Speaker Profile
Ph.D., Scientific Director, Breakout Labs and Partner, Breakout Ventures
Biography
Hemai Parthasarathy is the Scientific Director of the Thiel Foundation and its program to support radical, science-based, startup companies, Breakout Labs. She is responsible for establishing the scientific priorities of the program, evaluating submitted proposals, and advising portfolio companies. She is also a Partner in Breakout Ventures, a new, early stage fund that backs bold scientist-entrepreneurs working at the intersections of technology, biology, materials, and energy. Previously, Hemai served as the North American Editor for Nature and was a founding editor of PLOS, the open-access publisher of PLOS ONE. As a consultant, she has also advised research institutes, non-profits, and biotechnology companies on the development and communication of their scientific portfolios. She holds a Ph.D. in Brain and Cognitive Sciences from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and a B.A. in Biophysics from The Johns Hopkins University.
