MILEAD NEWS
On February 25, 2022, miLEAD board members Ish Mawla (President) and Ellie Frydendall (Vice President) participated in the MedTech Crossroads webinar with Gene Parunak from in2being. Ish and Ellie got the opportunity to share their miLEAD journey, discuss the type of work miLEAD does for its clients, and talk about the methodology employed by our consultants to accomplish client goals. Watch the webinar here, the discussion starts around 8:40.
Christina Lee
Christina Lee is a PhD student in Biomedical Engineering and miLEAD project manager with experience in performing primary research in multiple industries.
KATHRYN HILDE
Kathryn Hilde is a post-doctoral fellow at the Michigan Neuroscience Institute and miLEAD consultant with experience in performing primary and secondary research for medical device and biotech companies.
Brittany Rodriguez, Ph.D.
Brittany was a former board member and president of miLEAD, and is now a Consultant for Bain & Co.
After a pandemic-related hiatus, miLEAD brought back its annual holiday party tradition, which took place at Vinology on the evening of Wed, Dec 15. miLEAD is pleased to announce that we are celebrating one of the strongest years to date! We want to thank all our consultants, project managers, and board of directors for their hard work and dedication this year. Happy holidays to everyone and we are looking forward to another record year in 2022!
Major milestones for our organization in 2021:
Staffed 19 projects (the highest number in company history since our inception in 2014)
Promoted 13 stellar consultants to the project manager (PM) position
Recruited 40 new consultants from diverse backgrounds
3 miLEAD teams placed in top 3 at national & international case competitions
Rebranded professional development grants and awarded 16 grants to members of our organization
Hosted 23 social and professional development events (including recruitment events with top consulting firms)
Established connections with graduate consulting organizations at other top universities, namely WiSolve and BALSA
Rejuvenated connections with the local business community (including Mi-HQ, A2 SPARK, Innovation Partnerships, etc.)
Created new marketing materials and improved web presence (website overhaul, twitter creation, etc.)
Introduced a case component for new member recruitment
WAYNE HAWKINS
Wayne Hawkins is a Ph.D. student in Molecular, Cellular, and Developmental Biology and miLEAD consultant with experience in quantifying the size of potential markets, assessing competitors through the compilation of clinical trial data, and identifying a potential acquisition strategy.
miLEAD is thrilled to congratulate the winning team for the highly competitive 2021 Penn Healthcare Case Competition (PHCC). The first place team consisted of miLEAD members Wayne Hawkins (consultant), Shree Padma Metur (consultant), Fabienne Birkle (consultant), Sydney Smith (Director of Finance), and Ishtiaq Mawla (President). The case prompt included assisting a small U.S. biotech company with pricing, go-to-market strategy, distribution, and commercialization of a novel gene therapy product for the rare disease, Hemophilia A. The organizing committee at the University of Pennsylvania received 44 team applications (with nearly 200 individuals) from 17 prestigious universities nationwide, such as UMich, UPenn, Columbia, Harvard, MIT, Yale, UCLA, and UCSD. Of the 44 teams, 17 teams made it to the first round, and 6 teams made it to the finals, which took place virtually this past weekend on Sat, Nov 13. Judges included consultants from ClearView Healthcare Partners, PRECISIONadvisors, ZS, and faculty members from the Wharton School at UPenn.
Great work and congratulations to the participating miLEAD members!
miLEAD Consulting is excited to announce the completion of two collaborative projects with startups Throdle and MyAutO2 who won Ann Arbor SPARK’s spring entrepreneur boot camp. We thank our project managers Yuan Li and Drew Marquis who led these projects and all the staffed consultants who worked tirelessly to help our clients achieve their business goals! Check out Ann Arbor SPARK's coverage of this great collaboration here.
If you are a startup or entrepreneur looking for business consulting services, please reach out to our organization via clientservices@milead.org. We would love to set up a time to chat and see how we can help you out!
On October 26th, miLEAD hosted a webinar with Tom Caravela, host of the popular MSL Talk podcast and Managing Partner at The Carolan Group, about how PhD candidates and postdocs can land a highly-sought-after Medical Science Liaison (MSL) role. Tom started off the highly informative webinar by discussing how PhDs should be able to effectively answer "Why do you want to be an MSL?". Every candidate should have a strong reason for entering the MSL industry and he recommended candidates to highlight their scientific value proposition in their answer. Tom strongly advised candidates to improve their digital brand (using platforms such as LinkedIn) by making regular connections and networking with industry players. Tom walked everyone through a sample resume for PhDs, and recommended applicants to tailor their resume to include keywords found in MSL roles, such as highlighting strong communication and presentation skills. Getting a foot in the door is a huge advantage for MSL positions and Tom is an advocate for networking to land an MSL position, as opposed to applying blindly through online job postings. Lastly, Tom touched on therapeutically-focused research roles and how they might be a good opportunity to break into a future MSL role within the same company.
miLEAD offers annual professional development grants to current members for use towards professional development activities, such as attending the MSL Society Conference which is taking place in Las Vegas on December 12th - 14th. More information on the professional development grant can be found here. If current members want to see more speakers like Tom, email events@milead.org with ideas and suggestions!
Lloyd Ruiz
Lloyd Ruiz is a Ph.D. student in Molecular and Integrative Physiology and miLEAD consultant with experience in performing market analyses, contributing to white papers, and conduct primary research with clinicians to produce high-quality client facing deliverables.
On October 2nd, the 2021 Henrietta Lacks Health Equity Case Competition at the University of Michigan took place virtually. After putting in hours of preparation, teams provided innovative solutions to address health disparities in a variety of settings. Our team, consisting of miLEAD members Wayne Hawkins, Tyler McCullough, Shree Padma Metur, Zachary Reese, and Sydney Smith, placed third overall in the competition, beating 50 other teams. Our team remained competitive with teams from UC Berkeley, Yale, and other top institutions across three continents.
Great work and congratulations to miLEAD members who participated!
A snapshot of the winning miLEAD team: Wayne Hawkins, Tyler McCullough, Shree Padma Metur, Zachary Reese, and Sydney Smith.
The team’s winning case presentation on health equity.
Katarina DiLillo
Katarina is a Ph.D. student in Biomedical Engineering and miLEAD consultant with experience improving marketing strategies and using primary research to collect data from key opinion leaders for startup companies.
Tyler McCullough
Tyler is a Ph.D. student in Biological Chemistry and a miLEAD consultant with experience researching and assessing a variety of markets for both new and returning clients.
Kaylee Steen, Ph.D.
Kaylee was on the Board of Directors of miLEAD and is now a Program Manager for a Brain Cancer Initiative through the University of Michigan.
Allyson Munneke
Allyson is a Ph.D. student in the Cellular and Molecular Biology Program and miLEAD consultant who is leading a team to assess specialized therapeutics markets.
Minjun Jin
Minjun is a Ph.D. student in the Biophysics Department and miLEAD consultant who conducted primary research for a biotechnology company specializing in biodetection technology.
Noah Nelson, MPH
Noah is a PhD student in Molecular and Integrative Physiology and miLEAD consultant who worked with a St. Louis based biotechnology company to provide primary research for biodetection technology.
miLEAD is hosting four alumni to participate in an interactive career panel for current consultants on Tuesday, May 4th. The alumni will be discussing their experience in a variety of positions as a medical science liaison, data scientist, project manager, and consultant, while answering questions from participants. This is a great opportunity for career exploration and networking with highly successful individuals who can provide great insight on how to prepare for a career outside academia.
Scott Campit
Scott is a PhD student in the Program in Chemical Biology and miLEAD consultant who worked with a local life science consulting firm on proteomics market analysis.
Christopher Davidson
Christopher is a PhD student in Biomedical Engineering and miLEAD consultant who has worked on a number of diverse projects investigating robotics, wound-healing, and more.
Michigan Life Sciences Engineering Advising and Development Consulting Group (miLEAD) is a nonprofit organization devoted to developing graduate students and postdoctoral fellows into successful young professionals in the fields of biotechnology, engineering, consulting, and beyond. All support directly benefits our team and our mission by funding the professional development of members in our organization. We thank you for your support.
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