David Sean Graydon Dallas-Orr

Rady School of Management, UC-San Diego

“Life sciences focused entrepreneur that wants to improve patient care utilizing disruptive and innovative technology.”

Age: 24

Hometown: San Diego, California

Fun fact about yourself: My identical twin and I learned to swim at before we can remember and have played water polo for the last 11 years.

Undergraduate School and Degree: San Diego State University Bachelor of Science in Chemistry with emphasis in Biochemistry

Where did you work before enrolling in business school? I performed academic research for the San Diego State University Chemistry Department. My topics of focus were natural products discovery and analysis for pharmaceutical potential and bioinformatics of murine bacteriophage capsid proteins for ocean pollution detection.

Where did you intern during the summer of 2017? I interned for San Diego Sports Medicine under the supervision of Dr. Allen Richburg in order to learn more about patient care and healthcare administration. Towards the end of summer, I found and an opportunity to commercialize a cardiology software out of the UCSD Cardiac Mechanics Research Group and have since built a team which in currently enrolled in the UCSD StartR Accelerator.

Where will you be working after graduation? I have not signed any job offers and I am currently waiting to hear back about my acceptance to the University of California Master of Translational Medicine program. Over summer, I plan on working on my startup, CReATE Medical, to improve the accuracy of heart failure diagnosis and the efficacy of cardiac resynchronization therapy.

Community Work and Leadership Roles in Business School:

– COO of Revival Project of San Diego (nonprofit outreach program focused in northern San Diego County)

– Volunteer at Tri City Medical Center Surgery Department and Emergency Department

– Rady Ambassador for UCSD Rady School of Management

– Team Lead at StartR Accelerator and Lab-to-Market MBA Course Sequence

– Secretary for Sunset San Diego masters water polo team

Which academic or extracurricular achievement are you most proud of during business school? Founding the cardiology software startup CReATE Medical is the achievement I am most proud of because it is proof that I have become the entrepreneurial and ethical leader that I set out to be upon enrolling at the Rady School of Management.

What achievement are you most proud of in your professional career? When I worked as an Ocean Lifeguard for the City of Encinitas, I lead the aquatic rescue of a body surfer who had become paralyzed from the chest down due to impact with the sandy bottom.

Who was your favorite MBA professor?My favorite professor is Kim Davis King, who teaches Technology Commercialization, Lab-to-Market and is Co-Director of the StartR Accelerator. She continually helped me improve my startup, taught me valuable skills utilizing her background in venture capital and supported my continued development as an entrepreneur.

What was your favorite MBA Course? Technology Commercialization taught by Kim Davis King because it allowed me to develop a go to market strategy for CIARI Guitars, a folding guitar startup founded at Rady SOM by two previous medical devices executives from NuVasive.

Why did you choose this business school?I chose to come to Rady SOM because it is young school that I can help grow, focused on entrepreneurship in the biotech city with the best weather and surf breaks.

What is your best piece advice to an applicant hoping to get into your school’s MBA program? Create something meaningful. It doesn’t have to be the next Facebook or Google; it could be something like the SDSU Men’s Club Water Polo Team, but you have to do your best.

What is the biggest myth about your school? Like other MBA schools, it is just here to help you brag to employers about the extra three letters after your name. In reality, you learn practical skills to help you manage teams and make evidence-based decisions.

Which MBA classmate do you most admire? It is Daniel Feitelberg because since coming from the Scripps Research Institute, he has dove head first into the life science business community in San Diego through his internship with Tech Coast Angels and his role as the Life Science Club President. He continuously shares events and resources in order to help other students.

Who most influenced your decision to pursue business in college? My Mother, a Senior Mortgage Specialist for USE Credit Union and nonprofit organization and community leader, because she is such a hard worker and would have gotten her MBA if given the opportunity. Additionally, my chemistry professors, Dr. Metzger, Dr. Swairjo, Dr. Van der Geer and Dr. Huxford, who all believed that I could utilize my research background and an MBA to make significant changes in science and medicine.

“If I hadn’t gone to business school, I would be…working for a local San Diego biotech company during the week and ocean lifeguarding for the City of Encinitas on the weekends.”

If you were a dean for a day, what one thing would you change about the MBA experience? I would manipulate tuition costs in order to promote student involvement and excellence. I would incorporate a variable cost structure that incorporated academic performance, participation in extracurriculars, and involvement with the San Diego companies and the community.

What are the top two items on your bucket list? Marry the woman of my dreams and improve healthcare.

In one sentence, how would you like your peers to remember you? I would like to be remembered as the go-getter that always attempted the inconceivable, tried to show others’ dreams were possible, and was always willing to help.

What is your favorite movie about business? I can’t choose between The Big Short and The Wolf of Wall Street…make it a 4 hour back-to-back showing.

What would your theme song be? Eminem – “Lose Yourself”

Favorite vacation spot: Anywhere with something active to do, ie. mountaineering the Swiss Alps, diving the Mediterranean, motocross in Baja California, body surfing double overhead surf in Hawaii, skiing in Colorado, national club water polo tournament in Kearns Utah, deep sea fishing the kelp beds of Southern California, kayaking the Colorado River, racing around the track at Buttonwillow.

Hobbies? Primarily water polo with the master’s team Sunset San Diego, but anything that gets me outside, gets my blood pumping and my adrenaline up.

 

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