Are you thinking about or building a company with interesting technology? The federal government makes $2.5 billion available annually through Small Business Innovation Research/Small Business Technology Transfer (SBIR/STTR) grants. Join Anna Lisa Somera MS, MBA, MPH, an expert in SBIRs and STTRs, for an introduction to how these grants work, who can qualify, and how to apply. She’ll walk you through all of the basics so you can decide if a SBIR or STTR might be a fit for your startup or new technology.

About the Instructor
Anna Lisa is an experienced life science start up consultant, venture capitalist, intellectual property analyst, technology transfer specialist, biomedical researcher, and entrepreneur specialized in early-stage, cutting edge technology businesses. She has been a part of the entrepreneurial community for 15 years. She helped drive the formation and raised angel and venture funding for several start-up companies while also serving as top management for many of the ventures. She also led regulatory affairs, quality, and operations for several medical device companies while serving as senior management. She also has extensive experience in non-dilutive funding having helped new technology ventures receive over $30M in SBIR/STTR, state and private grants. Her experience in this type of funding has landed her several contracts with Argonne National Labs, The Polsky Exchange at the University of Chicago, INVO at Northwestern University, and the Illinois University Incubator Network.

She is currently a Co-Founder and the Chief Operating Officer of Rhaeos, Inc., a medical device company born out of the Rogers Research Group at Northwestern University, developing a non-invasive wearable shunt monitor for patients with hydrocephalus.