Dr. Meher Antia is responsible for WRF’s grant-making programs, which support innovation at nonprofit research institutions across Washington state. She leads the evaluation of all grant proposals received by WRF, along with the assessment and development of existing and new programs. In addition, she serves in an advisory role for WRF Capital’s startup investments.

Prior to joining WRF, Dr. Antia was the Assistant Director for the University of Washington’s Population Health Initiative, responsible for strategically engaging with partners to help implement the Initiative’s vision. Previously, she worked for the UW Institute of Translational Health Sciences, where she developed programs to accelerate early-stage biomedical research to the clinic. Dr. Antia spent several years at the Wellcome Trust in London, where she initially managed strategic research projects in structural biology and advanced microscopy. She subsequently moved to Wellcome’s Innovations department, where she gained experience in evaluating novel biomedical technologies for their potential to fulfil unmet medical needs, and was responsible for oversight of a portfolio of funded projects in medical devices and drug development. She also led two major medical engineering funding initiatives at Wellcome.

Dr. Antia holds undergraduate and master’s degrees in physics, and a Ph.D. in bioengineering. She has worked as a freelance science writer for The Economist, Science magazine and others.

Clarisse Benson is responsible for oversight of WRF’s student and postdoctoral funding programs and supports the Director of Grant Programs and the Internal Grants Team in areas of grants management, including documentation, review, decision-making, notification and tracking of outcomes.

Prior to joining WRF, Ms. Benson served as Finance and Operations Coordinator at ArtsFund. She holds a bachelor’s degree in music performance from the University of Maryland and a master’s degree in music performance, as well as a certificate in advanced music studies from Carnegie Mellon University. Outside of WRF, Ms. Benson also manages the North Corner Chamber Orchestra, a nonprofit organization that presents immersive, collaborative and vibrant musical performances throughout the greater Seattle area.

Jasmine Coleman assists the foundation’s managerial staff with scheduling and provides support across all of the organization’s programs. She is responsible for improving and maintaining administrative processes and helps with the planning of WRF events.

Prior to joining WRF in 2019, Ms. Coleman was an intern for the Washington Hospitality Association working on a wide variety of projects that included event planning, audio and video production, marketing and project management while pursuing her bachelor’s degree in business administration from the Evergreen State College.

In her spare time, Ms. Coleman enjoys working on creative projects and is currently studying Spanish.

E.J. Foust began working with the WRF team in 2021, assisting with the financial administration of WRF’s grant-making and investment programs. He brings a background in institutional accounting, arts administration and nonprofit fundraising.

Dr. Foust holds a bachelor’s in music composition and technology from the University of Montana, and a master’s in music composition from the University of Nevada, Reno. He earned his doctorate in music composition and theory at the University of Arizona.

Dr. M. Ragan Hart is the senior associate for strategic investments at Washington Research Foundation, where she leverages over a decade of experience in health economics, diagnostics, artificial intelligence and tech-enabled services to guide WRF’s venture investments in Washington-based startups. Prior to joining WRF, Dr. Hart was a senior associate at MultiCare Capital Partners, leading investments in healthtech and AI-driven healthcare solutions.

Dr. Hart co-founded MDisrupt, a platform connecting life-sciences experts with companies to accelerate healthcare product development, and previously co-led venture creation efforts at F-Prime Capital focused on health data sciences.

Dr. Hart holds a Ph.D. in public health genetics with a concentration in health economics from the University of Washington and completed  postdoctoral research in biomedical data science at Stanford University. She earned a master’s in genetic epidemiology and a certificate in biomedical regulatory affairs from the University of Washington following a bachelor’s in exercise science from Auburn University.

In addition to her role with WRF, Dr. Hart is a member of the board of directors for OUTbio Seattle and serves as a scholarship and community grants application reviewer for Pride Foundation in Seattle.

As CFO, Morgan Hellar helps WRF to achieve its financial goals through budgeting, forecasting and overseeing its grant-making and investment activities.

Ms. Hellar joined WRF in 2004 to work on the Foundation’s patent portfolio, which included the Ben Hall technologies and others that have improved the health of more than a billion people worldwide and enabled WRF to earn over $445 million in licensing revenue for the University of Washington (UW). She later progressed through finance roles within WRF.

Ms. Hellar holds a bachelor’s in finance from the University of Washington.

Dr. Orin Levine is an experienced, mission-driven executive leader and infectious disease expert who is passionate about combining innovation with dogged execution and using advocacy based on evidence to reduce health inequities around the world. Over the past 30 years, Dr. Levine has successfully worked to accelerate the introduction of and access to vaccines and other proven health interventions. His experience includes service on global boards, leading large and small teams, and engaging with senior executives to achieve impact.

Dr. Levine’s notable contributions include expanding vaccine access and improving health equity, such as leading the effort to establish the first ever Advance Market Commitment (AMC). As the Executive Director of Gavi’s Pneumococcal Vaccines Accelerated Development and Introduction Program (PneumoADIP), Dr. Levine led the overall program combining skills in epidemiology, management, industry relations, communications and advocacy. The PneumoADIP team influenced global policies including the WHO recommendation that all countries should introduce pneumococcal conjugate vaccines and, most notably, developed the successful “investment case” that led donors to commit more than $1.5 billion for the procurement of pneumococcal vaccines for children.

As a Gavi board member representing the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation for nearly nine years, Dr. Levine developed a strong understanding of the dynamics between countries, donors and industry. He contributed to the establishment of the COVAX AMC and served on Gavi’s Executive Committee, Governance Committee and Market Sensitive Decisions Committee that provided recommendations on specific industry deals.

As a researcher, Dr. Levine’s interests include the epidemiology and prevention of infectious diseases, especially in the areas of respiratory infections, meningitis and sepsis. While at Johns Hopkins, Dr. Levine was the principal investigator on PERCH, the largest multi-center study of the etiology of pneumonia among children in over 20 years, which enrolled more than 9,500 children in seven countries and applied advanced diagnostic and analytic methods to understand pneumonia etiology.

Dr. Levine’s previous leadership roles include tenured Professor of International Health, and Executive Director of the International Vaccine Access Center, at Johns Hopkins University, and Senior Director of Global Delivery Programs and Director of Vaccine Delivery at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. Dr. Levine serves as a Non-Resident Fellow at the Center for Global Development, on the Boards of Directors for the National Foundation for Infectious Diseases and the Health Strategy and Delivery Foundation (Nigeria), and on the Board of Trustees for the Sabin Vaccine Institute. He is a member of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine’s committee on Strengthening Preparedness Against Novel Biological Threat Agents Enabled Through Artificial Intelligence and Other Emerging Technologies.

Dr. Levine received a Ph.D. in Epidemiology from Johns Hopkins School of Public Health and a B.A. in Management from Gettysburg College.

Mr. Wadman manages operations at Washington Research Foundation, which includes subleasing offices in the 15,000-square-foot WRF Venture Center to startup companies and service providers.

Additionally, Mr. Wadman is responsible for WRF’s communications and marketing efforts. He is the principal writer and editor for the Foundation’s press releases and reports, and manages its website and social media. He is a member of The Communications Network, additionally serving on the leadership team of ComNetworkSEATTLE, and is on the board of directors, advocacy committee and development fund committee for Literacy Source.

Prior to joining WRF in 2005, Mr. Wadman was an accounting assistant and taught English to speakers of other languages in the U.K. He holds a bachelor’s in English and a master’s in education from The Open University, and has completed the University of Washington’s Certificate in Public Relations and Strategic Communications.

Dr. Frank Yin brings a diverse background spanning biotech, pharma, computer science and business administration to his role as WRF’s senior investment associate. He sources and evaluates new startup investment opportunities—primarily in the life sciences—in addition to managing investments within the foundation’s active portfolio.

Dr. Yin spent seven years at GlaxoSmithKline as a principal investigator in research and development, where he leveraged artificial intelligence and machine learning to advance drug discovery and development. His investment experience includes internships with private equity and venture capital firms Health Catalyst Capital in New York City, Qiming Venture Partners in Shanghai, China, and Lilly Asia Ventures in Menlo Park, California, where he focused on life sciences, healthcare IT and tech-enabled services companies.

Dr. Yin completed his MBA at The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania in May 2025. He holds a doctorate in chemical engineering from the University of Virginia, a master’s in computer science with a specialization in machine learning from the Georgia Institute of Technology, and a bachelor’s in chemistry from Peking University in Beijing, China.

Ms. Brainard has over 30 years’ financial, legal, audit & compliance, and administrative experience as a leader in the reinsurance, managed care (HMO, PPO, & TPA) and insurance industries. Her responsibilities have included financial and compliance administrative oversight of reinsurance, premium, claims, management information systems, underwriting, medical management and provider relations. She possesses significant change leadership experience.

In 2010, Ms. Brainard joined First Choice Health, a Seattle-based Preferred Provider Organization and Third Party Administrator (TPA) for employer medical and dental coverage in Washington, Oregon, Idaho, Montana, Alaska, Wyoming, North Dakota and South Dakota. She held the position of Vice President, Re-Engineering at CNO Financial Group prior to joining First Choice and was the first female Senior Vice President, Chief Administrative Officer at BCS Financial Corporation.

Ms. Brainard serves on the Board of Trustees for Childhaven. In addition, she was founding board member of the Third Party Administration Association of America (TPAAA), an affiliate of the American Association of Payers, Administrators and Networks.

Ms. Brainard obtained a bachelor’s degree cum laude in accounting from Moorhead State University, an MBA with an insurance concentration from the University of Saint Thomas in St. Paul and a J.D. from the William Mitchell College of Law in St. Paul. She completed the University of Washington’s Executive Development Program.

Thomas Cable co-founded Washington Research Foundation in 1981 and served as chairman of the board of directors from 1981-2011. Through activities supporting the University of Washington, Mr. Cable has developed an intimate involvement with the research community in the Northwest. He has more than 25 years of venture experience. Twenty of those years have been spent as a resident of Seattle and deeply involved in the development of the Northwest venture industry.

Prior to his retirement, Mr. Carlson’s practice focused on corporate law, including matters of corporate governance and complex strategic relationships. He served as special counsel to boards and independent board committees, as counsel for private foundations, and as counsel for private profit and nonprofit entities in public-private projects. This followed more than three decades centered on merger, acquisitions, joint venture and financing work.

During his career, Mr. Carlson was active in the legal community in Washington and nationally. He was a member of the Committee on Corporate Laws of the American Bar Association’s Business Law section. Mr. Carlson served as the chairman of the Business Law Section of the Washington State Bar Association and as a long–term member of the Section Executive Committee. He is a founder, past chair, and long–term member of the Washington State Bar Association Corporate Act Revision Committee. He is a life fellow of the American Bar Foundation.

Mr. Carlson remains active in the broader community. He is a member and former chair of the Washington Research Foundation board of directors. Additionally, he is a member of the University of Washington Foundation Board, past president of the University of Washington Law School Foundation, past chairman and member of the board of trustees of Cornish College of the Arts, past chairman and current trustee of the Pilchuck Glass School, and was a two-term member and vice chair of the Washington State Arts Commission.

Before joining K&L Gates, Mr. Carlson was an assistant professor of law at George Washington University Law School. He has regularly presented at continuing legal education programs for the Washington State Bar Association, the University of Washington Law School, the Seminar Group, Seattle University Law School and Donnelly “Financial SEC Hot Topics.”

Susan Coliton is a senior consultant with Seattle-based Luma Consulting, where she offers strategic counsel to philanthropists, foundations, and non-profits to help them deepen their impact in the communities they serve.

A focus of her practice is providing Interim CEO services to nonprofits experiencing leadership transitions. Ms. Coliton served as the Interim President and CEO of Washington Research Foundation/WRF Capital from 2021-22, in addition to her service on the WRF Board. Previous assignments include Interim President and CEO of the Santa Fe Community Foundation, and Interim President and CEO of ArtsFund.

Ms. Coliton spent 15 years as the head of Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen’s philanthropic programs, where she oversaw regional, national, and international grant-making programs through the Paul G. Allen Family Foundation. Through her work, she aligned donor vision with results; designed new initiatives in science, education, and the arts; and built non-profit capacity through research, workshops, and convenings.

Prior to joining the Allen Foundation, Ms. Coliton held management positions at several national philanthropic organizations. She directed the west coast office of the New York-based Nonprofit Finance Fund, designed corporate giving programs for Gap, Inc., and worked as a grantmaking specialist at the National Endowment for the Arts.

Ms. Coliton was a gubernatorial appointment on the Washington State Arts Commission where she served as chair, and is past-chair of the Philanthropy Northwest Board. She served on the board and the executive committee of Americans for the Arts, a national advocacy organization in Washington D.C. She is currently a board member of Outpost Productions, a New Mexico-based jazz presenter and Washington Research Foundation, where she served as Interim President and CEO from July 2021 to October 2022.

Ms. Coliton received a B.A. from Saint Mary’s College (Notre Dame, IN) and an M.L.A. from Johns Hopkins University (Baltimore, MD). She completed Stanford’s Executive Program for Philanthropy Leaders and the Executive Seminar at the Aspen Institute. She resides and works in Santa Fe, New Mexico and Seattle, WA.

Connie Collingsworth is an experienced independent board member with expertise in governance, risk management, regulatory compliance, executive compensation, sustainability and complex investments.  She has served as a board member and strategic advisor for publicly traded and privately held companies, private equity and venture capital funds, nonprofit corporations and trusts.

Connie currently serves on the boards of Banner Corporation, a publicly traded bank holding company with over $16B in assets, and Axxes Capital, a private market platform expanding access to private equity assets.  She also serves as a Board Advisor to Planet First Partners, a $500M European private equity fund, a Business Advisory Board Member of Ocugen, a publicly traded biotech company focused on novel cell therapies, biologics and vaccines, and a Strategic Advisor to LoudCapital, a venture fund fueling innovations driving access to people-centered healthcare.

Connie also serves as an Independent Director of the National Philanthropic Trust, the largest nonprofit administrator of donor advised funds, with $40B+ of AUM, and is an Adjunct Professor at the University of Washington, Foster School of Business, teaching the MBA course “CEO and Board Leadership: Insider’s View of Corporate Governance.”

Connie is the former COO and CLO of the Gates Foundation, the world’s largest private family foundation with over $75B in assets and an annual budget of $9B.

Connie holds an LL.M. in International Business Studies from the University of Exeter, England, a J.D. from the University of Nebraska, and a B.A. from Andrews University.

Carol Dahl has over three decades of experience cultivating science and technology-based discovery and innovation, innovation ecosystems, and innovation talent in support of addressing critical challenges such as the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)—that address health, poverty, inequality, climate change, environmental degradation, peace and justice—fostering economic growth, and creating high quality jobs. Carol currently chairs the Program Advisory Council of Grand Challenges Canada and the Nomination Evaluation Committee for the US National Medal of Technology and Innovation, and she serves on the boards of VertueLab, the Fogarty International Center at the National Institutes of Health (NIH), and WiSys.

As the Executive Director of The Lemelson Foundation from 2011 to 2021, Carol led the Foundation’s work to use the power of invention to improve lives, by cultivating inclusive programs and systems to inspire and educate the next generation of inventors and innovators to solve crucial challenges and thrive in the innovation economy, and providing inclusive support for inventors and entrepreneurs to create value from their ideas in the form of products and businesses. While there, she paved the way for the launch of the Invention Education and Engineering for One Planet movements, with large and growing communities of researchers and scientists focused on innovation talent for a sustainable future.

Prior to joining The Lemelson Foundation, Carol served as founding Director of the Global Health Discovery Program at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and led development of the Grand Challenges in Global Health and Grand Challenges Explorations programs, innovation programs which have been replicated in countries around the world.

Previously, Carol worked at the NIH National Cancer Institute, at the National Center for Human Genome Research, at a start-up diagnostics company, and was on the faculty of the University of Pittsburgh. Additionally, she has advised and supported programs across US government agencies including the Department of Commerce (Advanced Technology Program and USPTO), USAID, DARPA, NASA, NIH, and the Department of Energy. Carol received a bachelor’s degree from the University of Iowa, master’s and doctoral degrees from the University of Wisconsin, and postdoctoral training at the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm and the Immunobiology Research Center at the University of Minnesota.

Mr. Simpson has over 40 years of experience in medical sales and marketing. He retired from Physio-Control after 20 years of service including senior management positions as Vice President of World Wide Marketing, International, and North American Sales.

During his tenure at Physio-Control he was involved with the divestiture from Eli Lilly, sale to Bain Capital, IPO and acquisition by Medtronic. In 1999, Mr. Simpson founded Pacific Rim Medical Systems, a distributor of cardiovascular devices. He is a limited partner in Bain Capital and was on the Board of Physio-Control from 2011-2016, until its sale to Stryker. Mr. Simpson is also chairman of the R. Hunter Simpson Foundation. He is vice chair of the University of Washington Foundation Board, in addition to being an external advisory board member for the UW Department of Global Health, Department of Bioengineering and past co-chair of the School of Nursing. Other board roles include the Physio Foundation, Resuscitation Academy, and he is past president of the Medic One Foundation.

Desney Tan is a seasoned executive who has built and run multidisciplinary global innovation teams – leveraging expertise in hardware and devices, software development, applied machine learning and artificial intelligence, and human-computer interaction to make impact in areas such as autonomous navigation, entertainment and consumer products, as well as health and life sciences.

Desney is the former Corporate Vice President and Managing Director of the core Microsoft Research Lab in Redmond, Washington. Earlier, he was Vice President and Managing Director for Health and Life Science R&D at Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT), where he had worked in various leading research roles since 2004. Desney holds an affiliate faculty appointment in the Department of Computer Science and Engineering at the University of Washington, is senior advisor and chief technologist for Seattle-based life science incubator IntuitiveX, serves on the Board of Directors for ResMed (NYSE: RMD, ASX: RMD), advises multiple startup companies (e.g. Proprio Vision, Immortal Studios), and is an active startup and real estate investor.

Desney received a Bachelor of Science in Computer Engineering from the University of Notre Dame in 1996, after which he spent a couple of years in the Singapore Armed Forces. He later returned to Carnegie Mellon University, where he worked with Randy Pausch and earned his Ph.D. in Computer Science in 2004.

Desney is an author on over 100 scientific papers and the named inventor on more than 100 granted patents. He was honored as one of MIT Technology Review’s 2007 Young Innovators Under 35 for his work on brain-computer interfaces and a 2012-2014 Kavli Fellow by the US National Academy of Sciences. He was named one of SciFi Channel’s Young Visionaries at TED 2009, as well as Forbes’ Revolutionaries: Radical Thinkers and their World-Changing Ideas for his work on Whole Body Computing.