Fueling Innovation: Colorado's Rise as a BioTech and HealthTech Powerhouse

Dustin is an award-winning business journalist, bestselling author, and the chief content officer of Smart Business. Over the past 30 years, he has interviewed thousands of business and civic leaders, and helped more than 50 CEOs and entrepreneurs transform their ideas into books. A trained investigative politics reporter and former digital media entrepreneur, Dustin joined Smart Business in 1997 after serving as an editor at several daily newspapers.

Colorado BioScience Association (CBSA) builds a collaborative life sciences ecosystem and advocates for a pro-innovation business climate. The organization champions Colorado’s health innovation ecosystem and life-saving technologies that make a global impact.

Elyse Blazevich leads CBSA’s efforts to create co-opportunity for this vibrant, fast-growing community, through Capital + Growth, Policy + Advocacy, Education + Networking, and Workforce Development through the Colorado BioScience Institute. She’s a proud advocate for the state’s life sciences ecosystem, which provides high-paying, mission-driven jobs to more than 38,000 Coloradans. The community is a fundraising powerhouse, raising $1.2 billion in 2023 and $1.47 billion in the first six months of 2024.

Elyse led the launch of Colorado Hub for Health Impact earlier this year, a national economic development campaign that positions Colorado as America’s epicenter for life sciences innovation. With support from more than 20 partners, the campaign represents the first-ever large-scale investment to attract new life sciences companies, talent, and investors to Colorado.

Prior to joining CBSA, Elyse co-founded Securisyn Medical and served as COO and CFO, where she and her team secured $15 million in capital, including $4 million in non-dilutive government funding, and expanded the product pipeline from one to five devices. She remains a member of Securisyn Medical’s Board of Directors.

Born and raised in Colorado, Elyse holds a B.A. in biology from Colorado College and an M.S. in organizational leadership from CSU Global. She is also a graduate of the Colorado BioScience Institute’s Executive Leadership program.

Kimberly Muller is the Executive Director of CU Innovations where she leads innovation for the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus. Kimberly’s business development responsibilities include investing, company creation, innovation management, forming key strategic industry partnerships, and licensing. Large-scale industry collaborations have been established in areas such as AI and drug development.  She also manages several investment funds, including a $10 million innovation grant fund, a $50 million early-stage venture fund, a $75 million follow-on fund, and partners with UCHealth on a $200 million growth stage fund.

Kimberly joined the University of Colorado from Yale University where she was formerly the Deputy Director of the Yale Entrepreneurial Institute (YEI), and managed New Ventures in the Office of Cooperative Research. During Kimberly’s tenure, Yale’s Office of Cooperative Research started more than 70 new ventures that have raised over $5 billion in investor capital.

Previously, Kimberly started and sold companies in the biotech, tech, and clean energy fields, companies included Curagen Corporation (acquired by Celldex Therapeutics), 454 Life Science (acquired by Roche), and Arbor Fuel, a biofuel company that utilized recombinant microorganisms for the production of ethanol and butanol. Kimberly began her career in New York as a patent attorney for Chadbourne and Parke, LLP.

Kimberly has a graduate degree in Genetics and received her law degree with highest honors from the University of Connecticut School of Law.

Dr. Afshin Safavi is a founder, CEO, councilman, consultant, board member, scientist, entrepreneur, and investor in biotechnology, pharmaceutical, animal health, technology, and real-estate sectors with multi-billion-dollar turnovers in biological products and is responsible for multiple drug products in the market today. He has founded Colorado Health & Tech Centers (CHTC) and BioAgilytix Labs, one of the most successful multi-billion-dollar Contract Research Organizations (CRO) known internationally.

He has extensive experience establishing and leading teams in pharmaceutical and manufacturing companies. Before founding Colorado Health & Tech Centers (CHTC) and BioAgilytix Labs, he worked for various organizations, including AAIPharma, Bayer Biologicals, Talecris BioTherapeutics (Grifols), Nobex Corporation, GlaxoSmithKline, and IGEN International.

Dr. Safavi obtained his B.S. in Biochemistry from UCLA and his Ph.D. in Biochemistry from the University of Kentucky Medical School. He completed a two-year postdoctoral assignment at the Emory University, Department of Pathology.

With over 25 years of experience in advancing oligonucleotide therapeutics, Blake Unterreiner is a recognized leader in scaling nucleic acid chemistry under GMP for the world’s most cutting-edge life science innovators. Serving as the Associate Vice President of Business Development & Customer Relations at Agilent Technologies, Blake is dedicated to driving innovation and fostering strategic partnerships, bringing lifesaving therapies to patients around the world.