
Rita Mendes
Venture Developer
Rita joined NLC in April 2022 as a Venture Developer in the biotech team. She holds a BSc in Biology, an MSc in Molecular Genetics and Biomedicine and a PhD in Bioengineering under the MIT-Portugal Program. Rita has +7 years of R&D experience, gathering deep scientific insights in drug development, preclinical models, nanotechnology, and omics/AI strategies in oncology precision medicine. Rita has an entrepreneurial mindset and participated in 8 business/innovation-related courses, including a mini-MBA for life scientists at Nova School of Business and Economics, a workshop on Innovation from MIT, and a masterclass on Negotiations in Pharma&Biotech. She aims to help bring new therapeutics from the lab to the market to solve unmet medical needs and improve patients’ lives.