Our Team

Cynthia Lander, PhD, is a successful entrepreneur who has created, invested in and advised a variety of innovative start-up companies in the biotechnology, diagnostics and medical device industries. Cynthia has over 25 years of research and leadership experience and is currently Chairman of the inflammation and fibrosis therapeutics company, Moerae Matrix, which she co-founded. She is also fulfilling the Executive Chairman role for Moerae spin-off VasoPrep Surgical, a medical device entity focused on improving outcomes in vascular graft surgeries.

Prior to creating her own companies and advising others, Cynthia was a partner in the venture incubator Nascent Enterprises, with 26 companies created to date and 12 exit transactions. She also runs her own consulting practice, Cynapse Consulting, advising major pharmaceutical, biotechnology, medical device and diagnostics company clients. She has been Senior Vice President at Publicis Groupe, responsible for business development and brand strategy for biopharmaceutical clients.

Cynthia received her PhD in Neuroscience from Yale University (Neurogen Fellow), where she made several discoveries that were subsequently outlicensed for use in research and drug development. She conducted post-doctoral research at Rockefeller University as a Revson Fellow.

Life sciences represents Cynthia’s second career. Previously, she was a classical musician trained at The Juilliard School (keyboard performance), and she still takes every opportunity possible to play the compositions of Debussy, Liszt, Franck and Bach. In addition to her PhD, Cynthia has a BS in Psychology from New York University