Nucleate Announces Leadership Transition from Samantha Sison and Michael Retchin to Heer Joisher and Zach Cogan
Nucleate, the nonprofit organization dedicated to empowering the next generation of biotech leaders, is pleased to announce the appointment of Heer Joisher and Zach Cogan as Co-Presidents. They will succeed Samantha Sison and Michael Retchin, both of whom have played foundational roles in establishing Nucleate’s global footprint.
Heer first joined Nucleate in 2021 through her involvement with the Harvard Biotech Club, where she developed foundational educational courses at the intersection of biotech and business. Originally from India, Heer is currently a PhD candidate at Harvard Medical School and the first international student to hold the position of Co-President at Nucleate. As the Executive Vice President of Education at Nucleate, she has been instrumental in advancing Nucleate’s core mission of empowering and educating trainees, developing talent, and supporting career transitions. Under Heer’s leadership, Nucleate has seen remarkable growth in its educational programming, with more than 15 programs launched that support more than 10 career paths for life science trainees. In her role as the Co-President, she is excited to further enhance Nucleate’s global reach and strengthen its international presence ensuring that the organization continues to make a meaningful impact on a global scale.
Zach Cogan has been a vital part of Nucleate since 2020, contributing notably as the founding co-Managing Director of Nucleate’s Bay Area chapter and founding EVP of Partnerships for Nucleate HQ. His leadership of the Partnerships Initiative has helped Nucleate foster impactful relationships with many of the industry’s leading companies, investors, and foundations, enabling new educational programming and career development opportunities for academic trainees around the world. Zach is pursuing his PhD at the University of California, San Francisco and as Co-President, Zach plans to work to enhance Nucleate’s value proposition for both internal and external stakeholders.
Reflecting on his tenure, Michael Retchin, who has been with Nucleate since 2020, said, “It has been a privilege to be in the leadership of Nucleate through a period of enormous change, as we developed programs for a more accessible biotech ecosystem. These values will remain central to my career. Heer and Zach are outstanding leaders who share that sense of mission. I am very confident that Heer and Zach will take Nucleate to new heights.” Michael co-founded Nucleate New York and was Nucleate’s founding Executive Vice President of Strategy, overseeing its expansion from one school to more than 280 around the world, now encompassing a community of thousands of academics and industry members.
Samantha Sison, who co-founded Nucleate San Diego in 2021 and was founding Executive Vice President of Research, has been instrumental in providing academic trainees opportunities to learn about life science entrepreneurship and biotechnology. Commenting on the transition, Samantha said, “Building Nucleate both locally and globally over the years has been the highlight of my PhD, and I am incredibly honored to have served our community as Co-President with Michael Retchin. Together, we played a part in empowering the next generation of life science leaders, and I am excited to see how Heer and Zach will further our mission. Their vision and commitment ensure a bright future for Nucleate.”
As Heer Joisher and Zach Cogan step into their roles as Co-Presidents, Nucleate is ready for an exciting new chapter. Their combined vision, expertise, and dedication to the organization’s mission will help Nucleate achieve even more. The entire Nucleate community is looking forward to the new initiatives and improvements that Heer and Zach will bring, furthering Nucleate’s mission to empower the next generation of biotech leaders.
About Samantha Sison
Samantha received her BS from the University of Wisconsin Madison and worked at the Medical College of Wisconsin before starting her PhD at the University of California San Diego. Currently, she is a PhD candidate preparing to defend her dissertation in the lab of Dr. Gene Yeo, where she has been developing a platform to study mRNA translation at single molecule and single cell resolution in the brain. She is an NSF GRFP Fellow, an ARCS Scholar, and a SfN Neuroscience Scholars Program Fellow. Samantha co-founded Nucleate San Diego and was the founding Executive Vice President of the Research Initiative.
About Michael Retchin
Michael received his BA from Columbia University and PhD from Cornell University. Currently, he is the founder of a company building secure AI assistants for drug developers. During his PhD, he was a senior associate with Pillar VC. Prior to his graduate training, Michael worked at Flagship Pioneering, where he incubated Cellarity. Michael co-founded Nucleate’s New York chapter and was the founding Executive Vice President of Strategy. He has overseen Nucleate’s global expansion, brand, alliances, career and venture initiatives.
About Heer Joisher
Heer is a fifth year PhD candidate at Harvard Medical School, studying molecular mechanisms underlying retinal development and age-related macular degeneration in Connie Cepko’s lab. Heer received her undergraduate education from Birla Institute of Technology and Science, Pilani in India with a BTech in EEE and MS in Biological Sciences. Part of the Molecular and Cellular Biology department, she is a FujiFilm Fellow through the Therapeutics Graduate Program. Since early 2021, Heer has been building Nucleate’s Professional Advancement and Training Hub (Nucleate PATH), which consolidates and drives the organization’s educational efforts, offering over 15 programs that support more than 10 career paths for life science trainees. Prior to her role in Nucleate, Heer led the Harvard GSAS Business Club and built foundational programming at the intersection of business and biotech at the Harvard Biotech Club.
About Zach Cogan
Zach is a fourth year PhD candidate in UCSF’s Tetrad program, studying the molecular mechanisms of cellular stress and translational control in Peter Walter’s lab. He is also part of the UCSF collaboration with Altos Labs and is currently executing his thesis project at Altos. In his first year of graduate school, Zach co-founded Nucleate’s Bay Area chapter and served as one of its founding co-Managing Directors. In 2021, Zach joined Nucleate HQ’s executive team as its founding EVP of Partnerships. Prior to graduate school, Zach spent 3 years as a technician in Jonathan Weissman’s lab at UCSF (now MIT) building out epigenome editing technology. Zach completed his undergraduate degree in the College of Creative Studies at UC Santa Barbara. In his spare time, Zach enjoys skiing and being outdoors.
About Nucleate
Nucleate is a nonprofit organization dedicated to empowering the next generation of biotech leaders. With chapters spanning 38 geographic regions and participation from over 280 academic institutions, Nucleate sparks new intellectual communities and embeds emerging talent within a global biotech community. Through open-access educational programming, Nucleate helps democratize biotech innovation — removing barriers and helping founders concentrate on building transformational technologies.
Nucleate’s programs are made possible thanks to our generous HQ sponsors:
- Platinum: Eli Lilly and Company, Genentech, Pillar VC, Alnylam Pharmaceuticals, BlueYard Capital, MilliporeSigma.
- Gold: Excedr.
- Silver: Biocom California, Breakout Ventures, Schrödinger, Cromatic, Sanofi, PHCbi, Molecule.
- Philanthropic: Schmidt Futures, Lyda Hill Philanthropies.
Visit www.nucleate.org for more information, and email contact@nucleate.org if you want to get involved with our programming.
