Dr. Nina Dudnik is the founder and CEO of Seeding Labs, a US-based nonprofit organization investing in talented scientists in the developing world to accelerate solutions to the world’s most pressing problems. Seeding Labs identifies a pipeline of talented scientists, provides laboratory equipment and training and fosters professional networks that support vital research, enhance the impact of higher education, and create a more connected global research community.

Seeding Labs has built a coalition of over 100 partners comprising private sector R&D companies, device manufacturers, nonprofits and academic institutions contributing material support and expertise. By marshalling the resources of this community, to date Seeding Labs has provided equipment and training worth over to $15M to scientists at 48 institutions in 27 countries. Using these investments, scientists are imparting a hands-on education to tens of thousands of undergraduate, Masters and PhD students each year, and completing research projects across the areas of infectious and non-communicable diseases, crop and livestock improvement, environmental protection and waste treatment and renewable energy.

Dr. Dudnik holds a Bachelor’s degree in biochemistry from Brown University and a PhD in molecular biology from Harvard University. She has worked for the Consultative Group for International Agricultural Research (CGIAR) in Italy and in Cote d’Ivoire where she was a Fulbright scholar. She was a 2010 TED Fellow, received the 2014 John F. Kennedy New Frontier Award and was named one of Scientific American’s 100 Most Influential People in Biotech 2015. Dr. Dudnik’s writing and the work of Seeding Labs have been featured on National Public Radio’s All Things Considered, and in publications as diverse as the Boston Globe, The Kenyan Standard, the Wall Street Journal, the Times of India, Elle Magazine and Chemical & Engineering News.