Women’s Health Summit 2026

Ashley Abel, PhD, is Co-founder and CEO of Metri Bio, developing targeted therapeutics for endometriosis. Based at Lilly Gateway Labs in Boston, her work builds on research from Yale School of Medicine. She was named to the Forbes 30 Under 30 Healthcare list.

Vanessa Barth is Associate Vice President, Regional Head of Lilly Gateway Labs U.S. She also serves as the site head for Lilly Gateway Labs’ Boston Seaport location, supporting the local biotech ecosystem by accelerating drug discovery and development through early engagement with companies and providing tailored offerings to meet their needs.

During her more than 20-year career at Lilly, Vanessa has held several leadership and scientific positions of increasing responsibility across research and drug development, including Strategic Competitive Intelligence, Lilly Research Labs Operations, Loaned Executive and Chief Scientific Officer, BioCrossroads, Head of Search & Evaluate for Genetic Medicines, and Lilly-Chorus Clinical Development Asset Manager & External Innovation. She is passionate about her role as a mentor and advisor and helped establish the AXIS mentoring program at the Indiana Biosciences Research Institute to support life sciences entrepreneurs.

Vanessa joined Lilly after earning her B.A. in Neuroscience from the Claremont Colleges, Pomona, and obtained her Ph.D. in Medical Neurobiology from Indiana University while working full-time at Lilly. Her career at Lilly began at the bench on pioneering work to evolve how the imaging field identified and evaluated potential novel positron emission tomography (PET) tracers leveraging mass spectrometry coupled with liquid chromatography (LC-MS/MS).

Physician-scientist and engineer at MIT, Dr. Sangeeta Bhatia leads the Marble Center for Cancer Nanomedicine and is an HHMI Investigator. She has co-founded multiple biotech companies and is a member of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. She serves on boards including Vertex Pharmaceuticals and advises numerous biotech firms.

Rear Admiral Susan J. Blumenthal, M.D., M.P.A. (ret.) provided distinguished service as a leading national government health expert in the Administrations of four U.S. Presidents. An internationally recognized medical authority, she has been a major force in bringing important health issues including women’s health, global health, and mental illness, to increased scientific and public attention. After working to expose longstanding inequities in women’s health, in recognition of her pioneering leadership, Dr. Blumenthal was appointed as the country’s first ever Deputy Assistant Secretary for Women’s Health in 1993 where she coordinated a $4 billion budget across agencies including NIH, CDC, and FDA and developed many innovative initiatives including the National Centers of Excellence in Women’s Health program and the Healthy Women Conference and Television Series, served as the Director of a Presidential Plan on Breast Cancer, as well as built government infrastructure that moved these issues to the forefront of America’s health agenda. She also served as Assistant Surgeon General of the United States, as a White House Health Advisor, and as a Research Branch Chief at the National Institutes of Health.
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Throughout her career, she has made the application of technology to advance health a top priority establishing the first government health website (for women’s health), the “Missiles to Mammograms” initiative that transferred CIA, DOD, and NASA technology to improve breast cancer detection resulting in computer assisted diagnosis (an early
application of AI) and is the founder of the new field of public health technology. Dr. Blumenthal serves as a Visiting Professor at the MIT Media Lab and Honorary Chair of WHx initiative aimed at accelerating breakthroughs in women’s health, as Provost Distinguished Professor at Northeastern University, as a Clinical Professor at Tufts University School of Medicine, and as Ambassador for the Institut Curie, France’s leading cancer research center and hospital. She has written many scientific articles, op-eds, and edited books on health issues, was the health columnist for US News and World Report and the Medical Director and Host of an award-winning television series on women's health.
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Rear Admiral Blumenthal is the recipient of numerous awards, medals, and honorary doctorates. Last year, she was appointed a Knight in the French Legion of Honor, the country’s highest award for civilian and military achievement, in recognition of her pioneering leadership and landmark contributions to improving health in the United States and worldwide.

Dr. Bouxsein received her BS degree in General Engineering from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, and PhD in Mechanical Engineering from Stanford University, studying the effects of exercise on the skeleton with Dennis Carter, PhD and Robert Marcus, MD. She then completed a post-doctoral fellowship at the Orthopedic Biomechanics Laboratory at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center and Harvard Medical School under the mentorship of Wilson C. Hayes, PhD.

She currently holds joint appointments as an Assistant Professor of Orthopedic Surgery at Harvard Medical School, adjunct Assistant Professor of Mechanical Engineering at Boston University, and is also a faculty member in the MIT-Bioastronautics Program. Her research focuses on understanding skeletal fragility from a biomechanics viewpoint, and includes studies using animal models and human cadaveric tissue, as well as clinical investigations. She also has a strong interest in the use of novel non-invasive imaging techniques to predict fracture risk and monitor response to osteoporosis therapies. Dr. Bouxsein serves on the committee of scientific advisors for the International Osteoporosis Foundation and is a board member of the International Bone and Mineral Society. Dr. Bouxsein has published over 145 peer-reviewed articles and 25 book chapters and invited reviews.

Michael Cialone is an investing partner on the Bio + Health team at Andreesen Horowitz, focused on biotech. Michael supports the life sciences portfolio with financing and business development strategy, planning, and execution. Prior to joining a16z, Michael co-led Wilson Sonsini’s Life Sciences Business Advisory practice supporting biotech and pharma clients across a broad range of corporate development, fundraising, and other strategic priorities. Prior to Wilson Sonsini, Michael held various corporate strategy roles at Sumitovant Biopharma and Pfizer. Michael is based out of Manhattan. Michael graduated from The University of Vermont where he studied Finance and Pharmacology. 

Shannon Cohn is a filmmaker, lawyer and social impact producer who has worked globally on topics related to women’s health and gender equity. Her films have aired on PBS, Nat Geo, Discovery Channel, Amazon and Netflix in over 100 countries. Her latest PBS film, Below the Belt, executive produced by Hillary Rodham Clinton and Rosario Dawson, has screened on six continents, including over 20 US medical schools, at the NIH’s 27 Institutes for its 20,000+ employees and on Capitol Hill for members of Congress co-hosted by Senator Elizabeth Warren and Senator Mitt Romney. Before Shannon was a filmmaker, she practiced international law and was part of the team that prosecuted Enron Corp.in the largest white collar crime investigation in FBI history. Shannon has appeared on Good Morning America, The View, PBS NewsHour and spoken on women’s health at the United Nations, Gates Foundation, the Clinton Global Initiative and more. She is a member of the NIH NACHHD Advisory Council, WEF Global Alliance on Women’s Health, the SWHR Endometriosis Working Group and a recent two-term member of the Foundation Board of the AAGL.

Diana R. Dou, PhD, is an Assistant Professor in Integrative Immunobiology at Duke University. She received her B.S. degree in Biology from Caltech and her PhD in Molecular Biology from UCLA. She was introduced early to RNA biology as an undergraduate researcher studying synthetic modifications and nonviral, nanoparticle-based delivery methods of RNA in Dr. Mark E. Davis’s and Dr. Scott E. Fraser’s labs at Caltech and developed a lasting interest in immune diseases while investigating immune defenses in viral infections as an NIAID Intramural Research Training Award (IRTA) postbaccalaureate researcher in Dr. Anthony S. Fauci’s lab. In her doctoral thesis work with Dr. Hanna Mikkola, she sought to understand the developmental patterning of the hematopoietic stem cell (HSC), the multipotent progenitor for the immune system, and showed that medial HOXA cluster gene expression demarcates definitive human HSCs. During her postdoctoral work with Dr. Howard Chang at Stanford, she discovered a novel role for the Xist ribonucleoprotein (RNP) as a driver for autoimmunity underlying the sex-biased female preponderance for developing autoimmune diseases.

Dr. Dou is currently a Whitehead Scholar and NIAMS K99/R00 Fellow. She was also a past recipient of the NSF Graduate Research Fellowship Program (GRFP) and ISEH New Investigator Dirk van Bekkum Award. Her lab’s research focus is to understand how immune tolerance deteriorates into autoreactivity and disease from a lncRNA and epigenetic gene regulation perspective.

Mariko Foecke, PhD, is a reproductive scientist committed to transforming the fertility paradigm. She completed her PhD at UCSF in Dr. Diana Laird’s lab, where her research on ovarian biology contributed to publications in Science, Nature Communications, and eLife. Now, she works as a Scientist at Vitra Labs, focusing on hormone-free IVF.

Courtney Ford is an actress known for her roles in Dexter, True Blood, Parenthood, Supernatural, and DC’s Legends of Tomorrow. After living for years with undiagnosed stage four endometriosis, Courtney has become an outspoken advocate for endometriosis awareness, earlier diagnosis, and better care for people living with chronic pelvic pain.

Angelika Fretzen, PhD, MBA, is COO and Technology Translation Director at the Wyss Institute, leading commercialization of breakthrough science. She founded the Women’s Health Catalyst and has over 20 years in biotech, including work at Ironwood and Catabasis. She holds a PhD from the University of Geneva and an MBA from Suffolk.

Claire Gill is a respected leader in women’s health and serves on a variety of national and global coalitions and working groups promoting the needs of women at midlife. She joined the Bone Health and Osteoporosis Foundation (formerly the National Osteoporosis Foundation) in January 2013, after a 20+ year career in public relations for national nonprofit organizations and public relations firms serving Fortune 500 clients. BHOF is America’s leading health organization dedicated to preventing osteoporosis and broken bones and promoting strong bones for life through programs of public and clinician awareness, education, advocacy, and research. She was named CEO in May 2020 and then led the organization through an 18-month rebrand process. Ms. Gill hosts the Bone Talk podcast featuring a variety of experts and topics related to bone health and healthy aging.

Ms. Gill is also the founder and president of the National Menopause Foundation, a 501c3 organization whose mission is to be a trusted and relatable resource to raise awareness and understanding of menopause through education, activism, and community building. She hosts the monthly podcast, The Positive Pause, interviewing experts on a variety of topics impacting women’s health and well-being.

Jill M. Goldstein, M.P.H., Ph.D. is Professor of Psychiatry and Medicine, Harvard Medical School, Founder and Executive Director of the Innovation Center on Sex Differences in Medicine at Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH), and the Helen T. Moerschner Endowed MGH Research Institute Chair in Women’s Health. She is a clinical neuroscientist and expert in sex differences in health and diseases associated with the central nervous system, in particular, depression, its comorbidity with CVD, and risk for Alzheimer’s disease (AD).

She leads the interdisciplinary research program (NIH-funded for >30 years) Clinical Neuroscience Laboratory of Sex Differences in the Brain (cnl-sd.mgh.harvard.edu). She has received numerous awards, served on scientific review boards, and participated in strategic planning for NIMH, NIH ORWH, and the Institute of Medicine. She has spent her career at Harvard training the next generation of women and men in women’s health and sex differences in medicine, including leading an ORWH Harvard K12 training program on building interdisciplinary careers in women’s health.

at Massachusetts General Hospital, leading a group of experts across departments and disciplines and in collaboration with sister institutions and the Mass General Research Institute. ICON-✘’s mission is to leverage fundamental discoveries “from cells to society” about sex differences in the brain and body in order to develop sex-selective diagnostics and therapeutics and target them early for intervention and prevention. In 2020, the National Institutes of Health designated ICON-✘ an NIH Specialized Center of Research Excellence (SCORE) for Sex Differences in Medicine, one of only 11 in the country.

Yvonne Hao is COO and General Partner at Flagship Pioneering. Formerly Massachusetts Secretary of Economic Development, she has held leadership roles at PillPack (sold to Amazon), Bain Capital, and Cove Hill. She serves on multiple boards and holds degrees from Williams College and the University of Cambridge.

Madelyn joins Pillar VC from a biotech startup, Opentrons Labworks. She held multiple roles in the organization across sales, customer success, marketing, community management and product. She is passionate about empowering scientists and growing the life science community.

Madelyn graduated from Bates College and spent her first year after university teaching biology for the Spanish Government in Madrid, Spain.

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Michaela is a scientist with extensive experience leveraging synthetic biology and genomics technologies to make discoveries in gene regulation. During her PhD (awarded 2024), she developed a high-throughput assay to measure the simultaneous occupancy of multiple proteins on individual DNA molecules in vivo, and deployed it on synthetic genes to test first-principles models of transcription in human cells.

Sarah Hodges has spent the last decade as a Founder and executive in high-growth consumer and enterprise companies.

Sarah invests in enterprise and consumer companies and develops our network of executives, advisors, mentors and customers in support of our portfolio founders. Prior to Pillar, Sarah was a member of the executive team at Pluralsight (NASDAQ: PS), the world’s largest online learning community for IT, dev and creative training. Before joining the company, Sarah was a member of the executive team at Smarterer (sold to Pluralsight). She also co-founded Intelligent.ly, a leadership development company that served thousands of leaders from hundreds of Boston companies.

Sarah’s investments include, Hometap, Day AI, JobGet and Hellotickets, among others.

Dr. Tara Iyer is a physician at Brigham and Women’s Hospital and Instructor at Harvard Medical School. She specializes in menopause and midlife care, is board-certified in Family and Obesity Medicine, and leads initiatives to expand access to evidence-based menopause care across Mass General Brigham.

Louise P. King, MD, JD, is an Assistant Professor of Obstetrics, Gynecology and Reproductive Biology at Harvard Medical School and a Surgeon within the Division of Minimally Invasive Gynecologic Surgery at Brigham and Women's. Dr. King completed her juris doctorate at Tulane Law School before attending medical school at University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center. She completed her residency in obstetrics and gynecology at Parkland Hospital in Dallas Texas and her fellowship in Minimally Invasive Surgery with Dr. Camran Nezhat at Stanford University. Her areas of interest in medical ethics focus on questions of informed decision making and assisted reproduction as well as equitable access to advanced gynecologic surgery.

Esther Krofah is the executive vice president of Health at the Milken Institute, leading FasterCures, Public Health, the Future of Aging, and Feeding Change. A recognized expert in health policy, biomedical innovation, and clinical research, Krofah has extensive experience shaping health initiatives that unite diverse stakeholders, foster collaboration, and motivate action toward shared goals. Under her leadership, the Milken Institute has formed multisectoral coalitions with hundreds of participating organizations to advance clinical trials through the Enabling Networks of Research Infrastructure for Community Health Through Clinical Trials, Project Prevent, and the Milken Institute Women’s Health Network.

Before joining the Milken Institute, Krofah was the director of public policy at GlaxoSmithKline, where she led engagement with the US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and relevant executive branch agencies. She also served as deputy director of HHS’ Office of Health Reform, led health policy work with state governments at the National Governors Association, and served in management consulting at Deloitte Consulting LLP. Krofah received a BA from Duke University and a master’s in public policy from Harvard University’s John F. Kennedy School of Government.

Krofah is an active member of several advisory boards informing work on health policy, innovation, and effective multistakeholder strategies for health transformation. She is the immediate past president of the Alliance for a Stronger FDA, a member of the National Academy of Medicine Drug Forum, an editorial advisory board member for the Therapeutic Innovation & Regulatory Science, and a member of the boards of the Clinical Trials Transformation Initiative; the Duke Margolis Institute for Health Policy; the Eshelman Institute for Innovation; i-Cubed Duke Clinical Research Institute; the Global Liver Institute; the Medical Device Industry Consortium; Protas; Reagan-Udall Foundation for the FDA; and Seed Global Health.

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Inessa Lurye currently serves as the VP of Product for Women's Health at ŌURA since September 2025 and acts as an advisor for Evvy, a company focusing on precision women's healthcare founded in February 2025. Previously, Inessa was the Senior Director of Product and Head of Women's Health at Hinge Health, where the mission involved enhancing digital musculoskeletal care from February 2021 to November 2024. Inessa's career includes key roles such as Director of Consumer Product at Chief, where the aim was to elevate women in leadership, and various positions at Yesware, Maxwell Health, and FARMIGO, INC., emphasizing product management and strategy. Inessa's early career includes experience in public service with roles in the Executive Offices of Mayors Bloomberg and Fenty, along with an academic background that includes an MBA from Harvard Business School and an MPP from Harvard Kennedy School. 

Kim McCleary has been at the forefront of patient engagement for nearly 30 years. She is a nationally regarded subject matter expert on patient-focused medical product development, patient-centered benefit-risk assessment, and organizational change. Kim has authored scores of publications, served on dozens of steering committees and advisory boards, is a sought-after speaker, and has an extensive network of leadership contacts. Her passion for this work is rooted in personal experience, lived and as a family caregiver.

Throughout her career, Kim earned respect as a servant leader with demonstrated success building consensus and achieving shared goals. She does this by employing exceptional communication, strategic planning, and program management skills, applying a strong work ethic, and leveraging an extensive network of leadership contacts.

Kathryn McDonough is Managing Director and Head of Life Sciences for J.P. Morgan’s Innovation Economy. She has 20+ years of experience across banking and capital markets, partnering with biotech companies from early-stage through commercialization and scaling, and advising investors across the healthcare ecosystem.

Jodi Neuhauser is a four-time founder who has raised $100M+ and generated over $1B in business. She founded In Women’s Health, a leading talent and education platform, and co-founded the bipartisan Women’s Health PAC. She now leads 51&, focused on civic engagement and healthcare equity.

Deborah Palestrant, PhD, MBA, is Partner at 5AM Ventures and Executive Chair of the 4:59 Initiative. She has 20+ years in life sciences across drug discovery and company building, with prior roles at Relay Therapeutics, Editas, and Novartis. She holds a PhD from Columbia and an MBA from Northeastern.

Dr. Frida Polli is an award-winning Harvard and MIT neuroscientist, entrepreneur, investor and inventor. She is currently at MIT as a Visiting Innovation Scholar and founding director of Female Medicine through Machine Learning (FMML), a new women’s health and AI initiative at

MIT. She was previously the CEO and founder of pymetrics, a company pioneering AI and behavioral science to improve workforce decisions. pymetrics was a World Economic Forum’s Technology Pioneer, an Inc 5000’s Fastest Growing company, and Forbes AI 50 company. Dr. Polli was awarded multiple patents for technology developed at pymetrics. Funded by Khosla Ventures, the company had a successful exit in 2022, after which Dr. Polli became Chief DataScience Officer. Frida and pymetrics successfully passed the first-in-the-nation algorithmic transparency law in NY. Prior to pymetrics, Frida was a neuroscientist at Harvard and MIT working on precision medicine brain imaging studies. She won numerous awards, including the MIT 100K Life Science track, and was published in over 30 peer-reviewed journals including the Proceedings of the National Academy of Science. She transitioned from academia to entrepreneurship through an MBA at Harvard Business School as a Robert Kaplan Life Science fellow. A member of YPO, Frida was named one of Inc.’s Top 100 Female Founders, Entrepreneur’s Top 100 Powerful Women and 100 Brilliant Women in AI Ethics. In addition to her role at MIT, she is a multi-year member of the World Economic Forum’s Global Future Councils, founder of Alethia to promote ethical use of AI, and Rosalind Ventures to invest in women science founders.

Georgia Ravitz focuses on matters before the FDA, counseling U.S. and international life science, healthtech and consumer product clients through all phases of the product lifecycle including strategic pre-market regulatory counseling, promotions and advertising, and post-market regulatory compliance at Orrick. Georgia also has extensive experience in assisting clients with product recalls, crisis management and government enforcement. Her practice in this sector includes assisting manufacturers, distributors, retailers and importers on all types of FDA regulated products including pharmaceuticals, medical devices and software, wearables, health and wellness products, cosmetics, cell and plant based foods, conventional foods, ag tech, compounded drugs, and dietary supplements.

Georgia’s deep experience and ability to provide practical guidance in FDA and FDA-adjacent regulatory matters allows her to work closely with innovative companies looking to minimize regulatory burdens and maximize U.S. marketing opportunities in the life science and health tech industry verticals. She also conducts regulatory due diligence for private equity and public company transactions involving life science, medtech and innovative companies.

Dr. Kathryn Rexrode is the Chief Academic Officer at Brigham and Women’s Hospital (BWH), Chief of the Division of Women’s Health in the Department of Medicine at Mass General Brigham, and a Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School. As Chief Academic Officer she supports and advances the research and educational missions of the hospital. Dr. Rexrode has broad and deep research experience in women’s health and is the author of more than 300 research publications. She is also Chief of the Division of Women’s Health and the Director of the Gretchen and Edward Fish Center for Women’s Health which provides comprehensive women’s health services, including 14 specialties and a dedicated clinic for menopause and midlife care. Building on its core mission of leading the field in state-of-the-art care for women, the Division of Women’s Health conducts translational women’s health research and leads innovative education programs for medical students, residents, and faculty to advance the health of Women.

Bob Sanzone currently serves as Vice President of Medical Marketing at Natural Cycles, where he is responsible for developing and executing a comprehensive HCP marketing and commercial strategy to drive awareness for Natural Cycles. Previously, he served as the Head of US Marketing at Insulet.

Kathryn “Katie” Schubert has served as President & CEO of the Society for Women’s Health Research (SWHR) since April 2020. She is a trusted leader and consensus builder among women’s health stakeholders, and previously served as chief advocacy officer at the Society for Maternal-Fetal Medicine (SMFM). Schubert began her career on Capitol Hill and subsequently advised organizations on policy strategy in the health care space. She is a board member of the National Health Council, Maternal Mental Health Leadership Alliance, and ASPN Foundation. She is a previous president of Women in Government Relations, and in 2020 was named Advocate of the Year by Professional Women in Advocacy for her work on inclusion of pregnant and lactating populations in research, and in 2024 and 2025 was named as one of the most influential people shaping policy in health care by the Washingtonian magazine. Schubert is a member of the Forbes Nonprofit Council. Schubert holds a bachelor’s degree from Mary Washington College and a master’s degree from the George Washington University. When not advocating for women’s health, she’s spending time with her husband, three kids, and dog George. 

Shari Fleishman Esfahani focuses on regulatory advice, litigation, and dispute resolution in the fields of life sciences, healthcare, and consumer products. Shari has over 20 years’ experience as an extremely seasoned litigator trying high-stakes, complicated cases at the intersection of law, science, and technology. She has broad experience litigating matters such as healthcare False Claims Act (qui tam) cases, intellectual property disputes (patent and trademark infringement), false advertising, product liability, commercial disputes (breach of contract, business torts), antitrust (including Orange Book delisting challenges), and regulatory enforcement actions.

Paula Soteropoulos is a biotech executive, investor, and board leader with 35+ years of experience. She is Chairman of Ensoma and has led companies including Akcea Therapeutics through IPO and product launches. A strong advocate for women’s health, she supports innovation across rare disease and personalized medicine.

Joanna Strober is CEO and Co-founder of Midi Health, a virtual care platform for menopause. She previously founded Kurbo (acquired by Weight Watchers) and spent 20+ years in private equity and venture capital. She is author of Getting to 50/50 and has been recognized by Forbes, CNBC, and TIME.

Ben Swanson, DDS, PhD, is Founder and CEO of Skeletalis, a biotech developing bone-targeted therapies for musculoskeletal disease. A clinician-scientist trained at the University of Michigan, his research led to Skeletalis’ core platform for precision drug delivery in osteoporosis and related conditions

Sarah Syed is a PhD student in Harvard and MIT's joint Health Sciences and Technology program and a Venture Associate at Pillar VC. Inspired by her grandmother's work as an OB-GYN across South Asia and Africa, she is passionate about understanding how the female immune system evolved to tolerate a genetically foreign fetus during pregnancy and what that means for female immunity across disease contexts. Beyond her scientific work, she serves on the Board of Directors of Ashiyanaa, a nonprofit supporting South Asian women affected by interpersonal violence.

Sarah graduated from MIT in 2024 with degrees in biological engineering and management and spent her first year after graduation as a healthcare growth strategy consultant in Washington D.C. before beginning graduate school.

Keenan Szulik is CEO of Slocum Management, a private investment firm. He has invested in women’s health initiatives and previously worked in early-stage ventures and professional baseball analytics. He serves on the boards of Book Harvest and the Mead Art Museum.

Maya Talukdar is an MD-PhD student at Harvard and MIT advised by Professor Christopher Walsh and Professor David Page. She is interested in characterizing sex differences outside of the female reproductive tract.

Dr. Connie Vance is a life sciences funding strategist specializing in scientific positioning, R&D planning, and non-dilutive funding approaches for innovative healthcare and biotechnology companies. She combines deep expertise in federal funding with biotech industry experience to help organizations align development programs and commercialization objectives with funding agency priorities.

Dr. Vance brings more than a decade of experience in biotechnology startups spanning drug discovery, preclinical development, translational planning, and external partnership development. At EGC, she supports a broad range of technologies, including therapeutics, diagnostics, medical devices, and digital health for medical and dual-use applications. She is particularly skilled at translating complex scientific concepts into competitive funding proposals and actionable development strategies that support long-term program advancement and success.

Her experience spans major federal funding agencies and programs, including the National Institutes of Health (NIH), the Department of War (DoW), the Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health (ARPA-H), the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA), and the National Science Foundation (NSF), as well as private foundations. Dr. Vance has supported hundreds of clients—from startups and academic investigators to large pharmaceutical companies—in securing more than $60 million in funding. In addition to her client work, she leads EGC’s Education Committee, overseeing internal training and professional development initiatives for the Scientific Consulting Team.