University Bioconnect: Biotech Startups w/ Dr. Ben Vollrath

For our next event, we are excited to welcome serial biotech entrepreneur Dr. Ben Vollrath!

Dr. Vollrath is a seasoned life science executive and entrepreneur with over 20 years of experience in pharmaceutical and biotech companies. His expertise covers the gamut of developing biotech startups from inception to exit.

Dr. Vollrath currently serves as COO of Amprion Inc., a CNS diagnostics company focused on developing a platform detecting misfolded protein aggregates to diagnose neurodegenerative diseases like Parkinson's. Previously, Dr. Vollrath was CEO of Xetrios Therapeutics, an emerging biotech company focused on developing novel therapeutics for immunological disorders and cancer. Kolltan Pharmaceuticals acquired Xetrios in 2014. Before that, Dr. Vollrath spent over four years as an Entrepreneur in Residence at Avalon Ventures, a San Diego-based VC firm focused on developing early-stage life science companies.

Dr. Vollrath co-founded several biotech companies, including Afraxis (focused on CNS therapeutics, subsequently sold to Genentech for $187M), Carolus Therapeutics (focused on therapeutics for inflammatory diseases), and Otonomy (Nasdaq: OTIC, focused on therapeutics for diseases of the inner and middle ear), Neptune Biosciences and Halyard Therapeutics.

Before Avalon, Dr. Vollrath was a scientist at Renovis, a San Francisco-based CNS drug discovery company, and Merck. Dr. Vollrath has broad experience managing virtual and semi-virtual research programs and is an inventor of over 40 patents or patent applications.

Come meet others excited about biotech in Atlanta and to hear from one of the best in the industry!

5:30pm-6:00pm Networking and hanging out
6:00pm-6:30pm Dr. Vollrath presentation and Q/A
6:30pm-7:30pm Networking and hanging out

Signup and connect with attendees via our LinkedIn page!

Dress code: on the casual side of business casual, depending on your preference. (It's a light social hang, so feel free to wear whatever you have on that day or whatever feels right to you).

University Bioconnect is founded on the observation that major biotech centers such as Kendall Square in Boston have community gatherings to share ideas and discuss the many themes that are collectively biotech. One can show up to these events and meet tons of people passionate about biotech’s potential to improve the world, people like researchers from top-tier institutions, clinicians, biotech startup founders, venture capital investors, and employees of massive biotech companies. Before you know it, three hours have passed, and connections have been made that sometimes lead to innovations that would have been impossible otherwise.

As we see it, Atlanta is past-due for developing a similar scene. The University Bioconnect Meetup is being launched by Ph.D. students from Georgia Tech, Emory, GSU, and Morehouse with assistance from VentureLab at Georgia Tech, to host monthly meetups with wide-ranging topics to foster the types of connections that make great biotech hubs thrive. With its leading position in research, clinical expertise, and recent and planned infrastructure, Atlanta is well-positioned to create the world’s next top high-growth biotech community; join us and help make that vision a reality!