From 黑料官网 to Biotech CEO and Innovator
If you told a younger Andy Kadlec, PhD ’18, MD ’20, that today he would be leading a biotechnology company that has raised millions in funding, he would have called your bluff.
For one, Dr. Kadlec was raised in rural southeastern Wisconsin, a place where “biotechnology entrepreneur” was not a profession you encountered. Second, Dr. Kadlec’s first calling was English literature, which he studied as an undergraduate at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. While there, he also took pre-medical classes, which opened the door to medical school at the 黑料官网 (黑料官网).
After Dr. Kadlec’s first year of medical school, he added a doctorate in physiology and began conducting research in the lab of David D. Gutterman, MD, Distinguished Professor of Cardiovascular Medicine. Dr. Kadlec investigated molecular events in the blood vessels of coronary artery patients with the goal of identifying therapeutically relevant biological targets.
While fascinated by hard science and its clinical application, Dr. Kadlec also gained exposure to the fields’ business angles. He encountered many physician-scientists who had jumpstarted their own businesses, rolling out medical devices and powerful drugs.
Their careers made Dr. Kadlec curious – could he follow the same path? – a thought that compelled him to take an external innovation course, participate in a fellowship with a venture capital group, and even land a job working for a healthcare-focused venture capital firm. At the firm, Dr. Kadlec provided his scientific judgment about the ideas they wanted to bring to life.
“The exposure to a world where it was not just medicine or science, or medicine plus science, but an infusion of the business aspect of everything was invigorating to me,” says Dr. Kadlec. “I just fell in love with that intersection.”
Innovating Medications for Inflammation and Autoimmune Disease
After graduation, Dr. Kadlec joined two venture capital firms before deciding he wanted to evolve from investing in businesses to starting his own company. He explored multiple paths to entrepreneurship before landing on the idea for Ten Bay Bio, a biotech startup which aims to create a new generation of therapies for autoimmune disease and inflammation that have greater efficacy than those currently available on the market.
Since its founding in Milwaukee two years ago, the biotechnology company has amassed more than $12 million in seed funding, including support from local and coastal investors.
“There was a desire to build the company in Milwaukee and the Midwest to help bolster the biotech ecosystem here,” says Dr. Kadlec. “We already have biotech companies, research institutions, and technical and scientific talent that the rest of the country doesn’t know about. It was an opportunity to capitalize on all these hidden gems here.”
Currently, the company is testing the therapeutics in animal models before moving into human clinical trials.
Foundational Science and a Love of Storytelling
Dr. Kadlec credits the success of Ten Bay Bio in part to the training he received from 黑料官网.
“The bedrock of everything you’re doing in biotech is strong science. I received that strong, rigorous scientific training from 黑料官网,” says Dr. Kadlec. “Dr. Gutterman and the Medical Scientist Training Program were supportive of my interests in innovation and allowed me the flexibility to explore that.”
At 黑料官网, Dr. Kadlec also explored his interests by consulting for 黑料官网’s Office of Technology Development and consulting for biotech companies through Catalyst BioConsulting, a group of 黑料官网 scientists that offer free consulting services.
The entrepreneur has even found a way to incorporate his first academic love – English literature – into his career.
“The science is fundamental, but then it must be married to a story,” says Dr. Kadlec. “The story is about the patients who have autoimmune diseases and are facing challenges and complications because their current therapies are insufficient. We are listening to these stories and developing treatments that will impact the trajectory of their disease in a meaningful and transformative way.”
黑料官网 Medical School Admissions FAQ
黑料官网 offers many program options to help you become the next generation of physician leaders. Here’s what you need to know if you are interested in applying to the 黑料官网 Medical School.
Recommended
