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
University of Iowa
Cameron Binney
Auburn University
Keenia Chavez
UC Merced
Mannat Dhaliwal
Georgetown University
Aarzu Gupta
Duke University
Alexis Jerding
Georgia Institute of Technology
Nathan Lam
Stanford University
Samantha Mallahan
Vanderbilt University
Angel Ortiz
Stanford University
Emma Rens
Northwestern University
Sasha Ronaghi
Stanford University
Alex Sheinberg
University of Michigan
Frida Velcani
Dartmouth Medical School
Lizbeth Villalobos
UC Merced
2021
Talha Ahmad
Purdue University
Catie Bates
Colorado State, Boulder
Sarah Bautista
Cal State East Bay
Sriharish Bellamkonda
UC Davis
Theodore Bronk
Dartmouth College
Kristina Claras
Oregon State University
Khue Huyunh
Duke University
Ashvin Irrinki
UC Berkeley
Krutin Kumar
University of Texas @ Dallas
Nicole Mariche
University of the Pacific
John Mills
Washington and Lee University
Claire Nicolas
Worcester Polytechnic Institute
Sean Rothenberger
Penn State University
Anjali Rajapopalan
Columbia University
Mark Shifman
Johns Hopkins University
2019
Allie Buccino
Cornell University
Amelia Bulivant
Tulane University
Parker Callender
U of Wisconsin-Madison
Chloe Chemtob
Stanford University
Grant Domecus
Whitman College
Xiao Du
Stanford University
Seyvonne Ip
Johns Hopkins University
Caleb Phillips
Stanford University
Nathaniel Serrurier
Pomona
Marinna Smallidge
Stanford University
Neha Srivathsa
Stanford University
Kiran Sutaria
Santa Clara University
Rohan Thakur
U of Minnesota Twin-Cities
Di Wu
Northwestern University
2018
Healey Alamin
Stanford University
Christine Callinan
Stanford University
Kate Denend
Pomona College
Marshal Godsil
UC Berkeley
Steven Grolle
Stanford University
Joseph Kaiser
Duke University
Benjamin Lynch
Wesleyan University
Hallie McNamara
Santa Clara University
Ardella Phoa
Santa Clara University
Anne Vesey
Stanford University
Andrew Yock
USC
2017
Jonathan Frenzel
Stevens Inst of Technology
Brieanna Goo
Santa Clara University
Mackenzie Kay
Oslo Inst of Health&Society
Eli Patt
Emory University
Samantha Runke
Carnegie Mellon
Cooper Schwabe
Santa Clara University
Matt Zweber
Santa Clara University
2016
Michael Jacobs
Arizona State
Aaron Katz
Clemson, Georgia IOT
Casey Lau
U of Nevada, Reno
Dina Levashova
USC
Heidi Peterson
Stanford University
Bridget Vaughan
UC Berkeley
Sabrina Weeks
Harvard Medical
2015
Lindsay Axelrod
UC Berkeley/UCSF
Gabriele Cassani
Northwestern University
Ryan M. Gorman
Loyola Marymount University
Michelle Le
San Jose State/Foothill
Diane Masket
Rowan Sch Osteopathic Med
Nisu Patel
Johns Hopkins
Amanda Spielman
Miller School of Medicine
2014
Daniel Adler
Cornell University
Alexander Carbonel
University of Miami
Jamie Corley
Tufts University
Sanah Imran
Santa Clara University
Matthew Ingraham
USC
Haley Reicher
Dartmouth College
Lefteroff Internship Historical Background
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.