Dedicated to changing the world
Our Team

Nina Dudnik, PhD
Founder & Chief Executive Officer
Dr. Dudnik works at the intersection of science and global development. She began the effort to build Seeding Labs as a graduate student in 2003. She was a finalist in the 2006 MIT $100K Entrepreneurship Competition and was awarded an Echoing Green fellowship in 2007 to formally launch and expand Seeding Labs.
Dr. Dudnik has been widely recognized for her work with Seeding Labs. She received a 2017 "Innovation All Star" award from the Boston Business Journal, a 2016 Passion in Science Humanitarian Duty Award from New England Biolabs, and in 2015, was named one of the world’s 100 most influential people in biotechnology by Scientific American Worldview magazine.
She received the 2014 John F. Kennedy New Frontier Award, was a 2010 TEDGlobal Fellow and a 2010 PopTech Social Innovation Fellow, and received the 2010 Massachusetts Nonprofit Network Young Professional award. She currently serves on the advisory board for 500 Women Scientists.
Dr. Dudnik has experienced science on a global scale; she worked for the Consultative Group for International Agricultural Research in Italy where she provided advice on the integration of molecular genetics techniques into conservation and plant breeding activities.
As a Fulbright scholar in 2000 at the Africa Rice Center in Côte d’Ivoire, Dr. Dudnik studied rice introgression using molecular markers. Prior to that, she obtained her PhD in molecular biology from Harvard Graduate School of Arts and Sciences and a BSc in biochemistry from Brown University.
Follow Dr. Dudnik on Twitter @Nina_SLabs. Please direct speaking requests to media@seedinglabs.org.

Andrea Imperato
Director of Finance & Compliance

Chiudo Ehirim
Atlas Corps Fellow

Christina Viola Srivastava
Director of Program Implementation & Evaluation

David Qualter
Vice President of Operations

Leah G. Lindsay
Vice President of External Relations

Melissa P. Wu, PhD
Senior Vice President of Operations
Melissa oversees operations for Seeding Labs, including managing the team administering the Instrumental Access program. She first became involved with Seeding Labs as a volunteer while a graduate student. Through the Office for Diversity Inclusion and Community Partnership at Harvard Medical School, she mentored young scientists. As a copy editor for the Journal of Emerging Investigators, and through her previous work at American Journal Experts, she aided scientists in communicating their scientific results for publication. Melissa obtained her PhD in cellular and developmental biology from Harvard University for work in muscle development at Boston Children’s Hospital and holds an SB in biology from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Steven Munevar, PhD, MBA
Director of Corporate RElations
Steven oversees Seeding Labs' portfolio of corporate partners that support Instrumental Access. He cultivates strategic partnerships with corporations, universities, and nonprofits, and manages the equipment donation process. Prior to joining Seeding Labs, Steven founded and led the life science development and commercialization consulting group Munevar & Associates, Inc., as well as the life science entrepreneurship training initiative Innovation Bioscience and its accompanying "Deep Dives in Entrepreneurship" speaker series. He is also the founder of the long-running life science events series, "Science Shaping Our World," which provides a stage for advancements in translational research, life science commercialization, and multidisciplinary networking opportunities.

Teresa Ventura
Development Specialist
Seeding Labs’ Board of Directors

Frances Colón, PhD
CEO, JASPERI CONSULTING

Clare Dougherty
SR. DIRECTOR, EXTERNAL AFFAIRS, ELIZABETH GLASER PEDIATRIC AIDS FOUNDATION

Nina Dudnik, PhD
FOUNDER & CEO, SEEDING LABS

Tim Fenton
VICE PRESIDENT, GLOBAL GOVERNMENT RELATIONS, THERMO FISHER SCIENTIFIC

Safraz W. Ishmael
SENIOR COUNSEL, PROSKAUER ROSE LLP

Julian James
VICE PRESIDENT – CREDIT RESEARCH, BLACKROCK

Joanne Kamens, PhD
EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, ADDGENE

Alan C. Lee
DIRECTOR – DIGITAL WEALTH, BLACKROCK

Cheryl Nickerson-Nutter, PhD
VICE PRESIDENT OF RESEARCH & DEVELOPMENT, HULOW MEDICAL

Vishal Patel, PhD
CHIEF OF STAFF, NOVARTIS INSTITUTES FOR BIOMEDICAL RESEARCH
