The Center for Biotechnology has the aid of seasoned industry veterans that serve in the role of program advisors across Center activities.

The core group of our affiliated advisors currently includes:

• Michael Baran, PhD, MBA, Head of Private Investments, Affinity Asset Advisors
• Heather Bielski, Innovation Project Manager, DUKAL Corporation
• Michael R. Bielski, Founder & President, DevTech Partners
• Len Breslow, JD, Breslow & Walker
• Kara Cannon, CEO, Tesla Science Center at Wardenclyffe (TSCW)
• Richard Catalano, Executive Vice President and CFO, CVD Equipment Corporation
• Colleen Cuffaro, PhD, Principal, Canaan Partners
• Daniel Forler, PhD, Senior Director, Early Licensing, Bayer U.S. Pharma (LEAPs program)
• Lorrence Green, PhD, President, Westbury Diagnostics, Inc.
• Andreas Grill, MS, MBA, CEO, DepYMed
• John Haley, PhD, Founder, Network Pharmacology
• Kenton C. Hasson, PhD, Former Director of Strategic Partnerships, ANGLE plc
• Thomas D. Ippolito, VP Clinical & Regulatory Affairs, ChemBio Diagnostics
• Seyed Khorashahi, Principal, Life Science Consulting Group; Former Executive VP of Medical Devices and CTO, Regulatory Compliance Associates Inc. (RCA)
• Kevin Koch, PhD, Venture Partner, OrbiMed
• Sathapana (Sam) Kongsamut, PhD, Member, Advisory Council, Institute For Life Science Entrepreneurship (ILSE)
• John Pennett, Partner, Eisner Advisory Group LLC; Partner-in-Charge, National Technology and Life Sciences Group, EisnerAmper
• Areta Kupchyk, Partner, Foley Hoag LLP,
• Leah Lipsich, PhD, Executive Director, Program Direction, Immunology & Inflammation, Regeneron Pharmaceuticals, Inc. [Retired]
• William Mann, PhD, MBA, Chair, Science Advisory Board, Aavogen
• J. Brian McCarthy, PhD, MBA, CEO, MicroRid Technologies
• Annie Mitsak, PhD, Partner, Cure Ventures
• Gregory Montalbano, Principal, MIDI Product Development
• Christopher Montalbano, Principal, MIDI Product Development
• Samir Nizam, Board Member, Long Island Angel Network
• Christopher O’Donnell, PhD, Vice President – Partnering Innovation, Pfizer and Partner, Pfizer Ventures
• Barbara Sawitsky, Director of Patents and Licensing, New York Blood Center (Retired)
• Joseph Scaduto, MS, MBA, Co-Founder & CEO, CMTx Biotech; Bio Entrepreneur-in-Residence, Center for Biotechnology
• Tara Sharif, PhD, Managing Director, Investment Banking, ThinkEquity LLC
• Stacey Sikes, Acting President & CEO, Long Island Association
• Stephanie Stehman, PhD, Search & Evaluation Lead, Spark Therapeutics, Inc.
• Saied Tousi, PhD, CEO, USVOLT; Board Member, SaniSure
• Robert Van Nostrand, Board Member, Achillion Pharmaceuticals, Inc.; Board Member, Intra-Cellular Therapies, Inc
• Eric Vieira, PhD, Vice President, Strategic Partnerships, Office of the Executive Vice President for Global Science and Technology, New York University
• Anton Xavier, MS, MBA, CEO, iNanoRNA Therapeutics; Founder & CEO, K-9 Biotech

Additional Sponsors

In addition to our New York State funding from NYSTAR, the Center for Biotechnology currently has awards from the following entities to carry out their mission:

The Research Foundation for The State University of New York (RF) has provided the Center for Biotechnology with a grant of $25,000 in 2013 in support of its BioEntrepreneur-in-Residence program as well as generous support for the Long Island Bioscience Hub (LIBH) Initiative.

The RF was founded in 1951 to serve SUNY and to capitalize on its scope, scale and diversity as an engine of New York’s innovation economy. The largest, most comprehensive university-connected research foundation in the country, the RF supports nearly $1 billion in SUNY research activity annually, providing sponsored programs administration and innovation support services to SUNY faculty performing research in life sciences and medicine; engineering and nanotechnology; physical sciences and energy; social sciences, and computer and information sciences.