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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. 

 Industry Advisory Council 

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Community Partners

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Board Members

Alison Beam, JD

Senior Vice President, Chief Government Affairs Officer, UPMC 
 

Daniel Onorato, JD, CPA

Executive Vice President, Chief Corporate Affairs Officer, Highmark Health 
 

Evan Facher, PhD, MBA

Vice Chancellor, Innovation and Entrepreneurship and Associate Dean, Commercial Translation, University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine 
 

Sam Reiman

Director and Trustee, Richard King Mellon Foundation 
 

Tim McNulty

Associate Vice-President of Government Relations, Carnegie Mellon University 
 

D. Tyler Gourley

Executive Vice President, Hillman Family Foundations

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Megan Shaw

President & CEO, Pittsburgh Life Sciences Alliance 

President & CEO

Megan Shaw

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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