A message from GABC Executive Director Marian LeMay

Dear GABC Members,

I'm proud and excited to reach my 10 year anniversary serving you as GABC's Executive Director on May 12, 2018. This is a milestone that naturally causes one to reflect. As most of you know by now, I have come to the conclusion that I have accomplished everything I wanted to do at GABC -- it’s time for me to move on.  

Our excellent GABC Board of Directors is still in place to provide support and I'm really looking forward to announcing our new Executive Director soon. The organization is healthy and has a very fine reputation. My prediction is that by this time next year, it will have met its 2018 goals and branched out into new and really interesting directions.

My last day is expected to be May 14, 2018, which is the date of the GABC  Kamingespraech  with Consul General Horlemann—a sold-out event which I am organizing and responsible for.

This is one of the best jobs I have ever had and it’s been an absolute pleasure and honor to work with such smart, capable and friendly members like yourselves and my partners at other international organizations. I especially enjoy working with the 11 dedicated members of our GABC Board of Directors and the 9 energetic members of the Young Professionals (YP) Steering Committee.

When GABC was first started (and indeed when I started 10 years ago) all members had to "apply" for membership, and then were voted in by the Board of Directors. It was a tight group of about 90 members, primarily at C-suite / President / Manager / Founder levels. While the majority of our members still fit this description, in recent years we have tripled our membership and now welcome students and young professionals, especially highly educated postdocs from our many extraordinary universities here in Boston. We are serving as mentors and connectors between those members who are enjoying established careers, and those who are still in the early stages of business leadership or transitioning from academia to business.

In this email, I'd like to highlight some of the achievements and changes in the GABC YP Group, which has now reached its one-year anniversary and is going strong.

Alles Gute,

Marian LeMay
Executive Director
GABC
Email: marian.lemay@gabc-boston.org
Introducing the new Chair of the YP Steering Committee: Dr. Philipp Merkl

Philipp was recently voted by his peers to be the new Chair, having already served one year as a founding member of the YP Group and serving on the YP Steering Committee where he has (co)organized several social events. He is a postdoctoral research fellow in Virology/Immunology at Harvard Medical School, supported by a fellowship from the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation. Philipp's research focuses on understanding how cells counter viral infections on their own, a process called the innate immune response. 

You can contact Philipp at philipp_merkl@hms.harvard.edu
Congratulations to Dr. Romy Wichmann for being voted Secretary of the YP Steering Committee for the second year in a row.

Romy is a founding member of the YP Group and has served as Secretary of the YP Steering Committee since February 2017. She also serves on the YP Mentoring Committee. Romy is a Research Scientist at the Picower Institute for Learning and Memory at MIT. Her research tries to elucidate the role of the dopaminergic system in social interaction in health and disease. With this she hopes to deepen the understanding of the neural underpinnings of basic social behaviors. 

You can contact Romy at wichmann.romy@gmail.com
Dankeschön to Dr. Anneke Kramm and Dr. Cornelia Kroeger

GABC thanks Dr. Anneke Kramm (left) and Dr. Cornelia Kroeger (right) for successfully completing their terms as the YP Group's first Co-Chairs. Both are stepping down as Co-Chairs, but remain dedicated members of the YP Steering Committee. Cornelia will be focusing on the planning of career development events for the YP Group. Anneke will continue her work on the YP Mentoring Committee. Both Anneke and Cornelia serve on the GABC Board of Directors as well. GABC thanks them for their leadership in getting the YP group off to such a great start!

You can contact Anneke at akramm@broadinstitute.org.
You can contact Cornelia at Cornelia.Kroeger@germanaccelerator.com
Introducing Dr. Michael Prokle, new member of the YP Steering Committee

Michael works as Data Scientist on health care topics at Philips Research North America. He was introduced to GABC while serving as part of the GAIN Network advisory board. Born and raised in the Black Forest, Germany, he started his Diplom degree in Business Engineering at the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology and Royal Institute of Technology Stockholm where he graduated in 2012. He received an M.S. in Industrial Engineering & Operations Research from the University of Massachusetts Amherst in 2010 and graduated with a PhD degree in the same field in 2017. Throughout his PhD studies Michael worked in close collaboration with industry on supply chain, business analytics, and data science topics.

You can contact Michael at michael.prokle@gmail.com
Introducing Dr. Susanna Bächle, new member of the YP Steering Committee

Susanna is a German scientist with study/work experience from Australia (Flinders University), Germany (B.Sc from Georg-August-University, Göttingen) and Sweden (M.Sc and PhD in Medical Science from Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm). Susanna is an active member of the MIT European Club and was a co-organizer for this year's European Career Fair. She currently works as Outreach Scientist for Addgene. Prior to this, she worked in Business Development for Olink Proteomics where she provided market research analysis of the US and European biotech and pharma space, sales support, and assistance in both opportunity assessment and strategic decisions for US market entry. Welcome Susanna!

You can contact Susanna at susanna.m.bachle@gmail.com
Introducing Dr. Anne Fassl , Founding Member, YP Steering Committee

Anne is a postdoctoral research fellow in Cancer Biology at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and Harvard Medical School. She studied Biology at the University of Leipzig, Germany and obtained her PhD from the University of Heidelberg, Germany. Her research investigates the impact of intratumoral heterogeneity on therapy resistance in metastatic breast cancer and is based on single-cell analyses using mass cytometry, or CyTOF. Her work aims to elucidate subpopulations of breast tumor cells mediating resistance to standard therapy and to identify their mechanisms of resistance. Anne is a founding member of the GABC YP Group, and has (co)organized several events for the YPs. We are delighted to have her leadership in the group for a second year!

You can contact Anne at anne.fassl@gmail.com











 On April 4, the GABC YP Group organized an informal tour of the Harvard Art Museums. led by art historian Brian LeMay. The visit included an introduction to the special exhibition, “Inventur—Art in Germany, 1943–55”.

Afterwards, participants gathered at John Harvard’s Brewery & Ale House for drinks and good cheer.


Photo bottom left: Nicole Connolly
Photo top right and above: Marian LeMay
YP Mentoring Committee completes first round of partnerships!

The YP Steering Committee is excited to announce the completion of their first round of Mentor-Mentee partnerships. Seven GABC members were paired with volunteer mentors from GABC's broad network of accomplished professionals. If YOU are interested in becoming a mentor, please click HERE f or more information.

Thank you!
We'd like to thank the following mentors for their dedication to serving others, and for providing much-appreciated guidance to other Germans and Americans coming up the ranks behind them. They represent the very best of GABC and the core values of support which we foster.

Bernhard C. Heine, MBA
Business Coach and President, Professional Business Coaches, Inc.
As President of Professional Business Coaches, Inc. Bernhard Heine helps business leaders achieve their vision, meet their challenges, and succeed by working with them and their teams individually or in groups on topics such as: leadership, business strategy, marketing, sales, customer service, operations, finance, and management training.

Daniel Illig
Client Portfolio Specialist at Bridgewater Associates
Daniel Illig grew up in Baden-Wuerttemberg and got his BS degree in Economics from the University of Heidelberg. He is experienced in corporate strategy, business development and management consulting.

Angelo Moesslang, PhD
CEO of InGeneron, Inc.
Angelo Moesslang is a commercially focused senior healthcare executive with 20 years of progressive worldwide leadership experience, working and living in Europe, Asia-Pacific, U.S. and Latin America. He is currently the CEO of InGeneron, Inc., a multinational regenerative medicine and biotechnology company formed to innovate cell-based technologies, operating in the U.S. and Europe. Prior to joining InGeneron, Angelo was CFO of Fresenius Medical Care North America Holdings

Scott Smith
Product Manager, Allied Vision Corporation
Scott Smith is an internationally experienced leader in cross-functional technology development and professional services. Having lived also in Canada and Germany, he is fluent in German and committed to trusted-advisor customer relationships. Allied Vision is the major driver of the vision "core technology" component of the TKH Group.

Ruth Sondermann, MBA
Director Work-Abroad Program, Harvard University
Department of Germanic Languages and Literature
Ruth Sondermann facilitates paid internships for Harvard students from all concentrations with an interest in Germany, its culture, people and business. She is a native German and work as a German language and business consultant for universities and companies in the greater Boston metropolitan area.

Sonke Svenson, PhD
Principal, Drug Delivery Solutions LLC
Sonke Svenson is an organic chemist with 15+ years of experience in nanotechnology with focus on oncology. His background is in formulation development for the delivery of small molecule drugs as well as biomolecules such as RNA. He has experience with delivery vectors including polymeric nanoparticles, liposomes, micelles, dendrimers, emulsions, colloids, fibrous vectors, and nanogels.

Stefan Tullius, MD
Chief, Division of Transplant Surgery
Director, Transplant Surgery Research Lab
Brigham and Women's Hospital, Harvard Medical School
Dr. Stefan Tullius is an accomplished physician scientist, member of numerous academic & surgical societies and Councillor (North America) of The Transplantation Society. He is an ambassador of the European Society of Organ Transplantation and serves as an Associate Editor of the three leading Transplantation Journals. Dr. Tullius currently serves as the President and Chair of the German International School, Boston.
The GABC YP Steering Committee Members are:

Chair
Philipp Merkl, PhD, Research Fellow, Harvard Medical School 

Secretary:
Romy Wichmann, PhD, Research Scientist, Picower Institute for Learning and Memory at MIT

Career Development Subcommittee
Cornelia Kroeger, PhD, Program Director U.S., German Accelerator Life Sciences
Michael Prokle, PhD, Data Scientist, Philips Research North America

Mentoring Program Subcommittee
Anneke Kramm, PhD, Clinical Outreach Manager, The Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard
Susanne Bächle, PhD, Outreach Scientist, Addgene
Romy Wichmann, PhD, Research Scientist, Picower Institute for Learning and Memory at MIT

Social Events Subcommittee
Anne Fassl, PhD, Research Fellow, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute
Philipp Merkl, PhD, Research Fellow, Harvard Medical School 

Advisors
Angelo Moesslang, PhD, CEO of InGeneron, Inc.
Scott Smith, Product Manager, Allied Vision Corporation
Marian LeMay, Executive Director, GABC