I am joining the 2023 Timmerman Traverse to actively support Life Science Cares and its mission fighting poverty and inequality, providing access to opportunity and education. A large part of my childhood was in Latin America, where I was keenly aware of inequality and poverty and its deeply damaging impact on society at every level.  My parents later moved to the US where I was privileged to attend great universities.  However, many promising students are not able to do the same.  Reducing poverty and inequality so that as many promising young people can contribute in science and engineering is a cause I care deeply about. This is partly from my own journey, but also as a biotech investor and executive it is a critical need to have as many young people have access to career paths in our field.  And they all start with reducing poverty and inequality.  For these reasons I am joining the  Timmerman Traverse to help fundraise, aiming to raise funds for this cause but also awareness to the issue.