The 2019 Lyfebulb-Helsinn Innovation Award

Mihir Shah is a visionary entrepreneur addressing global health disparities by translating scientific discoveries into affordable and scalable med-tech solutions that improve outcomes. For over 15 years, he’s led the commercialization of several medical innovations impacting many lives. He is the Founder and President of UE Lifesciences, a fast-growing multi-national startup making the hope of cancer early detection a reality with the award-winning innovations, iBreastExam and cervAIcal, benefitting over 400,000 women in 10 countries.

A two-time TED speaker, Mihir’s work has been featured in The New York Times, BBC, and other notable publications. As an adjunct faculty member, Mihir teaches Entrepreneurship in Biomedical Engineering at Drexel University.

Pierluigi is co-founder and Chairman & CEO at Genenta Science, a clinical stage immune-gene therapy company, and a spinoff from Prof. Luigi Naldini and San Raffaele Milano, which has raised $20M in two rounds. Currently, the company has phase 1/2 trials ongoing in multiple myeloma and glioblastoma. Genenta has labs and an office in Milano and an office at Alexandria Center LaunchLabs, New York.

Pierluigi is a serial entrepreneur and investor in biotech, for example he invested in Ethical Oncology Science (EOS), a company acquired by Clovis Oncology (Nasdaq: CVLS) for $470M in 2013. He is a co-founder and Board Member at Altheia Science, an autoimmune diseases startup that raised $20M for its Series A round in 2018.

Regarding his personal experience, Pierluigi says, “I’m not a scientist, I’m an entrepreneur in biotech with a financial background. I really saw a cancer cell for the first time when my mom was diagnosed in 2007, a few months before my marriage. She is here with us today and she enjoys spending time her granddaughter, thanks to clinical research.”

He is a former VC, e.g. co-founder and CEO at Quantica SGR, Venture Consultant at Sofinnova Partners, co-founder and Investment Advisor at Axòn Capital, and co-founder and advisor at AurorA-TT. He is a board member of Italia Startup (Italian Association for startups) and Assobiotec (Italian Association of biotech companies). He is a member of Italian Angels for Biotech (business angel group) and Confindustria Life Sciences and Cluster Life Sciences – Lombardia.