Entrepreneurs-in-Residence (EIR) Team Continues Growth With National Institutes of Health (NIH)
ROCKVILLE, MARYLAND, May 30, 2023 – BioHealth Innovation Inc. (BHI) proudly welcomes Claire Leurent, Ph.D. MBA, to its expanding Entrepreneurs-in-Residence (EIR) team. As part of BHI’s commitment to advancing disruptive technologies in healthcare, the Entrepreneur-in-Residence Program ensures that these innovations receive the necessary resources to transition from discovery to commercialization and make a measurable impact on human health. Claire will collaborate with the NIH Seed Program, supporting scientists, early-stage startups, and licensed technologies.
“We are excited to have Claire Leurent join our EIR team as we continue our collaboration with the National Institutes of Health,” said Richard Bendis, President and CEO of BHI. “Claire’s extensive expertise in venture capital investment and drug development perfectly aligns with our mission to drive innovation and transformative healthcare solutions.”
With a venture capital investor background and hands-on experience leading drug development from scientific discovery to registration studies, Claire Leurent is driven by her passion for science and dedication to improving lives through transformative technologies and business models. Her dynamic perspective and commitment to progress make her an invaluable addition to the BHI team.
Claire earned her Ph.D. in molecular and cellular biology from the Institute of Genetics, Molecular and Cellular Biology (IGBMC) in Strasbourg Illkirch-Graffenstaden, France, in 2002. Throughout her 14-year career in drug development, she held various roles, including Project Manager at Forenap Pharma and Senior Clinical Scientist at Wyeth Pharmaceutical in Paris, where she contributed to global phase 3 registration trials and new product launches in women’s health and neuroscience. Her journey continued at Pfizer Research and Development in Groton, CT, and Cambridge, MA, where she led teams in designing and executing clinical plans for small molecules, biologics, and digital biomarker technologies, from first-in-human studies to proof of concept.
Claire’s passion for the business aspects of innovation led her to pursue an MBA at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Sloan, which equipped her with a broader technological reach and a deep understanding of corporate venture investment. She honed her investment skills at Samsung Venture America, focusing on deploying capital in the Life Science, Health Economics, and Connected Health sectors. Subsequently, she joined JJDC, the investment team serving Johnson & Johnson, where she focused on various pharmaceutical areas, including neurosciences, oncology, infectious diseases and vaccines, cardiovascular and renal diseases, ophthalmology, immunology, inflammation, and emerging modalities like small/large molecules, cell/gene therapy, RNA and RNA-targeting, AI/ML, and quantum computing.
Claire Leurent’s extensive experience and multidimensional expertise make her a valuable asset in BHI’s mission to accelerate biohealth commercialization and foster innovation in the healthcare industry.
About BioHealth Innovation, Inc.
BioHealth Innovation, Inc. (BHI) is a public-private nonprofit organization focused on accelerating biohealth (therapeutic, diagnostic, medtech, and health IT) commercialization in the BioHealth Capital Region (Maryland, DC, and Virginia).
For more information: www.BioHealthInnovation.org
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Media contacts:
Rich Bendis
Phone: 301-637-6439, email: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.