Meet (Some of) the Team

Our Team

Like you, we are entrepreneurs and scientists. We have a proven track record of success with the SBIR/STTR process, both in our own ventures and for our clients.

Dr. Neal Kalechofsky

AwardIT Founder

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neal@awardit.net

Neal received his Ph.D. in Physics from Umass Amherst in 1995. Since that time, he has participated in/directed numerous projects ranging in size from small academic research programs up through larger corporate product development efforts. He was a co-founder of a start up in the MR imaging space Millikelvin Technologies (MKT). As CTO of MKT he wrote and received numerous SBIR grants/patents as well as participated in raising money from private equity sources.

Patty Pederson

AwardIT Co-Founder

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patty@awardit.net

Patty graduated from Boston College with a BA in Economics. She is AwardIT co-Founder/CFO, a successful small business owner and investor. In addition to AwardIT, she currently is serving as Board President of the Marblehead Museum.

Dr. Gregory Martin

Gregory is an executive, entrepreneur, engineer, and scientist with over 25 years of experience taking medical technologies from concept to bedside to commercialization in academic, start-up, and corporate environments. He received his BS, MS, and PhD all from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in mechanical engineering where he also did post-doctoral research and was a Staff Scientist in the Harvard-MIT Division of Health Sciences and Technology. He has worked with numerous startup companies including being the co-founder of Hemedex, the founding VP of R&D at Opsonix, and working as a consultant to many early-stage medical device companies.

Dr. Nele Van Dessel

Dr. Nele Van Dessel is the CEO of Ernest Pharmaceuticals since 2018. Ernest Pharmaceuticals is a biotech startup that seeks to create a novel bacterial platform to revolutionizes the treatment of solid tumors through innovations in intracellular protein delivery. Dr. Van Dessel created the platform during her postdoctoral fellowship in the Forbes Lab at UMass Amherst. She co-founded Ernest Pharmaceuticals to develop this technology into a clinical therapy and has received up to $2M in non-dilutive funding. She received her M.S. in Bioengineering and her Ph.D. in biomedical sciences from KULeuven in Belgium.

Dr. Michael Harman

Michael received his BS and MS in Biomedical Engineering from UCONN and a PhD in Biochemistry, Molecular and Cellular Biology from the University of Arizona. His postdoctoral fellowship at Brown University provided exceptional technical value to the clinicians in the Department of Surgery at Rhode Island Hospital where he helped decipher the mechanical regulatory cues involved with immune dysregulation in diseases like Sepsis. Michael is actively connected with a broad network of global medical and life sciences professionals. He specializes in the front-end innovation aspects of product development, such as Technology Scouting, Requirements Development, and Concept Generation, demonstrating significant successes specifically within the diagnostics and life sciences sector.

Anna Welland, MBA

Since 2005, Anna has helped academic medical centers, biotech startups, and climate tech organizations secure and manage grant funding to advance research, accelerate innovation, and drive meaningful impact for patients and the planet. She has led the development of grants and compliance programs, built cross-functional strategies, and managed complex, multi-stakeholder initiatives, delivering results on time and on budget. To date, she has submitted nearly one thousand grants, has secured hundreds of millions in funding, and has overseen post-award projects totaling more than $200M.

Dr. Xavier Scott

Xavier received his BS in Microbiology and Immunology and Psychology, his MS in Public Health, and his PhD in Cellular Physiology and Molecular Biophysics from the University of Miami. He attended Baylor College of Medicine as a Post doctoral trainee prior to opening his company, PulseLink Communications and Analytics, a freelance medical writing company. Xavier has certifications in medical writing, medical editing, and regulatory writing from the American Medical Writing Association and the Regulatory Affairs Professional Society and is a board member for the Texas chapter for both organizations. Xavier has expertise in mild cognitive impairment, Alzheimer’s disease, cerebrovascular stroke, and cardiovascular disease.

Dr. Pamela Barraza-Flores

Pamela received her BS in Biochemistry from the University of New Mexico and a PhD in Cellular Molecular Pharmacology and Physiology from the University of Nevada Reno, School of Medicine. Her doctoral dissertation focused on therapeutic avenues for multiple muscular dystrophies. She provided evidence that treatment with the biological laminin-111 increases muscle regeneration in several animal models of disease. She is now a postdoc at Boston Children’s Hospital and Harvard Medical School where she is developing assays for the discovery of treatments for other muscle diseases. She is also working on describing mechanisms of disease using molecular biology and bioinformatics.

Boris Gladstein

Boris is an electrical engineer with over 25 years of experience in robotics systems and founder of B2 Robotics. His background includes taking military, industrial, and consumer robots from initial concept to mass production. He holds a BS from Tel-Aviv university and MS in control systems from Northeastern University. At B2 Robotics, Boris works with start up as well as Fortune 100 companies designing ground robots, underwater robots, and drones. Previously, he worked at Shield AI where he designed fully autonomous drones and prior to that, he worked at iRobot for 14 years on military and consumer products. Boris’ areas of expertise include system level architecture, FPGA design, high-speed digital design, navigation hardware and motor control.

Dr. Vicki Brings

Vicki received her BS in Biology from Roanoke College and her PhD in Cell Biology and Physiology at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. She continued her research career at Washington University in St. Louis as a postdoctoral scholar then as a senior scientist. In her research, Vicki specialized in developing translational endpoints for pain studies, screening novel compounds for pain, anxiety, and abuse liability, and developing a medical device to treat opioid overdose. Vicki followed her academic career with her work at the National Institutes of Neurological Disorders and Stroke as a Scientific Program Manager, collaborating with small biotech and large pharma companies, academic labs, and government researchers to evaluate their potential pain therapeutics in the Preclinical Screening Platform for Pain.

Nick Benson

Strategic Advisor

Nick helps founders answer the most critical question in early-stage innovation: is this just a great idea, or is it a business? He operates on the principle that the best time to invent the business model and go-to-market strategy is exactly when the product is invented. As a serial innovator with a PhD in Economics and more than 30 issued patents, Nick provides the market rigor necessary to turn technical concepts into scalable leaders.

His perspective is shaped by a career turning ideas into products, managing complex M&A transactions, and scaling net-new data business models within global healthcare giants. This guidance ensures that grant-funded innovation is built with the precision required to attract strategic buyers. Nicks involvement is a selective layer for AwardIT clients who are ready to build a business that can survive the transition from bench to bedside.

Nicole Tripputi

Phase III Contracting

Acting as an Executive SBIR leader on a fractional basis, Nicole Tripputi provides executive teams with contracting-officer-level judgment on high-stakes federal and SBIR decisions. Drawing on 25 years of U.S. government experience, including service as a U.S. Air Force officer and unlimited warranted contracting officer, she helps leadership teams pursue the right opportunities, strengthen award positioning, and reduce execution risk by clarifying how contracting officers assess risk, compliance, and value at award.

Nicole’s expertise centers on SBIR Phase III execution and the direct-to-award pathway. She works with companies seeking to lawfully leverage SBIR-developed technologies for sole-source government awards, assessing statutory authority, data rights, lineage, and contracting risk before organizations commit time, capital, or credibility to a strategy.

Dr. Nele Van Dessel

Phase III Contracting

Dr. Nele Van Dessel is the CEO of Ernest Pharmaceuticals since 2018. Ernest Pharmaceuticals is a biotech startup that seeks to create a novel bacterial platform to revolutionizes the treatment of solid tumors through innovations in intracellular protein delivery. Dr. Van Dessel created the platform during her postdoctoral fellowship in the Forbes Lab at UMass Amherst. She co-founded Ernest Pharmaceuticals to develop this technology into a clinical therapy and has received up to $2M in non-dilutive funding. She received her M.S. in Bioengineering and her Ph.D. in biomedical sciences from KULeuven in Belgium.

Meet (Some of) the Team

Our Team

Dr. Neal Kalechofsky

Patty Pederson

Dr. Gregory Martin

Dr. Nele Van Dessel

Dr. Michael Harman

Anna Welland, MBA

Dr. Xavier Scott

Dr. Pamela Barraza-Flores

Boris Gladstein

Dr. Vicki Brings

Nick Benson, PhD

Nicole Tripputi

Dr. Neal Kalechofsky

AwardIT Founder

neal@awardit.net

Patty Pederson

AwardIT Co-Founder

patty@awardit.net

Dr. Gregory Martin

Dr. Nele Van Dessel

Dr. Michael Harman

Anna Welland, MBA

Dr. Xavier Scott

Dr. Pamela Barraza-Flores

Boris Gladstein

Dr. Vicki Brings

Nick Benson

Strategic Advisor

Nicole Tripputi

Phase III Contracting

Dr. Nele Van Dessel

Phase III Contracting