Celdara Medical, LLC today announced that the National Institute of Aging’s Research and Entrepreneurial Development Immersion (REDI) initiative has awarded an R25 Entrepreneurship Enhancement Award to fund the company’s comprehensive training program focused on Alzheimer’s Disease: the Alzheimer’s-focused Celdara Medical High-Potential Entrepreneurs’ Fellowship (A-CHEF). This project builds on Celdara Medical’s Biomedical Industry Fellowship that promotes entrepreneurial skills development in biotech for senior graduate students and postdoctoral fellows.
The A-CHEF program will train rising scientists in biomedical entrepreneurship and drug development. Through formal mentorship from the Celdara team and engaging with actual business opportunities, Fellows create individual development plans and harness skills in due diligence, preclinical development, intellectual property, regulatory, financing, competitive intelligence, and scientific communication.
Celdara Medical (CM) is an entrepreneurial biotech company that builds academic innovations into high-potential therapeutics. The A-CHEF program provides valuable training and career development for biomedical scientists, expands the Alzheimer’s research workforce, and advances Alzheimer’s therapeutic development.
Dr. Julie Coleman, Principal Investigator, and leader of Celdara’s Fellowship Programs, describes the program as follows, “The Fellowship Program at Celdara Medical is a win-win-win: patients win as the Fellows identify promising novel therapeutics for preclinical and clinical development; Fellows win as they gain a wide range of skills critical for their career advancement; and Celdara wins as we teach and learn from the exceptional participants in the program. I am thrilled to have the opportunity to expand the program with an Alzheimer’s-focused cohort given the devastation caused by this disease and the lack of effective therapeutics.” Coleman directs Fellowship cohorts in in-person, hybrid, and remote settings, making this program accessible to fellows from across the USA. Importantly, as paid positions, the A-CHEF program and other Celdara fellowships promote accessibility as Fellows complete their academic degrees.
By the end of the program, Fellows will have completed due diligence on numerous Alzheimer’s-relevant therapeutics and completed a funding and development plan (preclinical to clinical) for one or more of the most promising. They will also receive individualized training and present it to the Celdara Medical team and other partners for potential engagement and/or investment.
Previous Biomedical Industry Fellowship Opportunity Fellow, Kamran Tariq, PhD describes his experience as “an ideal opportunity for aspiring biotech entrepreneurs who are passionate about bringing academic innovations to market.” Blessing Akobundu, another recent Fellow, adds, “The Fellowship program at Celdara is a great opportunity to learn about and actively engage in identifying exciting and innovative research with the potential of improving human health.” Speaking on the combination of research and entrepreneurial training, she notes that, “Fellows in the program gain exposure to the business aspect that helps to push science beyond the bench.” Tariq has recently completed his doctoral dissertation at Dartmouth College and will be joining Celdara full time in September; Akobundu is preparing to defend her thesis in December at Brown University.
Funding for this award has been provided by Alzheimer’s Disease Initiative funds and is supported by the National Institute On Aging of the National Institutes of Health under Award Number R25AG078135.
About Celdara Medical, LLC
Celdara Medical was founded by Drs. Jake Reder and Michael Fanger in 2008 and is headquartered at the Dartmouth Regional Technology Center (DRTC) in Lebanon, NH. Celdara Medical builds academic and early-stage innovations into high-potential medical companies, identifying discoveries of exceptional value at the earliest stages and moving them toward the market. Celdara Medical partners with inventors and their institutions, providing the developmental, financial, and business acumen required to bridge discovery and profitability. With robust funding options, a diverse and high impact Programmatic pipeline, and partnerships with world-class academic institutions and industry leaders, Celdara Medical navigates all aspects of a complex industry, accelerating science to improve human health. Further information about Celdara Medical is available at celdaramedical.com.