Thirty-eight Cornell MBA students in the Samuel Curtis Johnson Graduate School of Management, together with PhD candidates from across Cornell University and postdoctoral fellows from the Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, have joined the fourth cohort of Cornell’s Life Sciences Technology Innovation Fellows program, an interdisciplinary entrepreneurship and translation program offered by the Cornell SC Johnson College of Business.
The Life Sciences Technology Innovation Fellows program helps to prepare the next wave of startup leaders to launch, scale, and operate life science ventures within New York state. The program provides students with the entrepreneurial mindset, training, and judgment to aid them in developing and leading new life-science ventures. The program’s unique structure pairs graduate business students with doctoral researchers across Cornell’s campuses, inclusive of Cornell’s Tri-Institutional partners (Memorial Sloan Kettering and The Rockefeller University), to collaborate on real-world startup design and derisking.
“The Life Science Technology Innovation Fellows program is unique in how it captures the breadth of Cornell’s excellence in advancing the life science knowledge frontier and injects the perspective of commercial opportunity around this knowledge to empower members of our community to be leaders that create novel value for our society”, said LSTIF program director Gregory Ray, PhD ’14.
Throughout the academic year, business and research participants will be matched to form teams and participate in workshops covering various topics designed to lay a foundation for startup creation. They will also complete the Life Science Entrepreneurship in Practice course as part of the program. Upon completion of the coursework and program requirements, fellows will receive a certificate from the SC Johnson Graduate School of Management.
“Through this program, I hope to gain a partner in building a business – someone who is equally excited about validating a life sciences or digital health opportunity and bringing it to market,” said Carmyn Polk, MBA ’26. “I’m eager for hands-on experience in evaluating scientific innovations, shaping a business model, and pitching to real-world stakeholders. As an aspiring serial entrepreneur focused on life sciences and digital health, I want as much exposure as possible to mentors, investors, leaders, and fellow innovators who are driving impact in this space.”
“I hope to gain the skills needed to create a successful startup and practice my pitching abilities, learning firsthand what it takes to turn an idea into reality. By learning from experts and immersing myself in the startup process, I aim to clarify my professional goals and discover where my passions truly lie,” said Fumei Cerecino, MBA/MS ’26. I’m excited to use these experiences not only to grow as a leader but also to build a strong foundation for my future career. Ultimately, I want to leverage these skills to drive my professional growth and make a meaningful impact.”
Meet the Life Sciences Technology Innovation Fellows
Meet the business students who are 2025-26 Life Sciences Technology Innovation Fellows:
- Shah Reza Bin Md Salih, MBA/MS ’26 (Executive MBA/MS in Healthcare Leadership)
- Priyanka Bodhe, MHA ‘26 (Masters of Health Administration)
- Jair Emanuel Bordignon Cavalli, MBA ‘26 (Johnson School, SC Johnson College)
- Galina Borodulina, MBA/MS ’26 (Executive MBA/MS in Healthcare Leadership)
- Fumei Cerecino, MBA/MS ’26 (Executive MBA/MS in Healthcare Leadership)
- Odone da Rosa, MBA ‘26 (Johnson School, SC Johnson College)
- Carina D’souza, MBA ‘26 (Johnson School, SC Johnson College)
- Jeshrene Enerio, MBA ‘26 (Samuel Curtis Johnson Graduate School of Management)
- Blake Fan, MBA ‘26 (Johnson School, SC Johnson College)
- Benedict Ho, MD-MBA ‘27 (Weill Cornell Medicine, Cornell Tech)
- Raveena Kumari, MBA ‘26 (Johnson School, SC Johnson College)
- Nayancie Matthews, MBA ‘26 (Johnson School, SC Johnson College)
- Zifan Nie, MBA ‘26 (Samuel Curtis Johnson Graduate School of Management)
- Robert Plovnick, MBA/MS ’26 (Executive MBA/MS in Healthcare Leadership)
- Carmyn Polk, MBA ‘26 (Johnson School, SC Johnson College)
- Coco Qu, MBA ‘26 (Johnson School, SC Johnson College)
- Vijay Raghunathan, MBA/MS ’26 (Executive MBA/MS in Healthcare Leadership)
- Medi Tolou, MD-MBA ‘28 (Weill Cornell Medicine, Cornell Tech)
Meet the researchers who are 2025-26 Life Sciences Technology Innovation Fellows:
- Erik Bidstrup, PhD candidate in Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering (College of Engineering)
- Julia Donlevie, PhD candidate in Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering (Cornell Engineering)
- Amirhossein Favakeh, PhD candidate in Food Science and Technology (College of Agriculture and Life Sciences)
- Caralyn Gonzales, PhD candidate in Chemistry and Chemical Biology (College of Arts and Sciences)
- Swathi Iyer, Post Doctoral Researcher in Cancer Biology (Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center)
- Daniel Lamm, PhD candidate in Biochemistry, Molecular, and Cell Biology (College of Agriculture and Life Sciences)
- Miranda Lewis, Postdoctoral Researcher in Immunology (Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center)
- Jelena Lujic, Research Associate (Department of Biomedical Sciences)
- Jessica Noll, Postdoctoral Researcher in Microbiology and Immunology
- Chi-Lam Poon, PhD candidate in Computational Oncology (Weill Cornell Medicine)
- Rajat Punia, Postdoctoral Researcher in Microbiology and Immunology
- Danni Tang, PhD candidate in Materials Science and Engineering (College of Engineering)
- Samsara Upadhya, PhD candidate in Cell and Developmental Biology (Weill Cornell Medicine)
- Kacper Walentynowicz, Postdoctoral Researcher in Cancer Biology and Genetics (Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center)
- Ruisi Wang, Postdoctoral Researcher in the Laboratory of Cellular Biophysics (Rockefeller Center)
- Shuran Wang, PhD candidate in Biochemistry, Molecular and Cell Biology (College of Agriculture and Life Sciences)
- Jiawei (Azalea) Yang, PhD candidate in Microbiology (College of Agriculture and Life Sciences)
- Kumar Yugandhar, Postdoctoral Researcher in Cell and Molecular Biology (Weill Institute)
Managed by the Center for Regional Economic Advancement, the Life Sciences Technology Innovation Fellows program is primarily funded by the SC Johnson College and the Johnson School.
Life Sciences Technology Innovation Fellows will earn a certificate from the Johnson School upon successfully completing the program, which generally takes two to three semesters. Applications for next year’s cohort will open in November on the Life Sciences Innovation Fellows program webpage.
