2023 AfroBioTech Day 2 Industry Mentor Lunch
Monday, October 23rd 12:15PM-1:30PM EDT at the Hyatt Centric Midtown Atlanta
We are delighted to announce that this year's AfroBioTech attendees are invited to an Industry Mentor Lunch, where participants will be paired with an industry mentor and given time and prompts to facilitate conversations around career development and challenges in the biotechnology field. This lunch gives students or young professionals an opportunity to sit with leaders in the field, from both academia and industry, to discuss career development. See below for our confirmed mentors!
Taiwo Akinyemi, PhD
Application Scientist, Integrated DNA Technologies
Dr. Taiwo Akinyemi earned his doctorate in Microbiology from the Whitman lab at the University of Georgia where he developed a regulated gene expression system capable of tuning protein production of the methane-producing archaeon, Methanococcus maripaludis. Currently, He applies his knowledge of DNA structure, cloning, molecular biology, synthetic biology, and protein expression at Integrated DNA Technologies where he provides synthetic biology solutions and scientific insight to other scientists. Dr. Akinyemi relays trends and scientific needs from interacting with our global customers to the management team to inform business decisions and partakes in product development at Integrated DNA Technologies.
https://www.linkedin.com/in/tsakinyemi/
Tarianna Stewart, PhD
Manager, Technology Licensing and Business Development & NYU Technology Opportunities & Ventures
Tarianna Stewart, PhD an adept Technology Licensing and Business Development Manager at NYU, leverages a background in technical expertise and legal acumen. Formerly excelling as a Technical Specialist in renowned IP law firms, she honed her skills in patent strategy. Her pivotal role at NYU encompasses working with faculty from the departments of Engineering, Physical Sciences, Quantum, and Radiology, manifesting in skillful licensing strategy, negotiation, and agreement drafting. Notably, her tenure at Georgia Tech Research Corp., overseeing 500+ technologies, and subsequent role as Core AI Licensing Executive & Quantum Ambassador at IBM Research underline her prowess in catalyzing innovation-commercialization convergence.Additionally, she serves on the board of the Patent Pipeline Program which seeks to increase the number of women and minorities within the patent profession.
https://www.linkedin.com/in/tarianna-stewart-ph-d-7b222743/
Suna Lumeh
Director of Operations, Portal Innovations
As Director of Operations for our Atlanta expansion, Suna is establishing and leading Portal Innovation’s platform in Atlanta at Science Square Labs. Previously, Suna held clinical R&D roles in pharma, across both early and late stage biologics development. She grew her specialty in pharmacovigilance (safety & efficacy) and immunogenicity assay development at scale—sourcing, developing, and integrating novel diagnostic technologies and robotics platforms—before moving into the early venture space. She has since served as a biomedical science consultant for early-stage startups, ultimately cofounding two VC-backed biotech and digital health startups. In addition to supporting diverse founders, Suna remains an active advocate for youth STEM outreach, having established hands-on afterschool programs in Greater Philadelphia, Washington DC, and a girls' science mentorship program in Kenema, Sierra Leone. Suna intends to continue supporting and building the pipeline of incredible life science founders and teams capable of bringing life-saving solutions to patients, and scaling innovative biomedical and healthcare ventures that will feed into the economic development in Atlanta and beyond.
https://www.linkedin.com/in/sunalu21/
Patrice Cuff
Program Coordinator of the Food Studies and LINCS Scholars Programs, Spelman College
Dr. Patrice Cuff is a cell biologist with several years experience working in the academic, pharmaceutical, contract research, and contract manufacturing spaces. She holds a bachelor’s degree in chemistry from Spelman College, and a doctorate of philosophy in biomedical research from Vanderbilt University. She also completed a postdoctoral fellowship in Oncology within the Heme Disease Area Stronghold at Janssen Research & Development. Throughout her career as a bench scientist, Patrice worked in the field of heme oncology (blood cancers), with a focus on Myelodysplastic Syndrome, the disease which Good Morning America's Robin Roberts overcame in 2012 and acute myeloid leukemia (AML).
After working at the bench, Patrice’s career focused on roles supporting the business development function of contract research and manufacturing to further company growth and to support the development of pre-clinical and clinical assets. As a director of scientific engagement, she focused on regional travel in support of the US sales team at BioDuro-Sundia (a CRO). She has also worked as a proposal manager at Abzena (a CDMO), where she completed over $100 million in proposals in support of the company’s goal of writing $1 billion in proposals for clients that year. More recently, Patrice took a career sabbatical to rest, move closer to family, and enrich for the next stage of her career. Afterward, as part of her career transition, Patrice pursued a position in academia at Spelman College and currently serves as the program coordinator of the Food Studies and the LINCS scholars (STEM Scholars) programs. In this role she supports students and the programming designed to support their professional development and next steps.
https://www.linkedin.com/in/patricewagnercuffphd/