Blavatnik Biomedical Accelerator
Venture Fellows Program
The Blavatnik Biomedical Accelerator (BBA) at Harvard University offers the Venture Fellows Program as a resource for the Harvard science community, supporting the advancement of promising biomedical innovations from Harvard labs toward clinical and translational impact.
Through this program, the Venture Fellows work closely with the BBA team, Harvard’s Office of Technology Development, and Harvard faculty innovators to promote the commercialization of breakthrough science. Venture Fellows contribute strategic and market-facing expertise by helping research teams assess commercial potential, identify value-creating milestones, evaluate market opportunities, shape business models, and explore paths toward venture creation, partnering, and fundraising.
The program fosters the development of the next generation of entrepreneurs at the intersection of science, business, and innovation through mentorship and hands-on experience in the commercialization process of Harvard innovations. Additionally, the program enables fellows to cultivate key relationships and advance towards roles in venture capital, biotech, and entrepreneurial leadership.
To learn more about the Fellows Program, please contact us.
Current Fellows
Meet the current Venture Fellows supporting Blavatnik Biomedical Accelerator-funded projects. These fellows are working with Harvard scientific teams to evaluate commercialization opportunities, refine venture strategies, and help move promising technologies closer to impact.
Chris Lites, MD, MBA
Chris Lites is a physician-investor and Venture Creation Fellow at the Harvard Blavatnik Biomedical Accelerator, where he partners with principal investigators across Harvard to translate early-stage scientific discoveries into transformative therapeutics. In parallel, he serves as an analyst at Ishara Investments, a biotechnology-focused hedge fund, conducting deep fundamental and clinical diligence on biotech companies to identify asymmetric investment opportunities.
Chris Lites is a physician-investor and Venture Creation Fellow at the Harvard Blavatnik Biomedical Accelerator, where he partners with principal investigators across Harvard to translate early-stage scientific discoveries into transformative therapeutics. In parallel, he serves as an analyst at Ishara Investments, a biotechnology-focused hedge fund, conducting deep fundamental and clinical diligence on biotech companies to identify asymmetric investment opportunities.
Chris is currently completing his residency in Emergency Medicine at Harvard Medical School’s Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, where he is developing expertise in making critical decisions in high-pressure environments.
Previously, Chris trained as a Venture Fellow at Borealis Ventures and AlleyCorp, supporting early-stage company formation and financial modeling, and as an Associate at McKinsey & Company, where he led financial due diligence on a $10 billion healthcare merger. He earned his MD and MBA from Dartmouth’s Geisel School of Medicine and Tuck School of Business and his BA in Neuroscience from Columbia University.
Gianni Thomas, MD, MBA
Gianni Thomas is an MD/MBA from Weill Cornell Medicine and Harvard Business School and currently serves on the board of the HBS Healthcare Alumni Association. He is a life sciences venture fellow supporting the commercialization of early-stage biomedical innovations.
Gianni Thomas is an MD/MBA from Weill Cornell Medicine and Harvard Business School and currently serves on the board of the HBS Healthcare Alumni Association. He is a life sciences venture fellow supporting the commercialization of early-stage biomedical innovations.
Gianni brings a multidisciplinary background spanning translational research, life sciences strategy, biotech venture, and private equity investing. Prior to his fellowship work, he held roles at IQVIA, Arkitekt Ventures, and Great Point Partners. During medical school, he participated in a tri-institutional commercialization program across Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, Weill Cornell Medicine, and Rockefeller University, where he was recognized for leading a top-ranked commercialization effort for a novel drug-eluting rubber technology. Gianni is published in peer-reviewed academic journals and graduated Phi Beta Kappa from Johns Hopkins University, where he received the Dean’s Undergraduate Research Award.
As a Venture Fellow with the Blavatnik Biomedical Accelerator, Gianni works with researchers interested in exploring startup formation, industry partnerships, and commercialization pathways for early-stage discoveries.
Siyi (Tracy) Huang, PhD
Siyi (Tracy) Huang is a scientific and strategic advisor to translational research programs emerging from the lab of David Ginty at Harvard Medical School, including venture creation efforts in pain and other somatosensory disorders using sensory neuron–targeted approaches. Tracy’s career spans breakthrough academic research in the rapidly evolving field of neuroimmunology and innovative, neuroimmune-inspired target discovery in oncology at Cygnal Therapeutics, where she established industry-grade platforms to model and decode three-way interactions among neurons, immune cells and cancer cells.
Siyi (Tracy) Huang is a scientific and strategic advisor to translational research programs emerging from the lab of David Ginty at Harvard Medical School, including venture creation efforts in pain and other somatosensory disorders using sensory neuron–targeted approaches. Tracy’s career spans breakthrough academic research in the rapidly evolving field of neuroimmunology and innovative, neuroimmune-inspired target discovery in oncology at Cygnal Therapeutics, where she established industry-grade platforms to model and decode three-way interactions among neurons, immune cells and cancer cells. She also led the conception and development of first-in-class allogeneic B cell therapy prototypes towards development candidate nomination during her 4 years at Be Biopharma, an innovative cell therapy company pioneering a new class of cellular medicines based on engineered human B cells. Tracy is currently the founder and principal consultant of SCI-BRIDGE, LLC, providing scientific and strategic guidance to academic founders and early-stage biotech startups.
Past Fellows
Our past Venture Fellows have played an important role in strengthening the bridge between academic discovery and venture creation. Their contributions have helped advance Harvard innovations while building a strong community of alumni in biotech, investing, entrepreneurship, and translational science.
2024 - 2025
Natasha (Natalia) Zaliznyak, MS/MBA
Natasha interned as a Venture Fellow at the Blavatnik Biomedical Accelerator in 2024 while pursuing a joint MS/MBA in Biotechnology at Harvard Business School and GSAS. Following graduation in 2025, she joined D. E. Shaw Research in New York City, where she works as an R&D Portfolio Strategist. Prior to Harvard, Natasha worked at Roivant Sciences, where she began her career in computational research and competitive intelligence. She later joined VantAI (now Proxima Bio), where she focused on data-driven target prioritization and went on to serve as Chief of Staff, leading initiatives across strategy and operations.
Natasha interned as a Venture Fellow at the Blavatnik Biomedical Accelerator in 2024 while pursuing a joint MS/MBA in Biotechnology at Harvard Business School and GSAS. Following graduation in 2025, she joined D. E. Shaw Research in New York City, where she works as an R&D Portfolio Strategist. Prior to Harvard, Natasha worked at Roivant Sciences, where she began her career in computational research and competitive intelligence. She later joined VantAI (now Proxima Bio), where she focused on data-driven target prioritization and went on to serve as Chief of Staff, leading initiatives across strategy and operations.
Natasha holds an MBA from Harvard Business School, an MS from the Harvard Department of Stem Cell and Regenerative Biology, and a BS in Molecular Biophysics & Biochemistry from Yale University.
2023 - 2024
Aaron Edwards, MS/MBA
Aaron Edwards is the co-founder and CEO of KiraGen Bio, a Boston biotech developing AI-guided multiplex gene-edited CAR-T therapies designed to overcome tumor microenvironment suppression in solid tumors like glioblastoma. Before returning to Harvard Business School, he held scientific and leadership roles at Novartis Vaccines, bluebird bio, and Beam Therapeutics, where he led in vitro biology for BEAM-201, the company’s first multiplex base-edited CAR-T to reach the clinic.
Aaron Edwards is the co-founder and CEO of KiraGen Bio, a Boston biotech developing AI-guided multiplex gene-edited CAR-T therapies designed to overcome tumor microenvironment suppression in solid tumors like glioblastoma. Before returning to Harvard Business School, he held scientific and leadership roles at Novartis Vaccines, bluebird bio, and Beam Therapeutics, where he led in vitro biology for BEAM-201, the company’s first multiplex base-edited CAR-T to reach the clinic. During his time at HBS, Aaron was a Blavatnik Biomedical Accelerator Venture Fellow and following graduation he continued his engagement with the Harvard innovation community as an HBS Blavatnik Fellow for Science Entrepreneurship.
Narek Dshkhunyan, MEng, MBA
Narek Dshkhunyan was a Venture Fellow in Summer 2023 and has continued working with BBA part-time during the 2024 academic year. He has closely worked with many labs at Harvard and led the commercialization of two NewCo's out of OTD portfolios - the microporous water technology from Jarad Mason's lab, and ultrasensitive calorimetry from Joost Vlassak's lab. He was awarded the Blavatnik Fellowship in Life Science Entrepreneurship (2024-25 Cohort) to advance these ventures after his graduation from HBS.
Narek Dshkhunyan was a Venture Fellow in Summer 2023 and has continued working with BBA part-time during the 2024 academic year. He has closely worked with many labs at Harvard and led the commercialization of two NewCo's out of OTD portfolios - the microporous water technology from Jarad Mason's lab, and ultrasensitive calorimetry from Joost Vlassak's lab. He was awarded the Blavatnik Fellowship in Life Science Entrepreneurship (2024-25 Cohort) to advance these ventures after his graduation from HBS. Previously, Narek was a computational biologist at 10x Genomics, developing algorithms for groundbreaking single-cell and spatial transcriptomics products. Before that, he was a bioinformatics intern at Illumina. Narek holds an MEng and BSc in Computer Science and Molecular Biology from MIT, and an MBA from Harvard Business School.
2021 - 2022
Stuart Vik, BS, MBA
Stuart Vik (MBA 2022), a molecular biologist and U.S. Navy veteran with a background in healthcare investment banking and corporate development, began his career advising on transactions across the life sciences sector before pursuing his MBA. As a Blavatnik Biomedical Accelerator Venture Fellow, Stuart evaluated the commercialization potential of HAPPI (Hemostatic Agents via Polymer Peptide Interfusion), a polymer-peptide conjugate developed by Professor Samir Mitragotri and his team that selectively targets damaged blood vessels and activated platelets to accelerate clotting at a bleeding site.
Stuart Vik (MBA 2022), a molecular biologist and U.S. Navy veteran with a background in healthcare investment banking and corporate development, began his career advising on transactions across the life sciences sector before pursuing his MBA. As a Blavatnik Biomedical Accelerator Venture Fellow, Stuart evaluated the commercialization potential of HAPPI (Hemostatic Agents via Polymer Peptide Interfusion), a polymer-peptide conjugate developed by Professor Samir Mitragotri and his team that selectively targets damaged blood vessels and activated platelets to accelerate clotting at a bleeding site. Most recently, he joined Bain & Company as a consultant, where he focuses on serving healthcare private equity clients. Stuart holds a bachelor's degree in molecular biology from California Polytechnic State University and an MBA from Harvard Business School.
2020 - 2021
Belen Vicente Blazquez, MBA
Belen is Chief Operating Officer and a founding employee of Comanche Biopharma, responsible for ensuring operational excellence across the organization. She drives priority projects in the development program, financial planning, supply chain operations and business development strategies. She also played a key role building and executing Comanche's CMC program.
Belen is Chief Operating Officer and a founding employee of Comanche Biopharma, responsible for ensuring operational excellence across the organization. She drives priority projects in the development program, financial planning, supply chain operations and business development strategies. She also played a key role building and executing Comanche's CMC program. Prior to Comanche, she led the valuation strategy of the R&D portfolio at AskBio, negotiated gene therapy partnerships and contributed to the due diligence and acquisition by Bayer for $4Bn. During her time as a Blavatnik venture fellow, she worked on the creation and development plans for gene therapy and new biomaterials ventures.
Belen combines a solid bioengineering background with extensive expertise in life science strategy, having executed numerous deals, corporate initiatives, competitive intelligence and market entry during her tenure at McKinsey & Company and ISDIN. She has served as an advisor in the creation of new drugs and diagnostic ventures at the Blavatnik Accelerator, at Boston Children's Hospital and as Leader of MIT's Healthcare entrepreneurship Sector.