Michael Ehlers, MD/PhD, is the CSO and Venture Partner at Apple Tree Partners , a life sciences venture capital firm that creates and invests in biotech companies at various stages, from pre-seed, through to IPO and beyond. He additionally serves as the CEO of Limelight Bio and the President & Executive Chair of Aulos Bioscience, two biotech startups developing novel gene and immuno-oncology therapeutics, respectively. In this episode, Michael shares his journey from his MD/PhD training at J...
Mar 22, 2021•48 min
In this episode, an esteemed panel of four from Bain & Company - Bobbi Lambros (Recruiting Manager, North America), Amir Niaki (Consultant, DC), Nik Hoffman (Consultant, DC), and Jackie Flanagan (Associate Partner, DC - shares Bain's interview process & evaluation strategy, walks us through a sample case, and talks about applying to Bain. Hosted by Ikbal Choudhury.
Mar 14, 2021•1 hr 9 min
Miranda Broz, PhD is the Scientific Associate Director of Discovery Myeloid Biology at Bristol Myers Squibb ’s R&D site in Redwood City, California. Miranda and her team explores parts of the tumor microenvironment (TME) - including regulatory T cells, stromal cells and myeloid antigen presenting cells - to develop novel treatment options that will benefit patients with difficult-to-treat cancers. In this episode, Miranda shares her journey from PhD to Scientific Officer at Pionyr Immunother...
Mar 08, 2021•39 min
Melissa Stundick, PhD is the VP of Business Development at Spero Therapeutics , a clinical-stage biotech company that develops treatments for multidrug-resistant bacterial infections. In this episode, Melissa shares her journey from PhD to Lead Associate at the consulting firm Booz Allen Hamilton to Chief of the Anti-Infectives Program at BARDA to her current role at Spero Therapeutics. Melissa highlights the strong need for new antibiotics , the reasons why many pharmaceutical companies have st...
Feb 22, 2021•51 min
Jo Bhakdi is the Founder & CEO of Quantgene, an early-stage medical technology company that deploys machine learning & advanced genetic sequencing technologies to detect cancer at early stages of development. In 2016, they launched one of the largest clinical trials to assess the feasibility of cell-free DNA technology, with the goal of collecting 10,000 patient blood samples. In this episode, we explore the gaps that exist in the cancer diagnostics space and how innovations in sequencin...
Feb 08, 2021•58 min
This episode is part of the Boston Biotech Series - produced in collaboration with the Professional Development & Career Office (PDCO) at the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine. We encourage JHU students to join the online Boston Biotech Community on the OneHop platform to connect with the podcast’s guests as well as other JHU alumni who work in Boston, the fastest growing biotech hub in the United States. Link: https://onehop.jhu.edu/hub/mentoring/program/mentoring-program/about In this episo...
Jan 25, 2021•48 min
Jeff Galvin is the CEO & Founder of American Gene Technologies (AGT) , a clinical-stage biotech company with a proprietary gene-delivery platform for rapid development of cell and gene therapies to cure infectious diseases, cancers, and inherited disorders. He earned his BA degree in Economics from Harvard in 1981 and accumulated more than 30 years of business and entrepreneurial experience while founding and leading a variety of Silicon Valley startups. As a retired angel investor, Mr. Galv...
Jan 11, 2021•1 hr
Dr. Paul Hergenrother, PhD is a Professor of Chemistry at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (UIUC) , whose organic chemistry lab characterizes natural products to identify novel cellular targets and formulate treatments for cancer & drug-resistant bacteria. He along with Dr. Martin Burke and other UIUC staff led the effort undertaken at UIUC to develop a COVID-19 saliva test, which was implemented campus-wide to facilitate in-person education and garnered national attention in m...
Dec 14, 2020•49 min
Bijal Trivedi, MS is an award-winning journalist and author of Breath from Salt , a book about the history of cystic fibrosis (CF). Breath from Salt is a story of a breakthrough in modern medicine that chronicles the discovery & characterization of the cystic fibrosis , the formation of the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation and how their unprecedented collaboration with Vertex Pharmaceuticals has resulted in treatments that significantly improve the quality of life for patients with CF. In this epi...
Nov 30, 2020•57 min
Dr. Daniel Pham, PhD is an Associate Director at the Milken Institute’s Center for Strategic Philanthropy , which works with a diverse array of key stakeholders to advance initiatives that aim to improve human health. Prior to joining the Milken Institute, Daniel played an active role in science policy & advocacy as a Public Affairs Manager at the American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology (ASBMB) and a Science Policy Fellow at Research!America . He’s also an alumnus of the John...
Nov 16, 2020•41 min
Dr. Florian Krammer, PhD is a Professor of Vaccinology in the Department of Microbiology at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai in New York City, whose lab investigates the antibody responses towards glycoproteins on the surface of influenza viruses. He recently authored a review in the journal Nature that provides an overview of SAR-CoV-2 vaccines currently in clinical development. In this episode, we discuss how immunologists & virologists reacted to COVID-19 during the dawn of the...
Nov 02, 2020•59 min
Dr. Camille Delebecque, M.Sc., PhD is Co-Founder & CEO of Afineur , a company that sustainably processes raw agriculture into plant-based meats and optimizes the flavor profiles of various foods using the latest advances in fermentation & enzymology. He also operates two other companies: (1) SOIL.BIO (Founder & CEO) , a startup that aims to develop proprietary mixtures of microbes that enrich the soil with nutrients and improve crop yields and (2) SynBio Consulting (Founder & Par...
Oct 26, 2020•46 min
Dr. Jason Howard, PhD is a Medical Science Liaison at Sanofi/Genzyme , where he provides field support for a metastatic prostate cancer treatment (cabazitaxel) and a squamous cell skin cancer treatment (cemiplimab). Prior to joining Sanofi, Jason worked at a Baltimore-based biotech startup called Vaccinogen, where he was co-inventor of the investigational cancer vaccine Oncavert. In this episode, we discuss the role of medical affairs in biotech & pharma, how to acquire & manage relation...
Oct 19, 2020•42 min
Dr. Don Anderson, PhD, MBA is Senior Scientist at Merck & Co. , a multinational pharmaceutical company that develops and manufactures medicines in a broad range of therapeutic areas. Don previously worked at Peloton Therapeutics , which was acquired by Merck in May of 2019 , primarily for its “novel small molecule therapeutic candidates targeting hypoxia-inducible factor-2α (HIF-2α) for the treatment of patients with cancer and other non-oncology diseases”. Dr. Caroline Vissers, PhD is a Pri...
Oct 05, 2020•52 min
Elias Davis is Principal at Kli Capital , a generalist venture capital firm based out of New York City with a focus on investing in early-stage companies. Prior to joining Kli Capital, Elias interned at Pfizer in a computational chemistry group, worked as a Summer Analyst at Credit Suisse , founded a medical-oriented social network, served as a Product Manager at Google , and coordinated strategic growth at KeyMe . In this episode, we talk about when to embark on new opportunities, how to naviga...
Sep 21, 2020•38 min
Max Tejada, PhD is Senior Director at Kite Pharma , an American biotech company and subsidiary of Gilead Sciences that develops cancer immunotherapies with a primary focus on genetically engineered adoptive T-cell therapies called CAR-T therapies. Dr. Tejada broke into the private sector by landing an industry postdoctoral fellowship at Genentech i n the lab of Dr. Napoleone Ferrara , who is widely recognized for his role in developing the angiogenesis inhibitor Avastin (bevacizumab) . He subseq...
Sep 08, 2020•36 min
Ernesto Chanona, PhD is Senior Manager in the Office of BioHealth and Life Sciences at the Maryland Department of Commerce , which fosters growth of life sciences business in the state of Maryland through a host of initiatives. Ernesto helps connect various institutions (NIH, biotech/pharma companies, etc.), individuals (inventors, entrepreneurs, etc.), and investors to facilitate economic development. Given that he’s a ‘professional connector’ of sorts, our discussion largely centers around how...
Aug 24, 2020•42 min
Dr. Janice Logan, PhD, JD is an alumna of the Johns Hopkins PhD program in Biomedical Engineering and Partner at Morgan Lewis , a prominent law firm that serves a wide range of clients including more than three-quarters of Fortune 100 companies. In this episode, we talk about various requirements and challenges related to successfully patenting insights in biomedical research and drug development . Janice also shares why science-related PhDs are in high demand in the legal field as well as recom...
Aug 10, 2020•34 min
Evan Guggenheim, PhD is Executive Director & Head of Research Operations at Sana Biotechnology , a startup dedicated to developing stem cell therapies and methods for in vivo delivery of gene therapy components to treat a variety of diseases. Prior to joining Sana, Evan worked as a Scientist at a sequencing company called Intelligent Bio-Systems ( acquired by Qiagen in 2012 ) as well as at the large biotechnology company Biogen , where he rose through the ranks from the position of Scientist...
Jul 27, 2020•38 min
Roshni Rao, PhD is Director of the PHutures Office at Johns Hopkins University , where she works with PhDs and postdocs to supplement academic training with coaching in translational and relational skills that are essential for preparedness in various industries. Roshni is a fantastic resource to turn to and we strongly encourage students at Johns Hopkins to contact her at the PHutures Office for career guidance. During this episode we discuss the concept of ‘life design’, a multi-faced methodol...
Jul 13, 2020•41 min
Lauren Lee, Ph.D is an Associate at Solasta Ventures , the U.S. subsidiary of South Korean venture capital firm Aju IB that focuses on investments in therapeutics and life science companies. We chat about how she merged her dual interests in science and finance, advanced projects at Onyx Pharmaceuticals ( acquired by Amgen in 2013 ), and helps biotech/pharmaceutical startups grow at Solasta Ventures. Lauren also highlights different facets of career exploration during a PhD, which includes secur...
Jun 29, 2020•36 min
Bernat Navarro-Serer is the Eastern Hub Co-Chair of the National Science Policy Network (NSPN), a non-profit organization that equips scientists with the skills and collaborations that they need to effectively influence public policy. He also serves as Social Media Chair for the Johns Hopkins Science Policy Group, a chapter of NSPN that unites graduate students, postdoctoral researchers, healthcare professionals, and faculty to collectively promote social change at a state and local level. We di...
Jun 15, 2020•33 min
Sam Hong, Ph.D is the Chief Operating Officer (COO) at Rapafusyn Pharmaceuticals, a pre-clinical stage startup developing macrocycle-based therapeutics for treatment of various disease indications. The company is also a commercial spinout of research conducted in the lab of Dr. Jun Liu at the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, where Sam conducted his doctoral thesis. We chat about his journey from a post-baccalaureate fellowship at a synthetic chemistry lab at the National Institutes of Health (N...
Jun 01, 2020•25 min
We discuss that familiar career question, "academia or industry?" as well as introduce the goals of the podcast and backgrounds of the hosts. Join us in subsequent episodes for interviews with guests from a diverse array of private sector life science industries (pharmaceuticals, biotechnology, consulting, venture capital, science policy, etc.) that model viable career paths for students. For updates about upcoming guests , follow us on social media at Facebook , Instagram , or LinkedIn and visi...
May 21, 2020•29 min
