HBS Announces 2021-22 Blavatnik Fellows

02 Jun 2021

HBS Announces 2021-22 Blavatnik Fellows

Re: Daniel Ahlstedt (MBA 2021); Jannine Versi (MBA 2014); Ananya Zutshi (MBA 2021)

Topics: Career-Awards Science-Biomedicine Health-Health Care and Treatment

Dan Ahlstedt (MBA 2021), Nicole Black (PhD 2020), Ying Kai Chan (PhD 2015), Jannine Versi (MBA 2014), and Ananya Zutshi (MS/MBA 2021)
Photos by Susan Young

HBS has named its 2021-22 Blavatnik Fellows and the program’s eighth cohort. Launched in 2013, the Blavatnik Fellowship in Life Science Entrepreneurship is part of a gift to Harvard University from the Blavatnik Family Foundation, headed by Len Blavatnik (MBA 1989). This unique program supports HBS alumni and Harvard-affiliated postdocs in their new ventures around promising life science technologies, develops their leadership talents, and provides mentorship during their entrepreneurial journey. To date, Blavatnik Fellows have created 26 companies in biomedical industries including devices, diagnostics, digital health, and therapeutics, and have collectively raised more than $460M in funding.

“Len Blavatnik’s vision of facilitating scientific discovery and spurring new venture creation is having a profound impact on HBS, on Harvard University, and on the world at large,” Dean Srikant Datar recently told the Blavatnik Family Foundation website. “His support is enabling new generations of scientists and entrepreneurs to transform every aspect of the life sciences. We are inspired by his extraordinary generosity and the pivotal role he is playing in realizing the promise of R&D—and leadership—in improving society.”

The 2021 Fellows are Dan Ahlstedt (MBA 2021), Nicole Black (PhD 2020), Ying Kai Chan (PhD 2015), Jannine Versi (MBA 2014), and Ananya Zutshi (MS/MBA 2021).