Over the years, The Incubator has developed a dynamic network of alumni working in various non-academic careers, including consulting, investing, patent law, and biopharma.
You’ll create lasting connections across industry and academia, driven by shared, hands-on experience in the program.
Alumni are invited to join our LinkedIn group.
“The Incubator is a game changer for folks wanting to work in the biotech industry.”
— Sofia Carlton, PhD
Here’s what students and postdocs are saying…
“Working with the Incubator fundamentally shaped my perception of the biotech and pharmaceutical industries. At the incubator, we learned how to approach the commercialization of science from numerous angles, all while leveraging our technical backgrounds. During my time at the Incubator, I gained the confidence to tackle the curriculum of an MBA program. Furthermore, in my current role in sales and business development at a diagnostics company, I reflect daily on the lessons learned while working with the excellent students, post-docs, and professors that constitute the Incubator.”
— Alex Simon, PhD, Founder and Managing Director at Century Press, BD at RetinaLogik
“My two year experience with the Incubator has been phenomenal. I gained a significant level of understanding of the whole process of pharmaceutical development and commercialization from the perspective of the entrepreneur. During training, I grew from a novice apprentice to a key integral member of the projects and eventually pitched to real investors. So, it's not a simulation! It's real-world experience! What's more? This experience helped me land more than a dozen job interviews ranging from pharmaceutical companies to investment banks and consulting firms. As a management consultant in life sciences now, my daily job resembles a lot the training I received from the Incubator - it is that relevant.”
— Yijie (EJ) Ma, PhD, Sr. Director, Head of Business Development, Strategic Partnerships, CANbridge Pharmaceuticals Inc.
“Working with the Incubator provided a unique hands-on experience of starting to build a company, conducting explorations into disease areas beyond my field of research, and thinking through all the steps of developing and commercializing medicines. I cannot emphasize enough how useful and practical the lessons I learned at the Incubator were, and how I leverage them on a daily basis in my position at a biotech company, exploring new disease areas and helping expand our pre-clinical programs. The Incubator is also a great opportunity to work with talented and like-minded peers and to get invaluable mentorship from highly accomplished industry and academic experts. Being part of the Incubator was highly valued throughout my job interview process and gave me the skills to successfully transition from academia to industry. The Incubator is a game changer for folks wanting to work in industry.”
— Sofia Carlton, PhD, Senior Manager, Business Development & Strategy at Dyno Therapeutics
“During my time at the Incubator, we worked on Raqia technology to develop a business plan and the experience I have gained throughout the process is phenomenal. Before joining the Incubator, I understood the science well, but later, I realized how naïve I was in commercializing science. My training at the Incubator helped me understanding the pharmaceutical product development in a multifaceted way. Currently, I am working with a diagnostic company and I can’t stress enough how important it was for me to join the Incubator. Most of the skills I am using currently to perform business development at my current position were acquired at the Incubator. Simply put a real-world experience!”
— Harshal Zope, PhD, Director, Manufacturing Science and Technology at Orna Therapeutics
“Working with the Incubator gave me the hands-on experience I’ve needed to succeed in my career outside of the lab. Fred and Carl taught me valuable lessons that guide my diligence on potential investments. At the Incubator, I learned how to map regulatory paths to the clinic, analyze competitive landscapes, and practiced evaluating technologies completely outside of my field. My work at the Incubator came up frequently in job interviews and allowed me to hit the ground running when I started at my new position. Few opportunities at HMS can teach you as much as this one. If you are interested in learning how ideas go from the bench to the clinic, the Incubator is for you.”
— Zach Collins, PhD, Principal at Mission BioCapital
Here’s what founders and faculty are saying…
“Courage Therapeutics was at the idea stage when I engaged with the Incubator. As we worked with HBI, we began to better define our overall business strategy. HBI evaluated our technologies for multiple different indications and produced product profile sheets, a corporate deck and a robust business plan. The HBI process provided critical feedback on our strategy from industry professionals and thought leaders and we now have greater confidence in our future opportunities. As our company’s programs move ahead, I anticipate referring back to the HBI work products and will continue to use these as we engage strategic partners and other groups that will enable development and commercialization of our products.”
— Dan Housman, Co-founder & CTO of Graticule, Co-founder of Courage Therapeutics
“The Harvard Biotech Club and the Harvard Biotechnology Incubator has provided me the opportunity to give back to the biotechnology community through education and training in better preparing the next generation of scientists. Over the past seven years, I have served as an educator and co-mentor with Dr. Novina to students and other members of the Harvard community including those at the Graduate School, Medical School, Engineering School, Business School, Law School, the Kennedy School of Government, and several investigators from Harvard-affiliated hospitals. Through the HBC and HBI, our method has led to a certificate- granting program in Entrepreneurship, the formation of new companies, and will become a process for assisting early stage companies located at the Harvard Pagliuca iLabs. These activities have enabled many students gain better insights into how technologies are assessed in new companies and how resources are allocated and programs developed (or killed) in big pharmaceutical companies. Our process has helped early-stage scientists better position themselves to take advantage of academic and industrial career opportunities. I am hopeful that our process will lead to a new generation of entrepreneurs who will develop promising products that help patients.”
— Fred Mermelstein, PhD, Lecturer at Harvard Medical School; Entrepreneur-in-Residence at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute; General Partner and Founder of Ascentia Asset Management
“The Harvard Biotech Incubator has been a powerful vehicle to accelerate translation and commercialization of technologies being developed in my lab. The HBI process vets the commercial potential of early stage technologies and has led to the creation of two biotechnology start-up companies, two more that are in discussions for new company formation, and one that led to an option to a venture capital firm. Although it started humbly as a meeting of motivated graduate students and post-docs wanting to learn more about drug development and company formation, HBI has grown into a key element of a formalized certificate program that is now expanding further to assist the development of new companies affiliated with the Havard Pagliuca Life Labs. As a mentor to HBI, I work closely with student leaders and have seen how HBI has provided important educational experiences for graduate students and post- docs, for example, as the hands-on experience helps them identify which aspects of biotechnology they want to pursue for their careers.”
— Carl D. Novina, MD, PhD, Associate Professor of Medicine at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute & Harvard Medical School; Associate Member at Broad Institute of Harvard and MIT; Founder of SanaRx BioTherapeutics; Founder of Dynamic Cell Therapies