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Jennifer Bergstrom has spent more than twenty years in global program management for clinical diagnostics, life sciences, and biopharmaceutical production of orphan drugs, while being based in California (Bio-Rad and Baxter), the UK (Bio-Rad), and Belgium (Bio-Rad’s EU headquarters). She holds certifications as a Clinical Laboratory Scientist and in Project Management (through California Institute of Technology). She earned her MBA under Peter Drucker at Claremont Graduate University. Her experience with academia-industry collaborations came while contracting at Keck Graduate Institute in Claremont to identify courses of interest for Keck’s Executive continuing educational program and placed graduate students at the Baxter/Shire now Takeda facility in Los Angeles.
Devendra Mishra, Executive Director of BSMA, stated, “Jennifer Bergstrom brings the outstanding dimensions of international business management in biopharma, the understanding of the California Department of Health, and an extensive track record of career development of graduates of the Keck Graduate Institute in industry. Jennifer has the experience and the passion to foster innovation in life Sciences by bringing academia and industry together. Genentech is a reminder of the first biotech company launched by the collaborative effort of a scientist and a venture capitalist.”
Jennifer Bergstrom remarked, “The history of collaboration between industry and academia is well known in Life Sciences. In the post-COVID tumultuous times, we intend to synergize the capabilities and aspirations of academia and industry to drive innovation at an exponential rate of growth. A proactive engagement of students and faculty in the industrial environment of Life Sciences, to jointly solve the problems of healthcare, will yield unique dividends in terms of innovations and career enrichment.”
The Goals of the BSMA academia-industry initiative are:
- To promote collaboration that fosters innovation in the life sciences, and
- To generate innovative programs that benefit participating companies, institutions of higher education, and the industry in general
BSMA envisions that participating companies can benefit from
- Cultivating source of talent for internships, co-ops, jobs;
- Taking advantage of lower cost research and project management by utilizing students and faculty for consulting work; and
- Participating in shaping applied education for supply chain professionals.
On the other hand, institutions of higher education can:
- Gain support for industrial research;
- Gather industrial insights for curriculum;
- Increase ability to support student internships, co-ops, jobs, and others;
- Sustain and enhance alumni activities;
- Take advantage of presentation opportunities at conferences and other events; and
- Access industry experts.
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