New Members Continue GSK and NEA’s commitment to the BHI mission and the BioHealth Capital Region
ROCKVILLE, MARYLAND, April 6, 2020 – The Board of Directors of BioHealth Innovation, Inc. (BHI) unanimously approved the appointments of two new board members, Rebecca Farkas, PhD, Director, External R&D, Scientific Collaborations at GSK, and Sara Nayeem, M.D., Partner at New Enterprise Associates (NEA). BHI’s leadership also thanked outgoing Board of Directors members Rip Ballou of GSK and David Mott of NEA for their contributions to the organization and friendship of many years.
“I am honored to welcome both Rebecca and Sara to our Board of Directors,” said Richard Bendis, BHI President and CEO. “They both bring a combination of experience and fresh vision to our already robust collection of industry leaders. We are excited to to work with them to help grow the BioHealth Capital Region industry cluster.”
Dr. Rebecca Farkas joined GSK Vaccines in April 2017, where she is responsible for initiating collaborations with U.S. research institutions and partnering with U.S. funding agencies to advance the development of new vaccines and platform technologies. Dr. Farkas previously worked in Partnering & Strategy at MedImmune, where she led the creation of a joint Ph.D. program with Johns Hopkins University – the first of its kind in the U.S. Dr. Farkas also spearheaded various initiatives to help strengthen and grow the region’s biotech hub.
Prior to working in industry, Dr. Farkas served in several roles at the NIH. As an extramural program director, she established and managed the Blueprint Neurotherapeutics Network, a “virtual pharma” that matches academic scientists with CROs and pharma consultants to conduct drug discovery and development. Dr. Farkas first came to the NIH in 2002 as an AAAS Science Policy Fellow and subsequently became a science policy advisor to the head of the National Institute for Neurological Disorders and Stroke. In her policy roles, Dr. Farkas worked with other federal agencies, Congress, and non-profit organizations to develop and advance strategies to accelerate basic and translational neuroscience research. Among her accomplishments, Dr. Farkas initiated a research program to develop medical countermeasures for chemical threats.
Dr. Farkas holds a Ph.D. in Developmental Biology from Stanford and a B.A. in Molecular Biophysics and Biochemistry from Yale.
Sara Nayeem, M.D., is a Partner at New Enterprise Associates (NEA). Sara joined NEA’s healthcare team in 2009 and focuses on investments in biopharmaceutical companies. She serves on the boards of Centrexion, Complexa, Cydan, Imara, Tiburio, and a stealth oncology company. She previously served on the boards of Vtesse (acquired by Sucampo), Mersana (MRSN) and Therachon and as a board observer for Loxo Oncology (LOXO, acquired by Lilly), Tesaro (TSRO, acquired by GlaxoSmithKline), Clementia (CMTA, acquired by Ipsen), Nightstar (NITE, acquired by Biogen), Ziarco (acquired by Novartis), Omthera (OMTH, acquired by AstraZeneca), Epizyme (EPZM), Millendo (MLND) and Zyngenia. She has also been involved in other NEA investments such as Prosensa (RNA, acquired by BioMarin), Metacrine, and 3-V Biosciences. She also serves on the boards of the New England Venture Capital Association and BioHealth Innovation Management, and on the Advisory Council of Incubate Coalition.
She was included on Fierce Biotech’s 2019 list of the Fiercest Women in Life Sciences and was selected three times as one of GrowthCap’s Top 40 Under 40 Growth Investors. Prior to joining NEA, Sara was an Associate with Merrill Lynch’s Global Healthcare Group, where she advised biotechnology, pharmaceutical and medical device companies on numerous mergers, acquisitions and financing transactions. Previously, she worked as an Investment Banking Analyst at Morgan Stanley. She has conducted basic science research in mammalian cardiac development and clinical research in age-related macular degeneration.
Sara concurrently earned her MD (cum laude) and MBA from Yale University, where she was a Yale MBA Scholar. She received her AB (magna cum laude) in Biology from Harvard University.
About BioHealth Innovation, Inc.
BioHealth Innovation, Inc. (BHI) is a public-private nonprofit organization focused on accelerating biohealth (therapeutic, diagnostic, medtech, and health IT) commercialization in the BioHealth Capital Region (Maryland, DC and Virginia). BHI’s team of expert Entrepreneurs-in-Residence, in-house venture analysts, and other professional staff work in the region to:
- Facilitate technology commercialization,
- Raise the profile of the industry cluster and individual organizations,
- Increase access to capital for early stage and growing companies, and
- Expand the pool of talent with commercially relevant experience.
BHI’s early stage company support includes market research and commercialization plan development; non-dilutive funding application assistance; a jobs board; event calendar; and introductions to investors, strategic partners, business advisors, and potential clients. BHI also manages wet lab space and provides referrals to other space for early stage companies, offers soft-landing support for international companies, and works with partners to co-host the annual BioHealth Capital Region Forum and an annual BioHealth Capital Region investor partnering conference. For more information: www.BioHealthInnovation.org
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Media contacts:
Rich Bendis
Phone: 301-637-6439, email: rbendis@biohealthinnovation.org