BioBlast

Neal Piper is the Founder and CEO of Luminoah, a MedTech company focused on improving the lives of enteral nutrition patients through the development of an innovative hardware and software system.
Prior to starting Luminoah, Neal had a successful career in the healthcare industry, starting at Pfizer's Neuroscience Division and later serving as President of the Global Health Fellows Alumni Business Network. He has also worked as a Global Malaria Advisor for Pfizer's Emerging Markets Division and helped expand the sales and distribution program in 18 countries at Population Services International.
In addition to his work at Luminoah, Neal has founded several other startups, including a home healthcare company and a non-profit organization. He is passionate about using technology to improve healthcare and making a positive impact on communities around the world.

Heather Ahlborn is an experienced management professional in the Healthcare and Life Sciences industry, specializing in developing and executing business and technology strategies to drive growth. She has held various commercial, strategy and marketing roles of increasing responsibility across the Merck Millipore / MilliporeSigma organization.
She has also served as the Market Growth Leader for Gore BioPharma, Head of Research and Drug Development IT&S at Cephalon and as a Senior Managing Consultant for IBM’s Global Business Services, Pharmaceutical and Life Sciences Practice. Heather has 15+ years of industry and consulting experience developing successful business strategies that lead to increased growth, productivity, and compliance.

On this episode of BioBlast, Devin Zitelman interviews Morgan Berman, the Executive Director of Life Science Cares Philadelphia.
Morgan is an internationally recognized and award-winning serial-entrepreneur. She serves as the Executive Director of Life Science Cares Philadelphia and is the Founder of two companies, the first is a mobile app platform for nonprofits called MilkCrate and her newest venture, Glitter, is cleaning up the litter in residential communities while hiring people with barriers to work. She is a community leader with a passion for impact serving on multiple nonprofits boards.
She has presented at Forbes 30 Under 30, was listed by the UN Foundation as one of the "Top 10 Female Entrepreneurs to Watch" in the world and invited to the White House for Clean Energy Plan talks. She has been a World Economic Forum Global Shaper, a Fellow at the Ariane de Rothschild Fellowship, honored by the United Way of Greater Philadelphia and an Environmental Leadership Program Senior Fellow.
She regularly travels the country sharing her story as a female tech founder, B Corp leader, and jiu jitsu fighter. Some of her favorites have been presenting at Grace Hopper, keynoting for Wharton's Social Impact Summit, and giving the Cum Laude speech at her high school alma mater.
In her free time she mentors young entrepreneurs, helps other mission driven groups, and competes in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu.

On this episode of BioBlast, Devin Zitelman interviews Melina Blees, head of BioLabs Philadelphia.
Melina is a results-focused leader with a collaborative attitude, an innovator’s outlook, and rigorous research training. She has wide-ranging experience leading teams, building programs, and tackling organizational development challenges at startups, large companies, and major research universities. Melina has been a wide-reaching collaborative member of the Philadelphia life science ecosystem since 2018.

On this episode of BioBlast, Devin Zitelman interviews Audrey Greenberg, Co-founder and Executive of SK Pharmteco.
Selected as one of the Top Trailblazers in Biotech, Audrey has a strong track record of building life science companies through capital attraction, strategic relationships, novel technologies, and top-tier management teams. She has launched and scaled several startups now with multi-billion dollar valuations. Audrey has two decades of executive leadership expertise spanning across functions from CFO to CSO to CBO and is a renowned expert in Cell and Gene Therapy, outsource manufacturing, and building innovation hubs.

On this episode of BioBlast, Devin Zitelman interviews Joseph Truitt, CEO of iEcure Inc. Joseph Truitt currently serves as the CEO and Board member of iECURE Inc.
Mr. Truitt previously was CEO of BioSpecifics Technologies Corp., which was recently acquired by Endo Pharmaceuticals. Prior to BioSpecifics, Mr. Truitt was CEO of Achillion Pharmaceuticals, which he joined in 2009 and held positions of increasing responsibility throughout his tenure. Mr. Truitt is Chairman of the board at Larimar Therapeutics and serves on the board of Code BioTherapeutics. Mr. Truitt served as a Captain in the United States Marine Corps. He holds an MBA from Saint Joseph’s University and a BS from LaSalle University.

On this episode of BioBlast, Devin Zitelman interviews Dr. Tia Lyles-Williams, Founder, Black Latin-X Indigenous Institutes of Health.
A 3x Life Science Start-Up Founder / Biotech Executive with 23+ years of Commercial Life Science experience - including cGLP Laboratory Operations, cGMP Bioprocessing Operations and Global Regulatory Affairs. Dr.Tia is also an alum of Howard University (BSc.), Full Sail University, (M.S.) and University Southern California (MRSc.). Her former employers include the U.S. Federal Government and Big Pharma, i.e. NIH, WRAIR, GSK, Amgen, Baxalta and Lonza. On May 12, 2022 Tia Lyles-Williams was conferred with a Doctorate of Science (D.Sc.) from the Sidney Kimmel Medical College at Thomas Jefferson University.
As an African-American Woman and member of the LGBTQ community, Dr. Tia is the 1st to own and lead a Biotechnology/Biopharmaceutical Manufacturing company - 69 years after Dr. Percy Lavon Julian and his company, Julian Laboratories, Inc. (1953) in the historic Oak Park, IL. Dr. Percy Lavon Julian was the 1st African-American to own and lead a biotechnology/biopharmaceutical company.
As the founder and CEO of both LucasPye BIO and HelaPlex, Dr. Tia was named a "Unicorn" by Philadelphia Magazines (2020); and most recently, recognized as a 2021 Forbes NEXT Honoree and a member of Inc. Magazine's 2021 Female Founders 100.

On this episode of BioBlast, Devin Zitelman interviews Rebecca L. Grant, Director, Life Sciences & Biotechnology, City of Philadelphia.
Rebecca has many years' experience with clinical & research procedures, as well as directing and managing laboratories. Additionally skilled with recruiting and managing people. Currently working for the great City of Philadelphia in the Dept of Commerce: economic development, business attraction and retention, business development.

On this episode of BioBlast, Devin Zitelman interviews Ben Doranz, President and CEO, Integral Molecular.
Ben co-founded Integral Molecular in 2001. He has led all aspects of the company’s growth since its inception, bringing 5 different technologies from research to market and growing the company into a profitable commercial entity. He is an inventor on over 10 of the company’s patents, the principal investigator on over 30 NIH grants, and an author on over 100 publications, including articles published in Cell, Science, and Nature.
Ben is an established life science entrepreneur, previously responsible for directing the biotechnology program at the Port of Technology business incubator in Philadelphia and helping create startups at the Center for Technology Transfer at the University of Pennsylvania. He earned a Ph.D. in Cell and Molecular Biology at the University of Pennsylvania, where he led the discovery of the coreceptor CCR5 for HIV. He holds an MBA from the Wharton School of Business, where he co-founded the Penn Biotech Group and won the Wharton business plan competition, and a B.A. from Cornell University.

On this episode of BioBlast, Devin Zitelman interviews Susan Dillon, PhD the president and CEO of Aro Biotherapeutics.
Sue Dillon is a co-founder of Aro Biotherapeutics, focused on Centyrins, a unique protein platform designed to enable optimized delivery of multiple drug payloads including nucleic acid and genetic therapeutics for diseases with high unmet need.
Sue earned her Ph.D. in Microbiology and Immunology from Thomas Jefferson University, Philadelphia and completed an NIH-sponsored postdoctoral fellowship in Immunology at Duke University. Sue has published over 50 scientific articles and is inventor on six issued patents.
In 2007, Sue was awarded the Distinguished Alumni Award from Thomas Jefferson University and in 2013 Sue was selected by FierceBiotech as one of the “Top Women in Biotech.”