Sivasubramanian Varadarajan

Siva received his Bachelor's in Biotechnology from SASTRA University, India, and a Master's in Biomedical Engineering from Columbia University. During his undergraduate studies, he worked on bioprocess intensification projects, focusing on isolating commercially valuable bioactive compounds from plant and microbial sources. He then worked at Biocon Biologics in their insulin biosimilars manufacturing facility in Bengaluru, India. During his Master's program, Siva contributed to validating a wearable ambulatory blood pressure monitoring device. With a diverse engineering background, Siva is passionate about translating innovations from the lab to the market.

Michelle Kim

Michelle Kim is the Business Operations Coordinator at K36 Therapeutics. As the second person to join the company, she helped build foundations and processes across all departments. In addition, she started K36’s social media initiatives and combines her creative and business skills to improve various parts of the business. Prior to K36, Michelle helped build a startup within Simon & Schuster as a project manager. She was also an assistant at United Talent Agency, where she worked with high profile talent in the entertainment space.

Michelle holds a B.B.A. from the University of Michigan Stephen M. Ross School of Business. Outside of K36, she enjoys volunteering with The Art Therapy Project, running marathons, and raising her toy Australian Shepherd.

Sarah Komer

Sarah Komer is an accomplished social media professional with a strong creative aptitude and fervent desire to continually evolve in the realm of marketing. Sarah is serving as the Director of Branding and Marketing at Refined Matter, a new vintage clothing business, and Social Media Manager for the Kansas City Artist Community, where she excels at managing and orchestrating social media campaigns, showcasing local artists, and consistently curating engaging content. In addition to her marketing prowess, Sarah brings a wealth of healthcare experience from her tenure as a certified dermatology technician and patient care technician.

Sarah's educational journey includes a Digital Marketing Certification from Johnson County Community College, complementing her Bachelor of Arts degree in Studio Art with a focus on Photography from the University of Missouri-Kansas City.

Shantenu Agarwal

Shantenu has been growing ideas into products and companies for the past decade. A bioengineer by training, Shantenu has co-founded two health tech startups, worked at a healthcare focused venture capital fund, and managed corporate business development for a large Fortune 500 company across the world. His role as a Product Manager in an Artificial Intelligence company coupled with his experience in innovating and building allows him to assist inventors/co-founders think strategically through ideas, markets, and scale.

Yinka Akinyemi

Yinka is a Vice President in Healthcare Investment Banking at Loop Capital Markets.  He focuses on advisory, licensing and capital raising for life science companies, and has both buy-side and sell-side deal experiences in licensing, cross border M&A, private capital raises (for clinical stage life science companies), and debt/equity capital markets issuance (for large cap companies). He previously worked in Citigroup’s Global Healthcare Group and in Investment Banking at Santander. Yinka received his M.B.A. from Duke University’s Fuqua School of Business, and B.B.A. from the University of Georgia.

Shilpika Chowdhury

Shilpika is a graduate student at Columbia University, pursuing her Master’s Degree in Biomedical Engineering. She graduated from the University of California, Berkeley with a B.S. in Biomedical Engineering in 2015. While in California, her research focused on the protein tubulin, electron microscopy, and drug delivery of biologics. After graduating, Shilpika worked at Medtronic PLC on implantable device miniaturization and new technology development for the Cardiac Rhythm & Heart Failure business unit. In addition to her work as a process engineer, she led a campus innovation group focused on connecting employees and enabling creativity. Shilpika’s goal in life is to build things, from art to engineering. She also loves connecting people and reads voraciously in her free time.

Jack Fischer

Jack envisions, develops and articulates engaging narratives that connect innovative bioscience to the needs of healthcare professionals, patients, and investors. Jack leverages these narratives to form unique value propositions that strategically position biotechnology startups as memorable and commercially-viable companies. With a dual background in microbiology and marketing, Jack’s work with Harlem Biospace companies includes business plan development, communication strategy, and presentation delivery. He has partnered extensively with MiraculeX, an alumni startup, and others. He has worked in life science product branding and business development and researched pathogenic Mycobacteria in the Jacobs lab at Albert Einstein College of Medicine. Jack earned his B.A. in Biology and his B.A in Management & Business from Skidmore College.

MONA KELKAR

Mona is a Healthcare Analytics Manager at Milliman, where she provides data analytics and consulting services to a broad range of healthcare clients, including payers, providers, biopharmaceutical companies, and device manufacturers. Mona is experienced in analyzing and presenting findings from large data sets (e.g. Truven Health Analytics MarketScan® Research Database, CMS' Standard Analytic Files, proprietary client data) for population health studies, cost effectiveness analyses, and internal financial reporting. Prior to joining Milliman, Mona worked at Goldman Sachs as a senior analyst for the CFO of the Investment Management Division, where she conducted revenue and P&L forecasting, scenario analysis, and competitor reviews. She received a B.S. in Biological Engineering with a minor in Business from Cornell University, and a M.B.A. with a concentration in Business Analytics from NYU Stern.

Morgan Kiss

Morgan is a member of the Corporate Development team at Axel Johnson, a private investment firm with holdings in the medical technology industry, among others. She is involved in sourcing investment opportunities, executing deal processes and managing strategic and operational projects to promote growth of companies in the portfolio. She is passionate about supporting the development of the life sciences sector and works closely with HighRes Biosolutions, a designer and manufacturer of laboratory automation systems used in drug discovery efforts. Morgan holds a B.S. in Biomedical Engineering from Yale University. 

André Mota

André is a health policy and strategy consultant at Manatt Health Strategies, where he focuses on life sciences companies, provider organizations, and digital health capabilities. He is passionate about advancing New York City's biotechnology and digital health ecosystems. André has worked across several health care functions, including government affairs and policy at Pfizer, biotechnology equity research at T. Rowe Price, business development at Novartis, and technology transfer and commercialization at Johns Hopkins University. He received a B.S. in Biology with minors in Global Health and Business from UC San Diego, and a M.S.P.H. in Health Policy from the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health.

Chirag Raval, PH.D.

Chirag is a passionate problem solver and start-up co-founder focused on extending human longevity by harnessing nature at the nanoscale. He serves as an educator at the City University of New York and leverages his extensive experience in chemical and biomolecular engineering to cultivate the NYC life science ecosystem as a research scholar and public health advocate. Chirag applies his experience in design, regulatory strategy and commercial development of biomedical enterprises with Hb member companies.

Nathaniel Schwartz

Nathaniel is passionate about growing communities around meaningful projects. He has served as president of the pre-health student body in college, and as a department representative for biomedical engineering in graduate school. As the Harlem Biospace helps build the burgeoning biotech scene in NYC, Nathaniel helps to run events that foster community. He is pursuing his master’s degree in biomedical engineering from Columbia University, aiming to solve medical problems by addressing unmet needs and applying good principles of design and engineering toward solutions.

Rebecca Sze-Tu

Rebecca is a graduate student at Columbia University studying for her master’s in biomedical engineering. Earning her B.S. in Biomedical Engineering with a concentration in Nanotechnology from Boston University, she is dedicated to exploring the intersection between innovation and advances in the medical field. Fully embracing the ideology of the societal engineer, she has participated in a variety of courses and events, from coding and modeling systems for data analysis, or exploring the complexities of tissue and molecular engineering, to volunteering at the 2019 New York Scientific Data Symposium.

Tiffany tuedor

Tiffany is a Consulting Senior Analyst in the Consulting Development Program (CDP) at Accenture. She is passionate about Insight Driven Health in the Life Sciences industry to drive evidence-based patient outcomes. Tiffany uses her skills in machine learning, data analytics, biomedical and market research, and business development to address the latest challenges in medical diagnostics. Her previous experience includes a Strategy role in Johnson & Johnson's pharma sector and an opportunity to work at TEDMED, the health and medicine edition of TED. In addition to her business skills, she has a Bachelor's in Biomedical Engineering from Columbia University, where she built her technical foundation in biomedical research, particularly in biomedical imaging.