The recent accession of the 2024 executive board necessitates recognition of the accomplishments and growth that occurred in 2023.

The BALSA Group is proud of its alumni, and this quarter we caught up with Steve Snyder, Ph.D., for our BALSA Alumni Spotlight. Steve is currently a Director of Innovation at Abbvie. Steve joined BALSA in 2015 and served as a Project Manager and Director of Finance.

The BALSA Foundation, the philanthropic arm of The BALSA Group, drives meaningful impact on the Saint Louis ecosystem most notably through semi-annual awards to Saint Louis entrepreneurs. We were fortunate to speak with Krescant Sims, founder and owner of Krescant Marie and a Spring 2023 BALSA Foundation grant winner, to learn more about Krescant Marie and the impact of the BALSA Foundation in our local community.

We were excited to catch-up with Ochroma, who competed and won first prize in the Midwest Healthcare Case Competition (MHCC), held this past October. The team was made up of BASLA members Jackie Garcia, Haihui Zhu, David Price, Ph.D., and Ritvik Ranjan. Additionally, BALSA members Yuanyuan He and Garrett Eason, Ph.D. served on the organizing committee to arrange a widely successful second year of the MHCC. We sat down with Ochroma to learn about their MHCC experience and what they took away from the competition!

BALSA is proud to recognize David Price, Ph.D. as the Outstanding Project Manager of the 2023! David is originally from Mt. Vernon, IL and received his BS from the University of Evansville in Indiana and his Ph.D. from Southern Illinois University in Carbondale, IL. He is currently a postdoc in the Department of Medicine and Division of Infectious Diseases at WashU where he studies host/pathogen interactions of negative sense RNA viruses to elucidate viral pathogenesis and immune evasion mechanisms. In his free time, David plays golf, cooks, hikes, and bicycles. He also watches the Cardinals and Blues, plays boardgames, and enjoys wine tasting.

We are extremely excited to recognize Vincent Vanyo as our outstanding consultant of this quarter! Vincent is originally from Blaine, MN. He received his BS from the Iowa State University. Currently, Vincent is a PhD student at in the Plant & Microbial Biosciences department at WashU where he studies the relationship between beneficial microbes in the soil and improved crop health. In his free time, Vincent enjoys home brewing, playing chess, pizza making, and weight-lifting.