Anna Lisa Somera

Ms. Anna Lisa Somera brings over 20 years of experience working with start-ups in different capacities including biomedical research, venture capital, technology transfer, operations, regulatory affairs, quality management systems, clinical research, grant consulting, and management. Her interest in leading start-ups stems from OrthoAccel Technologies, a medical device company she co-founded in grad school in 2005. From there, she worked in early-stage venture capital and held senior roles in several medical device companies including Diagnostic Photonics, Innovative Designs, Briteseed, and American BioOptics.

She has led teams through several clinical trial launches, FDA 510(k) Clearances and CE Marks, ISO 13485 Certified Quality Management Systems, and also brought in over $30M in financing to several start-ups. She has also served as a start-up consultant to Chain Reaction Innovations at Argonne National Labs, The Polsky Exchange at the University of Chicago, MATTER Chicago, INVO at Northwestern University, and the Illinois University Incubator Network. She has also served as senior personnel on several NIH, NSF, and DOD-funded small business grants. She is also on the board of Women in Bio, Chicago.