Jenica Patterson, Ph.D. a Portfolio Lead within the Project Accelerator Transition Innovation Office (PATIO), where she oversees the ARPA-H Sprint for Women’s Health. Dr. Patterson received her Ph.D. in Neuroscience at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County (UMBC), and post-doc at the intramural NIH Program. She served as a Science and Technical Advisor from 2014-2018 at the Defense Advanced Research Project Agency (DARPA) in the Biological Technologies Office (BTO) and Information Innovation Office (I2O), supporting neurotechnology, OMICs and gene editing programs. Further she served as a Program Director at NIH from 2018-2023 on various translational therapeutic and diagnostic programs at the National Institutes of Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA) and the National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering (NIBIB) on the Rapid Acceleration of Diagnostic (RADx) program. Dr. Patterson has substantial experience developing and managing translational research & development and small business portfolios. She is also a Contracting Officer Representative II (CORII) and currently supports many NIH RADx contract efforts.