LSW Institute’s 5th Annual Life Science Startup Pitch Showcase

Jessica Kamada  is the founder and managing partner at Swizzle Ventures, using its inaugural fund to invest in around 30 companies focused on women’s health and wealth. Women’s health is ripe with investment opportunity; McKinsey recently reported that there is $1 trillion in economic potential “driven by improved women’s health and economic participation.” Swizzle has already invested in 10 companies out of its first fund, including Seattle startup Trellis Health, which graduated from Techstars Seattle in 2023 and focuses on pregnancy tracking. Other Swizzle-backed companies include Mavida Health, a maternal mental healthcare provider, and Alinea, an AI investment management platform for Gen Z women. Kamada previously spent more than eight years at Bamboo, a Seattle-based marketing agency where she helped consumer tech companies scale their businesses, many of which went public or were acquired.

Tatiana Yglesias, VNTR’s Boston Chapter Director and Founder of Supra Advisory, is a senior business builder with 16 years of global experience across LatAm, Europe, and U.S. in pharma commercialization, healthcare innovation, and venture development. She established Novartis’ Mexico Immunology BU, opened a VC & incubation hub in Boston, and now leads VNTR’s local investor network connecting global capital and innovation. Tatiana also consults with Interlink Markets investment bank. An MIT MBA and M.Sc. in Chemical Engineering graduate, she serves on the boards of Latinos in Bio and the Women’s Foundation of Massachusetts, mentoring next-gen leaders.

Frank Yin at WRF is focused on sourcing and evaluating new investment opportunities in Washington—primarily in startups advancing technologies developed in the state’s research institutions—in addition to managing many of the active investments within WRF’s 44-company portfolio. He will provide additional expertise to WRF’s grantmaking team and assist with WRF’s venture analyst program.

Yin brings a diverse background spanning biotech, pharma, computer science and business administration. He completed his MBA at The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania. Before Wharton, Yin spent seven years at GlaxoSmithKline as a principal investigator in research and development, where he leveraged artificial intelligence and machine learning to advance drug discovery and development. His investment experience includes internships with private equity and venture capital firms Health Catalyst Capital in New York City, Qiming Venture Partners in Shanghai, China, and Lilly Asia Ventures in Menlo Park, California, where he focused on life sciences, healthcare IT and tech-enabled services companies.

Yin holds a doctorate in chemical engineering from the University of Virginia, a master’s in computer science with a specialization in machine learning from the Georgia Institute of Technology, and a bachelor’s in chemistry from Peking University in Beijing, China. He will primarily work remotely until he relocates to Seattle in June following the completion of his MBA program.