Anahita Modaresi, MA

Anahita Modaresi serves as Director of Corporate and Foundation Relations at The Jackson Laboratory as of February 2024. Modaresi is responsible for leading, developing, and strengthening key alliances with corporations and foundations to advance JAX’s institutional priorities. Drawing upon nearly 20 years of experience with corporate and foundation engagement, program management, major gifts, big idea visioning, and proposal development, Modaresi is charged with building out and growing JAX's Corporate and Foundation Relations program.

Modaresi previously advanced philanthropic priorities for an R1 academic health system – the Medical University of South Carolina – where she established its inaugural CFR program in April 2020. In this role she recruited, trained, and supported a team while significantly growing philanthropic support to MUSC. Under Modaresi’s direction, MUSC received the largest ever Duke Endowment grant cycle throughout its 30-year relationship and secured transformative funding in the areas of research, innovation, and rural health. Prior to this role, Modaresi was the director of development for the MUSC College of Nursing for nearly four years. During that time, Modaresi grew funding by over 60% and helped to create the nation’s first Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP) program in palliative care at MUSC, two major global initiatives endowments, new endowed faculty positions, and a robust scholarship program. At MUSC, Modaresi chaired the Office of Institutional Advancement’s Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Committee and secured major funding for historically marginalized student scholarships and health equity. Before MUSC, Modaresi worked as a major gift officer at the College of Charleston, Director of Development with the Museum of Contemporary Art of Georgia in Atlanta, and in various corporate and foundation relations, program development, and fundraising roles in San Francisco.

Modaresi earned her undergraduate degree in media arts from the University of South Carolina, a master’s degree in applied anthropology from Georgia State University, and a certificate in professional grant writing from The Grant Institute. She is an Earl B. Higgins Leadership in Diversity Award nominee and graduate of MUSC’s Advanced Leadership Institute. She has spoken at various national conferences, including CASE and Grantmakers in Health.