Our Team

We are students, post docs from different research areas, and young industry professionals who share the common goal of improving and facilitating communication between biotech industry and academia.

Our advisory board includes BCLA's co-founders and professionals from academia and industry, who help to direct BCLA towards better serving the biotech community and creating more possibilities for bioscience entrepreneurship in Los Angeles.

Biotech Connection LA Team

Oskar is a Ph.D. candidate at USC who is studying medicinal chemistry and develops delivery platforms for small molecules, imaging probes and therapeutic proteins. During his presidency he hopes to advance BCLA’s outreach initiatives to engage an even more diverse student population.

Oskar Sundberg

President

Oskar is a Ph.D. candidate at USC who is studying medicinal chemistry and develops delivery platforms for small molecules, imaging probes and therapeutic proteins. During his presidency he hopes to advance BCLA’s outreach initiatives to engage an even more diverse student population.

Sonia M. Setayesh

Vice President

Sonia is a Ph.D. candidate at USC who is developing blood-based molecular diagnostic tools for early-stage cancer detection, specializing in biomarker discovery and immuno-oncology. During her vice presidency she hopes to facilitate collaborations between academic and industry partners and further grow the presence of BCLA in the greater Los Angeles biotech ecosystem.

Rudra Persaud

Media & Marketing Lead

Rudra is a PhD student at USC studying synthetic Organic Chemistry in the lab of Valery Fokin. He works on synthesizing covalent inhibitors which can be use to spy on biological systems, as well as drug discovery and development. Prior to starting his PhD, he obtained his BSc in Biochemistry from Pace University.

Through BCLA, Rudra hope’s to emphasize translational science within the public and private sectors of STEM with hopes of contributing to the growth of innovation within the LA biotech ecosystem and to promote diversity within these fields.

Emily Pelous Smith

Outreach Lead

Emily has been with BCLA since May 2021, currently serving on the Outreach team. She began her Ph.D. studies in the Molecular Biology Department at UCLA in September 2020 and joined the Tarling Vallim lab in July 2021. In her graduate work, she is interested in understanding how peroxin family proteins contribute to the localization and function of key peroxisomal enzymes and may be required for lipid metabolism. Emily completed a research fellowship at the National Cancer Institute in Bethesda, MD from 2017 - 2020. Prior to that, she graduated from UNC Chapel Hill in 2017 with a degree in Biology. In her free time, she enjoys camping with her dog and husband, spending time with friends, mentoring local STEM students, and traveling to new places.

Jennifer Olivero

Events Lead

Jennifer is a Ph.D. candidate at USC studying drug discovery in the McKenna Lab. In her graduate work, she in interested in designing novel therapeutics for prostate cancer. She received her BS in chemistry from the University of San Francisco. In her free time she enjoys running, hiking and discovering local coffee shops.

Dana Franklin

Development Lead

William Fried

Consulting Lead

Gabriella Rubert

Podcast Host

Brian Lupish

Events Associate

Brian is a PhD student in bioengineering at the University of California, Riverside. He is focused on developing orthogonal control mechanisms for fungal cells for antibody mass production.

He received his master’s degree in medical product development from the University of Pittsburgh and his bachelor’s degree from the College of Wooster in Biochemistry.

He is passionate about utilizing interdisciplinary research techniques to address today’s medical and societal needs.

As an event associate at BCLA, he hopes to promote more effective communication and collaboration between academia, industry, and the medical profession.

Helen Motanis

Development Associate

Helen received her BSc in Laboratory Medicine from Technion (Israel) and MSc and PhD in Neuroscience from Haifa University (Israel).

She joined UCLA in 2013 as a postdoctoral fellow studying Autism and Fragile X Syndrome. Recently, she was hired as a scientist in the Traumatic Brain Injury group at UCLA to study the neural alterations following repetitive concussions.

Helen joined BCLA to help promote links and collaborations between academia and the biotech industry and help scientists discover new and exciting career paths in the greater Los Angeles area.

Michael Coumans

Consulting Advisor

Harvey Perez

Outreach Associate

Harvey received his BS in Biology with certification in Biotechnology from CSU Long Beach and then worked at UC Irvine as a lab technician researching stem cell therapeutics for traumatic brain injury.

Harvey is currently a student in the Translational Research PhD program at the Lundquist Institute for Medical Innovation at Harbor-UCLA Medical Center.

Through his involvement in BCLA, he wants to gain a better understanding of the biotech industry ecosystem in LA.

Marina Broz

Consulting Advisor

Harry Yang

Events and Outreach Associate

Richard Moore

Development Associate

Nicolette Pollock

Development and Outreach Associate

Anuksha Gulati

Consulting Associate

Arati Naveen

Consulting Associate

Shawn Sharkas

Consulting Associate

Yasaman Moradi

Outreach Associate

Francesca Zhoufan-Li

Strategic Operations Associate

Seda Nohut

Development Associate

Advisory Board

Stefanie Volland

BCLA Co-Founder

Stefanie is Global Project Manager at the Fundingsland Group where she is responsible for the development and implementation of strategic long-term medical education plans.

She completed her postdoctoral training at UCLA’s Stein Eye Institute in 2019. She previously received a PhD in cell biology and a MS in ecology from Salzburg University in Austria.

Stefanie’s interest in the business side of science led her to co-found BCLA. Under her leadership the organization grew to become a point of reference to the expanding biotech community in Los Angeles.

Katrina Choe

BCLA Co-Founder

Katrina is a postdoctoral fellow at the Semel Neuropsychiatric Institute UCLA.

Her research is focused on identifying neuronal circuit abnormalities underlying impaired social behavior in autism.

She received her PhD in neuroscience from McGill University. Deeply interested in translating research discoveries into healthcare innovations,

Dr. Choe co-founded BCLA and served as the organization’s Event Lead for the its first two years, playing a key role in its rapid growth.

Carolina Amador

BCLA Advisory Board Chair

Carolina is a Senior Associate in Global Competitive Intelligence at Amgen.

She completed her PhD in bioorganic chemistry at USC, studying synthetic methods in drug development. Carolina holds a MS in Chemistry and a BS in Biochemistry from the University of Aveiro in Portugal, and completed her PhD in bio-organic chemistry at USC, studying synthetic methods in drug development.

Carolina is passionate about entrepreneurship and science. She joined BCLA to help educate the LA community about life sciences.

Valentina Sanghez

Manager Flow Cytometry and OBMC Medical Lab at Q2 Solutions

Kathy Grotsch

Senior Copywriter

Kathy is a researcher and science communicator located in Los Angeles, CA. After pursuing professional soccer during her teens, Kathy started her scientific career at the Technical University of Munich, where she obtained a BSc in Chemistry. Intrigued by the prospect of advancing her understanding of life at the molecular level, she was inspired to pursue a PhD at the University of Southern California.

In addition, Kathy served as President of Biotech Connection Los Angeles (BCLA), a non-profit organization dedicated to inspiring, educating, and connecting young scientists and entrepreneurs to grow and diversify the BioTech scene in LA. As President, Kathy led a team of over 25 staff and dozens of corporate partners, supporters, and stakeholders, to strengthen and expand the BioTech ecosystem across Southern California.

Kathy has cultivated a global perspective, by living in five different countries including the UAE, Syria, The Netherlands, Germany, and the US during her formative years. She speaks English, German, Dutch, and French. In her free time, Kathy practices yoga, cycling, lifting weights, and recently ran her first Marathon. She is passionate about the intersection between exercise and nutrition, and science and medicine, and applies several scientific concepts to her daily life.

Arthela Osorio

Technical Application Specialist

Arthela Osorio is a Technical Application Specialist for the Transplant Diagnostics business of Thermo Fisher Scientific.

She received a MS in Biotechnology from California State University, Channel Islands and a BS in Biological Sciences from University of California, Riverside. Arthela is an advocate for STEM education and Biotechnology.

She organizes various community outreach and volunteer events through Thermo Fisher Scientific's Community Action Council and continues to be a part of BCLA to contribute in growing the biotech hub in Los Angeles.

Llewellyn Cox

Founder and President of LabLaunch Inc.

Llewellyn Cox is a Founder and President of Lab Launch Inc, a non-profit biolab operator for early-stage companies based in LA.

Llewellyn received his PhD in Molecular and Cell Biology at Cardiff University, before moving to New York City to study neuroscience at Weill Cornell Medical College.

More recently, he worked in research development and program management at LA area institutions including City of Hope and USC, and has since founded a number of startups in the LA area.

Amit Rushi

Vice President of Product, Marketing and Business Development at GraftWorx

Amit is passionate about transforming healthcare and driving personalized health.

He has nearly two decades of experience, focusing on strategy, product management, marketing, and product launches across a multitude of biotech and pharmaceutical sectors. C

urrently, Amit is Vice President of Product, Marketing and Business Development at GraftWorx, having previously served as Vice President of Strategy, Informatics, and Business Operations at Science 37.

Amit earned both his MBA and MSIS from the Questrom School of Business at Boston University and BS in business administration at the University of Southern California.

Ken Funahashi

Partner at Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati LA

Kenji (Ken) Funahashi is a partner in the Los Angeles office of Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati.

Ken works on a wide range of corporate finance matters, from start-up companies obtaining angel financing to multi-billion dollar transactions for multinational and Fortune 500 companies.

Ken's practice focuses on the representation of technology, life sciences, healthcare, and other growth companies throughout the United States and internationally.

He was previously a partner at one of the largest international law firms in the world and assists both U.S. technology companies engaging in business overseas, as well as Chinese, Korean, Japanese, and European companies in financing, licensing, M&A, and joint venture activities in the U.S.

Helen McBride

Entrepreneur in Residence

Helen McBride, PhD is an Entrepreneur in Residence at the California Institute of Technology (Caltech), coaching founders of life science start-ups on ideation, optimizing their value proposition, and navigating fundraising for successful start-up creation and growth.

Previously, she was at Amgen for 13 years in roles of increasing responsibility across research and development, supporting the approval of both innovator and biosimilar medicines.

Helen earned her PhD in Oncological Sciences at the University of Utah and performed her postdoctoral studies at Caltech, focusing on neuro-developmental biology and imaging prior to joining industry.

Helen is passionate about the value of mentoring in supporting our future life science leaders in LA.

Alumni

Justin Overhulse (Events Lead, President) 2019-2022

Mahta Barekatain(Vice President, Events Associate, Consulting Associate, Development Associate) 2020-2022

Giuliano Cutolo (Events Lead and Consulting Lead) 2020-2022

Divij Gulati (Strategic Operations Lead) 2022-2022

Yewande Pearse (Podcast Host) 2020-2022

Ananta Wadhwa (Podcast Associate) 2020-2022

Vanessa Pataro ( Media and Marketing Associate) 2021-2022

Sid Modha (Consulting Associate) 2021-2022

Cindy Tseng (Media & Marketing Associate) 2021-2022

Fleury Nsole Biteghe (Outreach & Consulting Associate) 2020-2022

Carl Sedgeman (Consulting Associate) 2021-2022

Leslie Sedgeman (Outreach Lead & Podcast Associate) 2019-2022

Cally Xiao (Media & Marketing Lead) 2019-2022

Jessie Xiaoya Ma (Media & Marketing Associate) 2018-2022

Sean Burkitt (Consulting Lead) 2020-2022

Raquel Abreu (Development Lead, Consulting Associate) 2019-2021

Richard van Krieken (Development and Consulting Associate) 2019-2021

Beheya Ahmed (Consulting Associate) 2020-2021

Eshani Nandi (Outreach and Media & Marketing Associate) 2020-2021

Angel Gonzalez (Media & Marketing Associate) 2018-2021

Asumi Suguro (Outreach Lead) 2020-2021

Stephanie Yeganyan (Outreach Associate) 2019-2021

Sadhna Rao (Vice President) 2019-2021

Hammond Sun (Vice President, Director of Strategic Operations) 2017-2021

Adhirath Sikand (Events Lead, President) 2017-2020

Joseph Tsung (Consulting Associate) 2019-2020

Johnny Saldate (Events Lead) 2018-2020

Martin Egeland (External Affairs Lead) 2019-2020

Yi Liu (Events Associate) 2018-2020

Evgeny Bondarenko (Media & Marketing Lead, President) 2015-2019

Tom Allison (Media & Marketing Lead) 2018-2019

Manmeet Raval (Outreach Associate) 2018-2019

Lok Leung (Outreach Lead) 2017-2019

George Abe (Emeritus Advisory Board Member)

Arleen F. Brown (Emeritus Advisory Board Member)

Jonathon Low (Development Associate) 2018-2019

Marcos Otero (Media & Marketing Associate) 2018

Lining Zhu (Media & Marketing Associate) 2017-2018

Lindsey Sacco (Social Media Associate) 2017-2018

Lisa Walter (Outreach and Marketing Associate) 2016-2018

Cathy Jin (Volunteer Coordinator) 2016-2018

Radhika Palkar (Event Lead) 2015-2018

Huixuan Liang (Event Associate) 2016-2018

Umesh Ahuja (Fundraising Lead) 2016-2018

Yari Fontebasso (Outreach Lead, President) 2015-2017

Jaqueline Sayyah (Writer, Industry Ambassador) 2015-2017

Mary Donhofner (Social Media Associate) 2016-2017

Charles Caldwell (Outreach Associate, Campus Ambassador) 2016-2017

Julia Zhao (Outreach Associate) 2016-2017

Matt Wong (Chapter Correspondent) 2015-2017

Michael Frantz (Outreach Associate) 2015-2016

Anna Parievsky (Events Associate) 2016

Julian Esteve-Rudd (Chapter Correspondent) 2014-2015

Ben S. Huang (Chapter Correspondent) 2015

Nathan Hutcheson (Chapter Correspondent) 2015