Mintz On Air

Client Corner: Anna Turetsky on Venture Investing

Our Client Corner: Perspectives from Founders, Financiers, and Friends podcast series hosted by Mintz Member Joshua Fox explores the challenges and rewards associated with starting and running a business and investing in a business, through conversations with experienced entrepreneurs and investors working in the start-up community.

In this week's episode of Client Corner, Josh chats with Anna Turetsky, Principal, Venture Investments for the Mark Foundation for Cancer Research. Anna discusses the Mark Foundation's mission and her journey from a traditional venture capital firm to a nonprofit. She provides advice on pitching strategies for entrepreneurs and reflects on her experience as a woman navigating the venture capital and biotech industries.

Health Law Diagnosed: Women Leaders in Health Care -The Role and Importance of Mentorship

In this episode, host Bridgette Keller introduces a new series of Health Law Diagnosed titled Women Leaders in Health Care. This new series will bring together women leaders for discussions on timely key issues and reflections on developing a career in the industry.

Leah Pollema, Vice President and General Counsel at InhibRx, and Serene Katranji, Chief Operating Officer, Chief Compliance Officer, and Corporate Counsel at Orchard Laboratories, join Bridgette for this inaugural episode. Together, they share personal stories about their experiences as both mentees and mentors, shedding light on the invaluable impact mentorship has had on their professional journeys.

Serene underscores the fulfillment of opening doors for those facing similar career challenges and the satisfaction of seeing mentees surpass her own achievements. She reflects on the enduring impact of mentors who provided helpful guidance during her career, emphasizing the importance of paying forward the knowledge gained.

Leah adopts a modeling approach to mentoring, highlighting the significance of demonstrating the desired behaviors and skills for her colleagues. Drawing from her experience as a mentee, she fosters a collaborative mentoring environment, prioritizing active participation over passive instruction.

Both women stress the pivotal role of trust in successful mentorship, creating a safe and vulnerable space for mentorship to thrive. Additionally, they actively seek diverse relationships in their mentoring journeys, recognizing the importance of opening doors for others and modeling the way to success. This episode provides valuable insights into the multifaceted nature of mentorship in the world of health care.

 

 

 

 

Client Corner: Meet Syntis Bio Co-founder and CEO Rahul Dhanda

Our Client Corner: Perspectives from Founders, Financiers, and Friends podcast series hosted by Mintz Member Joshua Fox explores the dynamics of starting and running a business, investing in a business, and helping to support a business — through insights shared by entrepreneurs, investors, and members of the start-up community. We hope these conversations will provide valuable advice to you, the listener, as you’re working to successfully build your own business, as well as inspire others who are thinking about starting a new venture.

In this episode of Client Corner, Josh chats with Rahul Dhanda, co-founder and CEO of Syntis Bio, a preclinical company developing a new class of therapy. Prior to founding Syntis, Rahul was a founder and the president and chief executive officer of Sherlock Biosciences, where he also served on the company's Board of Directors. Rahul is also a founder and Chair of BLASTID, Inc.

Earlier in his career, Rahul spent 10 years at T2 Biosystems, helping grow the company from an early-stage, venture-backed start-up to a commercial, publicly traded leader in infectious disease diagnostics. He also worked in Boston Scientific’s urology division, leading a team responsible for over $100 million in annual revenue. In addition, while serving in a business development role at Interleukin Genetics, Rahul helped lead the negotiation of the firm’s acquisition by Alticor, Inc. and several other corporate value–creating deals.

Rahul earned his MBA from MIT’s Sloan School of Management and his BA from Wesleyan University. He is a former committee member of the AAAS Committee on Scientific Freedom and Responsibility, an inventor of numerous patents, and author of several publications — including Guiding Icarus: Merging Bioethics with Corporate Interests, the first book to address the crossroads between industry and bioethics/public policy.

Client Corner: Meet Biotech Executive John Edwards

Our Client Corner: Perspectives from Founders, Financiers, and Friends podcast series hosted by Mintz Member Joshua Fox explores the dynamics of starting and running a business, investing in a business, and helping to support a business — through insights shared by entrepreneurs, investors, and members of the start-up community. We hope these conversations will provide valuable advice to you, the listener, as you’re working to successfully build your own business, as well as inspire others who are thinking about starting a new venture.

In this episode of Client Corner, Josh chats with John Edwards, an executive chair, board member, and senior adviser to start-up and clinical-stage biotechnology companies.

John will draw insights from his experience in key industry roles:

• Recently, CEO of Abcuro and Verseau Therapeutics, Inc.
• Executive Chair at Tilos Therapeutics, where, in less than two years, he helped advance the company from its formation to its acquisition by Merck
• Executive Chair of F-star, at which he helped grow the company from the discovery stage to a leading developer of clinical-stage bispecific antibodies which included bringing in more than $200 million in revenue from business development deals
• Pivotal roles in building Siamab and Exonics, which both had successful M&A exits in 2019
• Chief Operating Officer at Adnexus, a tenure that included taking the company from the start-up period through a $450 million acquisition by Bristol Myers Squibb, serving as President of Adnexus, and working within BMS’s R&D organization during the early days of immuno-oncology
• Vice President of Sales, Marketing, and Medical Affairs at Transkaryotic Therapies
• A 15-year tenure with Genetics Institute/Wyeth, where he was responsible for leading the company’s first product from research to FDA and EMA approvals
• One of the first employees at Genzyme

Client Corner: Ridhi Tariyal, Co-founder & CEO of NextGen Jane

Our Client Corner: Perspectives from Founders, Financiers, and Friends podcast series hosted by Mintz Member Joshua Fox explores the dynamics of starting and running a business, investing in a business, and helping to support a business — through insights shared by entrepreneurs, investors, and members of the start-up community. We hope these conversations will provide valuable advice to you, the listener, as you’re working to successfully build your own business, as well as inspire others who are thinking about starting a new venture.

In this episode of Client Corner, Josh chats with Ridhi Tariyal, co-founder and CEO of NextGen Jane, a company that is defining the next generation of obstetric and gynecological health. Before founding NextGen Jane, Ridhi led the operations and finances of a $10 million genomic endeavor in West Africa for the Broad Institute. Most of Ridhi’s career has been in health care, from operational roles in a big pharmaceutical company (Bristol-Myers Squibb) to strategic positions at smaller entrepreneurial organizations (like Embrace).

Client Corner: Jerry Williamson, CEO of Sengenics

Welcome to Client Corner: Perspectives from Founders, Financiers, and Friends, a new Mintz On Air podcast series hosted by Mintz Member Joshua Fox that explores the dynamics of starting and running a business, investing in a business, and helping to support a business — through insights shared by entrepreneurs, investors, and members of the start-up community. We hope these conversations will provide valuable advice to you, the listener, as you’re working to successfully build your own business, as well as inspire others who are thinking about starting a new venture.

In this episode of Client Corner, Joshua Fox chats with Jerry Williamson, CEO of Sengenics. Jerry has more than 30 years of experience in bioscience markets for life science research, diagnostics, and analytical products. Prior to Sengenics, Jerry was the CEO and a member of the Board of Directors of NanoView Biosciences. Prior to that, Jerry was President, CEO, and a director of Kew, Inc. and held senior positions at Metamark Genetics, Flagship Ventures, Molecular Devices (Danaher), Biacore (GE), and Pyrosequencing (QIAGEN).

Health Law Diagnosed: CA Proposes Regs for Pre-Closing Review of Health Care Deals: What You Need to Know

California’s newly established Office of Health Care Affordability recently proposed regulations outlining its requirements for advance regulatory review of certain health care entity mergers, acquisitions, affiliations, and other arrangements that result in “material changes” of assets, control, or governance. Health Law attorneys Lara D. Compton, Deborah A. Daccord, and M. Daria Niewenhous join Bridgette Keller to discuss the proposed regulations, their potential impact on transactions, and what health care entities should consider as they prepare for transactions moving forward.

Exclusive Rights: Intellectual Property - Bad Dog? “Bad Spaniels” at SCOTUS

In this episode of the EXCLUSIVE RIGHTS: Intellectual Property podcast, IP Members Daniel Weinger and Karen Won discuss the recent Supreme Court decision in Jack Daniels v. VIP Products addressing whether the “Bad Spaniels” dog chew toy violates the Lanham Act for trademark infringement. In this case, SCOTUS held that the Rogers test for parody does not apply when a trademark is used as a source identifier, which occurred here, and sent the case back down for further proceedings to analyze the “likelihood of confusion” test.

Dan and Karen discuss this outcome and also cover:
- How and when to assess parody
- Surveys in trademark cases in light of the Sotomayor concurrence
- How the decision affects brands going forward