Mission Statement

Our mission is threefold:

  1. To provide data-driven consulting solutions to promote sustained growth of emerging technologies and scalable business,

  2. To provide hands-on experience in the business of science and technology, focusing on the developing of transferable knowledge and skills for post-graduate professionals, and

  3. To support, expand, and shape entrepreneurship and innovation in the St. Louis region and beyond.

Our Story

The Biotechnology and Life Science Advising Group (BALSA) is a nonprofit organization founded in December 2010 by a group of biomedical PhD candidates and postdoctoral fellows from Washington University School of Medicine (WashU) in St. Louis, MO. The goal of the group is to supplement academic training by providing real-world experience in the science of business and development of transferable professional skills to better prepare members for both academic and non-academic career paths. BALSA further aims to offer a bridge between academia and industry, fostering collaborations between local universities and companies, to strengthen the young and vibrant startup community in St. Louis.

100+

Number of Active Members

Our consultants stem from WashU, Saint Louis University, and the broader St. Louis community.

Since its inception, BALSA has grown to encompass approximately 100 active members from WashU, Saint Louis University (SLU), and the St. Louis professional community. Consultants come from a myriad of backgrounds including cell biology, neuroscience, immunology, microbiology, genetics and genomics, cancer biology, plant biology, chemistry, engineering, business and law. While members enter with little experience in professional consulting, BALSA harnesses the analytical power of graduate students and postdocs by teaching them to apply the systematic, critical thinking approach of the scientific method to business problems to generate innovative, data-driven solutions for clients. Consultants learn the market research skills necessary to deliver these recommendations through teamwork and peer-to-peer mentoring with experienced project managers and advisors.

Since 2011, BALSA has engaged with more than 150 independent clients, including startups, universities, mid-large size companies, investment firms, consulting firms, and more. We have provided consulting services to companies across 11 US states as well as a few international institutions. BALSA teams have completed more than 300 projects on a wide variety of topics including market research, technology development, competitor analysis, business plan development, and consumer facing materials.

Words from the Co-Presidents

This summer was truly a special time for The BALSA Group. We welcomed 16 new consultants, served 13 clients through 3 project rounds, introduced a new 4-week short-term project setup, gathered at 3 fun happy hours, and put on a successful professional development series! We are also excited to announce that we have partnered with CaseCoach and will be taking orders for BALSA Yeti coffee mugs, where we can continue to boost the BALSA brand across campus and around St. Louis! These various topics are all highlighted below.

Over the past month, we have hosted a great professional development series spanning a variety of topics to help our members and the broader community prepare for next steps in their careers. Our first session covered the technology transfer field and was led by one of our BALSA advisory board members and the Assistant Vice Chancellor and Managing Director of the Office of Technology Management at WashU, Dr. Nichole Mercier. With many of our members looking to pursue consulting opportunities after graduation, we also hosted a session on case and non-academic interview preparation led by two of our very own BALSA officers, Jesús Santiago-Borges and Chi-Chan Lee. Another one of our BALSA advisory board members, Dr. Thi Nguyen, led a great interactive session on navigating career pathways for PhDs. Our final info session covered resume/CV and cover letter preparation led by one of WashU’s career consultants, Kim Gerik, MA. We hope you enjoyed some of these sessions!

We are also looking forward to the second annual Midwest Healthcare Case Competition coming up this October! BALSA is excited to be partnering with miLEAD and WiSolve again to co-lead this great event, and we have two Board of Directors members on the organizing team, shout out to Yuanyuan He and Garrett Easson! This year’s gold sponsors are Genentech and Eli Lilly, and participants will have the opportunity to network with leaders from those companies as well as several life science and healthcare consulting firms. Any BALSA members interested in participating, please reach out to Yuanyuan at hr@balsa.org for more information and to join a BALSA team.

The BALSA group is excited to announce that we have partnered with CaseCoach, a premier resource for case prep resources, to offer all active BALSA members a 20% discount code. If you are interested in taking advantage of this fantastic opportunity, please see below for details and who to contact.

Additionally, we are excited to announce an order for BALSA Yeti coffee tumblers! Please fill out the form below if you would like to purchase a custom coffee tumbler by Friday, September 8th.

As we look forward to the school year starting, our recruiting efforts are in full swing to find new opportunities to grow our membership and expand BALSA’s reach in the community. We will be hosting tables at several program orientation events across WashU and we will have a formal recruitment event in late September. Encourage your friends and labmates to join us for this event to learn more about BALSA and what we can offer! More details for the event can be found in the newsletter.

Lastly, we would like to recognize our clients for engaging with us and continuing to support the development of our members. Thank you to all of the consultants and project managers who have put dedicated efforts into each project and continue to promote BALSA in a positive light. We would like to highlight an upcoming event with The BALSA Foundation where we will learn more about how BALSA projects directly impact local entrepreneurs around St. Louis. In the coming months, stay tuned for our October happy hour, invitation to our annual holiday party, and upcoming professional development events!

Cheers,

Erica Ely & Kara Donovan
Co-Presidents, The BALSA Group