Diverse & Inclusive Biotech Pipeline Development

P33

 

 

 

Mentor 

Michelle Hoffmann, PhD Senior Vice President Deep Tech P33

Company Overview

250+ Chicago leaders working together to turbocharge Chicago’s tech economy and promote inclusive growth developed the concept of P33.  Officially launched in 2019, P33, a private sector led nonprofit, is catalyzing the collaborations needed to make Chicagoland a global tech hub and innovation leader where all people thrive.  P33 has identified several key challenges within Chicago’s tech economy and has worked with over 1,000 stakeholders to develop hypotheses on how to solve these challenges to turbocharge Chicago’s economy and promote inclusive growth.  One of these is the need to elevate our biotechnology ecosystem.   P33 is co-chaired by Penny Pritzker, former Secretary of Commerce and founder and chairman of PSP Partners; Chris Gladwin, CEO and Co-founder of Ocient and Cleversafe; and Kelly Welsh, President of the Civic Committee of The Commercial Club of Chicago.

With the emergence of incubators like Portal Innovations, the Chicago ARC, Helix51, and established incubators like MATTER; Chicagoland has the lab space and network of life sciences operators that can scale seeded companies. Both the State of Illinois and the City of Chicago have recognized the huge potential for life sciences for the region.  But as we build this ecosystem we have to recognize that Biotech, in general, has a diversity problem. 3% of Biotech leadership is Black and 4% is LatinX[1].  This reflects structural issues that can go as far back as the PhD pipeline. P33 is working with partners to build a diverse talent network that can power Chicagoland Life Sciences Innovation initiatives.

[1] Huggett, B. Biotech’s pale shadow. Nat Biotechnol 36, 20–30 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1038/nbt.4046 ;

Internship Description

Our summer intern will work with P33 and partners to help develop the process for connecting to different universities and developing outreach to highlight our opportunities here.  The intern will assist with or take the lead on the following:

  • Developing materials that highlight innovation opportunities in the Life Sciences here in Chicagoland
  • Strengthening the process for outreach to participating universities and student groups
  • Developing the database of contacts and PhDs whoa re looking for potential opportunities
  • Cataloguing potential opportunities with accelerators and biotechs and forging partnerships with potential life sciences employers


Qualifications

  • Self-starter who can document work and progress and build tools, including Standard Operating Procedures and contact databases.
  • Should understand the biotech company creation and growth process and a rudimentary understanding of who the emerging employers might be.
  • Should have a passionate interest in building the Chicagoland Life Sciences ecosystem and be dedicated to transforming the current state to a more diverse ecosystem.


Expectations

  • Check in at a minimum once weekly with either member of the Deep Tech team to agree on goals for the week and review progress.
  • Comfortable using any mode necessary to proactively ask for help.
  • Work time is flexible as long as there is a clear time and deliverable contract.

The application should include current resume and a cover letter that describes your interest in working at a non-profit, building a pipeline of diverse candidates, and supporting the Chicagoland ecosystem, as well as your preferred modes of working.

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