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.

Jennifer Olivero

Events Lead

Jennifer is a Ph.D. candidate at USC studying drug discovery in the McKenna Lab. In her graduate work, she is 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.

Michaela Jacobs

Strategic Operations Lead

Michaela is a Ph.D. candidate at USC working in the field of medicinal chemistry. Her graduate work has consisted of the development of novel anticancer therapeutics for castrate resistant prostate cancer as well as synthesis of nucleotide analogues for antibacterial implications.

Yasaman Moradi

Outreach Lead

Dana Franklin

Development Lead

Gabriella Rubert

Podcast Host

William Fried

Consulting Lead

Seda Nohut

Development Associate

Fakhar Singhera

Events Associate

Mahsa is a Ph.D. student in Biomedical Engineering at USC and a research assistant at the Lawrence J. Ellison Institute, where she studies pancreatic cancer liver metastasis via developing 3D biomimetic models. She received her Master’s in Chemistry from San Diego State University, and BS in Materials Science and Engineering from Iran University of Science and Technology. She likes singing, drawing, and spending time with her cat in her free time.

Mahsa Pahlavan

Events and Outreach Associate

Mahsa is a Ph.D. student in Biomedical Engineering at USC and a research assistant at the Lawrence J. Ellison Institute, where she studies pancreatic cancer liver metastasis via developing 3D biomimetic models. She received her Master’s in Chemistry from San Diego State University, and BS in Materials Science and Engineering from Iran University of Science and Technology. She likes singing, drawing, and spending time with her cat in her free time.

Arati Naveen

Consulting Associate

Francesca Zhoufan-Li

Development Associate

Angela Sun

Events Associate

Angela is a Ph.D. candidate at UCLA Molecular Biology Institute (MBI). She graduated from UCLA with a B.S. in Biochemistry. Currently she studies the effect of viral infections on immune responses of kidney transplant recipients.

Brian Lupish

Consulting 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

Nicolette Pollack (Development and Outreach Associate) 2022-2023

Helen Motanis (Development and Consulting Associate) 2021-2023

Harry Yang (Media and Marketing, Outreach, and Events Associate) 2020-2023

Harvey Perez ( Outreach Associate) 2022-2023

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