Jeremy Ahouse, PhD — Executive Director Business Development and Global Alliances for Celgene. Jeremy is the alliance lead for a number of research and development alliances across Celgene’s portfolio. He joined Celgene in 2015 after alliance roles with Novartis, ImmunoGen, Vantage and Millennium. He started working in biotech and pharma in 1999 after completing a PhD in cellular immunology and a post-doc in developmental genetics. He has served ASAP as a board member and chair of the committee that prepares the CSAP and CAAM certification exams. He has a strong interest in multi-party agreements and in the ways that collaborations enhance scientific creativity.

Sia Anagnostou, Senior Director of Corporate Development at Immunomic Therapeutics, Inc. (ITI), is responsible for several core areas including alliance development and portfolio management. Anagnostou directs ITI branding initiatives and communications to raise awareness about ITI with important stakeholders in the science, government and investment communities.  In concert with research and development, she advances collaborations and licensing opportunities, manages assessments and transactions, and integrates results into ITI’s business strategy.

Mrs. Anagnostou has been a member of ITI’s staff since 2012 and previously worked with Theranostics Health, where she focused on cancer proteomic molecular diagnostics. She earned her executive M.B.A. from Duke University, her Master of Science in Molecular Biology from Georgetown University Medical School, and her B.S. in Foreign Service from Georgetown University.

Kevin Anderson joined the Roche Partnering organization in 2011 as Director of Business Development in Infectious Diseases.  Prior to Roche, Dr. Anderson served as CEO for CNS biotech startup, Kinexis, and co-founded Chimerix, a public company developing antiviral drugs.  Kevin also served as Director of Infectious Diseases Research at Isis Pharmaceuticals after beginning his career as a research scientist at Genentech.  He holds a PhD in Molecular Biology and Biochemistry and an MBA from UC Irvine.

Barbara Araneo, Ph.D., serves Novo Nordisk, Inc as a Director in External Innovation Sourcing, a unit linked to Novo Nordisk’s Global Research Department. Previously, she was a member of the JDRF Research team as the Director of the Diabetes Complications Therapeutic Area, where her role was to create and manage a portfolio of externally funded research grants aimed at translation of primary discovery along the path of new therapeutics and biomarkers. Dr. Araneo served on the faculty of the University of Utah’s Department of Pathology as Associate Professor and has over 70 publications and 30 patents. In addition to her academic career, Dr. Araneo was Vice President of Development at StemCells Inc., where she was responsible for directing the effort to bring the company’s neural cell-based product candidate from the exploratory and preclinical proof of principle stages into clinical development under the FDA regulatory process. Prior to joining StemCells, Dr. Araneo was a Scientific Co-Founder and Senior Vice President of Research and Development at Pharmadigm, a privately held biopharmaceutical company with a number of products discovered at the company and developed for various stages of clinical development for inflammatory conditions. Over her career Dr. Araneo specialized in translational research concentrating on bringing disease-modifying targets through validation and drug proof of concept. She has led project teams to enable filing of INDs, communicate with the FDA and initiate first in man clinical trials. Dr. Araneo obtained her doctorate in Cellular Immunology from the University of Rochester and completed postdoctoral training at Washington University School of Medicine and the Department of Microbiology at UCLA. In addition to a doctorate degree, Dr. Araneo holds certification in US Regulatory Affairs.

Robert Bagdorf leads Pfizer’s Search and Evaluation business development group.  This function is responsible for company outreach, asset identification, and due diligence activities across all therapeutic areas for Pfizer’s innovative pharmaceutical business units.  He has 14 years of experience in the identification and evaluation of licensing and acquisition opportunities on both a global and regional basis.  Before assuming his current role, Bob was responsible for opportunity assessment and negotiation of transactions for the Specialty Care Business Unit.

Dr. Bagdorf is a board-certified neurologist who joined Pfizer in 1998 in Neuroscience Clinical Development.  Prior to joining Pfizer, Bob had a large consultative general neurology practice and was the medical director for a community hospital neurodiagnostic center.  He earned a Bachelor’s degree in behavioral biology from Johns Hopkins University, an M.D. from New York University School of Medicine, and a Healthcare MBA from George Washington University. He completed his neurology residency and electrophysiology/epilepsy fellowship at the University of Virginia Medical Center.

Mr Barrow is a senior executive with over 13 years experience in the development and commercialization of clinical and biotechnology products. This includes 10 years as COO and a Director of Vision BioSystems Limited, during which time the company became a leader in the global histopathology market. Prior to Vision, Ross spent 11 years with BHP. Ross joined Paranta Biosciences in January 2011. From April 2012 to February 2015, he was a non-executive director of Acrux Limited (ASX:ACR).

Steve has been with Merck & Co., Inc. for the past 10 years.  He received his Ph.D. in Medical Microbiology and Immunology from the University of Wisconsin and continued his post-doctoral training at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in Seattle.  Most recently Steve joined Merck's External Scientific Affairs department as a Scientific Liaison supporting the West Coast (Bay Area and Pacific Northwest) activities.  In this role, he acts on behalf of Merck to identify new collaboration, licensing, product acquisition/co-development, and strategic alliance opportunities in his geographic area.

Simon is an Executive Director Global Strategic Alliance Management, Novartis. He has more than 20 years of pharmaceutical industry experience including Technical Operations, Research and Development and Business Development & Licensing. Simon earned his Bachelor of Science and Doctor of Philosophy from the John Moores University Liverpool England. He is a member of the Member of the Royal Pharmaceutical Society of Great Britain and has served as an adjunct Professor at the Universities of Rutgers and Purdue. Simons’ BD&L experience includes divestiture, partnering and alliance management. Simon has worked in an alliance leadership role for the past ten years on several key international collaborations spanning preclinical through research and into post-launch in arthritis, bone, cardiovascular, CNS, urology and oncology.

“Dr. Michael Bayewitch is a business development executive in the pharmaceutical industry with more than a decade of fulfilling business development roles, deal due diligence, and deal execution within startup biotech companies, venture funds, mid- and large-size pharmaceutical companies. Throughout his career, he has focused on specialty biologics in areas of auto-immune/inflammatory diseases and oncology.  More recently, additional areas of focus have been CNS, respiratory, and biosimilar focused products. Currently, he holds the title of Senior Director of Global Search and Evaluation for Teva Pharmaceuticals, R&D division, with key responsibility to manage the identification, technical diligence, and support transaction processes focused on in-licensing product and platform opportunities.”

Lisa Beck is the Head of Transactions, Global Business Development at Alexion. In this capacity she is responsible for negotiations and executing transactions for Alexion’s business development deals including in-licenses, out-licenses, research collaborations, co-development and co-commercialization deals, joint ventures and other deals to support Alexion’s corporate strategic goals.  Previously Lisa was at GlaxoSmithKline for over 25 years and has held positions of increasing responsibility in Clinical Development, Project Management, Worldwide Business Development Transactions and R&D Portfolio and Strategy.  Lisa holds Bachelor of Science degree in Biology from Vanderbilt University.

After he graduated from University of Waterloo (Canada) in 1998 with a M.Sc. in Chemistry Younes joined Boehringer Ingelheim (BI) in Ridgefield, CT as a Medicinal Chemist where he contributed to several successful projects and was named co-inventor in several patents and publications. While working in BI’s labs Younes went to Pace University (Lubin School of Business, NY) to pursue his business studies and received his double major MBA in Marketing Management and International Business. After several years in R&D, Younes joined Strategic Sourcing team at BI where he achieved exceptional cost savings and he established innovative strategies and robust business practices to secure stable and risk-free supply chain network across the globe by building successful partnerships.

In 2011 Younes joined the Strategic Transactions and Alliance Management team where he currently leads cross function teams to execute diverse in-/out-licensing partnership arrangements. Younes led negotiations of global projects, diligently evaluated and assessed technical, business and strategic values of potential transactions for various therapeutic areas and provided alliance management leadership and representation in active collaborations. Younes is a member of LES (Licensing Executives Society) and ASAP (Association of Strategic Alliance Professionals).

Jeremy joined Tizona as COO in July of 2015. In his role, he oversees the company’s finance, operations, alliance, and corporate development activities.

Prior to Tizona, Jeremy was Chief Business Officer of Sutro Biopharma, where he was responsible for business development, alliance and project management, external communications, and intellectual property strategy. During his time at Sutro, he completed partnering transactions with Celgene Corporation and EMD Serono, providing more than $150M in non-dilutive capital. He also led Sutro’s efforts to establish and spin out SutroVax, culminating in the company’s $22M series A financing.  He joined Sutro from Allos Therapeutics following the company’s acquisition by Spectrum Pharmaceuticals in September 2012. As Vice President of Corporate Development at Allos, Jeremy completed multiple licensing equity financing transactions and contributed to the development and commercialization of Folotyn, the first product approved in the U.S. for the treatment of peripheral T-cell lymphoma. He began his career as a strategy consultant in the Life Sciences practice at the Boston Consulting Group.
Jeremy received his undergraduate degree in Biological Sciences from Stanford University and his Ph.D. in Microbiology & Immunology from the University of Colorado, where he worked on peripheral T-cell selection in the labs of Philippa Marrack and John Kappler. Jeremy also received an MBA from the MIT Sloan School of Management.

Mr. Benning is a career middle market investment banker with over 25 years of client advisory and transactional experience. He has managed and executed over 300 M&A, divestiture and financing transactions, with proceeds totaling over $15B.
Previously, Greg was Head of Mergers and Acquisitions for the emerging growth investment bank, Adams Harkness, and a partner-level banker at the regional investment bank, Tucker Anthony. Most recently, he launched the Northeast US middle market M&A practices for Barrington Associates and A.G. Edwards & Sons, both now parts of Wells Fargo Bank.
Greg is an acknowledged expert on M&A transaction markets, deal structures and acquisition finance, and has presented, spoken and written for organizations including ACG Boston, the Angel Capital Association, Babson College, Boston University, Corporate Board Member, Ernst & Young, IBF’s Venture Capital Summit, the Nantucket Conference, the National Association of Corporate Directors, Thomson Financial and YCombinator. He has also regularly participated in the professional development programs of several regional and national law firms, covering topics such as imbedded derivatives in M&A deal structures, earnouts and contingent payment structure and fairness opinion best practices.
Greg has an MBA from the Harvard Graduate School of Business Administration and a BA in Public Policy Analysis from the University of Pennsylvania, where he was captain of the heavyweight crew team. He is a Series 24 Registered Securities Principal with BML Securities LLC.
Greg is married with two children. He is a competitive master-level rower and an avid saltwater fly fisherman.

Neil is responsible for search and evaluation of pharmaceutical products and platforms as well as the support of various strategic initiatives on the West Coast.  Prior to joining GSK, he was head of business development at Cadence Pharmaceuticals (acquired by Mallinckrodt) and helped found two biotech companies, including Mpex Pharmaceuticals (acquired by Aptalis).

John is a highly successful Biotech CEO with broad experience in corporate strategy and financing, market interactions and business development. He was most recently President and CEO of Oragenics where he refocused the company and raised over $29 million dollars in the public markets while positioning the company for a successful re-listing on the NYSE: MKT stock exchange. He was formerly President and CEO of Argos Therapeutics where he raised over $35 million dollars for the Company and led the company in a successful Phase 2 study in renal cell carcinoma. As President and CEO of the Immune Response Corporation he was responsible for turning the Company around through improved therapeutic focus, capital raising (over $50 million) and improved investor relations resulting in a significant increase in stock price and shareholder value. John was also President and CEO of Peregrine Pharmaceuticals and Director of Business Development at Baxter Healthcare Corporation’s Immunotherapy Division. John has a Ph.D from the University of California, San Diego, and an MBA from Pepperdine University.

Mr. Breuil joined Corium in September 2012. Prior to that, he had been the Chief Financial Officer of Codexis, a developer of cost-advantaged processes for the production of pharmaceuticals, bio-based chemicals, and biofuels. While at Codexis, Mr. Breuil raised over $150 million in five private equity and debt financings, and oversaw and managed the growth of that organization from less than 100 employees in two sites to 300 employees spread across five countries and three continents. Under his leadership, the company implemented global compliance with the Sarbanes-Oxley Act and filed for an initial public offering. Prior to Codexis, Mr. Breuil was the Chief Financial Officer of Aerogen, a specialty pharmaceutical company focusing on the field of aerosolized drug delivery, which was acquired by Nektar Therapeutics in October 2005. Mr. Breuil was at ALZA Corporation for seven years before Aerogen, where he held numerous positions including Director of Corporate Planning and Analysis and Controller, staying on as Controller when ALZA was acquired by Johnson & Johnson. Before his industry experience, he served for eight years as a Naval Officer and Aviator. Mr. Breuil holds a B.S. in Electrical Engineering at the United States Naval Academy and an M.B.A. from the Stanford Graduate School of Business.

The Sanofi External Science & Partnering within Sanofi global business development organization is distributed in the major hubs of innovation and is charged with cultivating geographical ecosystems to uncover and manage early stage (up to human proof-of-concept) deal opportunities of interest to the global therapeutic areas to build their pipelines through external innovation. Sylvaine is heading External Science & partnering for Sanofi in Western US and Canada. In this geography, her team supports the implementation of Sanofi external innovation strategy and manages opportunity review, assessment of scientific risk and opportunities, and the early-stage deals process.  Prior to joining Sanofi in 2010, Sylvaine has been working for 16 years in the San Francisco Bay area in academia and biotechnology and her experience covers basic research as well as drug discovery and pre-clinical research and development in oncology and metabolic disorders. She completed post-doctoral studies at the Gladstone Institutes/UCSF, where she discovered new enzyme families in the pathways of lipid synthesis and storage. She then held an academic appointment at the Gladstone Institutes, where she focused on lipid metabolism in obesity and cancer. Most recently she was responsible for Translational Oncology and led early drug discovery projects at Cytokinetics, and was Head of Pharmacology at Arete Therapeutics.

Sylvaine Cases received a MS in biochemistry from the French engineering school AgroParisTech in Paris, and a Ph.D. in Molecular Oncology from the University of Paris 7 and “Institut Gustave Roussy”.

Alex Chang, Ph.D., received his bachelor’s degree in biochemistry from Rutgers College, and completed his Ph.D. from the Graduate School of Biological Sciences at the Mount Sinai School of Medicine in New York. He started in the pharmaceutical industry with Hoffmann-La Roche in 1993 as a scientist in the Product Development arm of the Polymerase Chain Reaction Department. Upon completion of his doctoral degree, Alex moved to ImClone Systems as a Post-doctoral Fellow, working in the Molecular Biology department, where he focused on novel oncology targets and kidney cancer. Alex switched to the business development arena, and by 2009, ran the North America BD operations for Samyang Research Corp, a company headquartered in Seoul, South Korea; and was responsible for in-licensing NCE and biologic partnering activities, drug pipeline out-licensing projects, the assessment of drug delivery technologies, market and competitive analysis, and the management of the due diligence process. He was the lead for Samyang in managing their multimillion-dollar siRNA License and Research Collaboration Agreement with Takeda. In 2012, Alex furthered his multinational experience through a global role for Glenmark Pharmaceuticals, an India-based pharmaceutical company with sales over $1 billion USD. Alex’s primary responsibility was directing the business development activities for the Novel R&D segment of the Glenmark business focusing on a novel bispecific antibody drug platform, the oncology, and pain and inflammation therapeutic areas.

At KLOX Technologies Inc, Alex leads the business development and alliance management activities, and with partners Colgate Palmolive and LEO Pharma (see www.kleresca.com), the development and commercialization of products based on the novel science of biophotonics and photobiomodulation for diseases in dermatology, oral health and wound care. KLOX is entertaining partnership discussions in wound care.

Leon Chen, Ph.D., is a Venture Partner with OrbiMed. Prior to joining OrbiMed, Dr. Chen was the co-founder of KAI Pharmaceuticals where he built the company as the first employee. He held responsibilities research, intellectual property and business development before Amgen acquired KAI in 2012. He was previously an Entrepreneur in Residence at Venrock and most recently was a Partner at Skyline Ventures where he served on the board of a number of biotech and diagnostic companies.  Dr. Chen has a B.A in Biochemistry from U.C. Berkeley, a Ph.D in Molecular Pharmacology from Stanford and an M.B.A from the Stanford Graduate School of Business.

Rajeev joined SR One in 2003 and is an alum of the Kauffman Fellows Program. Rajeev has been involved with SR One’s investments in True North, Illuminoss, Avhana, Setpoint, iPierian, Cydex, Hypnion, Predix and Pinnacle.

In addition to his role at SR One, Rajeev spent time with the Competitive Excellence group within GSK working on company-wide strategic projects for GSKs Corporate Executive Team. Prior to SR One, Rajeev worked at Genentech, where his role included technology and clinical development, and at Bio-Rad Laboratories in a product development role. In addition, Rajeev has worked at Genome Therapeutics in the business development role. Rajeev was a co-founder of Unimicro Technologies, a company that was created to develop and commercialize instrumentation for biomedical analysis.

Rajeev received his BA degree in Chemistry and Mathematics from Knox College, his MBA from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, and his PhD in Chemistry from Stanford University.

Klaus is an accomplished life science professional with more than 20 years experience in international business development, product and technology licensing as well as discovery research in academia, biotech and pharmaceutical industry. Klaus joined AbbVie’s Search and Evaluation group in August 2016. Prior to AbbVie he was BD consultant for iTeos Therapeutics and Rigel Pharmaceuticals, Licensing Director for Oncology within Amgen’s External R&D group and had a similar role in R&D Licensing at Boehringer Ingelheim in Germany. His academic research career included positions at the Max-Planck Institute in Munich, the Salk Institute in La Jolla, and the EMBL and the Cancer Research Center in Heidelberg. Klaus holds a Ph.D. from the University of Heidelberg, Germany.

Jeff Davidson, B.S. Chem E., M.B.A.  --  CEO  --  (company co-founder) is the CEO and has a Bachelor of Sciences in Chemical Engineering from Purdue University and an MBA from the University of Minnesota.  He has 33 years of experience in industry and academia including roles at Penn State University, and forming and managing PA BIO, the Biotechnology Institute, and Keystone Nano. Key accomplishments include creating and managing the first nine years of development of the Pennsylvania Biotechnology Association – which is now in its 26th year of successful operation. While at PA BIO he created and published Your World a magazine of biotechnology education for nine years, cofounded the Council of State BioScience Associations in cooperation with the Biotechnology Industry Organization (BIO) and served on the emerging companies board of BIO. He also created the Biotechnology Institute that is affiliated with the Biotechnology Industry Organization (BIO) and established the mission of the Institute focused on improving bioscience education in public audiences.  In his time to date with Keystone Nano, Mr. Davidson has raised the first $12 million of support for the company, managed the company’s corporate partnering, guided the research programs, initiated the preclinical testing programs, filed the company’s first IND, and is initiating the company’s first clinical trial.  Mr. Davidson is noted for his team building skill and his problem solving acumen. 

Ashlee Dunston is the Director of Global Healthcare at Guidepoint in New York, NY. She has 12 years of experience in the primary research services industry. At Guidepoint, she manages and oversees the healthcare and life sciences research practice. She also develops and implements strategic projects to support the growth of the Guidepoint’s healthcare business globally. Ms. Dunston joined Guidepoint as a Senior Project Manager in 2004. Prior to Guidepoint, Ashlee worked for the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, where she produced publications for physicians and healthcare professionals. She graduated Magna Cum Laude from the University of Pennsylvania with a B.A. in Human Biology and minor in Nutrition. She also studied the History of Medicine at Oxford University. She is a member of the Healthcare Businesswomen’s Association, Women in Bio, and 100 Women in Hedge Funds.

Luke Düster has more than 16 years of experience as both an advisor and investor in high growth companies.  Since joining CRG in 2009, Mr. Düster has helped finance healthcare companies across a wide range of product technologies and therapeutic areas.  He has led investments in companies such as TriVascular, Tandem Diabetes, Nevro Corp., Astute Medical, Good Start Genetics, Nanostring Technologies and others.  Prior to CRG, Mr. Düster was a Vice President at Harris Williams & Co., where he advised private equity and corporate clients across a broad range of M&A assignments.  Mr. Düster also held investment banking roles at the Wallach Company, a regional investment banking boutique, and at the Nord Companies, a healthcare advisory firm.
Mr. Düster received a bachelor’s degree from the University of Colorado at Boulder in 1997, where he graduated summa cum laude. He received an MBA with honors from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania in 2004.

Stephen Thau is a corporate partner whose practice focuses on the representation of life science, medical device, health IT, software, clean tech and other technology companies in transactional matters, including public and private financings, licensing, collaborations and strategic alliances, and mergers and acquisitions. He also represents venture capital and investment banking firms in public and private financing transactions. He has represented companies and investors in over 100 venture capital and debt financing transactions, numerous public offerings, and dozens of public and private M&A transactions and strategic collaboration agreements.

Adi Frish brings extensive business development and transactional experience to RedHill. Prior to joining RedHill, he served as VP Business Development at Medigus (TASE: MDGS). Mr. Frish was previously a partner at Y. Ben-Dror & Co. He is a graduated of Bar Ilan University (LL.M.) and Essex University (LL.B. with Honors).

Patrick Gallagher is Vice President, Business Development for Noven Pharmaceuticals, a specialty pharmaceutical company with world class expertise is transdermal drug delivery and a strong commercial presence in Women’s Health.   Prior to joining Noven, he was Senior Vice President, Business Development, Marketing & Sales at Acusphere. Previously, he served as Vice President, Corporate Business Development at Mylan Laboratories, and in Business Development and Marketing roles at Bristol-Myers Squibb and Johnson & Johnson. Mr. Gallagher holds a B.Sc. in Business Administration from LaSalle University and an MBA from The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania.

25 years of senior management experience at multiple startups with successful exits - including Siebel Systems (IPO) and Gain Technology (acquired by Sybase). CEO of CellSight for the last six years - licensed technology from Stanford and currently conducting clinical trials, primarily funded through NCI grants. Education: B.S. Biochemistry from UC Berkeley, MS Computer Science from Santa Clara University and MBA from UCLA.

As President of Viscadia, Scott Goedeke helps clients strategically plan, analyze and grow their businesses. Scott has more than 24 years of experience with both large and specialty pharmaceutical companies — including senior commercial leadership positions and responsibilities for: strategic planning and business analysis; marketing and brand management/P&L; sales force planning, deployment and management; managed markets access, trade, retail distribution; creation and implementation of HUB customer care model and associated specialty pharmacy and specialty distributor contracted partnerships.

Dr. Gertler provides counsel and analysis on franchise and therapeutic-area strategies, and corporate and business development activities. In addition, he advises clients on planning and execution of value-creating transactions across the spectrum of size and stage in the life sciences and medtech. His practice encompasses North American and European public and private commercial-stage and R&D-stage companies from mid to large cap; venture-backed companies; and investment firms focused on the life sciences.

Prior to founding Back Bay, Dr. Gertler served as Senior Partner and Managing Director of Leerink Swann Strategic Advisors, the consulting arm of Leerink Swann. He also led several investment banking groups: BioPharma Investment Banking at Leerink Swann and Health Care Investment Banking at Adams Harkness/Canaccord Adams. In this capacity, he advised on a significant number of equity, partnering and M&A transactions that total multi-billions in aggregate consideration.

Kathryn J. Gregory, MBA, leads the identification, evaluation and negotiation of new business development opportunities including alliances, collaborations, mergers and acquisitions at Purdue Pharma L.P.Ms. Gregory has more than 20 years of biotechnology and pharmaceutical industry experience and comes to Purdue Pharma from Shire where she was responsible for business development transactions for the Neuroscience and Ophthalmology business units.  Ms. Gregory’s background includes international business development, mergers and acquisitions, licensing, marketing, strategic sourcing and procurement.  Prior to Shire, Ms. Gregory held various executive business development leadership positions at a variety of pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies, including PhaseBio Pharmaceuticals, Teva Pharmaceuticals, Neose Technologies, Cytel Corporation and Gensia Sicor Pharmaceuticals.  Ms. Gregory earned a Master’s of Business Administration degree from Pepperdine University and a Bachelor’s of Science degree from the University of California, Berkeley.

Dr. Todd Haim is a Program Director at the National Cancer Institute’s SBIR Development Center. Dr. Haim manages SBIR & STTR grants and contracts focused on the development of novel cancer therapeutics, preventative agents, and drug discovery technologies that incorporate the tumor microenvironment. Additionally, Todd plays a key role in the planning, design, and leadership of several center initiatives, including serving as coordinator of the NCI Investor Forum, helping to implement relevant workshops, draft targeted solicitations, and facilitate external partnerships. Prior to starting in the SBIR Development Center, he was a Research Associate and Christine Mirzayan Science and Technology Policy Fellow at the National Academy of Sciences. Dr. Haim staffed the Committee on Science, Engineering and Public Policy (COSEPUP) and his efforts centered on follow-up activities to the 2005 “Rising Above the Gathering Storm” report related to various innovation initiatives and evaluation programs. Previously, he completed a postdoctoral fellowship at Pfizer in which he actively led Pfizer’s research efforts in a collaboration with Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis that illustrated a mechanism for altered cardiac contractility due to excess fatty acids. Dr. Haim graduated from Albert Einstein College of Medicine in January 2007 with a PhD in biomedical research and obtained a certificate in technology commercialization from John Hopkins’ Carey Business School in 2011. He has received several prestigious awards and honors including the 2014 NCI Leadership Development Award, a 2014 NIH Director’s Award and the NJ Governor’s Award for Volunteerism in the Field of Health.

Dr. Michelle Hoffmann joined Back Bay from Deloitte, where she led the Life Sciences arm of Deloitte Research, Deloitte’s industry think tank. Michelle was responsible for concept generation, researching and writing white papers on emerging life sciences industry topics such as the impact of Accountable Care Organizations, the mobile personal health record, medical homes and social networks.  She became a sought-after subject matter expert for Deloitte clients and public forums.

Prior to joining Deloitte Research, Michelle was a consultant in the Strategic Advisory group at Leerink Swann, a boutique health care investment bank, where she used her science and technology background to help clients understand how to value and leverage new therapies and technologies. She led projects on a diverse range of topics, including cell therapy opportunities, mapping the diagnostics landscape for colorectal and lung cancer, outlining oncology clinical strategies, determining acquisition opportunities in the next generation sequencing landscape and helping a start-up platform technology company develop its corporate strategy. Her clients included start-ups, mid-cap and top five biopharma companies.

Michelle holds a PhD in molecular and cell biology from the University of California at Berkeley and a BS in biology from Cornell. Michelle enjoys novels and spending time with her family.

Henry Ji, Ph.D., co-founded Sorrento Therapeutics, Inc. in January 2006 and currently serves as the President and Chief Executive Officer. He also is a director and was the Chief Scientific Officer from November 2008 to August 2012. In 2002, Dr. Ji founded BioVintage, Inc., a research and development company focusing on innovative life science technology and product development and has served as its President since 2002.  From 2001 to 2002, Dr. Ji served as Vice President of CombiMatrix Corporation, a publicly traded biotechnology company developing and offering technologies applicable in drug development, genetic analysis and molecular diagnostics.  During his tenure at CombiMatrix, Dr. Ji was responsible for strategic technology alliances with biopharmaceutical companies.  From 1999 to 2001, Dr. Ji served as Director of Business Development, and in 2001 as Vice President, of Stratagene Corporation (acquired by Agilent Technologies, Inc.) a company that develops innovative products and technologies for life science research, where he was responsible for technology development and product licensing.  In 1997, Dr. Ji co-founded Stratagene Genomics, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of the Stratagene Corporation, and served as its President and CEO from its founding until 1999. Before, Dr. Ji was a research scientist with Human Genome Sciences, Inc.
Dr. Ji is the holder of several issued and pending patents in the life science research field and is the sole inventor of STI’s G-MAB® intellectual property. Dr. Ji holds a Ph.D. in Animal Physiology from the University of Minnesota and a B.S. in Biochemistry from Fudan University, China.

Patrick Johnson, Vice President, Business Development, leads Allergan’s Business Development efforts in eye care. Prior to joining Allergan in 2010, Patrick co-founded a drug delivery start-up company which he led from 2005-2010. He holds his PhD from the University of California, Santa Barbara.

Jeannie Joughin has also held various scientific positionsin Australia and internationally in Austria and Switzerland. Dr. Joughin beganher career in the pharmaceutical industry in 1992 as a Clinical ResearchManager with Bristol-Myers Squibb. After managing local trials in oncology andcardiology, she moved into New Product Commercialization as the interfacebetween the medical and marketing departments. From there, Dr. Joughin workedin various marketing and executive level business development roles. As VicePresident, Business Development at CSL Behring, Dr Joughin was responsible formanaging global business licensing arrangements and executed the deal with MikeHooven (CEO Enable Injections) to license the Enable Injections technology forCSL. Her passion for bringing the technology to users in therapeutic areasbeyond those serviced by CSL caused her to make the move to Cincinnati and leadlicensing for Enable Injections. Now as Vice President, Corporate DevelopmentJeannie Joughin is responsible for business development, strategic alliances,alliance management, marketing & clinical activities and will be integralin the selection and prioritization Enable’s global portfolio.

Enable Injections develops and manufactures devices thatallow patient self-administration of high volume/viscosity drugs. The EnableInjector technology is a discreet body-worn device that provides acomfortable injection experience allowing the patient to continue with normaldaily activities. The Enable system is designed to utilize any standardcontainer closure system, including a syringe or vial. Enable Injectionsis seeking to license its technology to biopharmaceutical companies andoptimize the delivery of subcutaneous combination products for various chronicand serious diseases.

QB3 seeks to accelerate the commercialization of innovations from UCSF, UC Berkeley and UC Santa Cruz.  Neena leads QB3's efforts to establish alliances with industry partners, which includes partnerships between industry partners and startups as well as faculty collaborations with industry scientists. QB3 currently has partnerships with Calico, Roche, Bayer, Takeda and Johnson & Johnson.  Neena leads the effort for primeUC, a UC-wide startup event to fund and showcase exciting startups emerging from the UC system, and manages other grant funding programs at QB3, including the Bridging the Gap program.  She also works to advise campus-affiliated venture funds emerging from the UC system. Neena received her PhD from CalTech in Chemistry and has an undergraduate degree from MIT.

Rachna Khosla is an Executive Director in Business Development who joined Amgen in 2013 from Lazard Freres & Co.  At Amgen, she is responsible for leading, structuring and negotiating strategic transactions across a broad array of deal structures and therapeutic areas.

Rachna has more than 20 years of biopharmaceutical strategic transactions experience.   Her extensive experience includes licensing, collaborations, partnerships, equity investments and M&A.  Previously, she held positions in M&A investment banking and biotech corporate venture capital.  Prior to Amgen, Rachna worked at Lazard Freres & Co., Credit Suisse, JPMorgan, Aventis Capital and Salomon Brothers.

Rachna received her MBA from Columbia Business School and her BA from Barnard College, Columbia University.  She also attended the London School of Economics for one year while at Barnard.

Lawrence Klein, Ph.D., is Vice President of Strategy & Business Development at CRISPR Therapeutics, a biotech company based in Cambridge, MA focused on developing novel therapeutics using CRISPR gene editing technology.  His responsibilities include identifying, evaluating, and negotiating new business development opportunities, as well as managing overall corporate and portfolio strategy.  Prior to joining CRISPR Therapeutics, Dr. Klein was an Associate Partner at McKinsey & Company where he was a leader in the biotech and pharmaceutical practice, and advised clients on topics relating to corporate strategy, R&D strategy, and business development.  Dr. Klein has an academic research background in the field of T-cell immunology.

Kai Larson currently serves as  Vice President of Business Development and General Counsel for Signpath Pharma, a company which is developing drugs for the treatment of cancer and drug-induced cardiac arrhythmias.   He is a graduate of Brigham Young University and Columbia University School of Law, and began his career in the intellectual property department at the law firm of Kirkland & Ellis.  He has been involved in the pharmaceutical industry for more than twenty years, including serving as General Counsel for NaPro BioTherapeutics and Tapestry Pharmaceuticals. 

Ken has over 30 years of experience in the innovative pharmaceutical industry with leading global companies such as Bristol-Myers Squibb, Hoechst Marion Roussel and Marion Merrell Dow. He held a variety of management positions with these companies in the areas of sales and business development, regulatory affairs, reimbursement and market access. Ken's past contributions in helping build leading global cardiovascular brands such as Plavix, Pravachol, Cardizem, and Avapro will provide strategic guidance for the company's technologies in the areas of market analysis, regulatory affairs, pharmacoeconomics, licensing and commercial development.

Christopher Leo, Ph.D., Senior Vice President, has over 10 years of experience in providing strategic advisory support to life sciences clients.  Chris joined Back Bay from Genzyme, where he led strategic & competitive planning projects for the company’s $2 billion Rare Genetic Disease and $500 million Biosurgery business units. Chris supported both the brand teams on commercial issues related to strategic marketing and competitive positioning, as well as the R&D organization on the assessment of new market opportunities.  Prior to Genzyme, Chris was a Director with Leerink Swann’s Strategic Advisory group, where he led assignments comprising commercial, R&D, and growth strategies for both big pharma/med-tech and emerging growth clients. Chris was also a Principal in Wood Mackenzie’s life science consulting practice, and prior to that, was Director of the Belfer Cancer Genomics Center at the Dana Farber Cancer Institute.  Dr. Leo completed his doctorate in Biochemistry and Molecular Pharmacology at the University of Massachusetts Medical School, a post-doctoral fellowship in the Department of Pathology at Harvard Medical School, and earned his undergraduate degree in Biology from the College of the Holy Cross.

Andrew is responsible for the Life Sciences vertical at Intralinks and brings over 15 years of experience delivering innovative solutions for this industry with his career including time at Covance, Relsys and Medidata. Andrew brings deep subject matter expertise anchored by a strong belief in providing and finding best practices.

Intralinks is the world’s leading content collaboration and deal making platform, having facilitated over $31.3 trillion worth of transactions. We serve nine of the ten largest biopharma firms along with some of the smallest and assists across their organizations - from deal sourcing, due diligence and alliance management to managing data monitoring committees, automating safety (SUSAR) report distribution and remote monitoring of research sites.

Our security and governance capabilities protect high-value information in tightly regulated industries and support ISO 207001 certification, FDA 21 CFR Part 11 validation and HIPAA compliant file sharing.

Christoph Pittius is Head of Transactions, AstraZeneca Business Development, and is based in Mölndal, Sweden. He and his team focus on negotiating global strategic in- and out-licensing deals of clinical-stage and on-the-market product opportunities as well as M&A in AstraZeneca’s core indications of interest. Prior to joining AstraZeneca in 2011, Christoph was in senior Business Development roles at Novartis, Boehringer Ingelheim and Hoechst (now Sanofi) in the US and Germany, and also worked at a New York City based Investment Bank. Christoph’s original training was as a biochemist and molecular biologist, obtained at the Max-Planck Institute for Psychiatry, Munich, Germany.

Prakash Raman is Vice President and Global Head of Business Development and Licensing (BD&L) for Oncology at Novartis. Prakash has had a very diverse and successful career in R&D at several different companies including Novartis, AstraZeneca and Millennium. In his current role, Prakash leads BD&L activities for Novartis Oncology focusing on late stage clinical and marketed assets. Most recently, Prakash was in the BD&L team at the Novartis Institutes for Biomedical Research (NIBR) BD team where he led numerous deals focused on building the Novartis Immuno-Oncology portfolio.

Prior to his time in the NIBR BD team, Prakash was Head of Project Management for the Infectious Disease iMED unit at AstraZeneca where he managed a portfolio of early to clinical stage programs. Prior to his role at AstraZeneca, Prakash was a Project Leader and Project Manager in the Infectious Disease therapeutic area at Novartis and as a research scientist at Millennium Pharmaceuticals.
Prakash has a PhD in Organic Chemistry from the University of Wisconsin-Madison followed by a post-doctoral position at The Scripps Research Institute.

Paul Resnick serves as Vice President and Chief Business Officer of MabVax Therapeutics.  He has over 20 years of industry experience spanning large pharmaceutical and public and private biotechnology companies encompassing corporate development, product development, licensing and collaboration. From January 2013 to March 2016, Dr. Resnick was Senior Vice President, for Juventas Therapeutics where he was responsible for business and commercial strategy and working with executive management overseeing clinical development and financial and business strategies. From January 2008 to January 2012 he was Vice President, Business Development and member of the executive management team for Intellikine, Inc. (acquired by Takeda Pharmaceuticals), responsible for managing alliances and leading the business development strategy that resulted in securing an acquisition by Takeda Pharmaceuticals. Earlier in his career Dr. Resnick held Director and Senior Director positions at Pfizer, Rinat Neuroscience (acquired by Pfizer), Intermune, Inc. and Roche Pharmaceuticals.  Dr. Resnick earned a Doctor of Medicine from The Medical College of Wisconsin and a Master of Business Administration from The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania.

As Head of Johnson & Johnson Innovation, JLABS, Melinda fosters Johnson & Johnson’s external R&D engine and supports the innovation community by creating capital-efficient commercialization models that give early stage companies a big company advantage. By providing infrastructure, services, educational programs and networks in global hotspots, JLABS is the best place to start a biotech company.

Prior to joining JLABS, Melinda was Founder and CEO of Prescience International, an award-winning firm dedicated to accelerating research to the patient. Melinda founded Prescience after she had a medical emergency that left her questioning the efficiency and efficacy of the healthcare system. With the tenacity and resolve of a patient looking for a better solution, she set out to create a better model, which now forms the basis for JLABS’ operational infrastructure.

Prior to starting Prescience, Melinda held posts across a variety of functional areas with a global corporation, Nortel Networks, in locations such as Research Triangle Park, New York, Toronto, London, Hong Kong and Beijing before arriving in San Francisco. She also started, raised capital and did large corporate deals for several companies in both the life science and technology space.

She holds a Bachelor of Commerce from the University of Saskatchewan in Canada and an MBA from INSEAD in France.

Eric Risser has almost 20 years of strategy and transaction experience across both small biotechnology and large pharmaceutical companies. During his career, he has led multiple major transactions in the pharmaceuticals area, including company acquisitions, divestments, equity financings, product licenses and research collaborations. He currently leads the business development and new product planning activities at MacroGenics,and was responsible for the execution of MacroGenics’ existing partnershipswith Takeda, Gilead, Servier, Pfizer and Boehringer Ingelheim. Prior to joining MacroGenics, he served as Executive Director, Business Development at Johnson& Johnson Pharmaceuticals, which he joined in 2003. Before Johnson &Johnson, Mr. Risser started and built a successful consulting practice that provided counsel to emerging life science companies in the United States and Europe. He has also worked as a venture capitalist with Bank America Ventures and as an investment banker with Lehman Brothers, where he began his career in their New York and London offices. Mr. Risser holds an M.B.A. from Stanford University and a B.A. from Yale University.

Dr. Paul Shami is a Professor of Medicine in the Division of Hematology and Hematologic Malignancies at the University of Utah and a Member and Clinical Investigator at the University’s Huntsman Cancer Institute. He is an Adjunct Professor in the Department of Pharmaceutics and Pharmaceutical Chemistry. He graduated with a Bachelor of Science in Chemistry and a Doctor of Medicine degrees from the American University of Beirut. He pursued his residency training in Internal Medicine and a fellowship in Hematology/Oncology at Duke University in Durham, North Carolina. He trained in the laboratory of Dr. J. Brice Weinberg at Duke. After 3 years on the Faculty at Duke he joined the University of Utah School of Medicine in 1997. He is Board Certified in Hematology and Medical Oncology. He is a member of the Acute Myeloid Leukemia and Myelodysplastic Syndromes panels of the National Cancer Center Network. Dr. Shami’s laboratory and clinical research efforts focus on the development of new therapies for hematologic malignancies. With Dr. Larry Keefer’s group at the NCI he has developed arylated dizeniumdiolates for the treatment of malignant diseases. A lead compound of this class (JS-K) is now in pre-clinical development. He has co-founded JSK Therapeutics and Lone Star Thiotherapies, two start-up biotechnology companies in order to lead the development of different anti-cancer technologies.

Lee Schalop is a co-founder of Oncoceutics. He has held the position of Chief Business Officer since soon after graduating with a doctor of medicine degree from the Albert Einstein College of Medicine in 2008. Prior to attending medical school, Dr. Schalop spent more than 19 years in the financial industry at a number of major Wall Street firms, including Morgan Stanley, J.P. Morgan, Credit Suisse and Banc of America Securities. From 1985 to 1993, he was an investment banker and his fund raising activities included more than 10 initial public offerings, the largest of which raised over $700 million. From 1993 to 2004, he served as a research analyst and authored more than 1,000 reports covering more than 50 different publicly traded companies, earning a reputation for groundbreaking research. Lee is also a director of ImmunoGenes AG, a life sciences company focused on the development of novel antibodies using genetically-modified animals; and sits on the advisory boards of the Vagelos Program in Life Sciences and Management at the University of Pennsylvania, and the New York Chapter of the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation, a non-profit dedicated to finding a cure for diabetes and its complications. He is a summa cum laude graduate of the University of Pennsylvania where he earned dual degrees from the University’s Wharton School and College of Arts and Sciences.

Dr. Volker Schellenberger is the President and CEO of Amunix Operating Inc., which he co-founded with Willem “Pim” Stemmer in 2006. He initially served as Amunix’ Chief Scientific Officer and is the lead inventor of the company’s XTENTM half-life extension and drug payload delivery technology. XTEN enables the engineering of biotherapeutics with long in-vivo half-life and low safety risk due to their biodegradable nature. XTENylated pharmaceuticals can be efficiently produced by recombinant expression as well as by bioconjugation. The favorable properties of XTEN have been confirmed in multiple clinical trials.
Dr. Schellenberger has over 20 years of industry experience in protein engineering and drug discovery. Prior to co-founding Amunix he served as head of Genencor’s protein engineering department.

Dr. Schellenberger received his Ph.D. from Leipzig University, where he studied protease catalyzed peptide synthesis. After postdoctoral studies at the Institute for Protein Research in Pushchino (Russia), he moved to the University of Göttingen where he developed a novel method for the production of peptides from recombinant peptide-multimers. After a postdoctoral fellowship with Bill Rutter at the University of California, San Francisco, Dr. Schellenberger joined Genencor in 1994. Dr. Schellenberger is the author of over 40 scientific papers and an inventor on more than 70 issued and pending patent applications. He is also the recipient of the Karl Lohman award of the German Society of Biochemists.

Bill Simpson is Chief Executive Officer of CerRx, Inc., an oncology drug development start-up currently with five compounds.  Two compounds are in phase II trials, one of which is in its pivotal trial for first registration under an orphan designation in the US, EU and Asia. 
Bill has a career filled with leading US and Global Oncology drug development and commercial teams that launched three market leading oncology brands in the US.  Bill has held senior management and executive roles with leading oncology companies including AstraZeneca, Adria Laboratories (now Pfizer), and Ascalon International.

Alex Szidon currently leads Merck’s West Coast Innovation Hub for Business Development & Licensing (Merck is known as MSD outside of US and Canada).  Prior to joining Merck in 2015, Alex worked at the Novartis Institutes for BioMedical Research in Cambridge, MA and Emeryville, CA; initially supporting asset and technology platform transactions within Strategic Alliances and then eventually leading the Operational Alliances group globally.  Alex came to Pharma with experience in biotech and enterprise creation via the founding of Zafgen (NSDQ:ZFGN) and as an early employee in DARA Biosciences (NSDQ:DARA).  Alex developed expertise in technology transfer as a Director of Business Development in the Office of Technology Development at the Harvard Medical School.  Alex obtained his PhD in biochemistry and cell biology from UCSF and early business training as an associate consultant within L.E.K.’s Life Sciences practice in Boston.

Anshul Thakral joined PPD in July 2016 as senior vice president of PPD’s biotech partnership segment with more than 15 years of experience in the pharmaceutical and biotechnology industries, as a general manager, management consultant and entrepreneur.  

Before joining PPD, Anshul ran the global life sciences business unit at Gerson Lehrman Group, where he created a customer business model to serve the pharmaceutical and biotechnology industries. Prior to GLG, Anshul worked at McKinsey & Company, where he was an associate principal in the healthcare practice, counseling senior management and CEOs of global pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies on critical topics including growth, strategy, R&D, business development, go-to-market approach and commercial models.
 
He received his undergraduate and master’s degrees in biomedical engineering from Johns Hopkins University and earned an MBA from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania. Anshul is also a co-founder and board member of the Newark Mentoring Movement.

Dr. Usman is currently President & CEO and a member of the Board of Directors at Catalyst Biosciences (NASDAQ:CBIO). Dr. Usman joined Catalyst from Morgenthaler Ventures, where he is a Venture Partner. Prior to joining Morgenthaler in 2005, he was Senior Vice President and Chief Operating Officer at Sirna Therapeutics Inc. (Nasdaq:RNAI – acquired by Merck NYSE:MRK) from 2004 to 2005 and held various R&D positions at both Sirna and Ribozyme Pharmaceuticals (Nasdaq:RZYM), including VP of R&D and Chief Scientific Officer, from 1992 to 2004. During his industrial career, Dr. Usman has entered several drugs into clinical development, completed multiple licensing deals with pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies and raised capital in both private and public financings. Prior to moving into the biotechnology industry in 1992, Dr. Usman was an NIH Fogarty and NSERC Postdoctoral Fellow and Scientist in the Departments of Biology and Chemistry at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology from 1987 to 1992. He has authored more than 70 scientific articles and 130 patents and applications. Dr. Usman serves on the Boards of Mosaic Biosciences and Principia Biopharma, is a past director of Osprey Pharmaceuticals, Archemix Corporation and atugen AG (now Silence Therapeutics, LSE/AIM:SLN) and served on the SABs of RXi Pharmaceuticals and Noxxon Pharma AG. He received his B.Sc. (Honours) and Ph.D. in Organic Chemistry from McGill University. In his doctoral dissertation, he developed a method for the solid-phase synthesis of RNA that is widely used in science and in a marketed RNA product (Macugen™).

Jim Vail is the Director of New Business Development at Heracles Pharmaceuticals.  Jim’s professional experience includes more than 14 years in the healthcare industry in management roles at Johnson & Johnson’s Animas Corporation and most recently as Director of Development for Children with Diabetes, a non-profit organization helping people and families better manage type 1 diabetes.  Before joining Animas, Jim worked at CNBC Business News for over a decade as a coordinating producer in CNBC’s Washington, DC bureau covering the FDA, the SEC, OPEC, the Federal Reserve and the White House.

As a key team member of Heracles Pharmaceuticals, Jim’s goal and passion is to support the parent company’s important mission of “reducing the harm caused by smoking.”  Jim will present X-22, an innovative smoking cessation aid in development with an active IND with the FDA.  X-22 is made with the world’s lowest nicotine tobacco and is the first and only smoking cessation product in the form of a combustible cigarette.  To date, more than a dozen independent Phase II and Phase III clinical trials have shown that X-22 is the world’s most effective smoking cessation aid.

Gary Van Savage is a Senior Director of Business Development & Licensing, Immunology, Janssen Business Development.  He joined the Johnson & Johnson family of companies in 1997 as a member of the Janssen Pharmaceutica (USA) Technical Services group where he had completed the technology transfer of several new product manufacturing processes. Later, at the RW Johnson Pharmaceutical Research Institute he led the search and evaluation efforts for drug delivery technologies and secured academic research contracts.

In 2003 Gary joined the Global Pharmaceuticals Business Development Group and has since personally negotiated and executed numerous agreements encompassing research collaborations, research tools and platforms. His efforts have also helped to in-license several clinical stage Immunology assets and secure key strategic alliances.  

Before joining Johnson & Johnson, Gary worked in the New Product Development Group of SmithKline Beecham Consumer Healthcare.  He holds a B.S. (Pharmacy) and PhD (Pharmaceutical Sciences) from the University of Rhode Island and an MBA from Columbia University.

Tyler Wish is the CEO and Co-Founder of Sequence Bio, a data-driven biotechnology company in Newfoundland and Labrador leading a 100,000 person genome project. A trained epidemiologist, Tyler has a background in large-scale population-based research, human genetics and drug discovery. Tyler serves as a Canadian Innovation Leader as part of the Government of Canada and Minister’s Navdeep Bains’ innovation agenda and sits on BIOTECanada’s Emerging Companies Advisory Board. Dr. Wish completed a B.Sc (Chemistry) from the University of Victoria and a PhD (Medicine) from Memorial University of Newfoundland where he investigated the clinical and molecular epidemiology of inherited cancer syndromes.

Heather A. Wasserman, PhD is currently a Senior Director in External Innovation (EI) at Lilly Research Laboratories in Indianapolis, Indiana. She is responsible for the evaluation of potential in-license and partnership opportunities in autoimmune indications, including the in-license of the BTK inhibitor from Hanmi. Dr. Wasserman joined Lilly in 2013, as a EI Director. Before coming to Lilly, she was a pre-clinical research scientist in the Immunology Department at Human Genome Sciences. Her research interests included the development of immune modulators in autoimmune diseases, specifically asthma and arthritis. She received her BS  in Biology from the University of Maryland in 1996 and her Ph.D. from the University of Georgia in 2005. Dr. Wasserman then went on to do a post doc at Emory University with an emphasis in T cell tolerance and anergy.  Dr. Wasserman has published in peer reviewed journals, and is a co-inventor on two US patents.

Dr. Michael Woo heads Search and Evaluation in Immuno-Oncology at EMD Serono.  Michael has broad experiences in business development and drug development.  Prior to joining EMD Serono, Michael served in areas of increasing responsibility in Business Development & Licensing at Novartis Oncology, leading Due Diligence and actively participating in Search and Evaluation for oncology therapeutics.  Before joining Novartis, Michael was leading Due Diligence in the areas of Oncology, Immunology, Infectious Diseases, and Neuroscience in Roche Partnering.  Michael has been an active member of deal teams that have completed deals and strategic partnerships in Oncology and Immuno-Oncology.  Michael has also served on global program teams responsible for the development of small molecules and biologics in Oncology from Phase 1 through Regulatory filing at Bristol-Myers Squibb and at Roche.
Michael received a B.Sc.Phm. from the University of Toronto, an M.S.C.I. from Vanderbilt University, an M.B.A from New York University Stern School of Business, and a Doctor of Pharmacy from Wayne State University.  Michael completed his residency at M.D. Anderson Cancer Center and post-doctoral fellowships at St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital.
Michael is a member of the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) and the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO).

Mr. Yang is a President and CEO, GtreeBNT in Korea as well as ReGenTree in the US. He has highly accomplished professional with diverse experience for 30 years in pharmaceutical industry with the solid background of corporate management and business development including licensing and strategic co-development, overseas sales and marketing, and creation of strategic business partnership in global pharmaceutical and healthcare markets. Prior to GtreeBNT, he was serving as an executive director of business development and global sales in Hanmi Pharmaceuticals and then moved to CHA Biotech to act as President and CEO, both are the largest pharmaceutical or cell therapy development companies in Korea.

Ronald Zenk is Chief Executive Officer of Minneapolis-based Humanetics Corporation. Humanetics’ product portfolio features multiple drug candidates at various stages of clinical development. Areas of focus include a therapy aimed at improving treatment for solid tumor cancers; and a therapy to prevent and treat age-related cognitive decline associated with normal aging or neurodegenerative disease (e.g. Alzheimer’s disease). Both therapies have the potential to become widely adopted new treatment paradigms that could significantly improve upon the current standard of care.

Prior to founding Humanetics, Mr. Zenk developed his business expertise as a new enterprise consultant for KPMG.  He then gained executive leadership experience by serving as Vice President of Finance for a publicly held medical device company in Minneapolis.

Mr. Zenk received a Master of Business Administration degree in Finance from the Carlson School of Management at the University of Minnesota in 1982.  Before attending Carlson, he graduated from St. John’s University in Collegeville, MN with a Bachelor of Science degree in Business Administration.