Career Catalyst- Developing therapies targeting AMH: bridging academia to industry

On February 9th, CRS virtually welcomed Dr. David Pepin, PhD, Associate Director of the Pediatric Surgical Research Laboratories and Associate Molecular Biologist at Massachusetts General Hospital, Associate Professor, Harvard Medical School, and Co-Founder and Scientific Advisor of Oviva Therapeutics to discuss his journey as a reproductive scientist in both academia and in industry in a talked titled, “Developing therapies targeting AMH: bridging academia to industry.”

Dr. Pépin led our CRS community in a comprehensive discussion on the intersection of academia and industry and shared his path as a trainee to independent investigator and entrepreneur. Starting with acknowledging the mentorship and guidance he received as a trainee, Dr. Pépin shared how projects initiated during his doctoral studies lead to the genesis of his first business venture, Provulis, a company with a focus on “developing Mullerian inhibiting substance-derived therapeutics for endocrine disorders, infertility, and ovarian dysfunctions.” Throughout his discussion, Dr. Pépin shared his understanding and evolution of business pitches, even showing the audience examples of his pitch slides. Clearly, he has a talent as his business ventures have been able to accumulate impressive capital and he has transformed his ideas into a new business, Oviva Therapeutics, whose goal is to find innovations in biomedical research for women’s health, specifically in understanding how to increase a woman’s reproductive lifespan. 

Overall, the CRS community of over 50 attendees strong were guided through an extensive discussion on how ideas come to fruition and the important impact of supportive mentors and collaborative peers. Scientists are taught to understand and persevere in the face of failure, but it is always comforting to know that even if failures litter your path, there can still be immense triumphs.