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Blavatnik Fellowship in Life Science Entrepreneurship

The Blavatnik Fellowship in Life Science Entrepreneurship offers Harvard Business School alumni and Harvard-affiliated postdocs the opportunity to advance new ventures around promising life science technologies and develop their leadership talents during a 12-month fellowship year. Postdocs who are selected as Blavatnik Fellows are able to lead the technical and commercial development of their existing scientific research.

Supporting Blavatnik Fellows in their pursuit of successful enterprise creation, the program provides practical materials for entrepreneurship—time, working space, operating funds—with access to strategic resources—mentorship, workshops, and fireside chats, with industry experts. To date, there have been 39 Blavatnik Fellows that have collectively raised $468M+ in funding.

The Blavatnik Fellowship is led by faculty chair Peter Barrett, PhD. The members of the Key Advisory Board, leading industry and biomedical authorities, provide programmatic guidance as well as one-on-one mentorship to Blavatnik Fellows. The Blavatnik Entrepreneurship Network, a consortium of top business and science leaders, provides Fellows additional mentorship channels.

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Laboratory imagery.

Join our community of entrepreneurs

Ideal candidates are MBA alumni of Harvard Business School who have graduated within the last 7–10 years, or postdoctoral candidates within the first 5 years of their training program at a Harvard program or research lab. The program is a full-time, salaried, residential fellowship. As such, Blavatnik Fellows are expected to reside in the Boston area, are eligible to enroll in a range of Harvard employee benefits, and receive work space at the Pagliuca Harvard Life Lab.

How to apply

For complete information, visit the HBS Blavatnik Fellowship webpage or email Tracy Saxton Perry, Assistant Director.

Bringing life science innovations to the global population is more crucial than ever. The Blavatnik Fellowship mentors future leaders who want to make important advancements, take risks, and commercialize biomedical discoveries.

Srikant M. Datar

Dean of Faculty, Harvard Business School

Srikant Datar, Dean of Harvard Business School.

Five Years of Thinking Big



2022–23 Fellows

Ilana Springer Borkenstein.

Ilana Springer Borkenstein, RN, MBA '22

Ilana Springer Borkenstein, RN (MBA 2022) is the co-founder and CEO of M7 Health, a technology company addressing the critical nursing shortage in the US...

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Hunter Goble.

Hunter Goble, MBA '22

Hunter Goble (MBA 2022) is the co-founder and CEO of Transcera, a biotech startup harnessing the biology of sphingolipids...

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Matt Ross.

Matt Ross, MBA '22

Matt Ross (MBA 2022) is the co-founder and CEO of Trove Health, which aims to become the world’s largest database of consented and identified patients for clinical research...

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Shardule Shah.

Shardule Shah, MBA '22

Shardule Shah, PhD (MBA 2022) is the CEO and co-founder of Lime Therapeutics, which he started as an HBS student...

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Alexey Youssef.

Alexey Youssef, MD, MSc, MBA '22

Alexey Youssef, MD, MSc (MBA 2022) is the co-founder of Sky Therapeutics, which he started with an MBA classmate, Shad Faraz...

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Faculty Chair

Peter Barrett 400sm 282 282

Peter Barrett, PhD

Partner, Atlas Venture

Peter Barrett is an Executive Fellow at Harvard Business School and faculty chair of the key advisory board of the Blavatnik Fellowship. He is also Partner at Atlas Venture...

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