HOUSTON, TX – 11 January, 2018 – Fannin Innovation Studio named today its most recent class of Entrepreneurship Fellows, with five new emerging life science leaders joining the program and bringing the total number of participants to ten. Fannin’s Entrepreneurship Fellowship is a two-year full-time fellowship for scientists, physicians, and engineers who have an entrepreneurial interest in drug or medical device development. The experiential learning program provides fellows with mentorship and hands-on experience, supplemented through a didactic curriculum, workshops, conference attendance, and networking.
“Fannin’s unique Entrepreneurship Fellowship was created to leverage Houston’s rich pool of scientific talent to grow our entrepreneurial ecosystem,” says Atul Varadhachary, Managing Partner at Fannin. “Our fellows have the opportunity to lead one or more of Fannin’s active portfolio projects to get hands on experience in drug or medical device development while collaborating with the innovative community of scientific leaders in the Texas Medical Center and the life sciences ecosystem globally.”
Continuing its tradition of developing the leadership potential of remarkable scientists, the new fellowship cohort consists of the following individuals:
Aundrietta Duncan earned her PhD from The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center UT Health Graduate School of Biomedical Science in Houston. Her research focused on the role of TRIM24, an epigenetic reader protein, as an oncogene in the mammary gland. She is delighted to join Fannin and hopes to make a positive impact during her tenure.
Chris Foley earned his PhD from Baylor College of Medicine where he studied potential avenues for therapeutic intervention through targeting transcriptional coactivators in advanced prostate cancers. In addition to his graduate studies, he interned with the Baylor Licensing Group and also was a former Fannin intern. Chris joined Fannin to learn better how to translate potentially beneficial biomedical research into clinically available options for patients.
Amritha Nair attended Baylor College of Medicine at the Texas Medical Center to earn her PhD in Molecular and Human Genetics, followed by a short post-doctoral fellowship in her doctoral lab. In her research she sought to identify therapeutic inroads into the treatment of Triple Negative Breast cancer using genetic and pharmacological tools. Her interest in translating innovation from the lab bench to novel bio-medical solutions led her to pursue an internship with Fannin and ultimately join the Fellowship program.
Matias Soto is an Aerospace Engineer with a degree from the University of Texas at Austin, a Master’s in Manufacturing from Tecnológico de Monterrey, and a PhD in Materials Science and NanoEngineering from Rice University. He has previous experience managing R&D projects and government funding while director of research at a medium-size company in Monterrey, México. His engineering and scientific background allows him to combine a theoretical and experimental approach to the development of medical devices. A former Fannin intern, Matias is excited to join Fannin to translate great ideas into useful, innovative products and services.
David Waters earned a biomedical engineering degree from the University of Texas at Austin and his MD from the McGovern Medical School, The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston. David developed a passion for innovation while an intern at the UT-Austin Office of Commercialization and also interned with Fannin prior to becoming a Fellow. Drawing on his unique combination of medical knowledge, engineering expertise, and entrepreneurial experience, he joined Fannin in an effort to bring new, transformative medical solutions to market.
“I am pleased to announce this year’s class of Entrepreneurship Fellows to our growing program,” said Melissa Singh, a Fannin principal and the Fellowship Program Director, and a former fellow herself. “The fellows have received diverse scientific training at various Texas Medical Center institutions, and they show enormous potential to be our next generation of life science start-up leaders.”
About Fannin Innovation Studio
Houston-based Fannin Innovation Studio is an early-stage life sciences development group focused exclusively on commercializing medical technologies. Fannin partners with life science innovators to cofound startup companies and provides a pooled management team, funding, and administrative support.
To further bridge the commercialization gap, Fannin’s internship and fellowship programs provide aspiring entrepreneurs with hands-on development experience with its portfolio companies.
For more information, visit www.FanninInnovation.com or email innovate@fannininnovation.com
Media Contact
Company Name: Fannin Innovation Studio
Contact Person: Dana Summers
Email: dana@penmanpr.com
Phone: 334-663-4424
City: Houston
State: Texas
Country: United States
Website: www.FanninInnovation.com