Small Businesses are BIG at NCI Inside Cancer Careers

In this episode of Inside Cancer Careers, we hear Michael Weingarten, Director of NCI's Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Development Center. Mr. Weingarten shares the various programs and resources available through SBIR. We then hear from Dr. Margaret Jackson, Co-Founder of BYOMass.  Dr. Jackson recounts her experience of becoming a scientist and a small business owner. She also provides insightful tips on how to effectively apply for a small business grant.
Show Notes
Michael Weingarten, MA NCI Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Development Center Small Business Transition Grant Small Business Applicant Assistance Program Innovation Corps (I-Corps) Investor Initiatives Presidential Management Fellowship NASA Technology Transfer Program Ad: NanCI by NCI 
Margaret Jackson, D.Phil. BYOMass The Capital Network Grants.gov Small Business Administration eRA Commons SAM.gov FreeMind Group Eva Garland Consulting Royal Society Fellowship Your Turn
The Whale (movie) A Distant Mirror by Barbara Tuchman [UPBEAT MUSIC]
OLIVER BOGLER:  Hello and welcome to Inside Cancer Careers, a podcast from the National Cancer Institute. I'm your host Oliver Bogler. I work at the NCI in the Center for Cancer Training. On Inside Cancer Careers, we explore all the different ways that people join the fight against disease and hear their stories. Today, we're talking to Michael Weingarten about how NCI supports small business develop technology and agents to end cancer with grant mechanisms. After the break, our guest is Dr. Margaret Jackson, the CEO of BYOMass, a company that's been supported by a grant from Michael's center and which is developing therapies for one of the big problems that many patients with advanced cancer face. Listen to the end to hear recommendations from our guests for interesting things and where you are invited to take your turn.
I'm a cancer survivor and as I went through my treatments, chemo, surgery and radiation, and now long-term hormone therapy, I became aware that everything that was used to manage my cancer was made by a company. Sure the research behind it may have had its roots in academia but to get from that bench to the proverbial bedside, a commercial entity had to get involved. There are rare exceptions, some experimental therapies maybe, but even here more often than not, companies are involved. It's for this reason that the NCI funds innovation in the business world. To talk with us about that is Michael Weingarten, the Director of the Small Business Innovation Research Center at NCI. Welcome Michael.
MICHAEL WEINGARTEN: Thank you, thanks for having me today, I appreciate that.
OLIVER: Yeah, before we dive into the SBIR work, I'd like to ask you about your own path and your career. How did you come to do the work that you do today? I understand that you started by studying political science at Northwestern, isn't that right?
MICHAEL: That's right, that is right. Yeah, so, I did my undergraduate work at Northwestern, political science. I then actually went to Columbia after and I studied international relations. And I went into my career thinking I was probably going to go into the foreign service.
OLIVER:  Huh.
MICHAEL: And that that was going to be my career, focused on U.S.-Russia relations.
OLIVER: Interesting.
MICHAEL: But as things changed, for many of us, I had the opportunity when I was at Columbia to join the government in a management training program called the President Management Fellowship, which is an entry-level program for folks to get into the government. And I started at the State Department actually for about a year and then I was able to do a rotation over to NASA in my second year. And NASA actually ended up being where I spend a good part of my career, I was there for about 15 years. And I had the wonderful opportunity when I was at NASA to actually build NASA's Technology Transfer Programs. NASA is fa