Other Advisors
Rashid Bashir, PhD
Academic Co-Founder and Advisor
Rashid Bashir is Professor of Bioengineering, the Grainger Distinguished Chair in Engineering, and is currently the Dean of Grainger College of Engineering at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. He was a member of the core founding team for the Carle Illinois College of Medicine. He was a faculty member at Purdue University, where he started his academic career. Prior to that he spent 6 years at National Semiconductor Corporation commercializing analog and RF chip manufacturing technologies. In 2018, he received the Pritzker Distinguished Lectureship Award from BMES. He is a member of the Executive Committee on the Chan Zuckerberg Biohub Chicago. He has authored or co-authored over 300 journal papers and has been granted over 60 patents. He is a fellow of IEEE, BMES, AIMBE, APS, IAMBE, NAI, RSC, and AAAS. He is academic co-founder of Prenosis, Inc. and VedaBio, Inc. In 2023, he was elected to the National Academy of Medicine. He received his B.S. degree in Electrical Engineering from Texas Tech University and his M.S and Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering from Purdue University.
Suzanne A. Lebold, PhD
Former Vice President, Abbvie
Currently advising biopharma clients in business development, strategy, and licensing and acquisition matters, Suzy’s corporate career spanned almost three decades at Abbott and AbbVie before retiring from her position as Vice President, Business Development & Acquisitions focused on Immunology. She held that role since the pharmaceutical division of Abbott was spun off to create AbbVie in January 2013. Prior to that time, Suzy was Divisional Vice President in the Pharmaceutical Licensing & Acquisitions team at Abbott and Divisional Vice President leading the Licensing & Acquisitions team for Abbott Nutrition. She held roles of increasing responsibility in Abbott’s Pharmaceutical Division’s Technology Licensing Group, in its Hospital Products Division, initially as Director, Licensing & Acquisitions, then leading the Acute Care Hospital Pharmaceutical Marketing team, and returning to the Pharmaceutical Group in 2001 to head the Scientific Assessment / Technology Licensing team. She received her A.B. in chemistry with honors from Wellesley College, her M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in chemistry from Northwestern University.
Sean Murphy
Former Head of Corporate M&A and Business Development, Abbott
Sean was previously the Executive Vice President of Malin Life Sciences Holding, a publicly traded investment company. Sean was a co-founder of Malin, which has invested approximately $500M of capital across 18 companies that include pharmaceuticals, medical devices, and healthcare services. Prior to that, he was a Senior Advisor at Evercore Partners, a leading investment-banking advisory firm. Prior to his most recent endeavors, Sean was the Head of Corporate M&A and Business Development at Abbott Laboratories. He played a leading role in a number of strategic investments, totaling an excess of $35B, along with running a number of its businesses, during his 30-year career at Abbott.
Edward Ogunro, PhD
Former Senior Vice President and CSO, Hospira / Corporate Vice President, Abbott
Ed served as the Chief Scientific Officer and Senior VP of Research & Development and Regulatory Affairs at Hospira for four years. Prior to that, he was the Corporate VP of Hospital Products Research & Development at Abbott Laboratories, and served in a number of leadership positions over 20 years with Abbott, primarily in Abbott’s Diagnostics Division.
Maria Siambekos (Board Observer)
Healthcare Technology Executive
Maria Siambekos is a healthcare technology executive with more than 25 years of diverse business experience in Fortune 10 and VC/PE backed organizations. She has served as CEO, President, and COO of multiple growth stage Healthcare IT enterprise SaaS-based companies resulting in multiple successful exits. She has also held numerous leadership roles at GE Healthcare and Hospira in commercial, product, strategy, integration, and M&A. Maria began her career as clinical scientist at The University of Chicago and as a consultant, where she delivered a breadth of strategic, operational, and clinical technology consulting engagements for hospitals, health systems, and payers. Maria has a B.S. in Biology from Yale University and an MBA from The University of Chicago Booth School of Business.