University of Maryland Graduate School Biomedical Entrepreunership Program
Webinar Series
To help you consider the wide range of possibilities that the Scientific and Medical Entrepreneurship program offers, we have curated a three part webinar series providing a new perspective and deep dive into the process of creating valuable intellectual property (IP) and moving it into commercial application.
This series began April 20th with a fireside chat session entitled "The Researcher as Innovator". The series will continued May 18 with a discussion entitled "Accelerating Student Entrepreneurship" as part of Baltimore Innovation Week and wraps up with the final session "The Tech Transfer Based Startup" in July.
The Researcher as Innovator
Tuesday, April 20, 12-1:00
A high velocity of startup company formation is an essential element of any thriving innovation ecosystem. A university system that continually creates potentially valuable intellectual property (IP) and transfers it to the private sector helps to accelerate that velocity. Most understand the role of the university researcher is vitally important in the process of creating and transferring IP. However, the role of the researcher once their technology has been transferred is neither frequently discussed nor well understood. Panelists will share their experiences including best practices and lessons learned. This session will benefit startup company founders, university researchers, and other members of the innovation community.
Join this moderated fireside chat for the opportunity to hear from three university researchers who have played different, but equally critical roles in the startup companies formed around their technologies. This webinar will highlight innovative strategies and approaches utilized by a panel of experts including:
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Dr. Steven Tropello (UMB), whose technology is behind startup company Coaptech.
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Dr. Gene Fridman (JHU), whose technology is behind startup company Aidar Health.
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Dr. Linda Dusman (UMBC) whose technology is behind startup company Octava.
Accelerating Student Entrepreneurship
Tuesday, May 18, 12-1:00pm
This panel, made up of student entrepreneurs and stakeholders, will explore the burgeoning student entrepreneurial scene in Baltimore at the undergraduate and graduate level and highlight some student startups that are making an impact both locally and nationally. The panel will be moderated by Neil Davis, MBA, director of the new Post-Baccalaureate Certificate Program in scientific and medical entrepreneurship at the University of Maryland, Baltimore.
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Kelsey Abernathy, co-founder of AlgenAir
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Brian Furr, founder of "My Furrs Guitar"
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Chrissy O’Keefe, co-founder of HYPERmelt
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Omar Muhammad, the Director of the Entrepreneurial Development Assistance Center at Morgan State University
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Jennine Stankiewicz, the Director of Career Development & Creative Entrepreneurship at MICA.
The Tech Transfer Based Startup
Thursday, July 15, 12-1:00, EDT
A high velocity of startup company formation is an essential element of any thriving innovation ecosystem, and a university system that continually creates potentially valuable intellectual property (IP) and transfers it to the private sector helps to accelerate that velocity. The resulting startup company faces a unique set of challenges that require special attention by the founding team.
In this moderated fireside chat, you will have the opportunity to hear from three startup founders who are leading companies formed around a piece of licensed university IP. They will share their experiences including best practices and lessons learned. This session will prove informative to startup company founders, university researchers, and other members of the innovation community.
Panelists:
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Ellington West, CEO and Co-founder of Sonavi Labs
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Aimee Martin, CEO of MileMarker, Co-founder of BondTrue
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Brian Lipford, Co-founder of Key Technologies (Key Tech)
Scientific and Medical Entrepreneurship
Lunch and Learn Series
The UMB Scientific and Medical Entrepreneurship Program team believes that the speed-to-market and overall success rate of new startups can be increased by exposing first time entrepreneurs to business leaders who have already navigated these early challenges and to active early-stage investors. That belief underlies our new Scientific and Medical Entrepreneurship graduate certificate curriculum and is the theme of our Fall 2021 Speaker Series - a five-part lunch and learn series with local innovators, investors and changemakers.
Frank Yang, CEO | Liatris (UMCP)
Thursday, September 9th, 12-1:00
Claire Broido Johnson | USM Momentum Fund
Thursday, September 30th, 12-1:00
Elaine Haynes, CEO | Kalocyte (UMB)
Thursday, October 21st, 12-1:00
Mckeever Conwell, Founder | Rare Breed Ventures
Thursday, November 11th, 12-1:00
Michael Ogunsanya, CEO | Mindstand (UMBC)
Thursday, December 9th, 12-1:00
Featured Guests
Frank Yang, MBA
Frank Yang has 15+ years’ experience in advanced materials and energy related businesses, including 10+ in the solar sector as co-founder and VP of Business Development and Marketing for Stion, where he managed all commercial operations for the vertically integrated US solar panel manufacturer /project developer. Frank led efforts to sell out 150 megawatts per year of thin film solar panels despite heavy industry oversupply and raised $400M in funding from leading corporate and VC investors, including Khosla Ventures, Taiwan Semiconductor, and Korean Development Bank.
Frank is now the President and CEO of Liatris Inc., an insulation materials start-up backed by a large multi-national building materials supplier, as well as a Partner at ADL Ventures, an innovation consulting boutique launching new business units and government programs in key “legacy sector” industries such as construction, transportation and utilities. Frank also worked previously at Pixtronix (sold to Qualcomm), Nantero (govt business sold to Lockheed Martin), ISTN and Lehman Brothers. Frank received an MBA from Harvard Business School and a BA in Economics from Amherst College.
Claire Broido Johnson
Claire is a senior operations and finance executive who runs the University System of Maryland Momentum Fund. (MMF) She has a proven track record in creating and managing successful businesses and driving operations (including as founder of SunEdison). She also guided the deployment of $11 billion in economic stimulus funds in 2009-2010 at the Department of Energy (DOE). Prior to MMF and after DOE, she ran CBJ Energy where she developed a energy efficiency financing product for Serious Energy, launched new products and new states for Next Step Living, and managed energy projects and research for Katerra. She is on the Board of BlocPower.io, the National Sierra Club Foundation, Living Classrooms, and serves as an Advisor for several companies. She lives with her husband and 2 kids in Baltimore
The Maryland Momentum Fund is an initiative of the University System of Maryland (USM) to provide late seed investment funding for promising technology ventures that come out of any of the 12 constituent USM institutions, its research parks, and its students, faculty, or graduates. With a $10M commitment from the USM already in place, the Fund co-invests with venture capitalists, foundations, and angel investors.
Elaine Haynes, MBA
Elaine Haynes is President and CEO of KaloCyte, Inc., a pre-clinical biotech startup developing an artificial red blood cell substitute that can be freeze-dried and stored for use when blood is not available. She is a seasoned business leader with over 30 years of healthcare experience and extensive expertise with development and commercialization of complex pharmaceuticals including radiopharmaceuticals, medical devices, sterile products, and controlled substances. Her expertise includes championing new product and commercial development programs, product launches, lifecycle management, general management, oversight of and collaboration with manufacturing, quality and regulatory affairs, capital equipment and plant expansion projects, P&L and budget management, and FDA interactions including new approvals, product recalls, safety monitoring and post-marketing reporting, M&A and divestitures.
Elaine was with Mallinckrodt Pharmaceuticals for over 28 years through early 2017. As Vice President of Alliance Management and Divestitures, she led the divestitures of Mallinckrodt’s contrast media and nuclear imaging businesses, delivering nearly $1 billion in total transaction value. Prior roles included Vice President & General Manager where she led teams in North and South America as well as global commercial functions for Imaging, Marketing Director, Training Manager, and Nuclear Pharmacist.
She completed her executive MBA at Washington University in St. Louis Olin Business School and her BS in Pharmacy from St. Louis College of Pharmacy, where she currently serves on the Board of Trustees. She recently joined the Board of Directors for ARTMS, a radioisotope technology company based in Canada, as the company’s first independent director.
McKeever “Mac” Conwell II
McKeever “Mac” Conwell II is a software engineer by trade and was a former DOD contractor with a top-secret clearance. He was a two-time founder with an exit and a failure. Next Mac moved on to the venture capital world via the Maryland Technology Development Corporation as part of their Seed Investment Team.During his four years there, Mac amassed experience leading an initiative to create the Minority Business Pre-seed Fund, the first and only, at the time, state-backed pre-seed fund for women and minorities in the country. The program institutionalized the friends and family round for black-, women-, and minority-led startups and was subsequently funded long-term by the state of Maryland. In September 2020, Mac founded RareBreed VC, a pre-seed fund that invests in exceptional founders outside of large tech ecosystems.
RareBreed VC is a Pre-seed to Seed Fund that is investing in exceptional founders outside of the large tech eco-systems (SF,NY,MA) earlier than everyone else. At Rarebreed we invest in companies building a software product with a unique or clearly repeatable customer acquisition strategy or building a physical product in a vertical that has lacked innovation in 10+ years. This is because these two founders are out-of-the-box thinkers and problem solvers.
Michael Ogunsanya
Michael Ogunsanya is an AI enthusiast, Meyerhof Scholar, and the CEO and Cofounder of MindStand. Prior to MindStand, Michael experienced workplace discrimination firsthand and it fueled him to create equitable tech for the next generation of workforce.
Their AI product at MindStand integrates within workplace email and messaging platforms to help leadership quantify culture and outline metrics to fostering a healthy online work environment. Based in Baltimore, their team has paved a way for DEI-tech