After its inaugural cycle in 2022-23, Cornell University Life Sciences Technology Innovation Scholarshipformerly known as the BioEntrepreneurship Initiative, enters its second year with a new cohort of 15 business students and 12 researchers eager to embark on their journey to becoming C-suite startup leaders.
The Life Sciences Technology Innovation Fellowship began with the aim of bridging the gap between PhD and doctoral studies. and MBA students at Cornell interested in putting life sciences innovations in the hands of customers. The program provides students with the entrepreneurial spirit, training and judgment necessary to help them develop businesses in the life sciences. The unique structure of the fellowship pairs doctoral students from Cornell campuses with graduate business students to collaborate on the design and testing of real-world startups.
“Even after only a year of programming, the Life Sciences Technology Innovation Fellowship is well on its way to creating a pipeline of leaders who will advance the life sciences industry in New York State and around the world,” said program director Gregory Ray, Ph.D. ’14. “We are excited to continue building on last year’s success and provide a collaborative space where participants can think beyond the confines of their respective programs.”
When it was established as the BioEntrepreneurship Initiative in its first year, the program immediately gained traction. During a series of six monthly in-person workshops, alternating between Ithaca and New York, participants interacted with more than 50 investors, founders and industry leaders, gaining perspective to apply to their entrepreneurial ventures. The success of the BioEntrepreneurship Initiative helped identify a framework that could easily be applied to other industries, inspiring the creation of the Green Technology Innovation Scholarship and what prompted the name change to the Life Sciences Technology Innovation Exchange.
Throughout the year, stakeholders from the world of business and research will be paired to form teams and participate in workshops that will address various subjects to lay the foundations for startup creation.
“I aspire to gain hands-on experience strategizing, implementing, and interacting with venture capital regarding a startup,” said Eman Said, MBA ’24, a member of this year’s cohort. “I hope to hone my skills as an MBA in life sciences and healthcare while expanding my network over the next year.”
Meet the business students in the 2023-24 Life Sciences Technology Innovation Fellowship cohort:
- Swarnima Gupta, Cornell Tech MBA’24
- Jace Hammer, Cornell Tech MBA ’24
- Tanisha Kulkarni, Cornell Tech MBA ’24
- Darby Marx, Cornell Tech MBA ’24, Weill Cornell Medicine Medical candidate
- Aakash Nareshkumar, Cornell Tech MBA ’24
- Sofia Quinones-Vilela, MHA ’24
- Ryan Ries, Ph.D. ’23, Cornell Tech MBA ’24
- Eman Said, MBA ’24
- Ananya Sen, EMBA/MS Healthcare Leadership ’24
- Reema Shah, EMBA/MS Healthcare Leadership ’24
- Samyukta Singh, MHA ’24
- Kara Styers, MBA ’24
- Evan Trofimchuk, MBA 2024
- Daniel Volshteyn, MHA ’24
- Ce Wang, MBA ’24
“I hope to gain a comprehensive understanding of the fundamentals of biotechnology-focused entrepreneurship by gaining real-world experience building startups, business strategy, and bringing science out of the lab,” said Berkiye (Bee) Sonustun, who holds a doctorate in neuroscience. candidate at Weill Cornell Medicine conducting research at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center (MSKCC).
Meet the researchers in the 2023-24 Life Sciences Technology Innovation Fellowship cohort:
- Stephanie Azzopardi (Weill Cornell Medicine), physiology, biophysics and systems biology, MD-Ph.D. candidate
- Ron Baik (Weill Cornell Medicine/MSKCC), BCMB, Ph.D. candidate
- Cátia Dombaxe, Biomedical Engineering, Ph.D. candidate
- Alexander Epstein (Rockefeller University), Biosciences, Ph.D. candidate
- Shi Feng, biophysics, Ph.D. candidate
- Shobhita Gupta, biophysics, Ph.D. candidate
- Yuexing Hao, human-centered design, Ph.D. candidate
- Rui Huang, biochemistry, molecular and cellular biology, Ph.D. candidate
- Nisha Kannan, biomedical engineering, postdoctoral fellow
- Conor Loy, Genetics, Genomics and Development, Ph.D. candidate
- Nada Naguib, Biomedical Engineering, Ph.D. candidate
- Berkiye (Bee) Sonustun (Weill Cornell Medicine/MSKCC), Neuroscience, Ph.D. candidate
The Life Sciences Technology Innovation Fellowship is funded by Development of the Empire State, THE Cornell Johnson Graduate School of Managementand a Zalaznick Teaching Assistant Award from Entrepreneurship at Cornell. The program is administered by Cornell’s Center for Regional Economic Developmentwith participants completing a certificate at the end of the program.
The 2023-24 Life Sciences Technology Innovation Fellowship will officially begin when the program hosts its first workshop on Saturday, September 30 in Ithaca, New York.
