Melissa Fensterstock

Melissa Fensterstock aspires to help shape the future of human and planetary health. She has interests in frontier technology, helping early stage companies translate innovations from academic settings to commercial scale.

At Material Impact Fund, Melissa brings a unique mix of scientific and business acumen applicable at both the strategic and tactical levels and has a passion for developing and commercializing early-stage scientific innovations. Melissa has enjoyed an extensive career as an operator. As CEO of Landsdowne Labs, a spin out from MIT co-founded with Robert Langer, Melissa transformed an academic concept to market-ready status that included executing a global partnership with one of the world’s largest metal and mining companies, received an NSF grant, raised venture capital investment, and was involved with developing legislation around child-safety.

Previously, Melissa worked across the life science sector ranging from running corporate development for a publicly traded biotechnology company, to consumer product leader, to spinning out therapeutics companies from Columbia University and Johns Hopkins University. Beyond serving as an XIR at Digitalis Commons, she has held executive in residence positions at Johns Hopkins University, Columbia University, Yale University, and Climate Haven. She is a Trustee of Connecticut Public and a member of the Milken Young Leadership Circle.

In her free time, Melissa enjoys reading, painting, blind wine tasting, and culinary travel adventures. She lives in Connecticut with her husband and two sons.

‍