Industrial Advisory Board
The Bioengineering Industrial Advisory Board unites a diverse group of bright and enterprising leaders from across the sector to create a strong resource pool for students, faculty, and administrators, as the department continues to grow and thrive. Building new corporate relationships and offering leadership and support, the Board meets twice annually—in the fall and spring. They ally with faculty to better define the Board’s goals, and to pinpoint the needs of the department to devise new, innovative solutions and methods.
Currently, the Department IAB members are:
| Name and Affiliation | Biography |
|---|---|
 Karim Azer Global Head of Data and AI at Novartis |
Karim Azer is global head of data and artificial intelligence (AI) in clinical development at Novartis, where he leverages data and AI innovations to drive clinical development success for cardiovascular, renal, metabolism and neuroscience programs. Prior to Novartis, he led the data science and discovery platform at Axcella Therapeutics, bringing together data science and systems biology innovations to design and advance high order combination therapies for novel pipeline opportunities through clinical development. Karim also worked in global health, and led quantitative sciences efforts at the Bill & Melinda Gates Medical Research Institute where His work was focused on leveraging the spectrum of systems biology, modeling, and data science, to address research and development needs of the institute, in the areas of tuberculosis, malaria, diarrheal and enteric diseases, and maternal neonatal health. He has worked in the pharmaceutical industry since 1997, starting at Merck and then Sanofi, in quantitative sciences leadership roles, employing a wide variety of computational and systems biology modeling approaches to address drug discovery and development questions in R&D. Karim received his PhD in Applied Mathematics from the Courant Institute of Mathematical Sciences at New York University (NYU), and holds an M.S. in Applied Mathematics from Courant Institute at NYU, and B.S. degrees in Mathematics and Computer Science from Rutgers University. He has served on a number of professional societies such as American College of Clinical Pharmacology (ACCP), American Society of Mechanical Engineering (ASME), IEEE, Society for Industrial and Applied Mathematics (SIAM), and International Society of Pharmacometrics (ISOP), and continues to be active in the community. He has publications in the areas of drug discovery and development, systems biology, quantitative pharmacology, and data science.
BS in Mathematics as well as Computer Science from Rutgers University |
 Ibraheem Badejo Senior Director – J&J MedTech External Innovation |
Ibraheem (Ib) Badejo, Ph.D., MLS, is a Senior Director at J&J MedTech, bringing a unique blend of experience as a servant leader, prolific inventor, entrepreneur, and early-stage healthcare investor to his role in external innovation. He provides strategic counsel and support to JJMT’s R&D efforts, focusing on identifying and advancing external opportunities that align with the company’s growth objectives.
Before his current position, Ib spent significant time as the Medtech New Venture Leader at Johnson & Johnson Innovation (Boston). In this role, he was crucial in identifying and investing in early-stage technologies and companies that held strategic importance for the J&J MedTech sector. His efforts directly contributed to the current JJMT portfolio through the identification and nurturing of key early-stage assets. His career includes a pivotal period as Chief Scientist at Closure Medical Corp., prior to its acquisition by J&J. Ib has a strong history of leading teams in the development and commercialization of biomaterials-based products and facilitating successful technology transfers through licensing and acquisitions. He is the lead inventor of the commercially successful DERMABOND Advanced product and holds 26 US patents. His diverse expertise spans medtech innovation across various specialties, early-stage venture formation and investment, and the development of commercially viable healthcare assets. BS Chemistry, Avila University, PhD Organic Chemistry, University of Toledo, MLS (Intellectual Property), Northeastern University |
 Sam Burd Consultant |
Sam’s “For More and Better Developments” consults on engineering development, entrepreneurial ventures, and community improvement projects. Sam started his career engineering medical devises and managing engineering groups. Following that, his employment focused on biotech apparatus and systems. Then to form his own company, Medical and Biotech Development, Inc. was incorporated for engineering and business consulting. For his engineering, he received 19 US patents.
For business development, Sam lectured for 9 years at UC Berkeley Engineering Department’s Entrepreneurial Design Class. He co-founded The Spark Group assisting entrepreneurial starting ups and was the CEO of Si. Valley Instruments. Included in his consulting career, he helped established corporations form internal “intrapreneurial” groups and negotiated with universities and coordinated with legal firms on patent applications and patent related policies. Volunteer work included: managing an innovation group within Engineers Without Borders; forming a neighborhood NGO working on healthcare, recruiting volunteer educators, and environmental upgrades; registering voters, and organizing political actions; preparing buildings and their residents for emergencies. BS in Mechanical Engineering from Northeastern University |
 Jeff Cerier President, Sage Product Development, Inc |
Jeff Cerier formed Sage Product Development, Inc. with two partners in order to provide fast, efficient and creative product development services to medical device companies. He previously led the product development effort to develop an innovative skin grafting system for Momelan, and was one of six industry professionals who co-founded TDC Medical (now Vention Medical), a medical device product development and manufacturing service provider. He has served as Vice President of Product Development at NDO Surgical and has also been Group Manager within the engineering department at ACT Medical, and Director of Patents and Technology for UroMed Corporation.
BS in Mechanical Engineering from Tufts University |
 David M. Cronin Chief Business Officer, Biotech Cognition Corporation |
David M. Cronin is a Founder and Chief Business Officer – Biotech at Cognition Corporation. David has >25 years of executive leadership experience helping companies develop and commercialize Software-as-a-Service solutions for the Life Sciences industry. David uses his knowledge of systems engineering, industry standards & regulations, and Structured Content and Data Management (SCDM) guided workflow systems to develop innovative solutions for improving data integrity & reports, product development processes, and life cycle management outcomes. David also serves as the Co-Chair for the International Council On Systems Engineering (INCOSE) Healthcare Working Group.
BS in Electrical Engineering and MBA from Northeastern University |
 Deborah Donovan Moderna Technical Center |
Deborah Donovan is responsible for the development and implementation of Environment, Health and Safety (EHS) programs as well as sustainability strategy at Moderna Therapeutics and is the Campus Leader of the Moderna Technical Center in Norwood, MA. She has been in the pharmaceutical sector for 20 years, the majority in EHS and in other engineering & operations roles. Prior to Moderna she was head of EHS at Takeda Pharmaceuticals, led Novartis Pharmaceutical Division EHS and worked at Amgen RI in a variety of roles EHS Head, GMP Maintenance Head and Risk Management at the Rhode Island site.
Before joining the pharmaceutical industry she had 15 years in petrochemical and refining for Sunoco, Inc and Ashland, Inc in a variety of operations roles. She has lived in 8 different states from California to Rhode Island and in Switzerland. BS in Chemical Engineering from Northeastern University |
 Richard Gedney II Founder, CEO, Technical Director, ADMET, Inc. |
Richard T. Gedney II is the founder, CEO and Technical Director of ADMET, which has built an enviable reputation in retrofit/upgrade packages for a large range of electromechanical and servohydraulic materials testing machines, regardless of age or machine type. It now sells to over a dozen sectors including automotive, aerospace, biomedical, construction, plastics, metals, test labs, and university sectors as well as major government agencies. Customers include Lawrence Livermore National Lab, GE, DuPont, Boeing, US Steel, John Deere, Bechtel, Medtronic, and Harvard Medical School.
BS in Mechanical Engineering from Northeastern University |
 Jonathan P. Gertler CEO and Managing Partner, Back Bay Life Science Advisors |
Dr. Jonathan P. Gertler has been advising life science companies since the 1990s, providing counsel on franchise and therapeutic-area strategies and corporate and business development activities, as well as advising clients on planning and the execution of value-creating transactions. He has served as Senior Partner and Managing Director of Leerink Swann Strategic Advisors, has led several investment banking groups, and has founded three start-up companies. Jonathan was also a practicing academic vascular surgeon and has published extensively in clinical vascular surgery and endothelial and smooth muscle cell biology. He is a frequent speaker and writer on strategic issues facing life science companies at all stages and currently serves on the Dean’s Advisory Board at Boston University School of Medicine. He trained at Columbia University, Yale New Haven Hospital, and the Massachusetts General Hospital; he has also served as Chief of Vascular Surgery at SUNY-HSCB in New York, as well as Associate Professor of Surgery at Harvard Medical School and the MGH.
BA from Wesleyan University |
 Vahé Ghahraman Senior Director, Head of Global Regulatory Operations, Apellis Pharmaceuticals |
Vahé is the head of Global Regulatory Operations at Apellis Pharmaceuticals, where he has established this function with all the relevant infrastructure within the Regulatory Affairs Department. His activities focus on preparation and life cycle management of major and routine investigational and marketing medicinal applications, implementation of regulatory submissions, publishing, information management systems, and process improvement.
He has over 20 years of industry experience, having various leading roles at Alexion, Takeda, Dyax, and Millennium, among others, where he was involved in the preparation and approval of several new medicinal products. Prior to transitioning to industry, Vahé served as the Laboratory Director and Lecturer at the Department of Civil & Environmental Engineering at Northeastern University. BS, MS, and PhD in Civil & Environmental Engineering, Northeastern University |
 Harry Glorikian General Partner, Scientia Ventures |
Glorikian currently serves as a General Partner at Scientia Ventures , a VC firm focused on upleveling companies that have the potential to transform healthcare. In particular, the firm targets businesses at the cutting edge of life sciences with an emphasis on computational biology and chemistry, the digitization of medicine and digital therapies. Additionally, Glorikian serves on the boards of StageZero Life Sciences (TSX: SZLS), a publicly traded healthcare technology business dedicated to the early detection of cancer and multiple disease states through whole blood, and Drumroll Health, which develops AI technologies to foster closer partnerships between patients, healthcare professionals and healthcare companies.
Before joining Scientia Ventures, Glorikian was an entrepreneur. He grew and sold his own healthcare consulting company, Scientia Advisors, which served some of the global technology and healthcare companies in the world, many of which were on the Global 500 and Fortune 500. Glorikian also served as an Entrepreneur-In-Residence to GE Ventures – New Business Creation Group, leading to the founding of Evidation Health and DrawBridge Health. He is the author of The Future You: How Artificial Intelligence Can Help You Get Healthier, Stress Less, and Live Longer, MoneyBall Medicine: Thriving in the New Data-Driven Healthcare Market and the diagnostics textbook Commercializing Novel IVDs: A Comprehensive Manual for Success, and is the host of The Harry Glorikian Show podcast series |
 Jeffrey Gold retired |
From March 2014 to January 2016, Mr. Gold was President and CEO of Myoscience, Inc., a privately-held medical device company focusing on Focused Cold TherapyTM for the treatment of peripheral nerve conditions. From January 2012 to March 2014, Mr. Gold was CEO at Velomedix, Inc., a medical device company focused on therapeutic hypothermia for patients experiencing heart attack, stroke or cardiac arrest. Prior to January 2012, Mr. Gold was a Venture Partner for Longitude Capital, a healthcare venture capital fund from January 2007 through December 2011. Mr. Gold was President and CEO of CryoVascular Systems, a peripheral vascular disease device company, from 2001 through its sale to Boston Scientific in 2005. From 1997 to 2000, he was Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer of Cardio Thoracic Systems, Inc., a company engaged in the development and introduction of devices for beating-heart coronary bypass surgery. Prior to that, Mr. Gold spent 18 years with Cordis Corporation in a variety of senior management roles including Vice President of Manufacturing and Vice President of Research and Development, and was a co-founder and President of Cordis Endovascular Systems, a subsidiary engaged in the interventional neuroradiology and peripheral vascular businesses. He served on the board of directors of Corindus Inc. (NYSE: CVRS) through its acquisition by Siemens and AngioDynamics, Inc (NASDAQ: ANGO) until his retirement in 2019. He currently serves on the Board of several privately held start-up medical device companies and is a member of the Executive Committee for the Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation at the University of Florida and a member of the Commercialization Advisory Board for the Cleveland Clinic. Mr. Gold holds a B.S. in Industrial Engineering from Northeastern University in Boston, Massachusetts and an MBA from the University of Florida in Gainesville, Florida, and is a graduate of GE’s Manufacturing Management Program. |
 Craig McGreevy Senior Director, Vertex Pharmaceuticals |
Craig McGreevy’s career spans 20 years across medical device and biotech. Craig is a Senior Director of Engineering Sciences in Cell and Gene Therapy at Vertex Pharmaceuticals, where he focuses on the research and development of novel combination products for cell therapies. Prior to Vertex, he was the Head of Engineering and Device Manufacturing at ViaCyte Inc, a clinical stage regenerative medicine company where he worked for a decade driving the development and clinical launch of multiple implantable combination products for the treatment of Type 1 Diabetes. Craig holds over a dozen patents in the areas of cell encapsulation, endoscopy, and advanced wound healing.
B.S in Mechanical Engineering and MS in Engineering Management from Northeastern University. |
 Sridar Natesan Vice President of External Innovation and Partnering, Sanofi-Aventis SA |
Prior to taking his current role at Sanofi in 2009, Dr. Sridar Natesan served as their Scientific Site Head and as a Senior Distinguished Scientist. He also co-led the stem cell initiative, all while leading multiple scientific teams focused on drug discovery and holding several other senior management positions. He has established major partnerships with major academic and medical institutions, biotechnology companies, as well as various disease foundations, and has served on several committees and boards including the Industry Committee of International Society for Stem Cell Research (ISSCR), Mass BioEd and U Mass Center for Clinical & Translational Science.
PhD in Molecular Genetics from the University of Calgary |
 Michelle Stolzoff Senior Manager, Takeda Pharmaceuticals |
Michelle earned the trifecta of bio(medical) engineering degrees: her PhD in Bioengineering from Northeastern in 2017, Masters in Biomedical Engineering from Boston University in 2013 and Bachelors in BME from the University of Iowa. She received recognition as an inductee in the Huntington 100 that year and served as President of the Graduate Women in Science and Engineering student group during her time at Northeastern. Currently, she works at Takeda Pharmaceuticals as a Senior Manager in Global Regulatory Affairs – CMC with a focus in small molecule pharmaceuticals. In her spare time, she can be found running all over Boston and throwing pottery at the local studio she joined back when she was a first year graduate student. |