PeopleofSuperintelligence

Researcher

Ala Santos

Also known as Alicja Santos

Ala Santos is a biochemist and AI institute manager whose career spans research, medical diagnostics and AI for materials science. She completed a PhD in biochemistry and molecular biology at the University of Chicago, coauthored a 2015 study on actin and myosin, and led Abbott's development of blood-borne pathogen diagnostics. From 2020 to 2022, she served as vice president and president of Women In Bio Chicago; as CEO of the Polonium Foundation, she reported on CONNECTS-UK's European Commission grant in 2023 and mentored at Mentoring Espresso in 2025. As of October 2026, she is managing director of Cornell's Artificial Intelligence Materials Institute and president and CEO of the Polonium Foundation.

Now at
Cornell University and Polonium Foundation

Timeline

  1. October 2012–December 2018

    A PhD at Chicago

    She begins a PhD in biochemistry and molecular biology at the University of Chicago in October 2012 and completes it in December 2018.

  2. 2015

    An actin and myosin paper

    In 2015, she coauthors a paper in Current Biology on how actin-filament age changes the run lengths of myosin-5 and myosin-6.

  3. January 2017–March 2022

    Abbott pathogen diagnostics

    From January 2017 to March 2022, she serves as a senior scientist at Abbott Laboratories. She leads its New Technology Development team and develops a platform for screening blood-borne pathogens.

  4. 2020–2022

    Women In Bio leadership

    From 2020 to 2022, she serves as vice president and president of Women In Bio Chicago.

  5. December 2023

    Reporting a European grant

    On December 13, 2023, she reports that the European Commission awards more than €500,000 to CONNECTS-UK, a pan-EU platform for scientific collaboration between the EU and UK.

  6. November 2025

    Mentoring at MIT

    In November 2025, she mentors at Polonium Foundation's Mentoring Espresso MIT event on “Innovation in action: navigating the start-up world.”

  7. As of October 2026

    Managing director at AI-MI

    She is managing director of Cornell's Artificial Intelligence Materials Institute and president and CEO of the Polonium Foundation.

Career

  1. NowCornell UniversityManaging Director
  2. NowPolonium FoundationPresident and CEO
  3. 2017–2022Abbott LaboratoriesSenior Scientist

Education

  1. 2018University of ChicagoPhD in biochemistry and molecular biology

From the biography.

Sources and credits

Photo: We have no published photo of Ala Santos yet. Send us a free-licensed photo.

  1. Hire Alicja S. | Kolabtree kolabtree.com. Checked 27 October 2026.
  2. Actin age orchestrates myosin-5 and myosin-6 run lengths - PMC pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov. Checked 27 October 2026.
  3. Diasporas Roundtable | X International Symposium SRUK/CERU sruk2023.wordpress.com. Checked 27 October 2026.
  4. Ala Santos • #nieczekam107lat nieczekam107lat.ofeminin.pl. Checked 27 October 2026.
  5. €580,000 from the European Commission for R&I Diaspora support in the UK — Polonium Foundation poloniumfoundation.org. Checked 27 October 2026.
  6. Mentoring Espresso MIT — Polonium Foundation poloniumfoundation.squarespace.com. Checked 27 October 2026.
  7. Team — Polonium Foundation poloniumfoundation.org. Checked 27 October 2026.
  8. Team - The Artificial Intelligence Materials Institute aimi.cornell.edu. Checked 27 October 2026.