Christopher Ghadban is an MBA Candidate majoring in Healthcare Management at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania. In addition to pursuing his MBA, he is juggling several roles in the early innovation space. These include his Venture Fellowship with Alix Ventures; consulting with VC firms and startups such as Rejuvenate Bio, Third Rock Ventures, Ensoma, and GeneGuard; assisting the City of Philadelphia as they seek to build their life science ecosystem; developing an executive leadership program with Wharton and McKinsey for early-career professionals in healthcare; advising the launch of Nucleate, a national program for translating academic life science innovation out of academia; and launching a biotech startup in sustainability/clean tech.
Prior to beginning at Wharton, Chris was Senior Strategy & Innovation Associate with AstraZeneca's Emerging Innovations Unit. This role involved a combination of developing and launching innovation strategy; conducting search and evaluation of early-stage, high potential bio-innovations and establishing collaborative research projects for catalysis; and leading engagement with the global, biopharma entrepreneurial ecosystem.
Before joining AstraZeneca, Chris operated as an independent consultant for over a dozen emerging and established biotechnology and technology companies. The experience enabled broad exposure to numerous functional roles, during which Chris ensured client success by designing and implementing organic growth, business development, product development, and operational effectiveness strategies.
Chris attended Tufts University, completing degrees in MS Bioengineering (’17) and BS Chemical Engineering and Biotechnology Engineering (’14). While at Tufts, he co-founded Tufts Synthetic Biology, an independent organization that enables undergraduates to step into the roles of research project design and execution while considering the commercial, social, and ethical implications of their work. Chris continues to advise emerging life science leaders as a mentor with programs such as Nucleate, iGEM, GapSummit, MassBio, Kickstart Carolina, and the NCI’s SBIR Program.
In his spare time Chris can be found creating new recipes, exploring used bookstores, filling his sketchbook, and advising new and growing ventures.