CEO Life Sciences & Pharmaceuticals Symposium
Keynotes
Speakers
Adam Fine is a co-founder and CEO of Windham Venture Partners. Adam is currently Director at Coravin, GlySens, CuraSeal and HelpAround, Board Observer to SpineView, MC10, Holaira and VytronUS. Adam is a mentor in Blueprint Health, a healthcare IT accelerator in NYC. Prior to Windham, Adam was VP & GM at I-many, Inc., an enterprise software company. Prior to joining I-many, Adam was a New Business Development Analyst at Cordis Corporation, a Johnson & Johnson company focused on interventional vascular devices such as stents. In that capacity, Adam worked on a range of licenses, acquisitions, divestments, as well as strategic investments with Johnson & Johnson Development Corporation (JJDC), J&J’s strategic venture arm. Prior to J&J, Adam was a research analyst at Coopers & Lybrand’s Integrated Healthcare Consulting practice.
Adam received his BA and graduated cum laude with distinction from Boston University and received his MBA from New York University.
Alexey Margolin, Ph.D. is the co-founder of Allena Pharmaceuticals and has served as chief executive officer and director since September 2011. From September 2011 to February 2017, Dr. Margolin also served as Allena's president. From September 2011 to April 2014 Dr. Margolin served as chief executive officer of Alcresta Therapeutics, Inc., which he also co-founded and where he currently serves on the board of directors. From September 2011 to July 2013, Dr. Margolin also served as president of Alcresta. Prior to Alcresta, Dr. Margolin co-founded Alnara Pharmaceuticals, Inc., in 2008, where he was president and chief executive officer until 2010, when Alnara was acquired by Eli Lilly & Co., or Eli Lilly. Previously, Dr. Margolin also served as chief scientific officer of Altus Pharmaceuticals, Inc., through 2007, where he initiated and led several therapeutics programs based on protein crystallization technology. In 2003, Dr. Margolin was elected fellow of the American Institute of Medicine and Biological Engineering. He is the author of more than 60 publications and is an inventor on several patents. Dr. Margolin holds both his M.S. in chemistry and Ph.D. in bio-organic chemistry from Moscow University.
Alex focuses on investments in the biopharmaceuticals industry, especially in pharmaceuticals, generics, drug delivery and specialty pharma and biotechnology. He joined H.I.G. Capital as a Managing Director in January 2016. He currently serves on the board of directors for Leiter’s Pharmacy, Clarus Therapeutics, and Keystone Dental.
Prior to H.I.G., Alex was spent 13 years making similar investments at Thomas, McNerney & Partners. Previous board seats included Auspex Pharmaceuticals (sold to Teva), InnoPharma (sold to Pfizer), Quinnova (sold to Amneal), Celator (public), Zogenix (public), Tranzyme (merged with Ocera) and observer roles at PCI Pharma Services (sold to Partners Group) and Coley Pharmaceutical (sold to Pfizer).
Prior to Thomas, McNerney, Alex spent 11 years in the research department at Hambrecht & Quist (and its successor firms Chase H&Q and JPMorgan). During his tenure at H&Q, Alex led research teams covering the biotechnology, specialty pharmaceuticals, large-cap pharmaceuticals, drug delivery and diagnostics industries. After the merger of Chase H&Q and JPMorgan, Alex became the firm’s healthcare strategist. He was named twice in The Wall Street Journal All-Star Analysts Survey, including his last year at JPMorgan in which he placed in all three categories: stock picking (#1 in pharmaceuticals), earnings estimate accuracy (tied for #2), and ‘home run’ hitting (#8 across all industries).
Alex is the co-chair of the Business Advisory Council of the Children’s Tumor Foundation, an advisor for the Partnership Fund of NYC, which manages a bioaccelarator to advance local healthcare research, and is on the Life Sciences Council for Springboard Enterprises, a group that assists women entrepreneurs. He is also a board member for the Greenwich Council of the Boy Scouts of America.
He graduated magna cum laude from Brown University, where he was elected to Phi Beta Kappa.
Prof. Peled is a professor at the Gene Therapy Institute, Hadassah Medical Center, Jerusalem where he directs a laboratory, focusing on the role of chemokines and chemokine receptor in stem cell mobilization, inflammation and cancer. The laboratory of Prof. Peled's support the development of novel cell and molecular therapeutics for cancer and have been involved in the last 9 years in the development of novel therapies to cancer that are currently in Phase II/III. Prof. Peled worked in close collaboration with Israeli Biotechnology companies such as Biokine Therapeutics LTD, BiolineRX, and Gamida Cell. Prof. Peled has a Ph.D. from the Department of Cell Biology at the Weizmann Institute of Science and is experience includes time spent as a post Dr. at Harvard Medical School and Millennium Pharmaceuticals Inc. Prof. Peled is also the founder of Biokine Therapeutics an R&D biotechnology company founded in 2000. The company develops novel therapeutics for cancer and inflammation. Prof. Peled has authored or co-authored over 100 papers and is listed as an inventor on over 80 patents related to therapeutic applications in stem cell biology, immunology, and cancer.
Dr. Shemi is Silenseed’s co-founder and has served as the company’s Chairman of the Board of Directors and Chief Executive Officer since incorporation in 2008. Prior to founding Silenseed, from 2005 to 2008, Dr. Shemi served as the Senior Vice President Technologies at Medinol Ltd., a world leader in design, development and manufacturing of stent and stent delivery systems. Prior to that time, Dr. Shemi was the chief executive of several private Israeli technology companies, including Color-Chip Ltd. Dr. Shemi holds a Ph.D. degree in Physics from the Tel Aviv University. He is a single author and co-author of many scientific papers and a single inventor and co-inventor of more than a dozen of patents
Amy L. Grogg, PharmD, is Senior Vice President of Strategy and Commercialization for AmerisourceBergen. Dr. Grogg develops strategies to advance AmerisourceBergen's leadership in the pharmaceutical services industry and position AmerisourceBergen as the preferred commercialization partner for specialty pharmaceutical manufacturers. Additionally, Dr. Grogg holds operational responsibility for Xcenda, part of AmerisourceBergen, which provides strategic consulting services for life sciences manufacturers commercializing products in the United States, Germany, and key global markets.
Prior to her current role, Dr. Grogg was President of AmerisourceBergen Consulting Services where she led the growth of a portfolio of companies that included Xcenda, as well as Innomar Strategies, Canada's leading commercialization services firm for specialty pharmaceuticals; and Lash Group, the U.S. leader in patient support services. Before joining AmerisourceBergen, Dr. Grogg spent more than a decade in the pharmaceutical industry, primarily at Janssen Pharmaceuticals, (a Johnson & Johnson company), where she led teams that were responsible for all health economic, quality of life, and patient-reported outcomes research studies for all of the company's marketed products in the United States.
Dr. Grogg received her Doctor of Pharmacy from Mercer University and completed a two-year fellowship in pharmacoeconomics at Sandoz Pharmaceuticals Corporation and the University of South Carolina.
Dr. Schiff joined Aisling in September of 1999 and currently serves as one of the Managing Partners.
Prior to Aisling Capital, Dr. Schiff practiced internal medicine for six years at The New York Presbyterian
Hospital, where he maintains his position as a Clinical Assistant Professor of Medicine.
Dr. Schiff currently serves as a director of Aclaris Therapeutics, ARMGO Pharma, and PowerVision, and
as a Board observer of Harmony Biosciences and Zavante Therapeutics. Previously, he served as a
director of Adams Respiratory Therapeutics, Agile Therapeutics, ArgiNOx Pharmaceuticals, Barrier
Therapeutics, Bioenvision, CardioKine, Cempra Pharmaceuticals, Miramar Labs, Myogen, SkinMedica,
Sirion Therapeutics, TransEnterix, ZELTIQ Aesthetics, and Quintiles (Board observer). He is a longtime
supporter and Board member of the Visiting Nurse Service of New York.
Dr. Schiff received his M.D. from Cornell University Medical College, his M.B.A. from Columbia Business
School, and his B.S. with honors in Neuroscience from Brown University.
Dr. Diwan has been President and Chairman of the Board of the Company since its founding in 2005 Dr. Diwan spearheaded the efforts for the Company's 2013 uplisting from the OTC Markets to NYSE-American. Dr. Diwan has led several of the Company's financing efforts since 2010.
Dr. Diwan invented novel polymeric micelle-based nanomedicine technologies as early as 1991. Dr. Diwan is a prolific inventor and a serial entrepreneur. Prior to co-founding NanoViricides, Inc., he has founded TheraCour Pharma, Inc., a privately held company focused in nanomedicines and cell-targeted drug delivery, and AllExcel, Inc., a company with diverse portfolios including nanomedicines, small chemicals, device technologies, as well as informatics. He has won several NIH SBIR (small business innovation research) grant awards. Anil holds a Ph.D. from Rice University, TX, a B.Tech. from Indian Institute of Technology, Mumbai (IIT-B), India, and has consistently held high scholastic ranks and honors. Dr. Diwan has over 25 years of Bio-Pharmaceutical R&D experience with over 20 years as an entrepreneur.
He has several patents issued internationally resulting from three fundamental international patent applications. Under Dr. Diwan's leadership, NanoViricides, Inc. has been able to keep both administrative and R&D costs at extremely low levels while robustly expanding the drug pipeline every year. Dr. Anil R. Diwan was recognized as "Researcher of the Year" by BusinessNewHaven, a Connecticut Area Business Journal, in 2014.
Dr. Ascher Shmulewitz has served as our Chairman since January 2014 and on our Board of Directors since February 2013 and was appointed our Interim Chief Executive Officer on November 1, 2017. Dr. Shmulewitz is an inventor, investor and serial entrepreneur in biomedical technologies. Dr. Shmulewitz has founded and invested in over two dozen life science companies including NeoVision Corp, Labcoat Medical Ltd. Arteria Corp, Circulation Inc. and X-Cardia Inc., and has led multiple of these companies to successful exits, including through merger and acquisition transactions with large medical device companies. Dr. Shmulewitz has vast experience in the venture capital arena as an investor, manager and entrepreneur in dozens of companies and ventures. In 1995, Dr. Shmulewitz co-founded San Francisco Science and the Incumed Group, companies that provide seed funding, and is the founder of Medgenesis Partners Ltd., an Israeli private investment firm and incubator that has invested in over a dozen ventures. Dr. Shmulewitz previously held senior executive positions at Advanced Technology Laboratories Inc. (from 1988 to 1992). Dr. Shmulewitz received an M.D. degree from The Technion Medical School and a Ph.D. degree in Engineering from Tel Aviv University, Israel.
Dr. Ascher Shmulewitz, MD PhD, CEO
Dr. Shmulewitz has served as our Chairman since January 2014 and on our Board of Directors since February 2013 and was appointed our Interim Chief Executive Officer on November 1, 2017. An inventor, investor and serial entrepreneur in biomedical technologies, he has founded and invested in over two dozen life science companies including NeoVision Corp, Labcoat Medical Ltd. Arteria Corp, Circulation Inc. and X-Cardia Inc., and has led multiple of these companies to successful exits, including through merger and acquisition transactions with large medical device companies.
Dr. Asher Nathan has extensive biotech operating experience, having started biotech companies, Intelligene and EvoRx, both of which were formed around technologies which he invented. Intelligene was a pioneering biotech company which dealt with molecular evolution and successfully attracted venture capital from top international venture firms including Walden Investments, Advent and Rothschild Venture Capital. The technology was acquired by Genetico. EvoRx was founded together with Nobel Prize Winners Arthur Kornberg and Roger Kornberg, and Jim Manuso, who was subsequently CEO of several successful publicly traded biotech companies, including Supergen. Dr. Nathan has authored over 25 patents in the field of biotechnology.
Prior to co-founding NeoTX, Dr. Nathan co-founded Zoticon Bioventures where he served as Managing Partner. Before that, Dr. Nathan served as a Managing Director at Paramount Biocapital, a top rated venture fund for in-licensing biotechnology transactions. His responsibilities at Paramount included managing Paramount’s European office.
Aviv Boim has served as our Chief Executive Officer since October 2010. He joined Tikcro in January 2008. From 2008 to 2012, he served as a member of the board of directors and the executive committee of BioCancell, a clinical stage biotechnology company that focuses on the oncology field. Mr. Boim led the selection, term negotiation and pre-clinical development plans of a number of oncology projects performed with leading Israeli universities, including for cancer vaccines, molecular biomarkers and the development of therapeutic candidates. From 1998 to 2007, he served as the Chief Financial Officer of Orckit. Mr. Boim holds a B.A. and an M.A. in economics and management from Tel Aviv University and an L.L.B. from Tel Aviv University Law School
Badhri Srinivasan is Head, Global Development Operations, Novartis. He is a member of the Development Committee of Novartis (DCN).
Badhri also serves on Boards of various companies and most recently was appointed to the Board of TransCelerate.
Before joining Novartis, Badhri Srinivasan was CEO and co-founder of Remarque Systems, a technology company that develops state-of-the art disruptive technology solutions for the life sciences industry.
Prior to Remarque Systems, Badhri was Senior Vice President and Head, Global Delivery Network and Global Data and Safety Monitoring at Quintiles. In this role, he led a team of >5,000 associates located across Asia Pacific, South Africa, Europe and North America to deliver best-in-class customer service and flexible offerings through industry-leading processes, automation, analytics and information management.
Earlier, he was Vice President of Enterprise Analytics and Business Process Management in Quintiles Innovation and Head of the Enterprise Transformation Unit (ETU), a group dedicated to strategizing efficient clinical trial execution. Additionally, he led a partnership with Harvard/MIT’s new drug development paradigm (NEWDIGGS) initiative in Singapore.
Badhri has been working in clinical trial design and execution for more than 25 years and has helped many of the top Pharmaceutical companies with drug development strategy, including strategies for dose selection, combination Phase II/III designs, sample size re-estimation and group sequential methods. Badhri is a member of multiple scientific, academic and executive advisory committees. He has represented numerous pharmaceutical companies at the Food and Drug Administration, European Medicines Agency and Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency.
Badhri was named to PharmaVOICE 100, PharmaVOICE magazine’s list of the 100 most inspiring people in the life-sciences industry.
In addition to clinical trial operations and process re-engineering, his work has involved development of mathematical algorithms to reduce cost and speed assets through clinic as well as new models of clinical development. He has patents pending on several of his algorithms.
Badhri’s formal training is in Mathematical Statistics and Biostatistics. He holds an ABD in Biostatistics from the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, and an MS in Mathematical Statistics from Bangalore University, India.
Elizabeth G. Trehu, M.D (Beth), is Chief Medical Officer of Jounce Therapeutics, a clinical stage immuno-oncology company dedicated to transforming the treatment of cancer. Recent positions include Chief Medical Officer (CMO) of Promedior, Inc., and Vice President of Product Development and Medical Affairs at Infinity Pharmaceuticals. Prior to Infinity, Dr. Trehu served as Vice President of Oncology Global Medical Affairs and ultimately held the position of Vice President and General Manager, Hematology. She entered the biotech industry at Millennium Pharmaceuticals, where she held positions of increasing responsibility in medical affairs. Dr. Trehu's career prior to industry included laboratory and clinical research in immuno-oncology as an assistant professor at Tufts University School of Medicine.
Dr. Trehu was recognized as a ‘2012 Woman to Watch’ by Mass High Tech. She holds an M.D. from New York University School of Medicine and an A.B. cum laude from Princeton University.
Bill Korn is a seven-time Chief Financial Officer and former IBM executive with more than 30 years of experience managing fast growth businesses, seeking Board of Directors opportunities where he can contribute his proven expertise in strategy and finance.
Bill was a member of the National Association of Corporate Directors and has actively participated in over 100 Board meetings during the past 15 years, leading discussions about strategy, acquisitions, raising capital, and financial performance. He is currently Chief Financial Officer of MTBC (Nasdaq: MTBC), provider of cloud-based healthcare IT solutions and services. He brought MTBC public on Nasdaq in 2014, buying three competitors simultaneously with the IPO, and building a public company infrastructure.
Bill worked closely with MTBC’s Audit, Compensation and Nominating & Governance Committees to create Board governance for a public entity, and actively participates in every Board of Directors and Committee meeting. He has worked with four of the top audit firms, and has led audit committee discussions at five companies. Bill has worked with three executive compensation firms, assisting compensation committees in designing comp plans at four companies. He was corporate secretary of Antenna Software and director of 13 of its global subsidiaries. He was an Advisory Board member of SnapOne, member of the Board of Directors of iRail, LLC, and a participant and presenter to Boards of MTBC, SnapOne, Antenna Software, Telelogue, Integrion Financial Network and Incomnet.
As Chief Financial Officer for seven companies, Bill successfully raised $350 million of capital, including 12 public offerings, 14 rounds of private equity and venture capital, as well as 8 debt financings. Bill has completed 19 acquisitions, including negotiating terms, arranging financing, performing due diligence and integrating teams to reduce costs. He has a track record of creating successful partnerships and joint ventures.
In addition, Bill has significant operating management experience. His leadership enabled Antenna Software to grow at an 87% CAGR during his 10 year tenure. He served as President of Telelogue, a venture-backed spin-out of Bell Labs that created advanced speech recognition technology; and as Chief Operating Officer of INFONXX, an Inc. 500 company providing enhanced directory assistance services to the wireless industry. Bill led INFONXX through a period of rapid growth in which the company doubled in size to 2,000 people over a 12 month period.
Earlier in his career, Bill spent ten years with IBM building its global services business, and was a co-founder of IBM Consulting Group. He served on the senior management team that created IBM’s highly successful services strategy in the 1990’s; was IBM’s first director of strategy for electronic commerce in 1994; and spent a year on IBM’s corporate strategy team during Lou Gerstner’s first year as CEO. He was instrumental in forming Integrion Financial Network, a joint venture of IBM and 19 premier financial institutions, and became its first CFO.
Bill earned his bachelor’s degree in Economics magna cum laude from Harvard College and an MBA from Harvard Business School.
Mr. Robert (Bob) E. Ward is the Chairman of the Board and Chief Executive Officer of Eloxx Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (“Eloxx”). He previously served as the Chief Executive Officer and President at Radius Health, Inc. (NASDAQ: RDUS) successfully completing the initial public offering that became the top performing IPO; raised over $780M from private and public sources; achieved FDA approval and launch of the new drug TYMLOStm injection while gaining Fast Track development status for the Elacestrant oncology program. Prior to joining Radius, Mr. Ward held a series of progressive management and executive roles with established companies such as NPS Pharmaceuticals, Schering-Plough (Merck), Pharmacia (Pfizer), Bristol-Myers Squibb and Genentech. Mr. Ward has been a Director of Akari Therapeutics, Plc since October 14, 2016 where he chairs the Governance Committee. He served as a Director of Radius from December 2013 until July 16, 2017. Mr. Ward serves as a Director of the Massachusetts High Technology Council. Mr. Ward received a B.A. in Biology and a B.S. in Physiological Psychology, both from the University of California, Santa Barbara, an M.S. in Management from the New Jersey Institute of Technology and an M.A. in Immunology from the John Hopkins University School of Medicine.
Cameron is an experienced entrepreneurial executive, with expertise in biotechnology companies. He has extensive experience in the management, structuring, and strategic planning of start-up companies and has held positions including Chief Executive Officer, Chief Financial Officer, and Non-Executive Director of public and private enterprises.
Cameron was educated at the University of Western Australia receiving both a Bachelor of Commerce and an MBA.
Dr. Spana, co-founder of Palatin, has served as president and chief executive officer since 2000. He has been a director of Palatin since 1996. From 1996 to 2000, Dr. Spana served as an executive vice president and chief technical officer of Palatin.
From 1993 to 1996, Dr. Spana was vice president of Paramount Capital Investments, LLC, a biotechnology and biopharmaceutical merchant banking firm, and of The Castle Group Ltd., a medical venture capital firm. Through his work at Paramount Capital Investments and Castle Group, Dr. Spana co-founded and acquired several private biotechnology firms. From 1991 to 1993, Dr. Spana was a research associate at Bristol-Myers Squibb, a publicly traded pharmaceutical company, where he was involved in scientific research in the field of immunology.
Dr. Spana received his Ph.D. in molecular biology from The Johns Hopkins University and his B.S. in biochemistry from Rutgers University.
Mr. Robins Chief Executive Officer and Co-founder of Adaptive Biotechnologies, the leader in
translating the scale and precision of the adaptive immune system to diagnose and treat disease
through next generation sequencing (NGS) technologies. He has held executive-level positions in
real estate, investing and medical technology, including: Pulte Homes, Connaught Real Estate
Finance, and HealthAxis.com. Mr. Robins started his career in banking for companies such as
Wasserstein Perella and Bank of America. In 2012, Mr. Robins was a “40 Under 40” Seattle
Leaders honoree. In 2015, he and his brother, Harlan Robins, were honored as one of Goldman
Sachs 100 Most Intriguing Entrepreneurs of the Year. Mr. Robins was a finalist for the Ernst &
Young 2016 Entrepreneur of The Year ® Award in the Pacific Northwest, and won the award in
2017 along with his brother. While in college and looking for a way to combine his
adventuresome spirit with a vast learning opportunity, he spent 100 days in the wilderness with
the National Outdoor Leadership School (NOLs) where he gained his open and interactive
leadership style along with his strong teamwork mentality. A Cornell University honors graduate
with a major in entrepreneurship and business, Mr. Robins obtained his MBA from The Wharton
School at the University of Pennsylvania with a major in finance and concentrations in marketing
and operations. In addition to the Adaptive Biotechnologies board, Mr. Robins holds board
positions for Life Sciences Washington and Pavia Systems and is the co-founder and Chairman
of Aortica Corporation, a company that is simplifying endovascular repair (EVAR) for
abdominal aortic aneurysms (AAA).
David Benshoof Klein is a healthcare investor and entrepreneur with over 16 years life science industry experience; he has played key roles in founding, financing and operating more than 10 life science companies. In 2012, Mr. Klein co-founded Click Therapeutics which develops and commercializes software as medical treatments: Digital TherapeuticsTM. Following a groundbreaking clinical trial, Click’s industry-leading smoking cessation program is available nationwide through a wide variety of payers, providers, and employers. Click’s lead prescription program is entering into a multi-center, randomized, controlled, parallel-group, phase III FDA registration trial for the treatment of Major Depressive Disorder in adults. He formerly served as Managing Director at Opus Point Partners, senior consultant to Pfizer, and strategic advisor to numerous publicly traded and privately held life science companies. Mr. Klein holds a B.A. from Brandeis University and has been a guest lecturer at Columbia University’s Biotechnology Program. A native New Yorker, Mr. Klein is an avid art enthusiast and is co-founder and owner of Klein Sun Gallery, America’s leading Chinese contemporary art gallery with locations in New York’s Chelsea art district and Beijing, China.
Dr. David Melnick is the Chief Medical Officer at Spero Therapeutics in Cambridge, MA. Dr. Melnick has 18 years of experience in anti-infective drug development. Prior to joining Spero Therapeutics, Dr. Melnick served as Vice President of Clinical Development for Anti-Infectives at Allergan since 2015. In that capacity, he oversaw the development and regulatory approval of Teflaro®, Avycaz®, and Dalvance® in the United States. Prior to Allergan, Dr. Melnick served fifteen years at AstraZeneca in various levels of increasing responsibility, most recently as Vice President of Clinical Development for Anti-Infectives. In that capacity, he oversaw the late stage clinical development of Merrem®, Teflaro®, and Avycaz®. In addition, he served as the acting Vice President for early development at AstraZeneca. He received his medical training at Columbia University, followed by a Residency in Internal Medicine at The New York Hospital-Cornell Medical Center. Following a Fellowship in Infectious Disease at Yale University, he held faculty positions at the Boston University School of Medicine and the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases. He subsequently joined Kaiser-Permanente as a practicing Infectious Diseases specialist and as the Director of HIV Clinical Research at Kaiser Permanente Mid-Atlantic, with a faculty appointment at Georgetown University.
Emmanuel joined GE Healthcare in April 2008, following its acquisition of Whatman International Plc. Since 2008, Emmanuel has held various positions in GE Healthcare Life Sciences. Working both in the UK and in the US, he managed the North America BioProcess business. In January 2012, Emmanuel took charge of the Commercial part of the then Life Sciences business, across EMEA, later expanding his role to include global commercial leadership of BioProcess. In January 2016, Emmanuel was name General Manager of the Core Imaging business which he held until he was named President and CEO of Life Sciences In July 2017.
Emmanuel first entered the biopharma industry in Japan, joining Ostuka Pharmaceutical International Ltd as a Medical Representative in Tokyo. After five years in Ostuka in various roles, Emmanuel joined Abbott Japan, occupying positions such as Marketing Director Diagnostic Division and Commercial Director Diabetes Care Division. After 10 years in Japan, Emmanuel moved to the UK as Vice President Sales & Marketing Europe for Whatman International Plc.
Emmanuel graduated from the University of Aberystwyth in Wales (UK) with a BSc. degree in Marketing. He completed a Masters in Commercial Engineering at L’Université Savoie, France.
Dr. Bonvini, Senior Vice President, Research and Chief Scientific Officer, joined us in June 2003. From 1985 to 2003, Dr. Bonvini was with the FDA in the Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research, or CBER, which is responsible for regulating therapeutic monoclonal antibodies and other proteins, ultimately serving as Acting Deputy Director, Division of Monoclonal Antibodies and Chief, Laboratory of Immunobiology. From 1982 to 1984, Dr. Bonvini was a Visiting Fellow at the National Cancer Institute at the National Institutes of Health. Dr. Bonvini received a Diploma in Science from the Scientific Lyceum in Genoa, Italy, and his M.D. and Specialty Certification in Clinical Hematology from the University of Genoa, School of Medicine.
Prior to being named as Minerva Neurosciences’ CFO, Mr. Race served as a consultant for the development of MIN-101 and MIN-117. He has previously served as Chief Executive Officer of Funxional Therapeutics Ltd., the lead program of which (FX125L) was acquired by Boehringer Ingelheim in 2012. He also served as Chief Financial Officer at PanGenetics B.V. He is a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Management Accountants and earned his MBA from Durham University Business School.
Ilan Danieli has served as Precipio's CEO since founding the company in 2011. With over 20 years managing small and medium-size companies, some of his previous experiences include COO of Osiris, a publicly-traded company based in New York City with operations in the US, Canada, Europe; and VP of Operation at Laurus Capital Management, a multi-billion dollar hedge fund; as well as in various other entrepreneurial ventures. Ilan holds an MBA from the Darden School at the University of Virginia, and a BA in Economics from Bar-Ilan University in Israel, and served in the Israeli military as a tank commander. He is also a private pilot, and while on the ground, he enjoys travel, scuba diving, skiing (snow and water), and also dabbles in gourmet cooking.
Ingo is a 26-year senior executive of the health industry and is the current President and CEO of Navican.
As an Intermountain Healthcare company, Navican is part of an integrated healthcare system with the
capability to test and provide treatment for the greatest number of actionable gene mutation types,
offering an end-to-end, technology enabled service that aims to improve outcomes for advanced cancer
patients while reducing unnecessary cost.
Under the leadership of Ingo Chakravarty, Navican is focused on combining targeted therapies with
rapid improvements in technology and research to make precision medicine a viable solution for
everyone with cancer. Chakravarty is responsible for leading a team who works with physicians,
pharmaceutical companies, and healthcare leaders to find treatments and clinical trial options patients
wouldn’t have had access to previously.
Mr. Chakravarty spent the last two decades building global business in the in-vitro diagnostic
marketplace, here in the United States as well as in Europe, holding senior leadership positions at Gen-
Probe, Roche Diagnostics, Ventana Medical Systems and most recently as Senior Vice President and
General Manager, International at GenMark Diagnostics.
Ingo graduated from Friedrich Haecker School in Germany with a degree in electrical engineering. His
leadership philosophy is grounded in collective intelligence, goal orientation and personal accountability
as well as in fairness and tolerance. Ingo thrives in environments that are energetic, ambitious and
challenging while providing room for innovation and creativity.
Jake cofounded Celdara Medical and currently serves as a Director and as CEO. He had previously founded the New Ventures Office at Dartmouth Medical School and still serves as its first Director. Prior to Dartmouth, Jake led business development, open innovation, and knowledge management initiatives at Cabot Corporation where he served as a member of Cabot’s Research Council, Technology Board, and Nanotechnology EHS Council. Jake joined Cabot from PolyTechnos Venture-Partners, a Munich-based venture capital firm. He has served on numerous non- and for-profit boards, including Virtici, MBV, StemSynergy Therapeutics, NIH’s TREAT Program and the University of Vermont’s SPARK Program. Jake has testified before Congress on entrepreneurship, was appointed by the Governor to the New Hampshire Innovation Research Center’s Board of Directors, and by US Senator Jeanne Shaheen to her Small Business Advisory Council. Jake earned a B.Sc. with First Class Honours from the University of Waterloo, and a Ph.D. (Chemistry) as a Brown-Wetherill Fellow at Purdue University and Ludwig Maximilians Universität.
Jesús began his career in 1983 at the World Economic Foundation, and in 1989 at McKinsey & Co where he led studies in the pharmaceutical and food industries.
By 1993, he chose the entrepreneurial path by creating, investing and leading start-ups in Switzerland and the United States. He was for example a co-founder of LeShop in 1996, which became the Swiss leader in e-commerce and was sold to Migros.
In 2003, he created Eclosion, a public-private partnership for translating scientific discoveries in the field of life sciences into innovative drugs with disruptive potential. This unique structure was instrumental in the creation of GeNeuro, which was led by Jesús since its creation in 2006.
Jesús holds a bachelor's degree in industrial sciences, a master in law from Geneva University and an MBA from Harvard Business School. He serves on the board of several biotech companies and industrial and business associations.
John Amos has served as our Chief Executive Officer and a director of the Company since April 2018. From May 2017 to April 2018, he served as the Executive Chairman of Willow Biopharma Inc., a biopharmaceutical company. He served as the Chief Executive Officer of ORIX Healthcare Capital LLC, a private equity and venture capital investment company, from October 2012 to April 2017. Mr. Amos served as the Operating Partner and Portfolio Company Board Member of BioVeda China Fund, a financial investment company, from February 2008 to October 2012. He served as the Chief Executive Officer and President of the Oncology Therapeutics Network (acquired by McKesson Corporation in November 2007), a physician services company, from June 2005 to November 2007 and was a special advisor to McKesson Corporation, a public healthcare services company, from November 2007 to May 2008. Mr. Amos served as the President of the Oncology Therapeutics Network of Bristol Myers Squibb, a publicly traded biopharmaceutical company, from June 2003 to May 2005. He held executive roles in finance and technology in McKesson Corporation from March 1995 to April 2003. From 1991 to 2003, he served in the United States Air Force and the California Air National Guard in Tactical Fighter Operations. Mr. Amos has previously served on the board of directors of TD2, Navigating Cancer, CITIC Pharmaceuticals, Aesyntix Health, Prodigy Health, Apollo Health Street, Quinian Health, Oncology Therapeutics Network and Matawan Pharmaceuticals. Mr. Amos served as a member of the Scientific Advisory Board at MD Anderson Cancer Center Institute for Applied Cancer Science (IACS) and was a health policy advisor to Governor Jeb Bush’s 2016 Presidential Campaign. He has been appointed as a Trustee of the Global Leadership Council of the University of California, Davis Foundation. Mr. Amos has been named to the Information Week Top 500 CIO’s twice, won the Frost and Sullivan Award for Corporate Innovation. He studied Economics at the University of California, Davis and has a B.S. in General Business from the University of the State of New York.
John P. Butler joined Akebia as a director in July 2013 and was appointed as the President and Chief Executive Officer of Akebia in August 2013. Prior to joining Akebia, from 2011 until 2013, Mr. Butler served as the Chief Executive Officer of Inspiration Biopharmaceuticals, Inc (“Inspiration”), a company focused on developing products for patients with hemophilia. Mr. Butler led the transactions that resulted in the sale of Inspiration’s hemophilia assets to Cangene Corporation and Baxter International in early 2013, for a total aggregate consideration that could exceed $1 billion. From 1997 to 2011, Mr. Butler held various positions at Genzyme Corporation, a biopharmaceutical company, most recently serving as President of the company’s rare genetic diseases business. From 2002 until 2010, Mr. Butler led Genzyme’s renal division. Prior to his work at Genzyme, Mr. Butler held sales and marketing positions at Amgen and Hoffmann-La Roche. Mr. Butler currently serves as a member of the Board of Trustees of the American Kidney Fund. Mr. Butler received a BA in Chemistry from Manhattan College and an MBA from Baruch College, City University of New York.
John Melo has 30 years of combined experience as an entrepreneur and thought leader in developing and growing technology companies and as a senior executive in the Oil & Gas industry. As President and Chief Executive Officer, Mr. Melo has led Amyris through successful technology development, industrial start up, product development and commercialization and a series of funding rounds, including the initial public offering. Before joining Amyris in 2007, Mr. Melo served in various senior executive positions at BP Plc (formerly British Petroleum) most recently as President of U.S. fuels operations where he successfully led a business transformation and significantly improved the financial performance. During his tenure at BP, Mr. Melo also served as Chief Information Officer of the refining and marketing segment; Senior Advisor for e-business strategy to Lord Browne, BP group chief executive; and Director of global brand development. In this last role, he helped develop the “Helios” re-branding effort. Before joining BP, Mr. Melo was with Ernst & Young. Mr. Melo currently serves on the board of directors of Renmatix Inc., serves on the board of directors of BayBio, serves on the Bio Industrial and Environmental section governing board, is a member of the Council for the Portuguese Diaspora and is a member of Young Presidents’ Organization (YPO). He was formerly an appointed member to the U.S. section of the U.S.-Brazil CEO Forum. When not working on the mission of making sustainable chemistry mainstream or championing the eradication of malaria, John enjoys skiing, reading and time with his family on the island of Pico in the Azores, his childhood home.
Jonathan Ben-Horin, Managing Director, joined Crestline in 2016 in the Opportunistic
Strategies Group.
Prior to joining the Firm, Mr. Ben-Horin was a Principal with Elm Park Capital
Management. In this role, Mr. Ben-Horin was responsible for investing and managing
private debt capital across multiple sectors in the business services, technology and
light manufacturing industries. Prior to that, he was an investment professional with
Caltius Capital Management, a lower middle-market private equity firm where he
focused on buyout and growth equity opportunities. Prior to Caltius, Mr. Ben-Horin
worked as an investment banker with Houlihan Lokey and Morgan Stanley.
Jonathan graduated from the University of California at Berkeley with a B.A. in
Political Science and received his M.B.A. from The Wharton School of the University
of Pennsylvania.
Jonathan has 35 years’ global experience in operations, strategy and business development and extensive expertise within the Biopharma industry. Jonathan is the former CFO of Amgen Inc based in California, USA and prior to that was the CFO of the Pharmaceuticals Division of Novartis AG, based in Switzerland. During Jonathan’s tenure as CFO at Amgen Inc the stock price increased by approximately 125% and at Novartis operating profits increased by over 40%. He has raised over $20 billion in new capital and throughout his career has been engaged in business development and mergers and acquisitions on both the buy-side and sell-side, globally.
Before joining the pharmaceutical industry, Jonathan was a partner at McKinsey & Company where he was co-head of the European Corporate Finance practice. Jonathan was also a partner at PricewaterhouseCoopers in London and New York. Jonathan is currently Chairman of Bellerophon Therapeutics and is a non-executive director of Kite Pharma, both of which are listed on NASDAQ. He has a Masters degree in Economics from the University of St Andrews in Scotland.
Mr. Lieber is a seasoned, life sciences executive and currently the CFO of Histogenics Corporation, a leader in the development of restorative cell therapies that may offer rapid-onset pain relief and restored function. Mr. Lieber. joined Histogenics in 2015, and has more than 20 years of experience in financial and executive management at emerging growth, life sciences companies and in investment banking. Prior to Histogenics, Mr. Lieber served as the CFO of Metamark Genetics, Inc., a privately held, urology-focused, molecular diagnostics company, as the CFO and Treasurer of Repligen Corporation, a publicly held manufacturer and supplier of high-value consumables to the life sciences industry, and the CFO of Xcellerex Inc. (acquired by GE Healthcare), a company engaged in the manufacture and sale of capital equipment and related consumables to the life sciences industry. Previously, Mr. Lieber served as the CFO of Altus Pharmaceuticals where he led all public and private capital raising activities at the company, including its $110 million initial public offering and a subsequent $90 million follow-on offering. Prior to joining Altus, Mr. Lieber was an investment banker for 10 years where he originated and executed on numerous corporate financings and merger and acquisition transactions at SG Cowen and Salomon Brothers Inc. He received a B.S. in business administration and finance from Boston University and an M.B.A. in finance from New York University Stern School of Business.
Mr. Rubinson has worked for more than 25 years in the pharmaceutical
industry with large pharma companies like Pfizer, GlaxoSmithKline, and
Aventis.
He is currently the CEO of Regenera Pharma, an Israeli biotech company
with a drug targeting diseases of the Central Nervous System. The
company’s lead drug candidate is being studied in a phase 3 clinical trial
for stroke of the optic nerve and a phase 2 clinical study in Canada for
mild/moderate Alzheimers.
Mr. Rubinson worked previously in early stage companies as chief
commercial officer for Champions Oncology, where he grew sales 30%
annually to $20M and brought the company to profitability. Just prior,
Mr. Rubinson was the CEO of Polyheal Ltd, which was sold to TEVA at
a $90M valuation.
While in pharma, Mr. Rubinson worked at Pfizer as the marketing
director for Israel. At GSK in U.S. marketing, he managed assets of over
$300M in annual sales, brought to market several category-leading
vaccines, and earned the company’s Frost and Sullivan Market
Engineering Excellence Award.
He also worked at GSK France, managing a large field force division of
over 100 employees. While at Aventis, Mr. Rubinson had assignments in
France, Canada and the U.S. Mr. Rubinson holds an engineering degree
from Columbia University and an MBA from MIT’s Sloan School of
Management.
Karoly led Genentech’s entry into neuroscience during the 1980s and led and participated in the development of numerous protein therapeutics. He was Vice President of Research at Lynx Therapeutics, co-founder of AGY Therapeutics, Amnestix, Neurofluidics, Chase Pharmaceuticals, Circuit Therapeutics, and Alkahest. He has served on the boards and scientific advisory boards at a number of neurotherapeutics and biotech companies, as well as investment funds. Dr. Nikolich is a graduate of Eotvos University in Budapest and worked as postdoctoral fellow at Tulane University and UCSF before joining Genentech. He has been Consulting Professor in the Department of Psychiatry at Stanford University Medical School.
Mr. Moch joined Cognition Therapeutics in October 2016 as president and CEO. He has broad expertise building, financing and leading private and public life science companies from start-up through commercialization, having previously served as president and CEO of four life science companies: Chimerix, Inc., an antiviral therapeutics company; BioMedical Enterprises (acquired by DePuy, a Johnson & Johnson company), a manufacturer and marketer of nitinol orthopedic implants; Alteon, Inc., a developer of small molecule therapeutics for cardiovascular aging and diabetic complications; and Biocyte Corporation, where he pioneered the storage and therapeutic use of cord blood stem cells and launched the first cord blood stem cell storage bank. Mr. Moch started his career in biotech drug development as a co-founder and vice president of The Liposome Company, Inc. (acquired by Elan Corporation), a pioneer in the use of liposomes for the delivery of anticancer and antifungal drugs. He has also been a managing partner of The Salutramed Group, LLC, a managing director of Healthcare Investment Banking at ThinkEquity Partners and a management consultant with McKinsey & Company, Inc.
Building on his longstanding interest in health policy, Mr. Moch has served for over a decade on the Board of the Biotechnology Innovation Organization (BIO), and currently serves as the chair of the BIO’s BioEthics Committee and as co-chair of the Policy Subcommittee of BIO’s Emerging Companies Section. He is a past chairman of BioNJ and a past member of the Executive Committee of the New York Biotechnology Association. He currently serves as a member of the Boards of Zynerba, Inc. and Gamida Cell, Ltd, and served for 11 years on the Board of M2Gen, the personalized medicine subsidiary of the Moffitt Cancer Center. Mr. Moch is also a founding member of the NYU Working Group on Compassionate Use and Pre-Approval Access.
Mr. Moch holds an A.B. in biochemistry with a minor in health policy from Princeton University and an MBA from the Stanford University Graduate School of Business.
Laurent joined Kymera Therapeutics from Pierre Fabre, where he was the Global Head of R&D and a managing partner at the PF fund for innovation. Laurent started his drug development career at Pfizer, where he led multiple discovery efforts in inflammation and immunology contributing to the identification of Xeljanz®. Subsequently, he held various strategic, leadership and operational roles at MedImmune, Merck, and Pieris, building global collaborations and therapeutic pipeline value across oncology, autoimmunity, respiratory, neuropsychiatry, dermatology, cardiovascular and metabolic diseases, contributing to the launch of multiple products currently on the market. He earned his PhD in Pharmacology from Vanderbilt and was an American Heart Association postdoctoral fellow at Duke University. Laurent has authored >70 patents and papers published in top-tier scientific journals including J Exp Med, Nature Immunology, Nature Medicine, Nature Neuroscience, and PNAS. Laurent is a co-author on more than 70 peer-reviewed publications and patents and has served on various NIH study sections. He serves as a board member and advisor for multiple healthcare organizations worldwide to help accelerate the discovery and advancement of novel therapies for patients and their families.
Ms. Powers has served as the Chairperson of our Board of Directors since her appointment on May 17, 2007 and Chief Executive Officer since June 8, 2011. Ms. Powers served as a managing director of Toucan Capital Fund II, a provider of venture capital, a position she has held since 2001. She also has over 15 years’ experience in corporate finance and restructurings, mergers and acquisitions, joint ventures and intellectual property licensing. Ms. Powers is a Board member of M2GEN (an affiliate of Moffitt Cancer Center), the Trudeau Institute (a specialized research institute focused on immunology), the Chinese Biopharmaceutical Association, and the Rosalind Franklin Society. She was the Chair of the Maryland Stem Cell Research Commission for the first two years of the state’s stem cell funding program, and has served an additional four years on the Commission. Ms. Powers served for several years on a Steering Committee of the National Academy of Sciences, evaluating government research funding, and has been appointed to three Governors’ commissions created to determine how to build the respective states’ biotech and other high-tech industries. For more than six years, Ms. Powers taught an annual internal course at the National Institutes of Health for the bench scientists and technology transfer personnel on the development and commercialization of medical products. Ms. Powers serves on the boards of six private biotechnology companies. Ms. Powers holds a B.A. from Princeton University, where she graduated magna cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa. She also earned a J.D., magna cum laude, from Harvard Law School. We believe Ms. Powers’ background and experience make her well qualified to serve as a Director.
Dr. Mohindru joined the company in August, 2017 as our Chief Financial Officer and Chief Strategy Officer. She came to Cara Therapeutics from Curis, Inc. where she was most recently its Chief Strategy Officer. Previously, Dr. Mohindru has spent several years as a Wall Street research analyst covering the biotechnology industry at ThinkEquity, Credit Suisse and UBS, and in the investment banking division at Capstone Investments. She has also been a strategic consultant to the pharmaceutical and biotechnology industry at Axon Healthcare Partners and SAI Healthcare (acquired by IMS Health) and was a co-founder of ImmTox, Inc., an oncology-focused private biotechnology company.
Dr. Mohindru received her Ph.D. in Neurosciences from Northwestern University, and Masters in Biotechnology as well as B.Sc (Hons) Human Biology from the All India Institute of Medical Sciences, New Delhi, India.
Entrepreneur & Investor
Dr. Matthew Rabinowitz has had dual careers in industry and academia. While completing his dissertation, Dr. Rabinowitz co-founded an intelligent online merchandizing company, Panop.com, which later sold for $100M. Shortly after, Dr. Rabinowitz started his second company, Rosum, which developed a location technology using TV signals to augment GPS. He received the World Economic Forum “Technology Pioneers” award for founding Rosum and Natera.
In 2003, Dr. Rabinowitz’s life took a turn; a family member had a child born with a genetic disease, and the child passed away in infancy. Dr. Rabinowitz experienced firsthand the trauma, stress, and devastation that an unexpected diagnosis of genetic disease can bring to a family and was moved to action.
Drawing on expertise from his seemingly unrelated background, Dr. Rabinowitz embarked on a journey to ensure that other families need not experience similar pain. Through a team of experts in medicine, engineering, statistics, and genetics, along with Dr. Rabinowitz's own skills in optimization, signal processing, informatics, and entrepreneurship – Natera was born. Natera’s results have been remarkable; Dr. Rabinowitz and the entire Natera team are dedicated to bringing breakthrough technology to all.
Dr. Rabinowitz is now an authority in the field of prenatal and preconception informatics-based genetic testing. He has served as the Principal Investigator on six research grants awarded by the National Institutes of Health. Multiple publications have emerged in leading journals including Bioinformatics, Human Reproduction, and Molecular Human Reproduction. He actively presents at medical conferences around the world, including at the annual meeting of the American College of Medical Genetics, American Society of Reproductive Medicine, and Fetal Medicine Foundation World Congress.
Dr. Rabinowitz is a board member, advisor, and angel investor for multiple companies in biotechnology, communications, cleantech and healthcare. He has received the Scott Helt Memorial Award from IEEE and was selected by MIT Technology Review Magazine as one of the top 35 technology innovators under 35 in the United States.
Dr. Rabinowitz completed his B.A., M.Sc. and Ph.D. degrees at Stanford University, receiving both the Levin and Terman Awards — the highest academic honors offered in engineering and physics — and a graduate fellowship to the school of engineering.
Dr. Karnieli earned his PhD in Biotechnology focusing on Cell & Gene Therapy from the Sacler school of Medicine at Tel Aviv University and an MBA from the Haifa University school of management. Dr. Karnieli served in several executive rolls in the field of cell therapy and medical devices with his last position being the VP of Technology & Manufacturing at Pluristem Therapeutics. A well-known expert in the field of cell therapy process development and serves on several industry committees including chairing of the process & product development committee of the International Society for Cell Therapy and an expert member in the ISO TC276 Bioprocessing committee. Dr. Karnieli is the founder of Karnieli Ltd and ADVA Biotechnology.
Patrick Griffin, M.D., is a board-certified physician in both internal medicine and gastroenterology, and is a Fellow of the American College of Physicians. He received his medical degree from Columbia University, completing a residency in internal medicine at Presbyterian Hospital in New York, and a fellowship in gastroenterology at Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston. Following his residency and fellowship, Dr. Griffin joined the medical faculty of Columbia College of Physicians and Surgeons, where he held a number of academic, clinical research, teaching and management positions, as well as a solo private practice in New York. He subsequently moved to the biopharmaceutical industry, where he held positions of increasing responsibility, first at Forest Laboratories, and subsequently at Sanofi-Aventis, culminating with his appointment as Associate Vice-President, Clinical Development.
As the founding CEO and first employee of Akcea, Paula Soteropoulos has steered the company through significant development and growth fueled by Akcea’s commitment to improving the lives of the patients with unrecognized and underserved diseases.
Ms. Soteropoulos has demonstrated success in building high-performance global teams, leading complex development programs from early stage through approval, and commercializing global products. Prior to Akcea, she was a member of the executive leadership team of Moderna Therapeutics as the Cardiometabolic Business General Manager and Senior Vice President of Strategic Alliances. Ms. Soteropoulos also spent 21 years at Genzyme Corp. in a variety of roles from engineering and manufacturing early in her tenure, to leading global commercial businesses and finally serving as Vice President, Cardiovascular Business General Manager. Ms. Soteropoulos held global development and commercial leadership roles in various business units including Renal, Transplant, Oncology, Cardiometabolic and Rare Diseases. Prior to Genzyme, Ms. Soteropoulos was a bioprocess engineering consultant for various biopharmaceutical companies. She serves on the Board of Directors of gene therapy company uniQure and on the Advisory Board of the Tufts University Chemical and Biological Engineering Department.
Ms. Soteropoulos has been involved with several initiatives to support diversity and the development of female leadership in business, including the Healthcare Business Women’s Association and Women Unlimited. She is also a past honoree of Massachusetts High Technology Council’s Women to Watch. The Boston Business Journal named Akcea Therapeutics as Massachusetts’ fastest growing public company in 2017, and the company was one of 2017’s top performing biotechnology IPOs and was also named one of Massachusetts’ Top 100 Women-Led Businesses in both 2016 and 2017.
Ms. Soteropoulos has B.S. and Master’s degrees in Chemical and Biochemical Engineering from Tufts University and an executive management certificate from the University of Virginia.
Pavan Cheruvu, MD joined Axovant as Chief Executive Officer in February 2018. Prior to joining Axovant, Dr. Cheruvu held roles of increasing responsibility at Roivant, and was appointed to Roivant’s executive leadership team in 2017. He has supported Axovant in numerous capacities throughout his time at Roivant. A board-certified physician, Dr. Cheruvu completed his residency in internal medicine at Johns Hopkins Hospital and continued his training in a clinical fellowship in cardiovascular medicine at the University of California, San Francisco. Prior to his medical training, Dr. Cheruvu was a management consultant at McKinsey & Company, where he focused on biopharmaceutical strategy. Dr. Cheruvu earned his B.S.E. in biomedical engineering, B.S.E. in electrical engineering, and A.B. in chemistry summa cum laude from Duke University, obtained his M.Sc. in computer science as a Rhodes Scholar at Oxford University, and obtained his M.D. from Harvard Medical School.
An industry executive with a 37-year career in biotechnology and a proven track record of developing turnaround and financing strategies, executing strategic alliances, and building commercial and R&D capabilities. Former President and CEO of Asterias Biotherapeutics and Optimer Pharmaceuticals with 16 years experience at Pfizer Inc as President of Global Primary Care and President of Europe.
He currently serves on Board of Directors for Gemphire Therapeutics and Sanfer de Mexico and sits on the Advisory Board of Zero Gravity. He holds an MBA degree from Wharton School of Business and an engineering degree from the National University of Mexico.
Mr. Hoang brings over twenty years of investment banking, venture capital, immuno-oncology and public company executive management experience to TapImmune, serving most recently as Senior Vice President of Business Development and Strategy at Bellicum Pharmaceuticals. Previously, as the Managing Director of Innovations at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, he headed the new venture formation and development effort for the institution. Before joining MD Anderson, Mr. Hoang was a senior investment banker, most recently as Managing Director and head of healthcare mergers & acquisitions advisory for CIT Group. He has also served in the M&A departments at Oppenheimer, J.P. Morgan, Merrill Lynch, and Deutsche Bank. He earned an M.B.A. with high honors distinction from the Anderson School of Management at UCLA and a B.A. from Yale University."
Rachel is a co-founder of Caribou Biosciences and has been President and CEO since its inception in 2011. She has a research background in CRISPR-Cas biology, and is also a co-founder of Intellia Therapeutics. In 2014, she was named by Forbes Magazine to the "30 Under 30" list in Science and Healthcare, and in 2016, Fortune Magazine named her to the "40 Under 40" list of the most influential young people in business. In 2018, the Association for Women in Science recognized Rachel with the annual Next Generation Award. Rachel is an inventor on several patents and patent applications covering multiple CRISPR-based technologies, and she has co-authored scientific papers in high impact journals characterizing CRISPR-Cas systems. Rachel earned an A.B. in Biological Sciences from Harvard College, and received a Ph.D. in Molecular and Cell Biology from the University of California, Berkeley.
Dr. Amado has served as Chief Medical Officer of Adaptimmune since March 2015 and has 15 years of experience within the biotech and pharma industries. Dr. Amado leads clinical strategy and is responsible for the execution of clinical development program globally. He formerly served as Senior Vice President and Head of Oncology R&D at GSK, where he was responsible for integrating oncology R&D activities, from drug target identification to clinical development and registration globally.
Dr. Amado joined GSK in 2008 as Vice President of Clinical Development, and served in positions of increasing responsibility, including Senior Vice President and Head of Oncology Clinical Development. He oversaw the development and registration globally of over 15 indications across six products and led the development of a pipeline of products in novel areas of cancer biology such as signal transduction, epigenetics and cancer immunology. Prior to joining GSK, Dr. Amado was Executive Director of Therapeutic Oncology at Amgen from 2003 to 2008 where he was responsible for development activities of several assets. Dr. Amado trained as a Hematologist/Oncologist at the University of California, Los Angeles, where he remained as faculty for eight years until joining Amgen in 2003. He holds an M.D. from the University of Seville School of Medicine in Spain, and performed his residency in Internal Medicine at Michael Reese Hospital, a University of Chicago Affiliated Hospital, and his fellowship in Hematology/Oncology at the University of California, Los Angeles.
Rami founded Telesofia Medical (MyOp.md), combining his passions to medicine and technology.
He has over 20 years of experience in the Internet industry. He started his career in 1997 at ICQ (formerly Mirabilis, acquired by AOL in 1998, for US$407 million) in various roles including Director of Web Operations. Since 2001, he helped several companies and start-ups with product development, launching and marketing in the online world. As VP Operations at Novawind, he provided Hands-On marketing, business development, and innovation management services for leading companies.
Rami also holds a medical doctor degree from the Tel Aviv University and worked at the Vascular Surgery department in Tel-Aviv Sourasky (Ichilov) Medical Center and Assaf Harofeh Medical Center.
Robert “Bob” Preti is the co-founder of Hitachi Chemical Advanced Therapeutics Solutions ("HCATS", formerly PCT) and the visionary behind its successful growth and development strategy over much of the last two decades. Upon HCATS' acquisition by Hitachi Chemical Co. America, Ltd. (Hitachi Chemical’s consolidated subsidiary) in May 2017, Bob’s role expanded to Chief Executive Officer and President of HCATS, as well as General Manager, Hitachi Chemical Regenerative Medicine Business Sector, responsible for development, management and oversight of the global business operations of Hitachi Chemical’s regenerative medicine business unit.
Bob built HCATS to meet a recognized need for high quality manufacturing and development services in an emerging industry. As the cell therapy field has grown, so too has HCATS- the company has now served over 100 Clients and performed more than 20,000 cell therapy procedures. His leadership has been instrumental in creating PCT’s Client-focused model that helps bridge the gap between discovery and patient care through efficient transfer of cell-based therapies from laboratory into clinical practice. His vision for HCATS includes expansion of its manufacturing capacity in the U.S., Asia and Europe, as well as the development of new technological and engineering innovations that will help streamline and automate many cell processing techniques, leading to faster scale up, appropriate cost of goods, and robust quality for the industry.
Before assuming his role at HCATS, Bob held a number of positions within the cellular therapy and blood banking fields. From 1996 to 1999, he was the director of hematopoietic stem cell processing and applied research at Hackensack University Medical Center in Hackensack, N.J. He served in several capacities with the New York Blood Center from 1990 to 1997, including tissue bank director, director of hematopoietic stem cell processing, scientific director and associate investigator. He also worked as a research scientist for Marrow-Tech Incorporated, which went on to become Advanced Tissue Sciences (ATIS), where work in his laboratory lead to the Dermagraft product currently marketed by Organogenesis.
Bob began his career in academics, teaching first as an elementary and secondary level educator, then as an adjunct assistant professor and lecturer at Hunter College, an assistant professor at Queensborough Community College, and then adjunct assistant professor at York College. He also has served as clinical assistant professor of medicine for New York Medical College in Valhalla, N.Y.
Also active in the public health arena, Bob has served on the Stem Cell Banking Committee and Cord Blood Subcommittee of the New York State Department of Health and on the New Jersey State Department of Health’s Blood Bank Advisory Committee, chairing the Hematopoietic Progenitor Cell Processing Subcommittee. In addition, he has served in a leadership capacity for many professional organizations, including treasurer and founding member of the International Society of Hematotherapy and Graft Engineering, now called ISCT (International Society for Cellular Therapy). He has published and presented extensively on a variety of topics relating to cellular therapies. He recently completed a five year term as a director for AABB, and is currently Chairman for the Alliance for Regenerative Medicine (ARM), where, among other activities, he previously served as Vice Chairman from 2015 to 2016 and co-chaired the Standards and Technology Committee.
Bob holds a BS degree in biology from Fordham University, and a MS degree and Doctorate, both in biology, from New York University
Mr. Robert (Bob) E. Ward is the Chairman of the Board and Chief Executive Officer of Eloxx Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (“Eloxx”). He previously served as the Chief Executive Officer and President at Radius Health, Inc. (NASDAQ: RDUS) successfully completing the initial public offering that became the top performing IPO; raised over $780M from private and public sources; achieved FDA approval and launch of the new drug TYMLOStm injection while gaining Fast Track development status for the Elacestrant oncology program. Prior to joining Radius, Mr. Ward held a series of progressive management and executive roles with established companies such as NPS Pharmaceuticals, Schering-Plough (Merck), Pharmacia (Pfizer), Bristol-Myers Squibb and Genentech. Mr. Ward has been a Director of Akari Therapeutics, Plc since October 14, 2016 where he chairs the Governance Committee. He served as a Director of Radius from December 2013 until July 16, 2017. Mr. Ward serves as a Director of the Massachusetts High Technology Council. Mr. Ward received a B.A. in Biology and a B.S. in Physiological Psychology, both from the University of California, Santa Barbara, an M.S. in Management from the New Jersey Institute of Technology and an M.A. in Immunology from the John Hopkins University School of Medicine.
Roger D. Tung, Ph.D. is our co-founder and has served as our President and Chief Executive Officer and as a member of our board of directors since April 2006. Before Concert, Dr. Tung was a founding scientist at Vertex, a pharmaceutical company, where he was employed from 1989 to 2005, most recently as its Vice President of Drug Discovery. Prior to Vertex, he held various positions at Merck, Sharp & Dohme Research Laboratories, a global healthcare provider, and The Squibb Institute for Medicinal Chemistry. During his career, Dr. Tung has overseen the discovery of five drugs approved for the treatment of HIV, hepatitis C, and cystic fibrosis and was an inventor of several of them. Dr. Tung received a B.A. in Chemistry from Reed College and a Ph.D. in Medicinal Chemistry at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
Mr. Luther has 25+ years of experience in healthcare, specialty pharma and bio-pharma industry segments in strategy, business development, alliances, commercialization and operations. Mr. Luther has previously worked for leading fortune 500 pharmaceutical companies including Bristol-Myers Squibb, Novartis, Bausch and Lomb, GE Healthcare and Mallinckrodt Pharmaceuticals. Under his leadership, Rafael has made significant progress towards strategy, business portfolio, clinical development (leading to two Phase III programs and several Orphan Designations) and has enhanced its discovery portfolio. He earned his B.S. and M.B.A. in Business Administration from SUNY Buffalo.
Experienced entrepreneur passionate about applying life sciences and information technology to improve healthcare delivery. Co-founded and lead IsoPlexis, a venture-backed startup focused on accelerating the fight against cancer using our predictive patient profiling platform. Led company through foundational licensing with Yale and Caltech, venture capital financing, and building out our fantastic team while developing applications, products, and collaborations. Previously, helped incubate Kleiner Perkins-backed Lifesquare, which connected patients, payers, and providers through sharing essential healthcare information. At Lifesquare, generated business development and strategic initiatives related to partnerships across the healthcare ecosystem. Through work at Lazard and with several early-stage ventures, developed deep experience in structuring and financing life sciences and medical device and technology companies. Helped multiple public and private biotechnology and medical technology companies to manage times of strategic change.
Dr. Steve Cutler was appointed Chief Executive Officer of ICON plc in March 2017 having previously served as Chief Operating Officer from January 2014 to March 2017. Dr. Cutler served as Group President, Clinical Research Services from November 2011 until his appointment as Chief Operating Officer. Dr. Cutler was appointed to the Board of Directors in November 2015. Prior to joining ICON, Dr. Cutler held the position of Chief Executive Officer of Kendle having previously served as Chief Operating Officer. Prior to Kendle, Dr. Cutler spent 14 years with Quintiles where he served as Senior Vice President, Global Project Management; Senior Vice President, Clinical, Medical and Regulatory; Senior Vice President, Project Management - Europe; and Vice President, Oncology - Europe as well as regional leadership positions in South Africa and Australia. Prior to joining Quintiles, Dr. Cutler held positions with Sandoz (now Novartis) in Australia and Europe. Dr. Cutler holds a B.Sc. and a Ph.D from the University of Sydney and a Masters of Business Administration from the University of Birmingham (UK)
Dr. Quay has served as Chief Executive Officer, President and Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Company since the Company was incorporated in April 2009. Dr. Quay is certified in Anatomic Pathology with the American Board of Pathology, completed both an internship and residency in anatomic pathology at Massachusetts General Hospital, a Harvard Medical School teaching hospital, and is a former faculty member of the Department of Pathology, Stanford University School of Medicine. Dr. Quay is a named inventor on 87 U.S. patents, 130 pending U.S. patent applications, and is named inventor on patents covering five pharmaceutical products that have been approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. Dr. Quay received an M.D. in 1977 and a Ph.D. in 1975 from the University of Michigan. He received his B.A. degree in biology, chemistry and mathematics from Western Michigan University in 1971. He was selected to serve on the Company’s Board of Directors because of his role as a founder of the Company, as well as his qualifications as a physician and the principal researcher overseeing the clinical and regulatory development of the Company’s pharmaceutical programs.
Dedicated to optimizing cancer treatment outcomes and bringing the patient voice into product development, Steve Shak, M.D. has served as Co-Founder, Chief Scientific Officer since 2012 and was Chief Medical Officer from 2000 to 2013. In 2018, Steve resumed the role of Chief Medical Officer along with his responsibilities of Chief Scientific Officer. Under Steve's leadership Genomic Health used innovative molecular diagnostic methods and rigorous clinical studies to develop the Oncotype DX® breast cancer and colon cancer assays and has maintained an 80% product development success rate. Steve has been a leader in personalized medicine for more than two decades. Prior to co-founding Genomic Health in 2000, Steve served for 14 years in various roles in discovery research and medical affairs at Genentech, Inc., a biotechnology company dedicated to using human genetic information to discover, develop, manufacture and commercialize medicines to treat patients with serious or life-threatening medical conditions. Steve led the clinical team that gained approval for Herceptin®, a targeted biologic treatment for breast cancer. He also initiated the cancer clinical trials of the anti-angiogenesis agent, Avastin®. In addition, Steve discovered Pulmozyme®, a mucus-dissolving enzyme that is approved worldwide for the treatment of the genetic disease cystic fibrosis. Prior to joining Genentech, Steve was an Assistant Professor of Medicine and Pharmacology at New York University School of Medicine. In 2017, Steve was recognized for his contributions to precision medicine and named one of the Top 100 Innovators in the country by PharmaVOICE. Steve holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in Chemistry from Amherst College and an M.D. degree from New York University School of Medicine, and completed his post-doctoral training at the University of California, San Francisco.
Mrs. Suzana Nahum-Zilberberg is the CEO of BioLight. Previously Mrs. Nahum-Zilberberg worked at Teva Pharmaceuticals Industries Ltd for 12 years in several positions, her last role being Vice President Asia and Pacific, leading the penetration of Teva into Japan and China. In her position Mrs. Nahum-Zilberberg led the JV agreement with Kowa Pharmaceutical in 2008 and the acquisition of Taisho Pharmaceutical in 2009, leading Teva to become the fifth largest generic company in Japan.
Mrs. Nahum-Zilberberg holds a BA in Accounting and Economics from Tel Aviv University, MBA in Finance and Marketing from Tel Aviv University and is certified CPA.
Co-Founder and CEO of Biond Biologics, an Israeli biotechnology discovery and development company developing innovative immunotherapies to cancer and autoimmunity. Former CEO and VP R&D of cCAM Biotherapeutics, a company that developed novel immune checkpoint for immunoncology and was fully acquired by Merck Sharp & Dohme (July 2015). Prior to that Tehila was member of the R&D team of Protalix BioTherapeutics. Tehila holds a PhD in Biochemistry from the Weizmann Institute of Science focusing on molecular signaling pathways in health and disease.
Dr. Serafini is one of the three principal founders of Atreca and was CEO from the Company’s inception in 2010 until 2018. In his role as Chief Strategy Officer, Dr. Serafini is responsible directly for research, preclinical development, technology, and intellectual property. Before co-founding Atreca, he was Chief Scientific Officer of Nuon Therapeutics, a development-stage biotechnology company. Previously, Dr. Serafini was a founder of Renovis, a public biotechnology company, where he served as an executive officer in multiple technical and business management roles, including leading the research and M&A functions. Prior to founding Renovis, Dr. Serafini was an award-winning faculty member in the Department of Molecular and Cell Biology at the University of California, Berkeley, where he established the university’s Functional Genomics Laboratory.
Dr. Serafini received a BS in biochemistry from Case Western Reserve University and a PhD in biochemistry from Stanford University (advised by Dr. James Rothman), and he performed postdoctoral research at the University of California, San Francisco in the laboratory of Dr. Marc Tessier-Lavigne.
background in clinical medicine. Dr. Natale has invested across a number of therapeutic areas, including orthopedics, ENT, ophthalmology, GI, minimally invasive technologies, robotics and women’s health. A committed board member, Dr. Natale works alongside entrepreneurs to build out management teams, establish effective corporate governance and bring operational discipline to R&D and early commercialization efforts. Dr. Natale was previously with Prism Ventures and MDS Capital where he made and managed investments in the medical technology sector. He has been a founder, director and/or lead investor of several venture-backed life sciences companies, including Mako Surgical. Dr. Natale trained in General Surgery and Otolaryngology/Head and Neck Surgery at the University of Connecticut and Hartford Hospital and held clinical appointments in Hartford area hospitals before transitioning into entrepreneurial activities. He holds a B.A., Phi Beta Kappa, from the University of Virginia, an M.D. from the University of Florida College of Medicine and an M.B.A. from Yale University’s School of Management.
Troy Wilson, Ph.D., J.D., is one of Kura’s co-founders and has served as our President and Chief Executive Officer and as a member of our board of directors since our inception in August 2014. Previously, Dr. Wilson was co-founder, President and Chief Executive Officer and a member of the board of directors of Intellikine, Inc., a privately held company focused on the discovery and development of innovative, small molecule drugs for the treatment of cancer, from 2007 until its acquisition in December 2011 by Takeda Pharmaceuticals. He is currently a member of the board of directors of public companies Puma Biotechnology, Inc. (Nasdaq: PBYI) and Zosano Pharma, Inc. (Nasdaq: ZSAN). Dr. Wilson also serves as President and Chief Executive Officer and a member of the board of managers of private companies Wellspring Biosciences Inc., Araxes Pharma LLC and Avidity Biosciences LLC. He obtained a J.D. from New York University and graduated with a Ph.D. in bioorganic chemistry and a B.A. in biophysics from the University of California, Berkeley.
Udit Batra, born on January 7, 1971 in New Delhi, India, joined the Executive Board of Merck KGaA, Darmstadt, Germany in April 2016. He is responsible for the Life Science business sector, which he has led as CEO since 2014. Prior to that, he was responsible for the Consumer Health business. In September 2017, Udit Batra also took over Executive Board responsibility for Business Technology.
Before joining Merck KGaA, Darmstadt, Germany in 2011, Udit Batra was Head of Global Public Health and Market Access for Novartis Vaccines & Diagnostics. Prior to that, he served in a range of senior executive positions, including Global Head of Corporate Strategy at Novartis, Switzerland, as well as Country President for the Pharma business of Novartis, Australia. He also held several management positions at the global consultancy McKinsey & Company across the healthcare, consumer and non-profit sectors. Udit Batra started his career as a research engineer at the U.S. pharma company MSD.
Udit Batra holds a Ph.D. in Chemical Engineering from Princeton University and a Bachelor of Science in Chemical Engineering from the University of Delaware. He is married and has two children.
Responsibility for Group functions
Business Technology
External positions
Greater Boston Chamber of Commerce, Member of the Board
Massachusetts High Technology Council, Member of the Board
University of Delaware, Department of Chemical Engineering, Member of the Advisory Council
Moderators
Dr. William (Bill) Garner is a physician, investor and entrepreneur. Through EGB Ventures, Dr. Garner has made numerous public and private investments. Bill is currently Chairman of Race Oncology (ASX:RAC). Race Oncology is based on patents filed by EGB. Bill is Chairman of InMed Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (CSE:IN).
Dr. Garner co-founded DelMar Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:DMPI). At Delmar, Bill introduced the other co-founders, served on the board, and facilitated DelMar’s listing in 2013.
In 2012, Dr. Garner merged Inverseon, Inc. with another company to form Invion Ltd. (ASX:IVX), serving as CEO until May of 2013. The Inverseon pulmonary therapeutic is Phase 3 ready, having completed four positive clinical trials.
Dr. Garner also served as President and Chief Executive Officer of Urigen Pharmaceuticals, Inc. from December 2005 to December 2010 where he moved a procedure-based drug from a university license to a phase II multi-center clinical trial that achieved statistical significance on all end points in Painful Bladder Syndrome/Interstitial Cystitis. Over 10,000 patients have benefited from the therapy on a compassionate basis in three countries to date.
Previously, Dr. Garner worked in medical affairs at Hoffmann LaRoche in oncology. Prior to Roche, Dr. Garner was a merchant banker in New York City.
Dr. Garner has a Master of Public Health from Harvard and received his M.D. degree from New York Medical College. Dr. Garner did residency training in Anatomic Pathology at Columbia-Presbyterian and is currently a licensed physician in the State of New York.
Among awards and honors, Dr. Garner was an AMA/Glaxo Wellcome Leadership Award recipient. Some of Dr. Garner’s research was funded by the American Federation for Aging Research.
Eddie Moradian received his PhD in biotechnology from the Swiss Federal Institute in Zurich, Switzerland. Since 1987, he has been a founder or co-founder of a series of companies in the biotechnological, pharmaceutical and diagnostic industries with presence in Europe, US and Israel.
At MD Biosciences, he leads a group of companies, each individually focused on drug development, preclinical contract research services, CLIA clinical biomarker diagnostic services, and early stage investment in other promising, emerging companies.
Most recently, Eddie was a co-founder of and is serving as co-CEO of Incubology, LLC, a state of the art multi-technological incubator facility with over 50,000sqf of built, turn-key ready laboratory and high tech space located near Saint Paul, MN.
Eugene Babenko is an established pharmaceutical executive with more than 20 years of experience in the pharmaceutical arena. Eugene brings an extensive wealth of knowledge in specialty pharmaceuticals and in various niche therapeutic areas.
Eugene spent 12 years working in a variety of capacities at various major pharmaceutical companies, including GlaxoSmithKline, Novartis and Gilead Sciences, Inc. Ten years ago, he along with 2 partners, founded Quality Specialty Pharmacy (QSP), a successful retail specialty pharmacy chain focusing on disease states such as dermatology, HIV, and hepatitis B and C. QSP's focus is customer-driven and provides affordable, high-quality care for complex chronic conditions. The company prides itself on its commitment to compassion, integrity and quality - measuring its success through healthy outcomes, satisfied clients and clarity of vision to support the hundreds of new life-changing biopharmaceutical drugs that will help patients in the decades to come. QSP is currently licensed and operating in 45 states.
Ilan Danieli has served as Precipio's CEO since founding the company in
2011. With over 20 years managing small and medium-size companies,
some of his previous experiences include COO of Osiris, a publicly-traded
company based in New York City with operations in the US, Canada,
Europe; and VP of Operation at Laurus Capital Management, a multi-billion
dollar hedge fund; as well as in various other entrepreneurial ventures. Ilan
holds an MBA from the Darden School at the University of Virginia, and a
BA in Economics from Bar-Ilan University in Israel, and served in the Israeli
military as a tank commander. He is also a private pilot, and while on the
ground, he enjoys travel, scuba diving, skiing (snow and water), and also
dabbles in gourmet cooking.
Jeffrey Fessler is a partner in the Corporate Practice Group in the firm's New York office. Mr. Fessler is a Co-Leader of the firm’s Capital Markets and Public Companies team, as well as the firm’s Life Sciences Team.
Mr. Fessler is principally engaged in the practice of corporate and securities law. His practice is focused on the representation of public and private companies, principally in the biotechnology industry. Mr. Fessler has extensive experience representing investment banks and companies in public offerings and private placements as well as exchange listings and compliance. In addition, Mr. Fessler has been involved in a wide variety of corporate transactions, including mergers and acquisitions, joint ventures, proxy contests, restructurings and private equity and debt financings, as well as securities disclosure issues and corporate governance. In addition to the biotechnology industry, Mr. Fessler also represents companies in a variety of industries, including technology, telecommunications, broadcasting and healthcare.
John is RSM’s national life sciences practice leader, a position that reflects his years of experience
providing services to companies in the pharmaceutical, biotechnology and companies that support the life
science sector. John has been instrumental in driving the development of RSM’s national life science
practice related to firm wide initiatives for the industry group.
John is the tax service coordinator for corporate and partnership clients of RSM’s New Jersey and New
York offices and the lead tax partner for several major public clients. As the practice leader, John
oversees the provision for income tax and other tax services to life sciences clients. He draws on his 25
years of tax experience to advise clients on issues such as R&D tax credits, M&A assistance, revenue
recognition related to collaboration agreements, intellectual property planning, and assistance with
accounting for income taxes under ASC 740.
John’s life sciences clients include Covance, Immunomedics, Cyclacel, Edenbridge, Iroko, Cancer
Genetics, PTC Therapeutics and Aralez. He has worked on life sciences engagements across the United
States and internationally, including in Canada, Switzerland, Ireland and the United Kingdom.
In addition, John is the Office Managing Partner of the Edison (Metropark), NJ office and prior to joining
RSM, John served for 12 years as a tax services coordinator for a Big Four firm, where he also oversaw
New Jersey tax operations for the firm.
Michael P. Kahn represents innovative companies in complex litigation matters concerning patent infringement and related claims, such as trade secret misappropriation, unfair competition and breach of contract. Mr. Kahn is trusted as lead counsel by some of the largest and most sophisticated companies in the world and has handled litigation across all major technical disciplines. He sits on the Akin Gump Partnership Admissions Committee and the firm’s Hiring Committee. Mr. Kahn is an experienced trial lawyer whose trial practice spans a variety of technologies in district courts across the country and before the International Trade Commission. He has represented innovative companies in cases involving materials science, pharmaceuticals, medical devices, e-commerce, software, consumer products and electrical, chemical, computer science and mechanical engineering.
Building upon long-term relationships of trust, Mr. Kahn carefully and efficiently evaluates and addresses patent claims in the context of his clients’ market position and business goals. Working closely with in-house Intellectual Property lawyers, he wields his substantial skill as a strategist to manage complex cases through to wins.
Mr. Kahn has significant experience in all aspects of IP litigation, including:
pre-suit investigations
discovery
Markman hearings and other claim construction hearings
substantive patent and non-patent counterclaims
determining appropriate types of relief
inter partes review before the Patent Trial and Appeal Board
multidisciplinary matters with parallel proceedings in multiple judicial and administrative venues.
In addition to his litigation work, Mr. Kahn advises clients concerning IP licensing, diligence, planning and strategy—both from a transactional perspective and in anticipation of litigation for both patent owners and potential defendants.
Mr. Kahn also is an active participant in pro bono programs, most recently in connection with multiple matters concerning asylum applications, petitions before the New York Department of State, and custody and visitation Family Court matters.
Mr. Kahn is a frequent author and presenter on developing and cutting-edge areas of IP law.
Mikhail joined Atlant Clinical in 2012 as Chief Executive Officer and as a member of the Board of Directors. Prior to Atlant Clinical he worked at GlaxoSmithKline where he started as a clinical research assistant, later becoming a local study manager in the oncology group. He subsequently joined the Moscow Sales Department, where he rose to become Regional Market Access Director. Mikhail graduated from Lomonosov Moscow State University with Master degrees in biochemistry and management.
Susan founded The NemetzGroup in late 2003 to help clients balance the entrepreneurial spirit of breakthrough innovations with the need for discipline and process to maximize the potential of their technology and company. Susan has spent over three decades as a life sciences senior executive. Her many industry accomplishments include creating international operating strategies for the launch of a novel cancer therapy and successfully integrating two distinct therapeutic and imaging organizations into a cohesive cardiovascular franchise. Susan's commitment to mentoring the next generation of leaders is apparent in her dedication to clients and her leadership of The NemetzGroup.
Dr. Szilard Voros, MD, FACC, FSCCT, FAHA is a cardiologist, geneticist and entrepreneur. He is Founder and CEO of Global Genomics Group (“G3”), a precision-medicine-based biotechnology company, developing and commercializing diagnostic biomarkers and novel drug targets for common diseases. G3’s platform is based on the largest-ever program using DNA and RNA sequencing, proteomics, metabolomics, lipidomics and other platforms. G3 has developed a diagnostic blood test for cardiovascular disease and has identified several novel drug targets. Before G3, Voros was Chief Scientific Officer, Chief of Cardiovascular Prevention and Medical Director of Cardiovascular Imaging at Piedmont Heart Institute. He has published extensively in major scientific journals including Nature Reviews, New England Journal of Medicine, Annals of Internal Medicine, Journal of the American College of Cardiology and Circulation: Cardiovascular Genetics, etc.
Zack Irani-Cohen - Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Biomerica Inc. (Nasdaq: BMRA) a
global biomedical company that develops, manufactures and markets advanced diagnostic
products used at the point-of- care and in hospital/clinical laboratories for the early detection of
medical conditions and diseases. Biomerica’s InFoods® IBS product is designed to allow
physicians to identify patient specific foods (e.g. eggs, milk, wheat, sugar, corn, etc.), that when
removed, may alleviate or improve an individual's IBS symptoms. The InFoods® IBS product is
intended to be used in conjunction with current pharmacotherapy to improve outcomes in the
over 45 million Americans that are affected by IBS.
Zack is also the managing partner of T&T investment group (a real estate investment fund
focused on multi-tenant apartment buildings in California) and a board member/investor in a
Biospecimen Technologies and Oryn Therapeutics. Previously he served as the CEO and
Chairman of Lancer Orthodontics, Inc., an international manufacturer of orthodontic products.
Mr. Irani-Cohen earned an MBA from the University of California, Irvine, in 1994, and graduated
from Chapman University with a B.S. in Business, in 1988. He is a member of YPO International.
His interests and hobbies include: Surfing, kite surfing, performing music, real estate
investments, and various philanthropy projects.
Sponsors
Agenda
About
This CEO Life Sciences & Pharmaceuticals Symposium will convene a group of industry-leading executives, researchers, entrepreneurs and investors to explore solutions to the most pressing problems surrounding the research and development process - such as reducing the time and cost of drug development, drug pricing, raising capital, and more - while celebrating the advancements currently being made and encouraging the life sciences leaders of tomorrow. This symposium will be a unique opportunity to candidly share knowledge and engage in innovative solutions that will stimulate positive change within the life sciences industry.
The YJP Organization is the world largest group of business leaders, executives and investors to provide mentoring leadership opportunities for the new generation of Jewish business leaders.
Interested in speaking? Please contact Michelle - michelle@yjpnewyork.com
Interested in sponsoring? Please contact Gabrielle - gabrielle@yjpnewyork.com
Manhattan
This event starts on November 13th at 4:00 PM.