Dr. Sophia Ononye's story as a Nigerian American Millennial Female STEM Entrepreneur was featured on Inc.
Dr. Sophia Ononye is the Founder and CEO of The Sophia Consulting Firm, a global innovation leadership organization that integrates human intelligence and AI to empower innovators with actionable insights fostering personal and professional growth. Drawing from nearly two decades of cross-functional expertise, she has built a reputation for connecting scientific research to societal impact through expert interviews, thought leadership, and nearly 30 publications in outlets like Inc., Life Science Leader, WebMD, Medscape, and Entrepreneur.
A champion for science-driven innovation, Dr. Ononye celebrates the fifth anniversary of the Amplifying Scientific Innovation® Video Podcast, launched during the COVID-19 pandemic, with her new book, Amplifying Scientific Innovation: Empowering Innovators for Transformative Growth. This book introduces five actionable strategies designed to inspire creativity, adaptability, and innovation. It also serves as a companion to the Innovation Leadership Toolkit, a robust collection of on-demand webinars, seminars, and workshops designed to help readers translate insights into real-world impact.
Dr. Ononye serves as a Yale Ventures Entrepreneur in Residence, an advisory role she has held since 2019. She is also a Board Advisor for Daré Bioscience and Biosortia Microbiomics, a former President of the Healthcare Businesswomen's Association (HBA) New York Chapter, and an active member and National Speaker for Women in Bio (WIB). Her university teaching experience began in Connecticut in 2015 and continued in California, where she most recently served as an Adjunct Professor of Chemistry and Biostatistics at Concordia University Irvine.
Her work has earned her multiple recognitions, including the National Minority Quality Forum 40 Under 40 Minority Health Leader award, the UConn Tradition of Excellence honor, and membership in RedBoxMe in Collaboration with Cartier, where tech innovation and elegance converge to empower diverse entrepreneurs and innovators.
Dr. Ononye earned her honors bachelor’s degree from Bowling Green State University, her MPH from the University of Toledo, and her PhD and MBA from the University of Connecticut. She completed her postdoctoral training in medical oncology research at the Yale School of Medicine, focusing on metabolic enzymes as potential targets for triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) therapy. A recent California transplant, she lives with her family in Irvine and enjoys engaging television shows, 90’s music, cooking, and quality time.
HEALTH DISPARITIES
Dr. Carmen E. Guerra, MD, MSCE, FACP, Vice Chair of Diversity and Inclusion for the Department of Medicine and Associate Director of Diversity and Outreach at the Abramson Cancer Center of the University of Pennsylvania, specializes in eliminating the barriers to cancer screening tests in underserved populations. Carmen
HEALTH DISPARITIES
Dr. Carmen E. Guerra, MD, MSCE, FACP, Vice Chair of Diversity and Inclusion for the Department of Medicine and Associate Director of Diversity and Outreach at the Abramson Cancer Center of the University of Pennsylvania, specializes in eliminating the barriers to cancer screening tests in underserved populations. Carmen is also an attending physician at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania and the Presbyterian Medical Center. As an American Cancer Society volunteer, Carmen has held leadership positions at every level of the organization, including president of the former East Central Division Board and has served on the American Cancer Society Board of Directors since 2016. Carmen received the St. George National Award for her dedication to our mission in 2017. Carmen has served on the Mission Outcomes Committee, ACS Clinical Guidelines Development Group, and the National Advisory Council on Health Equity.
STRATEGIC OVERSIGHT
Dr. James (Jim) Boyle is a co-founder and the Managing Director of the Yale Entrepreneurial Institute (YEI), a business/educational unit within Yale University that was formed with the mission of mentoring students with new venture ideas and that has expanded to include the development of faculty ventures. Prior to form
STRATEGIC OVERSIGHT
Dr. James (Jim) Boyle is a co-founder and the Managing Director of the Yale Entrepreneurial Institute (YEI), a business/educational unit within Yale University that was formed with the mission of mentoring students with new venture ideas and that has expanded to include the development of faculty ventures. Prior to forming YEI, Jim was responsible within the Office of Cooperative Research (OCR) for the licensing and venture startup of a number of engineering-based technologies. Before joining OCR, he developed and actively managed the University’s largest corporate research alliance, managing a large array of both Yale and external scientists in bioimaging-based collaborations. Earlier, Jim co-founded and grew a predictive analytics consulting practice, providing both technical and pricing guidance on new product development to a wide array of Fortune 1000 companies in the scientific equipment industry. Jim began his entrepreneurial career while still a Yale graduate student, developing novel instruments for characterizing trace biomolecules with the support of the National Institutes of Health, and later commercializing these devices through a wide array of OEM partnerships as part of a Yale startup.
LEADERSHIP DEVELOPMENT
Ms. Ellen Wingard is an early innovator in the field of leadership development and has for 30 years coached and advised CEOs and emerging leaders in health care, financial services, consumer goods, pharmaceuticals, technology and higher education. She is co-author of Enlightened Leadership: How Women are Transforming
LEADERSHIP DEVELOPMENT
Ms. Ellen Wingard is an early innovator in the field of leadership development and has for 30 years coached and advised CEOs and emerging leaders in health care, financial services, consumer goods, pharmaceuticals, technology and higher education. She is co-author of Enlightened Leadership: How Women are Transforming the Practice of Leadership. She is past Board Chair of World Pulse Media, an media channel linking 50,000 grassroots leaders across 190 countries, and a member of the Women’s Leadership Board at Harvard Kennedy School, where she engages with 150 top global corporate leaders on the latest practices in global talent development, gender inclusion and socially responsible business. She is part of the Executive Coaching pool of the Harvard Business School Executive Education Program and has been a commentator on career navigation and intergenerational mentoring to the Committee of 200, the Fletcher School International Business Program, Harvard Kennedy School, and NPR Marketplace. She has also served as a Mentor for the Impact Center a program affiliated with the Federal Leadership Program for distinguished public sector women leaders.
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