Merlinda-Loriane Sewavi is the founder of Syntheia Labs, a next-generation biotechnology startup focused on multi-omics cardiac drug safety. She is former Bioprocess Engineer at Stanford University and previously served as a research scientist at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory. Merlinda holds a master’s degree in Chemical Biology of Cancer from the University of Michigan- Ann Arbor, where she was both a National GEM Consortium Fellow and a Rackham Merit Fellow. She earned her dual undergraduate degrees in Microbiology and Human Biology, with minors in Bioethics and Health Promotion from Michigan State University through Honors College. She also holds a certificate from the Yale School of Management in the Women’s Leadership Program. Her commitment to mentoring and GEM Alumni engagement stems from the support she received as a student – support that helped her discover her own purpose. In her spare time, she enjoys getting her nails done, hiking and catching up on great reads.