Best Startup
At Best Startup US we track over 1,000,000 US startups and over 3 million people who hold key positions in these companies. We use this directory of startups to highlight top employees, founders and board members we think deserve more appreciation than they are currently getting.
This list showcases the top United States based Founder operating in the Pharmaceutical space. If you think a Founder is missing from this list, feel free to contact our editor on editor@beststartup.us.
The individuals on this list have been included because of exceptional performance in one of the following categories:
- Innovation – Operating as a key part in an extremely innovative business or startup.
- Growth – Operating as a key figure in the growth and upscale of a market leading business or startup.
- Management – Showing exceptional management skills.
- Societal impact – Putting their business on the map for their positive societal or environmental impact.
Our Data – We source our data from OSINT (open source intelligence) and public directories such as Crunchbase, SemRush and many more. The data from these sources should be treated with a degree of caution and verified yourself.
Robert Nelsen
Co-Founder & Managing Director of ARCH Venture Partners
Robert Nelsen is a co-founder and a Managing Director of ARCH Venture Partners. He joined ARCH at its founding and played a significant role in the early sourcing, financing and development of more than 100 companies, including nineteen which have reached valuations exceeding $1 billion. His seed and early-stage investments include Illumina (ILMN); Alnylam Pharmaceuticals (ALNY); Juno Therapeutics (JUNO); Unity Biotechnology (UBX); Sienna Biopharmaceuticals (SNNA); Vir Biotechnology, Agios Pharmaceuticals (AGIO); Sage Therapeutics (SAGE); GRAIL, Ikaria; Kythera Biopharmaceuticals (KYTH), Receptos (RCPT); Aviron (AVIR); Denali Therapeutics (DNLI); Rubius Therapeutics, KSQ Therapeutics, Beam Therapeutics, NetBot; Bluebird Bio (BLUE); R2 Technology; XenoPort (XNPT); Caliper Life Sciences (CALP); Trubion Pharmaceuticals (TRBN); Adolor (ADLR); deCODE Genetics; Array BioPharma (ARRY); Editas (EDIT), IDUN Pharmaceuticals; Classmates.com; Hua Medicine; Fate Therapeutics (FATE); WuxiNextCODE; and Everyday Learning Corporation. Mr. Nelsen is a director of Vir Bio, GRAIL, Sienna Biopharmaceuticals, Beam Therapeutics, Unity Biotechnology, Denali Therapeutics, Arivale, Syros Pharmaceuticals, and serves as Chairman of Hua Medicine, among others. He previously served as a Trustee of the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Institute, the Institute for Systems Biology, and was a director of the National Venture Capital Association. Mr. Nelsen holds an M.B.A. from the University of Chicago and a B.S. from the University of Puget Sound with majors in Economics and Biology.
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About ARCH Venture Partners: ARCH is an early-stage venture firm that focuses on life science discoveries to prevent, detect, and cure disease.
Keith Crandell
Founder and Managing Director of ARCH Venture Partners
Keith L. Crandell is the Co – Founder & Managing Director, ARCH Venture Partners. He focuses on chemical and specialty materials companies, electronics and instrumentation, optics and photonics, communications, and enterprise infrastructure businesses. He previously served as Senior Manager at ARCH Development Corporation, where he was responsible for ARCH Venture Fund I activities at Argonne National Laboratory. Mr. Crandell has played a key role in the formation and initial funding round of Quanterix, Alfalight, PixelEXX Systems, ALIS Corp. (acquired by Carl Zeiss SMT), Eichrom Industries (acquired by Gary Comer, Inc.), Nanophase Technologies (NANX), and Illinois Superconductor. He was also responsible for ARCH’s investment in New Era of Networks (NEON, acquired by Sybase-SY), Apropos Technology (APRS, acquired by Syntellect-ESL), Teach.com (acquired by Intellinex), CelebrateExpress (BDAY, acquired by Liberty Media-LINTA), Ahura Scientific (acquired by Thermo Fisher Scientific-TMO), Adesto Technologies, Ciespace, Boreal Genomics, and Crystal IS (acquired by Asahi Kasei-AHKSY), among others. He is a Director of Quanterix, Nanosys, Alfalight, Adesto Technologies, Boreal Genomics, PixelEXX Systems, Univa, Ciespace. Mr. Crandell also serves as a Director of the Illinois Venture Capital Association. Prior to the founding of ARCH, Mr. Crandell was with the specialty chemical and polymer company, Hercules, Inc. He holds an M.B.A. from The University of Chicago. An M.S. in Chemistry from the University of Texas at Arlington. B.S. in Chemistry and Mathematics from St. Lawrence University.
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About ARCH Venture Partners: ARCH is an early-stage venture firm that focuses on life science discoveries to prevent, detect, and cure disease.
Clinton Bybee
Co-Founder and Managing Director of ARCH Venture Partners
Clinton Bybee is a co-founder and Managing Director of ARCH Venture Partners. Mr. Bybee concentrates primarily on advanced materials, electronics, semiconductors, photonics, and infrastructure businesses. Mr. Bybee has helped organize and finance numerous companies including MicroOptical Devices (acquired by EMCORE), Cambrios Technologies, Aveso, Innovalight, Intelligent Reasoning Systems (acquired by Photon Dynamics), Semprius, Nanosys, and Xtera Communications. He is a board member of Impinj, Innovalight, Cambrios Technologies, Xtera Communications, Nitronex and Aveso. Mr. Bybee is an organizing member of the Texas Venture Capital Association and currently serves as its first President. Previously, Mr. Bybee worked with ARCH Development Corporation. He also managed a venture investment fund for the State of Illinois and was a production engineer with Amoco Corporation.
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About ARCH Development Corporation, ARCH Venture Partners, Nitronex: ARCH is an early-stage venture firm that focuses on life science discoveries to prevent, detect, and cure disease.
Chris Gibson
Co-Founder & CEO of Recursion Pharmaceuticals
Chris completed his PhD in Bioengineering at the University of Utah in the fall of 2013 before taking a leave of absence from medical school (he was enrolled in the MD/PhD program) to found and grow Recursion. He developed the core technology underlying this venture while in the lab of Dr. Dean Li. Chris comes from a family of entrepreneurs, is a graduate of Rice University with degrees in bioengineering and managerial studies, and recently completed an intense course in entrepreneurship at Stanford GSB. Chris is also a Board Member of CureHHT, a patient advocacy group for Hereditary Hemorrhagic Telangiectasia. Chris enjoys cycling on both the road and the trails that cut through Utah’s great wilderness,as well as spending precious time with his family.
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About Recursion Pharmaceuticals: Recursion Pharmaceuticals is a digital biology company, developing a drug discovery platform and pipeline with machine learning.
Leonard Pershing Guarente
Founder & Chief Scientist of Elysium
Leonard Guarente, Ph.D., is a founder of Elysium and the company’s chief scientist, a role in which he directs research and product development. Since 1982 he has led the Glenn Center for the Biology of Aging Research at MIT, where his research has focused on the genetic and molecular basis of aging — first in model organisms and now in mouse models and humans. Guarente is best known for his research on the role of sirtuins, a class of proteins that play a key role in regulating metabolic systems. In particular, Guarente was the first to identify SIR2 as the gene that controls aging in yeast cells. The mammalian version of SIR2, SIRT1 (and its associated proteins), has since been shown by Guarente and others to play a key role in longevity and metabolic function in mammals. Additional research is needed to confirm similar effects in humans. Guarente’s lab is currently focused on understanding how the human aging transcriptional program works and how it is regulated. His team is particularly interested in the role of sirtuins in human aging. They are investigating the role of sirtuin levels and also sirtuin polymorphisms in regulating human aging rates as well as looking broadly using unbiased genome-wide strategies. Guarente is the Novartis Professor of Biology at MIT. He holds a B.S. from MIT and a Ph.D. from Harvard.
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About Elysium: Elysium Health offers health products built with science such as dietary supplements and anti-aging drugs.
Brian McCormack
CO-Founder of Cresco Labs
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About Cresco Labs: Cresco Labs is a vertically-integrated multi-state cannabis operator inciting the progressive evolution of the medical cannabis industry.
Charlie Bachtell
Founder and CEO of Cresco Labs
Charles Bachtell serves as Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer at Cresco Labs, LLC. He served as an Executive Vice President and General Counsel at Guaranteed Rate, Inc. Charles Bachtell served as the head of the legal and loss mitigation departments at Guaranteed Rate. He managed matters concerning legal, regulatory/legislative compliance, credit risk, corporate governance, and acquisitions, among others. Additionally, he is a board member of the Guaranteed Rate Foundation, the company’s nonprofit (501 c3) arm. Charles Bachtell worked with Guaranteed Rate. He obtained his Bachelor of Science degree in business administration with an emphasis in finance from the University of Arizona from 1996 to 2000 and his Juris Doctor from DePaul University College of Law.
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About Cresco Labs: Cresco Labs is a vertically-integrated multi-state cannabis operator inciting the progressive evolution of the medical cannabis industry.
Joe Caltabiano
Co-Founder and President of Cresco Labs
Joseph “Joe” Caltabiano is a well-known and influential figure in the cannabis business, as well as the CEO of Choice Consolidation Corp., a special purpose acquisition company (“SPAC”) targeting an acquisition of one or more cannabis businesses or assets that can create a best-in-class cannabis multi-state operator (“MSO”). Prior to launching Choice, Caltabiano co-founded Cresco Labs, one of the most successful multi-state operators in the United States. Living and working in the Chicago metropolitan area, Caltabiano is a mentor who regularly advises both new and existing companies. His experience has covered a broad spectrum of disciplines, and he uses this diverse and extensive financial knowledge of retail, real estate, management, and the regulated cannabis sector to uncover new possibilities for investors. As a philanthropist and a childhood leukemia survivor, Caltabiano is also a significant contributor to organizations seeking a cure for cancer and supporting patients and their families.
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About Cresco Labs: Cresco Labs is a vertically-integrated multi-state cannabis operator inciting the progressive evolution of the medical cannabis industry.
Mark Bouzyk
Co-Founder & Chief Scientific Officer of AKESOgen
Mark Bouzyk is Founder & Chief Scientific Officer at AKESOgen.
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About AKESOgen: AKESOgen is a biomarker, genomics, and pharmacogenomics contract research organization.
Connie Wan
Founder and CEO of Seattle Gummy Company
Connie Wan Business, technology and IP executive with proven sucess in technology and product development and commercialization; intellectual property creation, portfolio strategies, management and commercialization; IP landscape and whitespace analysis; patentability search; patentability and freedom to operate analysis and opinions; IP due diligence; patent validity and infringement analyses; IP assets evaluation, acquisition, and licensing; technology transfer; IP strategy, patent portfolio development and trademark strategy for startups; inventors training, development, and management; patent preparation and prosecution in the fields of chemistry, pharmaceutics, therapeutic methods, biotechnology, medical devices, polymers, material sciences, and nanotechnology; design patent preparation and prosecution; client counseling and case management; trademark searches and availability opinions; trademark registrations, oppositions, and cancellations; and limited amount of copyright work.
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About Seattle Gummy Company: A specialty pharma company focusing on delivering drug ingredients (APIs) using innovative gummy (chewable gel) formulations.
Agustin Fernandez III
CEO & Co-Founder of Rational Vaccines
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About Duende Media, Rational Vaccines: Rational Vaccines is a pre-clinical stage that develops live-attenuated herpes simplex virus vaccines.
Lanny Sun
Co-Founder & CEO of Silicon Therapeutics
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About Silicon Therapeutics: Silicon Therapeutics is a fully integrated drug design, research, and development company.
Zhen Li
Founder, President & CEO of ADARx Pharmaceuticals
Dr. Li is a co-founder of ADARx and a successful executive with more than two decades of diverse experience in research and development in the pharmaceutical and biotech industries. Prior to ADARx, Dr. Li served as Senior VP at Arrowhead Pharmaceuticals where she led the discovery and non-clinical development of Arrowhead’s delivery platform and multiple product candidates that are now in clinical studies. Previously, Dr. Li was a director at Merck, leading a team dedicated to siRNA development. Dr. Li received her Ph.D. in Chemistry and Chemical Biology from Harvard University, and her B.S. from Peking University.
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About ADARx Pharmaceuticals: ADARx Pharmaceuticals is a genetic medicine company focusing on the base editing of mRNA transcripts.
Seth Harrison
Founder & Managing Partner of Apple Tree Partners
Seth Harrison is the managing partner of Apple Tree Partners and serves as Executive Chairman of Braeburn Pharmaceuticals. He has invested in life sciences since 1991. Seth has served as founding investor, acting CEO or chairman of numerous portfolio companies. He is currently also Chairman of Tokai Pharmaceuticals, Chairman of Aileron Therapeutics and Deputy Chairman of Heartware International, all companies he founded. Prior to founding ATP, Seth was a general partner at Oak Investment Partners and earlier was a venture partner at Sevin Rosen Funds. His prior investments include: ArQule, Coelacanth, Cyrano Sciences, Gloucester Pharmaceuticals, Informed Access, SGX Pharmaceuticals, Ultracision and ViroPharma. Seth received an A.B. from Princeton University, an MD and MBA both from Columbia University and completed a surgery internship at the Presbyterian Hospital in the City of New York. From 2002 – 2010 he served on the board of the International Partnership for Microbicides, a Rockefeller Foundation/Gates Foundation sponsored public-private partnership engaged in the development of anti-HIV microbicides.
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About Apple Tree Partners: Apple Tree Partners is a venture capital firm that invests in pharmaceuticals, biotech, medtech, and healthcare services.
David Maizenberg
Co-Founder and General Counsel of ValenzaBio
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About ValenzaBio: ValenzaBio is developing safe and effective treatment options for patients with autoimmune and inflammatory diseases.
David S. Shapira
Founder , Chairman & CEO of Giant Eagle
David Shapira is executive chairman of the board of directors of Giant Eagle, Inc. and is president of the David S. and Karen A. Shapira Foundation. In his role at the Joseph M. Katz Graduate School of Business and College of Business Administration, he is responsible for enhancing ethics and leadership at the school. He is also responsible for engaging with Katz and CBA students across a spectrum of business areas including entrepreneurship, supply chain management, and organizational behavior. During his thirty-plus years as chairman, chief executive officer and president, David Shapira positioned Giant Eagle, Inc. as an industry leader, and grew the company from a local chain of 50 grocery stores to an organization now employing more than 34,000 with more than 420 locations and $9.5 billion in revenue. A Pittsburgh native with an undergraduate degree from Oberlin College and a Master’s Degree in Economics from Stanford University, Mr. Shapira joined Giant Eagle in 1970, a company founded by his grandfather with four others. Today, the same five families own Giant Eagle, and remain actively involved. Named president and CEO in 1980 and Chairman of the Giant Eagle Board of Directors in 1992, David led the company during its peak years of growth and transformation, which included his application of a world-class customer loyalty program with the development of the Giant Eagle Advantage Card and fuelperks!. Mr. Shapira has implemented numerous industry-leading technologies and marketing concepts, including: gift card development and sales, in-store pharmacy and banking, multi-format retailing, and a truck fleet that is being converted to run on compressed natural gas. Since stepping away from day-to-day operations of Giant Eagle in 2013, David has applied the entrepreneurial approach developed at Giant Eagle to the world of philanthropy. Through the Foundation he leads with his wife Cindy, David has led the development of a number of projects that demonstrate real and meaningful positive impact on civic challenges of our day. These entrepreneurial philanthropic ventures include Onward Israel, which transforms young adults through professional summer internships with Israeli businesses and organizations, and the Comprehensive Excellence initiative at Hillel International. David’s civic involvement reflects his and Giant Eagle’s commitment to advancing and investing in the many communities the company and Foundation serve. David has served on numerous corporate and civic boards, including EQT, Mellon Bank, the Allegheny Conference on Community Development and the Pittsburgh Regional Alliance (Past Chairman). David is the Immediate Past Chairman of Carnegie Mellon University’s Board of Trustees, and the current Chairman of Carnegie Mellon’s Investment Committee, as well as a Trustee at Oberlin College, and a Founding Co-Chairman, along with Cindy, of The Pittsburgh Promise Campaign. David’s philanthropic board service has also included the Jewish Federation of Greater Pittsburgh (Past Chairman); Jewish Healthcare Foundation (Past Chairman); United Way of Allegheny County (Past Chairman of the Annual Campaign); Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra (Past Chairman); Extra Mile Foundation; and Pittsburgh Cultural Trust. David is currently a member of the Hillel Foundation International Board of Governors.
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About Giant Eagle: Giant Eagle is a national supermarket chain with some of their own brands of products.
Wei-Wu He
Founder and CEO of Origene Technologies
Wei-Wu He is a biotech executive dedicated to the commercialization of innovative life sciences technologies for the healthcare market.He is currently Chairman and CEO of OriGene Technologies, Inc. He is also the founder and General Partner of Emerging Technology Partners, LLC (ETP), a venture firm dedicated to incubating innovative life sciences companies. He is also a Venture Partner of IDG/Accel Partners, a $4 Billion venture fund designed to fund innovative companies in China.He started his biotech career as a scientist at the inception of Human Genome Sciences, Inc.He has been involved in the funding and founding over 20 biotech companies throughout his career and has served on many biotech company boards. Most recently He was named the Executive Chairman of Casi Pharmaceuticals, a biotech company dedicated to the development of innovative cancer treatments both in China and the US.He has conducted cancer research at Mayo Clinic and at Massachusetts General Hospital as a research fellow. He has been awarded over 30 United States patents and has more than 25 original research publications.He received a Bachelor’s degree in Biochemistry from Nanjing University, P. R. China, an M.B.A. from Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, and a Ph.D. in Molecular Biology from Baylor College of Medicine.
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About Emerging Technology Partners, Origene Technologies: OriGene Technologies is a research tool company that provides a commercial collection of full-length human cDNAs.
Mark P. Clein
Co-Founder & Chief Executive Officer of Precision Medicine Group
Mark Clein is the Co-Founder and CEO of Precision Medicine Group. He has over 20 years of experience in the healthcare industry. Prior to Precision, Mr. Clein was Co-Founder, President and CFO of United BioSource Corporation (UBC), which became the leader in real-world research addressing safety, value, and comparative effectiveness for the life science industry. UBC was acquired by Medco Health Solutions in late 2010 and is now part of Express Scripts. Prior to UBC, Clein was Founder and CFO of U.S. Bioservices, a leading provider of distribution services for specialty pharmaceuticals and biologics. Clein also served as Chief Executive Officer of PMR Corporation, a leading provider of outpatient services for psychiatric and central nervous system disorders. In 2002, PMR merged with Psychiatric Solutions, Inc., which grew into the largest US provider of psychiatric inpatient services. Clein served on its board of directors until the company’s acquisition by Universal Health Systems in 2010. He received his Master of Business Administration degree from the Columbia Graduate School of Business and his undergraduate degree from the University of North Carolina. Clein also serves on the Arts and Sciences Foundation Board at the University of North Carolina.
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About Precision for Medicine, Precision Medicine Group: Precision Medicine Group accelerates values and improve outcomes for innovative pharmaceutical and life science companies.
Ethan D. Leder
Co-Founder, Partner & Executive Chairman of Precision Medicine Group
Ethan Leder is the Co-Founder and Executive Chairman of Precision Medicine Group. Over the past 25 years, he has been an entrepreneur focused on building and managing innovative, market-leading companies that address critical gaps in the healthcare industry. Prior to Precision Medicine Group, Leder was the Founder and CEO of United BioSource Corporation (UBC), which became the leader in real-world research addressing safety, value, and comparative effectiveness for the life science industry. UBC was acquired by Medco Health Solutions in late 2010 and is now part of Express Scripts. Before UBC, Ethan was the Co-Founder and CEO of U.S. Bioservices, Inc., which addressed a growing need for personalized, direct-to-patient distribution of high-cost biotechnology for serious medical conditions. U.S. Bioservices was acquired by AmerisourceBergen in 2002. Prior to U.S. Bioservices, he was the Founder and President of HealthCare Financial Partners, the leading specialty lender to the healthcare industry. It was acquired by GE Capital in late 1999. Ethan received his undergraduate degree from Johns Hopkins University and his Juris Doctor from Georgetown University Law Center. He also serves on the Board of Trustees of Johns Hopkins University and is active in many charitable and community development projects in the Washington DC, metropolitan area.
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About Precision for Medicine, Precision Medicine Group: Precision Medicine Group accelerates values and improve outcomes for innovative pharmaceutical and life science companies.
Kevin Kinsella
Managing Member, Founder of Avalon Ventures
Kevin Kinsella founded Avalon in 1983. He has specialized in the formation, financing and/or development of more than 60 early-stage companies, including: Athena Neurosciences (acquired by Elan Corporation, plc (NYSE: ELN)); Onyx Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (Nasdaq: ONXX); Sequana Therapeutics (merged with Arris to form AXYS Pharmaceuticals, acquired by Celera Genomics (NYSE: CRA)); Vertex Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (Nasdaq: VRTX); Synaptics, Inc. (Nasdaq: SYNA); Vocera Communications; and Sytera Ophthalmics Inc. (acquired by Sirion Therapeutics). Mr. Kinsella was the founding chairman of Athena Neurosciences, Aurora Biosciences Corporation, Landmark Graphics, NeoRx, Onyx Pharmaceuticals, Inc., Synaptics, Vertex Pharmaceuticals, X-Ceptor and Sequana Therapeutics. Prior to founding Avalon, Mr. Kinsella worked for Solar Turbines International (Caterpillar Tractor) where he was in charge of all international joint ventures, barter and counter-trade. Previously, he was an advisor to the Peruvian government in National Nutrition Planning, ran a technology exchange program between the U.S. and Latin America based in Mexico City, and taught algebra at the American High School in Beirut, Lebanon. He was also a guest op-ed columnist for the Boston Herald American. Mr. Kinsella is a graduate of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (“MITâ€) with a Bachelor of Science degree in management, with minors in electrical engineering and political science. He holds a Master of Arts degree in international relations from the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies (“SAISâ€) and conducted post-graduate work in political economy on a Rotary International Fellowship at the University of Stockholm, Sweden. He is a member of the Circumnavigators Club, an elite group of explorers who have gone around the world in a continuous trip using multiple modes of transport. Mr. Kinsella is a Life Sustaining Fellow at MIT and a member of the Dean’s Advisory Council at SAIS. He is the largest individual producer of the Tony Award-winning hit Broadway musical, [url=http://www.theatreticketscheap.com/jersey-boys/]Jersey Boys[/url], and the partner of Rhino Records (Time Warner) in producing the Grammy Award-winning Jersey Boys Original Cast Recording, which has gone Platinum (selling over 1 million copies). Mr. Kinsella is a member of the Boards of Directors of Amira, Anaptys, and InCode, all Avalon portfolio companies. Mr. Kinsella is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations and a member of the Broadway League (Tony voter). He and his wife, Tamara, own Kinsella Estates Winery (Healdsburg, California), whose first vintage of premium Dry Creek cabernet sauvignon will be released in 2011.
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About Avalon Ventures: Avalon Ventures is an early stage venture capital fund focused on information technology and life sciences.
Flaviu Simihaian
Co-Founder & CEO of Troy Medicare
Flaviu Simihaian is the co-founder and CEO of Troy Medicare, the first pharmacy-powered, AI-driven Medicare Advantage plan. Flaviu also co-founded and is the chairman of Amplicare (previously iMedicare), a web-based SaaS platform that 7,000 pharmacies use to manage and grow their business.
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About TechAngels, Troy Medicare: Troy Medicare is arming independent pharmacies with a health plan and platform tailored to their most vulnerable patients.
Sahaj Patel
Chairman, Co-Founder of Medly Pharmacy
Sahaj Patel is the Co-founder and Chairman of Medly. Previously, he’s managed multiple independent pharmacies in New York City
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About Medly Pharmacy: Medly Pharmacy is a digital pharmacy platform that offers free, same-day prescription delivery.
Marg Patel
Co-Founder, CEO of Medly Pharmacy
Dr. Marg Patel is the Co-founder and CEO of Medly. Previously, he’s managed multiple independent pharmacies in New York City.
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About Medly Pharmacy: Medly Pharmacy is a digital pharmacy platform that offers free, same-day prescription delivery.
Mark Bakken
Founder, Managing Director of HealthX Ventures
Mark Bakken is the Founder and Managing Partner at HealthX Ventures.
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About Creative Destruction Lab (CDL), Cultivation Capital, HealthX Ventures: Madison, WI based venture fund focusing on seed stage investments in digital health companies
Tarek Tabsh
Co-Founder of Oxford Cannabinoid Technologies
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About Alta Flora, Arcview Group, New Amsterdam Naturals, Oxford Cannabinoid Technologies, Province Brands of Canada: OCT is a biopharmaceutical company established to combine cannabinoid medicine with world class scientific research.
Chih-Ping Liu
Co-Founder of Bolt Biotherapeutics
Chih-Ping Liu is the Founder, Managing Director, and the Chairman of the Board of Directors at Angarus Therapeutics. He is also serving as a co-founder at Bolt Therapeutics. He received his Ph.D. degree in Genetics from the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
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About Angarus Therapeutics, Bolt Biotherapeutics: Bolt Biotherapeutics is a biotechnology company that develops a platform for cancer immunotherapy.
Edgar Engleman
Founder of Bolt Biotherapeutics
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About Bolt Biotherapeutics: Bolt Biotherapeutics is a biotechnology company that develops a platform for cancer immunotherapy.
Stephen Smith
Co-Founder of Pear Therapeutics
Stephen Smith received his B.A from Harvard University, J.D. from Columbia University, and M.Ed from Harvard University School of Education. After law school, Stephen served as an assistant district attorney in New York. He later joined the staff of the Senate Judiciary and Foreign Relations Committees. After leaving the Senate, Stephen worked at Conflict Management Group; a nonprofit associated with Harvard Law School, and taught in the advanced program on negotiation at Harvard University Law School. As part of his work at Conflict Management, Stephen consulted with global clients including the Organization of African Unity, the World Bank, the Inter-American Development Bank and the parties in the Irish Peace process. Stephen is a three-time recipient of the Danforth Award for excellence in teaching at Harvard University and is also the winner of the Lyndehurst Foundation Prize for social and artistic achievement. For the past twenty years, Stephen has been on the Kennedy board of Joseph P. Kennedy Enterprises, the Kennedy family investment office. He has delivered keynote presentations at the annual conferences of the Family Firm Institute and the Family Office Exchange– the two major family business organizations. Stephen has also served on the board of the John F. Kennedy Library, the Robert F. Kennedy Memorial, Citizens Energy, the Northeastern University School of Public Policy, and INCAE Business School and the advisory board of the Joslin Diabetes Center at Harvard Medical School. Stephen is a Fellow at the International Economic Alliance, an organization dedicated to promoting innovative international trade. As a partner and board member, Stephen is actively involved in a number of medical and green technology businesses, including Emlink, which develops, designs and manages sustainable technology; The Marwood Group, a healthcare-focused strategic advisory and financial services firm; and Pear Therapeutics, a medical software company. Stephen was Deputy Campaign Manager for Senator Edward Kennedy during his Presidential and Senatorial campaigns, Youth Coordinator for the campaign of Mario Cuomo, served on the New England Steering Committee for the Obama presidential campaign, and continues to be active in Democratic politics.
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About Pear Therapeutics: Pear Therapeutics is a software-based digital therapeutics platform designed to treat disease and enhance the efficacy of pharmaceuticals.
Suresh Katta
Founder & CEO of Saama
Suresh founded Saama Technologies, Inc. with a vision to turn raw data into actionable insights that enable enterprise leaders to make timely and reliable decisions for critical business discovery. As the CEO of Saama, Suresh is responsible for the strategy, vision and the execution of the company’s long-term plan. Suresh applied his lifelong love of mathematics to solve complex data analysis well before the term “big data” became ubiquitous. Today, Saama is made up of intelligent, helpful people with a passion for math, data, and analytics. Since the company’s launch, Suresh and his team have built an extensive history of providing data scientist led solutions and services in the big data and business analytics market for top enterprise companies, and public sector agencies. Suresh has successfully launched two start ups, including co-founding GVI, which developed groupware applications and was sold to Netscape in 1995. His work has earned industry-wide recognition and he can frequently be seen at IT conferences as a discussion panel member and featured speaker. Suresh earned his M.S. in Computer Engineering at the University of Southwest Louisiana, and his B.S. in Electronics Engineering at the University of Bangalore in India.
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About Saama: Saama is the number one AI-powered clinical analytics cloud platform company delivering actionable business insights for life sciences.
Steven McKnight
Founder of Peloton Therapeutics
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About Flare Therapeutics, Peloton Therapeutics, Tularik, University of Texas Southwestern Medical School: Peloton Therapeutics, a biotech company based in Dallas, is involved in discovering and developing novel drugs for cancer treatments.
Philippe Leboulch
Founder & Co-Chair of Scientific Advisory Board of Bluebird Bio
Head of the Institute of Emerging Diseases and Innovative Therapies of CEA and INSERM; Professor of Medicine, University of Paris; and Visiting Professor, Harvard Philippe Leboulch is a scientific founder of bluebird bio. He serves as the co-chairman of its Scientific Advisory Board and leader of the LentiGlobin® project. He is a professor of medicine and cell biology at the University of Paris and visiting professor at Harvard Medical School. Philippe is also the director of the Institute of Emerging Diseases and Innovative Therapies of the CEA near Paris and director of an INSERM research unit. He maintains a research laboratory in the genetics division of the Brigham & Women’s Hospital at Harvard Medical School, where he previously served as a full-time faculty member for 15 years after a postdoctoral fellowship at MIT. Philippe is an expert in vectorology and hematopoietic gene therapy, with special emphasis on the beta-hemoglobinopathies. He has been published extensively in high-impact journals and is a regularly invited speaker at major international conferences. Philippe was a member of the Editorial Board of Blood, the Journal of the American Society of Hematology. He has served on major committees of the National Institutes of Health and the American Society of Gene Therapy. Philippe has received numerous NIH grant awards and prizes that include the Grand Prize Etancelin of the French National Academy of Sciences.
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About Bluebird Bio: Bluebird Bio offers products based on the transformative potential of gene therapy for patients with genetic and orphan diseases.
Steven Gutentag
Co-Founder of Keeps
Co-Founder, Keeps
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About Cove, Keeps, Thirty Madison: Keeps is a startup aimed at preventing and slowing age-related hair loss.
Demetri Karagas
Co-Founder of Keeps
Co-founder of Keeps
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About Keeps, Thirty Madison: Keeps is a startup aimed at preventing and slowing age-related hair loss.
Leonide Saad
Founder, President & Chief Executive Officer of Alkeus Pharmaceuticals
Dr. Saad founded Alkeus Pharmaceuticals with the goal of developing sight-saving, transformative medicines for the most serious and untreatable causes of blindness. Prior to Alkeus, he was partner in a boutique life sciences management and consulting firm in New York City, providing business and strategic guidance to biotechnology and pharmaceutical companies. He was previously at Proteus Venture Partners, an early stage, California based venture fund focused on stem cells and regenerative medicine. Dr. Saad holds a PhD focused on tissue engineering from MIT, a certificate of Financial Technology from MIT Sloan School of Management, a MS in Mechanical Engineering from MIT, a BS and MS in Applied Mathematics from University of Paris VI, and is a graduate from Ecole Polytechnique, Paris, with a concentration in organic chemistry and physics.
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About Alkeus Pharmaceuticals: Alkeus Pharmaceuticals Inc., a Boston-based startup focused on treatments for serious ophthalmic conditions.
Amy Schulman
Executive Chairman & Co-Founder of Lyndra Therapeutics
Amy Schulman is the Chief Executive Officer at Arsia Therapeutics since August 2014. Arsia, a biotechnology company focused on improving patients’ lives through new modes of drug delivery, and a venture partner at Polaris, a leading venture capital firm with approximately 4 billion under management in August of 2014. Amy joined Polaris Partner’s Boston office as a Healthcare Venture Partner in 2014, simultaneously assuming the role of Chief Executive Officer of Arsia Therapeutics, a Polaris-backed company. In July 2015 Amy co-founded Lyndra where she is Chief Executive Officer and President. Amy is an accomplished business leader, widely recognized for growing and stabilizing global businesses, commitment to people, strategic judgment, and efforts to advance women and promote inclusive workplace cultures. Amy joined Harvard Business School’s Faculty as a Senior Lecturer in July 2014. Prior to that, Amy led Pfizer Inc.’s $4 billion Consumer Healthcare business, which operates in 90 countries and includes well-known brands such as Advil, Centrum and Chapstick. Amy also served as Executive Vice President and General Counsel of Pfizer Inc. Key accomplishments include: revitalization of the ChapStick brand; regulatory filing for Lipitor OTC; rapid growth of Emergen-C and increased Europe profitability. Amy originally joined Pfizer in 2008 as General Counsel and saw the company through its $68 billion acquisition of Wyeth, the largest pharmaceutical acquisition in history. In 2009, Amy spearheaded an innovative approach to engaging outside counsel and became recognized as a leading voice for transforming the billable-hour model and for redefining the value of legal services. Before joining Pfizer, Amy was a Partner at DLA Piper, where she was a Member of the Board and Executive Policy Committees and built and led the international law firm’s mass tort and class-action practice handling some of the most complex legal, scientific and regulatory challenges facing the world’s largest and most reputable companies, including Kraft, Altria, Cisco, GE Healthcare and Pfizer. Amy began her career in litigation with Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton. Amy’s accomplishments have earned her accolades from leading publications and organizations. In 2013 Fortune magazine named her one of the “50 Most Powerful Women in Business.” That same year, The American Lawyer named her one of the “Top 50 Innovators,” and The National Law Journal named her one of “The 100 Most Influential Lawyers in America.” Amy also has been recognized by The American Bar Association, which honored her with the Margaret Brent Women Lawyers of Achievement award in 2012. In 2009 Forbes magazine included her on its inaugural list of “The World’s Most Powerful Women.” Amy serves on the Boards of Directors of Alnylam Pharmaceuticals, Arsanis, Biosciences, Arsia Therapeutics, BIND Therapeutics, Blue Buffalo, Lyndra, and SQZ Biotech. A Phi Beta Kappa Graduate of Wesleyan University, Amy earned her J.D. from Yale Law School in 1989.
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About Arsia Therapeutics, Harvard Business School, Lyndra Therapeutics, Polaris Partners, Suono Bio: Lyndra Therapeutics is a novel technology platform reinventing medicine for a healthier world.
Ravi Ika
President, Founder & Chief Executive Officer of RxAdvance
A noted entrepreneur and an innovator of disruptive business solutions, Ravi Ika founded RxAdvance in 2013 and serves as president and chief executive officer of the full service pharmacy benefit management (PBM) company. He launched RxAdvance to lower pharmacy, specialty and avoidable drug-impacted medical costs and achieve better outcomes, quality and compliance in the new era of value-based health care. The RxAdvance platform Mr. Ika created from the ground up, the Collaborative PBM Cloud™, provides comprehensive automated services for all PBM administrative, clinical, specialty management, care stakeholder engagement, and compliance management functions. It does so in a way never before imagined in the PBM industry. The Collaborative PBM Cloud™ combines pharmacy, medical, and lab information to deliver actionable intelligence. Prescribers receive this real time actionable intelligence at the point of care, pharmacists at point of sale, patients via mobile cloud and payers clinical and pharmacy staff engagement through their workflows. Among the valuable results: Lower costs, optimal utilization, better outcomes, higher quality, greater transparency and rigorous compliance. Mr. Ika envisions a $750 billion PBM market long in need of transformation. The five largest PBMs, which manage over 80% of $300 billion in pharmacy benefit spend, provide limited, siloed services using antiquated, legacy platforms. Their lack of holistic vision introduces an additional $350 billion of avoidable drug-impacted medical costs into U.S. health care. In addition, $100 billion in poorly managed “buy and bill” specialty drug spend needs to be converted to an “authorize and manage” model. More than 15 years ago, Mr. Ika recognized a similar transformational opportunity in health insurance. Industry insiders, challenged to reduce administrative costs by 30% and avoidable medical costs by 20%, saw the goals as unachievable. Mired in paper-based processes, the industry also struggled with a myriad of fragmented, inflexible, and expensive legacy systems. Mr. Ika responded to this opportunity with ikaSystems, an enterprise payer-platform company. Disrupting obsolete paradigms, he delivered unprecedented change long before passage of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. The ikaSystems platform decreased administrative costs for many health insurers by as much as 50% and significantly reduced avoidable medical costs. With these results, ikaSystems raised more than $140mm capital from Providence Equity and Essex Woodland Ventures. Known for building and inspiring world-class teams, Mr. Ika takes a hands-on approach to ensure his clients’ success. Over the years, healthcare industry leaders have come to rely on his vision and talent for creating enterprise platforms that radically disrupt legacy business paradigms and deliver significant value. Mr. Ika has a master’s degree in environmental engineering from Old Dominion University and worked as a research scientist at Harvard University prior to his entrepreneurial career.
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About RxAdvance: RxAdvance, a national full service PBM, leverages disruptive Collaborative PBM Cloud™ to manage standard & specialty drug benefits.
Lisa Conte
Chief Executive Officer & Founder of Jaguar Health
Lisa has been a pioneer in the biotech/emerging pharmaceutical industry for 20 years. She is founder and CEO of Napo Pharmaceuticals, which brings proprietary products to the global marketplace through local partnerships. Napo embraces the “triple bottom line” goals of enhancing financial return by addressing global health needs in its development strategy and environmental sustainability in sourcing its lead product, which is harvested from rain forest areas. Prior to founding Napo, she founded Shaman Pharmaceuticals, Inc., a natural product pharmaceutical company, in 1989. As CEO, she has raised >$250 million (including leading two IPOs). 1987 to 1989 Ms. Conte was a Vice President at Technology Funding, Inc., a venture capital firm. From 1985 to 1987 she conducted risk and strategy audits for start-up companies at Strategic Decisions Group. Lisa received her AB in Biochemistry from Dartmouth College, her MS in Physiology/Pharmacology from the University of California at San Diego and her MBA from the Amos Tuck School, Dartmouth College. She is the recipient of several entrepreneurship awards, including the 1994 E&Y Entrepreneur of the Year Award, has sat on several industry and academic boards, and was a nominee for the 2009 BIO Humanitarian Award.
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About Jaguar Health, Napo Pharmaceuticals: Jaguar Health brings naturally derived important health solutions to all animals of the world, as proprietary.
Talha Sattar
CEO & Founder of NimbleRx
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About NimbleRx: Nimble provides a pharmacy experience centered around the patient’s needs to provide a more streamlined workflow.
Mark McKenna
Founder, President and CEO of Prometheus Biosciences
Mark McKenna currently works as President and Chief Executive Officer at Prometheus Biosciences. He previously worked at Bausch + Lomb as Senior Vice President and General Manager.
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About Prometheus Biosciences: Prometheus Biosciences develops and commercializes pharmaceutical and diagnostic products to help physicians individualize patient care.
Christoph Westphal
Founder & Executive Chairman of Verastem Oncology
Christoph Westphal is the Co-Founder, Chairman & Board Member at ImmuneID.
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About ImmuneID, Longwood Fund, Longwood Fund, Verastem Oncology: Verastem is a biopharmaceutical company that focuses on discovering and developing novel drugs that selectively target cancer stem cells.
Chris Varma
Founder, President & CEO of Frontier Medicines
Chris joined Flagship in 2007 as Partner and focuses primarily on Life Science investments. He came to Flagship with significant management experience in clinical development, regulatory strategy, business development, sales, and marketing in the pharmaceutical industry. Prior to Flagship, Chris was with Novartis Pharmaceuticals since 2004 where he served most recently as Director of the Tekturna (aliskiren) marketing team responsible for all Medical Marketing, Medical Strategy, and Professional Promotions activities in the U.S. Chris also oversaw Tekturna�s extensive clinical development programs, and played a key role in the FDA approval, CMS reimbursement coverage approval, and successful commercial launch of Tekturna in early 2007. Previously at Novartis, Chris was Director of Business Development & Licensing where he identified several in-licensing opportunities and drove key transactions. Prior to that, Chris focused on corporate strategy working directly with the Novartis Pharma CEO in Basel, Switzerland. Before Novartis, Chris was a consultant for Millennium Pharmaceuticals working on special projects in the Personalized Medicine Group. Before Millennium, Chris worked for the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in the Office of Combination Products coordinating and managing reviews across the major Centers. Early in his career he co-founded Epitrope Corporation, a company that developed server-side solutions for wireless telecom carriers.
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About Frontier Medicines, Harvard Medical School, Vision Medicines: Frontier Medicines is a developer of a chemoproteomics platform intended to further accelerate the path to drug discovery.
Richard Friesner
Co-Founder of Schrödinger
Richard A. Friesner is Professor of Chemistry at Columbia University and Director of the Columbia Center for Biomolecular Simulation. He is a member of the National Academy of Sciences and American Academy of Arts of Sciences, and has been awarded a Sloan Foundation Fellowship, Camille and Henry Dreyfus Teacher-Scholar Award, and an NIH Research Career Development Award. Current interests include quantum chemistry, development of potential functions for molecular simulation, continuum electrostatic models, and protein folding. Dr. Friesner is a co-founder of Schrödinger, and a member of Schrödinger’s Board of Directors.
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About Columbia University, Schrödinger: Schrödinger develops a chemical simulation software for use in pharmaceutical and biotechnology research.
Vangelis Vergetis
Co-Founder & Executive Director of Intelligencia
Vangelis is working on the intersection of data science, technology, and healthcare. In 2017 he co-founded Intelligencia, a company that uses AI to assess and minimize the risk of drug development. Prior to that he was a management consultant for more than 12 years – at both McKinsey and Hakluyt – advising healthcare clients and investors on a variety of topics, including digital technologies, clinical development and early commercialization. Outside of Intelligencia, Vangelis is a board member and member of the Executive Committee of the Alliance for Artificial Intelligence in Healthcare (AAIH), serves on the Dean’s Advisory Council for Cornell’s faculty of Computing & Information Science (CIS), and is an advisor and investor in technology companies in both the US and Europe. He holds a BS and PhD in Computer Science and Electrical Engineering.
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About Intelligencia: Intelligencia is a SaaS company that applies machine learning to assess and mitigate the risk in clinical development strategy/design.
Dimitrios Skaltsas
Co-Founder, Executive Director of Intelligencia
Dimitrios has led McKinsey’s team for big data & AI applications in R&D for life sciences, and has built SaaS products focusing on clinical development. He serves as an advisor, and has also invested, in several technology companies with a focus on big data. He holds an MBA from INSEAD, where he is also currently an Executive in Residence for AI/ Digital.
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About INSEAD, Intelligencia: Intelligencia is a SaaS company that applies machine learning to assess and mitigate the risk in clinical development strategy/design.
Robert Nicol
Co-Founder of HiFiBiO
Rob Nicol is director of the Technology Labs at the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard. Under Rob’s guidance, the Technology Labs serve as an advanced R&D group within the institute integrating capabilities in molecular biology, bio-engineering, synthetic biology, microfluidics, bio-informatics, and industrial process design to meet the needs of the Broad community. Rob is also co-founder of the MIT-Broad Foundry for Synthetic Biology. Rob joined the Whitehead Institute / MIT Center for Genome Research in 2001 to apply industrial process design to genome sequencing and directed the Sequencing Operations and Technology Development groups at the Broad for over 12 years, designing and implementing multiple generations of high-throughput DNA sequencing processes. Earlier, as an MIT Leaders for Manufacturing Fellow, Rob worked on production line optimization for Raytheon’s AMRAAM missile and Boeing’s 777. Rob previously worked as a project manager for Fluor Corporation, where he managed multiple, large-scale petrochemical design and construction projects. Rob received his B.S. in mechanical engineering from the University of Houston, and an M.S. in chemical engineering, M.B.A., and Ph.D. in engineering systems from MIT.
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About HiFiBiO: HiFiBiO provides proprietary single cell technologies for applications in drug and biomarker discovery and development.
Sandra Horning
Co-Founder of EQRx
Dr. Sandra Horning, M.D. is the Co-Founder of EQRx. She has been Chief Medical Officer and Head of Global Product Development at Roche Holding AG since January 13, 2014. Dr. Horning has been Global Head of Clinical Development Hematology & Oncology and Senior Vice President of Genentech, Inc., since September 2009. Dr. Horning is responsible for leading the medical and scientific strategies for the global clinical development portfolio in oncology. Dr. Horning leads the disease biology leadership team for oncology/hematology. In addition, Dr. Horning leads and manage Genentech’s team of oncology clinical scientists. She has more than 35 years of experience, with a focus on oncology.
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About EQRx, Roche Holdings, Australia: EQRx is a biotechnology company that focuses on re-engineering the process of drug discovery to make them affordable.
John Purdue Gray
Founder of Purdue Pharma
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About Purdue Pharma: Purdue Pharma L.P., a pharmaceutical company committed to improving patients’ lives and serving the healthcare community.
George Frederick Bingham
Founder of Purdue Pharma
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About Purdue Pharma: Purdue Pharma L.P., a pharmaceutical company committed to improving patients’ lives and serving the healthcare community.
Stephen Hsu
Co-Founder of Genomic Prediction
Stephen Hsu is Vice-President for Research and Professor of Theoretical Physics at Michigan State University. Educated at Caltech and Berkeley, he was a Harvard Junior Fellow and held faculty positions at Yale and the University of Oregon. Hsu was founder and CEO of SafeWeb, a Silicon Valley technology startup acquired by Symantec for $26 million. He is a scientific advisor to BGI and a member of its Cognitive Genomics lab.
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About Genomic Prediction: Genomic Prediction provides advanced genetic testing for IVF.
Leonard S. Schleifer
Founder, President, and Chief Executive Officer of Regeneron
Leonard S. Schleifer, M.D., Ph.D., founded the Company in 1988, has been a Director and its President and Chief Executive Officer since its inception, and served as Chairman of the Board from 1990 through 1994. From 1984 to 1988 he was Assistant Professor at the Cornell University Medical College in the Departments of Neurology and Neurobiology. Leonard Schleifer received his M.D. and Ph.D. in Pharmacology from the University of Virginia. Leonard Schleifer is a licensed physician and is certified in neurology by the American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology.
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About Regeneron: Regeneron Pharmaceuticals is a biotechnology company that invents life-transforming medicines for people with serious diseases.
George D. Yancopoulos
President, Chief Scientific Office & co-Founder of Regeneron
George D. Yancopoulos, M.D., Ph.D., joined the Company in 1989 as its Founding Scientist and is currently President, Regeneron Laboratories and Chief Scientific Officer. He received his M.D. and Ph.D. from Columbia University. Dr. Yancopoulos was the 11th most highly cited scientist in the world in the 1990s, and in 2004 he was elected to be a member of the National Academy of Sciences. Dr. Yancopoulos, together with key members of his team, is a principal inventor and developer of Regeneron’s three FDA-approved drugs – including EYLEA® (aflibercept) Injection, ZALTRAP Injection for Intravenous Infusion, and ARCALYST (rilonacept) Injection – as well as of its foundation technologies including the TRAP technology, VelociGene, and VelocImmune.
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About Regeneron: Regeneron Pharmaceuticals is a biotechnology company that invents life-transforming medicines for people with serious diseases.
Chris K. Achar
Founder & CEO of GenZum Life Sciences
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About GenZum Life Sciences: Genzum Life Sciences is a globally integrated Generic Pharmaceutical Product Development and Out-licensing company, based in Los Angeles
Pablo Legoretta
CEO & Founder of Royalty Pharma
Pablo Legorreta is the CEO and Founder of Royalty Pharma. Formed in 1996, Royalty Pharma is a pioneer in pharmaceutical business and is the world’s largest acquirer of royalty interests in marketed and late stage biopharmaceutical products. Prior to founding Royalty Pharma, Pablo spent 10 years at Lazard Frères where he provided cross-border merger and acquisition and corporate finance advisory services to US and European corporations. Pablo currently serves as a Director of Giuliani, Médica Sur, as well as a member of the Board of Trustees of The Allen-Stevenson School, the Park Avenue Armory and of the American-Austrian Foundation/Open Medical Institute. He founded and is currently Chairman the Board of Trustees of the Alianza Médica para la Salud. Mr. Legorreta received a degree in industrial engineering from Universidad Iberoamericana.
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About Royalty Pharma: Industry leader in investing in marketed and late stage biopharmaceutical products
Alex Oshmyansky
Founder and chief executive officer of Osh’s Affordable Pharmaceuticals
Alex Oshmyansky founded Osh’s Affordable Pharmaceuticals in September 2016, since which he has been serving as its chief executive officer.
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About Osh’s Affordable Pharmaceuticals: Osh’s Affordable Pharmaceuticals produces generic drugs at low prices.
Cheryl Baker
Co-Founder & Chief Scientific Research Officer of BioCurity Pharmaceuticals
Baker received her B.S. summa cum laude, in Chemistry from Rollins College (Winter Park, Florida) in 1994. In 1999, she received her Ph.D in Biochemistry from Texas Tech University. She then completed her post-doctoral fellowship in the Department of Cancer Biology at The University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center. From 2001-2003, she conducted research as an Instructor of Surgery at the Boston Children’s Hospital and Harvard Medical School. Subsequently, she was an Assistant Professor at The University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center. She holds an Adjunct Professor position at the University of Central Florida Medical School. From 2005-2010, Dr. Baker served as Director of the Cancer Research Institute of MD Anderson Cancer Center Orlando (formerly affiliated with Orlando Health). During her time at MD Anderson-Orlando, she established and led a team of master and doctoral students, research scientists, physician-scientists and professors in multi-disciplinary cancer research projects. Dr. Baker has conducted cancer related research for over 20 years and is the recipient of research funding from local, state, and government agencies. Dr. Baker has published over 45 peer-reviewed manuscripts, book chapters and articles.
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About BioCurity Pharmaceuticals: BioCurity Pharmaceuticals is a biopharmaceutical company that changes the course of radiation therapy for cancer patients worldwide.
Stuart Hinchen
Co-Founder & CEO of QuVa Pharma
Stuart Hinchen is Founder &CEO @ QuVa Pharma. Stuart Hinchen is currently Chief Executive Officer of JHP Pharmaceuticals, LLC (“JHP”), having acted as President and Chief Operating Officer of JHP from 2007 to 2011. He has been instrumental in the establishment of JHP as a leading injectable pharmaceutical business in the USA. Previously, Stuart was President of Mayne Pharma Americas (“Americas”), a unit of Mayne with $180 million in revenue that was focused on the manufacture, development and sale of generic injectable pharmaceuticals, primarily into the hospital market. Stuart led the Americas activity through a period of significant growth through acquisition, product line extension, and product in-licensing. Having first established Mayne Pharma USA as a stand-alone business, he helped build the division into the fourth largest US generic oncology provider. Prior to his experience with Mayne Americas, Stuart was a General Manager in Mayne’s Mergers and Acquisitions Group, heading transactional and operational teams involved in the purchase, sale and integration of businesses. After joining Mayne in 1995, Stuart worked on a variety of different projects, including the restructuring and sale of the company’s Benelux logistics business to Hays PLC.
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About QuVa Pharma: QuVa Pharma is a pharmaceutical company engaged in the innovation and production of pharmaceutical products.
Peter Jenkins
Co-Founder & Chief Development Officer of QuVa Pharma
Peter Jenkins is Co-Founder & Chief Development Officer at QuVa Pharma.
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About QuVa Pharma: QuVa Pharma is a pharmaceutical company engaged in the innovation and production of pharmaceutical products.
J. Jean Cui
Scientific Founder & Board Member of Turning Point Therapeutics
J. Jean Cui, Ph.D. is a renowned oncology drug designer with more than 20 years of experience in drug discovery and project management at Big Pharma and biotech companies (Pfizer, Pharmacia/SUGEN, etc.). Jean is the lead inventor of Pfizer’s precision oncology medicine, crizotinib, brand named XALKORI®. She created the drug’s novel chemical scaffold based on co-crystal structure and designed the final clinical compound crizotinib. XALKORI® was fast track approved by US Food and Drug Administration on August 26, 2011 for ALK positive late stage non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). In addition to the invention of crizotinib, Jean worked on several other oncology projects, including SUTENT®. She also created the clinical c-MET specific inhibitor PF-04217903 and designed the ALK second generation clinical compound PF-06463922. Her exceptional achievements in drug discovery and development have earned her many prestigious awards which include: the 38th National Inventor of the Year by Intellectual Property Owners’ Association (2011); Woman Worth Watching by Diversity Journal (2012); American Chemical Society Hero of Chemistry (2013); Pfizer Worldwide R&D Achievement Awards (2006 and 2012); Pfizer Innovation Award (2011); CABS K. Fong Award for Life Sciences (2013). Her story of crizotinib invention was featured in a Wall Street Journal article titled “Drug Discovery Gets an Upgrade” on April 16, 2012.
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About BlossomHill Therapeutics, Turning Point Therapeutics: Turning Point Therapeutics is a structure-based drug design pharmaceutical company.
Stephen L. Hurst
Co-Founder and Board Director of MindMed
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About MindMed, StartUpNV: MindMed is a psychedelic biotech company developing medicines and therapies to address addiction and mental illness.
Venky Soundararajan
Co-Founder & Chief Scientific Officer of nference
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About nference: nference.inc, provides an AI based software platform that synthesizes siloed biomedical knowledge for insights and makes it computable.
Kevin Nazemi
Co-Founder & CEO of Renew Health
CEO & Co-Founder at Done.
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About Renew Health: Renew Health’s mission is to fundamentally transform how medications are managed in the health care system.
David M. Geliebter
Executive Chairman & Co-Founder of Remedy Pharmaceuticals
David is a co-founder of Remedy Pharmaceuticals. A serial entrepreneur, he has over 50 years of experience successfully starting and growing several businesses. David founded and ran the Carson Group, a global financial information and advisory company, which was sold to Thomson Corporation in 2000. He was also a founding principal and President of Evolution Capital, a healthcare investment banking firm. Prior to that, David founded Harvard Capital, a financial communications company that was acquired by WPP Group in 1986. David is the Managing Partner of Carrot Capital Healthcare Ventures and founder and board member of Critical Diagnostics, a diagnostics company focused on cardiac disease. David is a past winner of the Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year Award.
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About Critical Diagnostics, Embark Healthcare, Flat Squirrel Press, Learmont Pharmaceuticals, Martin Pharmaceuticals, Remedy Pharmaceuticals, Woolsey Pharmaceuticals: Remedy Pharmaceuticals is a clinical stage pharmaceutical company that develops molecule drugs for acute central nervous system disorders.
Sven M. Jacobson
CEO, Co-Founder of Remedy Pharmaceuticals
Sven is a co-founder of Remedy Pharmaceuticals. He has been the CEO of Remedy since 2007 and serves on the company’s board of directors. He is the inventor of CIRARA’s formulation and the company’s MPD technology. Sven has over 20 years of senior management experience. Sven is a Partner at Carrot Capital Healthcare Ventures and co-founder and board member of Critical Diagnostics, a diagnostics company focused on cardiac disease. Sven was also a co-founder of Access Scientific, which was acquired by Endeavour Capital, as well as Cure Therapeutics, and St. Camillus Medical. He has experience in the neurocritical care, neurology, cardiovascular, orthopedic, and vascular access fields. Sven’s international experience includes prior executive management positions at Leisureplanet (Belgium) and Rennies Travel and Financial Services Group (South Africa), and current board membership of Critical Diagnostics Ltd. (Ireland). Sven received his Bachelor of Science Engineering (BSc Eng) and MBA degrees from the University of the Witwatersrand in Johannesburg, South Africa.
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About Carrot Capital, Carrot Capital Healthcare Ventures, Martin Pharmaceuticals, Remedy Pharmaceuticals, Woolsey Pharmaceuticals: Remedy Pharmaceuticals is a clinical stage pharmaceutical company that develops molecule drugs for acute central nervous system disorders.
George Hillman
COO, VP & Co-Founder of Viracta Therapeutics
George Hillman is the Co-Founder, Chief Operating Officer, and Vice President of Viracta Therapeutics.
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About Viracta Therapeutics: Viracta Therapeutics is a precision oncology company focused on new treatment of virus-associated malignancies.
Angie Tebbe
CEO & Co-Founder of Rae Wellness
Angie Tebbe is the co-founder and CEO of Rae Wellness. She previously worked as a Senior Director and Chief of Staff, Merchandising at Target.
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About Rae Wellness: Rae Wellness is a wellness startup that offers a variety of vegan, non-GMO, and gluten-free supplements.
Eric Carl
Co-Founder of Rae Wellness
Eric Carl currently works as the Co-Founder for Bloomi and Rae Wellness. He previously worked at Target as the Wellness and Emerging Brands Strategy Leader.
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About Rae Wellness: Rae Wellness is a wellness startup that offers a variety of vegan, non-GMO, and gluten-free supplements.
Devin Wiley
Co-Founder, CMO and Head of Research and Development of Circumvent Pharmaceuticals
Devin Wiley (PhD Chemical Engineering, 2013, Caltech; MD, 2015, Keck SOM) is a Co-founder, Chief Medical Officer, and Head of Research and Development at Circumvent Pharmaceuticals.Wiley helped lead a Caltech-based team in winning the NIH 2015 Neurostartup Challenge that provided seed funding for Circumvent, and he secured additional funding through a 2017 NIH SBIR grant award. At Circumvent, Wiley manages the discovery, preclinical, and clinical development programs for small molecule Enzyme Replacement Therapies (smERTs) that cross the blood-brain barrier, have minimal toxicity profiles, and that retain activity in treating the ultra-rare and uniformly fatal neurodegenerative disease, Neuronal Ceroid Lipofuscinosis-1 (CLN1 Batten Disease), for which there is currently no therapeutic option. He is charting a path for the development of hydroxylamine-derived smERTs as a new class of therapeutic, with a mission of creating a treatment landscape for CLN1 Batten Disease patients that both extends their lifespan and improves their quality of life.
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About Circumvent Pharmaceuticals: Circumvent is a biotech company
Kendall Forbes
Co-Founder & Executive Vice President, Operations & Sales of Guardian Pharmacy
EVP of Sales and Operations, and Founder of Central Pharmacy Services, Inc. Responsible for management of all field business units. Developed evolving structures and systems to leverage organizational skills in rapid growth entrepreneurial environment. Launched 37 greenfield start-up pharmacies, and integrated 8 acquisitions. Owner, Baton Rouge Central Pharmacy. Established and operated highly successful and profitable nuclear pharmacy. Recognized opportunity for building a larger company leveraging the service model so successfully employed in Baton Rouge market.
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About Guardian Pharmacy: Guardian Pharmacy is a pharmacy company provide outstanding client service to long-term care facilities.
Fred Burke
CEO, Co-Founder & President of Guardian Pharmacy
President, CEO and Co-founder, Central Pharmacy Services, Inc. (“CPSI”), Atlanta, Georgia, owned and operated nuclear pharmacies (specialized medical laboratories that centrally prepare radio-pharmaceuticals), serving over 1,000 hospitals and clinics in 22 states. Founded in 1992, CPSI grew from start-up to 45 business units, with Operating Profit of $25MM in CY02. CPSI was named to the 1997 and 1999 Inc. 500 lists of the fastest-growing private companies in the U.S., and was acquired in 2001 by Cardinal Health, the nation’s largest drug wholesaler and healthcare services firm. President and Co-founder of Sales Technologies, Inc. (“ST”) pioneered the Sales Force Automation market by providing networked applications software for large field sales forces on the then-emerging technology of portable computers. ST grew from start-up in 1983 to over 600 employees world-wide in 1991, including multiple offices in North America and Europe serving a blue-chip roster of Fortune 100 clients. Prior to its acquisition by The Dun & Bradstreet Corporation, ST was listed as number 30 on the 1988 Inc. 500 list.
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About Guardian Pharmacy: Guardian Pharmacy is a pharmacy company provide outstanding client service to long-term care facilities.
Mattan Griffel
Co-Founder/President & COO of Ophelia
Mattan is an award-winning faculty member at Columbia Business School and a two-time Y Combinator-backed entrepreneur. He co-founded Ophelia, a company that helps people quit opioids without having to go to rehab. Mattan is also an Innovation Fellow at the Lang Center for Entrepreneurship and was selected as one of Forbes’ 30 Under 30 in Education.
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About One Month | Learn to Code in 30 Days, Ophelia, Sandbox Network: Ophelia offers medication and support for quitting opioids.
Zack Gray
Co-Founder & CEO of Ophelia
Zack Gray is the Founder and CEO at Ophelia .
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About Ophelia: Ophelia offers medication and support for quitting opioids.
David Benshoof Klein
Founder & CEO of Click Therapeutics
David Benshoof Klein is a healthcare investor and entrepreneur with over 13 years life science industry experience; he has played key roles in founding, financing and developing more than 10 life science companies. In 2012, Mr. Klein co-founded Click Therapeutics, Inc. which focuses on engineering, validating and commercializing Digital Therapeutics™ applications to benefit people with brain disorders and neuropsychiatric dysfunction. He formerly served as Managing Director at a life science asset management firm & senior consultant to Pfizer.
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About Click Therapeutics: Click Therapeutics delivers safe and effective digital treatments to patients in need.
Suresh Jain
Co-Founder, President & COO of Acylin Therapeutics
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About Acylin Therapeutics: Acylin Therapeutics operates in the pharmaceutical and drug manufacturing industry developing inhibitors of cellular acetylation.
Randy Parker
Founder and Chief Executive Officer of GeniusRx
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About GeniusRx, MDLIVE: GeniusRx is a full-service internet pharmacy designed to make it easy to get medicines, over-the-counter products, & wellness supplements.
Daphne Koller
Founder & CEO of Insitro
Daphne Koller is CEO and Founder of insitro, a company using machine learning and high-throughput biology to transform drug discovery. Daphne was the Rajeev Motwani Professor of Computer Science at Stanford University, where she served on the faculty for 18 years. She was the co-founder, co-CEO and President of Coursera for 5 years, and Chief Computing Officer of Calico, an Alphabet company in the healthcare space. She is the author of over 200 refereed publications appearing in venues such as Science, Cell, and Nature Genetics. Daphne was recognized as one of TIME Magazine’s 100 most influential people in 2012. She received the MacArthur Foundation Fellowship in 2004 and the ACM Prize in Computing in 2008. She was inducted into the National Academy of Engineering in 2011 and elected a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 2014 and of the International Society of Computational Biology in 2017.
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About Engageli, Insitro: Insitro is a drug discovery and development startup that utilizes machine learning and biology to transform drug discovery.
J. Joseph Kim
Co-Founder/President/CEO/Director of Inovio Pharmaceuticals
J. Joseph Kim is the Co-Founder/President/CEO/Director at Inovio Pharmaceuticals.
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About Inovio Pharmaceuticals, The Aspen Institute: Inovio is a biotech company focusing on bringing to market DNA medicines for diseases associated with HPV, cancer, and infectious diseases.
Andrew A. Radin
CEO & Co-Founder of Aria Pharmaceuticals
Andrew A. Radin is Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer of twoXAR, a company dedicated to transforming how large biological datasets are harnessed to accelerate the identification and validation of new medicines. Andrew developed the company’s proprietary algorithm and leads product development. Prior to co-founding twoXAR, Andrew held Chief Technology Officer roles at several early stage companies where he managed teams as large as a hundred technologists distributed around the world. Andrew studied biomedical informatics in Stanford University’s SCPD graduate program and holds Master of Science and Bachelor of Science degrees in computer science from Rochester Institute of Technology.
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About Aria Pharmaceuticals: Aria Pharmaceuticals is a artificial intelligence-driven biopharmaceutical company.
Chintu Patel
Co-Chief Executive Officer and Co-Chairman & Co-Founder of Amneal Pharmaceuticals
Chintu’s vision of building an innovative pharmaceutical company based upon quality and integrity has guided every chapter of the Amneal story. Formerly a pharmacist, he has over 20 years of distinguished experience within the industry and has been recognized by his peers on numerous occasions including the 2011 Ernst & Young National Entrepreneur of the Year Life Sciences Award®. He is an ardent philanthropist dedicated to supporting both business and non-profit organizations including a variety of charitable foundations and holds a bachelor’s degree from Rutgers College of Pharmacy.
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About Amneal Pharmaceuticals: Amneal Pharmaceuticals manufactures, markets and/or distributes more than 88 drugs in the United States.
Idicula Mathew
Founder and CEO of Hera Health Solutions
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About Hera Health Solutions: Hera Health Solutions is a pharmaceutical company specializing in the development and commercialization of long term treatments.
Carol Sands
Founder and the Managing Member of The Angels’ Forum
Carol Sands is the Founder and the Managing Member of The Angels’ Forum and The Halo Funds. She has 30 years of experience with investing, entrepreneurial, and large corporate institutions. Carol’s career started in the Midwest where she was a bank officer with First Bank Systems and held marketing and sales positions with Motorola and Xerox Computer Services. After moving to San Francisco, she was hired into executive positions at Arthur Young (Ernst & Young) and Coopers & Lybrand (PricewaterhouseCoopers). In 1997, she formed The Angels’ Forum, an innovative angel group. The Angels’ Forum organizes individual investors with previous entrepreneurial experience to invest using a venture capital model for due diligence, mentoring, and board management. In 1997, she formed The Angels’ Forum, an innovative angel group. The Angels’ Forum organizes individual investors with previous entrepreneurial experience to invest using a venture capital model for due diligence, mentoring, and board management. A globally recognized expert, Carol consults with government officials and corporations about early-stage investing and innovation. She teaches “Angel Investing for the Serious Investor†at Stanford University’s Continuing Education Program and has guest lectured at other universities around the world. An active investor, she belongs to or consults with many organizations that support the entrepreneurial spirit including The Indus Entrepreneurs (TiE) as a Charter Member, SV Forum, M31, CINA, The Band of Angels, Golden Seeds, Berkeley and The Stanford Angels & Entrepreneurs. Involved in women’s leadership, she is on the Advisory Board for Global Women’s Leadership Network and is a member of The International Women’s Forum. Passionate about the impact that small amounts of money can make when combined with innovative thinking, she is also a Director of the Sands Family Foundation which funds early stage and pre NIH (National Institute of Health) research relating to prostate and ovarian cancers. Carol received her B.A. in Business Administration from The University of Iowa.
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About The Angels’ Forum, The Halo Fund, TVLP Institute Silicon Valley: The Angels’ Forum is a hybrid venture/angel firm that invests in Software, Technology, and Life Sciences.
Frederic Dijols
Co-Founder & CEO of Mixlab
Frederic Dijols is a Co-Founder and the CEO at Mixlab.
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About Mixlab: Mixlab is the best-in-class pet pharmacy that partners with veterinarians.
Stella Kim
Co-Founder & CXO of Mixlab
Stella Kim is a Co-Founder and the CXO at Mixlab.
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About Mixlab: Mixlab is the best-in-class pet pharmacy that partners with veterinarians.
Vinnie Dam
Co-Founder & Director of Pharmacy of Mixlab
Vinnie Dam is a Co-Founder and Director of Pharmacy at Mixlab.
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About Mixlab: Mixlab is the best-in-class pet pharmacy that partners with veterinarians.
David-Alexandre Gros
Co-Founder, Director and Chief Executive Officer of Imbria Pharmaceuticals
David-Alexandre is the co-founder, director and chief executive officer at Imbria Pharmaceuticals.
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About Imbria Pharmaceuticals: Imbria Pharmaceuticals is a biotechnology company with locations in San Diego, CA, and Boston, MA.
Olivia Karpinski
Co-Founder and Director of Vivera Pharamceuticals
Ms. Karpinski is the Vice President of Sales and Marketing for Vivera Pharmaceuticals. Passionate about public health, Olivia has been in the healthcare industry for over 10 years. Her multifaceted expertise in product knowledge and business development helps her lead the sales team for Vivera while always seeking new, synergistic opportunities for the Company. Ms. Karpinski was formerly a Senior Business Analyst in the Medical Special Investigations Unit at Fortune 100 Company, Liberty Mutual. She is Lean Six Sigma certified and certified by the National Insurance Crime Bureau in special investigations and major medical fraud.
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About Vivera Pharamceuticals: Vivera Pharmaceuticals is an innovative, science-driven pharmaceutical company located in Southern California.
Elliot Cohen
Co-Founder and Chief Product Officer of PillPack
Elliot Cohen is the Co-founder at PillPack.
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About Founder Collective, PillPack: PillPack is a full-service pharmacy that sorts medication by dose and offers door-to-door delivery.
John M. House
Co-Founder, Chairman, CEO & President of USMD
John M. House, M.D., a board-certified urologic surgeon, is the co-founder, chief executive officer and president of USMD Holdings. He is also the co-founder of Urology Associates of North Texas, one of the largest Urologic Surgery groups in North America. Dr. House received a B.S. in chemistry from the University of South Dakota and he received his Master’s Degree in chemical engineering at Texas Tech University. He then graduated from University of Oklahoma College of Medicine with a degree of Doctor of Medicine and subsequently completed his residency in urologic surgery at the University of Missouri in 1988. Dr. House is a Diplomat of the American Board of Urology and has served as a founding Board Member of the Large Urology Group Practice Association (LUPGA), a consortium of more than 50 large urology group practices.
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About USMD: USMD Holdings develops, operates and manages entities that deliver diagnostic, therapeutic and hospital-based health care to patients.
Jayant Panchal
CEO & Co-Founder of Alpha Cognition
Jay Panchal is the CEO and Co-Founder at Alpha Cognition. Before that, he was the CEO and Co-Founder of Goodybag, Inc (Sold to Bite Squad in 2016).
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About Alpha Cognition: Alpha Cognition utilizes a portfolio approach to identify, validate, and develop bioactives for neuroprotection and the early treatment.
David de Vries
Co-Founder and COO of Arine
David oversees overall company strategy, operations, sales, marketing and business development for Arine. Prior to Arine, David was the Director of Commercial Strategy and Development at Proteus Digital Health, where he oversaw partnerships, key elements of new product development and other strategic growth initiatives including the design and execution of the first value-based contracts for digital medicines. Before that, he worked at the RAND Corporation on the analysis and evaluation of several elements of the Affordable Care Act. When he’s not focusing on transforming healthcare through technology, he is most likely to be spotted at your local photography exhibit, neighborhood pickup basketball court, or by a large body of water attempting and failing some kind of watersport. David holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Neurobiology from Harvard and a Master’s Degree in Chemical Engineering and Biotechnology from the University of Cambridge.
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About Arine: Arine optimizes medications and improves human health through data-driven clinical services.
Yoona Kim
Co-Founder and CEO of Arine
Yoona serves as the CEO of Arine. Prior to Arine, she was the Head of Clinical Modeling and Analytics at Proteus Digital Health. She was responsible for health economic and clinical implementation activities for Proteus Digital Health. Her team developed health economic value propositions from strategic conceptualization to business case development to actualization in the real-world. Yoona has also built population and clinical analytic offerings, including predictive analytics and novel algorithms for clinical decision making and population stratification. Prior to Proteus, she led health economic activities and supported multiple blockbuster launches at Novartis and Gilead, and also implemented innovative healthcare design, such as value-based insurance programs, with large self-insured employers while working at Mercer. When she is not working on Arine, she is busy learning a new instrument or playing the violin with other artists. Yoona holds a Bachelor’s Degree from Stanford University, a PharmD with an emphasis in health policy and management from the University of California, San Francisco and a PhD in health economics and outcomes from the University of Texas at Austin.
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About Arine: Arine optimizes medications and improves human health through data-driven clinical services.
Penjit Moorhead
Co-Founder and CTO of Arine
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About Arine: Arine optimizes medications and improves human health through data-driven clinical services.
Sean Brady
Co-Founder of Lodo Therapeutics
Sean Brady is the Co-Founder at Lodo Therapeutics since January 2016. Sean is also an Associate Professor at The Rockefeller University since 2012. Previously, Sean was an Assistant Professor from 2006–2012. Sean earned his Ph.D. and M.S. degrees in Organic Chemistry from Cornell University and his B.A. degree in Molecular Biology from Pomona College.
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About Lodo Therapeutics, The Howard Hughes Medical Institute, The Rockefeller University: Lodo Therapeutics is a drug discovery and development company.
Jonathan Zhao
Co-Founder and Chairman of Hangzhou Just Biotherapeutics (Just China)
Asia strategy across small molecule, biologics and vaccine. He had also served as the interim head of Pfizer’s Bio-enhancement Development Unit during 2009-2010 in charge of the biosimilar and biobetter strategy development and business operation. Dr. Zhao received his B.S. in Pharmaceutical Sciences from Fudan University (Shanghai, China), PhD. magna cum laude in Analytical Chemistry from Ghent University (Ghent, Belgium), and MBA from Massachusetts Institute of Technology (Cambridge, USA). He has contributed more than 30 peer-reviewed publications and book chapters.
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About Hangzhou Just Biotherapeutics (Just China), Transcenta: Hangzhou Just Biotherapeutics is a comprehensive high-tech design company.
Chaitan S. Khosla
Founder of Sitari Pharmaceuticals
Dr. Chaitan Khosla is a Professor of Chemistry, Chemical Engineering and by courtesy, Biochemistry at Stanford University. His research is focused on two premises, understanding the mechanistic logic line of polyketide synthases for the purpose of engineering novel antibiotics, and the second is focused on the biochemistry of celiac disease particularly involving tissue transglutaminase 2. Dr. Khosla received his B. Tech in Chemical Engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology and his PhD degree at the California Institute of Technology with Professor Jay Bailey studying the expression of the Vitreoscilla Hemoglobin gene. He then went on to finish his postdoctoral work at the John Innes Centre with Prof. David Hopwood. Prof. Khosla has spent his entire academic career at Stanford University. Dr. Khosla has been the recipient for numerous awards including the Alan T. Waterman Award, the Eli Lilly Award in Biological Chemistry, the ACS Pure Chemistry Award, and more recently, the James E. Bailey Award. He is an honored member of the National Academy of Engineering and the recipient of a Distinguished Alumni Award from the California Institute of Technology.
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About Alvine Pharmaceuticals, Sitari Pharmaceuticals, Stanford University: Sitari Pharmaceuticals is a biotechnology company developing treatments for multiple disease indications.
Dan Barnes
Executive Chairman & Co-Founder of FamilyWize
Dan has led FamilyWize since 2005 when he and his wife Susan founded the FamilyWize Community Service Partnership. Dan’s vision for FamilyWize stems from his 25 years’ experience and expertise in large wholesale, consumer group buying and membership benefits. Under his leadership, the FamilyWize prescription assistance program has helped millions of people save more than $1 billion on the cost of their medicine. Dan and Susan and their two boys live in Lehigh Valley, Pennsylvania.
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About FamilyWize: FamilyWize has been dedicated to helping improve the health and well-being of individuals, families.
Scott Struthers
Co-Founder and CEO of Crinetics Pharmaceuticals
R. Scott Struthers (CEO & Chief Scientific Officer) is a Founder of Crinetics Pharmaceuticals. Dr. Struthers received his Ph.D. in Physiology and Pharmacology from the University of California, San Diego, under the supervision of Professor Wylie Vale. Following his degree, he led contract research efforts at Biosym Technologies developing and applying computational tools for drug discovery. He then cofounded ScienceMedia Inc. to develop eLearning solutions for the life sciences and higher education markets. From 1998 to 2008 he held a series of positions at Neurocrine Biosciences, most recently as Senior Director and Head, Endocrinology and Metabolism. There he initiated and led the company’s efforts to discover and develop orally active, nonpeptide GnRH antagonists. This resulted in a first-in-class compound, elagolix, that has demonstrated good safety and efficacy in over 40 clinical trials totaling more than 3000 patients including a 6-month, 872 patient recently completed Phase III study. In 2008, he founded Crinetics Pharmaceuticals to focus on discovery and development of drugs targeting neuropeptide receptors for the treatment of endocrine related diseases and cancers. Dr. Struthers is an author of more than 75 scientific publications.
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About Crinetics Pharmaceuticals, Radionetics Oncology: Crinetics is a clinical stage pharmaceutical company focused on the discovery, development and commercialization of novel therapeutics.
Yun-Fei Zhu
Co-Founder & Vice President, Chemistry of Crinetics Pharmaceuticals
Yun-Fei (Frank) Zhu (Vice President, Chemistry) is a Founder of Crinetics Pharmaceuticals. He received his Ph.D. in Organic Chemistry from Shanghai Institute of Organic Chemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences in China, and pursued his postdoctoral studies in the laboratory of Professor Murray Goodman in Department of Chemistry, University of California, San Diego. He joined Neurocrine Biosciences in 1997 where he led chemistry efforts on discovery of nonpeptide GnRH antagonists. He was most recently a Director of Chemistry in the Endocrinology and Metabolism group. His research has involved discovery of small molecule inhibitors of several neuropeptide receptors including CRFR2, MCH receptor, and GnRH-R for the treatment of a range of endocrine diseases.
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About Crinetics Pharmaceuticals, Radionetics Oncology: Crinetics is a clinical stage pharmaceutical company focused on the discovery, development and commercialization of novel therapeutics.
Khatija Ali
Founder & CEO of BioSapien
CEO, Entrepreneur, MD, Scientist, Inventor.
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About BioSapien: BioSapien is a biotech startup focusing on developing a 3D printed drug delivery platform to provide FDA approved drugs.
Bing Yuan
Co-Founder and CEO of OnCusp Therapeutics
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About OnCusp Therapeutics: OnCusp Therapeutics is a biopharmaceutical company turning cutting-edge research assets into innovative oncology treatments.
Henry Cha
Co-Founder & Chief Executive Officer of Healthcare Interactive
Henry Cha is CEO of HCIactive and the architect of Healthspace™, based on a Web Service Oriented Architecture (SOA) running in Microsoft Azure. He has 20 years of healthcare experience in software development, data management, reporting and analytics in payer, pharmacy, population health management and provider data. Henry has deployed predictive modeling in Healthspace to identify risk for the purposes of improving the delivery of healthcare and improving engagement with members using Web 2.0 technologies. Previously, Henry was the CIO and COO for eight years of Healthcare Strategies, a full-spectrum care management company focused on utilization review, case management, disease management and maternity management. He was the main architect behind HealthReach, a pioneering disease and care management program based on predictive modeling and care gaps. Henry has a Bachelor’s Degree in Biology from the University of Rochester.
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About Healthcare Interactive: Healthcare Interactive is dedicated to the transformation of the administration.
Kenneth M. Corroon
Co-Founder, CEO & Chairman of Aponia Laboratories
Kenneth M. Corroon serves as the Chief Executive Officer at Aponia Laboratories Inc. Kenneth Corroon serves as Director of Aponia Laboratories Inc. He serves as Director of Harmony Pharmacy & Health Center, Inc. He served as Founder, Chief Executive Officer, and President at Homeostasis Laboratories, Inc. Kenneth Corroon was the Co-Founder at Harmony Health & Beauty, Inc. in 2005 and served as its Chief Executive Officer. Kenneth Corroon served as a Vice President of Kidder, Peabody & Co. He served as Chairman and Director of Homeostasis Laboratories, Inc. He served as Chairman of Kidder, Peabody & Co. He also worked for Morgan Stanley in New York as an investment banker in its Financial Sponsors Group focusing on the retail industry and spent four years at UBS Investment Bank as a Director.
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About Aponia Laboratories: Aponia Laboratories is a pharmaceutical company producing a series of clinically proven prescription pain relief products.
