B-SoCCS 2019

FUNDAMENTALS OF ENTREPRENEURSHIP

Boston area institutions are among the major innovation centers for the life sciences, chemistry and engineering.  As highly motivated and independent subject matter experts, postdocs are drivers of much of this innovation and are well-positioned to be entrepreneurs.  While many postdocs consider entrepreneurship as a career track, they may lack the background to successfully commercialize their discoveries.  This panel aims to inform postdocs on the skills required to become successful entrepreneurs. The panel will also address questions on how research fellows can be a successful part of a team in this space.   

Additionally, in this panel discussion, we will examine the key factors researchers should consider in deciding to commercialize their research.  The discussion will include: 1) deciding what discoveries and inventions may make a viable commercial product, 2) using best practices in engaging and collaborating with institutional tech transfer offices and lab incubators, 3) obtaining seed funding and pitching investors, and 4) examining characteristics of successful entrepreneurs and startups.

Stuart Chaffee

ENTREPRENEUR IN RESIDENCE AT ATLAS VENTURE

Stuart is an Entrepreneur in Residence at Atlas Venture, where he recently co-founded a early-stage therapeutics company focused on targeted protein degradation.  He  joined Atlas from Biogen, where he spent five years in a number of different roles including Finance, Business Development, Program Management and Corporate Strategy.  Prior to Biogen, Stuart was at Leerink Partners, a healthcare focused investment bank, and was part of the founding team at Zafgen, a now publicly-traded biotech company developing therapies for obesity.  Originally trained as a synthetic organic chemist, Stuart started his career as a medicinal chemist at Amgen where he led a number of drug discovery and development efforts in oncology and neurodegenerative disease.  Stuart holds a B.S. from the College of William and Mary, a Ph.D. from Yale University, and an M.B.A. from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania.

Dev K. Dutta

ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR OF STRATEGIC MANAGEMENT AND ENTREPRENEURSHIP AT THE PETER T. PAUL COLLEGE OF BUSINESS AND ECONOMICS, UNIVERSITY OF NEW HAMPSHIRE

Dev brings with him over fifteen years of academic research experience in strategic management, entrepreneurship, and international business. Dev's research has been published in top-tier entrepreneurship research journals such as the Journal of Business Venturing and Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice. Prior to his doctoral studies, Dev worked for fifteen years as a corporate strategy consultant in the global Indian IT industry. He served as an in-house strategy specialist for some of the biggest names in the industry, working in the areas of value transformation, process maturity, organizational change and renewal, and business model formulation and implementation.
Dev is a certified Lean Launchpad Educator and his graduate class on entrepreneurship embracing lean startup methodologies is perhaps the first one in the country to incorporate these methods in a completely online setting.

Laura Indolfi

CEO OF PANTHER THERAPEUTICS AND ENTREPRENEUR IN RESIDENCE AT MGH CANCER CENTER

 Dr. Indolfi combines the science and business knowledge to drive our vision. As a biomedical engineer, Laura has 10 years of local drug delivery experience. Her  expertise covers a broad range of therapeutic areas (cancer, inflammation, regenerative medicine) and approaches (drug delivery, cell therapy, implanted devices).
She has also developed hands-on business managerial know-hows through classes at the Sloan School of Management and Harvard Business School.
Laura holds a PhD in Biomaterials from the University “Federico II” of Naples in Italy and completed post-doc training at MIT and MGH Cancer Center. 

Avi Spier

DIRECTOR OF STRATEGIC ALLIANCES AT NOVARTIS INSTITUTES FOR BIOMEDICAL RESEARCH

In 2001, Avi co-founded the biotech company Allon Therapeutics in Canada to develop neuropeptides with therapeutic potential. In 2002, Avi left his postdoc to lead his entrepreneurial venture full-time. In 2004, when Allon Therapeutics went public on the Toronto Stock Exchange, he joined the Genomics Institute of the Novartis Research Foundation, becoming its business development director in charge of forging commercial opportunities and scientific partnerships for the institute.