Background

The Lefteroff Internship was formed in 2013 in memory of the late Tracy Lefteroff, a former Fogarty Innovation board member and global managing partner at PwC. Tracy was an influential leader in venture capital-funded life sciences companies and was widely regarded for his perspectives on the industry. His commitment to mentoring and educating the next generation of students, entrepreneurs and innovators in the life sciences is carried on through this program.

Fogarty Innovation believes in education that lasts a lifetime. That’s why we have designed the Lefteroff summer internship program for college students. We want to pique their interest in the healthcare industry and provide valuable on-the-job experience as they start to explore career options.

Each summer we host U.S. and international students and introduce them to the extraordinary world of medical technology. Our hands-on program gives students the opportunity to shadow and work on projects with our startups and medical technology partners, learn from the best in the industry through our mentorship program, and get to know industry experts who can offer guidance on potential career paths and options.

The knowledge and experience gained from interacting with inventors, physicians, engineers, business strategy and marketing experts, clinical and regulatory consultants, fundraising and operations experts, lawyers, investors, and other professionals, gives interns a deep understanding of the health technology industry and helps them build a network of contacts who can help shape their future career decisions.

The Lefteroff Internship was founded by PwC, Fogarty Innovation (FI) and the California Healthcare Institute.

Program Goals

The goal of the Lefteroff Internship is to honor Tracy’s legacy by providing college students with real-world, hands-on experience and mentoring that will inspire them to join the extraordinary world of medical innovation. Set in a creative and collaborative environment, interns learn, work and network with our entrepreneurs, staff, outside industry experts and physicians. Through this experience, the interns gain a broader view of the medtech landscape and careers available in the healthcare industry.

Program Objectives

The program is designed to strengthen the medical device ecosystem by inspiring and educating the next generation of innovators. Lefteroff interns gain real-world experience in developing new medical devices, while also participating in a structured curriculum of activities designed to provide a broad view of their many career choices and the medical innovation ecosystem. In turn, Fogarty companies-in-development benefit by getting to work with talented students on specified projects throughout the summer.

Program Overview

The Lefteroff Internship is an intensive eight-week program comprised of four main components:

Immersion with Fogarty Innovation startups

Lefteroff interns are paired with a host company-in-development, where they become part of the team and work on specific projects that leverage and hone their skillsets via real-world experience.

Exposure to medical professionals and clinical medicine

FI coordinates meetings with physicians with different specialties as well as shadowing and/or clinical observation days at El Camino Health’s Mountain View hospital. This helps students understand what it’s like to be a physician and how they contribute to the medical device ecosystem.

Interaction with the Silicon Valley innovation ecosystem

FI coordinates meetings with a broad range of industry leaders to expand the interns’ understanding of how innovators obtain funding and how companies evolve from early-stage into mature businesses. Examples include meetings with Stanford Biodesign, other incubators, FI senior staff, venture capitalists or later-stage companies, such as Abbott Labs, Medtronic and J&J.

Education Programs

Lefteroff interns participate in a core curriculum that provides a broader understanding of what it takes to develop medical devices and showcases potential career opportunities. They are also invited to join more advanced educational programs designed for our companies-in-development. The core curriculum typically includes the following:

  • Business 101
  • Startups 101
  • Intellectual Property 101
  • Quality Systems/Product Development 101
  • Regulatory 101
  • Clinical Evidence Development 101
  • Business Communications 101
  • Driving Towards a Career

Summer 2023 – Program Timeline (Applications are now closed)

Important dates:

  • Applications open: November 21, 2022
  • Applications close: January 22, 2023
  • Finalist interviews and acceptance notifications: mid-to-late February, 2023
  • Lefteroff Internship begins: June 20, 2023
  • Internship ends: August 11, 2023

Participation Criteria and Instructions:

  • Students must be currently attending (or just completed) college or graduate school.
  • This is an eight-week PAID program – interns must be available for the full eight weeks. Exceptions may be made due to academic calendar requirements.
  • To be considered, all of the following materials must be submitted on or before January 22: your completed application, resume, two letters of recommendation, a photo of yourself (headshot), and a one-minute video that describes your interests, career goals, and reasons for applying for the Lefteroff Internship.

Questions? Email us at Lefteroff@fogartyinnovation.org

Applications for 2023 are now closed.

What our alums say

Mannat Dhaliwal, 2022

Georgetown University; Healthcare Management & Policy Management

“Healthcare from the Business Side”

“This was right up my alley because I’m interested in healthcare from the business side and these complementary projects showed me a lot of different facets. The Chronus team was really helpful, answering all my questions and always making themselves available, and I also enjoyed the one-on-one talks with Fogarty staff members to learn about their career paths.”

Mannat worked with Chronus Health conducting market and competitor analyses to help determine where the biggest need and market demand is, including identifying new opportunities for Chronus’ current technology and potential future uses. Following this project, she took a deeper dive into the three primary target markets to perform a thorough market sizing analysis.

Samantha Mallahan, 2022

Vanderbilt University; Biomedical Engineering

“Breadth, Exposure and Life Lessons”

“The breadth and exposure this internship provided is unlike any other program. I knew I would learn a lot, but I didn’t know I would learn as much ‘lifewise’ as I did. Everybody advised us not to stress about our path, but to lean into what clicks. It was also fascinating to learn what’s really involved with startups – that you can have the best technology in the world, but if you don’t have the right commercial strategy or understand the market, it’s not going it make it.”

During Sam’s time at Fogarty she worked with Materna Medical helping design a new test fixture used for warranty and verification testing that decreased the time needed to complete testing from five days to 36 hours due to the incorporation of an internal charging feature, as well as additional features that increased its customizability.

Alex Sheinberg, 2022

University of Michigan;  Biology,  Sociology of Health & Medicine

“Innovation Touches More Lives”

“I wasn’t aware of the breadth of the medtech field – how many moving parts there are and different avenues and opportunities for people. I always thought I wanted to be a physician, but this internship exposed me to an entirely new field that’s super interesting and engaging. I’d always thought of physicians as being able to help many people, but when someone like Dr. Fogarty comes up with a device, they can touch exponentially more lives.”

Alex worked with Boomerang Medical on multiple projects, including gathering data from preexisting literature for calculating end points for their clinical trials, then on an IP project where he learned to use common industry databases such as CMS and Patsnap. He enjoyed the variety as he felt it accurately reflected the way people in startups have to dive in on all different fronts.

Lefteroff Alumni

 

2022

Alexander Berry
Alexander Berry

University of Iowa

Cameron Binney
Cameron Binney

Auburn University

Keenia Chavez
Keenia Chavez

UC Merced

Mannat Dhaliwal
Mannat Dhaliwal

Georgetown University

Aarzu Gupta
Aarzu Gupta

Duke University

Alexis Jerding
Alexis Jerding

Georgia Institute of Technology

Nathan Lam
Nathan Lam

Stanford University

Samantha Mallahan
Samantha Mallahan

Vanderbilt University

Angel Ortiz
Angel Ortiz

Stanford University

Emma Rens
Emma Rens

Northwestern University

Sasha Ronaghi
Sasha Ronaghi

Stanford University

Alex Sheinberg
Alex Sheinberg

University of Michigan

Frida Velcani
Frida Velcani

Dartmouth Medical School

Lizbeth Villalobos
Lizbeth Villalobos

UC Merced

2021

Talha Ahmad
Talha Ahmad

Purdue University

Catie Bates
Catie Bates

Colorado State, Boulder

Sarah Bautista
Sarah Bautista

Cal State East Bay

Sriharish Bellamkonda
Sriharish Bellamkonda

UC Davis

Theodore Bronk
Theodore Bronk

Dartmouth College

Kristina Claras
Kristina Claras

Oregon State University

Khue Huyunh
Khue Huyunh

Duke University

Ashvin Irrinki
Ashvin Irrinki

UC Berkeley

Krutin Kumar
Krutin Kumar

University of Texas @ Dallas

Nicole Mariche
Nicole Mariche

University of the Pacific

John Mills
John Mills

Washington and Lee University

Claire Nicolas
Claire Nicolas

Worcester Polytechnic Institute

Sean Rothenberger
Sean Rothenberger

Penn State University

Anjali Rajapopalan
Anjali Rajapopalan

Columbia University

Mark Shifman
Mark Shifman

Johns Hopkins University

2019

Allie Buccino
Allie Buccino

Cornell University

Amelia Bulivant
Amelia Bulivant

Tulane University

Parker Callender
Parker Callender

U of Wisconsin-Madison

Chloe Chemtob
Chloe Chemtob

Stanford University

Grant Domecus
Grant Domecus

Whitman College

Xiao Du
Xiao Du

Stanford University

Seyvonne Ip
Seyvonne Ip

Johns Hopkins University

Caleb Phillips
Caleb Phillips

Stanford University

Nathaniel Serrurier
Nathaniel Serrurier

Pomona

Marinna Smallidge
Marinna Smallidge

Stanford University

Neha Srivathsa
Neha Srivathsa

Stanford University

Kiran Sutaria
Kiran Sutaria

Santa Clara University

Rohan Thakur
Rohan Thakur

U of Minnesota Twin-Cities

Di Wu
Di Wu

Northwestern University

2018

Healey Alamin
Healey Alamin

Stanford University

Christine Callinan
Christine Callinan

Stanford University

Kate Denend
Kate Denend

Pomona College

Marshal Godsil
Marshal Godsil

UC Berkeley

Steven Grolle
Steven Grolle

Stanford University

Joseph Kaiser
Joseph Kaiser

Duke University

Benjamin Lynch
Benjamin Lynch

Wesleyan University

Hallie McNamara
Hallie McNamara

Santa Clara University

Ardella Phoa
Ardella Phoa

Santa Clara University

Anne Vesey
Anne Vesey

Stanford University

Andrew Yock
Andrew Yock

USC

2017

Jonathan Frenzel
Jonathan Frenzel

Stevens Inst of Technology

Brieanna Goo
Brieanna Goo

Santa Clara University

Mackenzie Kay
Mackenzie Kay

Oslo Inst of Health&Society

Eli Patt
Eli Patt

Emory University

Samantha Runke
Samantha Runke

Carnegie Mellon

Cooper Schwabe
Cooper Schwabe

Santa Clara University

Matt Zweber
Matt Zweber

Santa Clara University

2016

Michael Jacobs
Michael Jacobs

Arizona State

Aaron Katz
Aaron Katz

Clemson, Georgia IOT

Casey Lau
Casey Lau

U of Nevada, Reno

Dina Levashova
Dina Levashova

USC

Heidi Peterson
Heidi Peterson

Stanford University

Bridget Vaughan
Bridget Vaughan

UC Berkeley

Sabrina Weeks
Sabrina Weeks

Harvard Medical

2015

Lindsay Axelrod
Lindsay Axelrod

UC Berkeley/UCSF

Gabriele Cassani
Gabriele Cassani

Northwestern University

Ryan M. Gorman
Ryan M. Gorman

Loyola Marymount University

Michelle Le
Michelle Le

San Jose State/Foothill

Diane Masket
Diane Masket

Rowan Sch Osteopathic Med

Nisu Patel
Nisu Patel

Johns Hopkins

Amanda Spielman
Amanda Spielman

Miller School of Medicine

2014

Daniel Adler
Daniel Adler

Cornell University

Alexander Carbonel
Alexander Carbonel

University of Miami

Jamie Corley
Jamie Corley

Tufts University

Sanah Imran
Sanah Imran

Santa Clara University

Matthew Ingraham
Matthew Ingraham

USC

Haley Reicher
Haley Reicher

Dartmouth College

Lefteroff Internship Historical Background

IN MEMORIAM
Tracy Lefteroff, Former Director

Tracy Lefteroff

Tracy Lefteroff was the former global managing partner of private equity and venture capital at PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC), overseeing services to privately owned and venture capital-funded companies worldwide.

Tracy was key to the development of strategic collaborative agreements with many of the major international pharmaceutical companies and assisted in several high-profile industry mergers. He also co-authored the firm’s Practice Standards and Aids for the life sciences industry and was regarded as one of the market’s most prominent analysts.

Lefteroff was with PwC for approximately 25 years. He served on several board of directors, including Fogarty  Innovation, the Stanford Venture Laboratory, the Biotechnology Industry Organization and the California Healthcare Institute. He was also a member of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants and the California, Washington and Idaho Societies of CPAs.