Michael Fenn, Ph.D. is the Director of Healthcare & Life Sciences at Harvard Innovation Labs. He is tasked with advising all healthcare and life science ventures with a focus on supporting Harvard founders, which include students, research fellows, faculty & alumni. Dr. Fenn also leads the planning of the Life Lab Longwood, a new translational biotech incubator at Harvard Medical School, and a foundational component of the $200M Blavatnik Therapeutics Initiative. Dr. Fenn serves as a leader of entrepreneurship & innovation within the Harvard life science community, as well as acting as liaison to the surrounding Boston-area life science ecosystem. He is particularly passionate about bridging the gap between academic research and startup ventures, having worked extensively in both, and currently supporting several Harvard initiatives to expand the translation of science from bench-to-beside. Having served as cofounder & advisor for multiple startups, his efforts have resulted in $30M in venture funding, graduation from Y-Combinator, FDA clearance, strategic partnerships, intellectual property creation, and successful acquisition.
Dr. Fenn was formerly an NIH-funded Assistant Professor of Biomedical Engineering and Director of the Center for Medical Materials & Biophotonics at Florida Institute of Technology. Dr. Fenn has a diverse research background, which includes biomaterials, nanomaterials, tissue engineering & regenerative medicine, drug delivery, advanced spectroscopy, and machine learning, with applications in biotech, medical devices, and diagnostics. Dr. Fenn received his Ph.D. in Biomedical Engineering, M.S. in Materials Science and Engineering, and B.S. in Chemistry/Biochemistry, all from the University of Florida.