Olivia H. Scharfman

I am a Biotechnology Fellow at the Institute for Progress, where I work on biosecurity and biotechnology policy. I also do biosecurity strategy and special projects work for BlueDot Impact.

Previously, I co-founded LincSwitch Therapeutics, where I helped build the founding R&D team and led operations for the programmable lncRNA therapeutics platform (2–7 FTEs, 0–4 provisional patents). Before that, I was a Principal at The SALT Fund, investing in biology and deep tech startups such as General Biological and Northwood Space.

I have also done private consulting, such as strategy and scientific policy work for biodefense, and have volunteered on computational oncology work at Mount Sinai.

I have a B.S. in Molecular Biophysics and Biochemistry from Yale, where I researched lncRNA’s role in aging and epigenetics, as well as the role of aging and epigenetics in liver metabolism, at the Department of Pathology. Earlier work included improving neural networks at DEKA Research & Development, research for XPRIZE, and chairing the Board of Directors for SEDS-USA (Students for the Exploration and Development of Space), a 501(c)3 promoting student interest in space exploration.