BaseLaunch Team

Stephan is Director of Business Development & Operations and also heads Therapeutics Innovation at Basel Area Business and Innovation. He has been deeply involved in establishing and building out BaseLaunch, and was involved in the sourcing, launch, growth and successful financing of numerous biotech ventures. Stephan joined the organization from brief stints in medical affairs at Lipomed and research at Roche. He gained his PhD in RNAi and epigenetics from Novartis`s Friedrich Miescher Institute, which also affiliated with the University of Basel. Stephan holds a Master’s degree in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology from ETH Zurich.

Leonildo has been with BaseLaunch since 2018 supporting the strategy for how the incubator finds and engages with leading academics and entrepreneurs across Europe. In his role as Manager Innovation & Sourcing, Leonildo brings relevant skills and expertise, scouting new opportunities across different disease areas and therapeutic modalities, and has been involved in launching and building several of BaseLaunch’s portfolio companies.

Leonildo completed his MS. and BS. degrees in Biotechnology and Biochemistry at the University of Aveiro, Portugal, and earned his Ph.D. in Structural Biology from the Biozentrum of the University of Basel, Switzerland.

Carla is a Fellow at BaseLaunch supporting its activities in therapeutic innovation for the start-ups portfolio and new applications process. Carla holds a Bachelor from ESADE Business School in Business, Finance (Barcelona) and is currently enrolled in an MSc in Applied Neuroscience from King’s College London.

Carla has previous international experience in Start-up fundraising, project management and start-up strategy consulting within Life Science and Technology sectors, from Gartner and Cukierman Investment House.

Mariela Salas was previously Director of Marketing at the American University of the Carribbean Medical School and Marketing Manager for Baptist Health South Florida, one of the largest regional hospital systems. She worked in advertising for Saatchi & Saatchi sister agency Conill and prior to that at Hill Hoilday. Her clients included Procter & Gamble, Lexus, Cleveland Clinic, CVS/Pharmacy, Dunkin’ Donuts and others.