Rania Nasis MD, MBA

Rania is a dynamic management executive in the areas of healthcare, life sciences and the emerging fields of online investing and equity crowdfunding. She is currently CEO of Starlings, a firm focused on early stage healthcare and life science companies. She also sits on the board of the Society of Physician Entrepreneurs (SoPE), a non-profit global biomedical and healthcare innovation network, and leads the Greater Los Angeles Chapter of SoPE. She was formerly Managing Director at Poliwogg Holdings, a healthcare focused investment firm. Prior to joining Poliwogg, Dr. Nasis was Managing Director at Regenerative Medicine Strategy Group, a boutique management consulting firm. Previously, she was General Manager at California Stem Cell, Inc., a cellular therapeutics company (acquired by NeoStem, Inc. for $124M), where she guided daily operations and oversaw development of novel cell therapy products and cell-based research tools. She was also the co-founder and CEO of Wanzo, a startup digital health company targeting childhood obesity.

Rania’s extensive management experience spans the biotechnology, healthcare and finance sectors. She serves as a strategic advisor to several early-stage healthcare startups and routinely conducts due diligence on investments in the sector.

She received her medical degree from New Jersey Medical School, Masters of Business Administration from the Paul Merage School of Business at University of California at Irvine, where she was awarded a prestigious Merage Fellowship, and Bachelor of Science degree from Drexel University. She is a registered representative and holds Series 7 and Series 63 licenses. She has published on the topic of healthcare investing and entrepreneurship and has also made scientific contributions to peer-reviewed journals and several textbooks. She is committed to building communities that foster healthcare entrepreneurship.