Suman Lal

About Suman Lal

I\'m a physician scientist and an entrepreneur. I currently work with CEOs of technology companies in strategy development and fundraising. I occasionally co-found companies with fellow entrepreneurs and academic researchers, and act as a founding/interim CEO. I also advise organizations on their innovation strategy. My primary experience is technology commercialization through operating venture/innovation studios. The first venture studio formed 6 companies, 2 of which are still in operations and growing. The second venture studio that I founded (with the former Head of Research at Eli Lilly) focused on development of therapeutic assets from Columbia University, Cornell, and Mayo Clinic, in areas of neuroscience and oncology. I founded TINS as a next generation venture studio applying system dynamics innovation models - with feedback loops between interest group driven programming, expert-led consulting, venture creation and syndicated investments.I have spent a fair amount of time on the topic of \"developing innovation ecosystems\" by merging talent, capital, infrastructure, technology commercialization, and community building. I have approached this from the angle of academic research at MIT, and also as an operator in the ecosystems of NYC (5 years), Boston (6 years) and Singapore (12 years) and through my work at the the Cambridge Innovation Center (CIC). I am currently a Senior Advisor to CIC, considered the world\'s largest innovation campus (3500+ companies,$40B capital raised) and the Venture Cafe Global Institute, widely described as the heartbeat of several innovation districts around the world. As a Partner at CIC’s consulting division, I led efforts on building innovation centers and strategy development of innovation districts in international cities. I am trained as a physician, and conducted 8 years of research in areas of genetics (cardiovascular disease), stem cells (bone tissue engineering) and cancer biology. My PhD work in personalized medicine - clinical pharmacology investigating PK-PD-PG of anthracyclines in breast cancer chemotherapy - won the Young Scientist Award from the Japanese Cancer Association. Post PhD, I spent 5 years doing technical sales and GTM as a distributor for 15 life science technology companies, primarily in molecular imaging and diagnostics.I am based in Kendall Square, considered the most innovative square mile in the world, and across the street from MIT. I feel extremely fortunate to be interacting with and learning from high caliber entrepreneurs, scientists, investors and policy makers on a daily basis.

Experience

1. Senior Advisor

   CIC (Cambridge Innovation Center)

   Jan 2024 — Present · Cambridge, MA, US

   I support the CIC leadership team to advance our role in facilitating innovation across the world. CIC manages and operates innovation campuses of ~1.25M SF across cities in US, Europe and Asia. More than companies have called CIC home, raising over $40B in venture capital funding. CIC is also a founding partner and co-creator of Lab Central (a first of a kind wet laboratory space that houses companies which took in 21% of all series-A biotech funding in the US in 2022) and co-founder of MassRobotics (world\'s largest shared robotics innovation facility).

Education

• Mahatma Gandhi University

  MD

  1993 — 1999

• National University of Singapore

  MSc, Molecular Genetics

  2001 — 2003

• National University of Singapore

  PhD, Oncology

  2004 — 2009

• Massachusetts Institute of Technology

  MBA

  2013 — 2014

Skills

• Genetic Testing
• Entrepreneurship
• Business Development
• Pharmacogenomics
• Tissue Engineering
• Animal Models
• Biochemistry
• High Technology Sales
• Genomics
• Personalized Medicine