Dr. Shadi Farhangrazi, PhD, MS, MBA
Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer
Dr. Shadi Farhangrazi is a biochemist, neuroscientist, infectious diseases expert, and an expert in the area of future and emerging technologies, innovation and entrepreneurship. Dr. Farhangrazi is the CEO, president and Co-founder of S. M. Discovery Group (SMDG).
Internationally recognized speaker, Dr. Farhangrazi teaches and works globally, and has been an advisor and consultant to major multinational companies, governmental and non-governmental organizations and biotechnology companies in such diverse areas as strategy and business development, product placement and global health. Dr. Farhangrazi has worked on multi-million dollars projects with multinational companies and organizations including Boeing Co., The US State Department, USAID, The Home Depot Foundation, ALS Foundation and over 45 companies (small and early stage enterprises to companies which are now publicly traded) and organizations worldwide. Dr. Farhangrazi has advised numerous companies globally and her work has taken her over the last decade from back-country remote towns and villages in Rwanda, slums of Kenya and Mumbai, Research Parks in India and Malaysia, high tech companies in Silicon Valley, U.S. and Europe to working with international companies and organizations and meetings with global leaders. She has worked extensively in countries across Africa, Europe and Asia.
Dr. Farhangrazi has written numerous scientific papers, articles, commentaries, reviews, book chapters and frequently speaks nationally and internationally on science and business topics including science education, neurological diseases, innovation, entrepreneurship and biotechnology industry.
As an advocate for education and entrepreneurship, she has organized workshops, conferences and founded Global Education Symposium (GES) focusing on innovations to improve education and environmental advocacy. In 2019, she founded a new initiative, Preserving Our Planet (POP), creating a new platform for educators, teachers and students to learn about climate change and create new ideas and projects for preserving the planet and reduce the impact of climate change.
Dr. Farhangrazi has given hundreds of talks and teaches classes and workshops in The U.S., Europe and across the world including workshops on biotechnology leadership and management. She has been interviewed and profiled by many media outlets including the National Public Radio (NPR), St. Louis Post Dispatch, American Medical News, Nature, the Daily Beast, the Denver Post, and several other American news outlets and radio and television stations.
Dr. Farhangrazi was formerly the founder and CEO of management consulting firm Biotrends International, working with companies all over the world. Dr. Farhangrazi was also an adjunct professor at University College, University of Denver, teaching classes on entrepreneurship, innovation, strategy and non-profit management. In 2015, Dr. Farhangrazi was a Visiting Guest Professor at Università Degli Studi Di Padova (Italy) teaching the first nanomedicine-business class with Professor Moghimi. Prior to that, Dr. Farhangrazi was the Executive Director and Chief Executive Officer of the National Center for the Study of Orphan Diseases (CSOD), Research Assistant Professor of Neurology and Neurological Surgery, faculty in the Center for the Study of Nervous System Injury, and the Science and Business Liaison for the Spinal Cord Injury Research and Rehabilitation Program, at Washington University School of Medicine, Department of Neurology and Neurosurgery in St. Louis, Missouri. Dr. Farhangrazi holds a Bachelors degree in Chemistry and mathematics from Weber State University, a Masters degree in Biochemistry with focus in Immunology, and a PhD in Biochemistry with focus in protein design and engineering from the National Center for Design of Molecular Function, Utah State University, and an MBA from the Merage School of Business, University of California, Irvine. She completed postdoctoral fellowships and research training in neuroscience at Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis, and University of California, Irvine.