2025 Speakers

Rick Aldridge, MBChB is a Managing Director in Lazard’s Global Healthcare team focused on the Life Sciences Sector.

He joined Lazard in 2015 from Bank of America Merrill Lynch where he was an equity research analyst in the European Pharmaceutical team with lead coverage in the mid-cap biopharma space. The team was top-ranked in the Institutional Investor survey in 2013, 2014 and 2015.

Dr Aldridge is a Chartered Accountant (CA), Chartered Tax Advisor (CTA) and a member of the CFA institute. He holds an MBChB (Medicine) from the University of Edinburgh and a Masters (Dist) in Economic History from the University of Glasgow.

Siraj Ali, MD, PhD, is a physician-scientist the Global VP of Translational Medicine at Lunit. Prior to his role at Lunit, he was the VP of clinical development at EQRx and led translational research efforts at Foundation Medicine.

Dr Ali has co-authored more than 200 peer-reviewed manuscripts, which have accrued nearly 20,000 citations, in journals such as The Oncologist, JCO-Precision Oncology, Cancer Discovery, Journal of Clinical Oncology (JCO), and others. Dr Ali serves as a reviewer for multiple life-sciences journals and is a member of a NIH study section focused on drug development for oncology.

Dr Ali earned his BS in Biophysics Phi Beta Kappa from the Johns Hopkins University and an MD-PhD program from Harvard Medical School supported by HHMI fellowships and the Medical Scientist Training Program. He completed residency training at the Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center/Harvard Medical School in Boston and is board-certified in Anatomic Pathology.

Adrelia Allen, PharmD, is a 22-year veteran of the pharmaceutical industry working in sales and clinical research at Merck. She has held positions of increasing experience as a Clinical Research Associate, Clinical Trial Project Manager, and Clinical Research Manager (CRM). She is currently the Executive Director of Clinical Trial Patient Diversity, where she is responsible for the strategy and execution of activities for the diverse representation of patients in clinical trials. Dr Allen has a Doctor of Pharmacy degree from Florida A&M University College of Pharmacy.

JD Alvarez, MD, PhD is a medical pathologist with over 17 years of experience in oncology drug development. He is currently the Global Head of Companion Diagnostics at Daiichi Sankyo. His team delivers companion diagnostics for all R&D projects. Dr Alvarez previously held leadership roles at GSK and Janssen where his teams developed multiple companion diagnostics critical for oncology drug approvals. Dr Alvarez has also led biomarker laboratories supporting all phases of pharmaceutical discovery and clinical development and driven innovative approaches like digital pathology and liquid biopsy technologies to advance biomarker science. Dr Alvarez obtained an MD and a PhD from the Washington University School of Medicine and completed pathology training at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania.

Marta joined our company in 1998 as a Clinical Research Associate (CRA) in Spain. Earlier in her career, she was a CRA at Phidea International and a Laboratory Fellow, Neuroscience, Navarra University in Pamplona, Spain. After different country roles in both Spain and Netherlands, Marta served as Clinical Research Director (CRD) for Spain and Portugal; Head of GCTO’s mid-Europe Region and subsequent Europe-2 Region covering Central & Eastern Europe, Middle East & Africa.

From 2017 to 2022 she had different GCTO HQ roles including Quality & continuous improvement where she was in charge of strengthening clinical QMS and had a leadership role in regulatory inspections including site, sponsor and third-party preparation and training. Over the years, she led several transformation efforts in GCTO operating model, Global trade compliance roll out, Brexit or EU CTR implementation.

Since May 2022, Marta is leading Global Clinical Supply group under DSCS and is accountable for managing the end-to-end& clinical supply chain across all MRL portfolios to enable the execution of any clinical trial using a Merck asset. In this role, Marta led a transformation journey to modernize GCS operations, strengthening Operational excellence and Continuous improvement culture, with special focus in upskilling and developing talent while increasing agility and speed to better serve the current needs of MRL clinical trials.

Marta received a Bachelor of Science degree in biochemistry and molecular biology from UAM University in Madrid, Spain. She also holds a Master of Science degree in Research & Development from Navarra University and has completed diverse business leadership programs.

Tony Arulanandam, PhD has 20+ years of research and development experience in immunology, immuno-oncology, and gene therapy research from target identification through product registration. He is currently the CEO and Founder of Synaptimmune Therapeutics a Yale Ventures spinout newco focusing on the next generation of IDR-CAR-T cells for Cancers and Autoimmune Diseases. He is also the SVP and Head of R&D at Cytovia Therapeutics developing well differentiated Clinical and discovery stage Immune cell engager bispecific antibodies for Cancer and Autoimmune diseases. He is a co-founder and scientific advisor at NextPoint Therapeutics, an immuno-oncology checkpoint inhibitor company founded by MPM capital that has raised over $150 million in series A and B funding. He initiated newco research activities with Dr. Gordon Freeman out of the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, pitching the science and partnering with MPM capital to start the company. He was also a venture advisor and consultant at Longwood Fund, evaluating and advising newco opportunities in the immunology and immuno-oncology space and was the founder of Tolereg therapeutics, a Treg cell therapy company targeting autoantibody-producing B cells in rare autoimmune diseases.

Prior to that, he was the SVP and head of research at Agilis therapeutics, a rare-disease gene therapy company acquired by PTC therapeutics, where he became the VP and head of gene therapy, nonclinical research. He held multiple discovery research and development postions, serving as a director and senior director at Ares-Serono, Biogen-Idec, Regeneron, and Alexion, working on multiple IND submissions in immunology and cancer indications including Dupilumab TM, Cemiplimab TM (PD-1 mAb) and SamalizumabTM (CD200 mAb). He authored 5 BLAs, including TysabriTM for multiple sclerosis (Biogen Idec), SarilumabTM for rheumatoid arthritis (Regeneron), DupilumabTM for atopic dermatitis and asthma (Regeneron), KanumaTM for LAL deficiency (Synageva/Alexion), and UpstazaTm gene therapy for aromatic acid decarboxylase deficiency (Agilis/PTC).

Dr. Arulanandam obtained PhD in Immunology at the University of Massachusetts in Amherst under the mentorship of Dr. Richard Goldsby and did his post-doctoral fellowship in T and NK cell signaling and CD2 structure function studies in the laboratory of Dr. Ellis Reinherz at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and Harvard Medical school.

Andrew Baum, MD is a former surgeon who has leveraged his deep clinical and scientific expertise to become a visionary leader in the financial services industry and biopharmaceutical sector. He has more than 30 years of experience and a proven track record in leading high-impact research projects and teams, developing robust strategies, and forging global partnerships that have expanded markets and increased investor returns. He is skilled in Equity Research, Hedge Funds, Investment Banking, Strategy, and Equities.

Dr Baum joins Pfizer as Chief Strategy and Innovation Officer, Executive Vice President. He joins Pfizer from Citi where he was the Global Head of Healthcare Research for Citi Research, where he joined in 2011. Prior to this, he covered European Pharmaceuticals at Morgan Stanley for 14 years. He also worked as a UK Pharmaceuticals and Biotechnology analyst at Salomon Brothers. From 1994 to 1996, Dr Baum was a practicing physician at the Royal National Orthopedic Hospital in London and at the John Radcliffe Hospital in Oxford.

Dr Baum has been recognized as the top ranked European Pharmaceutical Analyst six times in the Developed Europe & Emerging EMEA Research Survey, which allows management firms to provide views on the advice they receive from research analysts. His team of analysts consistently ranked in the top three teams in external EU and global investor polls (Institutional Investor, Greenwich, and Reuters).

He has been widely sought after to share his insights with the most senior levels of management within the healthcare industry. He has regularly lectured for a number of prestigious organizations including IO360°, The British Institute of Comparative Law, the World Vaccine Congress as well as occasional presentations to some of the leading management consultancies.

Dr Baum holds an MA degree in Physiological Sciences and a BM ChB degree from Oxford University and is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Medicine.

Vipul Baxi, Executive Director at Amgen, excels in computational pathology, digital imaging, and biomarker research. With a biomedical engineering background and an MBA from NYU Stern, he leads AI-driven biomarker discovery, pathology informatics strategies, and precision medicine initiatives.

Roy Baynes, MD, PhD, currently serves as executive vice president and chief medical officer of Eikon Therapeutics, Inc. a privately-held biotechnology company. Prior to Eikon Therapeutics, Dr Baynes served as chief medical officer as well as senior vice president and head of global clinical development at Merck and Co, Inc, where he helped Merck become a leading oncology and global healthcare company. Dr Baynes also previously served as senior vice president of oncology, inflammation and respiratory therapeutics at Gilead Sciences, Inc, which was preceded by his service at Amgen, Inc as vice president of global clinical development and therapeutic area head for hematology/oncology. Before joining Amgen, Dr Baynes was the Charles Martin Professor of Cancer Research at the Barbara Ann Karmanos Cancer Institute, a National Cancer Institute-designated Comprehensive Cancer Center, at Wayne State University. Dr Baynes has authored more than 150 publications and is a member or fellow of several international medical societies. He received his medical degree and doctorate in philosophy from the University of the Witwatersrand in South Africa and completed his medical training in the Department of Hematology and Oncology at Johannesburg Hospital. Dr Baynes has received innumerable awards for his activities as a physician/scientist, and currently serves on the board of directors at Atara Biotherapeutics, Natera, Inc and Travere Therapeutics, Inc. 

Sharon Benzeno, PhD, MBA, is the Chief Commercial Officer, Immune Medicine and leads the Drug Discovery group of Adaptive Biotechnologies, a commercial-stage biotech company that aims to translate the genetics of the adaptive immune system into clinical products to diagnose and treat disease. Before joining Adaptive in 2014, Dr Benzeno was Senior Director at Elsevier Inc., a healthcare informatics company. Prior to Elsevier, Dr Benzeno co-led the oncology business unit at Capgemini SE, a consulting and technology services company. Dr Benzeno came to Elsevier from Capgemini, where she served in a variety of management roles at AstraZeneca plc. Dr Benzeno holds a PhD in Biomedical Sciences from New York University School of Medicine, an MBA in Finance and Leadership from New York University Stern School of Business and a BA in Biochemistry from New York University. Dr Benzeno completed a postdoctoral fellowship in cancer biology at the University of Pennsylvania Abramson Cancer Center.

Samit Bhatt serves as Vice President of Myonex’s global Clinical Trial Patient Solutions (CTPS) division, where he drives innovation and execution in CTRx Services globally. Under his leadership, Myonex optimizes medication access for clinical trials in local markets while enhancing the experience for both trial sites and patients. With over 15 years of experience as a pharmacist, Samit Bhatt has held key roles in market access and clinical trials. He holds a Doctor of Pharmacy (PharmD) and an MBA from Drake University.

Gwendolyn Binder, PhD joined Cabaletta Bio in February 2019 as one of Cabaletta’s first employees and established the preclinical, translational, manufacturing, and quality organizations. As President of Science and Technology, Dr Binder is responsible for establishing and executing strategies in research and manufacturing to deliver competitive and transformative cellular therapeutics for patients with autoimmune disease. In addition to her position at Cabaletta, she serves on the Board of Directors of Instil Bio, Inc., a company developing novel cancer immunotherapies, and as a member of the Scientific Advisory Board for Immatics N.V., which is a publically traded company developing engineered T cell immunotherapy for cancer. Prior to joining Cabaletta, Dr. Binder was the Chief Technology Officer of Adaptimmune Therapeutics plc, where she established early clinical, translational research and manufacturing functions in the US arm of the company, including providing oversight on the build-out of a commercial-scale cell therapy manufacturing facility and ultimately transitioned to lead the research team to focus on prioritizing next generation products and novel targets in early clinical development. Earlier in her career, Dr. Binder served as Director of Operations for the Translational Research Program at the University of Pennsylvania, where she progressed multiple Investigational New Drug applications (“IND”) for novel engineered T cell therapies in human immunodeficiency virus (“HIV”) and oncology, including the CD19 CAR IND acquired by Novartis (now Kymriah®), the first human gene editing IND, and three TCR engineered T cell therapy studies in oncology and HIV. Prior to that, she served as the Director of Scientific Affairs at VIRxSYS Corporation in Gaithersburg, Maryland where she supported the development of the first clinical lentiviral vector used in humans. Dr. Binder studied viral immunology and translational research at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, Maryland where she earned a PhD in Cellular and Molecular Medicine in 2002. She has authored over 30 publications in the field, including top international journals such as "Science" and "Nature Medicine". She is a recognized leader in the biotechnology sector for the translational and clinical advancement of novel T cell therapies for patients with serious diseases.

Dr Gideon Blumenthal is a hematologist oncologist who is currently Vice President, Global Clinical Development in the Asset Development Therapeutic Area of Oncology at Merck. In this role he is the Asset Development Section Head MK-2870 (Sac-TMT) a novel TROP2 ADC as well as MK-1084 (KRAS G12Ci) and MK-1022 (HER3-DxD ADC). Prior to this role Gideon was the Oncology Regulatory Affairs TA Head at Merck, overseeing regulatory strategy for pembrolizumab, belzutifan, olaparib and several other key pipeline assets across Genitourinary, Gastrointestinal, Head and Neck Cancer, and Hematologic Malignancies.

Prior to joining Merck in 2020, Dr Blumenthal spent over a decade at the US Food and Drug Administration Oncology office, taking on increasing leadership responsibilities. He initially served as a medical reviewer, then clinical team leader, followed by Acting Deputy Director in the Office of Hematology Oncology Products, and most recently as Deputy Center Director of the Oncology Center for Excellence. Dr Blumenthal trained in internal medicine at the University of Maryland School of Medicine, followed by a hematology oncology fellowship at the National Cancer Institute. He was an attending physician in the NCI thoracic oncology clinic. He received numerous awards, including the 2018 American Society for Clinical Oncology Public Service Award. He has co-authored over 100 articles in the Oncology and Drug Development peer-reviewed literature and has authored numerous book chapters.

Dr. Bohnsack is a board-certified radiologist with clinical experience in both EU and USA. For 20+ years he's been reputably positioned at the forefront of oncology imaging advances in the clinical trial industry. He co-authored irRC in 2007 and published irRECIST in 2014 which were subsequently validated in February 2022. Both criteria remain the gold standard in solid-tumor oncology and especially I-O imaging. Oliver earned his M.D. from the University of Essen, Germany, his MBA in Healthcare Management from the University of California and his PhD in Radiology, Radiation Modulation and Reduction in CT at the University of Munich.

David A Braun, MD, PhD is the Louis Goodman and Alfred Gilman Yale Scholar and an Assistant Professor of Medicine, Pathology, and Urology at the Yale School of Medicine. He is a medical oncologist specializing in the care of patients with kidney cancer, and the Principal Investigator of an NIH- and DOD-funded caner immunology at the Center of Molecular and Cellular Oncology within the Yale Cancer Center. His laboratory uses computational and experimental immunology approaches to understand the immunobiology of renal cell carcinoma. For these efforts, he was awarded an R37 MERIT Award from the NCI, given the Trailblazer Award and the Christopher Wood Rising Star Award from the Kidney Cancer Association and was elected to membership in the American Society for Clinical Investigation (ASCI).

Yevgeny (Yev) Brudno received dual B.A. degrees in Chemistry and Biophysics from the University of Pennsylvania and his PhD in Organic Chemistry from Harvard University, working with David Liu to develop directed evolution technologies. From there, Dr Brudno worked as a postdoctoral fellow at the Wyss Institute at Harvard with Prof. David Mooney, developing controlled release drug delivery technologies for cancer and regenerative medicine. Dr Brudno’s research interests span organic synthetic chemistry, materials science, and cellular immunotherapy. Mostly recently, his lab develops materials to improve cell therapies, including CAR T cells. His lab’s research is rooted in the belief that advances in chemistry and the basic molecular sciences can generate meaningful change in how therapies are designed, produced, and administered.

Tim leads the early clinical development (ECD) hematology and cell therapy group at BMS responsible for development of multiple modalities across diverse disease indications from pre-clinical stage to proof of concept. Tim is driven by complex clinical and scientific problems focusing on improving patients’ outcomes.

Helena Chaye, PhD, JD has over 23 years of experience in the biotechnology industry having held leadership positions in operations, corporate affairs, business development and IP management primarily in oncolytic virotherapy development. Most recently, Dr Chaye served as Chief Business Officer at SillaJen Biotherapeutics, Inc. where she managed all operations including corporate and business development strategies, R&D strategy and intellectual property. Prior to joining SillaJen, Dr Chaye held the positions of VP of Corporate Affairs & IP at Jennerex Biotherapeutics and the Director of Business Development at MediGene. Helena received her BS in Biochemistry and her PhD in Genetics from the University of British Columbia and her JD from Dalhousie University.

S Chakra Chennubhotla, PhD earned his PhD from the Department of Computer Science at the University of Toronto specializing in computer vision, machine learning and AI. Dr Chennubhotla was tenured Associate Professor in the Department of Computational and Systems Biology at the University of Pittsburgh.

Dr Chennubhotla co-founded SpIntellx to actualize the translational potential of these Pitt IP-fueled platforms. Dr Chennubhotla’s experience encompasses years in both industry and academia. He was the lead PI on several National Institutes of Health and National Science Foundation grants covering broad areas of bioimaging, molecular biophysics, computational and systems biology, and spatial intratumor heterogeneity. He holds several patents and has published extensively, appearing in Science Translational Medicine and Nature Communications, among other prominent journals.

Aaron Cooper, PhD, is Vice President of Early Discovery at ArsenalBio, where he leads Synthetic Biology and Immunology teams in developing and applying synthetic receptors, logic gates, and other cell therapy technologies to enhance both product pipeline and platform capabilities. Dr Cooper has extensive experience in syn bio/gene therapy/cell therapy, and previously served as Head of Platform Development at Octant Bio, utilizing syn bio and multiplexing tech to create SM/protein therapeutics. He also worked on synthetic receptor technologies (including synNotch) and gene delivery platforms at Cell Design Labs/Kite Pharma/Gilead Sciences

Dinesh de Alwis, PhD has over 25 years of global experience in the pharmaceutical industry, working with large and small molecules from discovery to regulatory filing and post marketing. He is currently SVP, Clinical Drug Development at Generate Biomedicines and has responsibility for all aspects of IND submissions and FIH / POC studies across immunology, infectious diseases, and oncology therapeutic areas.

He was previously an Associate Vice President in Quantitative Pharmacology within Oncology Early Development at Merck. During the 10 years at Merck, Dr de Alois played a significant part in the early oncology dose finding and registration of Keytruda for Melanoma, NSCLC and multiple other indications including the first tumor agnostic biomarker (e.g MSI-hi) approval for cancer using a basket trial design.

Before Merck, Dr de Alois held several leadership and scientific roles at Eli Lilly and Company for 15 years and led the PK/PD Group in the UK from preclinical to late development across several therapeutic areas Dr de Alwis has published over 50 peer reviewed papers and received his PhD from the University of Manchester (1997), UK in the field of Population PK/PD.

Serena De Vita is a physician scientist with 20 years of experience in Hematology-Oncology in both the academic and industry settings. She has deep expertise in clinical trials, having designed and executed the clinical and translational development of first-in-human clinical programs across multiple modalities and indications and having directly contributed to the success of late-stage programs in hematology and oncology. Dr De Vita has a long-standing interest in developing cell and gene therapies.

She started her industry career in early development at AstraZeneca, before moving to Novartis to drive the clinical development of multiple cell therapy assets manufactured under their next generation manufacturing platform. At Novartis, Dr De Vita served in roles of increased responsibility, including Global Head of Hematology, and most recently she was the interim Global Head of Translational Clinical Oncology. In January 2025, she re-joined AZ as the Global Franchise Head and the Clinical Strategy Head for Cell therapies in Late Development Oncology.

Prior to embarking on a career in industry, she trained in malignant hematology in Italy (Policlinico Gemelli) and the UK (Queen Mary’s, Barts and the London), and then moved to the US to conduct translational research on basic mechanisms of leukemogenesis, hematopoietic stem cell biology and gene therapies at Dana Farber/Boston Children’s Cancer and Blood Disorders Center.

Rakhshita Dhar is Senior Director of Venture Investments at Leaps by Bayer, where she is responsible for investing and managing portfolio companies. She currently serves on the boards of Deka Biosciences, NextPoint Therapeutics, Gro Bioscienes, ReCode Therapeutics, Vesigen Therapeutics, AffiniT Therapeutics, Bloom Biosciences and Sudo Therapeutics. Prior to Leaps, Ms Dhar was Director of Business Development at Roche Pharmaceuticals where she led multiple transactions. Previously, she served in Innovation Sciences at MassBio developing an accelerator program for life science startups.

Ms Dhar received her MS in molecular biology from Georgetown University, and holds a BS in biochemistry from Mumbai University. 

Jie spent twenty plus years as a statistician with increasing responsibilities in the pharmaceutical industry. His experience span across the entire new medicine development spectrum from preclinical discovery research to late phase clinical development with multiple successful global NDA and sNDA registrations mainly in the oncology field. His work has directly led to the FDA approval of Pazopanib(Votrient) in RCC (2009) and the FDA accelerated approval of Pembrolizumab (Keytruda) in the MSI-High cancers (2017), the first Pan-tumor agnostic indication. He is currently at a clinical stage small oncology startup and continue to improve the cancer care for the patients.

Kalli Dircks joined Morgan Stanley in 2006. She is a Managing Director and Co-Head of the Healthcare Equity Capital Markets group. She has been with the firm for 18 years and has held positions across the Equity Syndicate desk and Healthcare Capital Markets.

Chaitanya Divgi joined Novartis as Senior Strategic Expert Therapeutic Innovations in May 2024, concentrating on enhancing expertise, strategy and advancing the RLT/RLI portfolio.

Prior to joining Novartis, Mr Divgi held senior medical positions at several innovative companies specialized in nuclear and radiation medical applications.

Before that, he was Professor of Radiology and Research Vice-Chair in the Radiology Department at Columbia University and Director Nuclear Medicine and Molecular Imaging at NY Presbyterian Hospital, New York, USA (2011-16); Professor of Radiology and Radiation Oncology at the University of Pennsylvania and the Hospital of UPenn (2006-2011), and a member of the Radiology and Medicine Departments, Director of the Nuclear Medicine Targeted Therapy Program at Memorial Sloan- Kettering Cancer Centre, and Professor of Medicine and Radiology at Weill Cornell Medical College, Cornell University, New York (1985-2006).

Before coming to the US, he was Chief Nuclear Medicine at AI-Jazeira Hospital in Abu Dhabi (1982-1985) and at Choithram Hospital in Indore, India (1981-82).

Mr Divgi has been a peer reviewer for several scientific journals (NEJM, Lancet Oncology, Nature Medicine, Cancer Research, J Nuclear Medicine, to name a few) and a member of peer review committees at the International Atomic Energy Agency, the US NCI and NIH, and the Canadian Institutes for Health Research. He has published over 150 articles on radiopharmaceutical imaging and therapy in bespoke medical journals.

Mr Divgi gained his medical degree from Bangalore University, India, and a graduate degree in Nuclear and Radiation Medicine from Bombay University, India. He has a master's degree in health management from New York University, USA and is board certified in Nuclear Medicine. He holds a New York state medical license.

Marisa Dolled-Filhart, Ph.D. is an experienced drug development and precision medicine leader, currently Global Team Leader at Daiichi Sankyo leading oncology drug development teams. Previously, she was VP, Translational Research at Bristol Myers Squibb. Prior to BMS, she held biomarker and diagnostic roles at Merck spanning R&D, companion diagnostics, project management, regulatory, commercial and medical affairs, including as scientific lead for the first FDA-approved immuno-oncology companion diagnostic, as well as roles in biotech and the CRO industry. She is a co-author on over 95 publications and abstracts including Lancet and New England Journal of Medicine. In 2024, Dr Dolled-Filhart received the Healthcare Businesswomen’s Association (HBA) Luminary Award from BMS for her industry impact, leadership and mentorship. She volunteers for organizations including the HBA, the President’s Council of Cornell Women and the Yale Graduate School of Arts and Sciences Alumni Association Board. Dr Dolled-Filhart holds a B.A. from Cornell University and a Ph.D. in Genetics from Yale University.

Charles (Chuck) Drake, MD, PhD, is Vice President, Immuno-oncology (I-O) at Janssen Research & Development, LLC. In this position, he is responsible for leading the I-O team to further enhance the scientific strategy required to deliver the portfolio of I-O and cell-based oncology therapeutics, as well as building a robust pipeline of next-generation compounds. Dr Drake is a physician-scientist whose research and clinical activities have focused on understanding the biology of immune cells in the tumor microenvironment and translating those findings into cutting-edge clinical trials in the study of patients with prostate, kidney and bladder cancer.

Prior to joining Janssen Research & Development, Dr Drake led the genitourinary oncology program at the Herbert Irving Cancer Center, Columbia University Medical Center, New York Presbyterian Hospital. He was also named the Milstein Family Professor of Medicine and Urology and served as the Associate Director for Clinical Research at the Cancer Center.

Dr Drake founded Columbia’s Human Immune Monitoring Core, which provides state-of-the-art analytic technologies for the study of human cancer. At Columbia University, he and his colleagues built a strong portfolio of more than 30 immunotherapy trials, including a number of first-in-human studies in patients with prostate genitourinary cancers, many based on his laboratory research. Previously, he served as the Co-director of the Cancer Immunology Program at Johns Hopkins Kimmel Cancer Center.

Dr Drake received his bachelor’s and master’s degrees in Biomedical Engineering from Rutgers University. He earned his medical degree from the University of Colorado Medical Science Training Program and received his doctorate in Immunology from the National Jewish Research Center. He completed his residency through the Osler Medical Residency Training Program at Johns Hopkins and finished his fellowship in Medical Oncology at Johns Hopkins as well. Dr Drake is board-certified in medical oncology.

Prof. Alexander M.M. Eggermont, MD, PhD, is an internationally recognized expert in surgical oncology, immunotherapy, melanoma, sarcoma and cancer drug development.

He currently holds roles as Professor or Immunotherapy at the University Medical Center Utrecht & Chief Scientific Officer at the Princess Máxima Center for Pediatric Oncology, the Netherlands; Chairman of the Steering Committee of the Comprehensive Cancer Center Munich, Germany; Coordinator, Comprehensive Cancer Center Program for Deutsche KrebsHilfe (German Cancer Aid).

Prof. Eggermont was previously Director General of Gustave Roussy Comprehensive Cancer Center, Villejuif, France (2010-2019) & Professor of Oncology (Classe Exceptionnelle) at the University Paris-Saclay; and Professor of Surgical Oncology (2003-2016) and Endowed Professor of International Networking in Cancer Research (2011-2018) at Erasmus University MC, Rotterdam, the Netherlands. He holds a PhD in tumor immunology from Erasmus University and is Fellow of the National Institutes of Health’s National Cancer Institute (NIH-NCI). Prof. Eggermont has served as President of European Academy of Cancer Sciences, President of ECCO, President of the EORTC, was a member of the Board of Directors of ASCO, served on the Editorial Board of the Journal of Clinical Oncology and is currently Editor-in-Chief of the European Journal of Cancer. Prof. Eggermont has published more than 1000 peer-reviewed papers and his expertise has been acknowledged by many professional awards throughout his career.

David Feltquate, MD, PhD joined iTeos Therapeutics as Chief Medical Officer in 2024. He brings nearly 20 years of immuno-oncology clinical development, translational medicine, and diagnostic assay advancement experience. Prior to joining iTeos, he was Chief Medical Officer at Palleon Pharmaceuticals where he oversaw the clinical strategy and development of its glyco-immunology therapeutics pipeline. Before that, Dr Feltquate was the Global Head of Hematology Development and Chair of the Precision Medicine Leadership Team at Novartis. Previously, he held numerous leadership positions at Bristol Myers Squibb including Head of Oncology Early Clinical Development and Development Leader for Ipilimumab / Nivolumab Life Cycle Management. As the Nivolumab Clinical Head, Dr Feltquate was responsible for the clinical development of the first PD-1 inhibitor from proof of concept through initial registrations in non-small cell lung cancer, melanoma, and renal cell carcinoma. Dr Feltquate earned a BS in Biology from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and an MD/PhD in Immunology from the University of Massachusetts Medical School. He completed internal medicine training at Dartmouth Hitchcock Medical Center and medical oncology training at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center.

Dr. Dongxiao Feng, Vice President of GenoBioTX, got his PhD from Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences and has postdoctoral experiences at Oxford University and University of California, San Francisco. Dr. Feng has 30 years of experience in monoclonal antibody development using hydridoma, phage and yeast display methods. He also led the development of the second generation of Humab mice at BMS and a fully human antibody transgenic mouse platform in China, 2 antibody drugs developed by Dr. Feng's team has been approved in China and at phase III clinical stage in the US. He joined Genobiotx 2 years ago as the vice president of business development. 

Andrea Ferris came to LUNGevity through the merger with Protect Your Lungs, an organization she and her family started to fund lung cancer research following her mother’s death from lung cancer in 2008.Before the merger, Ms Ferris founded and built Protect Your Lungs, an organization dedicated to funding research into the early detection of lung cancer. Ms Ferriswas instrumental in building PYL’s Scientific Advisory Board and establishing its funding process, both of which followed her to the new LUNGevity organization.

In her for-profit career, Ms Ferris has a wealth of management experience. Ms Ferris was the Vice President of Strategy and Growth of Decision Lens, Inc. a company she helped launch in January 2005. Prior to joining Decision Lens, Andrea held a variety of management positions at Johnson & Johnson, including Director of Investor Relations, Manager Corporate Mergers & Acquisitions, and Plant Controller. She also spent several years at McNeil Consumer Products, a J&J subsidiary, in marketing and mergers & acquisitions. Prior to her time at J&J, Andrea worked for Lehman Brothers and Coopers & Lybrand in New York City in both Mergers and Acquisitions and as a CPA.

Ms Ferris received her BS in Economics from Wharton with concentrations in Accounting, Decision Sciences, and Finance. She received her MBA from Wharton with concentrations in Finance and Latin American Studies. She served on Washington, DC’s Kennedy Center National Committee of Performing Arts and on the Board of ARCS (Achievement Rewards for College Scientists) of Metro DC. She has also served on the Executive Committee of the Board of Directors for DC Metro Boys and Girls Club and has worked with the Ronald McDonald House and the Philadelphia Museum of Art.

Jay Fine is President, Research & Development at EvolveImmune Therapeutics, a development-stage company located in the New Haven, CT area. EvolveImmune is pioneering a new category of precision-engineered immuno-oncology therapeutics, which leverage integrated CD2 costimulation to overcome cancer cell resistance to current anti-tumor therapies. Its lead asset, EVOLVE104 will initiate first-in-human clinical trials in 2025. Previously, Jay was a Senior Vice President, Global Therapeutic Area Head and Research Site Head at Boehringer Ingelheim. Jay’s teams played seminal roles in the discovery and development of Skyrizi™ and Spevigo™, and delivered over 30 molecules into clinical development. Jay has held leadership positions at Roche and Schering-Plough, and at the National Cancer Institute. He received his B.S. degree from Cornell University and his Ph.D. degree from the University of Rochester Medical School. He is the author of over 75 scientific publications and patents and has received numerous honors and awards throughout his career.

Jennifer L. Frahm, PhD, is the Director of Global Field Applications at Standard BioTools. In this role, she leads a global team to enhance technical competencies and customer experience through innovative training programs. Dr. Frahm holds a PhD in Chemistry from North Carolina State University, where she developed methods for ovarian cancer biomarker quantification using high-resolution mass spectrometry. She also completed a postdoctoral fellowship at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, studying post-translational regulation of lipid metabolism in diabetes and obesity. With over 15 years of experience in customer support, including 10 years as a Field Application Scientist in the Americas and Europe, Dr. Frahm identifies market trends and customer needs to help shape product development and improve customer satisfaction.

Gregory Frank, PhD, joined GE HealthCare in September 2023 to develop and lead partnering strategy for molecular imaging tracers in oncology. The goal is to leverage these PET tracers while they are in clinical development and make them available to biotech and pharma partners who want to use them for imaging in their own clinical trials.

Dr. Frank has deep domain experience building partnerships in research, biotech, pharma, healthcare, and medicine across all phases of development including research, discovery, preclinical, clinical, and commercial. Prior to GE HealthCare, Dr. Frank led licensing, business development, and strategic alliances at ImaginAb, 23andMe, Pure MHC, XBiotech, and SRI International. He started his career at DNAX.

Gregory received his PhD in Immunology from Stanford University School of Medicine and BA in Biology from the University of California at Santa Cruz.

Gordon Freeman, PhD, Professor of Medicine at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and Harvard Medical School, is renowned for discovering the PD-L1 and PD-L2 proteins. Dr. Freeman showed that PD-L1 and PD-L2 bound to PD-1 to turn off the immune response and that blockade of PD-L1/PD-1 enhanced immune responses.  He further showed that PD-L1 is highly expressed on many tumors and allows these tumors to resist immune attack. Dr. Freeman’s work led directly to the development of a successful strategy for cancer immunotherapy - blocking the PD-1-ligand interaction. Dr. Freeman has published over 400 scientific papers and holds over 90 US patents on immunotherapies. He was elected to the National Academy of Sciences and the National Academy of Inventors, is a Fellow of the AACR and SITC Academies, and has received numerous awards, including the William B. Coley Award for Distinguished Research in Tumor Immunology, the Warren Alpert Foundation Prize, and the Richard Smalley, MD, Memorial Award. Dr. Freeman received his Ph.D. degree in Microbiology and Molecular Genetics from Harvard University.

Luisa Freitas dos Santos, PhD, FREng, CEng, FIChemE, is Vice President Global Head Clinical Supply Chain at GSK. She leads a multidisciplinary team across the UK, USA, Belgium, Italy, and Singapore responsible for GMP clinical manufacturing operations and Clinical Trial Supply management for GSK's extensive medicine and vaccine portfolios. Dr Freitas dos Santos has extensive pharmaceutical drug development experience, and over her 28-year tenure at GSK she has made exceptional contributions to the integration of bio/chemical engineering, pharmaceutical and data sciences, leading to substantial improvements in clinical manufacturing and trial execution. Her interdisciplinary approach and direct sustained contributions have been instrumental in the successful approval of 26 novel medicines and vaccines in a broad range of therapeutic areas including respiratory, infectious diseases and oncology, impacting millions of patients globally.

She led the deployment of new manufacturing technologies for increasingly complex drug modalities, such as oligonucleotides and antibody drug conjugates; and the digitalization of GSK’s clinical supply chain enabling rapid translation of complex clinical study designs into delivery of improved solutions for patients.

Dr Freitas dos Santos holds a degree in Process Engineering, and PhD and Post Doc in Chemical Engineering from Imperial College London. She co-founded a spin-out company based on her PhD research, gaining substantial experience in technology development and transfer. She has published over 50 peer-reviewed research papers, presented at hundreds of conferences, and received numerous awards. She is a Fellow of the UK Institution of Chemical Engineers, and Fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering.

Hanif Gabrani-Juma, BEng, MASc is a biomedical engineer with a specialization in advanced image analysis. He began his career in cardiology, working with dynamic PET and SPECT scans, before transitioning to oncology at The Ottawa Hospital Division of Nuclear Medicine. Mr Gabrani-Juma previously led the North American branch of Radiomics.bio, an advanced image analysis CRO specializing in comprehensive solid tumor evaluations and predictive analytics using standard clinical CT images. Today, Mr Gabrani-Juma is an Associate Director of Translational Medicine at AstraZeneca, where he co-leads the strategy and external partnerships for exploratory image analysis for translational insights, biomarker discovery and development using CT and Nuclear Imaging modalities.

Christine Gause is currently Vice President of Biostatistics at Merck, leading a group that encompasses Late Development Statistics, Clinical Safety Statistics and Scientific Communications and Information Sciences. In this role, she is responsible for overseeing end-to-end statistical support for the entire late development pipeline across therapeutic areas, partnering with colleagues in clinical, regulatory, and other quantitative groups. Christine has held positions of increasing responsibility in statistics across several therapeutic areas including vaccines, biosimilars, diabetes, and oncology. She has extensive experience in working with teams with trials monitored by DMCs to ensure data integrity is maintained.

Maurits Geerlings, MD, MBA is an experienced executive and serial entrepreneur who has co-founded and led multiple successful biotech companies . In 2000, he co-founded Actinium Pharmaceuticals Inc., a company listed on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE: ATNM). In 2010, he established Formula Pharmaceuticals Inc., which was subsequently sold in 2020. In 2017, he co-founded Mirata Pharmaceuticals and  launched NanoCell Therapeutics in 2021, both companies securing venture capital funding.

Dr Geerlings played a key role as the Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer in Actinium Pharmaceuticals Inc., From 2002 to 2010, he has been actively involved in business development for Alexion Pharmaceuticals Inc., Cephalon, Inc., Prism Pharmaceuticals, and Infinity Pharmaceuticals.

Throughout his career, he has successfully navigated complex negotiations and spearheaded strategic partnerships. With extensive expertise in deal making, Dr Geerlings has established alliances through out-licensing, in-licensing, M&A, plus co-development initiatives, spanning both domestic and international markets, including the USA and Europe.

Dr Geerlings earned his MD from the University of Utrecht in The Netherlands and obtained his Executive MBA from the George Washington University, Washington, DC. 

Dr Tad George has over 15 years of startup experience dedicated to creating scientific markets for novel instrumentation platforms that span basic research, drug discovery and clinical applications. Prior to joining RareCyte, Dr George has held similar positions at Biodesy, Inc. and DVS Sciences, and was Director of Biology at Amnis Corporation. Dr George completed his B.A. in Biochemistry from the Univ. of Texas at Austin, PhD in Immunology from UT Southwestern Medical Center at Dallas, and post-doctoral training at Immunex Corp. in Seattle.

Robert "Bob" Getts, PhD serves as Chief Platform Technologies Officer and is a Co-Founder of Code Bio. Dr Getts leads all of the company’s discovery, platform development and novel application activities. He also serves as a Scientific Advisor for AllerGenis LLC; as a member of the Rowan University Biomedical Engineering Industrial and Medical Advisory Board; as an Associate Clinical Preceptor of Pharmacy and Therapeutics at the University of Pittsburgh School of Pharmacy; and as a graduate program advisor at Thomas Jefferson University and The University of Maryland.

Dr Getts possesses more than 25 years of experience using nanotechnologies as tools to develop life science reagents, kits, and diagnostic assays. Most recently he served as the Chief Scientific Officer and acting CEO at Genisphere, LLC. where he led the development of 3DNA as a novel non-viral targeted delivery platform for the delivery of multiple types of therapeutic cargo including small drugs, siRNA, biologics, and whole genes.

Dr Getts has a PhD in Biochemistry from Lehigh University, has over 40 peer-review publications, abstracts, and presentations, and is listed as an inventor on more than 20 issued patents and over 35 US and international patent applications.

Saba Ghassemi, PhD graduated with a Master’s degree in Mechanical Engineering from Villanova University. She then completed her PhD at Columbia University, training under Drs. Michael Sheetz and James Hone. During this time, she was an active member of an NIH-funded interdisciplinary center: The Nanomedicine Development Center (NDC) for Mechanobiology, Directing the Immune Response. During her PhD studies, Dr. Ghassemi identified an intracellular sarcomere-like unit that is responsible for sensing the mechanical properties of the extracellular environment. Combining nanotechnology and cell biology, she showed that this mechano-sensing unit operates at the nanoscale regime. Dr. Ghassemi completed her post-doctoral fellowship at the University of Pennsylvania at the Center for Cellular Immunotherapies (CCI) in Dr. Michael Milone’s lab. She focused on improving CAR T cell differentiation and potency. Her studies showed that CAR T cells progressively differentiate over time: reducing the ex vivo expansion to 3 days increases potency and durable efficacy in pre-clinical models of ALL. The findings from this work are currently being translated into a clinical trial at UPenn led by Dr. Carl June. Dr. Ghassemi was awarded the St. Baldrick’s Scholar Award (2018), Early Career Scientific Research Award from the National Blood Foundation (2019), as well as a DoD Career Development award (2020). Dr. Ghassemi has emerged as an expert in the CAR T cell field with invitations to present her findings at national and international conferences (ASH, ASGCT, AAI, ISCT) and is the author of numerous peer-reviewed publications. She is also a co-inventor on several patents involving methods for improving the efficacy, expansion, and fitness of CAR T cells for adoptive immunotherapy. The overarching goals of the Ghassemi Lab are to use a multidisciplinary approach that combines engineering with CAR T cell immunology to develop potent CAR T cells for adoptive immunotherapy of cancer.

Ben Glass is Vice President of Product and Translational Research at PathAI. Mr Glass leads the product organizations at PathAI, managing teams of product managers and scientists in the development of an AI based portfolio of products as well as the software platform AISight, the leading digital pathology platform. Additionally, Mr Glass oversees the translational research which focuses on developing and deploying artificial intelligence algorithms ranging from biomarker discovery, clinical trial enrollment and endpoint assessment and companion diagnostics with PathAI’s biopharma and strategic partners. Mr Glass has co-authored over 70 publications and inventions. Prior to joining PathAI, Mr Glass was a member of the Beck Lab at Harvard Medical School/BIDMC, focusing on applying computational methods for pathology and genomics research. Mr Glass completed his MS in Bioinformatics focusing on computational methods at Northeastern University and has a BS in Biology from the University of Massachusetts Amherst.

Greg Goldmacher, MD, PhD, MBA has been at Merck since 2015. With his team of physicians and scientists, he oversees imaging and pathology-based endpoints in ~280 clinical trials in oncology and other therapeutic areas. He also leads research in novel approaches to clinical trial imaging, including radiomics, tumor growth kinetics, and novel response criteria. In addition, he supports various business development, data standardization, and educational activities. Prior to Merck, he was a senior medical director and head of oncology imaging at a global CRO, and before that in academia. His clinical training was in diagnostic radiology, along with a PhD and postdoctoral research in neuroscience, and business training in finance.

Victor Goldmacher, CSO of ImmuVia Inc., was a faculty member at Harvard Medical School/DFCI before joining ImmunoGen as a founding scientist. During his 30-year tenure at ImmunoGen, he spearheaded the discovery of three FDA-approved anti-cancer biologics—Kadcyla, Sarclisa, and Elahere—revolutionizing the ADC field and discovered the two major cell death suppressors encoded by Cytomegalovirus. After leaving ImmunoGen and recognizing the central limitations of ADCs, he co-founded ImmuVia, where he has led the development of the next generation of anti-cancer therapeutics beyond ADCs, Cancerlysins TM . ImmuVia’s first drug candidate, IMV-M, demonstrated that selective induction of apoptosis without cytotoxic compounds is possible, paving the way for a groundbreaking new class of therapeutics.

Asthika Goonewardene, MBA, is a Managing Director at Truist Securities covering biotechnology companies with a focus on cell therapy, immuno-oncology, and antibody technology. Prior to joining the STRH Biotech team in 2019, Mr Goonewardene was a senior analyst with Bloomberg Intelligence, leading coverage of the global biotech sector. Before joining Bloomberg in 2011, Mr Goonewardene worked as a senior management consultant at Datamonitor.  He started his career as an analyst at OSI Pharmaceuticals in 2005, and first joined the sell-side in 2007, with the biotech team at Piper Jaffray in London. Mr Goonewardene holds a BS in Biotechnology and an MBA in Technology Management from Rochester Institute of Technology.

Carl Gordon, PhD, CFA is a Managing Partner and leads OrbiMed’s private equity team. Dr Gordon joined OrbiMed’s predecessor firm in 1995 and was a founding General Partner of OrbiMed in 1998. He did his undergraduate work at Harvard (AB, Chemistry & Physics, 1987), worked at the biotechnology company Imclone Systems (1987-1988), then attained a PhD in Biology from MIT (1993), and was a Postdoctoral Fellow at the Rockefeller University (1993-1995). Carl has been fortunate to have been on the Forbes Midas list of top venture capital investors multiple times. He has founded and invested in numerous biotechnology companies and served on many public and private company boards. When considering investments, Dr Gordon looks for innovative technology and creative management teams and believes the key to success is a combination of integrity, hard work, and passion.

Arjun Goyal, MD, MPhil, MBA, is a former Co-Founder and Managing Director of Vida Ventures, a life sciences investment firm that he co-founded in 2017. Dr Goyal previously served as a director on the boards of Scorpion Therapeutics (acquired by Eli Lilly, Inc), Quanta Therapeutics, Inc., Affini-T Therapeutics, Inc., and Alterome Therapeutics, Inc. and he has also led investments roles in Homology Medicines (Nasdaq:FIXX), Pionyr Immunotherapeutics (acquired by Gilead Sciences, Inc.), Peloton Therapeutics (acquired by Merck & Co.) and Asklepios Bio (acquired by Bayer AG). Before Vida Ventures, Dr Goyal was a principal at 5AM Ventures from 2014 to 2017. Dr Goyal received his BS in Medical Science, Diploma in French and his MD degree from the Universities of Melbourne and Oxford. He completed his postgraduate clinical training in Internal Medicine in Sydney. He received his MPhil in Bioscience Enterprise from University of Cambridge and his MBA from Harvard Business School. Dr Goyal has received multiple awards for his work including the Advance Award for Technology & Entrepreneurship from the Australian Government. He serves on the Committee for the American Australian Association Education Fellowship and is on the Board of Advisors of the MS/MBA Life Sciences Program at Harvard Business School where also serves as a Venture Capital Advisor.

Erin Grath has over 20 years of experience in the pharmaceutical industry. This experience spans analytical chemistry to chemistry manufacturing and controls to regulatory affairs. Ms Grath joined Merck as part of Regulatory Affairs International in 2012 and beginning in 2015 began focusing much of her time in the unique and developing area of companion diagnostics (CDx). Ms Grath holds a BS in Chemistry (Lafayette College) and a MS in Quality Assurance/Regulatory Affairs (Temple University).

Carol Haddad is currently serving as the Section Head for Women's Cancer Clinical Sciences & Study Management group within Clinical Trial Operations at Merck. In her role, she is responsible for overseeing the successful implementation of gynecological and breast cancer late-stage clinical trials.

Ms Haddad's journey with Merck began in 2007 when she joined the Global Clinical Supply (GCS) organization. Throughout her tenure, she has continuously demonstrated exceptional skills and commitment, earning her positions of increasing responsibility within GCS.

Her career progression within GCS included serving as the GCS Portfolio Lead for all late-stage oncology clinical trials.  In this capacity, Ms Haddad was instrumental in leading the GCS Planning Team during the rapid development and launch of our groundbreaking cancer treatment, KEYTRUDA®.

She holds a Bachelor of Science degree in pharmacy from the Philadelphia College of Pharmacy & Science. Her career began at DuPont Pharma, where she gained experience in parenteral development and manufacturing. She later ventured into the clinical supply arena. In 2001, She joined Bristol-Myers Squibb, where she managed clinical drug supply programs in the anti-infective therapeutic area before joining Merck.

Ms Haddad is deeply passionate about her work and the impact it has on the quest to find a cure for cancer. Her dedication and commitment to advancing cancer research are evident in her contributions to her team and the organization.

Chiquita Hanindya is an R&D scientist at BlueWhale Bio specializing in cell therapy. She previously worked at leading biotechnology companies, including AboundBio and Galapagos, focusing on immunotherapy and protein engineering, particularly in CAR-T across various indications and targets. She studied Chemistry at the University of Erlangen-Nuremberg before continuing her education in Biochemistry at the Nuremberg Institute of Technology. After gaining experience in academia, she moved into industry, starting her career at A.W. Faber-Castell before transitioning to biotechnology. With a strong foundation in research and a passion for innovation, Chiquita is committed to advancing groundbreaking therapies that drive meaningful progress in cell therapy.

As deputy director of MUSC Hollings Cancer Center, William Hawkins, MD, focuses on strengthening translational research and increasing clinical trials across South Carolina. With a longstanding commitment to leadership, patient care, education and research, Hawkins has expertise in investigating pancreatic cancer. He is also a professor in the Department of Surgery at MUSC and in the Division of Surgical Oncology.

Catherine Hines, PhD is the Executive Director and Head of Clinical Imaging at GSK. The mission of GSK’s clinical imaging group to apply, seek, and develop impactful imaging biomarkers for informed clinical decision making. Dr Hines’ organization is responsible for enabling single-site exploratory or enabling imaging studies as well as registrational and multicenter imaging studies for all disease indications. In order to deliver future endpoints and biomarkers, Dr Hines and her team actively anticipate and develops imaging solutions through collaborations with external consultants, academic institutions, and CROs to meet the varied needs of GSK. Current active areas of engagement reside in imaging of neurodegeneration, ImmunoPET, analytics and data re-use; and enhancing relationships within and external to GSK.

Prior to joining GSK, Dr Hines led a multimodality preclinical imaging group within Translational Medicine, where she also was an MRI physicist supporting various MRI and CT applications throughout the Merck pipeline, with emphasis on Safety Assessment, and cardiac and abdominal imaging.

Dr Hines obtained her PhD in Biomedical Engineering and was a Post-Doctoral Fellow in Radiology at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. She has co-led or initiated multiple consortia, including those for DART, IMI, and Parkinson’s Disease, led internship and co-op programs to foster diversity and inclusion efforts, is an active member of the International Society of Magnetic Resonance in Medicine (ISMRM), and is a reviewer for multiple NIH grant programs.

William Ho is our co-founder and CEO has worked in the biotech industry for over 22 years. Previously he founded AlephPoint Capital, a private healthcare investment fund and launched the public and cross-over portfolio at New Leaf Venture Partners, a leading healthcare venture capital firm. He has held numerous roles across company operations and Wall Street over his career. Mr Ho received his MBA from the University of Notre Dame and a BS in Biochemistry from McMaster University.

Axel Hoos, MD, PhD, was most recently the CEO of Scorpion Therapeutics. Prior to this, Dr Hoos was Senior Vice President and Therapeutic Area Head, Oncology R&D at GlaxoSmithKline Pharmaceuticals (GSK).

As leader of the Oncology TA he oversaw both its discovery and development functions and built the Oncology portfolio of GSK across several modalities including antibodies, small molecules, bispecific molecules and cell & gene therapies. The TA’s scientific focus is on Immuno-Oncology, Epigenetics and Cell Therapy. Dr Hoos also served on the Scientific Advisory Board of the HIV Cure Center, a co-venture of GSK and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Dr Hoos further serves as Executive Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the Sabin Vaccine Institute (SVI), a Global Health organization, Non-executive Director on the Board of Imugene, a biotech company, Co-Chairman of the Cancer Immunotherapy Consortium (CIC) and Scientific Advisory Board Member of the Cancer Research Institute (CRI). He further is a Scientific Advisory Group member at the Parker Institute for Cancer Immunotherapy (PICI), and Industry Co-Chair of the Partnership for Acceleration Cancer Therapies (PACT) of the US Cancer Moonshot.

His efforts in Medicines Development and Global Health focus on novel and transformational therapies for life-threatening diseases, scientific and procedural innovation, and broad collaboration across multiple constituents to solve complex health problems. Through his leadership, a new paradigm for the development of cancer immunotherapies has been defined, which helped launch the field of Immuno-Oncology.

Previously, Dr Hoos was the Global Medical Lead in Immunology/Oncology at Bristol-Myers Squibb (BMS) where he developed Yervoy (Ipilimumab), the first life-extending therapy in Immuno-Oncology. Before BMS, Dr Hoos was Senior Director of Clinical Development at Agenus Bio (previously Antigenics), a biotech company.

Dr Hoos holds an MD from Ruprecht-Karls-University and a PhD in molecular oncology from the German Cancer Research Center (DKFZ) both in Heidelberg, Germany. He trained in surgery at the Technical University in Munich, Germany and further in surgery, molecular pathology and tumor immunology at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York City. He is an alumnus of the Program for Leadership Development at Harvard Business School.

Dr. Huang is a scientist, inventor and serial biotech entrepreneur. She has over 20 years of entrepreneurial and operation experience in the U.S. and Chinese biotechnology industries, building companies from inception. As Co-founder and CEO of BeyondSpring Inc (NASDAQ: BYSI), she is developing innovative cancer therapies with a first-in-class asset, plinabulin, in late-stage clinical development in lung cancer and other solid tumors. In addition, she co-founded SEED Therapeutics, a Target Protein Degradation (TPD) company with investment and R&D collaborations with two global pharma Eli Lilly and Eisai. Prior to founding BeyondSpring and SEED Therapeutics, Dr. Huang co-founded Wuxi MTLH Biotechnology Co. Ltd., where the rights related to the China market of a peptide drug which she designed were sold to Shanghai Pharmaceutical Co.. Additionally, Dr. Huang co-founded Paramax International Inc., a clinical trial CRO, which was acquired by ReSearch Pharmaceutical Services, Inc., and subsequently acquired by Warburg Pincus. Dr. Huang was trained as a research fellow at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, where her ground-breaking work solving the structure of the first E3 ligase in the TPD field was published in Science in 1999. Dr. Huang received her Ph.D. in Chemistry from the University of California at Berkeley. In addition, she attended the Harvard Business School Executive Education program.

Rachel Humphrey, MD has over 25 years of experience in clinical drug development, particularly in the field of cancer treatments and immunotherapies. Highlights of her career include leading the development of multiple blockbuster cancer therapies: the CTLA-4 inhibiting immunotherapy Yervoy® (ipilimumab) at BMS, the PD-L1 inhibiting immunotherapy Imfinzi® (durvalumab) at AstraZeneca, and the kinase inhibitor cancer drug Nexavar® (sorafenib) at Bayer. After working at these big pharmaceutical companies, Dr Humphrey took her drug development expertise to emerging biotech companies, where she served in the role of Chief Medical Officer at Black Diamond Therapeutics, CytomX Therapeutics and Mirati Therapeutics, respectively. She previously served on the Board of Directors of CytomX Therapeutics and Xilio Therapeutics, respectively, and currently serves on the Board of Directors of Pyxis Therapeutics and Sporos Bioventures. Dr Humphrey started her career as an oncology fellow and staff physician at the National Cancer Institute. She received her training in internal medicine at The Johns Hopkins Hospital, her MD from Case Western Reserve Medical School, and her BA from Harvard University.

Randi Isaacs, MD, has served as Chief Medical Officer since November 2020. Previously, from May 2010 until November 2020, Dr Isaacs held roles of increasing responsibility as Clinical Program Leader, Deputy Site Head, and, from August 2015 to November 2020, Executive Director and Clinical Site Head of Translational Clinical Oncology at the Novartis Institutes for Biomedical Research. She previously held executive leadership roles in oncology and clinical development at Merck, Schering Plough and Sandoz. Prior to transitioning to the biopharmaceutical industry, Dr Isaacs held various academic appointments, including Assistant Professor of Medicine in the Division of Hematology/Oncology at the State University of New York Health Sciences Center and Clinical Assistant Professor of Hematology/Oncology at the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey. Dr Isaacs has served on the clinical advisory board of C4 Therapeutics, Inc., since May 2021. Dr Isaacs also serves on the Scientific Advisory Board of MMF Investment Fund, a not-for-profit entity, and Tiga Tx, Inc., a privately held entity. Dr Isaacs earned her BA in Chemistry from Wellesley College and holds an MD with honors from Dartmouth Medical School. She completed her residency and postdoctoral training at the University of California San Francisco and University of Pennsylvania and hematology/medical oncology fellowship training at the Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center.

Petr Jordan, PhD is the CTO and a founding member of Onc.AI, leading technology development, scientific collaborations, and intellectual property strategy. Dr Jordan has deep expertise in medical imaging, machine learning, oncology, and medical physics. Previously, he was a Senior Staff Data Scientist at Varian Medical Systems, focusing on machine learning for radiation therapy, including treatment planning and image guidance. Before that, he was the Imaging Research Manager at Accuray, developing algorithms for CyberKnife and TomoTherapy systems. Dr Jordan holds a PhD in Medical Engineering and Medical Physics from the Harvard-MIT HST program, an MS from Harvard University, and a BS in Computer Engineering from Lipscomb University. He also completed medical school coursework and clinical training at Harvard Medical School. He is an inventor on 34 granted and 2 pending US patents.

Michael Kalos, PhD, is an internationally recognized expert in T cell therapy and immunotherapy, and brings over 25 years of experience and expertise in cell therapy, oncology vaccines, and immuno-oncology.

Most recently Dr Kalos served as Executive Vice President and Head of R&D at ArsenalBio, a synthetic biology-based cell therapy start-up. At ArsenalBio Michael played a key role to develop the corporate R&D strategy, and had direct remit to establish the product development organization and the strategy for the company’s first product. Prior to ArsenalBio Dr Kalos served as Vice President of Immuno-oncology and Oncology Cell Therapies at Janssen, the pharmaceutical companies of Johnson and Johnson, where he led corporate internal and external strategy and efforts in cell therapy, neoantigen vaccines, and immuno-oncology. Prior to Janssen, Dr Kalos served as Chief Scientific Officer of immuno-oncology at Eli Lilly and Company, where he established and led internal and external corporate strategy in immuno-oncology, including biologics, bi-specifics, vaccines, and cell therapy. Prior to joining the biopharmaceutical sector, Dr Kalos spent 10 years in academia, where he focused on the development of integrated translational biomarker programs to support the development of cell therapy and immunotherapy programs. The laboratory he founded and directed at the University of Pennsylvania played a key role in the success of the cell therapy program at Penn, including clinical development of the CTL019 program that was licensed to Novartis and led to the approval of Kymriah.

Dr Kalos obtained his PhD from the University of Minnesota, and completed post-doctoral training in the laboratory of Phil Greenberg at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center.

Dr Kalos has co-authored over 85 peer-reviewed manuscripts, including multiple highly cited articles in high-impact journals that have helped define the space of CAR- and TCR- based T cell therapy, as well as book chapters in the field of cancer immunotherapy, and has 26 issued patents in the field of cell therapy, immunotherapy, and vaccines. He actively serves and has served as an advisory member for biopharmaceutical companies, as well as international immunotherapy consortia and societies.

Vikram Kansra, PhD brings 25 years of experience in the biotechnology industry to Vicero, including significant contributions to the development and approvals of Velcade® (multiple myeloma and mantle lymphoma), Entyvio® (ulcerative colitis and Crohn’s disease), Opdivo® (several cancers), Yervoy® (melanoma), Copiktra® (chronic lymphocytic leukemia and follicular lymphoma), Xpovio® (multiple myeloma and diffuse large B-cell lymphoma), Tazverik® (follicular lymphoma and epithelioid sarcoma), and others.

With a focus on organizational excellence and full integration of high-performance teams with diverse backgrounds, Dr Kansra's leadership enables Vicero to successfully meet the demands of the regulatory and marketing environment, bringing next-generation nanobody therapies from the bench to the clinic and beyond.

Varun Kapoor, PhD, is the Senior Director of Translational Medicine at Coherus Biosciences. He brings in more than 10 years of research and development experience in immuno-oncology therapies to help establish and advance translational and biomarker strategies. He completed his post-doctoral training in the cancer-immunology department at Genentech Inc. and earned his doctoral degree in immunology-virology from University of Massachusetts Medical School, Worcester. He believes that translational research holds the key to success of future immuno-oncology trials. He is passionate about his work as it gives him an opportunity to see drug discovery translate into clinical benefit for patients.

TBA

Rajiv Kaul is a portfolio manager in the Equity division at Fidelity Investments.

In this role, Mr Kaul manages Fidelity Select Biotechnology Portfolio. Additionally, he is responsible for covering biotechnology stocks.

Prior to assuming his current responsibilities, Mr Kaul managed Fidelity Advisor Biotechnology Fund, Fidelity Growth Strategies Fund, Fidelity Advisor Growth Strategies Fund and VIP Growth Strategies Portfolio. Previously, he followed emerging telecommunications equipment stocks and managed Select Communications Equipment Portfolio and Select Biotechnology Portfolio. He has been in the financial industry since joining Fidelity's Equity research department in 1996.

Mr Kaul earned his bachelor of arts degree from Harvard. He is also a member of the research advisory council at Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH), the research hospital of Harvard Medical School.

Andy Kinley, Ph.D. is Vice President of Operational Strategy at Precision for Medicine. He is a clinical researcher with over 25 years of combined experience leading basic and clinical research in oncology and hematology. His early scientific career focused on cancer cell signaling, setting a foundation to complement his clinical research roles in trial design and implementation of effective strategies for oncology clinical trials. Dr. Kinley specializes in immuno-oncology trials (checkpoint inhibitors, T-cell agonists, bispecifics, cytokines, oncolytic viruses, neoantigen cancer vaccines), including autologous and allogeneic adoptive cell therapies (CAR-T, TCR, TIL, NK cells).

Dejan Knezevic, PhD, currently manages biopharma partnerships at Natera. Before joining Natera, Dr Knezevic completed his postdoctoral fellowship at Genentech & Roche Pharmaceuticals. He most recently served as the Senior Director of Business Development at Guardant Health. He received his PhD in Genetics/Physiology from Yale University.

Delfi Krishna, PhD, MBA joined Immatics in Jan 2021 and is responsible for late-stage development of cell therapies. Dr Krishna has nearly 20 years of experience from discovery to commercialization across 15 biologics and 11 different cell therapies. During her PhD at Georgia Institute of Technology, she designed efficient and targeted retroviral and lentiviral vectors for gene delivery in human cells. After she completed her post doctorate, she worked at GlaxoSmithKline in biologics and cell therapy development. She led large matrix teams to deliver process, product strategy and regulatory submissions for several monoclonal antibodies, domain antibodies and antibody drug conjugates. She executed strategies to reduce cost and increase speed and agility in all phases of development from pre-clinical, through clinical proof of concept, launch and post launch. She designed and delivered technology, portfolio, organizational and talent strategy for the cell therapy business unit. In her current role at Immatics she leads a cross functional medicine development team to bring autologous cell therapies to market. She has recently completed her MBA from MIT Sloan School of Management. Her leadership mission is to inspire colleagues to join her in bringing innovative medicines to patients and while they do so, to help them find their highest potential, their most confidence voice and have loads of fun while we break boundaries together. In her free time, she likes to run science experiments with her daughter and dream about doing T-cell experiments aboard the international space station.

Dr. Gopal B. Krishnan is the Biologics Portfolio manager at Promega Corporation based in Madison, WI, USA. His group develops and manages products used in development of Biologics drugs spanning applications like mAb therapy, Cell, Gene, RNA therapies and vaccine development. Promega Biologics ensures innovative tools meet market needs by overseeing product lifecycles, market research and cross-team collaborations. Dr. Krishnan's presentation and discussion will focus on products like Lumit® Immunoassays, HiBiT® TCK Assays, Fc Effector, Immune checkpoint and Cytokine Growth factor bioassays as well as HiBiT®-PsVLP Bioassays, widely used in therapeutic development, cell and gene therapy, RNA QC, and vaccines. 

Dr. Gopal Krishnan earned a Ph.D. from the National Institute of Immunology, New Delhi, completed postdoctoral training at the University of Wisconsin, Madison, and holds an MBA from Colorado State University. With a strong background in science and its practical applications, Dr. Krishnan combines technical expertise with strategic business insight to advance innovation in the life sciences industry.

Michael Ku, PharmD is Vice President of Global Clinical Supply (GCS) within the Medicinal Sciences organization of Pfizer’s Worldwide Research, Development and Medical. Dr Ku has over 25 years of biopharmaceutical experience and currently provides strategic leadership for clinical supply chain functions in support of Pfizer’s clinical trials in over 70 countries. His intellectual curiosity and focus on technology and innovation drive his passion to lead the global clinical supply chain to deliver breakthroughs to patients, especially with the COVID-19 vaccine program.

Prior to joining Pfizer, Dr Ku was the Global Head and Vice President of Clinical Pharmacy Research Services (CPRS) at Genzyme Corporation. He also held several roles of increasing responsibility at Astra Pharmaceuticals (currently AstraZeneca) and Novopharm Limited (currently Teva Canada Limited) in the areas of Clinical Research, Pharmacovigilance, Regulatory Affairs and Quality Assurance.

Having a deep appreciation for talent development and motivated by helping Pfizer colleagues thrive, Dr Ku shares his leadership skills with a focus on diversity and inclusion by serving as the Executive Leader of the Global Asian Alliance Enterprise Colleague Resource Group (GAA ECRG).

Inspired by helping to unleash the potential for pharmacists globally at Pfizer, Dr Ku also serves as an Executive Sponsor for the Pfizer Pharmacy Association (PPA) and founded the Pfizer/MCPHS Biopharmaceutical Fellowship Program as its Program Director and Assistant Professor of Pharmacy Practice at MCPHS University.

Dr Ku currently serves as an Advisor to the Board of Directors of Excir Corporation (www.excir.com) and the International Society of Pharmaceutical Engineers (www.ispe.org). He chairs the Clinical Supply Leadership Forum (CSLF) and is a founding member of the Innovation Outreach Program (IOP). In 2018, he received the prestigious Outstanding 50 Asian Americans in Business Award.

Dr Ku’s educational background includes a Doctor of Pharmacy and Bachelor’s Degree in Pharmacy from MCPHS University as well as a Master’s Degree in Business Administration from Anna Maria College. He also holds a Bachelor of Science Degree in Toxicology from the University of Toronto and is a graduate of the General Management Program from Harvard Business School.

Olga Kubassova, PhD is the founder and president of Image Analysis Group. With a strong foundation in mathematics, Dr Kubassova and IAG’s team are passionately committed to accelerating drug development and improving chances of clinical trials to succeed. Her expertise is reflected in a proven track record of driving operational excellence and fostering innovation across complex global clinical trials and business ecosystems. She is an internationally recognized scientist and speaker, focusing her efforts on helping biotech and pharma companies in leveraging the power of data, AI, and digital technologies to refine clinical trial design, execution, and data analysis. Her expertise and publications encompass many therapeutic areas, including oncology, immunology, gastroenterology, and neurosciences. Her current focus is on building impactful collaborations that will shape the future of clinical development and offer innovative solutions to longstanding challenges.

John Kurland, PhD, is a Global Product Leader for Immuno-Oncology with a focus on Gastrointestinal and Head and Neck Cancers. In this position, he has been accountable for leading IO development teams driving strategy, trial execution, and commercial launch preparation for durvalumab, tremelimumab, and other IO agents, and he has overseen the successful registration of immunotherapy regimens for hepatocellular carcinoma and biliary tract cancers.  Dr. Kurland brings some 14 years of IO development experience, having held prior IO-focused roles in commercial strategy and translational medicine at AstraZeneca and as a clinical biomarker lead working on pharmacodynamics and diagnostic strategies for ipilimumab and nivolumab at BMS.

Dr. Kurland earned a BS in Biochemistry at The Pennsylvania State University and a PhD in Cancer Biology at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center. He completed his postdoctoral studies at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory where he was a Lymphoma Research Foundation Fellow.

Adam Laing, PhD, is an experienced life sciences operator and systems immunologist with over 15 years of experience working in academia and industry. Focusing on building tools to generate, analyze and interpret large-scale, complex immunology data sets, Dr Laing has led several ambitious systems immunology research programs spanning transplantation, cancer, immunogenetics and infectious diseases.

Ashley Lakner joined Roche in May of 2023 and currently leads our Global Oncology Drug Discovery organization within pRED Oncology. Prior to stepping into this role she served as the Head of Strategy. Before joining Roche, Ashley was a member of the Oncology Development Leadership Team within Strategic Business Unit Oncology at Bayer, working cross functionally to develop, deliver, and execute Bayer Oncology’s new strategic roadmap. Prior to this role, Ashley served as the Head of Precision Molecular Oncology Research within Bayer R&D (Berlin, Germany & Cambridge, MA, USA). In addition to delivering a successful discovery pipeline, she served as Site Head of the new Bayer Research & Innovation Center in Cambridge, MA, USA.

Prior to joining the pharmaceutical industry she continued her academic research pursuits at the German Cancer Research Center in Heidelberg, Germany. Ashley holds a Ph.D. in Molecular Biology from University of North Carolina at Charlotte and completed Postdoctoral Research Fellowships in the Department of General Surgery & the Department of Internal Medicine at the Cannon Research Center within Carolinas Medical Center, in Charlotte, NC, USA.

Mark Landers is Vice President of Precision Medicine at Akoya Biosciences and has over 25 years experience in oncology diagnostics. Prior to joining Akoya, Mark held leadership positions at Epic Sciences, Guardant Health and Exact Sciences. Leveraging a strong technical background from years in R&D, he has successfully brought multiple diagnostic tests and companion diagnostics to market.

Theresa LaVallee, PhD, has more than 25 years of biopharmaceutical and research experience with a broad knowledge in the discovery and development of drugs. She has advanced diagnostics and drugs in oncology, immunology and inflammatory diseases from discovery through late state development. Prior to joining Coherus Biosciences as Chief Development Officer, she was Vice President, Translational Medicine and Regulatory Affairs at the Parker Institute for Cancer Immunotherapy (PICI).   

Before PICI, Dr LaVallee held executive roles in drug development with Celldex Therapeutics and Kolltan Pharmaceuticals and was part of the team that built the immune-oncology (IO) portfolio at Medimmune/AstraZeneca working on the clinical development and regulatory packages for multiple checkpoint inhibitors and PD-L1 diagnostic. Dr LaVallee started her career at EntreMed and worked on the initial clinical development of thalidomide and thalidomide analogs. She has a depth of expertise in regulatory strategy to enable science driven development decisions and quality regulatory packages.   

Dr LaVallee has spent most of her career working on advancing oncology drugs that can improve the survival and quality of life for cancer patients. She has been key in building successful teams, organizations and collaborations.

She is author or co-author of more than 50 publications and abstracts. She received her PhD degree from University of California, Los Angeles and her BA degree from the University of California, Santa Barbara.

Andy Lee is Senior Vice President and Head, Global Clinical Trial Operations (GCTO). In this role, Mr Lee leads and manages GCTO, with particular focus on global, in-patient clinical trials, designed and executed to meet cost, speed and quality standards. Mr Lee is also responsible for the design and study/data management of clinical protocols in all regions and countries, as well as the tools, systems and processes to conduct Merck clinical trials.

Mr Lee joined Merck in September 2014 from Sanofi, where he served as Senior Vice President and Deputy Head of Clinical Sciences and Operations (CSO) and Head of the CSO Clinical Operations Cluster. In addition to directing the CSO, Mr Lee led the integration of Sanofi with Genzyme, where he was Senior Vice President, Global Clinical Operations. Earlier in his career, he spent more than 16 years in a range of positions of increasing responsibility at Pfizer.

Mr Lee holds leadership positions in a number of professional societies, including the role of Treasurer of TransCelerate Biopharma, Inc, a non-profit organization that comprises the world’s leading pharmaceutical and biotech companies. He also serves as a member of the TransCelerate Operating Committee. Mr Lee received his Masters in Bioenergetics and Physiology from Ball State University in Indiana and two undergraduate degrees from Rhodes University in South Africa.

David Leung, MD, PhD, joined Daiichi-Sankyo in April 2023 as Head of Imaging. Dr Leung is a dual board-certified radiologist and nuclear medicine physician.

Before Daiichi-Sankyo, Dr Leung served as Vice President, Discovery and Translational Medicine at RefleXion Medical since December 2021. Prior to that, Dr Leung headed oncology imaging at Bristol-Myers Squibb since 2015, during which he also led novel PET tracer development and imaging biomarkers into clinical trials. Prior to industry, Dr Leung was a practicing academic radiologist and the modality chief in nuclear medicine at Columbia University Medical center, where he maintains an adjunct professorship. Dr Leung also serves as a member of the New York State Board for Medical Physics.

Dr Leung earned his medical degree as part of the NIH medical scientist training program from College of Physicians and Surgeons at Columbia University, along with a PhD in chemistry. Dr Leung’s research interests include developing novel imaging biomarkers and PET radiotracers for oncology and other therapeutic areas to improve health care outcomes.

Dr Timothy London is the Director of Molecular Biology & Cell Engineering at RoukenBio, where he leads the development of cutting-edge cell line engineering platforms and novel solutions. With a PhD in Molecular Biology from the University of Cambridge, Dr London has over a decade of experience in biopharmaceutical research, including MedImmune where he was involved in antibody discovery and optimization campaigns, and TC BioPharm, where he played a pivotal role in developing early-stage CAR-T programs. At RoukenBio, he has spearheaded innovations in inducible expression systems and expanded the company’s services to include custom cell line engineering. Dr London is a co-inventor on multiple patents in CAR-T therapies and cell line development. Passionate about advancing therapeutics that improve patient outcomes, he thrives on tackling the unique challenges presented by diverse client projects. Join Dr London at IO360 to learn how RoukenBio’s cutting-edge solutions like IndEx-2 can accelerate your therapeutic development.

Peter Luo, PhD is the Co-Founder and has served as the Chief Executive Officer since November 2011 and Chairman of the Board of the Directors since February 2018. Dr Luo served as the first lead scientist in computational protein design and protein laboratory at Xencor (Nasdaq: XNCR) from July 1998 to August 2000. In September 2000, Dr Luo founded Abmaxis Inc. and served as its Co-Founder, Chief Technology Officer, president, and director. In May 2006, Dr Luo led the acquisition of Abmaxis Inc. by Merck & Co. (NYSE: MRK), after which Dr Luo served as a director of Biologics Technology at Merck, and Chief Technology Officer of Abmaxis, the subsidiary of Merck & Co. Throughout his career, Dr Luo also led the business development efforts in connection with collaborations and strategic partnerships with multiple global partners. Dr Luo received his bachelor’s degree in applied chemistry in technical physics from Peking University in 1986, master’s degree in applied physics from The Institute of High Energy Physics of the Chinese Academy of Sciences in 1989, and PhD degree in chemistry from The University of Chicago in 1995. Dr Luo also completed his postdoctoral research in protein folding at Stanford University in 1998.

Crystal L Mackall MD is the Ernest and Amelia Gallo Family Professor of Pediatrics and Medicine at Stanford University, the Founding Director of the Stanford Center for Cancer Cell Therapy, Associate Director of the Stanford Cancer Institute, Leader of the Cancer Immunotherapy Program and Director of the Parker Institute for Cancer Immunotherapy @ Stanford. During a 27-year tenure at NCI culminating as Chief of the Pediatric Oncology Branch and Head of the Immunology Section and since 2016 at Stanford, she has led an internationally recognized translational research program focused on immune-oncology. Her work has advanced understanding of fundamental immunology and translated this understanding for the treatment of human disease with a major focus on children’s cancers. She has led numerous first-in-human and first-in-child clinical trials spanning dendritic cell vaccines, cytokines, and adoptive immunotherapy using NK cells and genetically modified T cells. Her work is credited with identifying an essential role for the thymus in human T cell regeneration (NEJM 1995) and discovering IL-7 as the master regulator of T cell homeostasis (Blood 2001, J Exp Med 2008). Her group was among the first to demonstrate impressive activity of CD19-CAR in pediatric leukemia (Lancet 2015), developed a CD22-CAR that is the only active salvage therapy for CAR19 resistant B cell malignancies (Nat Med 2018, J Clin Onc 2020, Blood 2021), demonstrated preclinical activity of GD2 targeting CARs for pediatric diffuse intrinsic pontine glioma (Nat Med 2018), demonstrated superiority of regional CNS delivery of CAR T cells for brain tumors (Nat Med 2020) and demonstrated impressive clinical activity of GD2-CAR T cells in this disease (NCT04196413), which is among the first to demonstrate significant and consistent activity of CAR T cells in solid cancers (Nature 2022). Her group identified T cell exhaustion as a major feature CAR T cell potency (Nat Med 2015), created the first exhaustion-resistance (Nature 2019) and exhaustion-reversal platforms (Science 2021), developed a best-in-class regulatable “remote-controlled” CAR T cell platform (Cell, 2022) and discovered a role for mediator kinase in regulating T cell differentiation (Science 2022). She has received numerous awards, including election to the National Academy of Medicine, American Society of Clinical Investigation and American Academy of Physicians, and she is afellow of the AACR Academy. She received Smalley Award for outstanding contributions to cancer immunotherapy from the Society for the Immunotherapy of Cancer, the AACR-St.Baldrick’s Distinguished Achievement Award for Pediatric Cancer Research, and the Nobility in Science Award from the Sarcoma Foundation of America. She has published over 250 manuscripts, her h-index in November 2022 according to google scholar is 96 and founded 3 biotech companies. Crystal is Board Certified in Pediatrics, Pediatric Hematology-Oncology and Internal Medicine.

Dr Kirsteen (Kirsty) Maclean is a Principal Scientist within Scientific Affairs at NeoGenomics with over 20 years of leadership experience addressing academic, clinical, biotechnology, CROs, and pharmaceutical industries through clinical/technical communication, sales support, and market intelligence. Before joining NEO, Dr Maclean was the Senior Scientific Director at Ultivue overseeing digital pathology applications using multiplexed immunofluorescence technology for improved biomarker identification to advance performance of translational workflows and how we think about clinical trial design in the future. Previously, Dr Maclean held leadership roles in commercial development and scientific communications at TelesisBio, Definiens (now part of AstraZeneca), Nanostring and ThermoFisher Scientific. With over 35 peer reviewed publications and several book chapters, she holds a PhD in Hematology from University College London and a BS (Hons) in Biochemistry from Glasgow Caledonian University and extensive academic clinical leadership experience from St. Jude Childrens’ Research Hospital in Memphis TN.

B. Dusty Majumdar, PhD is a seasoned leader in Precision Healthcare with more than 20 years of experience in building and successfully launching innovative technologies across oncology, multi-omics, Real-World Evidence (RWE). diagnostic imaging and liquid biopsy platforms leveraging some of the industry’s most advanced AI platforms, genomic and clinical simulations (digital twins), and emerging medical imaging technologies. Dr Majumdar’s experience includes leading strategy and marketing as the Chief Strategy and Marketing Officer at IBM and multiple commercial and technical leadership roles at GE Healthcare, Exact Sciences and 3M. He has also led the commercial and strategic functions in a range of start-ups in the healthcare/biopharma space over the last few years. Dr Majumdar is a widely respected global leader in the healthcare industry and holds a PhD from the University of Texas at Austin and a bachelor’s degree from the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Kharagpur. He has authored several peer-reviewed scientific publications and holds multiple patents.

Erik Manting, PhD has worked for a number of years as a post-doctoral researcher in the field of immunology before making a career switch to banking in 2001. He has more than 15 years of experience in different commercial and management roles in banking, including five years as Executive Director Corporate Finance at Kempen & Co. He acted as CEO of DCPrime BV since March 2018 and was appointed as CEO of Immunicum AB in March 2021, following the merger between both companies in December 2020. The combined company was renamed Mendus in June 2022. Dr Manting holds a MSc in Medical Biology and a PhD in Molecular Microbiology from the University of Groningen.

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.

Anne-Marie (Annie) Martin, PhD is a Senior Vice President of Precision Medicine R&D at

GSK. She leads a global team responsible for the precision medicine strategy to

deliver all clinical pharmacology, clinical biomarkers and diagnostic development into

pipeline opportunities. In close collaboration across R&D, Dr Martin plays a vital role in

utilizing a precision medicine approach to expedite the development of innovative

therapeutics for treating numerous diseases.

Dr Martin has more than 20 years of experience in the health care and biopharmaceutical

sectors leading the development, implementation and execution of precision medicine

strategies. This has culminated in the approval of more than 15 precision medicines

across multiple diseases and indications, including inflammatory disease, cancer and

neurology. She currently serves on the Cullinan Therapeutics Board, and the FNIH

PACT initiative. Dr Martin has published more than 50 publications in peer-reviewed

journals. She holds a PhD in immunology and molecular biology.

Zdravka Medarova, PhD is Co-Founder and Chief Scientific Officer at TransCode Therapeutics, Inc. Dr. Medarova is a geneticist/ cancer biologist by training and is internationally recognized for her work on non-coding RNA for cancer therapy. She is one of the first to describe the design and application of nanoparticles as carries of siRNA to tumors. Dr. Medarova obtained a B.A. in pre medicine from the University of South Maine in September 1998 and a Ph.D. in Genetics from the University of New Hampshire in December 2001. Prior to joining TransCode, Dr. Medarova served as an Associate Professor of Radiology at Harvard Medical School and an Assistant in Neuroimaging at the Massachusetts General Hospital.

After earning his Bachelor’s Degree from Menlo College, John received an MS from Stanford University and both a MS and PhD from MD Anderson Cancer Center where he discovered that IL-10 directly activates anti-tumor CD8+ T cells. John conducted post-doctoral work for a year at DNAX Research Institute and became a Scientist at Schering Plough where he developed PEGylated IL-10 (AM0010) as an immunoncology asset. He then founded Targenics, later merged with ARMO Biosciences (briefly a publicly traded company), to clinically develop AM0010 and other immune oncology assets. ARMO Biosciences was acquired by Eli Lilly in 2018 for a $1.6B up front deal. As a founder and Senior Director of Technical Operations at ARMO, John led the manufacturing and pre-clinical research teams.

John served as the Director of Immunoncology R&D at Medimmune LLC and is the author of 28 manuscripts and 52 granted or pending patents. After reviewing the immunoncology space for two years at MedImmune and developing such diverse projects as innate and T cell agonists, CART and other cell therapy projects as well as novel immunostimulatory antibody drug conjugates, John has most recently founded Deka Biosciences. Deka is the next generation cytokine development company created to solve the challenges associated with harnessing the massive potential of cytokine therapy. With the challenges in developing T cell agonists and cell therapy programs, it is likely that cytokine combinations coupled with targeting modalities administered in conjunction with precision patient selection will be clear value drivers for the pharmaceutical industry for years to come.

Jayant Narang, MD, is a radiologist by training. He joined Takeda Pharmaceuticals 3 years ago in March 2022 as Senior Medical Director and Clinical Oncology Imaging Lead. He has been in the industry for last 15 years.

Before Takeda, Dr Narang served as Head of hematology and oncology at Calyx, an imaging CRO. He was at Calyx (Parexel/Perceptive) from 2017 to 2022 leading several Oncology and Hematology trials as scientific lead in Parexel. He provided oversight and medical imaging input to these trials and led several of these trials to regulatory approvals. He has a special interest and extensive experience in solid tumors, Lymphoma, Multiple Myeloma, and Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia. He has expertise in trial-specific modifications to commonly used oncology assessment criteria in order to correlate to drug effect evaluated through imaging and clinical data to derive surrogate endpoints. Before Parexel he was a staff radiologist, reading as an independent reviewer at Virtualscopics/Biotelemetry and did reads for hundreds of clinical trials. Before coming to the industry, Dr Narang was a practicing academic radiologist at Nanavati Hospital Mumbai, India with a special interest in MRI. Dr.Narang has published numerous peer-reviewed articles and presented at several international conferences.

Dr Narang has special interests in the application of novel imaging biomarkers in clinical trials such as the use of novel PET tracers, radiomics, tumor growth kinetics and AI/ML to derisk and accelerate oncology drug development.”

Arvind Natarajan, PhD, MBA, is Senior Vice President of Process and Analytical Development at Iovance, where he has worked on development and commercialization of tumor infiltrating lymphocytes (TIL) therapy, lifileucel, for melanoma and other solid tumor indications. He has 25 years of CMC experience in cell and gene therapies, biologics, and vaccines.

Prior to joining Iovance, Dr Natarajan was Global Head of Program Management and Strategy, Cell & Gene Technical Development and Manufacturing at Novartis. Prior to that, he was the Global CMC Lead for Kymriah, the first FDA-approved CAR-T therapy.

Prior to Novartis, Dr Natarajan worked at Merck and Co for 15 years. While at Merck, he worked in biologics on tech transfer and approval of Keytruda, and in vaccines, supporting development, approval, and commercial manufacturing of Zostavax, ProQuad, and Varivax.

Dr Natarajan earned an MBA from Wharton, a PhD in Chemical Engineering from University of Minnesota, a Masters in Microbial Engineering from University of Minnesota, and a Masters in Biology and BE in Electronics and Electrical Engineering from Birla Institute of Technology and Science (BITS) Pilani in India.

Dr. Kuldeep Neote is the incoming CEO of Diadem Biotherapeutics. He is also an Entrepreneur-In-Residence (EIR) at the NIH/NIA. He has held EIR positions at UHN Commercialization and OICR/FACIT and focused on developing commercialization strategies to translate discoveries and creating Biotech spinouts. He also consults for the life sciences healthcare sector, with an extensive background in implementing cutting edge scientific discoveries into practical drug discovery programs. Previously, he was Vice President, External Innovation and responsible for Eli Lilly’s New Venture initiative where he focused on novel therapeutic licensing opportunities and enabled Lilly’s acquisition of Prevail Therapeutics. From 2013-2018, he was Sr. Director, New Ventures at J&J Innovation and responsible for creating New Venture opportunities. He has established several collaborations including two opportunities in Canada and served as the interim Head of JLABS@Canada. Prior to these leadership roles, he was in the Global External R&D at Eli Lilly and responsible for Oncology in-licensing opportunities.

Elliot Norry, MD, FACP has served as Chief Medical Officer (CMO) since January 2020 after having served as acting CMO since August 2019 and has 15 years of experience within the biotech and pharmaceutical industries. Previously, Dr Norry was Vice President and Head of Clinical Safety and Pharmacovigilance at Adaptimmune, and also led Adaptimmune’s alpha-fetoprotein (AFP) T cell receptor (TCR) clinical development program.

He formerly served as Safety Development Leader and was Chair of the Hepatic Safety Panel at GlaxoSmithKline (GSK). Dr Norry joined GSK in 2009, and served in positions of increasing responsibility, including clinical safety for a broad range of early and late stage products, and approval activities for pazopanib for the treatment of soft tissue sarcoma. He was also responsible for hepatic safety strategy and policy across all GSK products.

Prior to his work in the biotech and pharmaceutical industries, Dr Norry practiced adult internal medicine in the Philadelphia area for 13 years. He holds a BA from Columbia College and an MD from New York University. He performed his residency in internal medicine at Temple University Hospital and completed his fellowship in gastroenterology/hepatology at Thomas Jefferson University Hospital.

Tatiana Novobrantseva, PhD is the Chief Scientific Officer at NextPoint Therapeutics. Most recently she served as the CSO of Immuno-oncology at Moderna. In the prior role, she co-founded Verseau Therapeutics and served as CSO, guiding programs from target identification to an advanced novel therapeutics pipeline. Dr Novobrantseva also consulted on drug development program for various companies throughout the years. At Jounce, she directed programs on immune system reactivation against cancer. Dr Novobrantseva held roles at Alnylam and Biogen, uncovering the critical role of B cells in fibrosis, advancing siRNA delivery, and leading a dendritic cell cancer vaccine initiative.

She earned her PhD in B cell immunology from the University of Cologne in Germany in the Laboratory of Klaus Rajewsky. She holds a Diploma in Engineering in Physics and a Master’s degree in Molecular Biology from the Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology.

Deepa Pakianathan, PhD is a Managing Member at Delphi Ventures and leads all of the firm’s biotechnology investment activities. She currently serves on the boards of Alder Biopharmaceuticals (Nasdaq:ALDR), Calithera Biosciences (Nasdaq: CALA), ForSight:Vision5, Karyopharm Therapeutics (Nasdaq:KPTI) and Oncomed Pharmaceuticals (Nasdaq:OMED).

Dr Pakianathan previously served on the boards of Salmedix (acquired by Cephalon), Ilypsa (acquired by Amgen), Proteolix (acquired by Amgen), PTC Therapeutics (Nasdaq:PTCT) and Relypsa(Nasdaq:RYLP). She also led the investments in Cardeas Pharma, KAI Pharmaceuticals (acquired by Amgen), and a PIPE investment in Seattle Genetics (Nasdaq:SGEN).

Dr Pakianathan joined Delphi in 2001 to build and lead the firm’s biotechnology investment practice which focuses on drug discovery and development platform technologies that have resulted in multiple novel drugs, including six that are commercially marketed.

Prior to joining Delphi, Dr Pakianathan was a Vice President in the healthcare group at J.P. Morgan where she was involved in several large healthcare M&A transactions and led public offerings for biotechnology companies that raised over $9 billion. Prior to that, she was a biotechnology research analyst at Genesis Merchant Group. She worked as a postdoctoral scientist in the Immunology Department at Genentech Corporation from 1993 to 1997.

She serves as Vice-Chair of the San Francisco Conservatory of Music’s Board of Trustees.

Dr Pakianathan received her PhD and MS from Wake Forest University and her MSc and BSc from the University of Bombay.

Dr. Pan Pan has a rich and diverse experience spanning over a decade in Business Development, dedicated his efforts to accelerating drug development in oncology and immunology through strategic planning and partnering. His track record of forging creative partnerships includes Kelun’s groundbreaking ADC licensing agreement with Merck, resulting in $1.4 billion in total payments. He also orchestrated the Akeso-Summit partnership around Ivonescimab (PD-1/VEGF bsAb), securing a landmark upfront payment of $500 million and total payments of $5 billion. Dr. Pan’s prior scientific experience as a protein engineer at Arkema Inc complements his business acumen. His ability to deftly navigate both scientific and business domains is owed to his educational background. He holds a PhD in Chemical Biology from Stony Brook University, an MBA from the University of Massachusetts Amherst, and an MS & BS from the School of Pharmacy at Peking University.

Kristin Price, MS, CGC is a Senior Product Director at Guardant Health, a precision oncology company pioneering innovations across the cancer care continuum—from early detection to tools for treatment selection and monitoring in advanced-stage disease. Kristin leads the global product strategy for Guardant’s ctDNA monitoring portfolio, working closely with academic researchers and biopharma partners to advance and validate the clinical utility of liquid biopsy in improving patient outcomes. With over a decade of experience spanning clinical genetics, genomics, and product strategy, Kristin has been instrumental in developing and commercializing innovative ctDNA-based solutions. She has co-authored multiple high-impact publications. Kristin holds an MS in Molecular, Cellular, and Developmental Biology and Genetics from the University of Minnesota and is a board-certified genetic counselor.

Dr. Scott K. Pruitt joined Merck’s Experimental Medicine Division in 2013 before moving to Oncology Early Development in 2015, where he developed and directed the Keynote-158 Keytruda basket trial, with this work culminating in the FDA approval of Keytruda in MSI-H cancer, the first tumor type-agnostic approval of any cancer therapeutic. He also led the clinical team that gained FDA approval of Keytruda in cervical cancer, the first approval of any PD-1/PD-L1 blocker in gynecologic cancer. He then led the Immune Modulating Receptor 2 team for two years, overseeing the early phase development of multiple compounds. He now leads the Translational Oncology team that is responsible for biomarkers and companion diagnostic development for all Merck oncology trials.

Dr. Pruitt obtained his undergraduate degree in Biochemistry from Harvard College, his medical degree from Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons, completed his general surgical residency at Duke Hospital, and obtained his doctorate in Microbiology and Immunology from Duke University. He has devoted over 30 years to immunology and cancer immunotherapy research, initially as a research fellow and resident, and then as a faculty member and practicing surgical oncologist at Duke University and the Durham VA Medical Center. Dr. Pruitt has authored over 80 original, peer-reviewed publications and book chapters related to immunology, cancer immunotherapy, translational research, and surgical oncology.

Dr. Christophe Quéva is the CEO of Egle Therapeutics bringing two decades of experience in immuno-oncology, spanning target identification to clinical trials and regulatory approvals. Before Egle, he founded and led Ovie Therapeutics, a company focused on an innovative treatment for brain cancer. Since 2022, he served as Chief Scientific Officer at DEM BioPharma, driving the development of cancer macrophage-targeting therapies. Prior to this, Dr. Quéva was Chief Scientific Officer at Oncorus, where he advanced next-generation immunotherapies using oncolytic viruses and RNA therapeutics. He also held the same role at iTeos Therapeutics, overseeing the development of a groundbreaking immuno-oncology portfolio. Earlier in his career, Dr. Quéva held leadership roles at Gilead Sciences, Amgen, and AstraZeneca, contributing to oncology and inflammation drug discovery. He holds a Ph.D. in Life and Health Sciences from the University of Lille in France and completed postdoctoral research in cancer biology at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center.

Swayampakula Ramakanth, PhD is a Managing Director of Equity Research at H.C. Wainwright whose research focuses on the healthcare sector. Dr. Ramakanth’s research covers companies operating in oncology, wound health, medical devices, spine health and AI based drug discovery. He possesses over twenty years of experience as a Life Sciences Equity Analyst as well as seven years of biotechnology industry experience.

Prior to joining H.C. Wainwright, Dr. Ramakanth worked as a Junior Analyst at both Jefferies and Merrill Lynch covering large cap pharmaceuticals. Dr. Ramakanth was also a Junior Analyst at both First Albany and Rodman & Renshaw where he focused on biotechnology companies. He also conducted bench research and directed a preclinical drug development group at Regeneron Pharmaceuticals, Inc.

Dr. Ramakanth presented at various regional and international conferences and published in several peer-reviewed journals.
His educational background includes a Ph.D. in Pharmacology/Toxicology from the University of Utah, an MBA from Rutgers University, an M.S. in Pharmaceutics from Auburn University, and a B. Pharm (Hons.) from BITS, India. Dr. Ramakanth also held a post-doctoral fellowship at the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center.

Nathanial "Nat" Ramuthaga, is a Registered Medical Scientist with HPCSA & Registered Natural Scientist with SACNASP. He is also a certified Co-active Coach who is currently working at Roche Pharmaceuticals as Clinical Operations Portfolio Leader (COPL) PDG, SA & SSA and Geo Lead Roche– SA& Africa. Mr Ramuthaga previously held the position of Country Head of Clinical Operations South Africa, Sub-Sahara- Roche PDG. He serves as a member of IPASA Clinical Trials Group. He is also a Member of the South African Clinical Trials Association (SACRA) and a member of Institute of Southern Africa Directors (IODSA). His qualifications include B.Sc. (Unin, now UoL) BSc Hons. MSc. (MEDUNSA, now SMU), diploma in Business Management (Damelin Management School) & post graduate diploma in Marketing Management (PDMA, UNISA). Mr Ramuthaga's work experience includes Research Fellow, Medical Technical officer, Medical Scientist/Lecturer Microbiology (Medical University of Southern Africa MEDUNSA, now SMU). He has published a number of articles of research in peer reviewed journals. He has been in pharma for over 25 years, at Pfizer Global Pharmaceuticals as a Clinical Research Associate/ Senior CRA (CRA); Brand/Product Manager; Clinical Research Manager ; Director of Clinical Research , Senior Regional Head of Clinical Operation - Africa & Middle East; Sr. Director Compliance Oversight for Africa Middle East; Principal Compliance Officer; Trained and practiced as Mentor & Coach, Handling the Press, Ethics Certificate (WITS University). Mr Ramuthaga has done extensive work over 25 years for Capacity building both in South Africa and in sub-Saharan region, Kenya, Mali, Malawi, Uganda, Nigeria, Ghana, Ivory Coast, Benin, Egypt , Gabon etc.

Mr Ramuthaga has General Pharmaceutical Health care consulting as Council Member of the Global Gerson Lehrman Group (GLG) Inc. and Guide point International. He served at St Peters College, Sunninghill, Sandton member Council and as Chairperson of the Marketing subcommittee for 5 years and Chairman of the board for 3 years. He served as a member of the SA Regulatory Authority’s Medicines Control Council (MCC/ SAHPRA). He is a Clinical Trials Review Committee (CTC) member as an Independent Protocol Reviewer. He also served a two-term 3-year period (6 years) representing Pharma as a member of the National Research Ethics Council appointed to Register, Regulate Audit and Oversee Ethics Committees in South Africa as well as advising the Ministry of Health. He has worked on over 500 R&D clinical trials in new and extended chemical entities (NCEs) over these years. He has worked on Capacity building for Ethics and Regulatory Authorities and Investigator training for over 10 years training more than 4000 Investigators, site staff and Ethics Committee members in South Africa and rest of the Continental Africa.

Mr Ramuthaga worked at WITS University as Business Development Manager for WITS University’s Health Consortium for Clinical Research, a wholly owned subsidiary of University of Witwatersrand, 2017/2018.

Jeanne Regnante, at the helm of Patient3i, LLC, ( Patient Insights Inspire Innovation) is dedicated to advancing healthcare strategies that drive meaningful initiatives in patient engagement, community outreach, and inclusive research practices. Her work spans critical therapeutic areas such as cancer, cardiovascular disease, and rare diseases, with a steadfast focus on health equity. Jeanne is proud of her 30+ year career at Merck & Co, Inc. where she was head of global patient engagement and Chief of Staff to the company’s Chief Medical Officer. Patient3i’s team partners with community-based organizations and stakeholders to create programs that resonate with underserved communities , empowering them to take charge of their healthcare journeys. By integrating patient experiences and perspectives into measurable outcomes, Patient3i strives to achieve health equity where people live and receive care. Jeanne has worked with esteemed organizations such as the Tigerlily Foundation, LUNGevity Foundation, and the National Minority Quality Forum, Premier Allied Sciences and several start-up and industry leaders. Her primary focus has always been engaging medically underserved and vulnerable communities, ensuring their voices are heard and their needs addressed through authentic trusted partnerships with community organizations, health systems, cancer centers, and professional groups. “ It’s not health equity unless the patient says so”

Leveraging extensive industry expertise in corporate health and strategy, Jeanne ensures that all communities are represented in healthcare decision-making processes. This approach is informed by patient organizations, community-based groups, and professional associations, and it extends beyond advocacy to encompass strategic partnerships and the promotion of health literacy where she contributes on the Board of Directors at Health Literacy Media, St. Louis Mo. Driven by the belief that patient-focused approaches are essential for creating sustainable healthcare systems and advancing equity, Jeanne actively contributes to peer-reviewed publications, blogs, and public events. These efforts highlight the importance of communicating what works based on representation and patient involvement throughout research and the care continuum. To realize lasting impact, Jeanne advocates for collaboration, mentoring, lifting community-based organizations up and shared learning across public and private sectors, underscoring the power of united action in achieving equitable healthcare for all.

Rosanna Ricafort, MD, is VP and Head, Hematology and Cellular Therapy Development at Bristol Myers Squibb. She is a core member of the BMS Hematology and Cell Therapy Leadership Team, driving the implementation of globally aligned strategies to bring transformational CAR T therapies to patients. She heads the clinical development teams for Breyanzi and Abecma.  In this role, she led the clinical teams in prosecuting successful BLAs for BREYANZI® (lisocabtagene maraleucel) in lymphoma and ABECMA® (idecabtagene vicleucel) in multiple myeloma. Dr Ricafort has been with BMS since 2015 and has held increasing leadership positions in Immuno-Oncology Research and Development.  She was responsible for multiple development programs across solid tumors and hematologic malignancies.  Notably, she led the clinical due diligence of BMS’s acquisition of Celgene, among the largest acquisitions in the healthcare industry to date. 

Prior to joining BMS, Dr Ricafort started her industry career at Celgene, where she supported the multiple myeloma franchise. 

Dr Ricafort is a pediatric hematologist/oncologist and stem cell transplant physician. She established and directed the Pediatric Blood and Marrow Transplantation Program at Montefiore Medical Center, NY, where she held a faculty appointment for over 10 years. She earned her Medical Doctorate at Mount Sinai School of Medicine and completed her fellowship training in Pediatric Hematology and Oncology at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York.  She was a research fellow in MSKCC-Sloan Kettering Institute’s Department of Human Genetics and Immunology working on gene transfer and adoptive cellular therapy strategies in the Sadelain lab.

James Riddle is the Senior Vice President of Global Review Operations at Advarra, the world’s largest provider of ethics, safety, and compliance oversight reviews services. With 25+ years’ experience providing support to the clinical research community, Riddle has operational responsibility for Advarra’s global review services including IRB, IBC, DMC, EAC. In this role, he helps sponsors, CROs, and research sites advance clinical research with a mission to improve human health. Prior to Advarra, Riddle served as a senior leader within the research oversight and compliance office at the world-leading Fred Hutch / University of Washington Cancer Research Center. He also launched and led the consulting division of a major central IRB that became part of Advarra. He also served as Vice President of Operations and Director of Technology at another large central IRB organization. His expertise includes developing and operationalizing processes for maximum efficiency, client satisfaction, and participant protection; development and implementation of technology solutions; and efficient, compliant operation of large clinical research review programs. He has also supported leading pharma companies in building clinical trial processes in the most efficient, effective, and regulatorily compliant ways possible. Riddle is a regular speaker at industry events and has written abundantly on research compliance and efficiency topics. He is also a member of CTTI, NWABR, SASI, and PRIM&R.

David L. Rimm, MD, PhD, is a pathologist who specializes in biomarker assessment in lung and breast cancer and has dedicated much of his career to improving how cancers can be diagnosed through better diagnostic tests or through discovering new molecular biomarkers. As a medical student, Dr. Rimm so enjoyed puzzling over the origins and process of diagnosing a patient’s disease that a mentor suggested he consider specializing in pathology. “It always seemed like the most scientific area of medicine, where you have time to perform research to improve diagnostics for patients,” Dr. Rimm says.His natural inclination toward research pushed Dr. Rimm to sub-specialize in cytopathology, a branch of pathology where diagnoses are based on examining very small samples of patient’s tissue at a cellular level.

Ruben Rodriguez, PhD is an accomplished pharmaceutical research and development leader who brings a wealth of experience in oncology and cell therapy. He has served as the Global Head of Research at InstilBio where he oversaw tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes research efforts and helped drive regulatory milestones. He started his career at Kite Pharma where he developed multiple novel CAR-T constructs and led key collaborations.

Dr Rodriguez earned his PhD in Neurobiology and Molecular Biology at the Hospital Clinic in Barcelona and later conducted his postdoctoral studies at Salk Institute for Biological Studies, advancing the fields of neurobiology and stem cell biology respectively. Contact info to date:

Jonathan E. Rosenberg MD is the Chief of the Genitourinary Oncology Service at the Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center (MSKCC), Attending Physician at Memorial Hospital at MSKCC, and Professor of Medicine at Weill Cornell Medical College. He holds the Enno W. Ercklentz Chair in Genitourinary Oncology.

Dr. Rosenberg received his undergraduate degree from Duke University and his medical degree from Harvard Medical School. Dr. Rosenberg completed his internship and residency in internal medicine at New York Presbyterian Hospital-Cornell Medical Center and Hematology/Oncology Fellowship at UCSF. He had previously served on the faculty at UCSF Comprehensive Cancer Center and the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute prior to coming to MSKCC. Dr. Rosenberg’s research focuses on understanding bladder cancer biology with the goal of developing new therapeutic approaches in bladder cancer. He works closely with laboratory investigators to correlate novel genetic biomarkers with clinical outcomes in bladder cancer.

Rachel Salazar, DHSc, is the SVP, R&D Strategy & Operations at Bicara Therapeutics. A passionate and adaptive organizational leader, Dr Salazar brings more than two decades of experience as a strategic drug development executive in both early and late-stage clinical development. Skilled in strategy development, portfolio management and prioritization, over the past 15 years, Dr Salazar has driven various clinical-stage assets in the oncology and immuno-oncology space to advance therapeutically meaningful and differentiated assets to patients.

Prior to joining Bicara, Dr Salazar has held various leadership roles with increasing responsibility in both R&D and Portfolio Management at Pfizer, Takeda Oncology and EMD Serono.

Dr Salazar holds both a Bachelor and Master of Science in Biomedical Engineering from Washington University in St. Louis and Tufts University and earned her DHSc from Eastern Virginia Medical School.

W. Gregory Sawyer is Chief BioEngineering Officer and Chair of the Department of BioEngineering at the Moffitt Cancer Center in Tampa Florida. Prof. Sawyer has published over 200 journal papers, has over 16,000 citations, holds over 20 patents, and is most proud of his numerous PhD students that are now faculty members and scientists across the globe. He was a member of the original Mars Rover Program (NASA-JPL), a speaker at TED 8, lead the first space-tribology experiments on the International Space Station (ISS), developed novel biomaterials for the ocular surface, and is currently leading efforts in Cancer Engineering.

Andrew Scharenberg, MD is the founder and CEO of Umoja Biopharma, an MPM portfolio company. He also serves as an Executive Partner at MPM Capital, and Chairs the Scientific Advisory Boards at Generation Bio, Genti Bio, and Alpine Immune Sciences.

Prior to founding Umoja, Dr Scharenberg co-directed the Program in Cell and Gene Therapy at Seattle Children’s Research Institute, working to translate cell and gene therapies for the treatment of inherited immunologic and blood diseases. This work led to the development of a program in engineered regulatory T-cells, partnered with Casebia Therapeutics for the purpose of developing a gene edited cell therapeutic for Type I diabetes and other inflammatory diseases. Previously, he was the Chief Scientific Officer of Cellectis Therapeutics, where he initiated the development of an allogeneic CAR T-cell platform, and co-founder of Pregenen Inc., a gene editing and cell-signalling technology company that was acquired by bluebird bio in 2014.

Dr Scharenberg earned his M.D. from the University of North Carolina School of Medicine, and then completed residency at the University of North Carolina Children’s Hospital and his fellowship in immunology at NIH and at the Division of Experimental Pathology, Beth Israel Hospital. From 2000 to 2020, he was an attending Physician at Seattle Children’s Hospital, a Professor in the Department of Pediatrics, and an Adjunct Professor in the Department of Immunology at the University of Washington School of Medicine in Seattle. Dr Scharenberg received the American Pediatric Society/Society for Pediatric Research National Young Investigator Award in 2002. He is an active member of the American Society for Clinical Investigation and the American Pediatric Society.

Prof. Dr Georg Schett was born in 1969 and studied medicine at the University of Innsbruck in Austria, where he completed his doctoral degree in 1994. He worked as an assistant at the Research Institute for Biomedical Aging Research at the Austrian Academy of Sciences until 1996. Afterwards he completed his speciality training for internal medicine at the University of Vienna in 2001, before becoming a specialist physician and then a senior physician in 2004. He completed his habilitation in internal medicine in Vienna in 2003. In 2004, he was a visiting researcher at Amgen in Thousand Oaks, California, USA and qualified as a specialist in rheumatology in the same year. In 2006, he accepted an appointment at the Chair of Internal Medicine at FAU and is also director of the Department of Medicine 3.

Prof. Schett has published more than 760 articles in peer-reviewed journals and, as an expert in his field, he has been invited to more than 660 congresses and conferences. His h-index is 122. He has won a large number of prizes and awards, most recently the Dr. Franciscus Blondel Medal of the city of Aachen for outstanding contributions to the field of rheumatology in 2019. He was previously and is currently involved as principal investigator or speaker in eight third-party funded projects including Collaborative Research Centre 1181 (Checkpoints for Resolution of Inflammation) since 2015, the ERC Synergy Grant (4D+ NanoSCOPE), which started in 2018, and the BMBF funding project ‘MASCARA’ (Molecular Assessment of Signatures Characterizing the Remission of Arthritis), which began in 2020.

Prof. Schett’s scientific expertise is in demand all over the world. In 2009, he was a visiting professor at UCSD (San Diego, CA, USA), in 2012 at the University of Xian and University of Guangzhou (China), in 2014 at the Hospital of Special Surgery (NYC, USA) and at NYU (NYC, USA) in 2018. He is a member of the DFG review board, a reviewer for several academic societies and journals and has collaborated on organising a large number of international congresses. Since his appointment at FAU, he has maintained close links with an ever growing number of national and international collaborations on joint projects with institutions such as the VIB in Ghent, Belgium, the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm, Sweden and the Kennedy Institute of Rheumatology in Oxford, UK.

Emmett Schmidt, MD, PhD, received his undergraduate degree in Biology from Harvard College in 1974 and a simultaneous MA in Biology. He received MD and PhD degrees having attended medical school and graduate school at the Duke University School of Medicine from 1975 to 1981. He completed internship, residency and fellowship in Pediatrics and Infectious Diseases at Boston Children’s Hospital in Boston, Massachusetts.   

Dr Schmidt was at the Massachusetts General Hospital of the Harvard Medical School from 1998 until 2010. Starting as a founding member of the MGH Cancer Center, Dr Schmidt became a full professor in 2004 and served as the Associate Chief of the Department of Pediatrics from 2002 until 2010. Highlights of his research career include: the experimental demonstration that cyclin D1 can function as a driver oncogene in breast cancer; studies of the mechanisms by which cell growth drives cell division; initial demonstrations that c-Myc has a primary function in regulating cell growth; and development of a range of transgenic models of cancers (lymphoma, gastric, HCC, and breast). Clinical highlights of his time at MGH included running a small pediatric HIV unit, co-founding the Pediatric Hospitalist Group and directing the Pediatric Residency from 1996 until 2010. Along the way he was the PI or co-PI for the following: six RO1s, one UO1, and two SPORE projects from the NIH; an ACS RIG; a MacDonnell Scholar grant; as well as grants from the Brain Tumor Society, the Hood Foundation, Sumitomo Pharmaceuticals, and the Pfeiffer Research Foundation. He was elected a member of the two academic Pediatric leadership societies including the Society for Pediatric Research in 1997 and the American Pediatric Society in 2000.

Dr Schmidt joined Merck in 2011.  Initially recruited to Experimental Medicine, his early assignments included the First-in-Human study of MK-8353 (ERK inhibitor), and evaluation of a clinically-derived biomarker for MK-0646 (anti-IGFR) in colorectal cancer. Subsequent studies as part of the Oncology group included a broad portfolio of studies of MK-2206 (AKT inhibitor) encompassing four internal studies, 31 National Cancer Institute-sponsored studies and the I-SPY2 breast cancer collaboration.  Subsequent assignments included clinical lead roles for the vintafolide program, and for the First-in-Human study of MK-4166, an inhibitor of the glucocorticoid-induced TNFR family related gene (GITR). In 2013 Dr Schmidt joined the pembrolizumab team taking on key responsibilities for developing phase 3 registration studies in adjuvant melanoma (053 and 054) as well as the first-line head and neck trial (048). Dr Schmidt has supported successful filing activities for pembrolizumab both within and outside of the United States. As part of the pembrolizumab melanoma team Dr Schmidt was the clinical lead for Keynotes 002, 027, 053, and 054. He has been part of the filing teams for 001, 002, and 006, as well as representing the Melanoma clinical team for global filing activities.

He currently leads the External Collaborations PDT whose studies include over 120 partnered studies of clinical combinations of pembrolizumab and a broad portfolio of other cancer drugs.   

Dr Schmidt was promoted to Vice President Clinical Oncology, External Collaborations in 2022.

With over two decades’ experience in the biotechnology and pharmaceutical industry, Birgit Schultes, PhD brings deep immunology and cell therapy expertise to Intellia. She manages a multidisciplinary team focused on ex vivo applications of CRISPR/Cas9 to generate novel cell therapies for oncology and autoimmune indications. Prior to joining Intellia, Dr Schultes served as senior director, In Vivo and Exploratory Immunology, at Unum Therapeutics (now Cogent Biosciences, Inc.), where she was responsible for its In Vivo team and leading its exploratory immunology efforts. Earlier in her career, Dr Schultes held a variety of translational research roles in biology and immunology at Momenta Pharmaceuticals, United Therapeutics and AltaRex Corp. Additionally, Dr Schultes co-founded and served as scientific advisor at Advanced Immune Therapeutics, a company working to develop novel cancer therapeutics.

Dr Schultes received her MS in Biology and PhD in Immunology from the University of Bonn, Germany, and a degree in Advanced Management Development from Boston University.

Nina Shah MD serves as the Global Head of Multiple Myeloma Clinical Development and Strategy at AstraZeneca. Previously, Nina Shah held the position of Professor of Clinical Medicine at the University of California, San Francisco, and served as an Associate Professor and Fellow at The University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center. Early career experiences include roles as a Postdoctoral Researcher and Resident Physician at Columbia University in the City of New York. Nina Shah completed a Bachelor of Arts in Cognitive Neuroscience at Harvard University and earned a Doctor of Medicine degree from New York University.

David Shames, PhD is currently Vice President and Global Head of Clinical Biomarker and CDx Development, and Biomarker Operations at BeiGene (soon to be renamed BeOne Medicines). Prior to joining BeiGene, David spent 15 years at Genentech in a variety of scientific and leadership positions. Most recently, David was an Executive Director and Senior Fellow in Oncology Biomarker Development at Genentech and led the Cancer Immunotherapy and US Medical Affairs biomarker groups at the company.  While at Genentech, Dr. Shames worked on multiple early- and late-stage development programs including small molecules and antibodies targeting RTK and MAPK signaling, antibody-drug conjugates, cancer immunotherapy agents, as well as marketed products such as Tarceva, Avastin, and most recently Tecentriq.  Dr Shames’ research interests involve understanding the pathogenesis of solid tumors as well as the development of novel predictive diagnostic technologies for lung cancer as well as other solid tumors.  Most recently his group has focused on the development of blood-based approaches such as ctDNA detection for patient selection and treatment monitoring in the early and metastatic setting.  Dr Shames obtained his PhD in molecular and cellular biology as well as extensive training in translational lung cancer research at UT Southwestern (UTSW) in John Minna’s lab.  While at UTSW David’s research focused on the development of technologies for the early detection of cancer as well as the impact of epigenetic and genetic changes that occur during the pathogenesis of lung cancer.

Millie Shultz is currently serving as the Head of Site and Country Operations in the Americas for the Pfizer Oncology Division. She is responsible for overseeing site relationships and clinical study deliverables within the region.  

Prior to her time at Pfizer, she began her career working through various oncology focused roles in the CRO environment. She then moved to Millennium, where she worked her way through various leadership roles as part of Millennium and Takeda. She later joined Merck as an Oncology Indication Lead, leading Keytruda clinical trials focused on hematology and genitourinary cancers. From there she joined Seagen, leading a global clinical trial operations team and supporting a robust ADC-focused pipeline across multiple tumor types.

John Simmons, PhD, currently leads oncology biopharma partnerships at Natera. Before joining Natera, Dr Simmons completed his postdoctoral fellowship at the National Cancer Institute (NCI) and served as Vice President of Translational Medicine at Personal Genome Diagnostics (PGDx). He received his PhD in Tumor Biology from Georgetown University.

Dr. Joanne Smith-Farrell is a mission-driven executive whose career has been dedicated to leading teams in conquering cancer, genetic diseases, and other life-limiting conditions. As CEO and Director of Be Biopharma since February 2021, she guides a diverse team of scientists, drug developers, clinicians, and manufacturing specialists in pioneering a new class of in vivo biologics—engineered B cell medicines—to deliver previously impossible solutions for patients with both rare and prevalent diseases.

Before joining Be Biopharma, Dr. Smith-Farrell served as Chief Operating Officer and Business Unit Head, Oncology at bluebird bio. In that role, she and her team built a robust oncology business, marked by breakthroughs such as Abecma—the first-in-class CAR-T therapy for multiple myeloma. She has also held executive positions at Merck, Pfizer, and Gene Logic, and began her career as a consultant with The Boston Consulting Group.

Dr. Smith-Farrell completed her post-doctoral research in biomedical engineering in Professor Robert Langer’s lab at the Harvard-MIT Division for Health Science and Technology, supported by the NIH National Service in Research Award Fellowship. She earned her Ph.D. in physics from The Catholic University of America—where she was recognized as a Herzfeld Scholar and Hubbard Fellow—and holds a B.S. in physics and mathematics from Vanderbilt University.

Before Teiko, Ramji was Cofounder, CEO and Chairman of Counsyl, a women’s health genetic screening laboratory. Counsyl screened over 1M prospective parents, mothers-to-be and women at risk of hereditary cancer. In 2018, Counsyl was acquired by Myriad Genetics, Inc for $375M in cash and stock.

Ramji earned a B.S. in computer science and an M.S. in financial mathematics, both from Stanford University. Ramji also attended Stanford’s Graduate School of Business before dropping out to start Counsyl.

Jennifer Stewart, PhD, has devoted her career to oncology research with an immunology focus. She has worked in both academia and the CRO (contract research organization) space for more than 25 years. Throughout her career she has been involved in both preclinical and clinical research in support of various drug development programs. In her current role at TD2, she is focused on leveraging flow cytometry and predictive biomarkers to drive client programs forward.

Dr. Stewart has a PhD in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology and serves on the Board of the Northwest Flow Cytometry Society providing educational outreach to the local scientific community. She is also co-chair of the AAPS Flow Cytometry Action Programming Committee and is very engaged in biomarker discovery for drug development.

Ellie Stukalin, PhD is an Associate Director of Biostatistics at Takeda, where she serves as the statistical lead for clinical trials across multiple phases. She has previously worked at CRISPR Therapeutics and Merck, specializing in oncology at both companies. With hands-on experience ensuring data integrity, Dr Stukalin takes an active role in maintaining the reliability and accuracy of trial data throughout the development process.

Zhen Su, MD, MBA is CEO of Marengo Therapeutics and a director of the company’s board. Dr Su brings nearly three decades of experience as a physician-scientist and biopharma executive, with expertise in building and leading both R&D and commercial organizations. During his tenure at Marengo, Dr Su has led the team’s progressing the company’s lead asset into clinical trials, grown its leading-edge pipeline, and established a $2.8B strategic partnership with Ipsen. Dr Su is also the Founding Chair for the Biotech Committee of the Society for Immunotherapy of Cancer (SITC) and was recently appointed to the Board of Directors at Karyopharm Therapeutics Inc (NASDAQ: KPTI), CytomX Therapeutics (NASDAQ: CTMX) and Galvanize Therapeutics.

     Dr. Ryan Sullivan is an Associate Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School and the Director of the Center for Melanoma and Skin Cancer and a member of the Termeer Center for Targeted Therapy at Mass General Cancer Center. Dr. Sullivan is an active clinical and translational investigator whose main areas of interest are the development of novel molecular targeted and immunotherapeutic combinations for malignant melanoma and other solid tumors. More recently, he has been interested in describing, predicting, and optimally treating immune related adverse events from immune checkpoint inhibition.

Ram Suresh is the Biostatistics Head of Oncology/Hematology at Amgen. He received his PhD in Mathematical Sciences from the University of Cincinnati. Over the course of his career, he has served as a Biostatistics leader in the pharmaceutical industry, providing scientific and operational oversight to the statistics groups. Dr Suresh has been involved in many regulatory submissions/approvals in Oncology, CV, Inflamation, HIV/HCV, Neuroscience & Respiratory disease areas. His focus has been Oncology over the last twenty years and he has been involved in the approval process of targeted therapies and immunotherapies in solid and liquid tumors across multiple modalities and indications.

Dr Suresh has contributed to the industry efforts, serving on the PhRMA Statistics Expert Teams and the Executive Committee of the Biopharmaceutical Section of the American Statistical Association. He has published articles on novel clinical trial designs and has been an invited speaker in major statistical meetings.

Graig C. Suvannavejh, PhD, recently joined Mizuho Securities as a Managing Director and Senior Biopharmaceuticals and Biotechnology Equity Research Analyst, bringing over 20 years of experience in the healthcare sector, including equity research and investment banking roles at both bulge bracket and healthcare-dedicated boutique investment banks. He joined Mizuho from Goldman Sachs where he successfully built out and led the firm’s European biotechnology equity research franchise while initially based in London, and then, following a move to NY, was a key player in establishing the firm’s US Small-mid cap Biopharma efforts. In financial services, he has also worked at JP Morgan, Jefferies and UBS, as well as other boutique firms. Dr Suvannavejh also brings with him corporate experience, with operating roles in business development, corporate strategy and finance at top-tier and also start-up global biotechnology and pharmaceutical companies, including most notably, Biogen and AbbVie. He holds a PhD in Neuroscience from Northwestern University, a Master’s degree in Physiology and an undergraduate degree in Biology, with both latter degrees earned from Georgetown University. 

Leon ‘Jun’ Tang, PhD, is the founding partner of InScienceWeTrust BioAdvisory, a business development company focused on the US/APAC cross-border partnerships in the pharmaceutical industry. Dr Tang is also the founder of InScienceWeTrust Community, which has more than 2,000 members from the Asian biotech community.

Dr Tang serves as a scientific advisor to Mianus Capital, a boutique US-based healthcare PE/VC fund currently focused on ophthalmology. He is also an advisor to BioSpark, an Asian biotech professional’s association based in Massachusetts.

Previously, Dr Tang was a senior director of BD Search & Evaluation at Shanghai Henlius Biotech, a public biotech listed on Hong Kong Stock Exchange, a biotech sell-side analyst at Barclays Investment Bank and a senior manager/senior analyst at the philanthropic venture fund of Cancer Research Institute of New York.

Dr Tang has published 50+ academic papers, some of which are in Nature Reviews Drug Discovery, Lancet Oncology, Science Translational Medicine, Nature Communications, Science Advances, PNAS, etc. Dr Tang received his bachelor’s degree from Tianjin University, master’s degree from Nankai University, PhD from Icahn School of Medicine of Mount Sinai and postdoctoral training at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center.

Samik Upadhaya, PhD, is the Director of Scientific Affairs at the Cancer Research Institute, where he leads initiatives aimed at advancing cancer research and improving patient outcomes. Dr. Upadhaya has a proven track record of managing research projects and fostering collaborations with academic institutions and industry partners. In his role, Dr. Upadhaya oversees the analysis and dissemination of key insights on the immuno-oncology landscape, interpreting emerging trends to inform strategic priorities and advance CRI's mission. Dr. Upadhaya also plays a key role in guiding CRI's research initiatives, helping design and implement impact evaluation metrics to ensure programs achieve measurable outcomes and adapt to the evolving needs of the scientific community. With a deep commitment to translating scientific discoveries into real-world solutions, Dr. Upadhaya is dedicated to advancing knowledge and driving innovation in the fight against cancer.

As Head of Transactions, Business Development at AstraZeneca, Gayatri Varma, PhD, currently oversees transactional activity for Oncology R&D. During her time at AstraZeneca, Dr Varma has led and negotiated many transactions including the acquisition of Neogene Therapeutics and in-licensing of several oncology clinical-stage assets, and in-licensing activities for COVID-19. Previously, she held positions as Director of Partnerships & Collaborations at MedImmune, and Executive Director, University of Maryland, heading the technology transfer office with focus on out-licensing activities.

Dr Varma has a PhD in Molecular & Cellular Biology and is a registered patent agent. She recently served on the Board of AUTM and continues to serve on their Industry Advisory and Equity, Diversity & Inclusion committees.

She is also chair of the Licensing Executive Society’s Life Sciences Sector Leadership committee. Dr Varma is very engaged in the local life sciences community and has led ecosystem building in the Gaithersburg region.

Raluca Verona, PhD, is currently Head of Precision Medicine Oncology at AbbVie, where she leads clinical biomarkers and translational research strategies across solid tumors, heme malignancies and immune-oncology.

Prior to AbbVie, Dr Verona was at Janssen R&D, where she gained over 16 years of experience in drug discovery and development at. Her expertise extends across heme and solid tumor indications, encompassing a diverse range of therapeutic modalities including small molecules, checkpoint inhibitors, T cell bispecific antibodies, and CAR-T cell therapies. Dr Verona played a pivotal role within the Jannsen Oncology Discovery group, building Janssen’s Immune-Oncology (IO) portfolio in solid tumors by advancing a number of IO agents to IND-enabling studies and early clinical development, as well as by leading next-generation T cell redirectors and cell therapy strategies.

After her tenure in Discovery, Dr Verona has led both the IO and Heme Translational Research groups at Janssen, overseeing the development of 20+ early and late-stage clinical development compounds, including antibodies and small molecules, across solid and heme indications. Under her leadership, these teams made crucial contributions to clinical proof of mechanism, dose selection, correlatives for response/resistance, safety, and clinical combination strategies and achieved significant portfolio milestones, including multiple entries into First-in-Human (FIH) and late-stage development, as well as numerous successful regulatory submissions and approvals.

Dr Verona has been a dedicated advocate for mentoring and diversity and inclusion (D&I) initiatives at J&J. She has also been instrumental in establishing and building the Oncology Post-Doc and Summer Intern programs at Janssen.

Dr Verona obtained her BS from Yale University in Molecular Biophysics and Biochemistry and her PhD in Biology from the Massachusetts Institute for Technology. Subsequently, she completed a postdoctoral fellowship at the University of Pennsylvania in epigenetics.

Wim Vos, PhD, is a distinguished researcher and visionary leader in medical imaging, specializing in pneumology and oncology. With executive experience at Fluidda and Radiomics, he has driven advancements in advanced image analysis for these fields.

At Fluidda, Dr Vos served as Chief Technology Officer (CTO), leading innovative projects that utilized advanced imaging technologies to enhance respiratory disease diagnosis and treatment in pneumology. He later assumed the role of Chief Commercial Officer (CCO), successfully establishing Fluidda as a key player in pneumology through comprehensive commercial strategies.

As CEO of Radiomics for the past four years, Dr Vos has revolutionized precision medicine by applying advanced image analysis techniques to oncology. Radiomics, under his leadership, has made significant strides in early treatment evaluation, treatment response prediction, and patient stratification.

Dr Vos's expertise is demonstrated through his publications in reputable scientific journals and active participation in industry conferences. Widely regarded as an esteemed expert, he is sought after for his deep insights into advanced image analysis and its impact on pneumology and oncology. Wim's collaborative approach and effective communication skills have amplified his influence within the industry.

Beyond his research and executive roles, Dr Vos is dedicated to fostering the growth of aspiring researchers in medical imaging. He actively engages in mentorship programs, educational initiatives, and scientific collaborations, promoting innovation and knowledge sharing in pneumology and oncology.

Dr Vos's exemplary leadership, research contributions, and dedication to leveraging medical imaging for improved patient care have solidified his position as a highly respected figure. He continues to shape the future of advanced image analysis, unlocking new possibilities for precision medicine and transforming disease diagnosis and treatment in pneumology and oncology.

Richard Walovitch, PhD is Chief Scientific Officer of Voiant, which he joined as Chief Medical Officer in January 2009. Prior to joining Voiant, he served as the Senior Vice President of clinical research at Acusphere, Inc., Vice President of Preclinical and Clinical Research at Epix Medical, and held various positions as Research Pharmacologist and Project Clinician in the Imaging Agent Group at the DuPont Merck Pharmaceutical Company. He completed his postdoctoral fellowship at the National Institute on Drug Abuse’s Addiction Research Center in the Neurochemistry section. Dr Walovitch has a Doctorate in Pharmacology from the University of Illinois Medical Center and a Bachelor’s degree in Biology from the University of Illinois. He is an author of more than 100 peer-reviewed publications, mostly in the field of medical imaging.

Kristen Wangerin, PhD, is a Senior Imaging Technology Leader in the GEHC Pharmaceutical Diagnostics Research and Development team. She is responsible for the imaging strategy as part of clinical studies for GEHC PET radiotracers in development and is passionate about translating novel PET imaging agents into the clinic, thereby helping enable precision medicine and improvement in patient outcomes. Dr. Wangerin has been with GEHC for 20 years. Prior to her current role, she was a valued member of the PET/CT and PET/MR engineering teams designing new systems and shaping research collaborations. She received her PhD in Bioengineering from University of Washington, and her BS and MS in Nuclear Engineering from Purdue University and Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, respectively.

Sarah Warren, PhD is a Senior Director in Corporate Development at Gilead Science where she leads Search & Evaluation for the Kite cell therapy pipeline. Prior to joining Kite in 2022, she built and led the Translational Sciences team at NanoString technologies working on multiplexed RNA and spatial biology platforms for diagnostic and research applications, and she collaborated with investigators across academia, biopharma, nonprofit, and government. She got her start in industry and a founder and Director of Research at Oncofactor Corp, developing therapeutics targeting novel immune checkpoints. Dr. Warren received her PhD in immunology from the University of Washington. She serves as a director-at-large for the Society of Immunotherapy of Cancer, is a mentor for the Creative Destruction Labs computational health stream, and is a section editor for Molecular Pathology at the Journal of Translational Science.

Sarah White, MPH, MRCT Center Executive Director, is responsible for developing, defining, and implementing the overall strategy and vision for the Center as well as oversee all management aspects of the MRCT Center functions. Ms White has over 20 years of experience in human subjects’ research including experience at both academic medical centers and industry.

Prior to joining the MRCT Center, Ms White was the Director of the Human Research Quality Improvement Program (QI Program) at Partners’ Healthcare in Boston, Massachusetts. In this capacity, she was responsible for strategic planning and oversight of the QI Program activities across the human research communities at Partners Healthcare, including Massachusetts General Hospital and Brigham and Women’s Hospital. In addition, Ms White oversaw FDA Sponsor-Investigator support and the centralized support of clinical trials registration and disclosure. Sarah is the co-chair of the national Clinical Trials Registration Taskforce, a large consortium of academic medical centers, hospitals and universities that identify best practices, develop tools, and serve as a communication forum associated with the requirements for clinical trials registration and results reporting that affect US academic health centers. Sarah received her undergraduate degree from Dartmouth College and her MPH from Boston University School of Public Health.

Dr. Alia Zander is an Associate Director of Data Science at Tempus AI, specializing in the development of multimodal machine-learning algorithms for oncology care. She leads projects from inception to execution, meticulously handling cohort selection, model development, and rigorous validation processes. Dr. Zander graduated from The University of Michigan with a BS in Biomedical Engineering, and received her PhD in integrated biomedical sciences from Northwestern University.

Dr. Zilberberg studied chemical engineering at Universidad Simón Bolívar in Venezuela and then joined the graduate program in bioengineering at Penn State where she obtained her M.S. and Ph.D. She conducted further training in the fields of vascular biology and cancer immunotherapy at UPenn and Thomas Jefferson University and held an Associate Member position at Center for Discovery and Innovation, part of Hackensack Meridian Health. She holds two patents for the development of ex vivo culture platforms to study the bone and bone marrow niches, has authored numerous publications, and has been the recipient of multiple NIH-funded grants. In 2020, she joined Imvax to lead the research and translational efforts for the company’s Goldspire® immunotherapy platform. Dr. Zilberberg serves as an ad-hoc reviewer for NCI’s Innovative Molecular Analysis Technologies (IMAT) program and is a member of the Scientific Advisory Board of FIG Therapeutics.

Evan Zisholtz, JD is Vice President of Global Business Development at Immunai, and oversees both BD and M&A. Prior to Immunai, Evan supported M&A and Corporate Strategy at Lonza. Mr Zisholtz began his career as an attorney in private practice in New York and holds a JD from New York University School of Law.