Dr. Evgeny Bondarenko

Biotech Connection Los Angeles was founded in 2014 by Dr. Katrina Choe and Dr. Stefanie Volland. Today, a decade later, it has grown into an impactful organization of 20-30 graduate students and postdocs that continues to promote and foster the growth of Los Angeles as a biotech hub. BCLA now includes a network of over 8000 students and professionals, a Consulting team, and produces the podcast Inside Biotech. To celebrate a decade of educating, connecting, and inspiring, we are checking in with previous Presidents of BCLA to ask them about their time in leadership and their perspective on BCLA’s impact in Los Angeles.

Evgeny Bondarenko served as BCLA President from 2018 to 2019. Today, Evgeny works as a Project Scientist in Neurobiology at UCLA. He earned his PhD in Neuroscience from the University of Newcastle in 2015 before joining UCLA for his postdoctoral work. It was during Evgeny’s postdoc that he first became involved with BCLA in 2016. After learning about BCLA through word-of-mouth at a conference. He recounts meeting Katrina Choe - one of BCLA’s founders - through a labmate and was immediately inspired to join based on Katrina's fun and engaging depiction of BCLA’s mission and efforts. Katrina communicated that BCLA was currently searching for a Media lead after securing non-profit status with Community Partners. With Evgeny’s previous experience with website design and as a wedding photographer, the fit was perfect. 

After joining BCLA, Evgeny worked with the newly expanded BCLA team. “We went from less than 10 people to 20 people.” As Media Lead, he created an engaging website to keep the entire LA biotech community informed and up-to-date about BCLA events and potential connections and opportunities. His legacy continues to this day in the monthly newsletters, and the website today is a testament to his long-term vision when designing and launching BCLA’s website. After Carolina Amador became BCLA President, Evgeny stepped into the role of Vice President. He expressed a desire to expand his leadership skills, and the nature of the BCLA team - comprised of volunteers - offered that opportunity in a safe and accessible manner unique from a paid employee position. 

When asked about the difference BCLA has made in his life, Evgeny stated that his experience BCLA shifted his mindset when it comes to his own scientific research. During his postdoc, his lab was awarded an RO1; his experience with BCLA helped him to reorient how to communicate and sell scientific ideas that resulted in the conversion of this RO1 to and R35. Evgeny shared “The research that lead to the R35 stemmed from pushing for a different perspective, and I learned that from BCLA”...”I became better at selling the research.” Evgeny’s push to pivot to a disease-oriented lens allowed for the R35 funding and incorporation of an impactful animal model. 

Evgeny shared how great it feels to see BCLA’s growth over the past decade; the scope of the events has grown and the respect the LA biotech community has for BCLA is tangible. “I want BCLA to keep doing what it’s doing right now in 10 or 20 years, I would not want it to change. The formula that it has been working…that’s why BCLA is still around.”