Our story

 SurViva was established in 2012, with the aim of enabling more life science start-ups survive the development phase and develop into value creating business. During the years since, we have seen an increase in the number of start-ups in Norway and have also witnessed some successful businesses evolve. However, the development phase is still a significant hurdle, and the access to competence in product development is still limited in Norway.

SurViva’s purpose has therefore become even more relevant during the years. Our current focus is to reduce the barrier related to regulatory and quality requirements, by implementing lean quality management systems customized for the individual business. Our aim is to see more great science turned into products improving health and quality of life.

We are a team that together has extensive experience from food, pharma and medical device product development and manufacturing, and we enjoy establishing streamlined systems combining the best out of these worlds.

Jowita Sleboda

Jowita holds a PhD in lipid biochemistry from University of Oslo. She has broad experience from small and medium-sized pharma/biotech companies including Link Medical Research AS, Pronova BioPharma AS, AlgiPharma AS, Targovax ASA and Aker BioMarine AS. Her expertise spans across various aspects of drug development including preclinical research, clinical trials, medical writing, clinical data management, regulatory affairs and quality assurance. Jowita deeply believes that a well-designed quality system is essential for efficient and compliant work performance. In order to succeed, it is crucial to tailor the quality system to the company’s scope and activities, and not vice versa.

Cathrine Frydenlund

Cathrine has a Master Degree in Chemical Engineering and started her career at Norsk Hydro within process design and dimensioning. After working in various study and start-up projects, she moved into teaching, as a science teacher in upper secondary school. She has also developed books and website content as a science editor in an educational publisher. Most recently she worked with documentation and validation as an Improvement Engineer in a Medical Device Company. She is passionate about good quality in all aspects and to opening the quality door for more businesses.

Øyvind Myrset Syversen

Øyvind has a master’s degree in Engineering & ICT from NTNU in Trondheim, Norway, with Operations Management as his main study profile. He has experience with developing IT related business services and has insight into quality management systems through previous jobs within the industry. Øyvind is supporting SurViva as needed, on a part time basis. 

Astrid Hilde Myrset, CEO

Astrid has a PhD in biochemistry and started working in the life science industry as a researcher at Nycomed Imaging in 1994. After working in various roles, including knowledge manager and innovation manager in the Nycomed/Amersham/GE Healthcare system for 14 years, she started as general manager of a Norwegian start-up company in 2008. Since then, she has held management positions in several small companies, most recently as founder and general manager of Catapult Life Science. She is eager to enable more sharing of knowledge, experience and infrastructure, to enable further development of the Norwegian life science industry.

Jowita Sleboda

Jowita holds a PhD in lipid biochemistry from University of Oslo. She has broad experience from small and medium-sized pharma/biotech companies including Link Medical Research AS, Pronova BioPharma AS, AlgiPharma AS, Targovax ASA and Aker BioMarine AS. Her expertise spans across various aspects of drug development including preclinical research, clinical trials, medical writing, clinical data management, regulatory affairs and quality assurance. Jowita deeply believes that a well-designed quality system is essential for efficient and compliant work performance. In order to succeed, it is crucial to tailor the quality system to the company’s scope and activities, and not vice versa.

Cathrine Frydenlund

Cathrine has a Master Degree in Chemical Engineering and started her career at Norsk Hydro within process design and dimensioning. After working in various study and start-up projects, she moved into teaching, as a science teacher in upper secondary school. She has also developed books and website content as a science editor in an educational publisher. Most recently she worked with documentation and validation as an Improvement Engineer in a Medical Device Company. She is passionate about good quality in all aspects and to opening the quality door for more businesses.

Jhansi Panga

JhaJhansi is trained as a biochemist, and has extensive experience in laboratory work, including chemistry and microbiology. She was introduced to Good Manufacturing Practice (GMP) at the Institute of Public Health and has since worked in accordance with regulatory requirements. Jhansi was practically responsible for the microbiology services provided by Catapult Life Science for two years, including micro-counting in water, growth control, reading and trending of environmental control. She also has experience in preparative and analytical HPLC. Jhansi creates a positive atmosphere around her and delivers according to the client’s requirements.

Turid Koksvik Høysæter, Consultant Høysæter Quality Consulting

Turid has more than twenty years of experience in quality assurance work. She completed her education in food technology with specialization in quality assurance & quality management and is still passionate about the subject. Turid is a qualified auditor for the medical device/pharmaceutical industry and has worked within ISO, GMP and HACCP. Design, operation and improvement of quality systems have been in focus in recent years, both in Norwegian and foreign companies. She wants to help small and large companies achieve their goals through the implementation of user-friendly and efficient quality systems.

Øyvind Myrset Syversen

Øyvind is on his last year pursuing a master’s degree in Engineering & ICT at NTNU in Trondheim, Norway, where he has chosen Operations Management as his main study profile. He has previous experience with developing IT related business services and has insight into quality management systems through previous jobs within the industry.