & Life Sciences)
• Yuan Lin, Postdoctoral Researcher (Weill Cornell Medicine/Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center)

Managed by the Center for Regional Economic Advancement, a division of Research and Innovation, the Life Sciences Technology Innovation Fellows program is primarily funded by Empire State Development and the Johnson School, with added support from a Zalaznick Teaching Assistantship Award from Entrepreneurship at Cornell and Sanofi, an innovative global healthcare company that has generously donated to support the 2024-25 cohort of the Life Sciences Technology Innovation Fellows. The program’s core course, Life Science Entrepreneurship in Practice, has been recognized with a Zalaznick Teaching Assistantship Award given by Entrepreneurship at Cornell for the third consecutive year.

The 2024-25 Life Sciences Technology Innovation Fellows Program will officially get underway when the program hosts its first workshop on Saturday, September 21, with a tour of Weill Cornell Medicine in New York City.

LEARN MORE ABOUT LIFE SCIENCES TECHNOLOGY INNOVATION FELLOWS

Katharine Downey is a communications support specialist for the Office of the Vice President for Research & Innovation, Cornell University.