Dr. Nao Gamo is a neuroscientist-turned-entrepreneur with a passion for taking promising medical technologies from the earliest stages to patients and clinics. Following 15 years as an academic researcher in neuroscience and psychiatry, she is now the Founder and Chief Executive Officer of NeuroSonics Medical, a neurosurgical device startup; Vice President of Business Development at the MDC Studio, a startup studio in Baltimore dedicated to building health and medical technology companies; Associate at the Verte Family of Funds, a family of ventures funds investing in high-growth companies in federally designated Opportunity Zones; and an independent grant consultant. Her professional goals encompass a desire to ensure the applicability of scientific research to society, and make the translation of research findings and inventions into commercial and clinical applications more accessible. Since June, 2020, she has been running the Health Tech Entrepreneurs Meetups, a virtual monthly speaker series, for which she was recognized as a RealLIST Connector 2021 (“leaders growing Baltimore’s tech and entrepreneurship network”) and Women in Bio Capital Region Chapter’s 2021-2022 Rising Star. Dr. Gamo received her BS in Brain and Cognitive Sciences and Music from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, PhD in Neurobiology from Yale University, and completed postdoctoral training in the Molecular Psychiatry Program at the Johns Hopkins University.
Mr. Terry Adams has vast experience across numerous FMCG/CPG product categories, including Food, Beverages, Home Care, and Personal Care in the fields of scientific research and product development. He began his career at Procter and Gamble in Cincinnati, Ohio as a product researcher in the Soaps and Detergents Division.
Mr. Adams joined the Dial Corporation (now a company of Henkel) in Scottsdale, Arizona, where he became the Manager of Process Development for the Personal Care Division. He was later appointed Manager of International Technology Coordination, covering all of Dial Corporation’s product categories.
Mr. Adams joined the Kimberly-Clark Corporation in several roles, eventually appointed the Senior Research Manager of the Global Intellectual Asset Management (GIAM) Team. Mr. Adams provided strategic coordination of Kimberly-Clark’s 3500 patent families and other global intellectual assets across numerous technologies.
Mr. Adams relocated to Vevey, Switzerland, and joined Nestlé as Assistant Vice President and Head of the Technology Intellectual Property (TIP) function within Research and Development, a matrix network across 28 technology centers in 10 countries. He later took on additional responsibilities for the operational and support functions of the Intellectual Asset Management and Patent departments, including competitive intelligence, technology scouting, IT systems, and managing external IP law firms.
Mr. Adams started Lopaka Consulting LLC before relocating back to the US. He joined the Office of Research staff at Howard University in May 2020 to lead the Iintellectual Property and Innovation unit, where he is tasked with building out the IP function at the University.
Mr. Adams is one the IAM Strategy 300 World’s Leading IP Strategists designated for individuals who are leading the way in the development and implementation of strategies that maximize the value of IP portfolios.
Mr. Adams received his bachelor’s and master’s degrees in Chemical Engineering from Howard University in Washington, D.C.
Grant Warner is the Director of Innovation for the College of Engineering & Architecture on Howard University’s campus. In that role, he deploys campus-wide programming in innovation for students, faculty, and post docs. Grant serves as an instructor in the nation’s largest deep technology accelerator, the National Science Foundation (NSF) I-Corps program, which focuses on lab-to-market innovations across NSF’s portfolio. He directs the Howard University – Hampton University I-Corps Site which focuses on commercializing university research from HBCUs. He also is an instructor for the National Institute of Health (NIH) I-Corps program which accelerates the growth of select NIH SBIR Phase I companies in devices, diagnostics, and therapeutics and Energy I-Corps which provides lean startup training for national laboratory researchers. Grant has had the opportunity to support Lab-to-Market activities internationally via the Innovate Egypt, Innovate Ukraine, GIST-Senegal, and GIST-Macedonia programs. He is the co-founder of ConnectYard, a social analytics platform integrated into leading learning management systems and e-learning platforms. Additionally, Grant is a General Partner in the Marathon Fund, a seed stage fund for underrepresented entrepreneurs in the DMV area. He received a B.S. degree from Cornell University, an M.S. degree from Penn State University, and a Ph.D. from Columbia University all in Mechanical Engineering.