Ila Anand

About Ila Anand

I am an experienced business development (BD) & licensing professional with a distinctive background in life sciences and intellectual property (IP) strategy. My expertise enables me to build, transact, and monetize IP assets for therapeutic products and medical devices. Currently, I lead commercialization strategy for more than 200 early-stage innovations at Mass General Brigham, where I leverage my scientific acumen and hands-on patent experience to source, evaluate, and negotiate high-value deals. Too often, valuable IP is left unexploited or lost due to misalignment between scientific, IP, and BD teams, each with their own priorities and expertise. The absence of integrated oversight across these critical functions can significantly hinder a patent owner’s ability to maximize the value of their technology. My unique combination of scientific, IP, and BD skills allows me to bridge these disciplines, ensuring seamless collaboration and delivering superior outcomes for every partnership.First name ILA pronounced \"ee-la\"

Experience

1. Senior Manager, Business Development & Licensing

   Mass General Brigham Innovation

   Jan 2023 — Present · Cambridge, MA, US

   Manage a portfolio of 200+ proprietary assets from Harvard-affiliated MGB departments, leading deal development activities and commercial assessment of early-stage therapeutics and medical devices• Search for and source licensing and collaboration opportunities, working directly with principal investigators, biopharma sponsors, MGB Ventures, and Amplify (MGB Innovation translational accelerator and internal investment fund)• Conduct comprehensive scientific and commercial due diligence for early-stage portfolio inventions, evaluating factors such as market size, epidemiology, translational readiness, potential indications, current standard of care, unmet medical needs, competitive landscape, accelerated regulatory pathways, manufacturing complexity, and other key differentiators• Oversee intellectual property strategy for portfolio inventions by evaluating invention disclosures, reviewing manuscripts for publication, assessing patentability, developing global patent prosecution strategies, and collaborating with patent counsel to respond to office actions in key commercial markets.• Independently lead cross-functional teams with key stakeholders, finance, and legal counsel to structure, draft, and negotiate complex agreements (licenses, options, research collaborations) to ensure alignment with MGB’s business development objectives while effectively mitigating risk• Cultivate strong relationships with internal stakeholders (principal investigators, KOLs, MGB Ventures, Amplify, senior management) and lead engagements with external partners, including industry executives, investors, and affiliate institutions (Harvard, MIT, Broad Institute, Dana-Farber)• Manage and optimize strategic alliances with licensees (including several high-value technologies within the portfolio) to ensure timely fulfillment of contractual obligations, achievement of milestones, and prompt resolution or escalation of issues as appropriate

Education

• Cornell University

  Bachelor of Science (B.S.), Biological Sciences; Business Minor

  2013

• Tufts University

  Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.), Molecular Microbiology

  2019