Director, Innovation at BrightEdge — the ACS’s mission-driven venture capital fund.

Shortly after receiving her undergraduate degree in biology, Farnaz founded and joined a not-for-profit start-up company, Brain Chemistry Labs. After several years at the company, she left to pursue her PhD in pharmacology from the University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC).

Following her PhD, she joined several licensing/business development offices as a licensing manager. They included offices at-UIC, The California Institute of Technology (Caltech), and Mass General Brigham (formerly Partners Healthcare). Farnaz has also formed and launched a biotech incubator and proof of concept fund while at Tufts University and served as the director of new ventures at the University of Massachusetts Medical School.