Mentor Monday: Cathy Farmer | Bay Area NSF Innovation Corps

Industry Mentors (IM) are the backbone of the National I-Corps program.  They volunteer their time as an extension of the teaching team, going through kickoff/closing and weekly online sessions. Their guidance and support is invaluable in getting teams over the finish line with insights derived from 100+ interviews.

Cathy Farmer is one of our selfless superstars–she just finished IM-ing for two Stanford-based/Bay Area Node sponsored teams in the Winter cohort.  Over the past two years, she has IMed for a total of four National teams.

Cathy has been in software development and technology for over 25 years, mostly focusing on HealthIT with both Kaiser Permanente, her own ventures and those she invests in.  Her contact network is second only to her generosity in mentoring both NSF I-Corps teams as well as teams over multiple years in UC’s LAUNCH Accelerator.

Here most recent mentees above are CanaryQ (simplified lab sample processing) and Cortexxus (empowering people living with epilepsy).

Thanks, Cathy for all you do for our students and founders!

L-R: CanaryQ: Estevan Mendoza, Brenda Torres; Cathy Farmer; Cortexxus: David Ribeiro Alves, Ana Margarida Alves (photo courtesy of Cathy Farmer)