Hopkins Biotech Podcast

Carina Clingman, PhD is a Principal and Founder of Recruitomics Biotalent Consulting , a biotechnology hiring and recruitment agency based in Cambridge, MA. Carina originally trained as a biochemist, earning her PhD in Biochemistry and Molecular Pharmacology from the University of Massachusetts Medical School. At Recruitomics, she leverages her expertise to find the best candidates for biotech pos...

In this episode, members of the Johns Hopkins Alternative Protein Project - Norah Sadowski, Lauren Blake, Mackenzie Simon-Collins, Mc Millan Ching, Jacquelyn Bedsaul, and Christine Wang- discuss a nontraditional application of biotech: alternative proteins. We explore the motivations, basic principles, challenges, and risks behind alternative protein technologies such as plant-based, fermentation-...

Paul Yourik, Ph. D., is a Scientist at Moderna , a pioneering mRNA technology platform company specializing in vaccine and therapeutic development for a range of disease areas. Prior to Moderna, Paul received his Ph. D. in Biochemistry, Cellular, and Molecular Biology at the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, training as an RNA biochemist. He later completed an industry postdoc at New England Biola...

Dr. Cristoph Lengauer Ph. D MBA is a  Partner at Third Rock Ventures , an innovative venture capital firm focused on company creation, and supporting entrepreneurs from idea to discovery to the clinic. In this episode, Dr. Lengauer discusses Third Rock’s unique approach to venture funding, common sources of company ideation, and his path from the Carey School of Business to the boardroom.  Hosted...

John Valliere-Douglass is the Associate Director and Mass Spectrometry Core Group Leader at Seagen (formerly, Seattle Genetics). John works in the Analytical Sciences division within Seagen’s development arm, using proteomics techniques to scale and manufacture therapeutic modalities in significant quantities to support clinical trials. Seagen is most well-known for developing antibody-drug conjug...

Helena Zec, PhD is an Engagement Manager at Clearview Healthcare Partners, a leader in the life science and healthcare consulting space. Helena has held consulting roles at other well-known firms and holds a Ph. D. in Biomedical Engineering from the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine. In this episode, Helena shares her experience working in life science consulting and navigating the process of apply...

Cindy Hoots is the Chief Digital Officer and CIO at AstraZeneca , a world leader in biopharmaceutical drug development. Cindy shares her thoughts on how the digital revolution will impact every aspect of drug development from R&D to clinical testing to delivery to patients. Hosted by Farai Sikipa. 

Nick Edwards, PhD is currently the Chief of Staff to the CSO at Resilience , a privately-held manufacturing and technology company devoted to building a sustainable and accessible biopharmaceutical supply chain. When we interviewed Nick, he was working in the Global Sales Operations division of Illumina , an American public biotech company that manufactures a wide array of next generation sequenci...

Michael Kauffman, MD/PhD is the Founder & CEO of Karyopharm , a pharmaceutical company that develops & commercializes various drugs directed against nuclear export and related targets for the treatment of cancer, inflammation, viral diseases, and other disorders of proliferation. Michael is a seasoned pharmaceutical executive , having also served as CEO, CMO, or VP at Millennium Pharmaceut...

  Peter Kolchinsky, PhD, is a Managing Partner at RA Capital Management , a multi-stage investment manager dedicated to evidence-based investing in public and private healthcare and life science companies developing drugs, medical devices, and diagnostics. He additionally serves on the board of several public and private life science companies. Additionally, Peter co-founded No Patient Left Behind...

Vania Cao, Ph. D is the Founder of Free The PhD , an educational platform designed to help late-stage STEM PhDs successfully break into the job market. Vania shares how graduate students can best position themselves for management consulting or other business careers, strike a balance between career satisfaction & income level, and make career transitions as smooth as possible.  Hosted by Ikba...

Michael Ehlers, MD/PhD, is the CSO and Venture Partner at Apple Tree Partners , a life sciences venture capital firm that creates and invests in biotech companies at various stages, from pre-seed, through to IPO and beyond. He additionally serves as the CEO of Limelight Bio and the President & Executive Chair of Aulos Bioscience, two biotech startups developing novel gene and immuno-oncology t...

In this episode, an esteemed panel of four from Bain & Company - Bobbi Lambros (Recruiting Manager, North America), Amir Niaki (Consultant, DC), Nik Hoffman (Consultant, DC), and Jackie Flanagan (Associate Partner, DC - shares Bain's interview process & evaluation strategy, walks us through a sample case, and talks about applying to Bain. Hosted by Ikbal Choudhury. 

Miranda Broz, PhD is the Scientific Associate Director of Discovery Myeloid Biology at Bristol Myers Squibb ’s R&D site in Redwood City, California. Miranda and her team explores parts of the tumor microenvironment (TME) - including regulatory T cells, stromal cells and myeloid antigen presenting cells - to develop novel treatment options that will benefit patients with difficult-to-treat canc...

Melissa Stundick, PhD is the VP of Business Development at Spero Therapeutics , a clinical-stage biotech company that develops treatments for multidrug-resistant bacterial infections. In this episode, Melissa shares her journey from PhD to Lead Associate at the consulting firm Booz Allen Hamilton to Chief of the Anti-Infectives Program at BARDA to her current role at Spero Therapeutics. Melissa hi...

Jo Bhakdi is the Founder & CEO of Quantgene, an early-stage medical technology company that deploys machine learning & advanced genetic sequencing technologies to detect cancer at early stages of development. In 2016, they launched one of the largest clinical trials to assess the feasibility of cell-free DNA technology, with the goal of collecting 10,000 patient blood samples. In this epis...

This episode is part of the Boston Biotech Series - produced in collaboration with the Professional Development & Career Office (PDCO) at the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine. We encourage JHU students to join the online Boston Biotech Community on the OneHop platform to connect with the podcast’s guests as well as other JHU alumni who work in Boston, the fastest growing biotech hub in the Uni...

Jeff Galvin is the CEO & Founder of American Gene Technologies (AGT) , a clinical-stage biotech company with a proprietary gene-delivery platform for rapid development of cell and gene therapies to cure infectious diseases, cancers, and inherited disorders. He earned his BA degree in Economics from Harvard in 1981 and accumulated more than 30 years of business and entrepreneurial experience wh...

Dr. Paul Hergenrother, PhD is a Professor of Chemistry at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (UIUC) , whose organic chemistry lab characterizes natural products to identify novel cellular targets and formulate treatments for cancer & drug-resistant bacteria. He along with Dr. Martin Burke and other UIUC staff led the effort undertaken at UIUC to develop a COVID-19 saliva test, whic...

Bijal Trivedi, MS is an award-winning journalist and author of Breath from Salt , a book about the history of cystic fibrosis (CF). Breath from Salt is a story of a breakthrough in modern medicine that chronicles the discovery & characterization of the cystic fibrosis , the formation of the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation and how their unprecedented collaboration with Vertex Pharmaceuticals has res...

Dr. Daniel Pham, PhD is an Associate Director at the Milken Institute’s Center for Strategic Philanthropy , which works with a diverse array of key stakeholders to advance initiatives that aim to improve human health. Prior to joining the Milken Institute, Daniel played an active role in science policy & advocacy as a Public Affairs Manager at the American Society for Biochemistry and Molecula...

Dr. Florian Krammer, PhD is a Professor of Vaccinology in the Department of Microbiology at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai in New York City, whose lab investigates the antibody responses towards glycoproteins on the surface of influenza viruses. He recently authored a review in the journal Nature that provides an overview of SAR-CoV-2 vaccines currently in clinical development. In thi...

Dr. Camille Delebecque, M.Sc., PhD is Co-Founder & CEO of Afineur , a company that sustainably processes raw agriculture into plant-based meats and optimizes the flavor profiles of various foods using the latest advances in fermentation & enzymology. He also operates two other companies: (1) SOIL.BIO (Founder & CEO) , a startup that aims to develop proprietary mixtures of microbes that...

Dr. Jason Howard, PhD is a Medical Science Liaison at Sanofi/Genzyme , where he provides field support for a metastatic prostate cancer treatment (cabazitaxel) and a squamous cell skin cancer treatment (cemiplimab). Prior to joining Sanofi, Jason worked at a Baltimore-based biotech startup called Vaccinogen, where he was co-inventor of the investigational cancer vaccine Oncavert. In this episode,...

Dr. Don Anderson, PhD, MBA is Senior Scientist at Merck & Co. , a multinational pharmaceutical company that develops and manufactures medicines in a broad range of therapeutic areas. Don previously worked at Peloton Therapeutics , which was acquired by Merck in May of 2019 , primarily for its “novel small molecule therapeutic candidates targeting hypoxia-inducible factor-2α (HIF-2α) for the tr...