Glia Consulting helps mission-driven organizations better understand complex issues, effectively engage stakeholders, and catalyze advances in health and wellbeing

 

Glia [glee-uh]: the intricate network of branched cells and fibers that supports the tissue of the central nervous system. From the Greek glía meaning “glue”.

In the developing brain, neurons must navigate to precise positions and make specific connections. Glia, the support cells of the brain, act as scaffolds for this neuronal migration, help define connection targets, and facilitate neurons’ signaling.

 
values
 

Curiosity. Integrity. Excellence.

 
SERVICES

Glia Consulting works with private and public funders, mission-aligned companies, and non-profit organizations in the health and life sciences space to answer questions like:

 

Why hasn’t more progress been made against this health condition, and what can we do to accelerate towards a cure?

Where can we intervene in the health system to achieve the greatest impact in efficiency, quality, or access to care?

What are the technological innovations and market trends shaping this field?

How can we make the best use of philanthropic capital? What do we need to know to be effective change agents, who can we partner with, and where do we start?

Which companies, organizations, investors or philanthropists are developing compelling ideas that align with our mission, and how can we engage them?

 
 

Glia Consulting offers three primary, interrelated service areas:

 

Learning and Insights

Glia Consulting develops custom knowledge products and services that enable clients to better understand and engage in new, complex or evolving arenas within health and life sciences. Glia Consulting excels at the desk research, expert interviews, and critical thinking necessary to synthesize complex insights and technical information into clear, executive-level content to support learning and decision making.

Specific services include but are not limited to:

  • Opportunity and landscape assessments

  • Competitive intelligence

  • Custom literature reviews, topic briefs, and research reports

  • Curated learning sessions and thought partnership

Network and Convening

Glia Consulting convenes, collaborates with, and translates between technical and non-technical audiences essential for programmatic success.  Glia Consulting has a track record of aligning people and resources around a shared vision that enables clients to move forward with the input and support of a curated network.

Specific services include but are not limited to:

  • Key opinion leader identification and engagement

  • Internal and external stakeholder engagement, including scientific advisory boards, advisors, and partners

  • Partnership development and coalition building

  • Facilitation for convenings and workshops

  • Tailored conference reports

Strategy and Funding

Strategy development underpins funding objectives - philanthropic, investment, or blended. Glia Consulting builds actionable strategic frameworks that help clients clarify goals, articulate desired outcomes, and marshal resources mapped to a theory of change. By leveraging clients' differentiating strengths, Glia Consulting designs funding concepts that accelerate progress toward technical and impact goals. Glia Consulting draws on experience driving the development of multiple large scale ($10M - $100M) funding programs targeting innovations in health and life sciences.

Specific services include but are not limited to:

  • Strategic roadmaps and decision-making frameworks

  • Investment theses and concept notes

  • Design, development and launch of major funding calls

References, case studies and example work products available upon request

 
 
 
 
Liza Shoenfeld Glia .jpg 
About

Liza Shoenfeld, Principal

Liza Shoenfeld is an independent consultant serving mission-driven organizations in the health and life sciences space. She brings a scientific research background, strategy consulting training, and experience with top global organizations to her work at Glia Consulting.

Prior to independent consulting, Liza was an early hire in the health and life sciences team at Gates Ventures, the private office of Bill Gates. There, she developed Mr. Gates’s health and life sciences personal learning agenda, represented the office at national and international convenings, curated a network of experts across technical areas, and designed strategy and funding programs in Alzheimer's disease. Liza led the creation of the Diagnostics Accelerator, the first life sciences program launched by Mr. Gates out of his private office.

Liza’s experience also includes strategy consulting at Camber Collective, where she supported clients across domestic and global health domains, and at Navigant, where she developed market assessments for life science companies. She has worked with clients across the health and life sciences ecosystem, including research institutes, global health organizations, specialty providers, pharma, biotech and medtech companies, public health agencies, and private offices. Liza has a particular expertise developing learning journeys and philanthropic strategies for high net worth family offices and foundations.

Her background is in neuroscience at Bowdoin College, the University of California San Francisco Gladstone Institute, and the University of Washington, where she was a National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellow and an Achievement Rewards for College Scientists Fellow. The true story of her unbelievable graduate school interview experience was made into an episode of NPR's Radiolab in 2011. During graduate school, Liza also published Branching Points, a resource for science graduate students exploring non-academic career options.

In addition to her consulting work, Liza makes SHOEN ceramics. In 2019, she embarked on 6 months of solo world travel while remotely assessing opportunities in AI for medical imaging. Liza’s husband is the founder and artistic director of the national theater company The Feast. With their infant son, they split their time between Seattle and the Olympic Peninsula.

 

Contact

Reach Glia Consulting through this form or by sending an email to:

Liza (at) GliaConsulting (dot) Org

Seattle, WA USA