NED congratulates our Board Director Carolina Alarco on receiving LabCentral Ignite’s inaugural Ted W. Love Award for Individual Impact on Life Sciences Diversity, Equity, & Inclusion at the first annual bioDiversity Summit Awards Dinner on September 28, 2022.
Carolina is the founder and principal of BioStrategy Advisors, LLC, a strategic business consulting firm for small and medium-sized biotech and medtech companies in the Massachusetts area. Born in Lima, Peru and a resident of the Boston area for 27 years, her life’s focus is on bringing healthcare innovations to patients around the world and helping Latinx professionals succeed in the life sciences industry – both here in the U.S. and in her home country.
To that end, she serves on the Mass General Board of Trustees (MGPO), the Greater Boston Chamber of Commerce Women’s Advisory Board, the Massachusetts STEM Advisory Council and the Latinx Council at Boston Children’s Hospital. She is also the co-founder of Latinos In Bio, a group dedicated to creating opportunities for success and amplifying the social capital of Latinx professionals in the biotech, pharmaceutical, medical technology, and other fields within life sciences.
Ms. Forlenza, a NY State Licensed CPA, brings over 35 years of experience in corporate finance to the Board. She has a proven track record leading privately and publicly held companies from inception to growth and profitability. Since founding LC Forlenza Advisory Services in 1987, she has advised over 250 long-tenured clients across the globe on a wide range of financial matters including tax and audit strategy, forensic accounting, mergers, and reporting. Throughout the 1980s and early 1990s, Ms. Forlenza led audit and tax relationships with international audit firms on behalf of global brokerage firms Bierbaum-Martin Inc and International Exchange Partners. She led operations for these firms in London, Dusseldorf, and New York. Ms. Forlenza has held numerous board positions advising companies on audit and tax-related matters and currently serves as Chair of the Audit Committee for the Board of Innodata Inc. She holds a Certificate in Forensic Accounting from NYU and BBA in Accounting from Iona College where she was the first and only female accounting major in her graduating class, and she has completed Executive Training Programs at Harvard Business School and The Wharton School.
Dr. El-Bardeesy is Associate Professor of Medicine at the Harvard Medical School and a leading authority on the causes of cancer. Dr. El-Bardeesy also serves as the Cholangiocarcinoma Foundation Scientific and Medical Advisory Board Co-Chair. Dr. El-Bardeesy additionally is Assistant Professor at Massachusetts General Hospital Cancer Center and is an instructor at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute. Dr. El-Bardeesy is widely published on the molecular and cellular mechanisms that drive certain types of cancer.
Dr. Kurzrock is Professor of Medicine and Associate Director for Clinical Sciences at the University of San Diego Moore Cancer Center. She leads the Center’s clinical trial programs and heads its recently established Center for Personalized Cancer Therapy. Dr. Kurzrock’s distinguished track record includes leading one of the largest phase one clinical trial programs at the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, where she spearheaded an innovative approach that utilized advanced molecular technologies to match patients with targeted cancer treatment that optimized the possibility for response.