Stephanie Fertig, MBA 

Director, NIH Small Business Program

Stephanie Fertig is the Director of the NIH Small Business Program, in SEED (Small business Education and Entrepreneurial Development) at the NIH. She currently oversees the Health and Human Services (HHS) Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) and Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) programs, which includes the NIH SBIR and STTR programs. Prior to joining SEED, she managed the SBIR and STTR Programs at the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS). During her over 15 years at NIH, she has led the development and implementation of multiple programs focused on small businesses and translational research.  Fertig has a Bachelor of Science degree in Chemistry with a major in Physics from the University of Virginia and a Master of Business Administration from the University of Maryland’s Robert H. Smith School of Business. 

Patricia A Weber, DrPH

Program Director, SBIR Development Center

Dr. Weber completed her Masters and Doctorate in Public Health with an emphasis in Biomedical Sciences at the School of Public Health, University of California at Berkeley.

She began work at the National Institutes of Health in the National Cancer Institute’s Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Development Center in October of 2008. The SBIR Development Center is a division at the NCI that manages more than $180 million in technology projects within the small business community to accelerate the progress of cancer research. Her area of emphasis is in cancer prevention, digital health, therapeutics, and biologics. Prior to joining the NCI, she worked in industry managing drug discovery and development efforts at small biotech companies in San Diego followed by western Montana.

Sarra Djemil, Ph.D.

Program Director, SBIR Development Center

Sarra Djemil plays a pivotal role as the Program Director at the NCI SBIR Development Center, where she collaborates with a dedicated team to develop groundbreaking programs that nurture entrepreneurship and expedite the transition of cancer technologies to the clinic. Since assuming her role in February 2021, she has co-created and is collaboratively managing the Industry Mentoring and Assistance Program, an unprecedented initiative within the NIH. This program enlists biotech industry experts to provide team-based mentoring to awardees, fostering a collaborative environment for innovation. Before her tenure at NCI SBIR, Djemil was an integral member of the Georgetown University research team, where she acquired her Ph.D. in Pharmacology in 2018 and contributed as an NCATS-funded TL1 Postdoctoral Research Fellow. 

Meena U. Rajagopal, Ph.D.

Program Officer, Office of Strategic Alliances

Meena Rajagopal is a program officer in NCATS’ Office of Strategic Alliances, where she manages a portfolio of Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) and Small Business Technology Transfer Research (STTR) grants and contracts. In this role, she is involved in SBIR/STTR outreach activities and serves as an alternate member of the NCATS Small Business Programs Management Committee. Before joining NCATS, Meena was a scientist at the NIH Clinical Center and carried out translational proteomics research in partnership with investigators at Tulane University. Meena received both her Master of Science and doctorate in chemistry from the University of Kentucky and completed her postdoctoral fellowship at the Children’s National Medical Center in Washington, D.C.

Taryn Aubrecht, Ph.D.

Health Program Specialist

Dr. Taryn Aubrecht joined the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS) Division of Translational Research (DTR) in 2021 and serves as a Health Program Specialist in the Small Business programs. Prior to joining NINDS, she worked in grants management at the Congressionally Directed Medical Research Programs and Cohen Veterans Bioscience. She obtained her BA in neuroscience from the College of Wooster and a PhD in neuroscience from The Ohio State University, studying affective behaviors, learning and memory, and neuronal morphology in response to a model for obstructive sleep apnea combined with other factors such as light at night, stroke, and gonadal hormones.  She then worked as a postdoctoral fellow at the Shock, Trauma and Anesthesiology Research Center at the University of Maryland, where she explored the involvement of cell cycle in apoptosis following traumatic brain injury.  

Yasamin Moghadam, MS

Scientific Program Specialist

Yasamin serves as the Scientific Program Specialist to the Innovation and Commercialization Office at the NHLBI. Prior to joining ICO, Yasamin served as a Health Specialist at the National Institute of Dental and Craniofacial Research, Center for Clinical Research. In this capacity, she collaborated with Project Scientists and Program Officers to support the management and programmatic evaluations of funded grants and other trans-NIH research activities. Yasamin previously held the role of Scientific Program Analyst at the National Institute of Mental Health and Program Specialist at the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases. Yasamin received her B.A. in Health Care Administration and Public Policy with a concentration in Global and Public Health from the University of Maryland – Baltimore County and an M.S. in Health Care Administration from the University of Maryland.