Pat Flavin, JD

President

An entrepreneur, investor, and attorney, Patrick brings more than 20 years of experience in health tech and life sciences, including executive leadership positions at Arches Technology, Outcome Health, and closerlook. Patrick was a Co-Founder and Executive Director of MATTER, a Chicago healthcare technology startup center and innovation hub. He helped build biotechnology companies MediChem Life Sciences and Advanced Life Sciences, both of which he helped take public as chief legal executive.

John Flavin, MBA

Founder & CEO

John is a proven leader with a track record of bringing valuable corporate, academic, and civic enterprises from concept to reality, including Advanced Life Sciences, Chicago Innovation Mentors, MATTER, and the Polsky Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation at the University of Chicago. John is Co-Founder and Chairman of Pyxis Oncology, Executive Chairman of ClostraBio, and Board member at Grove Biopharma. Over the course of his career, John has successfully raised more than $345 million of private and philanthropic capital to fund the development of transformative organizations.

Yuan Zhang, PhD, MS

Vice President, Scientific Strategy & Operations

Yuan Zhang is a biotech cofounder and translational scientist with deep experience in preclinical development, scientific operations, and early-stage company building. At Portal, she supports the expansion of the Ex³ platform by facilitating portfolio growth through fractional executive leadership and tailored strategic support for early-stage biotech companies. Yuan helps startups navigate critical milestones, scale operations, and prepare for Series A financing. She also assists in matching talent and expertise to Portal member companies to maximize impact across the network.

Previously, Yuan co-founded and led Seurat Therapeutics, advancing a repurposed biologic through pre-IND development. She also oversaw the national buildout of Portal’s lab infrastructure and has contributed to investment diligence, board-level strategy, and university-based incubator models. Yuan holds a PhD in Pathology and MS in Translational Sciences from the University of Chicago.

Ula Widawska

Vice President of Finance & Accounting

As VP of Finance & Accounting for Portal Innovations, Ula oversees financial reporting and daily financial operations for the company. Ula has spent most of her career in healthcare finance, most recently as a Controller at Swedish Hospital part of NorthShore, where she was responsible for managing financial operations and overseeing financial reporting, accounting, accounts payable and treasury for several corporations. Ula’s strong business acumen aided her in leading several strategic initiatives that resulted in improvement of efficiency, reporting and daily financial operations. She brings a fresh perspective to building and leading finance teams, focusing on collaboration, empowerment and business growth.

Michael Schultz, PhD

Senior Director of Venture Operations

Dr. Schultz is a scientist by training. He assesses new investment opportunities and supports companies within the Portal/Fulton Labs ecosystem. Before joining Portal, he was a life sciences consultant where he advised therapeutics, diagnostics, and medical device companies on indication prioritization, competitive landscape analysis, and revenue forecasting. He completed his PhD at Harvard Medical School where he researched mechanisms that underlie the aging process, with a focus on biomarkers, inflammation, and metabolism.

Steve Lehmann, MBA

Vice President of Venture Operations & Managing Director Stargaze

Steve is a "startup midwife" who has spent the last decade helping inventors turn their discoveries into businesses, whether in a startup, a university, or even a refugee camp. He most recently led the George Shultz Innovation Fund at UChicago, where he nucleated and invested in University spinouts. Prior to UChicago he was an Associate for Ocean Tomo's Innovation Management practice, where he advised companies on how to acquire, develop, and commercialize technologies.

Rose Jones-Boyd

Executive Assistant to the Founder & CEO

Rose Jones-Boyd is the Executive Assistant to the Founder & CEO.
She is a seasoned professional with over 25 years of experience in professional office executive assistant positions and a track record of strong performance in high-volume, high-pressure environments. She has extensive experience with all administrative tasks including scheduling and correspondence.
As Executive Assistant, Rose ensures the smooth operation of the office. Having held several positions in the University and business fields, Rose can tailor her skills to meet the needs of colleagues and clients. Before joining Portal, Rose worked 13 1/2 years as an Executive Assistant at the University of Chicago.

Deonta Jones

Experience Manager

Deonta welcomes Portal visitors, members, and partners with a smile and pours positive energy into every interaction. From onboarding assistance to office and lab deliveries and all other administrative matters, Deonta creates a seamless and enjoyable experience for everyone. Prior to Portal, Deonta worked as an educator and caretaker.

Elizabeth Harney, MS

Vice President of Scientific Operations & Growth

As Portal's Vice President of Scientific Operations & Growth, Elizabeth works closely with Yuan to support daily operations within the lab space and to provide a safe environment for our member companies.  Prior to Portal, Elizabeth was a bench scientist with a particular affinity for analytical chemistry.  In her lab work, she developed a strong understanding and respect for spreadsheets and documentation – her reliability in performance of this understanding (both in quality and consistency) makes her a particularly powerful asset in a safety-focused, scientific environment.

By switching paths from scientist to manager, Elizabeth is able to address the core motivations that had always fueled her pursuit of scientific exploration: to help people. Her starting point contributes to her ability to develop, communicate and teach processes that respond to the actual pain points of scientists.

When not running around the lab or furiously typing on her laptop, Elizabeth enjoys listening to all kinds of podcasts and reading books to unwind.

Kevin Flavin

Director of Design & Experience

Kevin is working to help create scalable systems and practices that can be implemented and standardized across all Portal locations as we expand to Boston and Atlanta. His main goal is to design and/or implement tools that can help foster community and collaboration in co-working environments.

Additionally, Kevin works on all content capture, design, editing, and audio production for Lab Rats to Unicorns (a podcast created by John Flavin).

Anna Tomaszewski

Vice President of Business Development

Anna spearheads the growth of Portal's membership and partnership portfolio. Previously, Anna specialized in scaling growth-stage biotechnology companies with scientific talent. Her focus began in the Chicago ecosystem and quickly expanded into many other emerging biotechnology hubs. Anna is inspired by entrepreneurial motivation, disruption, and - most importantly - the patient who benefits from the scientific breakthroughs.

anna.tomaszewski@portalinnovations.com

Gianina Varea

Senior Director of Portfolio Development

Gianina is a Biotech entrepreneur passionate about bringing scientific discoveries to patients. She has experience in developing biotech start-ups from the ground up, ranging from strategy to operations and project management, as well as direct involvement in seeking non-dilutive and private funding from institutional and strategic investors. The most recent startup she helped build was Pyxis Oncology. As a Technology Venture Fellow at the Polsky Center at The University of Chicago she worked closely with Pyxis’ founding team to develop the strategic and financial materials to support Pyxis’ formation and $22M Series A. As Pyxis’ first employee, she worked as project and alliance manager, and in business development. She also supported the $150M Series B, several partnerships, and the IPO in October 2021. Gianina obtained her Masters’ degree in Bioscience Enterprise (MBE) at The University of Cambridge and a B.S. in Molecular Biotechnology Engineering from The University of Chile.

gianina.varea@portalinnovations.com

Angie Gill

Director of People Operations

angie.gill@portalinnovations.com

Ritu Shah

Managing Director

Ritu Shah is joining Portal as Managing Director, focused on portfolio company development and value creation by providing interim leadership to position and accelerated seeded companies to the next round of funding.

She has a proven track record in the biopharma industry with success in leading four successful mergers & acquisitions along with new company formation and operations. Ritu has led several drug development campaigns with emphasis on strategic and therapeutic portfolio management across private and public pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies. Ritu has spent over two decades in pharma drug development, of which the last five years were in biotech.

Nick Pennebaker

Sr. Director of Marketing and Communications

Nick is in charge of helping grow the Portal brand on a national level. He joins Portal with more than 10 years’ of experience in marketing and communications within a variety of industries, including financial services, commercial real estate development, and oil & gas, with his most recent role focused on building marketing campaigns at Northern Trust Asset Management. His background consists of public relations, email and web marketing, SEO/SEM, social media, and content development. Nick grew up in Austin, Texas, graduated from The University of Kansas, and still tries to fool himself into thinking Chicago winters aren’t that bad. 

Mike Faulman

Managing Director, Business Operations

Mike joins Portal to help build consistency in the firm’s day-to-day logistical operations. His background has been dedicated to helping organizations and campaigns manage extreme growth, while thinking through problems before they occur. Mike’s prior roles include Director of Corporate Business Development and Licensing at Shinola where he led a national growth through new market opportunities, Personal Aide to former Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel, and served as National Advance Coordinator for President Obama in The White House and '08 Presidential campaign. Mike is originally from Michigan, graduated from Michigan State University and has resided in Chicago since 2010 with his wife and two children.

Shahila Christie, PhD

Managing Director of Strategic Growth

Shahila Christie is the Managing Director of Strategic Growth at Portal Innovations. Over her 20 yr career Shahila spent the first decade as an academic researcher and then moved into the startup space where she enjoyed driving scientific strategy from a business perspective. She has held various roles including founding two startups as spinouts from universities, consulting for startup companies, followed by leading the clinical efforts for a medical device company in the oncology diagnostic space. In her current role Shahila ties these varied experiences together to help Portal Innovations grow and expand. Her role focuses on understanding life science ecosystems in cities beyond Chicago and building and implementing the Portal playbook to launch the platform in cities of interest nationwide.

In addition to her professional role, Shahila is an active Women In Bio member functioning in leadership roles over the years and also served as the Chicago Chapter President in 2020. Shahila has a PhD in Biochemistry from Loyola University in Chicago and did her postdoctoral work in drug discovery and development at University of Illinois.

Parth Rao, PharmD, MS

Director of Lab Operations

Parth Rao is an accomplished pharmaceutical professional with over a decade of experience in the industry. He has a proven track record in managing laboratory operations and facility maintenance for startups and established companies in the life sciences industry. Parth is known for his ability to streamline operations and improve efficiencies, his expertise in managing lab infrastructure, and his strategic vision for achieving growth and success. In this role as the Director of Lab Operations at Portal Innovations, he is responsible for formulating and executing strategic goals, developing operational and capital budgets, and managing relationships with life science startup companies and strategic partners. He will ensure everything will run smoothly and succinctly in our labs at both 400 N Aberdeen and 1375 W Fulton.

Throughout his career, Parth has held various leadership positions within the Biotech and Pharma industries focusing on biologics and novel gene therapies. He earned his Doctor of Pharmacy from the University of Illinois at Chicago and a Master of Science from Northern Illinois University. In his free time, he enjoys hiking, traveling, and spending time with his family

Krisha Panchalingam

Executive Director, Boston

Krisha is the Executive Director in Boston where she oversees day-to-day operations of the Boston Southline site.

Krisha’s role focuses on being a bridge between the Portal Venture Operations team and member companies by providing the operations support required for member companies to reach their scientific milestones and goals for growth and expansion. She has a track record of setting up labs for startup companies, space planning, and buildouts while managing existing lab and facilities operations.

As part of Portal Innovations operations team, she believes in building highly functional operations team to run at optimum efficiency while allowing scientists to focus on what matters most, bringing new therapies to patients.

Todd Sluzas

Chief Financial Officer

Todd has over 30 years of accounting, finance, tax, private equity, and venture capital experience.  Prior to joining Portal, Todd served as CFO for a private equity group where he has also supported multiple portfolio companies in the CFO role as well as Senior Tax Analyst for a public company owned by the group.  In addition, Todd managed the family office for the principal of the private equity group where he was responsible for investment analysis and due diligence, risk management, cash management, tax compliance and planning, and estate planning.  Prior to that, Todd spent four years with the accounting firm of Price Waterhouse Coopers LLP representing the firm’s audit and tax practice.

Tim Flavin

Member Experience Coordinator

Haidy Delgado

Manager of Lab Operations

Haidy Delgado is a Manager of Lab Operations at Portal Chicago where she helps with day-to-day management. She oversees lab operations to ensure everything runs smoothly at Portal's Chicago sites.

Emily Yee

Lab Operations Associate

Brian Karanja

Operations and Ecosystem Manager

Brian Karanja is the Office and Ecosystems Manager at Portal Boston. He oversees the operations and logistics of a dynamic co-working space that fosters collaboration and innovation among life science startups. Brian leverages his 11+ years of experience in event production and logistics management to create and execute impactful experiential strategies that showcase the value proposition and vision of Portal Innovations and its members.

He has a proven track record of increasing market reach and conceptualizing event and content strategies for global companies and brands such as Red Bull, Reebok, Converse, Bodega Pirate Radio, and Nike. He's skilled in coordinating media equipment, project management, and growth strategy. Brian has a Bachelor of Science in Digital Filmmaking and Video Production and is fluent in English and Swahili. Brian is passionate about developing internal and external content strategies, visual storytelling, cross-functional collaboration, and emerging and existing trends. He helped to win Boston Magazine's Best of Boston 2015 "Dance Party" Award and has been repeatedly tapped to lead high-profile activations, launches, and events.

Monique Knighten, PhD

Executive Director, Houston

Gracyn Gambill

Senior Manager of Strategy & Communications

Gracyn Gambill is Portal's Sr. Manager of Strategy & Communications in Chicago where she works closely with the Operations and member Experience Team. She is a University of Tennessee alumni with a background in sales and event coordination along with a passion for building and fostering relationships. In her role she is hands on in the coordination and execution of events that aim to increase member engagement. In addition, she ensures that day to day operations run smoothly in Portal's Chicago location. She looks forward to continuing to grow with Portal as its expansion takes place.

Karol Sokolowski, PharmD, PhD

Director of Strategic Growth at Ex³

Karol Sokolowski is the Director of Strategic Growth for the Ex3 program where he will be growing the business across Chicago and our expansion sites.

Karol brings a diverse knowledge base with 10+ years of translational biomedical R&D, strategic consulting, and clinical experience. He joins Portal from the Chicago Biomedical Consortium, where he wore many hats, but focused on leading biotech opportunity diligence and project management.

As part of Ex³, Karol will work alongside Portal member companies to understand and fill their organizational, staffing, & strategic needs as they strive to Series A and beyond. To do so, he will also continue building our bench of consultants & fractional executives, while also working with the Venture team to identify company needs.

Carson Chang

Sr. Manager of Technology

Carson is Portal's Sr. Manager of Technology where he helps with Portal's tech stack, troubleshooting, and providing IT support to member companies. Prior to joining Portal, Carson attended the University of Illinois Chicago, and recently worked as an operations strategist with Framework IT. Outside of work, Carson is an avid outdoorsman where he enjoys running, climbing, and cycling.

Joanna Krakowiak

Director of Lab and Scientific Operations in Houston

Prior to joining Portal, Joanna was the Senior Laboratory Manager at NuProbe, and her expertise extends to setting up lab spaces, including space planning and buildout. With impactful roles at the University of Texas, Houston, and the Whitehead Institute for Biomedical Research, she showcases a unique blend of research proficiency and operational management. Joanna holds a Doctorate in Polymer Engineering and is a Certified Quality Improvement Associate. Her dual experience in both university and industry roles uniquely positions her to guide startups in navigating the transition between these realms. Dedicated to fostering seamless lab environments, Joanna is committed to advancing scientific pursuits and supporting emerging ventures.

Zach Hightower

Director of Business Development, Houston

Zach is Portal's Director of Business Development in Houston. He is a graduate of Texas A&M and has spent the past decade honing his expertise in distribution and specialized equipment sales within the biotech, pharmaceutical and academic research sectors. During this time, he's cultivated valuable relationships, consistently grown business, and has become deeply engaged in the fast-growing Houston life-sciences ecosystem.

Zach lives in Houston with his wife and two children.

Jack Flavin

Member Experience Coordinator, Atlanta

Jack recently graduated from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign with a Bachelor’s degree in Communications and a minor in Business. Jack will be our new Member Experience and Marketing Coordinator in Atlanta as we ramp up operations at Science Square.

Jack will be integral in providing community support in Atlanta as new members are onboarded, while also helping execute events at Science Square. On the marketing side, Jack will also manage multimedia content and work to expand the reach of our affiliated podcast, Lab Rats to Unicorns.

Nancy Tyrrell

Director of Academic Partnerships

Nancy has worked with a series of life sciences companies and her most recent role was with the Chicago Biomedical Consortium, where she assisted faculty researchers at Chicago-area universities with funding and resources needed to advance therapeutic discoveries. Nancy enjoys being part of the Chicago life science community, and she is an active volunteer with a variety of organizations including Young Women In Bio Chicago, where she is a Board member and past President.  Nancy also serves on the Alzheimer's Association®'s Board of Directors and is a member of the Board’s Executive Committee.

Ashley Cornelison

Executive Director, Atlanta

Ashley Cornelison is Portal's Executive Director in Atlanta where she will lead efforts to grow and manage our Atlanta ecosystem at Science Square.

Prior to joining Portal, Ashely was the Vice President of Venture Development at the Georgia Research Alliance, Inc. (GRA), a non-profit (501c3), public-private partnership that helps universities in the state to conduct more research and create more companies.

As the VP of the Venture Development program, Ashley set strategic objectives, managed a multi-million dollar portfolio of commercialization grants and loans and counseled Georgia’s university scientists in their journey of launching companies around their inventions. She also oversaw program compliance, reporting and metric-driven accountability and chaired the program’s loan committee.

Ashley received her B.S. in Business Administration in 2008 from the Terry College of Business at the University of Georgia and began her career working in contract law at an Atlanta-based law firm.

Ashish Uppala

Senior Director, Head of Engineering & Product

Ashish is Portal's Head of Engineering & Product for our proprietary A.I. tool, Stargaze. Formerly the CTO of scite.ai, Ashish brings a diverse background spanning research at the National Cancer Institute and engineering & product roles in fintech, cybersecurity, and metascience. He joins Portal to enhance how we identify and support breakthrough innovators and research through Stargaze. Stargaze harnesses A.I., machine learning, and metascience by developing computational models to understand and derive investible insights from the innovation landscape.

With his unique blend of technical, product, and domain expertise, Ashish is ideally positioned to lead the development of Stargaze, driving forward Portal's mission to support innovators.

Eddie Lai

Director of Business Development, Atlanta

Eddie comes to Portal from the Metro Atlanta Chamber, where he led corporate recruitment of Life Sciences, Digital Health, and AgeTech companies to the greater Atlanta region. He also held multiple roles at one of Atlanta’s largest health systems, Emory Healthcare, where he was the inaugural Administrator of the Emory Healthcare Innovation Hub. Eddie holds a Master of Public Health from Boston University School of Public Health and is the Co-Founder of the Association of Asian Healthcare Leaders (AAHL) and the Creator and host of the Asian Faces, Healthcare Places podcast. Fun fact about Eddie - he is one of the top 1000 ranked Minesweeper players in the world!

Kira Lipson

Member Experience Manager

Kira is the Member Experience Manager at Portal Chicago, where she fosters meaningful partnerships with members, leads impactful events, and oversees seamless daily communications. Before joining Portal, she managed green infrastructure projects and community initiatives at G.E.T Solutions, an environmental nonprofit based in Chicago. Kira earned her degree in Environmental Policy from Loyola University Chicago in 2022.

Outside of work, Kira is passionate about volunteering with organizations focused on climate solutions, experimenting in the kitchen with unique ingredients, and exploring every art medium she can get her hands on.

Keilana Borja

Lab Operations Associate, Houston

As a Lab Operations Associate, Keilana plays a crucial role in ensuring the smooth and efficient operation of Portal's cutting-edge laboratory facility at Helix Park. Keilana’s interest in life sciences started while swimming amongst the fish in the coral reefs of Guam. She received her Bachelor of Science in Marine Biology and Marine Fisheries from Texas A&M University at Galveston and continued academia focusing on the phylogeny and genetic intricacies of aquatic plants. Later, she transitioned to do benchwork as a quality lab technician overseeing day-to-day lab activities, coordinating inventory, and maintaining the highest standards of safety and quality. From her prior experiences and current commitment to optimizing lab workflows and supporting cross-functional teams, Keilana helps Portal Innovations continue its mission to build a platform for innovators in life sciences.

Dixon Chan

Accounting Manager

As the Accounting Manager, Dixon oversees the day-to-day accounting operations, financial reporting, and compliance functions for the company. Prior to joining Portal, Dixon served as the Director of Accounting at Shedd Aquarium, where he managed the core accounting team, managing financial operations and overseeing financial reporting, accounting functions for the organization. Dixon graduated from University of Wisconsin – Madison and is currently pursuing his MBA at The University of Chicago Booth School of Business. Dixon is a licensed certified public accountant in the state of Illinois.

Gaby Martinez-Ramirez, PhD

Lab Operations Associate, UChicago Incubator

Sidney Marks

Member Experience Manager, UChicago Science Incubator

Sidney is the Member Experience Manager for the UChicago Science Incubator. He brings to Portal more than seven years of experience in nonprofit operations, member engagement, and membership campaign management. He holds a bachelor’s degree from Trinity Christian College and is currently pursuing a degree in Nonprofit Management from Liberty University. Most recently, he worked with Blacks in Green, an environmental justice organization, where he supported underserved communities in securing federal funding and promoted education around sustainable living. Previously, as Assistant Director of the Visitor & Member Engagement Team at the Art Institute of Chicago, he led membership strategies, cultivated donor relationships, and strengthened community engagement.

Raul Vasquez

Executive Director, UChicago Science Incubator

Raul began his career with Baxter Healthcare, supporting process development for parenteral solutions across US and Latin American sites. He then joined the University of Chicago Biological Sciences Division as an Operational Excellence Partner, where he led the implementation of process improvement methodologies to optimize administrative and hospital workflows. Most recently, Raul was a foundational member of the Operations team at Evozyne, a Biotechnology startup in Chicago. At Evozyne, Raul helped build out the operations, managed strategic alliances, and led internal program management for early discovery and preclinical programs.

Raul has a degree in Biomedical Engineering and MBA from the Illinois Institute of Technology.  Raul grew up in the west suburbs of Chicago, and currently lives in Riverside with his wife, Araselly, 7-year-old daughter, Adeline, and dog, Skye. He loves all types of music, from heavy metal to reggaeton, and also supports Chicago sports teams, including the Bears, Bulls, and Fire.

Anh Vo

Programming and Experience Manager, Houston

Anh is Portal's Programming and Experience Manager at Portal's space in Houston at Helix Park. Before becoming a Programming and Experience Manager, Anh earned a PhD in Medical Sciences at Texas A&M University, where she studied a new drug for neurological disorders. She led commercialization efforts that earned recognition with prizes from Genentech, Jlabs, and the Rice Business Plan Competition. She also led Nucleate Texas, where she oversaw the entrepreneurial “Activator” program and provided high-value support to startups across multiple Texas cities. She is passionate about fostering the growth of life sciences ventures. Anhis excited to support Portal members, ensuring their success and satisfaction.

India Brown

Sr. Lab Associate

India joins Portal as a Senior Lab Associate in Atlanta at our Science Square space where she brings over 5 years' of experience in managing lab operations, team leadership, and ensuring compliance with regulatory standards.

Most recently, India worked at Immucor, Inc., a local medical device and diagnostics company, where she honed her skills in laboratory management and regulatory compliance. At Portal, India is focused on optimizing lab processes, maintaining high standards of operational efficiency, and supporting the continued growth of the team. She holds a Master of Science in Biotechnology from Fort Valley State University. A native of Macon, Georgia, India has lived in Atlanta since 2016 and enjoys traveling, outdoor activities, and exploring new cuisines.