Speakers

An entrepreneur and scientist, Dr. Russell has co-founded, financed, and/or led multiple startups. Previously, he was the CEO of Sure Optics, Inc., an MIT / Lincoln Laboratory spinout developing super-resolution imaging solutions for biomedical and clinical applications. Prior to that, he was the CEO of Makoto Life Sciences, Inc., a biotechnology discovery and services company providing target identification solutions to global pharmaceutical companies, which he co-founded with scientists from Harvard University and Harvard Medical School. Earlier in his career he co-founded a critical care pharmaceuticals company, an engineering research and design company that developed technologies for industrial process control and measurement, and a high-speed genomics sequencing technology company where he was the inventor of the company’s core technology. Dr. Russell has advised US and foreign government agencies, universities, and corporations on new venture creation. He is an Entrepreneur-in-Residence at UT Southwestern Medical Center, teaches a New Venture Creation course at the University of Texas at Dallas, and is an active participant in the startup community, advising faculty members and students at local universities as well as mentoring fellow entrepreneurs. Dr. Russell has a PhD in Physics from Boston University and conducted his postdoctoral studies at Harvard University.