OFFICERS
Theresa Chen
President
Theresa is a Molecular and Cellular Biology PhD student in the Cherry Lab at Seattle Children's Research Institute. Her research involves using single-cell technologies and retinal organoids to determine the role of disease-associated enhancers on retinal disease and development. Before UW, Theresa received a BS in Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering at Johns Hopkins University, where she worked on developing small-diameter vascular grafts for coronary artery disease. She also worked at the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard for three years before coming to UW, where she developed high-throughput pooled assays for functional screenings of genetically diverse neuronal populations. Theresa is passionate about community outreach and diversity in STEM and healthcare and is interested in venture capital investing, technology commercialization, and business development. In her free time, Theresa enjoys tidepooling, backpacking, playing tennis, sailing, and live music.
Zhiying (Sabrina) Xie
VP of Development
Sabrina is a Ph.D. student in the department of Bioengineering at the University of Washington. Her research involves angiographic algorithms development for optical imaging systems. Sabrina received her bachelor’s degree from the University of Washington in Molecular and Cellular Biology. Sabrina is interested in filling the gap between research and commercialization from interdisciplinary fields. Her expertise is in commercialization strategy development and marketing research. Sabrina enjoys riding motorcycles, bouldering, sailing, and fishing.
Arkita Jain
Co-VP of Networking
Arkita is an undergraduate student at the University of Washington studying Data Science. In addition to being involved in SEBA, she is a teaching assistant for the CSE 12x series at the Paul G. Allen School of Computer Science & Engineering at UW. She worked as a Data Science Intern at Edwards Lifesciences, where she utilized Microsoft Fabric to create data models for their various patient-focused technological advancements. Passionate about combining her interests in medical innovations and data science, Arkita aspires to work in the biotech industry in the future. In her free time, she enjoys drawing, singing, and exploring new coffee shops.
Ari Peden-Asarch
Co-VP of Networking
Ari is a Behavioral and Computational Neuroscience PhD Candidate studying Addiction at the VA, with a focus on the neural mechanisms underlying persistent drug use. As Co-VP of Networking at SEBA, Ari is dedicated to connecting students and professionals in the biotech and entrepreneurship space. Ari has been leading an early-stage startup that participated in the Nucleate, CoMotion Innovation Gap Fund, and NSF I-Corps programs, earning multiple awards, including the Connie Bourassa-Shaw Spark Prize, the Perkins Coie Best Innovation/Technology Prize, and the Alnylam Pharmaceuticals Regional Scientific Excellence Award. With expertise in machine learning, neural imaging, and commercialization strategies, Ari is passionate about translating cutting-edge research into real-world applications.
Keerthana Sattiraju
VP of Membership
Keerthana is a third-year undergraduate at the University of Washington, pursuing a degree in Health Informatics and Health Information Management. She is actively engaged in research with UW Medicine’s Bioinformatics department, focusing on reducing hospital length of stay through workflow analysis. Additionally, Keerthana serves as a Certified Nursing Assistant at Seattle Children’s Hospital, gaining hands-on experience in pediatric care. Within SEBA, Keerthana is committed to fostering interdisciplinary opportunities and mentorship for students in both science and business fields. She is particularly passionate about expanding SEBA’s network to include undergraduates who would greatly benefit from the organization's resources and community. In her spare time, Keerthana enjoys reading, discovering new music, and exploring Seattle's vibrant café scene.
Ethan Lockhart
VP of Relations
Ethan is a PhD student in the department of Bioengineering working in the lab of Dr. Albert Folch. His current research focuses on developing microfluidic approaches to facilitate preclinical cancer drug testing on live intact tumor tissues. A long-time Seattleite and transfer student from Bellevue college, Ethan graduated with academic honors from UW with a B.S. in Bioengineering, during which he worked on a prototype commercial device to study skeletal muscle hypertrophy in vitro. In addition to his research, Ethan participates in the Washington Innovation Network (WIN) Mentorship Program learning to build a company around a patented device with his advisor. In SEBA, he aims to cultivate effective skills for using business and entrepreneurship to perform bench-to-bedside research by connecting students to engaging opportunities. Ethan enjoys paddle-boarding, coffee (mochas), movie theaters, and surfing among many other treasures in life.
Aishwarya Raj
VP of Operations
Aishwarya is a 2nd year Ph.D. student in the Biomedical and Health Informatics Department at the University of Washington. She received her B.S. in Biochemistry from the University of Illinois Urbana Champaign and holds a masters in Law from Northwestern University. She has corporate experience spanning the legal, health, and software sectors and plans to utilize this expertise in her research utilizing bioinformatic approaches to improve health outcomes.
Marianne Salazar
VP of Marketing
Marianne is a Master of Communication Leadership student at the University of Washington, specializing in marketing and analytics and content strategy and user experience. Prior to her graduate studies, she led content marketing initiatives for B2B and B2C companies. She has also worked in advertising, political communications, and lifestyle journalism, and she aims to leverage her experience to create personal growth and professional development opportunities through SEBA. In her free time, Marianne enjoys traveling, trying new restaurants, and playing racket sports.
Serwah Danquah
Career Fair Coordinator
Serwah is a PhD student in the Molecular Medicine and Mechanisms of Disease Program at the University of Washington. Her research in the Sullivan lab at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center focuses on understanding the metabolic constraints of cell proliferation. Before joining UW, Serwah earned a B.S. in Biochemistry from Rowan University, where she investigated the role of inflammation and neurovascular unit dysfunction in cognitive decline and dementia. She also worked at the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, developing a high-throughput pooled assay to screen morphological features associated with schizophrenia and autism in induced human pluripotent stem cell-derived neurons. In her free time, Serwah enjoys traveling, trying new foods, and watching anime.
ADVISORY BOARD
Will Canestaro
Dr. Will Canestaro is a venture capitalist, health economist and meta-epidemiologist with a demonstrated history of working in the biotechnology industry. He manages the Foundation's biotech and engineering VC investment portfolio. Through WRF, Dr. Canestaro has made 25 investments in 19 Washington-based companies. Dr. Canestaro also teaches courses at the UW School of Business and School of Pharmacy on Health Innovation and Meta-Analytic methods, respectively. Dr. Canestaro earned his doctorate from the University of Washington's School of Pharmacy Pharmaceutical Outcomes Research and Policy Program. He received an M. Sc. in medical anthropology from Oxford University and an A.B. in medical sociology from Dartmouth College.
Brad Roberts
Brad Roberts is Senior Vice President and co-head of the Innovation Group at Xinova. Brad is responsible for managing Xinova’s technical staff, its worldwide network of inventors, innovators, and commercializers, sets portfolio strategy, and liaises with each client’s technical team. Brad was responsible for starting Xinova’s operations in Israel. He joined Xinova's predecessor in 2010 as Technical Assistant to the Fund’s Executive VP, helping to implement and optimize programs in global invention sourcing.
Brad has a PhD from the University of Washington’s Department of Materials Science and Engineering in the synthesis and characterization of transition-metal-doped-oxide semiconductors for use in spin-based electronics. While at UW, Brad also completed a Technology Entrepreneurship Certificate at the Foster School of Business and earned a Washington Research Foundation Capital Gates Foundation Fellowship in Technology Commercialization. As President of the UW Science and Engineering Business Association, he facilitated programs to introduce technical students to the world of entrepreneurship and venture capital.
As an undergraduate, Brad was president of a ski touring club, co-founded a student-run engineering consulting business to utilize on-campus characterization tools, and established the campus chapter of the Alpha Sigma Mu materials engineering honor society. Undergraduate internships included both the Hardware Engineering and Product Design groups at Apple, as well as Software Engineering group at Qualcomm. He is currently a member of the Engineering Advisory Board at California Polytechnic State University (Cal Poly).
Brad and his wife, who were married while on a school-building trek in Nepal, have since helped raise tens of thousands of dollars for additional schools and infrastructure repairs in earthquake-damaged Nepali villages.
Amy Sallin
Amy Sallin is director of the Buerk Center for Entrepreneurship in the UW’s Foster School of Business. With over 18 years in higher education, her background includes academic marketing, fundraising, relationship building, and program development, both at UW and Portland State University. Amy discovered her passion for entrepreneurship during a stint in Silicon Valley in the early 1980s, and has channeled that interest into helping students grow into entrepreneurs and change-makers. She’s been working with student entrepreneurs and the Seattle startup community for over seven years.
Jeff Chamberlain
Jeff Chamberlain works in Business Development at Seattle-based Pacific Biomarkers, supporting the biotech, pharma, and diagnostic industries in the development of their drug or diagnostic products. Prior to Pacific Biomarkers, Dr. Chamberlain worked for Zwitter Technology as Project Leader and Manager of Business Development, working toward the commercialization of a polymeric coating technology with applications in many fields including medicine, medical devices, and marine coatings.
Dr. Chamberlain earned his Ph.D. in Bioengineering at the University of Washington, Seattle, where he leveraged multiple biosensing modalities to study bacterial binding and biomolecular interaction analysis. He concurrently obtained the Technology Entrepreneurship Certificate from the UW Foster School of Business and served as president of the UW Science & Engineering Business Association (SEBA). He is a frequent volunteer in the Seattle life sciences business community, primarily through his involvement with the industry trade association, Life Science Washington.
Drake Glesmann
Drake Glesmann is a Counsel at Davis Wright Tremaine LLP, where he focuses on representing emerging companies and entrepreneurs throughout all stages of their lifecycles. He advises clients on formation, venture and growth equity financings, mergers and acquisitions, and other corporate and governance matters.
Dan Ratner
Passionate about improving the student experience, Dan is uniquely qualified to assume this leadership position. Dan is strategic, thoughtful, and skilled in moving impactful programs forward within the university. Through his roles in faculty governance and administration, he has been focused on addressing matters of diversity, equity, and access in university admissions policy and practice.
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Dan will lead the college’s academic programs and initiatives to support student success. Dan will manage Academic Affairs’ strategic planning, student-oriented educational processes, implementation of ABET processes, and educational innovation as we continue to shift from a two-year to a four-year academic experience. He will work closely with key stakeholders both within and outside the UW, such as Washington’s unique network of 34 community and technical colleges.