SoCalBio Networking @ UCLA

SoCalBio’s Networking @ UCLA is billed as the longest-running bioscience mixer in the Greater Los Angeles and Orange County metro. Thursday, August 27, 2026, 4:00-7:00 PM at the UCLA James West Alumni Center, 325 Westwood Plaza in Westwood. The Southern California Biomedical Council uses the evening to connect faculty, executives, and life-science professionals across biotech, medtech, diagnostics, and digital health, with drinks and hors d’oeuvres and a clear academia-industry brief. Campus alumni-center density is the draw: researchers and operators sharing one floor instead of a downtown pitch bar.

SoCalBio is the regional biomedical council that organizes programs, resources, and community nights for Southern California’s life-sciences stack. This mixer is one of its signature public rooms: open to faculty, operators, and life-science professionals, with service-provider attendance limited to event sponsors. Westwood Plaza parking is paid, and the listing is ages 21+. UCLA’s Bioengineering calendar also points partners to an Eventbrite promo path, which is useful if you sit on the campus side of the bridge.

Life sciences and healthtech people who can introduce themselves by modality, therapeutic area, or research lane fit the brief. Operators hunting collaboration, hiring conversations, or council program awareness will get more than someone treating it as a generic networking night. Service firms selling into the industry should assume sponsor-only access unless SoCalBio or the Eventbrite listing says otherwise. Same afternoon and evening as HPA and SMPTE in Burbank and Women of ACG in Beverly Hills; those are different professional maps, and Westwood to Burbank is only realistic if your calendar can absorb both.

Tickets on Eventbrite have been listed as free for SoCalBio members and about $50 for non-members; confirm live tiers, any UCLA partner code, and refund timing before you plan the commute. Budget paid campus parking and arrive with a one-line research or product introduction ready. Do not show up as an unsponsored service vendor hoping the door will flex. Re-check the Eventbrite confirmation the day of for any venue or check-in notes at the James West Alumni Center.