2025 Speakers

Giovanni Abbadessa is a Medical Oncologist and PhD with 23 years in drug development across academia, small biotech, and pharma. He is a passionate, hands-on, and entrepreneurial leader specializing in oncology, hematology, and rare disease indications, with expertise in pre-clinical/clinical development, Phase 1-3 trials, business development, investor relations, medical affairs, commercial assessments, and Board management. Giovanni worked on development of nearly 30 clinical and as manhy preclinical drugs across 8 classes of therapeutic agents.

Presently, at  ModeX Therapeutics, a small-sized Biotechnology firm in Weston, MA, Giovanni serves as Chief Medical Officer with goal of having 5 clinical assets by end of 2025, and leads business development on co-development deals. Until 2024 Giovanni was Vice President of Oncology (Early Development) at Sanofi, where he built and supervised a team of 25 people (12 were Project Leads, overseeing cross-functional teams of ~30 people each) responsible for clinical strategy of preclinical molecules from 3 years before IND and strategy and execution of ~20 clinical assets (small molecules, checkpoint inhibitors, ADCs, cytokines, Tand NK cell engages, and cell therapy)  from FIH to large, multi-cohort, basket/umbrella Ph2 trials across solid tumor and hematological indications, plus kidney transplant. As a member of the Executive Leadership team,  he was responsible for strategic oversight of the oncology portfolio, including Phase 3 and marketed molecules. He was instrumental in partnering/inlicensing multiple assets, serving on joint comittees, and represented Sanofi Oncology with Health Authorities, investors, governments, and academic institutions.

Before his 7 years at Sanofi, Giovanni spent nearly a decade at ArQule, leading preclinical research, clinical development (Ph1-3) and medical affairs for 7 clinical small molecules for cancer and rare pediatric diseases, also supporting business development, investor relations, Board activities. He led clinical development, medical affairs, and lab research teams.

Earlier, at Ziopharm Oncology, Giovanni spearheaded global clinical trials in solid and hematologic malignancy tumors for 3 novel chemo-derivatives.

Giovanni spent his PhD and post-doctoral fellowship at Temple Fox Chase Cancer Center in Philadelphia, PA, designing and executing in vivo gene therapy projects in cancer models, and supporting patient treatment strategy. Giovanni began his career in Milan, Italy, at the Istituto Clinico Humanitas as Sub-Investigator on 4 Ph1-3 clinical trials.

An active member of numerous boards and committees, Giovanni serves as a board member at Biond Biologics, HiFiBiO, the Comitato Italiani all’Estero, the Scuola Piccoli Italiani di Boston, and the Professionisti Italiani a Boston, among others. He speaks native Italian, is fluent in English and Spanish, and is proficient in French.

Murray Abramson, MD, MPH is a visionary and entrepreneurial professional with extensive experience in clinical operations and drug development. He earned his B.S. in Chemistry with honors and his M.D. from Duke University, followed by a clinical fellowship in infectious disease and a role as Chief Resident in the Department of Medicine at Duke University Medical Center.

Dr. Abramson spent 13 years at Merck, where he held various clinical, operational, and leadership positions, and later joined Biogen as VP of Global Clinical Operations, overseeing strategic planning and execution of clinical trials across all phases and indications. Subsequently, he was SVP, head of clinical innovation at Tempus AI. Murray is currently SVP, head of Clinical Development and Medical Affairs at Precision Biosciences. He also co-hosted a bi-weekly webcast for ALS patients and care providers for Everything ALS.

Stacey Adam, PhD is the Scientific Program Manager for Cancer at the Foundation for the National Institutes of Health (FNIH). In her role, she leads the Cancer Research Partnership programs. She is a molecular pharmacologist/cancer biologist skilled in molecular biology techniques, animal modeling, clinical genomics, systems biology, project and team management, and strategy consulting.

Prior to FNIH, Dr Adam was a Manager at Deloitte Consulting within the Federal Life Sciences and Healthcare Strategy practice where she supported a number of federal and non-profit client projects. She was the project manager and scientific research advisor for an Institute-wide research strategic planning effort for an institute at the NIH and for a project to develop a novel technology platform to assist a major non-profit agency with combining clinical, genomic, and patient-generated data to accelerate research on chronic gastrointestinal diseases. She also worked for two years with a federally-associated non-profit granting agency as a scientific review officer.

Before Deloitte, Dr Adam conducted her postdoctoral fellowship at Stanford University School of Medicine, Department of Oncology where she was both an NIH and American Cancer Society supported fellow. While at Stanford, she focused on developing better animal models for studying lymphoma and osteosarcoma; performing large cancer genomics screens for genes related to self-renewal, differentiation, and tumor recurrence; merging high-throughput biological techniques with novel cancer animal models to define molecular disease signatures to allow for rapid diagnosis and prognosis of cancer; and working with companies to test novel compounds in pre-clinical trials.

Dr. Nataliya Agafonova serves as Chief Medical Officer at Longeveron, bringing over 20 years of leadership expertise in clinical development and drug development across a diverse range of therapeutic areas. Throughout her distinguished career, Dr. Agafonova has held senior leadership roles at leading biotech and pharmaceutical companies, including Otsuka Pharmaceutical, Bristol Myers Squibb, Celgene, Biogen, Amgen, and Genzyme Corporation. Her work has spanned critical therapeutic areas such as autoimmune diseases, rare disease, hematology, neuroscience, and oncology. She has played a pivotal role in advancing innovative therapies, leading to the successful approval and commercialization of multiple products in both the U.S. and European markets. Dr. Agafonova’s expertise is grounded in her early career as a practicing physician at the Ukrainian Research Institute of Oncology and Radiology. She earned her medical degree from the Ukrainian National Medical University and completed her internal medicine residency at Kharkov State University Hospital in Ukraine. With a proven track record of delivering transformative therapies and improving patient outcomes, Dr. Agafonova continues to drive innovation in regenerative medicine and other groundbreaking fields of medicine.

Dr Salvatore “Salvo” Alesci is the Chief Scientific Officer of Invea Therapeutics, Inc. In his role, Dr. Alesci is responsible to lead a multidisciplinary team of drug discovery, data science, translational, clinical, commercial and IP experts to initiate and progress programs from target validation to early clinical development, with the primary goal of building an innovative AI-powered derisked pipeline of drug candidates for immune-mediated inflammatory diseases (IMIDs).

Dr Alesci received his MD (cum laude) and a PhD in Experimental Endocrine and Metabolic Sciences from University of Messina, School of Medicine (Italy), where he also did his clinical training in Endocrinology. He also completed a Research Fellowship in Rheumatology, Immunology and Allergy at Georgetown University. After his post- graduate training, Dr Alesci spent almost a decade conducting cutting-edge basic and translational research on the interplay between the neuroendocrine and immune systems at the National Institutes of Health (NIH). His last appointment was Staff Scientist at the Clinical Neuroendocrinology Branch, National Institute of Mental Health.

From 2006 to 2011, Dr Alesci served in a number of Translational Medicine leadership roles at Wyeth, Pfizer and Merck covering multiple therapy areas and large and diverse drug portfolios. In 2011, Dr Alesci joined PhRMA as Vice President, Scientific & Regulatory Affairs to lead the association’s science advocacy and engagement efforts, serving as chief scientific and medical expert for input on biomedical policy issues. After his departure from PhRMA in 2015, Dr Alesci joined Takeda, where his last appointment was Head, R&D Global Patient and Scientific Affairs.

More recently, Dr Alesci has served as Chief Scientist and Strategy Officer and Chair of the Scientific Advisory Council at Beyond Celiac, the leading research-driven patient advocacy organization focused on accelerating discovery and development of treatments for Celiac disease, a disease that among others affects his daughter and son.

Dr. Irina Antonijevic serves as Chief Medical Officer at Trace Neuroscience. To this role, she brings more than three decades of experience in clinical psychiatry and neurology, academia and drug discovery and development. Prior to joining Trace, Dr. Antonijevic served as Chief Medical Officer at EveryONE Medicines, a precision medicine company targeting genetic variants causing fatal, neurodegenerative diseases. In this role, she was responsible for designing and implementing an individualized medicines platform focused on correcting uniquely rare neurogenetic mutations. She previously served as Chief Medical Officer and Head of R&D at Triplet Therapeutics, a company developing treatments for genetic conditions associated with expanded DNA nucleotide repeats. Earlier in her career, Dr. Antonijevic held clinical and scientific roles at various pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies, including Wave Life Sciences, vasopharm GmbH, Sanofi Genzyme, Lundbeck, and Schering AG. Dr. Antonijevic is a board-certified physician trained in Psychiatry and Neurology at the Max Planck Institute of Psychiatry and was an adjunct faculty member at the University of Berlin. She holds an M.D. from the Max Planck Institute of Psychiatry and a Ph.D. from the University of Edinburgh.

Dr. Arbet-Engels joined X4 in August 2023 as Chief Medical Officer. He brings to X4 more than 25 years of experience in strategic global drug discovery, development, and commercialization across a broad range of therapeutic areas including gastroenterology, cardiovascular-metabolism, neurology, oncology, and rare and orphan diseases.

Dr. Arbet-Engels previously served as Chief Medical Officer at several life science companies, including Neurogastrx, Millendo Therapeutics, and Poxel Pharmaceuticals, where he provided research and development leadership, advancing multiple candidates from pre-clinical through to late-stage clinical trials and assisting with both financial and strategic partnering transactions. Prior to these roles, he held a variety of senior medical and clinical positions at Biogen, Boehringer-Ingelheim Pharmaceuticals, Hoffmann-La Roche, Merck Research Laboratories, Aventis Pharmaceuticals, and Ligand Pharmaceuticals, where he led clinical development and registration, launch, and lifecycle management efforts for several new medicines, including the blockbuster therapies LANTUS® and JARDIANCE®.

Dr. Arbet-Engels has also served in educational roles at The Salk Institute for Biological Studies, University of Paris VI, and the Assistance Publique, Hospitals of Paris, and currently serves as a Member of the Board of Tutors in Biochemical Sciences at Harvard University. He received his MD and PhD in internal medicine/endocrinology-metabolism from the University of Paris, France, and completed his MBA at Rutgers University.

Mohammed Asmal, MD, PhD, has a long-standing interest in gene and cell therapy and is Chief Medical Officer at Prime Medicine. He is a physician-scientist with an AB in biology and biomedical engineering from Harvard University, and an MD-PhD in molecular and cellular biology from Columbia University. He trained in internal medicine and infectious diseases at the Brigham and Women’s and Massachusetts General Hospitals, and has devoted much of his academic career to studying the virology and immunology of HIV, and to treating patients with HIV and other infectious diseases in the clinic. After leaving academic medicine, Dr. Asmal took on roles in clinical development at Vertex Pharmaceuticals, where he led trials in oncology and hepatitis C, bringing multiple small molecules into the clinic through phase II. He subsequently transitioned to bluebird bio, where he led the clinical development team, overseeing lentiviral-based gene therapy programs in rare disease and oncology, culminating in the first approval of a gene therapy for a hemoglobinopathy in the world. Immediately prior to joining Prime Medicine, Dr. Asmal was a venture partner at OrbiMed Advisors, LLC, where he performed diligence on potential investments in the cell and gene therapy, COVID-19 and oncology spaces, and oversaw a seed stage investment in cell therapy.

Dr George Atiee has over 35 years of experience in clinical research and has participated as an investigator in well over 300 clinical studies. Before his role with DVCR, Dr. Atiee served in various leadership roles such as Vice President, Medical Director, Site Director and Lab Director for multiple CROs. Dr Atiee brings a unique perspective to our organization with his ability to assess critical study paths and provide operations teams with efficient strategies for enrollment, data collection and biomedical interventions.

Dr. Bach is a pediatric endocrinologist with over 30 years of global clinical research and pharmaceutical development experience, during which time he has led clinical teams that have successfully launched innovative pharmaceutical products into global markets. He is currently Chief Medical Officer at GentiBio. Prior to this, he was CMO with Structure Therapeutics, where he built a clinical team and helped lead the organization through a successful IPO. For over a decade, Dr. Bach was based in Asia, and served as Head of Asia Pacific Medical Sciences, Head of Japan R&D and Head of China R&D at Janssen Pharmaceutical Co. Before that, he held positions of increasing responsibility in Clinical Research at Merck & Co., Inc., ending his tenure there as Vice President of Clinical Research Operations Worldwide. Dr. Bach has lectured in national and international forums, has numerous publications and served on professional society advisory boards to advance the field of endocrinology and clinical research. Dr. Bach received an M.D. from Baylor College of Medicine, a Ph.D. in Pathology (Immunology) from The University of Chicago, and a B.A. in chemistry from Carleton College.

Dr. Johan Baeck, the Chief. Medical Officer at Promontory Therapeutics, brings over 14 years of expertise in immuno-oncology clinical development. His career has spanned both smaller, emerging biotech firms and large pharmaceutical companies, including a notable nine-year tenure at Novartis. Specializing in treatments for liquid and solid tumors, Dr. Baeck’s extensive experience encompasses his fifth role in biotech, demonstrating his seasoned insight into drug development processes. His dual exposure to both dynamic biotech environments and structured big pharma settings equips him with a comprehensive understanding of oncology patient care and therapeutic innovation.

Dr. Debora Barton is a highly experienced oncologist with over 24 years of expertise in clinical practice, research, and the biotechnology/pharmaceutical industry. She has a distinguished background in oncology, spanning both academic medicine—where she served as a practicing physician and clinical investigator—and industry, where she contributed to the development of innovative cancer therapies.

Dr. Barton spent a decade at Novartis and Celgene, advancing through roles of increasing responsibilities in Medical Affairs and Clinical Development. She then transitioned into senior executive and C-suite leadership positions, at cutting-edge biotechnology companies focused on adoptive cellular therapies and radiopharmaceuticals. Her leadership experience includes positions at Advanced Accelerator Applications (a Novartis Company, developing and commercializing Radio-Ligand Therapies), Iovance Biotherapeutics (developing and commercializing Tumor Infiltrating Lymphocytes), Carisma Therapeutics (developing CAR-Macrophages and CAR-Monocytes), and TScan Therapeutics (developing TCR-T cell therapies).

Dr. Barton serves as a Non-Executive Director for the oncology cell therapy companies NKILT Therapeutics (developing CIR-NK cells) and Arovella Therapeutics (developing CAR-iNKT cells), and she also serves as a Clinical/Scientific Advisor for Neogenomics Laboratories, Deverra Therapeutics and Arovella Therapeutics. She serves as a Consultant for several other biotechnology companies through ANIM8 LLC.

Dr. Barton earned her MD from Pontificia Universidade Católica de São Paulo (PUC-SP) and completed her oncology fellowship at the Federal University of São Paulo (UNIFESP), Brazil.

Harold S. Bernstein MD, PhD brings more than three decades of experience and is an internationally recognized leader in basic scientific research, translational medicine and clinical development both in industry and academia. He currently serves as President, Head of Research and Development, and Chief Medical Officer at Maze Therapeutics, where he is shaping and contributing to the creative strategy and thorough scientific process aimed at delivering new, genetic-based medicines. Before joining Maze, Dr. Bernstein was Senior Vice President, Chief Medical Officer and Head of Global Clinical Development at BioMarin Pharmaceutical. Prior to that, he served as Head of Translational Medicine and Vice President of Global Medicines Development and Medical Affairs at Vertex Pharmaceuticals, and held roles of increasing responsibility at Merck and Co, including head of early development for Cardiometabolic Diseases. He was Professor of Pediatrics and a senior investigator at the Cardiovascular Research Institute and the Broad Center of Regeneration Medicine and Stem Cell Research at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF). He also served as attending physician at UCSF Benioff Children’s Hospital in Pediatric Cardiology, and at the Mount Sinai Kravis Children’s Hospital in Cardiovascular Genetics. Currently, Dr. Bernstein holds an appointment as Adjunct Professor of Pediatrics and the Mindich Child Health and Development Institute at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai. He studied biomedical science, human genetics, and medicine at the Mount Sinai School of Medicine, earning MPhil, PhD, and MD degrees. He completed a pediatric residency, cardiology fellowship, and postdoctoral fellowship at UCSF and earned an undergraduate degree in biological sciences from Harvard College.

Daniel Bloomfield is the CMO at Anthos Therapeutics.  Prior to joining Anthos, Dan helped create Cardurion Pharmaceutical in May 2017 as its first CEO.  Dan had a 14-year career at Merck and Co. culminating as SVP, Global Clinical Development, Therapeutic Area Head for Cardiovascular, Diabetes, Endocrine, and Women’s Health, and was responsible for Merck’s R&D organization in China across all therapeutic areas.   Dan had a diverse career at Merck that included leadership roles in cardiovascular discovery, as well as early and late clinical development, he chaired the governance committee responsible for all compound entering clinical development and spent a year as Chief of Staff for Ken Frazier, Merck’s CEO. Dr. Bloomfield was a founding member and co-chair of the Cardiac Safety Research Consortium (a public private partnership with the FDA, academia, and industry). Dr. Bloomfield also served as Rapporteur for the ICH E14 implementation working group for 9 years.  After finishing a BA in Chemistry at Haverford College, Dan took a master’s degree in social Anthropology at the University of Oxford as a Rhodes Scholar, attended Harvard Medical School, did his Internal Medicine and Cardiology training at Columbia before joining the faculty.  As an Associate Professor of Medicine, his academic research was supported by grants from the NIH (K08, R01, K24), multiple foundations, and industry. He became recognized internationally as an expert in syncope (fainting spells), as well as novel methods used to identify patients at risk for sudden cardiac death. 

Ari Brettman is a Senior Managing Director in the Blackstone Life Sciences group, having joined Blackstone as part of its acquisition of Clarus in December of 2018. Dr. Brettman joined Clarus in September 2014.

Dr. Brettman is focused on investments across the firm's portfolio, including company creation, spinouts, royalty monetizations, R&D risk-sharing collaborations, and structured credit with biopharmaceutical and med tech companies. Dr. Brettman has played leading roles in Blackstone Life Science’s investments in Anthos Therapeutics, where he is a founding member of the Board of Directors and initially served as Acting Chief Medical Officer, Alnylam Pharmaceuticals, AvenCell, where he is a founding member of the Board of Directors, and Pfizer. At Clarus, he played leading roles and served on the Board of Directors in portfolio companies Praxis Precision Medicines and Essa Pharmaceuticals.

Prior to Clarus, Dr. Brettman completed a residency in internal medicine and a fellowship in cardiology at Massachusetts General Hospital. Dr. Brettman was also an NIH-sponsored post-doctoral fellow at the MGH Center for Systems Biology, where he studied the autophagy of lipid droplets and used electronic medical record-based big data analytics at Partners Healthcare to conduct clinical research and improve disease management.

Dr. Brettman received his M.D. from Duke University and his A.B. in History and Science from Harvard College. While a medical student, he was a Sarnoff Cardiovascular Research Foundation Fellow at Stanford University, where he studied angiogenesis.

Patrick Burnett, MD, PhD, FAAD, is the chief medical officer and executive vice president at Arcutis Biotherapeutics, a publicly traded medical dermatology company developing novel treatments for patients with immune-mediated skin diseases. In the past five years, Arcutis’ team has grown from 30 to more than 350 and a market capitalization has expanded to well in excess of $1 billion. Dr. Burnett led the company through its first NDA submission and Zoryve cream 0.3% was approved in July of 2022 for chronic plaque psoriasis. Over the last three years the portfolio has been expanded with two additional products approved for seborrheic dermatitis and atopic dermatitis in addition to rapidly advancing a pipeline of potential therapies. Prior to joining Arcutis in 2020, Dr Burnett served as Chief Medical Officer at Verrica Pharmaceuticals, and previously as Associate Vice President of Clinical Development at Sun Pharmaceuticals, where he oversaw the dermatology and rheumatology pipeline. Earlier, Dr Burnett served at Novartis in roles that included Global Program Medical Director. He is a board-certified dermatologist and was a member of the medical faculty at Vanderbilt University Medical Center as an assistant professor of dermatology from 2004 to 2010. Dr Burnett holds an MD and PhD in neuroscience from Johns Hopkins School of Medicine and a BS in biology and biochemistry from the University of Iowa. Arcutis is based in Westlake Village, California.

Marc Buyse is a leading expert in clinical research and biostatistics, known for pioneering methodologies in personalized medicine, meta-analysis, and surrogate endpoints. As the founder of One2Treat, he drives innovation in trial design and analysis, developing SaaS solutions that prioritize patient needs and clinical relevance.

Scott Chetham Ph.D. is an experienced healthcare entrepreneur who is currently the CEO and co-founder of Faro Health. Scott leads the strategy for the Faro Health platform, which is designed to power clinical development by connecting data to decision making in a fundamentally new way. Previously, he was the Head of Clinical Research Operations and Data Management at Verily Life Sciences, formerly known as Google Life Sciences. This multi-faceted strategic and operational role involved leading the clinical strategy, clinical teams, process development and operations for all clinical projects of the company, including Google and Google[x]. Scott has also served as a Venture Partner at Versant Ventures, CTO and Co-founder of Intersection Medical (sold to ImpediMed), and VP Clinical Affairs (ImpediMed). In these latter two roles he was responsible for clinical research strategy and operations.

Dr Daniel Chung is the Chief Medical Officer for SparingVision, an ocular genomic medicine company, focusing on gene agnostic gene therapy and CRISPR gene editing approaches to combat blinding diseases. Prior to his recruitment to SparingVision, Dr. Chung was the Ophthalmology Therapeutic Leader for Spark Therapeutics, Where he led the medical affair group and contributed to areas of clinical development and operations, marketing, commercial, patient advocacy, pre-clinical research and development and business development. Dr. Chung was intimately involved with the development of Luxturna, the first gene therapy approved by the FDA and EMA for use in a blinding genetic disease.

Prior to joining Spark Therapeutics, at the Scheie Eye Institute, University of Pennsylvania, working in retinal gene therapy. Also serving as a sub-PI on the RPE65 gene therapy clinical trial at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP), and made major contribution to the development of the Phase 3 MLMT novel endpoint, was PI of the MLMT study, and the RPE65 Natural History Study. He completed his ophthalmology residency at Summa Health Systems in Akron, Ohio. He then completed fellowships in pediatric ophthalmology and ocular genetics research at the Cole Eye Institute at the Cleveland Clinic, and in retinal gene therapy at the National Eye Institute/NIH in Bethesda, MD.

Richard Colvin, MD, PhD, has served as chief medical officer of bluebird since March 2021. Dr Colvin joined bluebird in 2018 and was medical lead of the thalassemia program and led clinical research and development prior to becoming CMO. Since Dr Colvin has been CMO, bluebird submitted and gained FDA approval for beti-cel and eli-cel. Prior to bluebird, Dr Colvin was an executive director in translational medicine at Novartis where he led early-stage anti-infective drug development programs. Dr Colvin clinically trained at the Brigham and Women’s Hospital and remains on faculty at Harvard Medical School. He sees patients in the Infectious Diseases clinic at MGH. Dr Colvin received his MD and PhD from Duke University School of Medicine.

Simon Cooper is the Chief Medical Officer of LifeMine Therapeutics.  He is an accomplished leader in drug development with an extensive background in translational medicine and clinical development. Over the course of his career, he has worked across multiple modalities and therapeutic areas from first-in-human studies through FDA submissions and approvals of highly successful therapeutics.

Prior to joining LifeMine, Simon was CMO of Morphic Therapeutic (acquired by Eli Lilly). Earlier, he served as Chief Medical Officer of Keros Therapeutics, Kadmon Holdings and Anokion, where he drove significant advances in program development and built key functional areas to support clinical development for assets in the autoimmune, inflammatory, and immuno-oncology areas.  Earlier in this career, Simon held roles of increasing responsibility at research and development organizations including Wyeth Research, Roche, Human Genome Sciences, Novartis, Sanofi and AbbVie.

Peg Crowley-Nowick is a well-respected expert in the pharmaceutical industry, bringing nearly 30 years of experience in medical affairs and clinical research. She has successfully led late-stage biotech and pharmaceutical companies through multiple product launches across several therapeutic areas, such as oncology, cardiovascular and diabetes. Dr Crowley-Nowick's patient-centric view and drive for improved patient care and outcomes have propelled her to shape Lumanity Medical Affairs based on not only scientific integrity but also continual collaboration with emerging medical stakeholders. Earlier in her career, Dr Crowley-Nowick held academic appointments, establishing her scientific credibility in the research and medical communities. Later she joined industry and gained valuable experience at all levels of responsibility within Medical Affairs, first at Berlex Laboratories, and then Bayer Healthcare Pharmaceuticals. Dr Crowley-Nowick founded Zipher Medical Affairs which was acquired by Lumanity in 2021. Dr Crowley-Nowick received a PhD from the University of Alabama at Birmingham in the field of immunology and an MBA from Simmons School of Management.

Jay Destino is the Vice President, Functional Service Provider (FSP) Solutions at BioPoint, Inc., where he drives strategic growth and innovation for the pharmaceutical, biotechnology, and medical device industries. With over a decade of experience at BioPoint, Jay has excelled in roles ranging from recruitment to leadership, leveraging his expertise to deliver tailored solutions in Clinical Development, Drug Safety, Regulatory Affairs, and beyond.

He is dedicated to addressing complex challenges with scalable, flexible approaches, partnering with sponsor organizations to optimize resource allocation, reduce risk and enhance drug development processes. Jay's extensive skills include Business Development, RFP management, and consulting, supported by his technical background from Purdue University, where he earned a Bachelor of Science in Aerospace Engineering.

Based in the Greater Boston Area, Jay combines analytical rigor with a passion for empowering innovation, fostering long-term partnerships with clients. His work exemplifies a hands-on approach to problem-solving, delivering measurable impact across life science organizations.

TBA

Dr. Dezube is Senior Vice President, Head of Clinical Development of Xilio Therapeutics, a company whose mission is to develop tumor-activated immune- oncology therapies for patients with solid tumors. Dr. Dezube joined Xilio from Mustang, where he served as Chief Medical Offer of Mustang Bio, which is developing the next generation of gene and cell therapies. Prior to that, Dr. Dezube served as Vice President and Clinical Head of Oncology at Alkermes, where he oversaw the advancement of the company’s interleukin-2 variant from Phase 1 to registrational studies for the treatment of cancers. Before Alkermes, Dr. Dezube spent more than 9 years with Millennium (now Takeda Oncology) and Tesaro (now GlaxoSmithKline), where he held positions of increasing responsibility related to the development of their oncology pipelines.  Fields of industry focus include colorectal cancer, lymphoma, myelodysplastic syndromes (MDS), acute myelogenous leukemia (AML), ovarian cancer, breast cancer, melanoma, and renal cell cancer. Earlier in his career, Dr. Dezube was an Associate Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School/Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center where he served as an Attending Physician for more than 20 years.  There he served on the Board of Trustees and was the Director of the Experimental Therapeutics/Phase 1 unit, Director of AIDS Oncology, and Deputy Director of the Cancer Center Clinical Trials Office.  He is triple board certified- internal medicine, hematology, and oncology and has authored more than 200 publications on PubMed.  He completed his internal medicine residency training at Tufts/New England Medical Center and hematology-oncology fellowship at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center/Harvard Medical School.

Dr Drew Dietz leads clinical development and research at Ensoma, where he brings extensive expertise in clinical development, regulatory affairs, and research, with a particular focus on gene and cell therapy and RNA editing technologies. Prior to joining Ensoma, he led these functions for Shape Therapeutics, where he was instrumental in advancing the company’s preclinical pipeline, which includes innovations in RNA editing, next-generation AAVs, and gene therapy manufacturing.

Dr Dietz earned his medical degree from the University of Minnesota, followed by a pediatric residency at Seattle Children’s Hospital and a fellowship in hematology, oncology, and stem cell transplantation at the University of Minnesota. He spent six years in clinical and academic research, where he oversaw pediatric stem cell transplants, designed clinical trial protocols, and served as an investigator in early CAR T-cell trials for pediatric leukemia.

Transitioning to the biotech industry, Dr Dietz joined bluebird bio, where he played a critical role in the late-stage clinical trials that led to the regulatory approval of ex vivo lentiviral vector gene therapies in both the U.S. and EU. Dr Dietz has also contributed to the development of regulatory strategies and serves as a member of the ARM Gene Therapy Advisory Group and the ASGCT Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Committee.

Dr. Jakob Dupont is a global expert in oncology and other therapeutic areas with over 25 years of experience developing therapies and programs dedicated to addressing high unmet medical needs.

Prior to joining Sofinnova Investments where is an Executive Venture Partner, Dr. Dupont was Global Head of Research & Development and Executive Vice President at Atara Biotherapeutics. Prior to Atara, he served as Chief Medical Officer at Gossamer Bio. Before Gossamer Bio, Dr. Dupont served as Vice President and Global Head of Breast and Gynecologic Cancer Development for Genentech/Roche. Dr. Dupont has made significant contributions throughout his career, he has received numerous grants and awards, contributed to 14 regulatory approvals, 22 successful IND filings, co-authored 47 peer-reviewed publications, and has 18 patents.  Dr. Dupont also sits on a number of Boards and SABs including: Avenzo, Bolt, Pyxis, Ambrx, Flagship Pioneering and others.

Joseph Elassal, MD is Chief Medical Officer of Ankyra Therapeutics. He has over a 15 year career in the pharmaceutical industry with his most recent position serving as a Senior Director for Medical Affairs at Regeneron where he was leading efforts on cemiplimab and other immunotherapy approaches for patients with cervical and non-melanoma skin cancer. He has also served as Senior Medical Director at Replimune overseeing early stage clinical development of oncolytic viruses in a variety of solid tumors. Prior to that, he served as Deputy Vice-President at the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America (PhRMA) where he lead regulatory policy efforts for biosimilars as well as cell and gene therapies including implementation of the Biosimilars User Fee Act (BsUFA II). Dr Elassal earned his MD from Eastern Virginia Medical School and MBA from Columbia Business School. He completed his internship and residency at Columbia University/New York Presbyterian Hospital and is certified by the American Board of Internal Medicine.

Dr. Wassim Fares, MD, MSc, FCCP serves as Senior Vice President, Therapeutic Area Head, Orphan Lung Diseases, and currently leads the company’s research and drug development for its orphan lung programs at MannKind Corporation. A U.S. board-certified pulmonologist, Dr. Fares trained as a clinician and researcher, and has experience as a practicing physician as well as a physician-executive in the biopharma industry. He has served in various executive leadership roles at Merck (MSD), Acceleron Pharma, and Janssen (Johnson & Johnson), with notable contributions such as leading the clinical development of macitentan (Opsumit) and supporting the development of sotatercept targeted for pulmonary hypertension. He has also served as a CMO at Bellerophon. Dr. Fares’ career has included academia including practicing and teaching at the Cleveland Clinic in Ohio and tenure as an Associate Professor of Medicine at Yale University. He holds degrees from the American University of Beirut, Lebanon and the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill. With a relentless dedication to improving patient outcomes, Dr. Fares continues to drive innovation, with a passion for addressing critical unmet needs in conditions such as NTM, IPF, PH, heart failure, thrombosis, CF, and atherosclerosis, among other indications, and with experience in rare and non-rare diseases, inhaled, oral, and parenteral routes of administration; and small and large molecules.

Peter Francis is a highly experienced biotechnology executive and an ophthalmologist clinician- scientist with expertise in ophthalmic genetics and retinal disease. He graduated from medical school in the U.K. and undertook residency in London. He obtained his PhD in ophthalmic genetics from University College, London and is fellowship trained in Retina. Peter has almost two decades of experience in the biotechnology and pharmaceutical industries where he has led a number of gene therapy products from discovery to early-stage clinical development. Most recently he served as Chief Scientific Officer at 4D Molecular Therapeutics, a leader in AAV-based gene therapy and was prior, their first Chief Medical Officer and Head of Translational Research. Previously, Peter was Chief Medical Officer at RetroSense Therapeutics, the first visual optogenetics company which was successfully sold to a large pharmaceutical company. Peter is a member of the Macula Society, the American Ophthalmological Society and the American Academy of Ophthalmology. He has held academic faculty positions at St. Thomas’ Hospital, London and Casey Eye Institute, OHSU, Portland, OR. He has published about 100 peer-reviewed articles.

TBA

Dr Anna Frostegård is a globally educated, board-certified physician holding MD summa cum laude. She obtained her PhD in Experimental Medicine at Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden. Dr Frostegård served as Assistant Professor at the Unit of Immunology and Chronic Disease at Karolinska Institutet. She has an active career in both medical science and biotech. She is the co-founder and currently the Chief Scientific and Medical Officer in Annexin Pharmaceuticals AB (publ), a First North/Nasdaq listed biotech company. Dr Frostegård has over 15 years of “first-hand” leadership experience in discoveries of biologic drug candidates and transition of academic inventions into a drug development process, biotech startups, IPO, financing, pre-clinical and early clinical development of biologic drug candidates as well as in strategic work related to building asset and intellectual property portfolios, in- and out licensing. Therapeutic areas of expertise are inflammation & immunology, autoimmunity and cardiovascular disease. She is the co-inventor on several granted patents and patent applications related to therapeutic use of Annexin A5 in human disease. She has co-founded 5 companies within EU. She is a board member in 4 companies. She consults academic researchers and investors on effective interactions between academic inventors and biotechnology industry. She advises on early stage investments in biotechnology. Dr Frostegård holds several awards for scientific communication. She is a professional member of the American Heart Association.

Dr Eva Gallagher is a nurse practitioner with a PhD in nursing from the University of Minnesota. Currently serving as Vice President, Head of Global Medical Affairs at Agios Pharmaceuticals, Dr Gallagher is responsible for oversight of Scientific Communications, Publications, Patient Advocacy, Medical Information, Operations and Medical Science Liaisons supporting rare genetic diseases with teams in the US, Europe, Asia, Africa, South America and the MENA region. Additionally, she is responsible for driving medical strategy and oversight of a team of medical directors across multiple therapeutic areas including pyruvate kinase deficiency, thalassemia, sickle cell disease, and myelodysplastic syndrome.

Kenneth A. Getz, MBA, is the Executive Director and Professor at the Tufts Center for the Study of Drug Development, Tufts University School of Medicine, where he conducts research focusing on drug development management and operating strategies and tactics; protocol design practices; and global outsourcing, investigative site and patient recruitment practices and policies. He is also the chairman of CISCRP – a nonprofit organization that he founded to educate and raise public and patient awareness of the clinical research enterprise. A well-known speaker at conferences, symposia, universities, investor meetings and corporations, Mr Getz has published extensively in peer-review journals, books and in the trade press and writes a bi-monthly column nominated for a Neal Award in Applied Clinical Trials. He holds a number of board appointments in the private and public sectors including WCG and ORA and serves on the editorial boards of Pharmaceutical Medicine and Therapeutic Innovation and Regulatory Science. Mr Getz received an MBA from the J.L. Kellogg Graduate School of Management at Northwestern University and a bachelor’s degree, Phi Beta Kappa, from Brandeis University. Mr Getz is the founder of CenterWatch, a leading publisher in the clinical trials industry.

Dr Sarah Gheuens joined Agios in December 2019, became chief medical officer in September 2021 and took on the additional role of head of R&D in August 2022. She previously served as Agios’ head of clinical development for the genetically defined disease programs, as well as the interim head of regulatory affairs. She has been instrumental in completing the pivotal Phase 3 program for pyruvate kinase deficiency and leading simultaneous regulatory submissions to the FDA and EMA in this indication, as well as designing the pivotal programs for thalassemia, sickle cell disease and the pediatric indications.

Prior to joining Agios, Dr Gheuens worked at Biogen, where she held roles of increasing responsibility in safety, medical affairs and clinical development. Her work was critical for the approval of SPINRAZA®. Before joining Biogen, Dr Gheuens worked at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center (BIDMC), taking care of patients with HIV and neurological complications and doing research on progressive multifocal leukoencephalopathy. Dr Gheuens received her medical degree from the Free University of Brussels (VUB), Belgium, and completed her neurology residency at the University Hospital of the Free University of Brussels, Belgium, followed by an HIV/neurology fellowship at BIDMC, Boston, Massachusetts, USA. She also holds a PhD in Medical Sciences from the University of Antwerp, Belgium, and a Master’s in Medical Sciences from Harvard Medical School.

John Goldberg is the Chief Medical Officer for Rafael Holdings, Inc., a biotechnology company focused on investing in and developing life-changing medicines for patients and families living with challenging diseases. Prior to this role, John was the Chief Medical Officer at Oncorus, an oncolytic virus and RNA medicine oncology drug developer. In collaboration with the scientific and manufacturing teams, he was responsible for driving the clinical studies of Oncorus’ viral immunotherapies, and for ongoing development and regulatory strategies. He is a seasoned biotech executive and drug developer with 19 years of clinical trials experience across academia and industry. Other prior roles include Senior Medical Director at H3 Biomedicine, where he led the clinical trial of H3B-8800 (first spliceosome modulator in clinic), clinical development at Agenus, and the leadership of the pediatric oncology Phase 1 program at the University of Miami. John’s immunotherapy experience includes first-in-human neo-antigen vaccines, dendritic cell vaccine and GVAX trials, as well as checkpoint inhibitors and costimulatory agonists. He is a  pediatric oncologist with 18 years of experience treating children with cancer and enrolling patients in clinical trials. John received his pediatric hematology oncology training at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and Children’s Hospital Boston, and his general pediatrics training at the University of Rochester. John is a graduate of the University of Massachusetts Medical School and the college of the University of Chicago where he concentrated in the biological sciences.

Aiken has over two decades of experience in government relations. She began her career as a young aide for a D.C.-based boutique lobbying firm focused on agriculture, she soon after pivoted to health care where she has spent close to two decades. The confluence of agriculture and health care provide unique insight and an extensive network for her work at BIO. Aiken joined BIO in 2018 as the Director of Federal Government Relations and in 2024, she was promoted to Senior Vice President of Federal Government Affairs. Throughout her tenue at BIO, she has played a significant role in developing and driving BIO’s federal advocacy and political strategy in areas of patient access and affordability, regulatory affairs, infectious diseases policy, agriculture, intellectual property, and capital formation. Prior to joining BIO, Aiken spent more than a decade in various government affairs roles within the physician community, both in Washington and Atlanta, GA, including the American Medical Association, the American College of Rheumatology, and the Medical Association of Georgia. In those roles, Hackett built and assembled coalition networks to advance advocacy efforts by bringing together providers, patient advocacy organizations and key external stakeholders. An Atlanta native, Hackett received a B.A. in both history and political science, and a Master of Public Administration with a concentration in public policy, from the University of Georgia. She resides in Washington, D.C.

Scott Harris has served as Chief Medical Officer of Altimmune (NASDAQ: ALT), a publicly traded company developing next generation peptide therapeutics for obesity and liver disease, since 2019. He has 20 years of experience of development in gastroenterology, hepatology and metabolism therapeutics. He co-founded Lyric Pharmaceuticals in 2015, where he raised a $20.8 M Series A financing round and served as its Chief Medical Officer. Dr Harris also served as Chief Medical Officer of Avaxia Biologics and Ocera Therapeutics, and he headed clinical development at Napo Pharmaceuticals, where he authored the ADVENT study, the first Phase 2/3 adaptive trial to result in a drug approval (Mytesi®, 2012). He has collaborated with the FDA Division of Gastroenterology and the American Gastroenterological Association on sponsored forums on drug development and clinical trial design. Dr Harris has an MD from Harvard Medical School. He completed medical residencies at John Hopkins Hospital and the University of Pennsylvania and a Gastroenterology and Hepatology Fellowship at Yale University School of Medicine. He serves on the scientific advisory board of Protagonist Therapeutics and RedHill Biopharmaceuticals and holds a seat on the faculty of Georgetown University School of Medicine, where he teaches a graduate course in drug development.

Donna Higgins is Founder & CEO of The Higgins Group, Inc, one of the oldest and most successful search firms in the life sciences. Founded in 1998, the firm has grown exclusively through referrals as a result of Ms Higgins’s simple but powerful business philosophy: to develop lasting relationships with a select group of clients by doing great work. This drive for excellence infuses every aspect of the firm’s work due to a culture that values superior results, exceptional teamwork and doing the right thing. Although her team has diverse backgrounds and experiences, all of The Higgins Group consultants, researchers and associates share Ms Higgins’s energy, optimism, integrity and grit.

Over her 30 years’ in the life sciences, Ms Higgins has gained a global reputation for her insight, expertise and integrity. Prior to starting her own firm, Ms Higgins was Vice President & Life Science Practice Lead for Howard Fischer Associates International where she rapidly built the life science practice by consistently exceeding her clients’ expectations. Before becoming a search professional, Ms Higgins worked on commercial teams at both ends of the life sciences spectrum, dividing a decade between Abbott Laboratories, a Fortune 50 pharmaceutical company, and Immunex, an emerging biotech company at the time.

Ms Higgins holds an MBA from Drexel University and a BA from Penn State University. Committed to lifelong learning, she joined the Coaching Certification Program at Columbia University to continue sharpening the strategic coaching she provides to clients and candidates. She is an Advisory Board member for Life Sciences Cares and the Association of Women Entrepreneurs, and a Board member for Big Brothers Big Sisters Independence Region and AchieveAbility. She also serves as adjunct faculty at the Center for Positive Leadership, where she is a frequent speaker on women in business. Ms Higgins divides her time between the company’s Philadelphia and Boston offices.

As an Associate Director at Barrington James, it is my role to connect top-tier talent with innovative companies in the pharmaceutical, biotech, and healthcare sectors.

My focus is on placing consultants, from Director to Chief Medical Officer, into smaller, fast-growing companies and with my vast network and in-depth market knowledge, I am passionate about delivering results for both my clients and candidates.

Dr. Jeff Humphrey has a record of performance at BMS, Pfizer, Bayer, Kyowa Kirin, Constellation, and other Boston-based biotechnology companies that highlights his expertise in drug development, team building, and organizational leadership. He has led high-performance teams to US and European regulatory approvals of oncology, neurology, and rare disease therapies (Nexavar, Poteligeo, Nourianz, and Crysvita), indicating his deep understanding of scientific research and regulatory processes. His leadership roles as CMO and CDO at various innovative companies demonstrate his ability to develop and guide teams through complex challenges in the drug development cycle.

Dr. Humphrey's academic background at Harvard, Johns Hopkins, and the National Cancer Institute, along with his extensive publication record (https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=qk1zVkAAAAAJ&hl=en), underscores his commitment to advancing medical science to help people struggling with serious illness.

Daniela embodies leadership and expertise in Life Science Recruiting, with an impressive 21-year tenure marked by continuous success and industry accolades. Daniela’s career reflects her commitment to excellence and client satisfaction, making her a standout leader in the industry.

Daniela’s background in executive management across Organizational Development, Process Improvement, Human Resources and Finance, combined with her academic credentials— a BS in Business Administration and an MA in Organizational Management—provide a solid foundation for her strategic approach to solving the challenges her clients face. Her comprehensive methodology, which integrates deep market understanding with client-candidate alignment, has solidified her reputation as a trusted advisor and valued partner.

Specializing in startup to midsized Life Sciences companies, Daniela has built enduring relationships with clients and candidates, many of them spanning decades. Her ability to identify and secure impactful executives who drive organizational success and shape company culture is unmatched, positioning her as a reliable mainstay within her sector.

Yannis Jemiai is the Chief Scientific Officer at Cytel and head of its Strategic Consulting business unit. With over 15 years of experience in biostatistics and clinical trial design, Dr Jemiai leads a global team dedicated to helping clients design innovative and adaptive clinical trials that accelerate development timelines and improve decision-making. He has also played a pivotal role in shaping Cytel’s software vision and development, ensuring integration of cutting-edge statistical methodologies into industry-leading platforms that transform clinical research.

As a thought leader in the life sciences industry, Dr Jemiai has been instrumental in promoting the adoption of adaptive trial designs, Bayesian methods, and real-world evidence that address the complex challenges of clinical development. Under his leadership, Cytel’s Strategic Consulting team provides strategic insights and robust statistical approaches that empower organizations to navigate complex regulatory landscapes and optimize their trial outcomes.

Dr Jemiai earned a PhD in Biostatistics and a BA from Harvard, as well as an MPH from Columbia University. Passionate about the intersection of science, technology, and healthcare, he champions the role of statisticians and data scientists as strategic leaders and key collaborators in transforming the life sciences industry.

Andrew K Joe, MD joined Mestag Therapeutics as the Chief Medical Officer and current Advisor responsible for the oversight of clinical and regulatory strategy and execution. Prior to Mestag, Dr Joe was the CMO of Meris NV, where he led the development of BIZENGRI® for the treatment of NRG1+ lung cancer and pancreatic cancer, resulting in Merus’ first Biologics License Application approval by the FDA and two Breakthrough Therapy Designations. He also led the development of petosemtamab in head and neck cancer and opened two registrational randomized Phase 3 trials, after completing Phase 1/2 trials and receiving Breakthrough Therapy Designation. Prior to Merus, Dr Joe led the Immuno-Oncology program at Sanofi which included co-development of LIBTAYO® with Regeneron in skin, lung and other cancers. Dr Joe was an Executive Director at Merck, Sharp & Dohme Corp where he led the KEYTRUDA® New Indications Development Team in obtaining the first tumor histology-agnostic drug approval, in Microsatellite Instability-High (MSI-H) cancer, and the first immuno-oncology drug approval in a gynecological malignancy (cervical cancer). Prior to Merck, he was a Senior Medical Director on the ZYKADIA® in ALK+ lung cancer development team at Novartis Pharmaceuticals, as well as an Associate Medical Director and Medical Director on the ZELBORAF® in BRAF-mutant melanoma development team at Hoffman-La Roche. Prior to industry, he was an Assistant Professor of Medicine at Columbia University Irving Medical Center, where he maintains a faculty appointment. Dr Joe earned his MD from Mount Sinai School of Medicine in New York, and he received his BS from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Jacqueline (Jack) Johnson is celebrating 20 years with Govig & Assoc, marking two decades as a dedicated leader in Life Science Recruiting. Her career began in Sales and Marketing with Fortune 500 companies, including Pitney Bowes, Xerox, and General Motors where she honed her ability to understand and meet customer needs. Joining Govig was a transformative step, enabling Johnson to leverage her experience to build lasting partnerships with clients. More than a vendor, Johnson is regarded as a trusted partner, deeply familiar with the cultures of the companies she serves. This understanding allows her to match candidates not only to roles but also to company cultures, ensuring long-term success. During Johnson's tenure, she has achieved significant milestones, including being ranked the #1 recruiter in an international organization in 2017 and consistently ranking among the top 10 recruiters globally. She is an 18-time Presidents Club winner and a Govi Award recipient for Person of the Year. These honors reflect her dedication to excellence and her ability to deliver results. Currently, she is leading the business development efforts for Govig's Life Sciences practice. While her personal focus is on the executive, C-Suite, and board level, she is part of a high-performance team that focuses across all levels reporting up on both the commercial and clinical sides. This comprehensive approach reflects her commitment to driving success and growth in the life sciences sector.

Dr. Steve Kanes is Chief Medical Officer of Centessa. Steve is a Neuropsychiatrist with a career in neuroscience, clinical psychiatry, and neuroscience drug development spanning more than 30 years. He served as Chief Medical Officer of Sage Therapeutics from 2013 to 2021, where he led the successful clinical development of ZULRESSO® (brexanolone), the first-ever treatment approved for Postpartum Depression (PPD), along with the buildout of the development organization and Sage Therapeutics’ broad neuroscience portfolio. Most recently, Steve was Chief Executive Officer of EmbarkNeuro, a neuroscience focused biotech company focused on delivering novel personalized treatments for major depression. Earlier in his career, Steve was Executive Director in Clinical Development in the Inflammation, Neuroscience and Respiratory therapeutic areas at AstraZeneca where he played key roles in early development, translational science, and a faculty member of the University of Pennsylvania Department of Psychiatry.

Steve received both his PhD in Molecular and Cellular Pharmacology and his MD from the Stony Brook University Renaissance School of Medicine and completed his residency training in the Yale University School of Medicine Department of Psychiatry and postdoctoral fellowship at the University of Pennsylvania.

Dr. Vijay Kasturi began his role as Chief Medical Officer of CG Oncology in early August, 2023, where he is part of the executive leadership team. He previously served as Vice President, Clinical Development and Medical Affairs with AVEO Oncology and also managed Pharmacovigilance. Prior to that he was Senior Vice President of Scientific Affairs at FerGene where he led Medical Affairs, Clinical Operations, Regulatory and Clinical Development in connection with the nadofaragene program. Earlier, he led U.S. Medical Affairs, Oncology for EMD Serono, where he had broad leadership responsibilities including developing and managing the global medical strategy and launch plan for an anti-PD-L1 checkpoint inhibitor in bladder and kidney cancers. His 5 years at EMD Serono included 2 years as the Global Medical Affairs lead for avelumab and he led the global launch of avelumab in merkel cell cancer, the global investigator sponsored trial program and the expanded access program for avelumab. Prior to joining the pharmaceutical industry, Dr. Kasturi was Assistant Professor of Medicine in the Division of Hematology/Oncology and Program Leader for Genitourinary Oncology at the University of Massachusetts cancer center. He completed his Hematology/Oncology fellowship training at the National Cancer Institute, NIH.

Dr. Katz is currently Chief Medical Officer and SVP of Translational Research for Shinobi Therapeutics. He has more than 15 years of experience in clinical oncology leadership, immunotherapy translational science, and clinical development of immunotherapeutics, including cell therapy for solid tumors in the US and Japan. As a CMO, he has led multiple immunotherapy clinical trials, built immune correlative biospecimen programs, helped secure IND clearance for complex drug-device trials, helped secure a CMS reimbursement code for cancer therapeutic delivery procedures, and supported a Nasdaq listing. As a scientist, he has developed novel immunotherapy approaches for liver and pancreatic tumors, including cell therapy constructs and innovative combinatorial strategies. Two major areas of focus have been development of solutions for solid tumor microenvironment challenges and drug delivery barriers.

He previously served as Chief Medical Officer for TriSalus Life Sciences, focused on developing novel immunotherapy approaches for liver and pancreas tumors, combining innovative delivery approaches with an innate immune stimulator. He maintains a part- time role as a surgical oncologist at Brown University. Dr. Katz attended the New York University School of Medicine, receiving the Alpha Omega Alpha Award for graduating with the top academic average in his class. He then completed his general surgery residency at the New York University Medical Center. Dr. Katz completed Fellowships in Immunology and Surgical Oncology at the Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, where he served as the Chief Administrative Fellow. 

His overarching career goal is to develop novel cell therapy treatments for presently incurable solid tumors, and difficult to treat autoimmune diseases.

Dr. Randall Kaye has over 30 years of experience in the medical field and has served as Chief Medical Officer since March 2022. Prior to joining Longboard, Dr. Kaye was Chief Medical Officer of Neurana Pharmaceuticals, a biotechnology company focused on the treatment of neuromuscular conditions.  He previously served as Chief Medical Officer of Click Therapeutics, Inc., a leader in digital healthcare innovation, where he was involved in the development of software as a prescription medical treatment for a number of chronic debilitating conditions. Prior to Click, he served as Chief Scientific Officer of SSI Strategy Holdings LLC, where he oversaw clinical development, medical affairs and pharmacovigilance. In conjunction with his role at SSI Strategy, he was Chief Medical Officer of Axsome Therapeutics, Inc. Earlier in his career, Dr. Kaye held the positions of Chief Medical Officer of Avanir Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (acquired by Otsuka Pharmaceutical Co.) and Vice President, Medical Affairs of Scios Inc. (acquired by Johnson & Johnson) and InterMune, Inc. (acquired by Roche Holding AG). He also held clinical development and medical affairs positions at Pfizer Inc. Dr. Kaye earned an M.D., M.P.H. and B.S. at George Washington University, completed his pediatric training at UMASS Medical Center and finished his academic training as a postdoctoral Research Fellow at Harvard Medical School.

Seemi Khan, M.D., M.P.H., M.B.A., Chief Medical Officer of Alkeus Pharmaceuticals, Inc., (Cambridge, MA) is an accomplished executive who worked across multiple therapeutic areas. Dr. Khan is an internist and nephrologist with expertise in rare disease, immunology and rheumatology. She completed her residency and fellowship at Tufts Medical Center program and served as an Assistant Professor of Medicine at Tufts University School of Medicine prior to joining pharmaceutical industry. She has an M.P.H. from Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health and an M.B.A. from Brandeis University. 

Prior to joining Alkeus, she served as Senior Vice President and Chief Medical Officer at Reata Pharmaceuticals, which was later acquired by Biogen. Dr. Khan was instrumental in the approval and launch of the first treatment for Friedreich’s ataxia by Reata Pharmaceuticals. During her career, she oversaw multiple clinical programs from early stage to late stages. She played pivotal role in driving clinical development strategy. She led multiple therapeutic areas and functions across early and late stages of drug development. Dr. Khan held leadership positions at Mitsubishi Tanabe Pharma America, Quark Pharmaceuticals, Abbott and AbbVie.

TBA

Albert Kim is a physician-scientist with more than 23 years of interdisciplinary experience in novel therapeutic product development, translational science, and clinical medicine. He is currently a Venture Partner at RA Ventures, part of the RA Capital ecosystem. Most recently, he was Chief Medical Officer at Cytel, Inc. where he led clinical and medical development interests across business units including the award-winning Solara© software platform for clinical trial design and served as general manager for the Therapeutics Development Team consulting group of over 80 colleagues. 

Prior to Cytel, Dr. Kim held leadership roles of increasing responsibility at Novartis and Pfizer across early and late clinical development programs. During his Pfizer tenure, he served as Vice President, Clinical Research Head for the Internal Medicine Research Unit and oversaw clinical research efforts for the legacy neuroscience portfolio and cardiometabolic diseases including NASH, diabetes, obesity, heart failure, and cachexia. He chaired the Cardiovascular Safety Advisory Council and was a clinical safety advisor to the Pfizer Comirnaty® development team and to the Pfizer internal Covid 19 pandemic response team. 

Dr. Kim earned his undergraduate degree in biomedical engineering from Harvard, MD and PhD degrees from UCLA, completed internal medicine residency at Brigham and Women's Hospital, cardiology fellowship training at Massachusetts General Hospital, and clinical cardiac electrophysiology training at UCSF. His efforts at Novartis and Pfizer contributed to development programs for Ilaris® (IL-1Rß mAb), Gilenya® (S1P modulator), bococizumab (PCSK9 inhibitor mAb), clesacostat (hepatic ACCi small molecule), ervogastat (DGAT2i small molecule), Comirnaty® (Covid-19 mRNA Vaccine), ponsegromab (GDF-15 mAb), and danuglipron (GLP1-RA small molecule), a body of work supporting numerous enterprise milestones and authorship on publications in the New England Journal of Medicine, Science Translational Medicine, and Nature Medicine. He also previously worked at the FDA in the Division of Cardiac Devices as a medical reviewer and project lead for the industry guidance document on catheter ablation for atrial fibrillation. Dr. Kim achieved board certification in internal medicine, cardiology, and clinical cardiac electrophysiology and practiced clinical medicine for 18 years. He has held academic appointments in the VA Boston Cardiac Electrophysiology Section, at Boston University, and Harvard Medical School and is a Fellow of the American College of Cardiology (FACC) and the Heart Rhythm Society (FHRS).

Jin Kim is the CEO and Founder of Miracle, helping biopharma companies accelerate clinical trials with automated, real-time insights. With deep expertise in clinical operations and technology, he has been at the forefront of integrating disparate trial systems—EDC, IRT, RTSM, labs, safety/PV, and recruitment platforms—to eliminate inefficiencies and enable faster, data-driven decisions.

Before founding Miracle, Jin led data integration and analytics initiatives at top pharmaceutical companies and health systems, tackling one of the industry’s biggest challenges: siloed trial data that forces teams back to manual spreadsheets. Under his leadership, Miracle has become a trusted partner in streamlining clinical trial management and eliminating inefficiencies.

Jin holds undergraduate and graduate degrees from MIT and is passionate about reshaping clinical trials through data and automation to bring life-saving therapies to patients faster.

Dr. Aaron Koenig is the Chief Medical Office of Delix Therapeutics, a neuroscience company developing novel neuroplasticity-promoting therapeutics for psychiatric and neurological conditions. Dr. Koenig received his MD from the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine and completed a residency in Adult Psychiatry at Western Psychiatric Institute & Clinic, where he also served as a Chief Resident for Research. Dr. Koenig completed a clinical fellowship in Geriatric Psychiatry at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, followed by a post-doctoral research fellowship in Psychiatric Genetics and Translational Research at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. A diplomate of the American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology (ABPN), Dr. Koenig has been involved in clinical and translational research throughout his career, with a particular focus on the development of treatments for neuropsychiatric disorders with high unmet need. Prior to joining Delix, Dr. Koenig served as Vice President of Early Medical Science at Sage Therapeutics and helped oversee clinical-stage programs targeting a range of neuropsychiatric and neurodegenerative disorders. Prior to Sage, Dr. Koenig served as a clinical investigator at the Massachusetts Alzheimer's Disease Research Center and practiced as a clinician in the MGH Memory Disorders Unit in the Department of Neurology at Massachusetts General Hospital.

Nerissa has decades of expertise in rare disease drug development, including extensive experience in clinical development, medical affairs, and regulatory strategy across both early- and late-stage programs. She is an accomplished physician executive and pediatric endocrinologist with a distinguished career in biotechnology, spanning leadership roles in both private and public biotech companies. Nerissa has been instrumental in the development and commercialization of therapies for rare diseases across therapeutic areas, including neuromuscular, metabolic, and lysosomal storage disorders.Prior to Alltrna, Nerissa served as CMO at Entrada Therapeutics, where she led clinical and regulatory strategy, medical affairs, and patient advocacy efforts. She has also held CMO roles at Tiburio Therapeutics and AVROBIO, where she oversaw clinical development for multiple gene therapy programs. Earlier in her career, she served as Global Head (VP) of Clinical and Medical Affairs at Zafgen and held key roles at Shire and Enobia Pharma. She also played a pivotal role in Alexion’s $1B+ acquisition of Enobia Pharma.Nerissa currently serves as an independent board member of Rezolute Bio and holds an M.D. from East Carolina University School of Medicine, an M.S. in Clinical Research from Indiana University, and an Executive MBA from Northeastern University. She is certified in Pediatric Endocrinology by the American Board of Pediatrics.

Kartik Krishnan joined OncoNano Medicine as their first CMO in June of 2022. He has over 20 years of experience with experimental therapeutics in cancer as both an investigator and sponsor. Prior to OncoNano, Dr Krishnan was CMO of Arcus Biosciences, a discovery and clinical development company focusing on combination therapies in immuno-oncology. At Arcus, Dr Krishnan oversaw a portfolio of agents including both biologics and small molecules at multiple phases of development from first-in-human to Phase 3 and led a diverse group of functions. Prior to Arcus, Dr Krishnan had spent time in clinical development and pharmacovigilance at Astex, FivePrime Therapeutics, BioMarin, Genentech Roche and Amgen. Before joining the biotechnology industry, Dr Krishnan held a faculty position in the Department of Pediatrics at the University of Arizona, with both clinical and primary research responsibilities. Dr Krishnan received his BA in History (with Distinction) from the University of Virginia. He completed his MD and PhD in Cellular, Molecular and Biophysical Studies at Columbia University’s College of Physicians and Surgeons. His PhD studies were completed in the lab of Dr John Krolewski, focusing on JAK/STAT signaling in the interferon pathway. Dr Krishnan trained in pediatrics at UCLA and in pediatric hematology and oncology at Johns Hopkins University and the National Cancer Institute.

Dr. Krop is a seasoned physician executive with a breadth of drug development experience across multiple therapeutic indications in both pre- commercial and commercial organizations. Most recently, she served as the Chief Medical Officer at Pure Tech Health plc (Nasdaq:PRTC), a clinical stage biotherapeutics company dedicated to discovering, developing and commercializing highly differentiated medicines for people living with high unmet need orphan conditions. Prior to assuming her position with PureTech Health, Dr. Krop served as Chief Medical Officer of Freeline Therapeutics (Nasdaq:FRLN), a clinical stage gene therapy company and the Chief Medical Officer and Executive Vice President of Development, at AMAG Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ: AMAG) where she successfully oversaw three FDA drug approvals. Previously, Dr. Krop served as the Vice President of Clinical Development for Vertex Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ: VRTX) where she led development for their Hepatitis C franchise and designed the first proof of concept studies for their pain programs.  Dr. Krop received her B.A. from Brown University and her M.D. from Brown University School of Medicine. She completed her fellowship in the Department of Endocrinology at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, where she was also a Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Clinical Scholar.  Dr Krop has extensive experience successfully designing and executing clinical development programs from early-stage development through FDA approval, and has held senior leadership roles across clinical development, regulatory affairs, clinical operations, pharmacovigilance, medical affairs and program management during her career.  She currently serves on the Board of Directors for Aquestive Therapeutics (NASDAQ AQST) and is a member of the FDA Pulmonary-Allergy Drugs Advisory Committee.

Dr David Lebwohl is chief medical officer at Intellia Therapeutics, a genome editing company. In that role, he and his team brought to the clinic two in vivo gene knock out therapies: NTLA-2001 targeting TTR for ATTR-amyloidosis and NTLA-2002 targeting prekallikrein for hereditary angioedema. Both are now in phase 3 registrational studies. Dr Lebwohl’s career spans three decades in the biopharmaceutical industry, successfully bringing novel medicines through all phases of clinical trials and global regulatory approvals. During his career, he oversaw multiple full-scale development programs with more than 200 clinical studies across myriad indications. Before Intellia, Dr Lebwohl was chief medical officer at Semma Therapeutics, where he was leading the company’s regenerative medicine efforts. Prior to Semma, Dr Lebwohl held senior-level positions leading drug development at Novartis Pharmaceuticals. While there, Dr Lebwohl served as senior vice president and franchise global program head and was responsible for the development of the breakthrough therapy Kymriah® (tisagenlecleucel), approved for the treatment of B-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia and diffuse large B cell lymphoma, and for Afinitor®, approved for tuberous sclerosis and multiple oncology indications. Dr Lebwohl received an undergraduate degree from Harvard College and M.D. from Yale University School of Medicine. He completed his residency in Internal Medicine at Brigham and Women’s Hospital and his fellowship at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center.

Dr Gen Li is the President and Founder of Phesi Inc., the clinical data science company that helps the biopharmaceutical industry deliver smarter trials and faster cures. Dr Li has extensive experience in clinical development, having previously worked at Bristol-Myers Squibb, Pfizer and Pharmacia, where he significantly contributed to the Centre for Medicines Research (CMR) International database for pharmaceutical R&D performance. He was the first to drive the implementation of Balanced Scorecard in a top clinical development organization. His work inspired him to create Phesi - ensuring the insights held from historical data, or data collected from failed clinical trials were not lost. Under Dr Li’s leadership, Phesi has supported a number of landmark trials including Keytruda with its integrated solutions that accelerate drug development and commercialization. Phesi continues to disrupt the industry with its AI-driven Trial Accelerator™ platform that harnesses the industry’s largest database of global real-world patient data to generate Digital Patient Profiles, Digital Twins and External Control Arms. Phesi delivers actionable insights for trial design, planning and execution, enabling pharma and biopharma companies to optimize protocol design, improve enrollment and reduce patient and investigator site burden and cycle times.

Dr Greg Licholai is Chief Medical and Innovation Officer at ICON plc, a global healthcare intelligence and clinical research organization. He is on the faculty at Yale School of Management and is Co-Director of the Center for Digital Health. Previously, he was President of rare disease at Moderna Therapeutics, President and Chief Medical Officer at Castle Creek Pharmaceuticals, and partner at McKinsey & Co. where he ran the healthcare data service line. He was also a senior executive at Proteostasis, Amicus Therapeutics and Medtronic Neurological as well as venture investor for Domain Associates. He was co-founder of Immunome Therapeutics.

Greg has degrees from Harvard Business School, Yale School of Medicine, Columbia University and Boston College. He trained at the Brigham and Women's, Children's, and Massachusetts General Hospitals. He serves on multiple company and non-profit boards including advisor to the Clinical Trials Transformation Initiative (CTTI), a public private partnership co-founded by Duke University and the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). He writes about innovation in healthcare for Forbes.

Raul Lima is a proven leader in Clinical Operations with over twenty (20) years of experience utilizing strategic, tactical, and hands-on experience in the management of global multi-center clinical trials. He has extensive experience with timeline management, clinical trial budget management, and people management and has successfully led cross-functional teams, including the management of CROs. He has repeatedly demonstrated an ability to execute strategies ensuring that clinical operations activities supporting clinical trial management are conducted effectively and efficiently, are quality driven, and comply with all applicable regulations. He possesses an uncanny vision, expertise in communicating that vision to help influence strategies to progress cross-functional projects, and an unwavering passion for championing development.

Peter Linde, MD, FASN, is a clinical development leader with 19 years of experience in leading global teams for Phase I and II clinical trials at companies like Morphic Therapeutics, Acceleron, and Abbvie. In his role at Thermo Fisher Scientific, he supports biotech customers as vice president, global medical officer for the PPD clinical research business. His work has resulted in four global regulatory approvals and company acquisitions by Merck and Lilly. He holds two U.S. patents in stem cell biology and extracorporeal organ devices, with another pending for Sotatercept in Pulmonary Arterial Hypertension. Peter completed nephrology and transplant fellowships at Massachusetts General Hospital/Harvard and served as a Clinical Assistant Professor of Medicine at UCSF prior to his career in the pharmaceutical industry.

Professor Bertil Lindmark is the CMO of Vicore Pharma since 2024 and has a long career within the pharmaceutical industry with deep expertise within respiratory and inflammatory diseases. Bertil has held global roles within AstraZeneca, leading the development of global brands like Pulmicort and Symbicort. He was the Head of Research and Development at Almirall, leading the development of the second to market inhaled long acting antimuscarinic, aclidinium bromide. Bertil also held CMO roles in biotech companies, ASLAN Pharmaceuticals, eTheRNA Immunotherapies, and Galecto, where his leadership played a crucial role in driving innovation and advancing pharmaceutical development of both oncology compounds, liver disease compounds and IPF directed therapies. Bertil Lindmark is Professor Emeritus at the University of Gothenburg, chairs the scientific committee at the Board of ALK, and is the Chairman of the Board at Aqilion.

Jing L. Marantz, M.D., Ph.D. has over 25 years of experience in the biopharmaceutical industry spanning R&D, business development, and medical affairs in multiple specialties and rare diseases. She is currently Chief Medical Officer of Scholar Rock. Dr Marantz was previously Chief Business Officer of Krystal Biotech, after serving on its board for a year. Prior to Krystal, she was Senior Vice President of Medical Affairs of Acceleron Pharma Inc. until its acquisition by Merck & Co., Inc. Dr Marantz has held leadership positions at Alnylam, Alexion, Biogen, ARIAD, and Millennium Pharmaceuticals across development, medical affairs, and business development. Earlier in her career, she was a management consultant with Strategic Decisions Group and briefly affiliated with Massachusetts General Hospital following a post-doctoral fellowship at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute. Marantz is a member of the Board of Directors for Arcturus Therapeutics, Inc. She received her medical training from Tongji Medical College, a Ph.D. in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology from Medical University of South Carolina, and an MBA from the University of California at Berkeley.

Julie Martin, MSc, Lean Certified - President & CEO is a 17-year industry veteran who has led Scimega as CEO for 5 years. Her passion for Scimega’s business and team stems from knowing its expert oncology clinical development services add distinct value to industry stakeholders at a time when it’s needed most. As CEO, Ms Martin's vision is to secure the company’s long-term success by leveraging her in-depth industry expertise and business acumen. She equates that success with setting a clear vision for the organization’s continued sense of purpose. Her leadership, and collaboration with the managing Board of Directors, combined ensure the business excellence upon which Scimega has built its reputation. Ms Martin plays a vital role in promoting Scimega’s expertise and showcasing Canada’s attributes as a formidable partner in global oncology drug development with an evolving Lean methodology.

Sara is a seasoned clinical research professional with over 18 years of experience, including more than nine years in project management and clinical operations. She has a proven track record of providing cross-functional project management oversight for global, full-service projects across multiple therapeutic areas with a focus on neurodegenerative disorders and rare diseases. Sara’s expertise spans both Sponsor and CRO roles, showcasing her versatility and comprehensive understanding of the clinical research landscape.

Sara is passionate about end-to-end project ownership, ensuring high-quality operations and delivering tailored guidance to her clients. She thrives in the fast-paced and dynamic environment of biotech, adeptly managing high-pressure situations and adapting quickly to shifting priorities. Her dedication and hands-on approach have earned her a reputation for excellence and reliability in the industry.

Sara’s commitment to fostering collaboration and delivering results makes her an invaluable partner in driving the success of clinical research initiatives, particularly in the challenging and innovative world of biotech.

Michael E. Meyers, is Vice Chairman, Head of M&A and Strategic Advisory Services at H.C. Wainwright & Co. Mr. Meyers has ~30 years of public health, investment banking, venture capital, asset management and operating experience in healthcare, with an emphasis on the life sciences and health care delivery. Over the course of his career, Mr. Meyers has advised on ~ $150 billion of strategic and financial transactions, the latter spanning the capital structure, including royalty financings. Previously, Mr. Meyers was Head of Investment Banking with T.R. Winston & Company; CEO and CIO of Arcoda Capital Management; Managing Director, Partner and Member of the Board of Global Biomedical Partners AG, a life sciences venture capital firm; Director of healthcare investment banking with Merrill Lynch & Co.; Vice President of Health Care Investment Banking with Cowen & Company; and a research associate with Hambrecht & Quist. Mr. Meyers serves on the Board of Trustees of the Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center, and the University of Southern California’s Board of Councilors for the Stevens Center for Innovation and School of Dramatic Arts. Mr. Meyers holds an M.P.H. in Health Policy and Management from Columbia University, and an A.B. in Biology from Brandeis University.

Dr. Yan Moore is a seasoned physician scientist and biopharma executive leader with more than 25 years of industry drug development experience. Before joining Allterum Therapeutics as its Chief Executive Officer Dr. Moore completed two Chief Medical Officer assignments in public companies and served in several senior roles of increasing responsibility in major pharma and in biotech. During his career he managed multiple clinical and preclinical drug development Programs. Dr. Moore received a BSc and an MD degree from the Sackler School of Medicine at Tel Aviv University, an MBA from the LeBow College of Business at Drexel University, and completed the Advanced Management Program at Harvard Business School and a senior executive program at the London Business School.

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Dr Michael Murphy is the Chief Medical & Scientific Officer for Worldwide Clinical Trials, an international, multiservice , therapeutically focused clinical research organization providing research services for devices and pharmaceutical products across all phases of clinical development. During a career of 30 years, discovery and development activities emphasized the integration of medical and scientific acumen with operational excellence. Approximately 130 publications span diverse subjects from clinical trial methodology through commercialization. He is the sponsor of the Michael F. Murphy Clinical Research Methodology Fellowship Program at Worldwide Clinical Trials.

Prior to joining Worldwide, Dr Murphy was Chief Medical Officer, and Senior Vice President of Discovery and Development at TorreyPines Therapeutics Inc. Contributions emphasized translational research for small molecules in neurodegeneration and analgesia (GWAS, γ secretase modulator, AMPA/kainate receptor antagonists, selective M1 agonists). He served as President and Chief Medical and Scientific Officer of a Clinical Research Organization within UnitedHealth Group. During his tenure, this CRO was rated "number one" in the United States by CenterWatch.

Dr Murphy has participated in the preIND, IND/CTA application process for multiple small molecules ,biologics, and advanced therapy medicinal products. Product registration for which he is had direct responsibility exist in depression, Alzheimer’s disease, and narcolepsy [PROVIGIL® (modafinil)].

He is boarded in psychiatry and has a doctorate in pharmacology, with training at Tulane University, Stanford University, and the Mt. Sinai School of Medicine. He is a Founder, and Research & Development Editor for American Health & Drug Benefits™ a publication which focuses upon cost, quality, and access in the transition of novel diagnostics and therapeutics from discovery to commercialization. For 25 years, he has been a lecturer within the Clinical and Translational (C/T) Research Academy, Harvard Medical School, the Harvard Clinical and Translational Science Center and contributes to a curriculum focusing on innovative trial methodology within clinical development.

He is the recipient of the Clinical Research & Excellence (CARE) Lifetime Achievement Award in 2017. The award is presented annually to an extraordinary individual with exceptional contributions and a consistent history of service to the clinical research industry throughout their career. PharmaVoice selected him as one of 2017’s 100 Most Inspiring People in the life-sciences industry.

Natalia "Natasha" Muehlemann, MD, MBA has over 20 years of experience in General Management, Clinical Development, Business Development & Licensing in Life Sciences across several therapeutic areas.

In her position of VP, Strategic Consulting at Cytel, Natalia focuses on the on the integration of innovative adaptive frequentists and Bayesian designs, Machine Learning methods and RWE into comprehensive clinical development strategies. Prior to Cytel, Natalia was global Category Head, Acute Care – Oncology – Devices at Nestle Health Sciences. Natalia has been acting as Expert Jury member for European Commission's Innovation Council and SMEs Executive Agency and other Investors forums.

Natalia holds an MD and MBA from IMD, and professional certifications in statistics, data science and AI/ML from Stanford, IBM and MIT.

Judith Ng-Cashin, M.D., has served as Chief Medical Officer for Novotech since 2023. Previously, she held key senior executive positions, including CMO and CSO roles, at Eagle Pharmaceuticals, Inc., Syneos Health, AoBiome Therapeutics, and INC Research. Dr. Ng-Cashin also serves on the Scientific Advisory Board for Revibe Technologies.

Kemi Olugemo, MD, is a Neurologist and Physician Scientist with a passion for health and gender equity. As Chief Medical Officer at Korro Bio, Dr Olugemo leads cross-functional teams in developing therapies for rare and prevalent diseases using the companies’ proprietary RNA-editing platform. Dr Olugemo brings over 20 years of clinical research and biopharmaceutical industry experience, with experience in rare and orphan disease, nucleic acid therapies, biologics and other modalities. Prior to joining Korro, Dr Olugemo was Vice President Global Clinical Development at Ultragenyx Pharmaceutical, and has held positions of increasing responsibility at Parexel, Ionis Pharmaceuticals and Laronde. Dr Olugemo is the recipient of the Zuckerberg College of Health Sciences Alumni Award from the University of Massachusetts in Lowell, Leadership in Action Award from Women of Color in Pharma, and the 2023 Extraordinary Women Advancing Healthcare in Massachusetts Award from the Women’s Edge. She is founder and president of Zebulon Foundation and holds leadership positions at the International Society for CNS Clinical Trials and Methodology (ISCTM) as well as Clinics IV Life.

A 2024 MM+M 40 Under 40 honoree with nearly a decade of experience in medical communications, Quentin took on a new role in 2024 within Klick’s Medical Communications & Innovation team, leveraging both her in-house medical affairs expertise and agency background working across a wide variety of therapeutic areas, including immunology, neurology, psychiatry, and rare disease. Previously, Quentin served as VP, Scientific Director at Health and Wellness Partners, as well as Scientific Communications Manager and Medical Science Liaison at pharmaceutical companies like Mallinckrodt and Orexo. Additionally, her clinical knowledge as an EMT and her lived experience as a rare disease patient and advocate give her a unique point of view that she uses to elevate medical communications for all of her clients.

Quentin’s passion for medical communications inspires her work to innovate across the medical affairs landscape. She stays on top of key trends and advances, and she continually leverages Klick’s digital and creative capabilities to elevate how medical affairs teams educate clinicians, engage with key stakeholders, and amplify scientific exchange, leading to better outcomes for patients, clinicians, and health systems.

Joseph M. Palumbo, MD, LFAPA, MACPsych, is Executive Vice President (EVP), Head of Research & Development (R&D) and Chief Medical Officer (CMO) of BioVie Inc., a clinical-stage company developing innovative drug therapies for the treatment of neurological and neurodegenerative disorders and advanced liver disease. In addition to his role at BioVie, Palumbo is a Life Fellow of the American Psychiatric Association (APA) and a Fellow of the American Society for Clinical Pharmacology. He is also involved in academia, serving as a member of the American College of Psychiatrists along with sitting on the Dean’s Council of Advisors at The George Washington University School of Medicine and Health Sciences. Prior to joining BioVie, Dr. Palumbo served as CMO for Zynerba, developing therapeutics for autism and other rare neuropsychiatric and neurodevelopmental conditions of adults and children. He previously held senior worldwide governance roles at Mitsubishi Tanabe Pharma in both the United States (US) and Japan, where he led medical science and translational research across multiple therapeutic areas, and guided successful registrational programs for RADICAVA® (edaravone) for the treatment of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis in the US, Canada, Japan, Switzerland, South Korea, and other countries. Palumbo also served as Global Head and Franchise Medical Leader for Psychiatry, and the Interim Head of Global Neuroscience at Johnson & Johnson, where he led the medical teams who achieved successful global registrations in multiple neuropsychiatric conditions for RISPERDAL® (risperidone), CONCERTA® (methylphenidate HCL) and INVEGA® (paliperidone). He has also served on the executive teams of international pharmaceutical companies including Sanofi-Synthelabo and Cephalon, as well as senior leadership roles at prestigious academic institutions including Yale University, Cornell University, and the University of Pennsylvania. Dr. Palumbo holds a BA from the University of Pennsylvania and a Doctor of Medicine from the George Washington University School of Medicine. He was a Biological Sciences Training Program Fellow of the National Institutes of Health, a research mentor of junior faculty at both the APA and the Society of Biological Psychiatry, and served as Chief Resident for the Abraham Ribicoff Clinical Neuroscience Research Unit at Yale University. Dr Palumbo has also received Board Certification in Psychiatry and Addiction Psychiatry.

Pascal Piedbois, MD, PhD, is a Professor of Medical Oncology and former Head of Oncology at Paris University. He held leadership roles at AstraZeneca, Bristol Myers Squibb, and Boehringer-Ingelheim. Since June 2024, he serves as Chief Medical Officer at One2Treat, focusing on patient-centered clinical trial design and analysis.

Dr Pryluk is the co-founder & CEO of PhaseV, a technological company that developed a causal-ML-based platform for the design and execution of adaptive clinical trials. He has over a decade of experience as a technological leader in the advanced technological defense industry, after which he transitioned into the health-tech industry and joined Immunai as SVP of Operations and Analytics. Dr Pryluk holds a BSc and MSc in engineering from the Technion (Cum Laude) and PhD in computational neuroscience from the Weizmann Institute (Magna Cum Laude, John F. Kennedy Prize).

A Managing Director in WittKieffer’s Interim Leadership solution, George relies upon an extensive background in executive talent, strategic consulting, and talent advisory to inform his work. George is driven by his desire to identify creative leadership solutions for pharmaceutical and commercial healthcare clients that align with their strategic needs. He thoughtfully educates and partners with these firms for opportunities to leverage interim and on-demand leadership talent.

George’s background includes broad and deep expertise in business development and commercial strategy for the healthcare and pharmaceutical industries. Prior to WittKieffer, he served as Senior Director of Client Development for a leading executive talent and consulting firm. In this role, he focused on acquiring new business in the pharmaceutical and biotechnology industries, growing service offerings around interim and on- demand solutions.

Before that, George was a Senior Partner managing Strategic Life Science Partnerships at an industry leading alternative legal service provider, partnering with in-house legal leaders to create innovative solutions for high-quality, on-demand legal talent and advising clients on cost-effective alternatives to traditional outside counsel.

Additionally, George’s earlier career included managing interim solutions, managed services, and workforce transformation partnerships with Contract Research Organizations (CROs) and organizations within the Pharmaceutical, Medical Device & Diagnostic, Biotechnology, and Healthcare Provider industries.

Ravi Rao is the Chief Medical Officer at Sitryx Therapeutics, a Venture Partner at SV Health Investors and an independent board director of both DBV Technologies and Autolus Therapeutics . He was previously Head of R&D and CMO at Swedish Orphan Biovitrum, where he led the development and approval of several medicines in rare diseases across immunology and haematology. Prior to that, he was Chief Medical Officer of Aeglea Biotherapeutics, a company specialising in rare metabolic diseases. Previously, he held several senior positions in R&D at GlaxoSmithKline in immunology and specialty medicines and was an immunology Group Medical Director at Roche Genentech. He has worked in discovery medicine, early and late-stage development as well as global medical affairs. Ravi was an academic rheumatologist and physician-scientist at Imperial College, London. He is a Member of the Royal College of Physicians, London and an Honorary Member of the Faculty of Pharmaceutical Medicine. He received his medical degree from Cambridge University and his Ph.D. from Imperial College, completing a postdoctoral fellowship at Harvard Medical School in the field of vascular biology and inflammation.

Dr Rosen, MD, is a physician-scientist and has broad experience in biopharmaceutical oncology and hematology product development, including global clinical development, global medical affairs, translational medicine, patient advocacy, and health economics and outcomes research (HEOR). He is passionate about successful translation of data from bench to bedside to develop medicines that address unmet medical needs. Prior to joining Akamis Bio, he served as President and CMO at DynamiCure as well as CMO of SQZ Biotechnologies and Deciphera Pharmaceuticals. At SQZ, his work led to achieving proof of concept in the clinic for an autologous PBMC-based antigen presenting cell platform and a red blood cell-based cancer vaccine. At Deciphera, he took four small molecules into the clinic, and his work led to the full approval of QINLOCK™. Before joining Deciphera, Dr Rosen held senior clinical development and medical affairs roles including at Millennium: The Takeda Oncology Company and Genentech.

Dr Rosen received his medical training in oncology and hematology at the University Hospital Charité in Berlin. His academic career focus was on the first applications of autologous stem-cell transplants in patients with refractory autoimmune diseases and on the systematic administration of prophylactic donor lymphocyte infusion after allogeneic stem cell transplantation in adults with hematological malignancies. Prior to his clinical training, Dr Rosen participated in a post-doctoral program in Molecular and Cellular Biology at the University of Hamburg and holds an MD from the University of Cologne, Germany.

Marcie is currently the Chief Medical Officer at Tectonic Therapeutic, Watertown MA. She has over 18 years of experience in drug development across all stages of clinical drug development from translational/early development through post approval and across multiple modalities including small molecules, siRNA and biologics. She was named one of the 2023 Top Women in BioPharma by Endpoints News. Prior to joining Tectonic, she was VP and Head of Clinical Development for the Immunology/Inflammation Therapeutic Area at Regeneron Pharmaceuticals. In that role she led the clinical development of Dupixent® through over nine Phase 3 trial initiations and multiple regulatory approvals globally, including approvals for adult and pediatric asthma, pediatric AD, chronic rhinosinusitis with nasal polyps. She was instrumental in the pivotal study design and its execution supporting the recent approval in eosinophilic esophagitis and design of COPD studies. Over her career, which has included time at Merck and Alnylam and EMD Serono, she has built and led clinical development and cross functional groups across a range of therapeutic areas including respiratory, inflammation, bone, anemia and metabolic and rare diseases. Prior to entry into drug development, Marcie held a staff position in the Pulmonary Unit at Massachusetts General Hospital/Harvard Medical School where she founded and directed the Adult Cystic Fibrosis Program. She holds an AB from Princeton University and a MD/ MS from Washington University, St. Louis and completed her internal medicine and pulmonary fellowship training at Harvard Medical School affiliated hospitals.

Dr. Howard Rutman is the CMO of Xalud Therapeutics where he oversees the development of plasmid-DNA based therapies for inflammation and neurodegenerative diseases. Since joining Xalud in April 2021, Dr Rutman has been responsible for the development program for XT-150, an IL-10 based transgene therapy that has completed 5 clinical trials for arthritic conditions. The clinical neuroinflammation program targeting ALS has recently begun with an ongoing Phase 1 study. Dr Rutman serves as the scientific face of Xalud in discussions with investors and potential partners. He has appeared on numerous biotech panels related to gene therapy development programs. 

Prior to joining Xalud, Dr Rutman was VP of Medical Affairs for Daiichi Sankyo US. In that role, he led the Medical Affairs group across all therapeutic areas to enhance the awareness of Daiichi Sankyo approved and clinical stage products through the generation, interpretation and exchange of high quality medical and scientific information for internal and external stakeholders. While at Daiichi Sankyo he had a leadership role in launches across multiple therapeutic areas including cardiovascular thrombosis, pain and oncology. Previously, Dr Rutman was at Pfizer as Global Medical Affairs lead for multiple monoclonal antibody biosimilars that were developed in oncology and immunology. 

Dr Rutman began his career as a New York-based academic cardiologist with a focus on managing patients with chronic congestive heart failure. He received a BA in Biochemical Sciences and Molecular Biology from Harvard, an MD from Johns Hopkins and an MBA from NYU-Stern. Dr Rutman completed his medical residency at New York-Presbyterian Hospital and his cardiology fellowship at Albert Einstein College of Medicine. He remains on the teaching faculty of the Mount Sinai School of Medicine.

Ajay Sadhwani is an Executive Life Science Professional with over 25 years of clinical research experience. He is a proven leader of cross functional teams and people management of large and small functional groups with a proven track record of successfully leading teams and motivating individuals to perform at their highest level.

Dr. Jason Sager is a Cornell Medical School trained, distinguished physician-scientist with 12 years of clinical experience as a pediatric oncologist (Johns Hopkins with mentor Bert Vogelstein, NCI, and Dana Farber), and 20 years of translational clinical early drug development experience in oncology at Genentech, Novartis, Sanofi, and Ikena Oncology. He is now Chief Medical Officer of Accent Therapeutics where he leads the clinical development of Accent’s pioneering small molecule precision cancer therapies to target critical intracellular dependencies that span multiple types of cancer. He is excited to be advancing Accent’s two leading programs targeting DHX9 (ATX-559) and KIF18A (ATX-295) in the clinic. In 2014, Dr Sager also founded Sagely Health, a Health IT company, that guides cancer patients to achieve their best possible outcome, by identifying and accessing science-based innovative therapeutics and diagnostics that otherwise would likely be overlooked. On the way to constructing a web-based platform that aims to one day serve millions of patients, Dr Sager and his team have already made a significant impact by assisting more than a hundred adults and children through their personalized consultation service. Dr Sager’s experience and endeavors reflect his unwavering passion for bettering the lives of cancer patients. He is dedicated to raising, maintaining, and focusing energy into improving all aspects of the cancer system, aiming to accelerate breakthroughs while delivering high-quality, compassionate care. Outside of his professional efforts, Dr Sager enjoys spending family time hiking with his wife and two daughters, as well as cycling near his home in Newton, MA.

Erik has 10+ years of pharma experience at Novartis, IQVIA, the Swiss Army and holds an MMedSc in Health Informatics from Karolinska Institute. After years of manually compiling trial data for sponsors, Erik co-founded Rivia to solve the invisible barrier to breakthroughs: fragmented and cumbersome trials through AI-driven analytics.

Holly Schachner, M.D., is the Chief Medical Officer, Deerfield Discovery and Development and joined the Firm in 2023. Prior to Deerfield, Dr. Schachner was the Head of Clinical Development at North Sea Therapeutics, B.V. and she was the Chief Medical Officer at Double Rainbow Biosciences. Before these roles, she was the Senior Vice President, Clinical Development and Therapeutic Area and Innovative Trial Design Head for Myokardia-BMS and the Chief Medical Officer, Global Specialty Medicine for Allergan. Dr. Schachner also spent five years at Sanofi in various roles of increasing leadership, six years at Bayer Diabetes Care as Senior Director, Head of Global Medical Affairs, and five years at Pfizer. Prior to industry, Dr. Schachner received her training in pediatric endocrinology at Mount Sinai and led the Pediatric Diabetes program at Columbia University. She holds a B.A. in Psychology from the University Of Michigan and an M.D. from SUNY at Stony Brook School of Medicine.

Dr Peter Schmidt, PhD is a neuroscientist with a wealth of experience in biomedical research. He's been an inventor, principal investigator, and mathematician with experience in neurology, psychiatry, and immunology. Before joining Rho, he was the Vice Dean at East Carolina University’s Brody School of Medicine, where he oversaw research and clinical care. During his time at the Parkinson’s Foundation, Dr Schmidt designed and led the largest clinical study of Parkinson’s disease, enrolling 12,000 patients across 30 academic medical centers in five countries. He has served in advisory and board roles for national and international organizations in clinical care, research, and patient advocacy including the National Quality Forum, the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation, and the Huntington’s Study Group. He holds two patents and has authored many peer-reviewed journal articles.

Donna Schwarz is an executive and communications coach specializing in leadership development, public speaking and Storytelling. She works closely with professionals to help them communicate with impact, drive organizational effectiveness, and win high-stakes opportunities.

One of her more popular programs, Storytelling for Business, is a powerful way to leverage the power of stories to inspire new thinking and make key points memorable. Donna works with individuals and teams to hone their communication and create powerful narratives that demonstrate value, overcome objections and influence decision making. Some of Donna’s clients include global pharmaceutical organizations, Biotech, Hedge Funds, Technology and Legal Services.

Prior to becoming an executive coach, Donna served fifteen years in progressive leadership roles as a financial and operations executive. She was employee number five at a dynamic, self-financed startup and played a pivotal role in driving growth for a successful $40M acquisition by a multibillion-dollar international media holding company.

Donna earned a graduate degree in Clinical Psychology and is a licensed psychotherapist. She is a sought-after speaker, quoted in the Wall Street Journal and Fortune Magazine. She is a member of NY Metro ATD and serves in a leadership role on the Board of Managers of her New York City condominium.

Dr. Scranton received his BA from the University of Tennessee and his Medical Degree from the Quillen College of Medicine at Eastern Tennessee State University.  He completed his Internal Medicine training at the Naval Medical Center in Portsmouth, where he served as the Chief Resident and Assistant Clinical Professor of Medicine at the F. Edward Hebert School of Medicine at the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences.  He completed his Harvard General Medicine Fellowship and received an MPH from the Harvard School of Public Health and was appointed as a Senior Research Fellow at the Massachusetts Veterans Administration Epidemiology, Research and Information Center (MAVERIC).  He was appointed as Assistant Professor at the Division of Aging at Brigham and Women’s Hospital and served as the Associate Medical Director and research consultant for Phase V Technology.  He then served as CMO at Veroscience where he led the efforts leading to the FDA approval of a first in class treatment for type 2 diabetes. Dr. Scranton joined Pacira Pharmaceutical where he also served as the CMO and led the global development and advancement of EXPAREL a non-opioid long lasting injectable local anesthetic.   Dr. Scranton now serves as the Chief Operating Officer and Chief Medical Officer at Lyndra Therapeutics where he is responsible for the global development of their pioneering weekly oral platform delivery technology.  Dr. Scranton has 15-years of combined federal service having served as a clinician, mentor, educator, administrator and researcher and 25 years of clinical and drug development research experience. 

Dr Jen Seda is a seasoned medical executive with over 20 years of experience specializing in rare diseases, medical devices, and innovative therapeutics, always prioritizing patient well-being. She excels in developing corporate portfolio strategies and guiding teams through medical and clinical execution.

At SSI Strategy, Dr Seda offers interim leadership from VP to CMO levels, advising medical executives and leading teams to develop solutions for clients at various developmental stages. With 5 years in gene therapy, 15 years in rare disease, and 2 years in digital diagnostics and therapeutics.

Prior to joining SSI, Dr Seda served as interim CMO/VP at biologics, gene therapy, and digital diagnostic firms, successfully navigating pivotal moments such as Series B rounds, IPOs, and acquisitions, ensuring milestone achievement and facilitating clinical trials and medical affairs activities. She also held the role of VP of Market Access, Government, and Medical Affairs at TerumoBCT, a global device company, overseeing various Therapeutic areas. She also led the Global Medical Affairs team at Baxter Healthcare’s Biologics division, overseeing launches in rare disease within pulmonology and neurology. She has helped build robust medical affairs and medical information teams, at Coviden’s Respiratory and Monitoring division, and led both medical affairs and marketing teams at Talecris Biotherapeutics to market leadership in rare disease.

Dr Seda holds a medical degree from the Mayo Clinic, with neuroimmunology training, and completed her undergraduate studies at U.C. Irvine. Her extensive experience, ranging from preclinical work at Amgen to strategic planning from bench to bedside, underscores her comprehensive expertise in the medical field.

Yaping Shou, M.D., Ph.D., is the Founder and CEO of Wells Therapeutics, Inc. and a Venture Partner at Lilly Asia Ventures (LAV). Yaping has over 20 years of global clinical development experience in both pharma (GlaxoSmithKline, Novartis, and Takeda) and biotech (Trillium) companies. Yaping was the chief medical officer of Trillium Therapeutics, and prior to that, the executive medical director with Takeda Pharmaceuticals. She has made critical contributions to the development and approval of multiple oncology drugs including lapatinib, pazopanib, nilotinib, sonidegib, and ixazomib. She also led significant clinical progress at Trillium in recent years which formed the strong basis for Pfizer's $2.3b acquisition of Trillium in 2021. In her current role at LAV, Yaping leverages her development expertise to support investment decisions. She also provides strategic guidance to help businesses achieve clinical development success, financial growth, and optimal organizational performance. She founded Wells Therapeutics Inc. in June 2022 with the goal to accelerate globalization of regionally sourced therapeutics for the benefit of patients worldwide. Yaping holds a MD degree from Zhejiang University School of Medicine and a PhD degree in cellular and molecular biology from Drexel University. She also received post-doctoral fellowship training at the Genetic Branch of NCI. As a female executive, Yaping graduated from a 12-month woman leadership program for high-potential women led by WOMAN Unlimited, Inc., and received leadership training at SAID Business School of Oxford and MIT Sloan School of Management.

Dr Harpreet Singh currently serves as the Chief Medical Officer at Precision for Medicine. With a distinguished career at the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), Oncology Center of Excellence (OCE), Dr. Singh brings a wealth of experience in oncology and rare diseases to Precision. During her time as an FDA Oncology Director, she oversaw multiple drug development programs in solid tumors, pediatric tumors, and spearheaded initiatives such as Project Pragmatica to streamline clinical trial conduct.

In her current role, Dr Singh provides medical and strategic support for Precision, overseeing the Medical and Operational Strategy teams while supporting business development activities. She maintains her active public presence as a thought leader in the life sciences industry.

Dr Singh completed medical school, and training in both Internal Medicine and Geriatrics at the University of Southern California’s (USC) Keck School of Medicine, followed by Medical Oncology Fellowship at the National Cancer Institute (NCI), National Institutes of Health (NIH), before joining FDA’s Oncology Center of Excellence.

Priya Singhal, M.D., M.P.H is an accomplished physician scientist and business C-suite leader committed to developing drugs across diverse therapeutic areas that can transform the lives of patients and their caregivers.  Since January 2023 she is the Executive Vice President (EVP), Head of Development for Biogen.  In this role Priya has accountability of the entire Biogen clinical and marketed portfolio.  Dr. Singhal rejoined Biogen in 2020 to lead Global Safety & Regulatory Sciences as well as Japan and China R&D.  She had several roles of increasing responsibility at Biogen during her prior tenure from 2012 – 2018 and made significant leadership and technical contributions to the Biogen portfolio, R&D strategy and governance as well as the filings and approvals of nine products.  Prior to her return to Biogen in 2020, Dr. Singhal served as Head of R&D and Manufacturing at Zafgen Inc., a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company leveraging its proprietary knowledge of MetAP2 systems biology to develop novel therapies for patients affected by a range of metabolic diseases.  From 2008-2012 she held roles of increasing seniority at Vertex Pharmaceuticals managing the Hepatitis C portfolio and served as the Vice President, Medical Affairs for HCV and Cystic Fibrosis portfolio.  She began her drug development career at Millenium Pharmaceuticals where she led benefit-risk for Velcade and other projects in the development portfolio.  Preceding her career in the Biotechnology Industry, Dr. Singhal completed her M.P.H. in International Health at Harvard School of Public Health and obtained her training in Internal Medicine in Mumbai, India.  Priya is an invited speaker at Academic and Industry Forums for Drug Development and a guest faculty member at Harvard Medical School. 

TBA

Dr Alex Snyder is the Head of Research and Development at Generate Biomedicines, a biotechnology company that uses artificial intelligence, machine learning and protein engineering to create novel medicines. Prior to joining Generate in 2022, Dr. Snyder was a Principal at the biotech incubator Two River, following her role as Associate Vice President and Head of Translational Oncology at Merck. She previously was Translational Medicine Lead at Adaptive Biotechnologies, and started her career as faculty and federally-funded Principal Investigator at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center. Dr. Snyder is a Cancer Steering Committee (CSC) Biomedical Co-Chair for the Executive Committee and co-leads the SITC Biomarker Working Group. She is a Clinical Assistant Professor of Medicine at NYU and Bellevue Hospitals, Section Editor for the Journal for the Immunotherapy of Cancer, and was a member of the board of Navigating Cancer. Dr. Snyder received her medical degree and internal medicine training at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai and Mount Sinai Hospital, followed by medical oncology fellowship at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center (MSKCC).

Jeremy Sokolove, MD is the Chief Medical Officer In-Residence at Roivant Sciences, supporting business development and operational efforts to rapid, efficient, and high quality development of new biotech and healthcare technology ventures. Previously, he served as Chief Medical Officer at Odyssey Therapeutics, where he led clinical and translational strategies across immunology and oncology, advancing their lead asset in IBD to Phase 2 trials. At GSK, Jeremy was Senior Vice President and Head of Clinical Pharmacology and Experimental Medicine, overseeing early and translational development for Specialty Pharma. Under his leadership, nearly 20 INDs/CTAs were filed, and multiple programs progressed to late-stage clinical development. Earlier in his career, Jeremy headed Immunology Translational Science at AbbVie, developing portfolio-wide strategies across all development phases and leading several early-phase programs and phase 3 registrational studies and supported the global filing of upadacitinib (Rinvoq). Before AbbVie, he was a Clinical Assistant Professor at Stanford University, Principal Investigator at the VA Palo Alto, and co-founder of several biotech companies including Atreca (NASDAQ: BCEL). Jeremy has over 90 peer-reviewed publications and several textbook chapters in rheumatology and immunology. For 18 years, he maintained a broad clinical practice in Rheumatology, Internal Medicine, and Emergency Medicine, earning multiple teaching awards for his contributions to education. He completed his residency and chief residency at Boston University Medical Center, followed by fellowship and post-doctoral training in Rheumatology and Immunology at Stanford.

Wessam Sonbol is a healthcare technology leader dedicated to advancing clinical research through digital innovation. As CEO and founder of Delve Health, he has pioneered the use of wearables, remote monitoring, and AI-driven analytics to transform decentralized clinical trials across multiple therapeutic areas, including cardiovascular, metabolic, neurology, rare-disease and oncology research. His expertise lies in real-time patient data capture, digital endpoint collection, and automated engagement strategies to enhance trial efficiency and outcomes.

With over 20 years in clinical research and healthcare analytics, Wessam has held leadership roles at Optum, Comprehend Systems, and other Pharma organizations, focusing on data-driven decision-making, patient retention, and regulatory-compliant digital health solutions. His work has been instrumental in integrating biometric wearables, digital scales, ECG monitors, smart inhalers, and remote patient-reported outcomes (ePROs) into clinical research to improve adherence, protocol compliance, and real-world data collection.

Wessam offers a strategic vision for leveraging wearable technology and AI-driven insights to accelerate drug development and improve patient outcomes.

Kali is a board-certified fellowship-trained ophthalmologist/cornea surgeon, physician scientist and pharmaceutical industry (CMO/clinical development) executive with a career spanning >30 years in Ophthalmology. She has a decade of clinical practice (7 years in academia and 3 years in private practice). Also, a decade in academia and lab research (PhD /post doc in glaucoma/faculty set up own stem cell therapy lab) in Ophtha & CNS neurodegenerative diseases (inherited retinal dystrophies, glaucoma, Parkinson’s disease, cerebellar ataxia) & ocular surface stem cells; assistant professor of ophthalmology at Univ of Pennsylvania for 4 years. The last >11 years, she has been leading as Chief Medical Officer or Clinical development expert multiple clinical trials for gene therapy, cell therapy & LMW programs in inherited retinal dystrophies, age related macular degeneration, ocular surface diseases & glaucoma, strategy, pipeline building and evaluations of companies (DD) in Pharma at Novartis for >8 years and Biotech (Tenpoint, Adverum Biotechnologies,  Diorasis Therapeutics) for >3 years. Currently, she is the principal of Innoviama consulting company, working as fractional CMO for Diorasis Therapeutics, evaluating companies for Venture Capital companies and in relevant projects. She has also completed a business post-bac degree at Wharton U Penn with MBA courses. Kali lives in the Boston area with her husband and is passionate about traveling, swimming, sailing, and dancing.

Catherine Stehman-Breen, MD, is the former Chief Executive Officer at Chroma Medicine and an Advisor at Atlas Venture. She also serves as an Independent Board member at Generation Bio, Tenaya Therapeutics and Dyne Therapeutics, Inc. Previously, she was Chief Research and Development Officer at Obsidian Therapeutics where she led research and discovery efforts for their engineered cell and gene therapies. Prior to Obsidian Therapeutics, Dr Stehman-Breen was an Entrepreneur in Residence at Atlas Venture and Chief Medical Officer at Sarepta Therapeutics. In addition, she held various leadership roles at Regeneron and Amgen. Dr Stehman-Breen received her M.D. from the University of Chicago and trained as a nephrologist and earned her M.S. in epidemiology at University of Washington.

Réne Stephens is a strategic clinical outsourcing expert with nearly 30 years of experience leading procurement strategies and practices, contract negotiations, vendor relationship management, oversight and governance. He previously led global clinical outsourcing programs for Astellas, Pfizer and TransCelerate Biopharma, and served in a business development capacity for M2S, Neeman Medical International and Harvard Clinical Research Institute. Réne holds an MS in Health Sciences, Clinical Research Administration, from George Washington University.

Norman L. Sussman, M.D., FAASLD, joined DURECT as Chief Medical Officer in November 2020. He has extensive clinical experience and expertise in the field of liver disease and brings over 30 years of clinical research and development experience in academia and industry. Prior to joining DURECT, he was an Associate Professor of Medicine and Surgery at Baylor College of Medicine and a faculty member of Baylor College of Medicine from 1985 to 1990 and again from 2003 to 2020 with some time also spent as the Chief of Hepatology at the University of Utah School of Medicine. During his academic career, he served as a principal investigator for research focused on the assessment and management of acute liver failure and artificial liver support. Dr. Sussman gained leadership experience in industry as the Founder and Vice President of both Amphioxus Cell Technologies from 1995 to 2003 and Hepatix, Inc. from 1993 to 1995. Most recently, he has also served in senior leadership roles as a member of the Baylor Faculty Senate and as director of the telehealth program, Project ECHO®, at Baylor St. Luke’s Medical Center. Dr. Sussman received his Bachelor of Medicine and Surgery from the University of the Witwatersrand in Johannesburg, South Africa. He then completed his residency at St. Louis University Hospital and his postdoctoral fellowship at Washington University. He is board certified in internal medicine, gastroenterology, and transplant hepatology. Dr. Sussman is also a fellow of the American Association for the Study of Liver Diseases, which is a designation that recognizes his superior level of professional achievement in the field of hepatology.

Dr. Panteli Theocharous is a seasoned leader with over 35-years of experience driving groundbreaking translational research, clinical development, and commercial strategy in the healthcare sector. With an established focus on Haematology/Oncology, Cell and Gene Therapy, Dr. Theocharous has led the development and market introduction of multiple transformative cancer therapies, contributing significantly to advancements in Patient care. His extensive career includes roles in several private and public Biotech companies, and in prominent organisations such as Janssen Oncology and PPD (now part of Thermo Fisher Scientific), where he was instrumental in fostering a culture of innovation, building high-performing global teams, and delivering impactful therapeutic solutions.

Trained as a Clinical Immunologist at the Royal Free Hospital in London, Dr. Theocharous specialised in haematopoietic stem cell transplantation, and cell and gene therapies, gaining early expertise in the translational applications of cutting-edge scientific research. His work extends across asset lifecycle management, from preclinical to post-approval stages, and he is adept at engaging with key regulatory authorities and global HTA bodies. This experience is complemented by his leadership within Patient Advocacy Group initiatives, fostering collaborations that ensure alignment with the needs of diverse Patient communities.

In senior executive roles, including his current position as Chief Therapeutics Officer at Garuda Therapeutics and previous CMO appointments, Dr. Theocharous has demonstrated a strategic approach to business growth and commercialisation. His efforts have driven more than $500M in partnership transaction value. His board-level expertise and collaboration with CEOs have added depth and credibility in interactions with investors, venture capital, and banking partners. A co-founder of a London-based Biotech, Dr. Theocharous has not only built this venture from the ground up but has consistently steered strategic development and commercialisation efforts in the rapidly evolving Biotech landscape.

Dr Barry Ticho is the Chief Medical Officer at Stoke Therapeutics, where he is helping to lead the company’s efforts to develop first-in-class therapeutics to treat rare diseases. Prior to joining Stoke, Barry was Head of Development of mRNA treatments for Cardiovascular and Metabolic Diseases at Moderna Therapeutics. Previously, he was Head of External R&D Innovation for Cardiovascular and Metabolic Diseases at Pfizer, and prior to that he was Vice President of Clinical Development at Biogen. Barry obtained his MD and PhD degrees from the University of Chicago and completed pediatrics training at Northwestern University and a cardiology fellowship at Children’s Hospital in Boston. He was on clinical staff at Harvard Medical School and Massachusetts General Hospital and conducted laboratory research on the regulation of cardiac development.

Barbara Troupin is a serial Chief Medical Officer, C-suite/VC advisor, entrepreneur, and public-company independent board director. She currently sits on the Board and is member of the Nomination and Governance Committee for Equillium Bio (NASDAQ:EQ), is an Entrepreneur in Residence at UCSF assisting a founder in developing a gene editing company, and serves as an advisor to venture funds and emerging companies in the therapeutics space. Over her 20+ years as a life science executive, her roles have spanned Clinical Development, Medical Affairs, Regulatory, Operations and Strategy functional areas, and she has worked at both private and public biotech or small pharma companies. She has a strong preference for emerging companies where she can have a real impact on corporate strategy and external narrative, decision making processes to drive internal clarity and effectiveness, and in setting a work culture which is engaged, empowered, and inclusive. She helps companies scale in a stage- and resource-appropriate manner focusing on best strategies for value creation. She holds an MD from the University of Pennsylvania and an MBA from the Wharton School of Business. She has been a member of the Athena Alliance since 2018 and currently runs their Peer Group in the Life Sciences, was selected for the 2019 Women in Bio Boardroom Ready cohort and participated in Harvard’s executive education for Women on Life Science Boards. She is broadly curious, an avid mentor and connector, and values relationships where mutual learning and growth occurs.

Dr. Edwin J. Tucker MD is a highly accomplished and respected medical professional with a diverse background in medicine, business, and leadership. He is Chief Medical Officer for Jasper Therapeutics, a biotech focused on the development of briquilimab, a novel antibody therapy targeting c-Kit (CD117) to address mast cell driven diseases such as chronic spontaneous urticaria (CSU) and chronic inducible urticaria (CIndU), His career spans over 30 years beginning with medical practice in the UK. He acquired increasingly senior leadership roles in large Pharma with Bayer, JNJ and Genentech/Roche before moving to start-up biotech with Acerta (COO, final role), then CMO at Mirum, CMO at Goldfinch before joining Jasper. He has served as a clinical advisor and a consultant to several biotech and investment companies. He earned his MD from Leeds University medical school; an MBA from UConn; and is Member of the Royal College of Physicians (UK). His passion is creating high performance teams and companies to improve healthcare outcomes for patients globally.

Christopher Turner, M.D. is the CMO for Nuvalent and is an experienced oncology drug developer and executive with over 22 years of clinical and pharmaceutical experience in early and late-stage oncology drug development. Nuvalent is a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company focused on creating precisely targeted therapies for patients with cancer and is advancing a robust pipeline with parallel lead programs in ROS1-positive and ALK-positive non-small cell lung cancer, a program in HER2 Exon 20 insertion-positive cancers, and multiple discovery-stage research programs.

Prior to joining Nuvalent, Dr. Turner was Vice President of Clinical Development at Blueprint Medicines where he led the clinical development of GAVRETO (pralsetinib) in RET altered lung and thyroid cancers.

Dr. Turner has also held oncology clinical development leadership positions at Celldex Therapeutics and ARIAD Pharmaceuticals and was involved with the clinical development of the oncology drugs ICLUSIG(ponatinib) and ALUNBRIG (brigatinib).  Prior to that, Dr. Turner was Director of the Pediatric Neuro-Oncology Outcomes Clinic at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute/Children’s Hospital Boston and an Instructor of Pediatrics at Harvard Medical School.

Dr. Turner is board certified in both Pediatrics and Pediatric Hematology and Oncology and is a Fellow of the American Academy of Pediatrics. He received his M.D. from the University of Rochester School of Medicine and Dentistry in Rochester, New York. He completed fellowships in both Pediatric Hematology/Oncology and Pediatric Neuro-Oncology at Duke University Medical Center in Durham, North Carolina. 

Roger is a Board-certified Medical Oncologist with over 25 years’ experience supervising the delivery of complex oncology patient care and palliative medicine in teaching hospitals and developing new drugs in oncology and in malaria at large pharma. Roger is currently the Chief Medical Officer of Indaptus, a clinical-stage biotechnology company developing a novel broad agonist of both innate and adaptive immune systems. Prior to Indaptus, Roger served as CMO from 2019-2023 for Molecular Templates, a clinical-stage biotechnology company developing several novel, targeted immunotoxins. Prior to Molecular Templates, Roger was the CMO from 2017-2019 at Rgenix/Inspirna developing a novel immune- oncology compound and a metabolic inhibitor. Previously, he was CMO/CSO for Jaguar Health from 2016-2017, developing first-in-class, FDA-approved botanicals as novel antidiarrheals. Roger spent over nine years at Novartis, lastly as Global Program Head responsible for all early and late-stage development activities of antimalarials, including Coartem and two compounds in Phase 2 development, including generating a collaboration agreement with Medicines for Malaria Venture and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. Previously, Roger was responsible for Global Clinical Development activities for several oncology compounds including the successful NDA filing of Jakavi, and successful sNDA applications for Glivec and Tasigna. For nearly 12 years, Roger worked as a clinical medical oncologist and clinical researcher at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, Mount Sinai Hospital, and Saint Vincents Cancer Center, all in New York. He held academic positions as Assistant Professor in the Department of Medicine at Mount Sinai School of Medicine and New York Medical College. Roger received his undergraduate degree magna cum laude from Brown University in Providence, RI with honors in American Literature. He also received his medical degree from Brown University School of Medicine and completed his internship and residency at Harvard’s Beth Israel Hospital in Boston, MA. He completed his fellowship at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in hematology and oncology. He graduated with an MBA from Columbia University in New York.

TBA

Qing Yu Christina Weng, MD is a physician-scientist and Chief Medical Officer of Pelage Pharmaceuticals, a regenerative medicine company developing innovative treatments for hair loss by targeting stem cell metabolism. She is also a board-certified dermatologist at the Massachusetts General Hospital and faculty at Harvard Medical School. Dr. Weng brings a background in business development and corporate startup strategy as Head of Business Development & Strategy of Kira Pharmaceuticals, a global company developing complement therapeutics. She co-founded Mymiel, a high-performance clean skincare line, where she served as Chief Strategy Officer. She is on the Board of Directors for the Dermatology Innovation Forum and the Dermatology Summit. She is on the Advisory Board for Immunis, a regenerative medicine company developing secretomes for age-related dysfunction. Dr. Weng holds an undergraduate degree from the California Institute of Technology, MD Magna Cum Laude from Harvard, and she completed dermatology residency, postdoctoral training, and fellowship at Harvard. She has received research grants and awards from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, American Skin Association, American Dermatological Association, and National Institutes of Health.

As Chief Medical Officer of Signant Health, Dawie’s deep expertise across multiple therapeutic areas, multinational development leadership, and experience in associated commercial growth support the expanding impact of the Signant Science and Medical team. With over twenty years of experience combining medicine and business, Dawie oversees Signant's scientific and operational strategies.

Dr Laura Williams is a life science executive with extensive experience as a pharmaceutical drug developer, portfolio strategist and patient advocate. She is a results-oriented, accomplished, executive leader with 25 years of pharmaceutical drug development experience, spanning all clinical phases and across numerous therapeutic areas. She has a proven track-record in drug development, as indicated by her contributions on key regulatory approvals for 8 marketed products, and has strong leadership skills, exemplified in both large and small pharma settings within matrix cross-functional organizations. Dr Williams currently serves as CMO at Ardelyx, where she provides strategic and tactical leadership for clinical development, medical affairs, and patient advocacy, while partnering to assist with regulatory, pharmacovigilance and other business-critical activities. Previously, at AMAG Pharmaceuticals, she served as SVP and Head of Clinical Development and Biostatistics, where she was responsible for two on-market compounds and four investigational-staged assets. Prior to AMAG, she served as VP, Clinical Development at Myovant Sciences, where she oversaw clinical development for an infertility treatment and co-led business development activities to expand the women’s health pipeline. Finally, in her 18-year career at Abbott/AbbVie, she held roles of increasing responsibility, leading clinical development programs across multiple therapeutic areas that spanned all phases of drug development and contributed to the regulatory approval of five investigational compounds. Dr Williams is an Independent Director on the Board of Imara Therapeutics. She also serves as Director on the Advisory Board of the National Kidney Foundation (West Coast), and is a member of Black Women on Boards, Athena Alliance, Chief and National Association of Corporate Directors. Dr Williams received a BS from Mississippi State University and an MD from the University of Iowa. She completed her Internal Medicine residency at University of Michigan, where she also served as the first Black Chief Resident in the Internal Medicine Program. She received a MPH in Epidemiology from the University of Washington, where she also completed subspecialty training in Infectious Diseases, with a focus on HIV and STIs.

Dr. Wooldridge is the Chief Medical Officer for Immunitas Therapeutics and has 25 years of drug development experience in academia and industry. He received a medical degree from Tulane University and completed post-graduate training in Internal Medicine and Medical Oncology at the University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics. He spent the first 7 years of his career as a clinical and translational cancer researcher in academia, followed by more than a decade in drug development at Eli Lilly and Company. At Lilly, he led several early phase cancer clinical research programs, Oncology US Medical Affairs, and ultimately served as the Chief Scientific Officer for Immuno-oncology Clinical Development. He was Chief Medical Officer for Aeglea BioTherapeutics, where he oversaw the cancer and rare disease clinical development of pegzilarginase, which received Breakthrough Designation for Arginase 1 Deficiency, and has since been approved in Europe. He was also Chief Medical Officer for Checkmate Pharmaceuticals, where he was integral in a Series C financing, taking the company public, and leading the development of vidutolimod in registration-directed and expanded proof-of-concept studies until the company was acquired in 2022.

Arvin is the Chief Medical Officer at Pheon. He was previously the CMO at Mersana in addition to spending over a decade at Bristol Myers Squibb in a variety of leadership roles focused on early and late-stage clinical development of oncology, hematology, and immuno-oncology therapies. Arvin received a B.A. from Rutgers College and M.D. and Ph.D. degrees from Rutgers Robert Wood Johnson Medical School and completed training in internal medicine at Beth Israel Deaconess, Harvard Medical School and in oncology at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center.

TBA

John Yee MD, MPH, currently serves as Senior Vice President, Medical Affairs, at Apnimed, Inc., a company developing oral drugs for the treatment of obstructive sleep apnea. He has more than 25 years of leadership experience at leading biotechnology, pharmaceutical, and health care technology companies, and at a major academic medical center. Dr. Yee has expertise in all aspects of drug development and commercialization, including clinical development, medical affairs, pharmacovigilance, regulatory affairs, and patient advocacy. He has provided medical leadership for more than 10 new product launches and label expansions. Dr. Yee has served in senior medical leadership roles at Genzyme Corporation, AstraZeneca Pharmaceuticals, Intarcia Therapeutics, Vertex Pharmaceuticals, Flexion Therapeutics, and Sobi North America. Dr. Yee serves on the scientific advisory board for Comera Life Sciences, and previously served as a non-executive director on the board of directors. Dr. Yee earned an M.D. from Harvard Medical School, an M.P.H. in Health Care Management from the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, and an A.B. in History and Science from Harvard College. He completed his pediatric residency and fellowship training in rheumatology, immunology and health services research at Boston Children’s Hospital. Prior to joining the industry, Dr. Yee held leadership roles at Boston Children’s Hospital and served as a faculty member at Harvard Medical School.

Steven Zelenkofske DO currently is principal consultant for SLZ consulting LLC, board director for Dinaqor AG and Cadrenal Therapeutics and chief strategy officer for Dinaqor AG. Dr Zelenkofske brings more than 20 years of industry development experience, most recently as Chief Medical Officer of SwanBio therapeutics, a gene therapy company specializing in neurodegenerative diseases. Previously he served as Chief Medical Officer of Achillion Pharmaceuticals and Regado Biosciences. He has also held leadership positions at Astra-Zeneca, Sanofi-Aventis, Boston Scientific and Novartis. Dr Zelenkofske has been responsible for multiple NDA filings and has worked across multiple therapeutic areas including cardiovascular, metabolic diseases, diabetes, nephrology, hematology, immunology and neurology. Dr Zelenkofske completed his residency training at Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine, followed by fellowships in cardiology and electrophysiology at The Graduate Hospital, Philadelphia, and St Luke’s Hospital, New York, respectively. He is a graduate of Emory University, where he also earned a Master of Science degree in immunopharmacology. He earned his Doctor of Osteopathy from Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine. He is a fellow of the American College of Cardiology, the American College of Chest Physicians, and the American College of Osteopathic Internists.