Consultant Spotlight - August 2025

How long have you been with miLEAD? 

I joined miLEAD in Fall 2024, so a little less than a year.

What is the focus of your research?

I study how hypoxia modulates the interactions between tumor cells, fibroblasts, and tumor-associated macrophages to promote pancreatic tumorigenesis. I am especially interested in how factors from tumor cells and fibroblasts, induced by hypoxia, impact the function of tumor-associated macrophages in pancreatic cancer.

What are your current career goals?

I am overall highly interested in the business of science and, specifically, at the intersection of biotechnology and entrepreneurship. In the long term, I want to help biotech/healthcare-focused startups progress past the initial scientific discovery and transition to become successfully commercialized. To prepare for this, I am interested in early career jobs that will strengthen my business skills and expose me to the biotech industry such as consulting, business development, or VC analyst.

What roles have you played on projects? 

I have been a consultant on two projects. My first project was a non-traditional miLEAD project that focused on producing a written report to highlight gaps and influence funding for a rare aggressive gynecologic cancer. For my second project, I was involved with the competitive landscape analysis and specifically on performing competitor identification as well as pricing analysis for a client specializing in mobile surveillance trailers.

What led you to seek out miLEAD?

As mentioned above, I am interested in pursuing a career in consulting, and so joining miLEAD could offer an ideal opportunity to learn exactly what a consulting project entails. I have had previous experience in helping to run a biotech-focused accelerator program in which I was exposed to business topics related to entrepreneurship and VC. By joining miLEAD, I hoped to further develop these business skills as well as my communication with non-science audiences.

Since joining miLEAD, what skills have you been able to develop?

As a consultant, miLEAD has helped me to strengthen several skills that are not commonly developed with a PhD. These skills include working with a team, time management, data-driven decision-making, competitive analysis, and science communication for non-scientific audiences.

What has been one of your most rewarding experiences thus far working with miLEAD? 

For my first project, I was responsible for explaining what immunotherapies are, how they work, and whether immunotherapies have been successful in treating various types of gynecologic cancers for a non-scientific audience. Writing this section so that the audience can understand the subjects without using too much jargon or simplifying it too much was initially difficult. Ultimately, after only a couple of revisions, the client was very happy with the section, and I had greatly strengthened my ability to effectively write for a non-scientific audience.