Magnolia Manzano (MBA/MS Biotechnology ’24) spent more than a decade working in oncology clinical trials before she became an entrepreneur.
Over the course of her career, she saw firsthand how difficult it can be for research professionals to keep up with the enormous volume of clinical data involved in bringing new treatments to patients. Critical safety information can be buried across records and systems, while manual processes create additional demands on already busy teams.
Manzano understood the problem from another perspective, too.
Her own experiences as a patient deepened her understanding of the gaps that can exist between medical innovation and the people waiting for new treatments. Those professional and personal experiences ultimately helped inspire LUMIQO, the company she founded to develop AI-powered tools that streamline safety data workflows in oncology clinical research.
The company’s technology is designed to automate the detection and reporting of adverse events in oncology clinical trials, helping research teams surface information that might otherwise be difficult to identify through manual processes.
But identifying an important problem and building a solution are not the same thing.
To turn her clinical research experience into a viable company, Manzano needed to develop a different set of skills: how to understand markets and customers, communicate the value of an innovation, and build a business around a promising idea.
That is where her experience at Johns Hopkins Carey Business School became central to her entrepreneurial journey.
“I couldn’t have done any of this without Carey,” Manzano said. “I feel like my degree paid off within six months because I was so well-prepared, thanks to the professors, the courses, and the hands-on experiences we had.”
“I couldn’t have done any of this without Carey,” Manzano said. “I feel like my degree paid off within six months because I was so well-prepared, thanks to the professors, the courses, and the hands-on experiences we had.”
Turning student experience into lasting impact
For Manzano, graduation did not mark the end of her connection to the Johns Hopkins entrepreneurship ecosystem.
As LUMIQO continued to develop, she joined the Pava Marie LaPere Center for Entrepreneurship’s first ever Alumni Accelerator. The experience helped her work through one of the challenges facing many growing companies: reaching the right customers.
“The end users of the product were different from the decision-makers with the buying power,” Manzano explained.
That distinction required her to rethink her approach. Rather than focusing only on selling the product, she began spending more time understanding the specific problems potential customers wanted solved. The process helped her generate leads more quickly and refine how she communicated LUMIQO’s value.
The accelerator also provided something that can be difficult for entrepreneurs to find: a community of people who understand the uncertainty and complexity of building a company.
Today, LUMIQO is working toward co-piloting its technology with research sites and pharmaceutical companies. The goal is to train and refine the company’s model using real-world clinical data while demonstrating measurable value for organizations involved in clinical research.
For Manzano, the work is rooted in her belief that better technology can help address inefficiencies that ultimately affect both research professionals and patients.
Her journey also illustrates a broader idea about entrepreneurship education.
Building an entrepreneur’s mindset
Entrepreneurs do not always begin with a startup idea. Sometimes they begin with years of experience in an industry and a growing awareness of a problem that needs to be solved. The entrepreneurial mindset is what allows them to ask a different question: What if this could be better—and what would it take to build the solution?
At Carey, Manzano gained business knowledge to pair with her scientific and clinical expertise. After graduation, she continued building on those skills through the Johns Hopkins entrepreneurship ecosystem.
Now, she is applying both experiences to a challenge she has spent much of her career observing.
For Manzano, entrepreneurship is not separate from her work in health and biotechnology. It is another way to create change and potentially help bring life-changing treatments to patients sooner.
