Graeme Fielder has come a long way from a schoolboy, wading in the muddy Manukau harbour collecting samples for his science fair project, to working in San Francisco for Audentes Therapeutics, a biopharmaceutical company.

He completed a Bachelor of Technology at the University of Auckland with a biotechnology major before moving into the field of molecular medicine for his PhD study at the Liggins Institute. There he investigated the role of novel genes in cancers, particularly breast cancer.

Throughout his time at the University of Auckland he was involved in entrepreneurship and innovation. He became CEO and chair of Velocity, the Business School’s student-led entrepreneurial development programme. He also led the non-profit organisation Chiasma which linked the academic community with New Zealand’s biotech industry.

“An innovative and entrepreneurial mind-set has help morph my career from just a job description into a set of activities that combine my love for science with my thirst for seeing it have a positive impact on the world.”

Graeme was awarded a Fulbright Award to study for an MBA at Stanford University in California an experience which brought him into contact with talented individuals and influential business leaders.

He has been involved in a number of business venture including Lab Trader NZ, an online broker and reseller of used laboratory equipment with a mission to improve the access to laboratory equipment and reduce its financial burden by facilitating the buying and selling of used equipment.

Throughout Graeme’s own ventures and corporate roles, he sees his responsibility as to using an organisation’s limited resources to grow its positive impact on society. He feels that “being able to uncover and capture unique and risk-riddled opportunities defines an innovative and entrepreneurial mind-set.”

“Being trained as a scientist, you become an inquisitive, hypothesis-driven and persevering individual with a deep understanding of how new knowledge and ideas are generated.” This combined with business experience has helped Graeme gain an appreciation of how ideas and knowledge can be developed into products and services.

“My career now sits at the intersection of science and business as a translator, exploiter, and harnesser of enterprising science.”

Graeme Fielder graduated from the University of Auckland with a Bachelor of Technology with First Class Honours and Doctor of Philosophy in Molecular Medicine.