Lauren Celano is the co-founder and CEO of Propel Careers, a life science search and career development firm and is also the co-founder of the Propelling Careers podcast. She has recruited for more than 60 innovative life sciences organizations and has coached thousands of students, postdocs, medical residents and professionals to advance their careers since co-founding Propel in 2009.

Lauren presents often on career development topics to inspire the next generation of talent and has been engaged in SMDP for >15 years. Before Propel, she spent about 10 years in life sciences advancing drug molecules through SNBL USA, Aptuit, Quintiles, and Absorption Systems. She holds a B.S. in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology from Gettysburg College and an MBA (focused in the health sector and entrepreneurship) from Boston University. She serves / has served on Boards including: the National Tay-Sachs & Allied Diseases Association (Current Vice President, member since 2020); MassBioEd (Chair 2023-2025, Vice Chair 2020-2022; Member 2014-2025) and MassBio (member, 2023-2025) and Advisory Boards such as New England Graduate Women in Science.