This fall, the NIH Oxford-Cambridge (OxCam) Scholars were invited to Boston, MA for a Career Development and Exploration Initiative. Scholars curious about entrepreneurship and creating the next disruptive life science startup had the opportunity to visit Flagship Pioneering. Their goal is to create, resource, and build life sciences companies that invent breakthrough technologies to transform health care and sustainability. While at Flagship, Dr. Brad Coleman provided an overview of the Fellowship Program, which offers an unparalleled opportunity to apply scientific expertise, entrepreneurial talent, and a self-starter mentality toward creating the next world-changing startups and ventures in human health and sustainability. The Scholars met with previous Flagship Fellows and presented their research to current Flagship Associates. Following presentations, Former Flagship Fellow and Associate Director, Product Concept Explorations & Clinical Development at Pioneering Medicines Dr. Krystian Kozek invited the Scholars to tour Pioneering Medicines and answered their questions about his experiences and career path as an MD/PhD.
We asked the Scholars to consider how they could use the power of data science with AI/ML, genetics/genomics, and human-based experimental models. To better understand these intersections, the Scholars visited Flagship-founded Vesalius Therapeutics. Their goal is to elegantly combine human data, genetics and genomics information, artificial intelligence and machine learning, and proprietary experimental models to redefine how we think about and treat common illnesses. Vesalius Therapeutics leadership Dr. Chris Austin and Dr. Ben Munoz provided an overview and organized a meet and greet with their scientists. Dr. Chris Austin, who served most recently as the founding director of the National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences (NCATS), shared his vast experiences through clinical medicine, academia, and industry over the last 30 years and provided insight for the Scholars.
The Scholars had the opportunity to converse with NIH OxCam Alumni throughout their time in Boston. Dr. Lynda Truong, Strategy Lead at the Novartis Institutes for Biomedical Research arranged a tour for the Scholars. Drs. Brennan Decker, Michael Chen, Andrew Ishizuka, Molly Perkins, and Andrei Ramirez-Valdez chatted with the Scholars, sharing their experiences in industry, venture capital, entrepreneurship, and residency. MD/PhD Scholar Yasemin Cole and PhD Scholar Henry Taylor remarked on Brennan Decker’s reinforcement of staying connected to the NIH OxCam Program even upon graduation. Even though he graduated multiple years ago, Brennan keeps in touch with many OxCammers in Boston (not just those from his time in the Program) and has even helped several start their companies! PhD Scholar Christian Lantz shared that keeping a network of extremely impressive people will only help in the future!
Alumnus Dr. Stan Wang, CEO & Founder of Thymmune Therapeutics, a biotechnology company developing a machine learning-enabled thymic cell engineering platform to restore normal immune function in aging and disease, met with the Scholars at LabCentral, a first-of-its-kind shared laboratory space designed as a launchpad for high-potential life-sciences and biotech startup. MD/PhD Scholar Dalton Hermans shared, “Meeting with Stan was a highlight of the trip for me. I feel, as an alumnus of the program, the tone of the conversation was a bit more candid. For that reason, I feel we learned a lot more about the technical aspects of start-up. I wrote down something Stan said that I have been thinking a lot about ever since, which is essentially, ‘In academia, scientists start with a solution that they have come up with and try to apply that to a disease and/or problem they can use it for. In biotech, scientists start with a need and/or problem for which there is a current therapeutic or economic gap and then try to come up with a solution to that need and/or problem.’ PhD Scholar Ray Smith remarked on the opportunities to learn about the intersection of biotech and academia and appreciated the range of experiences of the Alumni throughout the trip.
The International Biomedical Research Alliance is committed to providing Career Development and Exploration Initiatives to Scholars in the NIH Oxford-Cambridge Scholars Program. These initiatives aim to ignite Scholar thinking around career opportunities where they can play a key role in the future of biomedical research enterprise. Please contact Alexandra Ambrico, Director of Communication, Education, and Professional Development, at ajambrico@biomedalliance.org if you would like to be involved in hosting future exposure visits.