The Termeer Foundation
U M DONATE

Termeer Foundation Announces Class of 2024 Fellows

Apr 10, 2024

Fellowship Recipients Show Deep Commitment Toward Innovation and Patient-Focused Care 

BOSTON, MA (April 10, 2024) – The Termeer Foundation, a nonprofit organization working to connect and promote the world of healthcare innovators until every patient has a cure, is proud to announce its Class of 2024 Termeer Fellows.

 The Termeer Foundation is committed to continuing Henri Termeer’s legacy of leadership success by infusing and sustaining the pipeline of current and future leaders to increase the probability of solving healthcare’s greatest challenges. The Termeer Fellowship provides first time CEOs the opportunity to participate in a values-driven leadership program, as well as receive mentorship from industry leaders and build their network through access to the Termeer Network. 

“The Termeer Fellowship is more than an award; it embodies the essence of Henri’s commitment to transforming patient-centered care,” said Belinda Termeer, President and Co-Founder of the Termeer Foundation. “This year’s Fellows are not just scientists or entrepreneurs, but trailblazers fueled by a passion to address the most pressing health challenges of our time.

 “We are thrilled to welcome this new class of Termeer Fellows,” said Catharine Smith, Executive Director of the Termeer Foundation. “Now entering the Fellowship’s seventh year, we’re excited to offer our incoming class the support and mentorship they need to be values-driven leaders and to build impactful companies. Our goal is clear: to create a future where every patient has a cure through healthcare innovation. Together, we’re making this vision a reality.”

 The Termeer Foundation received 69 applications for this prestigious program. With the support of Termeer’s selection committee, 15 Fellows were named. “As an alumna of the Fellowship, it was an honor to be a part of selecting the Class of 2024,” said Dr. Minmin Yen, CEO and Co-Founder of PhagePro Inc. and 2020 Termeer Fellow. “Through the values-driven leadership and  professional development training,  mentorship, and network building offered with this opportunity, Fellows will receive a broader understanding of what it means to be a leader and the tools and resources needed to be successful.”

 Please join us in welcoming our 2024 Class of Termeer Fellows:

  • Hanne Callewaert, Co-Founder and CEO of AstriVax
  • Tinashe Chandauka, Co-Founder and CEO of Nandi Life Sciences
  • Ying Kai Chan, Co-Founder and CEO of Cirrus Therapeutics
  • Aaron Edwards, CEO and Co-Founder of KiraGen Bio
  • Floris Engelhardt, Co-Founder and CEO of Kano Therapeutics
  • Manuel Marina Breysse, CEO and Co-Founder of Idoven
  • Natalie Nairn, Co-Founder, CEO, and CSO of Cyclera Therapeutics
  • Nabanita Nawar, CEO and Co-Founder of HDAX Therapeutics
  • Richard Novak, Co-Founder and CEO of Unravel Biosciences
  • Catherine Sabatos-Peyton, CEO of Larkspur Biosciences
  • Shardule Shah, CEO and Co-Founder of Lime Therapeutics
  • Carla Spina, CEO and Co-Founder of Noa Therapeutics
  • Theresa Tribble, CEO of Droplet Biosciences
  • Fernando Vieira, CEO and CSO at the ALS Therapy Development Institute
  • Dan Jing Wu, CEO and Co-Founder, VivArt-X

 

About the Termeer Fellowship Program

The Termeer Fellowship Program supports first-time CEOs who are patient-focused and working to meet an unmet need through innovative science and passion. The support of the Termeer Foundation includes mentoring, networking, and professional development intended to facilitate connections, break down silos, strengthen skill sets, and ultimately enable a diverse array of current and future healthcare leaders who bring much-needed solutions to patients. Termeer Fellows have access to a network of industry leaders and mentors, opportunities for in-person and virtual network building, as well as professional and leadership development programming provided by top executive coaches and leadership development consultants.

 

About The Termeer Foundation

The Termeer Foundation is a nonprofit organization working to connect the world of healthcare innovators until every patient has a cure. The Termeer Foundation  builds and supports an ever-expanding network of biotech entrepreneurs, CEOs, academics, and other innovators because helping people succeed will ultimately help their innovations reach patients. Support includes mentoring, networking, professional development, and financial grants intended to facilitate connections, break down silos, strengthen skill sets, and ultimately enable a diverse array of current and future healthcare leaders who bring much-needed solutions to patients. Find out more about The Termeer Foundation and how you can support, engage with, and join its network at www.termeerfoundation.org or on LinkedIn @TermeerFoundation.

 

For questions about the Termeer Fellowship Program, contact:

Catharine Smith

Executive Director, Termeer Foundation

catharine@termeerfoundation.org

Leadership is about putting people first, especially in biotech. But for first-time CEOs and other biotech executives, that vision can be challenging to achieve while also fulfilling the various other duties their jobs require. Indeed, these trailblazers are working to build a successful company and at the same time improve patients’ lives, often without specific training in how to launch and run a business.

At the Termeer Foundation, we, too, are committed to putting people first by empowering these biotech leaders — through values-driven leadership programs that provide skills competency growth, network-building activities, mentorship, and coaching — to enhance their leadership capacity so they can change the world and deliver lifesaving cures to patients.

This human-centered mission is guided by the life’s work of entrepreneur and biotech executive Henri Termeer, who believed deeply in the power of mentorship and nurtured dozens of leaders throughout his career. Shortly after Henri’s passing, a group of his colleagues sought a way to honor and continue his remarkable legacy. They decided to host a dinner and invited several people who had been mentored by Henri. They also invited a handful of first-time biotech CEOs. At the event, guests were asked to help these emerging leaders — offer support, pick up the phone, give advice. In short: Mentor them as Henri would have mentored them.

 Nobody realized it then, but on that evening in May 2018, the Foundation’s flagship program was born, the Termeer Fellows Program, which now provides support for first-time biotech CEOs and entrepreneurs across the globe. While the current program looks quite different than it did in those early days — for example, this year will include 100 hours of values-driven programming — the core principles of mentorship and connection-building remain constant.

 To date, 61 fellows have completed training through the Termeer Fellows Program. Last year’s class included 13 biotech leaders based in the U.S., Canada, England and the Netherlands; the incoming 2024 class — which stands at 15 — is the largest one yet. Fellows have found the program transformative and say it enabled them to become better CEOs. In addition to gaining skills and connections within the Termeer network, the fellows have discovered support and kinship with peers in their own fellowship cohort — valuable connections they can draw on as they continue on their entrepreneurial journey.

 And it is precisely these entrepreneurial journeys that the Termeer Foundation seeks to influence. By increasing the pipeline of skilled, passionate, effective leaders in biotech, we can cultivate a landscape of companies primed for success and, in turn, create a world that is better for patients.