How To Break Into Careers in Finance & Investing

Monday, May 23, 2022, 5:30 – 6:30 PM CST

Interested in finance careers? Want to learn more about Buy-Side vs. Sell-Side and different roles that exist? Then please join us for the final myCHOICE seminar of the 2021-2022 academic year! Our panelists will talk about their transition from academia to finance, and will provide insight into how to break into the field and what unique skills are required.

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John Barrett, PhD

Analyst, Parkman Healthcare Partners

Dr. Barrett is an Analyst at Parkman Healthcare Partners LLC, where he focuses on the Therapeutics sector. Dr. Barrett has 6+ years of research experience including SVB Leerink, Synlogic, Aspire Capital Partners, Chicago Innovation Exchangeand Institute for Molecular Engineering. John earned his Ph.D. in Molecular Engineering from the University of Chicago and his B.S. in Biomedical Engineering from Boston University. John lives in Boston, Massachusetts with his wife.

Dimitra Georganopoulou, PhD

General Partner, Qral Ventures

Dimitra joined Qral Ventures as a General Partner in 2021, and serves as Chief Business Officer (CBO) in select portfolio companies. She is an experienced biotech professional with deep knowledge of personalized medicine projects, therapeutics. medical devices, diagnostics, and Health IT. She is currently also a member of the Innovation Faculty team forMIT’s LinQ Catalyst program, mentoring and guiding innovators solving health and medical challenges.As part of her venture career she serves as an advisor to the Aim-Hi Accelerator Fund, a technical diligence lead for the Keiretsu Forum Midwest Investments and a Venture Partner for MBx Capital (formerly FundRx), a next-generation of healthcare and life science venture capital firm. Dimitra has deep expertise in Tech Transfer with deep connections with the US innovation ecosystem, as she continues to be a mentor for mHUB’s MedTech Accelerator program, a venture mentor for the Polsky COMPASS program and a venture advisor for the N.Xt Fund .Dimitra is the founder of the WIB-Chicago 3.8 initiative, a flagship program with a mission to place female leaders on startup boards hosted with Women in Bio {WIB}, an organization dedicated to promoting careers, leadership, and entrepreneurship of women in the life sciences.

Joel Fuentes, PhD

Assistant VP, Bank of America

Joel Fuentes received his Ph.D. in Physics from the University of Chicago in 2021. His dissertation research focused on new bubble chamber applications for dark matter detection. He went on to work as a quantitative analyst in the financial services industry. In his current role at Bank of America, he provides business and quantitative support within the consumer risk modeling and delivery team, focusing on the quantitative modeling of home loans to enable effective risk and capital management across multiple lines of business.