About
Strategy & Business Development Professional
Determined to Transform Healthcare through Digital Innovation
- Location: Antwerp, Belgium
- Subject-matter Expertise: Bioinformatics, Cancer & RNA Biology
- Advocacy: Equality, Diversity & Inclusion
- Email: [email protected]
- Degree: PhD
- Interests: Entrepreneurship & Management
With over eight years of experience in bioinformatics across Europe and the United States, I have led initiatives driving growth through strategic partnerships and innovative service launches. My journey began as a biologist and a self-taught programmer, evolving into a career shaped by the demands of cancer genetics and RNA science.
I’m passionate about merging technical expertise with business strategy to advance digital solutions that push boundaries in healthcare & (bio)tech. Additionally, I’m a strong advocate for Equality, Diversity, and Inclusion, believing that diverse perspectives are key to unlocking talent and innovation.
My strengths: Establishing Partnerships, Cross-functional Team Leadership, Strategic Business Development, Agile Project Management, Advanced Bioinformatics
Facts
I excel at analyzing and interpreting complex data from various sources to extract actionable insights that drive strategic decisions. I am passionate about transforming data patterns into compelling narratives, ensuring accuracy, completeness, and adherence to ethical standards. I firmly believe in the power of data visualization to simplify complexity and unlock valuable insights. My standards have been shaped thanks to the following experiences:
Publications in scientific journals, international conferences, and preprint servers. Check them outhere!
Years Of Experience working in multicultural & diverse teams
Languages. Fluent in English & Greek, Conversational in German, Learning French & Dutch
Countries I have worked and lived in: Greece, France, Germany, the United States and recently relocated to Belgium!
Skills
Business Development
- Strategic planning and execution
- Technology transfer
- Partnership development
- Market analysis and go-to-market strategy
- Marketing and sales operations
- Fundraising and venture capital
- Due diligence & negotiation
- Investment policies
- Deal flow management
Communication & Leadership
- Strong networking skills
- Eloquent public speaker and presenter
- Balance of a team player and thoughtful leader
- Cross-functional team leadership
Project management
- Agile project management (Asana, Monday) and CRM platforms (Hubspot, Salesforce)
- Report generation through Hubspot, Tableau and custom methods
Programming & Technology
- Expert in: R, R-Studio & Data Visualization
- Advanced in: Cloud Computing, Bash/Shell, HPC
- Code management with Git and VS Code
- Understand and reproduce HTML, Python and SQL
- Familiar with ML and Gen-AI methods and tools
Operating Systems & Software
- Unix/Linux CLI, MacOS & Windows
- High-end user of Google Workspace and MS office
Experimental expertise
- Dataset generation, validation of data-driven predictions and proof-of-concept design
- Methods/Techniques: Cell culture, DNA/RNA/protein handling, CRISPR-Cas9 gene editing, mRNA editing, Molecular cloning, Flow cytometry, HPLC-DAD
Resume
Professional Experience
Solvuu, Inc., New York, NY
Aug 2024 - Present
Head of Business Development
- Leading strategic growth initiatives in the US and Europe
- Establishing strategic relationships
- Overseeing marketing and sales operations
- Coordinating teams to enable product and service development.
- Brand visibility & lead generation
- Guidance on business decisions
Jul 2023 - Jul 2024
Bioinformatics Scientist
- Bioinformatics consultant for biotech companies
- Collaboration with bioinformaticians and software engineers
- Cloud computing (AWS), HPC and Gen-AI deployment
- Agile project management
- Marketing, Sales & Business Development
The Mount Sinai Hospital, New York, NY
Jan 2022 - Jul 2023
Postdoctoral Research Fellow
- Big data processing, analysis and visualization in Multiple Myeloma
- Grant writing & student supervision
German Cancer Research Center (DKFZ), Heidelberg, Germany
Aug 2017 - Dec 2021
Doctoral Researcher
- Data analyses from patients and biological models to study genetics & epitranscriptomics alterations in various cancers
- Data modeling study about the evolution of coronavirus variants early on in COVID-19 pandemic
- Scientific writing & publishing
- Key data analyst and study design consultant in 5 international collaborations
- Presentations in iternational conferences
- Student supervision & mentoring
European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL), Heidelberg, Germany
Sep 2016 - Aug 2017
Visiting Scientist
- Applied algorithms for disease modeling in personalized medicine of resistant bacterial infections
- Trained under the supervision of executives at Bayer Pharma for effective leadership and communications. See Otto Bayer Fellowship award.
Honors, Awards & Highlights
1st CAROTS Startup School
2021
Chosen as one of the top 10 applicants by the program "CAROTS" (DESY, Hamburg, Germany); attended their inaugural startup school. During the 6-month program, training was undergone to translate scientific ideas into products and to gain practical knowledge in business development and management.
'Fotis Kafatos' Greek National Award for Excellence in Science
2018
Award finalist and invitation to speak at the University of Athens, Greece. Nominated by a third-party institute within my field of research.
Otto Bayer Fellowship
2016
Recipient of the Otto-Bayer Fellowship by the Bayer Foundations, Germany (25 awards, 500 international applicants), which funded my research at EMBL-Heidelberg, Germany (2016-2017).
Education
MBA Essentials
Nov 2024 - Feb 2025
The London School of Economics & Political Science, London, UK
10-week rigorous certificate course building business administration skills in strategic leadership, economics, competitive strategy, finance, and organizational behavior.
Doctorate of Natural Sciences & Mathematics
Aug 2017 - Nov 2021
University of Heidelberg, Germany
Thesis: Collateral genomic damage due to aberrant RNA editing activity in cancer
Distinction: Magna Cum Laude
Bachelor of Sciences
Oct 2012 - Sep 2016
Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Greece
Major: Molecular Biology, Genetics & Biotechnology
Minor courses: Mathematics & Statistics, Economy
Thesis: Identification of bacteriocins upon qualitative and quantitative amino-acid composition analyses with HPLC and Bioinformatics
Internships at CNRS-Montpellier, France (2014), EMBL-Heidelberg, Germany (2015), CERTH-Thessaloniki, Greece (2016)
First-Class Honors
Professional Certificates
Google Data Analytics Certificate
Oct - Dec 2022
Skills: Data Aggregation, Data Analytics, Data Calculations, Data Cleaning, Data Ethics, Data Visualization, Presentations, Problem Solving, R, Spreadsheets, SQL, Structured Thinking
Data Security & HIPAA training
Nov 2022
CITI Program
Skills: Data management and best practices for security of Private Health Information (PHI)
Volunteer work
Student & Graduate Mentoring
2017-Today
Pro bono mentor to students and young science graduates from underrepresented groups. Activity in Germany, the United States and Greece.
Code It Like a Girl
2015-2016
Community manager of femtech NGO ‘Code It Like a Girl’. Represented the organization with a team of 15 other volunteers at TEDx Thessaloniki, Greece in 2016.
Bio AUTh Team (BAT)
2014-2016
Co-founder and communications manager of student group ‘Bio AUTh Team’ (45 active members) in Thessaloniki, Greece. Co-organized awareness events about HIV prevention, climate change & women in STEM.
Contact
I am always eager to brainstorm and discuss ideas about science, exciting new products, or simply how we can make this world a better place! Feel free to get in touch via email or social media.
Current Location:
Antwerp Metropolitan Area, Belgium