Passionate about neuroscience and helping people. 

I first got into science after my grandmother was diagnosed with stroke-induced dementia. It made no sense to me that we had come so far, yet still knew so little about the brain. 

In high school and college, I soaked up every opportunity I got (and made a few up as I went) to learn more about neuroscience. After college I decided I was going to get my PhD (or ride horses in Holland if I didn't get in). 

Throughout graduate school, it became clear that where I could help the most was at the intersection of science and business. I had the science part - to get my boot camp in business, I joined a life sciences consulting firm where I had a great breadth of exposure to the world of biotech and pharma. 

Ever since, I have had the privilege of working with amazing teams to help bring solutions to patients, knowing that one day there will be more that we can do for patients like my grandmother and families like mine. 

www.boom-cc.com

Julie is a Director at Celdara Medical where she leads R&D programs in the antimicrobial,  autoimmune, and neurodegenerative spaces. Additionally, she leads the DRIVEN Accelerator Hub and the Celdara Fellowship Programs. Prior to Celdara, Julie was a consultant at Putnam Associates where she provided scientific and analytical insights to clients in the biotech and pharmaceutical industry. Julie consulted in therapeutic areas spanning gene therapy, molecular therapies, cell therapy, diagnostics, vaccines, and biosimilars; diseases included breast cancer, hematological malignancies, neurological disorders, infertility disorders, and meningitis. Julie received her BA in Biology and English from Bowdoin College and her PhD in Neuroscience from Tufts University. She enjoys reading, hiking, and cross-country skiing, but most of all, she loves dancing with friends! 

Christine Cole is a Managing Director at First Republic Bank and helps leads the Boston, MA life sciences business banking team. Additionally, Christine serves on the development committee for Science Club for Girls and is the 2023 co-chair for the annual Extraordinary Women Advancing Healthcare

awards in Massachusetts.

Ms. Cole has 15 years of life sciences/biotech business banking experience, working with a wide range of companies from early-stage start-ups to global, commercialized, publicly traded life science companies. Ms. Cole provides advice and delivers solutions to life science companies to help scale and grow their business.

She is passionate about helping life science companies achieve their goals of bringing new, transformative medicines and technology to patients. Ms. Cole has worked with high-growth biotechs from inception to commercialization and loves helping companies navigate growth. She believes in cultivating and maintaining strong relationships, both professionally and personally, and prioritizes client service front and center.

Prior to joining First Republic Bank, Ms. Cole was a Senior Vice President at Bank of America as a senior relationship manager on the healthcare commercial banking team focused on life sciences. She was also the national advisor to Bank of America’s Relationship Manager Development Program. 

Ms. Cole has an undergraduate degree from Boston University’s Questrom School of Business, with a concentration in finance and marketing and is Series 7 and 63 certified. She is a first-generation born American to Vietnamese and Chinese parents and is bilingual. She lives in Dorchester, MA with her husband and two sons and is a Boston-based yoga teacher and fitness enthusiast. She enjoys traveling, cooking and being a mother to her two young, (very) energetic boys.

Jess works in clinical/translational strategy at a company creation firm called Related Sciences, where she leads research programs in the autoimmune and immune-oncology space. Prior to RS, Jess worked as a senior scientist at Sana Biotechnology. She was primarily focused on developing and testing CAR-T cell and gene therapies. Jess received her BA in Neuroscience from Boston University and her PhD in Cell, Molecular, and Developmental Biology at Tufts University. She enjoys running, playing the piano and is a newly-converted pickleball addict.  

Rachael has a background in biomedical engineering and has spent her career thus far working in strategy across medical device, diagnostics, and biopharma. 

Dr. Bina Julian is the Director of Research Operations of DMK Pharmaceuticals. She has spent the last 15 years advancing pharmaceutical research and innovation at Pfizer, the Broad Institute of Harvard and MIT, Tufts Medical Center and Versi Group companies (DMK, Dina, Opus). Dr. Julian holds Master of Engineering and Bachelor of Science degrees in biomedical engineering from Cornell University, and a PhD in Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics from Tufts Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences.