Afreen Allam (Founder & CEO of SiNON Nano Sciences), an MBA graduate from Duke’s Fuqua School of Business, has over 15 years of research in nanomedicine. Her extensive studies on applications of carbon nanotechnology in drug delivery and bio-imaging led to the patent of the Carbon Dot in 2013. She is a graduate of North Carolina State University with a double major in microbiology and biochemistry and holds a masters degree in finance and banking. At the age of 17 Afreen had her first DNA sequence published and filed a patent at the age of 20. She has presented at numerous biomedical conferences. She was a Forbes 30 under 30 finalist. Bustle Upstart awardee, Triangle Business Journal’s Rising Star Women in Business for 2019 and Durham’s Women’s Achievement awardee, finalist for Mass Challenge and NYU’s Endless Frontier Lab accelerator. In 2021 she also was featured in the inaugural Forbes “The Next 1000” List. Afreen is a 2023 Termeer Fellow and in the CDL Neuro track accelerator at University of Toronto.