Dr. Karin Hehenberger is the founder of Lyfebulb. Diagnosed with type 1 diabetes at an early age, Dr. Hehenberger has dedicated her life to helping others impacted by chronic illnesses. Her personal history with diabetes as well as its consequences, which required kidney and pancreas transplants, provide Dr. Hehenberger with an understanding from a patient perspective as well as a medical professional. It is from those experiences both as a patient and as a doctor, that Dr. Hehenberger was motivated to create Lyfebulb.
Devoted to Healthcare
In addition to her work with Lyfebulb, Dr. Hehenberger has held executive positions in the life sciences sector, and devoted her career to identifying, analyzing, developing and promoting products across the therapeutics, devices and consumer healthcare industries. Prior to her current roles, Dr. Hehenberger was a member of the senior management team at Coronado Biosciences, a company focused on autoimmune diseases and cancer. Dr. Hehenberger has more than 15 years of experience in the healthcare industry, which she entered after obtaining M.D. and Ph.D. degrees from the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm, Sweden and conducting her post-doctoral work as a JDRF fellow at the Joslin Diabetes Center at Harvard Medical School. Her research focused on diabetes and its complications, an area in which she has continued to focus throughout her career. Dr. Hehenberger is considered an expert in the field of Metabolic disease and is an invited speaker at numerous conferences on this topic, as well as the subject of identifying, financing and developing innovative products across therapeutic areas. She is a Senior Advisor, Biotechnology and Medical Innovation for the Department of Endocrinology and Surgery at the Karolinska Institute, the Scientific Advisor to the CEO of Helsinn, and sits on the boards of the Lighthouse Foundation and the Rolf Luft Diabetes Research Foundation.
Background
Prior to joining Coronado, Dr. Hehenberger was the Senior Vice President for Strategic Alliances at the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation (JDRF). She was responsible for advancing the JDRF’s involvement with scientific, financial and commercial partners in the diabetes community. Before JDRF, Dr. Hehenberger worked at Johnson & Johnson as Vice President of Metabolic Strategy and Business Development. She also has experience in public and private equity, having been a partner at Scandinavian Life Science Venture, a buy-side healthcare equity analyst at Brummer & Partners and Argus Partners, on the senior management team of Eyetech Pharmaceuticals, and a strategic management consultant at McKinsey & Co earlier in her career.
Dr. Hehenberger is a well-sought after by the media and she has provided expert advice to top media outlets such as “Good Morning America Health,” “Fox News,” Bloomberg Businessweek, Forbes, and “NY 1″ to name a few.