Strategic scientific consulting
For biotech founders, academic spinouts, and investors. Engagements typically come from three directions: 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 & written charter — mutual non-disclosure; one-page charter: question, deliverable, timeline, budget.
- Discovery — review of your decks, data, and prior reports; secondary research across publications, patents, regulatory filings, and the competitive landscape.
- Primary research (when required) — discussion-guide development, KOL panel recruitment and recorded interviews, cross-coded thematic analysis.
- Analysis & synthesis — integration across sources, explicit recommendations with decision-consequence framing, quantitative modeling where the question demands it.
- Live review — 60–90 minute presentation of the deliverable, Q&A, and a 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.
MD/PhD
Metabolism, genetics, bioinformatics · Scripps Research
Herminio Guajardo, PhD
Neuroscience · University of Pennsylvania
PhD
Cancer biology · Harvard University
Alfred Atallah, JD
Biotech transactions & IP · 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.
- 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 — a small number of engagements per quarter.
- Fit — a 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 disclosed up front.
- Data handling — client-confidential materials never enter consumer AI tools; sensitive analysis runs on private/local infrastructure. More on the distinction →
- Work product — yours.
- Languages — bilingual English / Spanish across all engagement types.