Tania Fernandez
Director - India
Dr. Fernandez joined the venture capital group of Burrill & Company in October 2004 with thirteen years of in-depth experience in the life sciences that span various therapeutic areas and technology platforms. Dr. Fernandez currently focuses on sourcing and evaluating US-India cross border and pure play Indian life science investment opportunities within venture as well as merchant banking. She holds a Board observer seat on BioImagene, a cross border company in the digital pathology space. Dr. Fernandez is also the Editor of the Burrill-India newsletter which analyses the life-sciences landscape in India.
She secured her doctorate at the Cancer Research Institute, Tata Memorial Centre, India having been awarded the Indo-US scholarship from the National Institutes of Health. She previously gained operational experience at Hoechst Pharmaceuticals, Mumbai, India. Her post-doctoral specialization at the College of Medicine, Texas A&M was in the fields of protein chemistry and genetic engineering. Dr. Fernandez joined the National Cancer Institute, NIH in 1999 and in 2000 was appointed Staff Scientist.
Dr. Fernandez completed courses in Biotech startups for Scientists and Technology Transfer at the NIH. She is an active member of the National Institutes of Health BioScience Business Interest group, the NIH Stem Cell Group, the Women in Bio group and the Women’s Technology Cluster where she helps mentor start-ups.