About PLSA
Pittsburgh Life Sciences Alliance (PLSA) is dedicated to making greater Pittsburgh a global life sciences leader and economic engine at the intersection of the region’s unique clinical, research, manufacturing, and technology strengths.Â
Industry Advisory Council
Community Partners
Board Members
Alison Beam, JD
Senior Vice President, Chief Government Affairs Officer, UPMC
Executive Vice President, Chief Corporate Affairs Officer, Highmark Health
Vice Chancellor, Innovation and Entrepreneurship and Associate Dean, Commercial Translation, University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine
Director and Trustee, Richard King Mellon Foundation
Associate Vice-President of Government Relations, Carnegie Mellon University
Executive Vice President, Hillman Family Foundations
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President & CEO, Pittsburgh Life Sciences Alliance
President & CEO
President & CEO Megan Shaw is a mission-driven healthcare and life sciences leader with 20 years of experience in strategy development, early stage investing, and development of growth companies.
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Previously, as Managing Director of Life Sciences at Innovation Works, she managed investments in over 35 life science startups, launched AlphaLab Health seed-stage healthcare accelerator in partnership with Allegheny Health Network, and served as a board observer for numerous portfolio companies.
Megan also served with NIH’s Rapid Acceleration of Diagnostics initiative to identify and scale up technologies to detect SARS-CoV-2 during the pandemic, including serving on the Variant Task Force. Earlier, she was employee #1 at HemoSonics, a company sprung from research at the University of Virginia that developed a novel point of care coagulation diagnostic. As vice president of marketing and business development, she established the business infrastructure and led the commercial leadership team in developing and launching an outcome-changing product. HemoSonics was acquired by French multinational Diagnostica Stago in a successful exit. Megan began her career as a strategy consultant for Monitor Group, a consultancy founded by Michael Porter, and previously worked at two mid-market private equity funds.
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