🧬 Barbara Alcaraz Silva - J.P. Morgan - Part 1 | Living the American Dream & Emigrating From Mexico | Soaking Up Experiences & Embracing Opportunities | Researching at the Harvard of Mexico | Presenting In Spanish at a National Conference

The Biotech Startups Podcast

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Part 1 of 4.

My guest for this week’s episode is Barbara Alcaraz Silva, Executive Director of Early Stage Life Sciences and Healthcare, Startup Banking at J.P. Morgan. She is also a former scientist-entrepreneur whose graduate studies focused on Telomeres and DNA Repair. Barbara has worked with many startups, including co-founding her own company, BioChron. While at the Manos Accelerator, she worked as an advisor for Biotech and Medtech companies, providing mentorship in business, fundraising, and capital, and offering guidance to startup companies. Additionally, Barbara worked as a Senior Investment Fellow at Life Science Angels, investing in up-and-coming biotechs and managing investor relationships.

After her time at Life Science Angels, Barbara became the Director of Early-Stage West Coast Life Science and Healthcare banking at SVB and is currently the Executive Director of Early Stage Life Sciences and Healthcare, Startup Banking at J.P. Morgan, where she is leading the national life sciences and healthcare practice. Barbara’s dedication to building a strong community in the biotech space and her expertise in science, management, and investing make her conversation one that founders don’t want to miss.

Join us this week and hear about:

• Barbara’s immigrant journey and how her upbringing played an important role in her lead-up to becoming a scientist-entrepreneur.
• Her path from community college to UC Irvine, where she gained essential lab experience, secured a research position in Plant Biology.
• Her travels abroad to the National Autonomous University of Mexico.

Please enjoy my conversation with Barbara Alcaraz Silva.

Find Our Guest, Barbara Alcaraz Silva, at these links:

https://www.linkedin.com/in/barbarasilvaucsf/

https://www.jpmorgan.com/global

Find Our Host, Jon Chee, at these links:

https://www.linkedin.com/in/jonchee

https://www.excedr.com

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Podcast Website: https://www.thebiotechstartupspodcast.com/

Enriched Notes

Topics Mentioned:

UC Irvine: https://uci.edu/

Minority Science Program: https://msp.bio.uci.edu/

Sanitor Corporation: https://www.sanitorcorp.com/

What Is Molecular Biology? https://www.excedr.com/blog/what-is-molecular-biology

Lab Equipment List for Synthetic Biology: https://www.excedr.com/blog/lab-equipment-list-for-synthetic-biology-research

Types of Equipment Used in Molecular Biology Research: https://www.excedr.com/blog/what-type-of-equipment-is-used-in-molecular-biology-research

National Autonomous University of Mexico: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Autonomous_University_of_Mexico

Timestamps:

00:28 Intro

02:24 Episode starts, Barbara's adolescence and immigrant upbringing, the start of community college in Orange County

10:08 Professors and classmates who built bonds and inspired the pursuit of science and chemistry, the struggle of learning English

15:31 Moving from the academic realm to industry and the cultural adjustments of becoming a project manager at Sanitor Corporation

19:58 The bumpy transfer from community college to UC Irvine and the unexpected love of biology

25:39 Lab experiences at UC Irvine, the opportunity of being a part of the Minority Science Program

31:03 Doing research abroad in Mexico at UNAM

35:46 Next steps after Mexico research and applying to grad school

37:18 Outro

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