Full Name
Melissa Fensterstock
Job Title
VC
Company
Material Impact
Speaker Bio
Melissa Fensterstock aspires to help shape the future of human and planetary health. She has interests in frontier technology, helping early-stage companies translate innovations from academic settings to commercial scale.
At Material Impact Fund, Melissa brings a unique mix of scientific and business acumen applicable at both the strategic and tactical levels and has a passion for developing and commercializing early-stage scientific innovations. Most recently led MI’s investment in Ripple Foods and has joined the board. Melissa has enjoyed an extensive career as an operator. As CEO of Landsdowne Labs, a spin out from MIT co-founded with Robert Langer, Melissa transformed an academic concept to market-ready status that included executing a global partnership with one of the world’s largest metal and mining companies, received an NSF grant, raised venture capital investment, and was involved with developing legislation around child-safety. Previously, Melissa worked across the life science sector ranging from running corporate development for a publicly traded biotechnology company, to consumer product leader, to spinning out therapeutics companies from Columbia University and Johns Hopkins University.
As an XIR at Digitalis Commons, Melissa advises innovators working on early-stage health technologies to ensure discoveries are best aligned to make it from bench to bedside. She is an and active advisor to ARPA-H of >$150M of BREATHE funding. She is currently working to advise ARPA-H on how to translate their programs into health solutions for all. Beyond serving as an XIR at Digitalis Commons, she has held executive in residence positions at Johns Hopkins University, Columbia University, Yale University, and Climate Haven. She is a Trustee of Connecticut Public .
In her free time, Melissa enjoys reading, painting, blind wine tasting, and culinary travel adventures. She lives in Connecticut with her husband and two sons.
At Material Impact Fund, Melissa brings a unique mix of scientific and business acumen applicable at both the strategic and tactical levels and has a passion for developing and commercializing early-stage scientific innovations. Most recently led MI’s investment in Ripple Foods and has joined the board. Melissa has enjoyed an extensive career as an operator. As CEO of Landsdowne Labs, a spin out from MIT co-founded with Robert Langer, Melissa transformed an academic concept to market-ready status that included executing a global partnership with one of the world’s largest metal and mining companies, received an NSF grant, raised venture capital investment, and was involved with developing legislation around child-safety. Previously, Melissa worked across the life science sector ranging from running corporate development for a publicly traded biotechnology company, to consumer product leader, to spinning out therapeutics companies from Columbia University and Johns Hopkins University.
As an XIR at Digitalis Commons, Melissa advises innovators working on early-stage health technologies to ensure discoveries are best aligned to make it from bench to bedside. She is an and active advisor to ARPA-H of >$150M of BREATHE funding. She is currently working to advise ARPA-H on how to translate their programs into health solutions for all. Beyond serving as an XIR at Digitalis Commons, she has held executive in residence positions at Johns Hopkins University, Columbia University, Yale University, and Climate Haven. She is a Trustee of Connecticut Public .
In her free time, Melissa enjoys reading, painting, blind wine tasting, and culinary travel adventures. She lives in Connecticut with her husband and two sons.