Metabolism, genetics, bioinformatics
MD/PhD
Scripps Research
Biotech Strategy Consulting
Strategic scientific consulting for biotech founders, academic spinouts, and translational programs
Engagements typically come from three directions: biotech founders working through platform thesis, IP whitespace, or combination strategy; academic researchers preparing or executing spinouts; and investors running scientific due diligence on early-stage opportunities.
How an engagement works
Engagements follow a structured arc, from initial scoping through final deliverable. Each phase has a defined output, so you always know where the work stands.
- Scoping call
- 30 minutes, free
- Define the question, evaluate fit, outline scope
- NDA and written charter
- Mutual non-disclosure agreement
- One-page charter: question, deliverable, timeline, budget
- Discovery
- Review of your decks, data, and prior reports
- Secondary research: publications, patents, regulatory filings, competitive landscape
- Primary research (when the engagement requires it)
- Structured discussion guide development
- KOL panel recruitment and recorded interviews
- Cross-coded thematic analysis
- Analysis and synthesis
- Integration across sources
- Explicit recommendations with decision-consequence framing
- Quantitative modeling where the question demands it
- Live review
- 60–90 minute presentation walking through the deliverable
- Q&A and implications discussion
- Midpoint check-in for multi-week engagements
Advisory team
Together with my own metabolic disease background, the team brings complementary scientific, clinical, and legal expertise. Legal counsel is engaged where IP filings, advisory agreements, or spinout structuring require formal review. Advisor involvement is engagement-specific and disclosed up front.
Herminio Guajardo
Neuroscience
PhD
University of Pennsylvania
Cancer biology
PhD
Harvard University
Alfred Atallah
Biotech transactions and IP
JD
University of San Diego
Engagements
Standalone deliverables
- 30-minute scoping call (no charge)
- To determine fit and engagement structure
- Expert briefing & consultation
- 60-min consultation + 2–4 page briefing on a single focused question, ~1 week
- IP / competitive landscape analysis
- Patent and publication review with strategic positioning, ~2 weeks
- Strategic scientific memo
- Hypothesis-driven framing, 8–15 pages, 2–4 weeks
- Multi-month advisory retainer
- Ongoing scientific advisory across questions
Standalone or paired with the above
- KOL panel + synthesis report
- 4–12 KOL interviews with synthesis report, 4–6 weeks
Full specifications and pricing →
Custom engagements scoped to deliverables on request — including pre-clinical development strategy, mechanism / target evaluation, and investor scientific due diligence.
Working relationship
- Capacity
- Small number of engagements per quarter
- Fit
- Scoping call determines question, fit, and scope. I'll refer where I'm not a fit.
- Out of scope
- Regulatory strategy, GMP / CMC, biostatistical analysis beyond mechanistic interpretation, late-phase trial design
- Pricing model
- Shaped by deliverable, not billable hour. $500/hour for existing-client follow-ons.
- Confidentiality
- Mutual NDA, named primary contacts on both sides, conflicts of interest disclosed up front
- Data handling
- Client-confidential materials never enter consumer AI tools. Sensitive analysis runs on private/local infrastructure (open-source models via Ollama). General research uses enterprise-grade tools with no-training data agreements. More on the distinction →
- Progress updates
- Written, every two weeks for engagements lasting longer than a month
- Work product
- Yours
- Languages
- Bilingual English / Spanish across all engagement types