Both entrepreneur and scholar, Dr. Elam is Co-founder and President/CEO of Galaxy Diagnostics, an early stage medical diagnostics company in Research Triangle Park, NC, and Research Fellow at the International Diana Research Institute, Babson College. She advises a number of other small businesses in the life sciences and serves regularly on panels and presentations at academic and industry conferences. In the larger field of business, Dr. Elam has taught courses and shared research lectures on women’s leadership, entrepreneurship and innovation at a number of leading business schools in the US, Canada, Australia, and other countries.

Her research interests focus on the application of sociological theories to the study of business startup, innovation, and growth across countries and social groups, including gender, ethnicity, and immigrant status. More recently her research has addressed the role of women’s entrepreneurship and business leadership in sustainability and economic development in economies around the world. Her research has been published in several top entrepreneurship journals, book chapters, policy reports, and in a book based on her dissertation study, Gender and Entrepreneurship: A Multilevel Theory and Analysis, which was recognized by the Academy of Management for innovative thought leadership in the field of entrepreneurship.

Dr. Elam earned a doctorate in Sociology from the University of North Carolina, followed by postdoctoral fellowships in entrepreneurship at Babson College near Wellesley, MA, USA and at the Queensland University of Technology in Brisbane, Australia. She has taught in courses in both sociology and business at several universities for undergraduate, graduate, and executive education students.