Susan Finston

Business Development Consultant

Susan K. Finston, JD/MPP, has over 25 years of experience in management of international legal, public policy, and “doing business” issues, with special expertise relating to biotechnology and pharmaceutical innovation and the commercialization of new technologies for creation of social and economic value. In 2008 she co-founded Amrita Therapeutics Ltd. with biotechnology pioneer Dr. Ananda Chakrabarty in Gujarat, India. In 2005 she founded Finston Consulting LLC  to support innovative companies ranging from Fortune 100 to start-ups, governments, and NGOs.

Previous experience includes work as Associate Vice President, Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America (PhRMA) from 1999 – 2005, where she led the international research-based industry’s patent reform advocacy in advance of the 2005 WTO TRIPS deadline in the MENA region and South Asia (India). From 1988 – 1999, Susan worked for the U.S. Department of State as a Foreign Service Officer, with overseas assignments in London, Tel Aviv and Manila, specializing in intellectual property, trade and development. From 1986 – 1988, she served as a Motions Clerk at the Federal Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit. Susan graduated from the University of Michigan (U-M), Ann Arbor, with a joint J.D./M.P.P., and holds a B.S. in Philosophy from the U-M Honors College. She is a member of the Illinois Bar and U.S. Supreme Court Bar and lives in Washington, D.C.