Ricardo Florez

Ricardo Florez has a diverse work experience spanning various industries and roles. Ricardo began their career as a Life Science Summer Intern at SciLifeLab in 2017, where they conducted research on the toxicity of fluorescent particles in human cells. Ricardo then moved on to an internship at KAUST, where they learned tools in the epigenetics field and participated in experiments and report presentations.

In 2019, Ricardo worked as an Innovation & Business Development intern at Summer Lab | Innovation & Entrepreneurship Programme, where they led a team and analyzed market and business roadmaps for a medical business and product.

From 2021 to 2022, they worked as a Business Consultant at Southern Pastures Limited Partnership, assessing market size across different regions and identifying sales opportunities. Ricardo also gained experience in engineering business development at Venturelab and life science business development at SmiLe Incubator in 2022, where they defined business development plans and learned about intellectual property and accounting fundamentals.

In 2022, Ricardo joined KPMG Australia as an Accounting Data Quality & Analytics professional. Ricardo assessed data quality, targeted high-value customers, and used visualizations to present insights.

Currently, Ricardo is working as a Business Development Associate at Aparito, starting in 2023.

Ricardo Florez has an extensive education history. Ricardo obtained a Bachelor's degree in Molecular Biology from Lund University in 2016. Ricardo then pursued Exchange Studies in Neurobiology at McGill University from 2015 to 2016. In 2018, they completed their Master's Degree in Biomedicine at Karolinska Institutet.

In the same year, Ricardo also undertook a Master's Thesis in Experimental and Computational Neurobiology at The University of Edinburgh. Ricardo continued their education and completed a Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) in Bioengineering at The University of Auckland from 2018 to 2022. Additionally, they participated in a course in Artificial Intelligence at Luleå University of Technology in 2021.

Ricardo has also pursued various additional certifications. Ricardo participated in the Virtual Experience Programme at KPMG Australia in January 2023. In November 2022, they obtained certifications in Advanced Business Development, Business Development Foundations, Business Development: Strategic Planning, Communicating with Emotional Intelligence, Improving Your Listening Skills, Editing and Proofreading Made Simple, Project Management Skills for Leaders, and Writing Articles from LinkedIn.

In 2022, Ricardo obtained a certification in Smile Life Science e-Campus from SmiLe Incubator, and in 2022, they completed the Venturelab Innovation Programme offered by Venturelab. In December 2021, they gained practical experience in Market Research Consultancy through an internship at Southern Pastures Limited Partnership.

Furthermore, Ricardo participated in Summer Lab and Founders Hatchery Innovation Programmes at the University of Auckland - Business School in August 2019. Ricardo also gained industry experience through a Life Science Summer Internship at KAUST (King Abdullah University of Science and Technology) in July 2017.

Looking ahead, Ricardo is pursuing an Online Extracurricular Certification in Quality Control Management from the University of Gävle starting in 2023.