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 California based Founder operating in the Therapeutics 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.
Stephanie Tilenius
CEO, Founder of Vida Health
Stephanie is CEO & Founder of Vida Health.
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About Nextdoor, Vida Health: Vida Health is a virtual care platform that provides health coaching from experienced health care providers and medical institutions.
Erica Johnson
Co-Founder of Modern Health
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About Modern Health: Modern Health is a mental well-being platform for innovative companies offering therapy, coaching, and self-guided courses all in one app.
Alyson Watson
Founder & CEO of Modern Health
Alyson Friedensohn is a founder and CEO at Modern Health.
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About Modern Health: Modern Health is a mental well-being platform for innovative companies offering therapy, coaching, and self-guided courses all in one app.
Raja Dhir
Co-Founder and Co-CEO of Seed Health
Raja Dhir is a life sciences entrepreneur and Co-Founder of Seed Health, a venture-backed microbiome company pioneering the application of bacteria for both human and planetary health. He leads Seed’s R&D, academic collaborations, technology development, clinical trial design, supply chain, and intellectual property strategy. Together with Dr. Jacques Ravel, he Co-Chairs Seed’s Scientific Advisory Board–an interdisciplinary group of scientists and doctors who lead research teams and teach at institutions including the teaching hospital of Harvard Medical School and the Trial Innovation Unit of Mass. General Hospital (MGH). Raja has designed clinical trials with leading academic institutions including the teaching hospital of Harvard Medical School and the Trial Innovation Unit of Mass. General Hospital (MGH). Raja has unique expertise translating scientific research for product development with a track record that includes patented inventions to stabilize sensitive compounds to improve alpha-diversity of the gut microbiome (derived from micro-algae) and most recently, the co-invention of microbial technologies to protect honeybee populations (Apis mellifera) from neonicotinoid pesticides and pathogen colonization. His work also includes biofermentation and scale-up for both facultative and strict anaerobic organisms. Raja has negotiated multiple joint-ventures, strategic partnerships, technology transfer and licensing agreements with publicly traded companies (NYSE, LSE) and academic institutions (Harvard Medical School, UCLA). To date, entities he has co-founded own the rights to 15+ patents and research emerging from $25MM+ of non-dilutive funding over 10+ years from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and National Institute of Health (NIH). Raja serves on the Editorial Board for the scientific journal, Microbiome. He is a member of the Microbiome Think Tank at Mass. General Hospital (MGH) and sits on the Advisory Committee for the International Scientific Association of Probiotics and Prebiotics (ISAPP). Raja is also a Director and Co-Chair of the Scientific Advisory Board for Micropia, a $20MM microbial ecology / education platform and the world’s first museum dedicated to microbes.
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About Seed Health: Seed Health is a microbial company that focuses on therapeutics, consumer health innovations, and environmental solutions.
Ara Katz
Co-Founder and Co-CEO of Seed Health
Ara Katz is the Co-Founder and Co-CEO of Seed Health, a microbial sciences company pioneering the application of bacteria to impact human and planetary health. She has worked at the intersection of technology, consumer, design, and media is now working to steward a new standard in probiotics and how science is communicated to change how we discern evidence from evangelism to make the most informed choices for our bodies, our health, and our world. Ara previously co-founded and served as CMO of mobile commerce marketplace, Spring (backed by LMVH, sold to ShopRunner), and was on the founding team of social commerce company, BeachMint (sold to Conde Nast), where she launched six direct-to-consumer, influencer subscription brands. She is an angel investor and advisor in companies such as mindbodygreen, Stadium Goods (recently sold to FarFetch), RXDefine, women’s healthcare startup, Mahmee, and new biomaterials company, C16. Ara has been a fellow at the MIT Media Lab’s Center for Future Storytelling and CCA’s Design MBA program, was named in Marie Claire’s “The New Guard: The 50 Most Influential Women in America”, listed on Business Insider’s “Silicon Alley Top 100” and “36 Rockstar Women in NYC Tech”, and Create + Cultivate’s 100 List for STEM.
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About Seed Health: Seed Health is a microbial company that focuses on therapeutics, consumer health innovations, and environmental solutions.
Daniel Perez
Co-Founder, CEO of Hinge Health
With a long personal history of MSK injuries including several leg surgeries, Dan has long been passionate about improving outcomes for musculoskeletal disorders. Originally from Miami, Dan pursued a PhD in the medical sciences at the University of Oxford (currently paused), founding the Oxbridge Biotech Roundtable and OneStart, a large healthcare accelerator program. As CEO, Dan brings startup technology experience and healthcare expertise to Hinge Health.
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About Hinge Health: Hinge Health is a patient-centered digital clinic for treating chronic musculoskeletal conditions.
Cheng Liu
Founder, CEO of Eureka Therapeutics
Cheng Liu is the founder and CEO of Eureka Therapeutics, a California biotech company dedicated to antibody research and discovery for cancer immunotherapy. Prior to founding Eureka, Dr. Liu was a Principal Scientist in antibody drug discovery at Chiron (now Novartis), where he championed anti-CSF1 antibody program for treatment of bone metastasis to human clinical trials. He is the inventor of multiple issued US patents in drug discovery. In 2007, he was awarded Special US Congressional Recognition for his contributions to improving human health. Dr. Liu received his B.S. in Cell Biology and Genetics from Beijing University and a Ph.D. in Molecular Cell Biology from the University of California, Berkeley.
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About Eureka Therapeutics: Eureka Therapeutics is a biotechnology company focusing on immunotherapies for the treatment of cancer.
Michael M. Henson
Founder of Endologix
Michael Henson is a co-founder of Reverse Medical Corporation, was named “Corporate Director of the Year” among all Orange County executives in 2000. He founded the MedFocus Fund with the Japan Asia Investment Company, Ltd., one of the largest venture capital firms in Japan and a group of international limited investors from around the world. Mr. Henson has participated in the formation of more than seventeen medical technology and pharmaceutical firms. He currently serves on the Board of Directors of nine medical firms, and is Chairman of seven of the companies. Mr. Henson has founded or served as Chief Executive Officer and Chairman of the Board for many successful emerging health care, medical device or biotechnology firms. Mr. Henson has successfully taken a number of companies public via the IPO process and negotiated the successful acquisition of several emerging companies to large multi-national healthcare firms.
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About Endologix, Interventional Spine, Reverse Medical: Endologix is a developer and manufacturer of minimally invasive treatments for aortic disorders.
Amit Vohra
Co-Founder, President & CEO of Promaxo
Promaxo is led by Dr. Amit Vohra who is a serial entrepreneur, business strategist and advisor to several healthcare and technology startups. Amit is a Partner in Advanced Biopharma Consulting, a management consultancy offering strategic business development and commercialization services in the life sciences space. He also serves as an advisor to Cricking, MedDx and HealthyX and a strategy consultant to Precision Biopsy and Weinberg Medical Physics. Prior to Promaxo, Amit was the CEO/President of Convergent Life Sciences wherein he took a MRI-US fusion product, for targeted laser ablation of soft tissue cancer, through FDA clearance within 18 months of Company formation. Previously, as VP of Strategy and Operations at Eigen, he led the development and successful commercialization of two class II medical devices in the prostate biopsy space. In 2009, Amit co-founded Navya Biomedical Technologies, a biotechnology company using proprietary polyhydroxy fullerenes (PHF) for non-invasive imaging and destruction of solid tumors. Amit has a Doctorate in Mechanical Engineering from University of Florida, and an Executive MBA (Fuqua Scholar) from Duke University’s Fuqua School of Business.
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About 8chili, Neuro42, Promaxo, TriOcula Technologies: Promaxo is commercializing customer-centric MRI systems and robotic guidance tools for live diagnosis and treatment in a physician’s office.
Harry Gruber
CEO, Co-Founder & President of Tocagen
Harry E. Gruber, M.D., one of the pioneers in gene therapy, co-founded Tocagen and led the company as chief executive officer before assuming the role of president, research and development in November 2016 and president, science and innovation in October 2017. He has been a member of the board of directors since August 2007. Dr. Gruber served as our chief executive officer from August 2007 to November 2016 and served as chairman of our board of directors from August 2007 to October 2014. Dr. Gruber is a co-founder of Tocagen and has been the co-founder and/or co-inventor of key technology for the following publicly held companies: Viagene Inc., a gene therapy company acquired by Novartis Pharmaceuticals; Gensia Inc., a biopharmaceutical company acquired by Teva Pharmaceuticals Industries, Ltd.; INTERVU Inc., a technology company acquired by Akamai Technologies, Inc.; Kintera, Inc., a technology company acquired by Blackbaud. He is the author of more than 100 original scientific articles and an inventor on more than 100 issued and pending patents. Dr. Gruber holds a medical degree and bachelor’s degree from the University of Pennsylvania and trained in Internal Medicine, Biochemical Genetics and Rheumatology/Immunology at the University of California, San Diego, where he subsequently joined the medical school faculty until founding Gensia Inc.
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About Tocagen: Tocagen is a biopharmaceutical company developing gene therapy products for the treatment of cancer.
Igor Khandros
Co-Founder of Berkeley Lights
Igor Y. Khandros Co-Founded Berkeley Lights, Inc. and serves as its Chief Executive Officer. Igor Khandros served as an Advisor of FormFactor Inc. Igor Khandros founded Formfactor Inc. and served as its Executive Chairman. Igor Khandros served as the Chief Executive Officer of Formfactor and also served as its President Igor Khandros served as the Vice President of Development of Tessera Technologies Inc., that he co-founded. he was employed at the Yorktown Research Center of IBM Corporation as a Member of the Technical Staff and a Manager. Igor Khandros was employed at ABEX Corporation as a Research Metallurgist and a Manager, and he served as an Engineer at the Institute of Casting Research in Kiev, Russia. Igor Khandros has been a Director of FormFactor Inc., Igor Khandros holds an M.S. equivalent degree in Metallurgical Engineering from Kiev Polytechnic Institute in Kiev, Russia, and a Ph.D. in Metallurgy from Stevens Institute of Technology.
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About Berkeley Lights, Nutcracker Therapeutics: Berkeley Lights is a provider of research and development services using micro-droplet technology that change the biological processes.
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.
Martyn Gross
Co-Founder & CEO of Zerigo Health
Advisor at Cooler Heads Care & Chief Business Officer at Mindera.
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About Dthera Sciences, MiNDERA Corporation, Zerigo Health: Clarify Medical is a developer of a handheld medical device used to treat psoriasis, eczema, and vitiligo .
Remo Qajar
Co-Founder of Zerigo Health
Remo Qajar is the Co-Founder and Chief Innovation Officer at Skylit Medical. Remo’s postgraduate career as an academic researcher and trained Surgeon at the Yale School of Medicine led him to invent a number of medical devices, from implantable respiratory diaphragms to orthopedic and wound care products, some of which have been spun-off into companies. Remo is the founder of InQMEDS LLC. an accelerator of growth for early stage life-science products.
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About Zerigo Health: Clarify Medical is a developer of a handheld medical device used to treat psoriasis, eczema, and vitiligo .
Fabian Gerlinghaus
Co-Founder & CEO of Cellares
Fabian Gerlinghaus is the CEO and Co-Founder of Cellares.
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About Cellares: Cellares is a life sciences technology company that develops the Cell Shuttle to automate cell therapy manufacturing.
Ravi Pamnani
CEO and Co-Founder of Intact Therapeutics
Ravi Pamnani is the CEO and co-founder of Intact Therapeutics. Prior to that, he served as a director of marketing and medical affairs for Transcend Medical. Ravi studied at Stanford University.
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About Intact Therapeutics: Intact Therapeutics is a makers of smart gels for local drug delivery for gastrointestinal diseases.
James H. Bullard
Co-Founder and CTO of Pendulum Therapeutics
James Bullard is a Computational Biologist and Biostatistician with extensive experience in analyzing complex genomic systems. Prior to co-founding Whole Biome, Jim served as a Senior Staff Scientist at Pacific Biosciences. Jim, completed his Ph.D. in Biostatistics with a focus in Computational and Genomic Biology at the University of California, Berkeley and his B.A. in Computing and Information Systems at Northwestern University.
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About Pendulum Therapeutics: Pendulum Therapeutics is a biotechnology company improving health through products targeting the microbiome.
Colleen Cutcliffe
Co-Founder and CEO of Pendulum Therapeutics
Colleen Cutcliffe is the Co-Founder and CEO of Pendulum Therapeutics.
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About American Diabetes Association, California Life Sciences Association, Pendulum Therapeutics: Pendulum Therapeutics is a biotechnology company improving health through products targeting the microbiome.
John S. Eid
Co-Founder and CSO of Pendulum Therapeutics
John Eid is a Biophysicist who has led fundamental technology development for over a decade. His research areas include advanced microscopy, single molecule detection and analyses, automated data acquisition system development, biophysical system modeling, genome sequencing applications and bioinformatics. Prior to co-founding Whole Biome, John served as a Principle Scientist at Pacific Biosciences. He joined the company shortly after it was founded and created, developed and applied its core sequencing technology from its incipient stages through commercialization. John completed his postdoctoral research at the Roland Institute at Harvard University, his Ph.D. in Biophysics and Computation Biology at the University of Illinois, Urbana Champaign, and his B.S. in Applied and Engineering Physics from Cornell University.
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About Pendulum Therapeutics: Pendulum Therapeutics is a biotechnology company improving health through products targeting the microbiome.
David Wetherell
Founder & Managing Director of Biomark Capital
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About Biomark Capital: Biomark Capital provides venture funding and assistance to early, mid, and late-stage life science companies.
Gibb Clarke
CEO and Co-Founder of Blockade Medical
Gibb Clarke is co-founder and CEO of Blockade Medical and has more than 10 years experience as a medical device executive with a specific focus on new technology development for the interventional neurovascular marketplace. Prior to co-founding Blockade, Gibb co-founded Pulsar Vascular, Inc. in 2006. A novel therapeutic approach for challenging and complex cerebral aneurysms. Gibb successfully raised multiple rounds of venture capital as well as helped craft and manage the clinical and regulatory strategy for both CE Mark and US approvals. Prior to Pulsar, Gibb played a critical early role in helping Swedish Medical Center in Seattle, WA, plan for and execute the development of The Seattle Neuroscience Institute, a neuroscience center for excellence. Gibb’s efforts resulted in Swedish Medical investing in excess of $35M into the development of its now flagship neuroscience center located in Seattle, WA. Gibb also spent 8 years in the US Marines Corps serving as a team leader in the elite Marine Recon unit. Military schoolings include Amphibious Recon Course, Army Ranger School, US Navy Dive School, and Army Jump School. Gibb is an avid endurance athlete, having competed in over 200 races.
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About Blockade Medical: Founded in 2011, Blockade Medical is a privately held company dedicated the development of catheter based therapeutic devices for the
Benjamin Cravatt
Director and Co-Founder of Boundless Bio
Benjamin F. Cravatt, Ph.D., is a the Gilula Chair of Chemical Biology and Professor in the Department of Chemistry at The Scripps Research Institute. His research group develops and applies chemical proteomic technologies for protein and drug discovery on a global scale and has particular interest in studying biochemical pathways in the nervous system and cancer. Dr. Cravatt is a co-founder of Activx Biosciences (acquired by Kyorin Pharmaceuticals), Abide Therapeutics (acquired by Lundbeck Pharmaceuticals), and Vividion Therapeutics. His honors include a Searle Scholar Award, the Eli Lilly Award in Biological Chemistry, a Cope Scholar Award, the ASBMB Merck Award, the Royal Society of Chemistry Jeremy Knowles Award, and memberships in the National Academy of Sciences, National Academy of Medicine, and American Academy of Arts and Sciences. Ben obtained his undergraduate education at Stanford University, receiving a B.S. in the Biological Sciences and a B.A. in History. He then received a Ph.D. from The Scripps Research Institute (TSRI) in 1996, and joined the faculty at TSRI in 1997.
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About Boundless Bio, Vividion Therapeutics: Boundless Bio is a precision oncology company developing therapeutics directed against extrachromosomal DNA (ecDNA) in aggressive cancers.
Jonathan Lim
Chairman & Co-Founder of Boundless Bio
Jonathan Lim is Founder of Ignyta, Inc. (Nasdaq: RXDX), an oncology precision medicine biotechnology company that is a portfolio company of City Hill Ventures, LLC, a health care investment firm that he founded in 2010. Jonathan is also a Board Director of Bionomics Ltd (ASX: BNO). Prior to Ignyta, Jonathan’s experience includes Chairman, CEO and co-founder of Eclipse Therapeutics, Inc.; President and CEO of Halozyme Therapeutics, Inc. (Nasdaq: HALO); management consultant at McKinsey; NIH Postdoctoral Fellow at Harvard Medical School; and general surgery resident at New York Hospital-Cornell. In addition to serving on the Bio-X Advisory Council, Jonathan has been actively involved with his class reunion campaigns and other Stanford related activities. Jonathan has a B.S and M.S. from Stanford in Biological Sciences, an M.D. from McGill University and an M.P.H. from Harvard. Jonathan lives in San Diego with his wife, Dr. Conyee Tsai Lim (BA ’93), and their three children.
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About ARCH Venture Partners, Boundless Bio, City Hill Ventures, Erasca: Boundless Bio is a precision oncology company developing therapeutics directed against extrachromosomal DNA (ecDNA) in aggressive cancers.
Andrea Choe
Founder & CEO of Holoclara
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About Caltech, Holoclara: Holoclara is a immunotherapy company that offers autoimmune disorders with nematode derived molecules.
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.
John Kuriyan
Co-Founder of Nurix Therapeutics
John Kuriyan, Ph.D., is an expert in the structural dynamics of ubiquitin ligases and other signaling complexes. Dr. Kuriyan is a Howard Hughes Medical Institute Investigator and a Professor of Molecular and Cell Biology and of Chemistry, University of California, Berkeley. Prior to that, he served as Assistant Professor and then Professor at Rockefeller University for 14 years. Dr. Kuriyan serves as a member of the Advisory Board at Carmot Therapeutics Inc. and is a Senior Editor at eLife, a new enterprise in high profile and open access scientific publishing. He is a member of the National Academy of Sciences, which awarded him the 2005 Richard Lounsbery Award. He holds a B.S. in chemistry from Juniata College, Pennsylvania, and a Ph.D. from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
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About Nurix Therapeutics: Nurix develops small molecule inhibitors for the treatment of proliferative and degenerative diseases.
Arthur Weiss
Co-Founder of Nurix Therapeutics
Arthur Weiss, M.D., Ph.D., is a pioneer in cell biology and signal transduction. Dr. Weiss is a Howard Hughes Medical Institute Investigator and Ephraim P. Engleman Distinguished Professor, University of California San Francisco. He has previously served as the President of the American Association of Immunologists. He was also elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, the National Academy of Sciences and the Institute of Medicine. Dr. Weiss received his B.A. at the Johns Hopkins University and his M.D. and Ph.D. from the University of Chicago School of Medicine. He did postdoctoral training at the Swiss Institute for Experimental Cancer Research and his clinical training in internal medicine and rheumatology at UCSF.
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About Nurix Therapeutics, University of California, San Francisco, University of California, San Francisco: Nurix develops small molecule inhibitors for the treatment of proliferative and degenerative diseases.
Michael Rape
Co-Founder of Nurix Therapeutics
Michael Rapé, Ph.D., is a leader in the biology of ubiquitin-dependent cell cycle progression and carcinogenesis. He is a Howard Hughes Investigator and a Professor of Cell and Developmental Biology at the University of California, Berkeley. He started his own lab at the University of California, Berkeley in the fall of 2006, where he has developed novel screening tools to identify the ubiquitylation enzymes that are important for cell division and differentiation and pair them with the proteins they target. Prior to that, he completed his postdoctoral research at Harvard Medical School in the lab of Marc Kirschner. In recognition of his creativity and productivity, Dr. Rapé was named a Pew Scholar and received the NIH Director’s New Innovator Award in 2007. He has also won prestigious fellowships from the Human Frontier Science Program and the European Molecular Biology Organization. Dr. Rapé studied Biochemistry at the University of Bayreuth in Germany and received his Ph.D. at the MPI in Martinsried, Germany in the lab of Stefan Jentsch.
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About Nurix Therapeutics: Nurix develops small molecule inhibitors for the treatment of proliferative and degenerative diseases.
Anand Parikh
Founder & CEO of Faeth Therapeutics
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About Faeth Therapeutics, Virta Health: Faeth Therapeutics is a data-driven company that focuses on using metabolism to rethink the science of cancer.
Alex Katz
Founder and CEO of Two Chairs
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About Two Chairs: Two Chairs provides high-quality, in-person psychotherapy at thoughtfully-designed clinics.
Juan Jaen
President & Co-Founder of Arcus Biosciences
Juan has been engaged in all aspects of drug discovery and development for more than 30 years. In 2015, he co-founded Arcus Biosciences together with Terry Rosen. Prior to that, he was co-founder and President/Head of R&D at Flexus Biosciences, until its acquisition by Bristol-Myers Squibb for $1.25 billion. Previously, he was Chief Scientific Officer and Senior Vice President of Drug Discovery at ChemoCentryx. During his tenure there of just under 7 years, Juan led the discovery and progression into the clinic of 8 novel drug candidates in the immunology space. At ChemoCentryx, Juan led the discovery efforts for the multi-year collaboration with GSK, which generated over $100M in non-dilutive milestones and fees. From 1996 to 2006, Juan held various scientific management positions at Tularik (responsible for about 100 scientists in Medicinal and Computational Chemistry, as well as Structural Biology) and then Amgen Inc. (after its acquisition of Tularik in 2004), most recently as Vice President of Chemistry. From 1983 to 1996, Juan held various scientific leadership positions at Parke-Davis/Warner-Lambert. Juan holds a Visiting Scholar appointment (ChEM-H) at Stanford University and is a member of the Scientific Advisory Board at Cleave Biosciences. Juan obtained a B.S. degree in Chemistry from Universidad Complutense in Madrid (Spain) and a Ph.D. degree in Organic Chemistry from the University of Michigan. He has co-authored over 100 scientific papers and is an inventor on 50 issued U.S. patents. Juan has been responsible for the advancement of over 20 novel molecules into clinical development for diseases including cancer, Alzheimer’s, Crohn’s, RA, diabetes and diabetic nephropathy, psoriasis, asthma, and vasculitis, among others.
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About Arcus Biosciences: Arcus Biosciences is a biopharmaceutical company that discovers, develops, and commercializes novel therapies for the treatment of cancer.
Dan Janiak
Co-Founder of Apsara Therapeutics
Danny Janiak is an Associate with the Mercury Fund, where he focuses on developing and originating science-based investment themes and startup opportunities. Prior to joining Mercury, Danny was an Associate in the Physical and Biological Technologies practice at In-Q-Tel, the strategic venture investment arm of the U.S. Intelligence Community. While at In-Q-Tel, Danny was responsible for the management and oversight of technology development programs in numerous In-Q-Tel portfolio companies. In addition, he was responsible for leading technical due diligence on all potential investment candidates in the advanced materials space. Danny received his B.S. and Ph.D. from the University of Maryland where he was a Future Faculty Fellow and held the Robert E. Fischell Fellowship in Biomedical Engineering. In addition, Danny has been selected to participate in the Kauffman Fellows Program through the Center for Venture Education.
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About Apsara Therapeutics: Apsara Therapeutics develops antibody therapies for the treatment of neuromyelitis optica.
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.
Eric Ostertag
Chief Executive Officer & Founder of Poseida Therapeutics
Eric Ostertag is the CEO at Poseida Therapeutics.
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About Hera Testing Laboratories, Poseida Therapeutics: Poseida Therapeutics is a biotechnology company that utilizes genome engineering capabilities to develop targeted life-saving therapeutics.
Jack Taunton
Founder of Cedilla Therapeutics
Associate Professor at UCSF.
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About Cedilla Therapeutics, Global Blood Therapeutics, Kezar Life Sciences, Principia Biopharma, The Howard Hughes Medical Institute, University of California, San Francisco: Cedilla Therapeutics is a biotechnology company that develops targeted small molecules for the treatment of cancer and other diseases.
Stephen Cary
Founder of Omniox
Stephen Cary is the co-founder and CEO of Omniox, and co-inventor of the H-NOX technology. Stephen identified H-NOX as a potential therapeutic platform while working at the University of California, Berkeley. He secured the first financial support for Omniox by winning the inaugural Rogers Family Foundation “Bridging the Gap” Award at QB3. Subsequently, Stephen and his team obtained multiple NIH SBIR awards and a Wellcome Trust Translation Award to build Omniox’ operations and enable development of the H-NOX platform. Prior to launching Omniox, Stephen worked at Genentech in Market Strategy, and before that in Immunology Research. He participated extensively in early stage development projects, concentrating on strategic processes of transitioning therapeutic candidates from late-stage research to early development, and provided market and endpoint inputs into design of clinical trials. Stephen obtained his PhD in Biological Chemistry with Michael Marletta at the University of Michigan, and his Bachelor of Science degree in Molecular Biophysics & Biochemistry at Yale University.
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About Omniox: Omniox, a biotechnology company, commercializes technologies used in identifying and treating cancer, cardiovascular disease and trauma.
James Spudich
Founder of MyoKardia
James Spudich, Ph.D., serves as the Douglass M. and Nola Leishman Professor of Cardiovascular Disease in the Department of Biochemistry at Stanford University. His laboratory studies how enzymes use specific structural elements to carry out their exquisite roles. Specifically, his research has focused on the myosin family of enzymes. Over the last 35 years, Dr. Spudich and scientists in his lab have used an interdisciplinary and multifaceted approach to elucidate the molecular basis of energy transduction by the myosin family of molecular motors. Dr. Spudich also serves as a visiting faculty member at the National Center for Biological Sciences of the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research in Bangalore, India. Dr. Spudich is a co-founder and former director of Cytokinetics and the Stanford University Bio-X program. He currently serves as the chair of the International Affairs Committee for the American Society for Cell Biology, and has previously served as president of the organization. Dr. Spudich has been recognized with numerous honors for his achievements in the field, including the American Heart Association Basic Research Prize and the 2012 Lasker Basic Medical Research Award. He is an elected member of the National Academy of Sciences, American Academy of Arts and Sciences and the American Association for the Advancement of Science. He has authored more than 190 peer-reviewed publications. Dr. Spudich holds a B.S. in chemistry from the University of Illinois at Champaign-Urbana and Ph.D. in biochemistry from Stanford University. He completed his postdoctoral work in genetics and structural biology at Stanford University and the MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology in Cambridge, England.
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About MyoKardia: MyoKardia is a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company that develops targeted therapies for the treatment of rare cardiovascular diseases.
Christine Seidman
Founder of MyoKardia
Christine (Kricket) Seidman, M.D., is a Professor of Genetics and the Thomas W. Smith Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School and Brigham and Women’s Hospital. She is also an investigator of the Howard Hughes Medical Institute. She joined the staff at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in 1987 and is currently the director of the Cardiovascular Genetics Center. Along with her husband Jonathan Seidman, Ph.D., Dr. Seidman has elucidated multiple genetic causes of human disorders affecting the heart and vasculature. The Seidmans’ discoveries include the identification and demonstration of genetic mutations causing hypertrophic cardiomyopathy and dilated cardiomyopathy, as well as the first genetic cause of congenital heart malformations. In addition to recognition received jointly with her husband, Dr. Seidman’s recent honors include Distinguished Scientist, American Heart Association; Distinguished Alumni Achievement Award, The George Washington University; The 21st Annual Glorney-Raisbeck Award; and the Jay and Jean Schottenstein Prize in Cardiovascular Science. She is a member of the Association of University Cardiologists and an elected member to the National Academy of Sciences. Dr. Seidman holds an undergraduate degree from Harvard College and an M.D. from George Washington University School of Medicine. Dr. Seidman served as an intern and resident in internal medicine at John Hopkins Hospital and received subspecialty training in cardiology at the Massachusetts General Hospital.
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About MyoKardia: MyoKardia is a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company that develops targeted therapies for the treatment of rare cardiovascular diseases.
Jonathan Seidman
Founder of MyoKardia
Professor at Harvard Medical School.
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About Harvard Medical School, MyoKardia: MyoKardia is a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company that develops targeted therapies for the treatment of rare cardiovascular diseases.
Rohan Dixit
Founder and CEO of Lief Therapeutics
Founder at Lief Therapeutics. Formerly neuroimaging of meditation at Harvard-MIT-MGH Martinos Center, resting state neuroscience at Stanford Medical Center.
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About Lief Therapeutics: Lief is a discreet biosensing patch that measures your heart and breath.
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.
Sheila Gujrathi
Co-Founder & Chief Executive Officer of Gossamer Bio
Dr. Gujrathi is the Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Gossamer Bio. Prior to joining us, Dr. Gujrathi served as Chief Medical Officer of Receptos, Inc. from June 2011 until the company’s acquisition by Celgene Corporation in August 2015. Prior to joining Receptos, she was Vice President of the Global Clinical Research Group in Immunology at BristolMyers Squibb from 2008 to 2011. Dr. Gujrathi worked at Genentech from 2002 to 2008 where she held roles of increasing responsibility in the Immunology, Tissue Growth and Repair clinical development group and served as the Avastin Franchise Team Leader. From 1999 to 2002, Dr. Gujrathi was a management consultant at McKinsey & Company in the healthcare practice where she provided strategic advice on a variety of projects in the healthcare and pharmaceutical industry. Dr. Gujrathi received her B.S. with highest distinction in Biomedical Engineering and M.D. from Northwestern University in their accelerated Honors Program in Medical Education. She completed her Internal Medicine Internship and Residency at Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Harvard Medical School. She received additional training at University of California, San Francisco and Stanford University in their Allergy and Immunology Fellowship Program.
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About Gossamer Bio: Gossamer Bio is a biopharmaceutical company focused on the discovery and development of novel and differentiated therapeutic products.
Faheem Hasnain
Co-Founder & Executive Chairman of Gossamer Bio
Faheem Hasnain is the Chairman of the Board of directors at Ambit Biosciences Corporation. Faheem Hasnain has served as one of our directors since October 2010, and as the chairman of the board since November 2010. Faheem Hasnain is the president and chief executive officer of Receptos, Inc., a drug discovery and development company, a position he has held since December 2010.From December 2008 until its acquisition by Abbott Laboratories in April 2010, he was the president and chief executive officer and a director of Facet Biotech Corporation, a publicly-traded, biology-driven antibody company with a focus in oncology and multiple sclerosis. Faheem Hasnain was president, chief executive officer and a director of PDL BioPharma, Inc., a publicly-traded biotechnology company, from October 2008 until Facet Biotech was spun off from PDL BioPharma in December 2008. From October 2004 to September 2008, Faheem Hasnain served at Biogen Idec Inc., a biotechnology company specializing in neurological disorders, autoimmune disorders and cancer, most recently as executive vice president in charge of the oncology/rheumatology strategic business unit. Prior to Biogen Idec, Faheem Hasnain held roles with Bristol-Myers Squibb, where he was president of the oncology therapeutics network, and for 14 years at GlaxoSmithKline plc and its predecessor organizations. Faheem Hasnain has served on the board of directors of Somaxon Pharmaceuticals, Inc., a publicly-traded specialty pharmaceutical company, since September 2010. Faheem Hasnain received a B.H.K. and B.Ed. from the University of Windsor Ontario in Canada.
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About Gossamer Bio, Vertex Ventures HC: Gossamer Bio is a biopharmaceutical company focused on the discovery and development of novel and differentiated therapeutic products.
Joshua Kazam
Co-Founder and Director of Kronos Bio
Joshua is the Co-Founder and Director of Kronos Bio. Mr. Kazam is a co-founder and Partner of Two River. He also serves as an Officer and Director of Riverbank Capital Securities, Inc., a FINRA member broker-dealer (“Riverbank”). Prior to co-founding Two River, he was employed by a venture capital firm specializing in biotechnology investments, where he most recently served as Managing Director and was responsible for ongoing operations of venture investments. In addition, Mr. Kazam served as the Director of Investment Management for the Orion Biomedical Fund, a New York-based private equity fund focused on biotechnology investments. Mr. Kazam is a co-founder and director of Kite Pharma (KITE) and serves on the Board Capricor Therapeutics (CAPR). In addition, Mr. Kazam also currently serves as a director of several privately held companies including Vetprime, Inc. Mr. Kazam received his degree in entrepreneurial management from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania and resides in New York City.
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About Allogene Therapeutics, Kite Pharma, Kronos Bio, Two River: Kronos Bio focuses on the research and development of first-in-class therapies that modulate historically recalcitrant cancer.
Joy Sun
Co-Founder of Groups Recover Together
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About Groups Recover Together, MAPS Public Benefit, Corp.: Groups Recover Together provides accessible and affordable medication-assisted treatment (MAT) for opioid addiction.
Steven Braithwaite
Founder of MentiNova
Steven Braithwaite is CSO at Alkahest.
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About Alkahest, MentiNova, Rutgers University: MentiNova develops an oral medication to help treat symptoms of Parkinson’s disease.
Razmik Abnous
Advisor and Co-Founder of Vineti
Razmik Abnous is the President at Digital Insights. He was the CoFounder & Chief Technology Officer of Vineti before that.
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About Vineti: Vineti is a commercial cloud-based platform that expands patient access to life-saving cells and gene therapies.
Amy DuRoss
Co-Founder & CEO of Vineti
Amy focuses on healthcare new business creation for GE Ventures/healthymagination. In addition to venture investments, Amy is driving growth strategy for new business creation portfolio companies as well as scoping and seeding independent business opportunities. Amy was Chief Business Officer at Navigenics, a genomics company sold to Life Technologies in 2012. She was the co-founder and Executive Director of Proposition 71,California’s $3B stem cell research initiative passed in 2004, as well as Chief of Staff at the resulting state grant oversight agency. Earlier in her career, Amy was an early employee at E-Loan, Inc., the first online consumer mortgage company, with that company through its IPO. She also worked for the World Bank Group to scale and deliver leapfrog technologies to developing economies. Amy holds an MBA and MA/BA in English from Stanford University. She was also a Coro Fellow and an Aspen Institute Socrates Fellow.
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About Vineti: Vineti is a commercial cloud-based platform that expands patient access to life-saving cells and gene therapies.
Ayin Vala
Co-Founder of VastBiome
Ayin Vala is the Co-Founder and Chief AI Officer of VastBiome.
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About Admissions AI, Foundation for Precision Medicine, NaN Data Science, Stanford University, VastBiome: Mapping the gut microbiome for better medicines
Kareem Barghouti
Co-Founder of VastBiome
Kareem Barghouti is the Co-Founder and CEO of VastBiome.
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About VastBiome: Mapping the gut microbiome for better medicines
Pad (Padmanabh) Chivukula
Founder, CSO & COO of Arcturus Therapeutics
Padmanabh (Pad) Chivukula Ph.D., is Founder, Chief Scientific Officer, Chief Operating Officer and Director of Arcturus Therapeutics. He is responsible for Arcturus’ research and development activities, including clinical and non-clinical development and regulatory affairs for all of Arcturus drug products. Dr. Chivukula has an exceptional and technically solid foundation in nanoparticle technology. Prior to Arcturus, from 2008 until February 2013, Dr. Chivukula was employed by Nitto Denko Technical Corporation, a pharmaceutical company, where his titles included Group Leader and Chief Scientist. Dr. Chivukula brings over 15 years of experience in drug delivery and therapeutic drug development, including leading the polymeric RNAi research department at Nitto Denko.
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About Arcturus Therapeutics: Arcturus Therapeutics focuses on developing novel RNA therapeutics for the treatment of various diseases aiming at Rare Diseases.
Joseph Payne
Founder, President & CEO of Arcturus Therapeutics
Joseph E. Payne, is Founder, President, Chief Executive Officer and Chairman of the Board for Arcturus Therapeutics, Inc. He brings with him an exceptional track record of ushering novel therapeutics to the clinic including successful experience developing sophisticated targeted RNAi nanoparticle technologies. Joseph’s background includes over 20 years of successful drug discovery experience at Merck Research Labs, DuPont Pharmaceuticals, Bristol-Myers Squibb, Kalypsys, and Nitto Denko as evidenced by over 40 publications and patents, and 7 FDA-approved IND clinical candidates.
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About Arcturus Therapeutics: Arcturus Therapeutics focuses on developing novel RNA therapeutics for the treatment of various diseases aiming at Rare Diseases.
Mark Chao
Co-Founder & CEO of TenSixteen Bio
Dr. Chao is a board-certified physician in internal medicine and a trained hematologist with a strong clinical network at Stanford University Hospitals. Dr. Chao has clinical development experience in bringing cancer therapeutics through to successful IND filing and has contributed to successful early stage clinical trial execution within the academic university setting. Dr. Chao has over 15 years of experience in stem cell biology, immunology, and cancer biology research, including the discovery of a novel target for cancer immunotherapy that is now in clinical development. He is a co-founder of Forty Seven, Inc., a clinical stage immuno-oncology company. He earned his MD and PhD in cancer biology from Stanford University and completed his internal medicine residency and hematology fellowship at Stanford. He is currently a visiting scholar in the Division of Hematology at Stanford University.
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About Gilead Sciences, HepaTx, Stanford Health Care, TenSixteen Bio: TenSixteen Bio is a biotechnology company focused on developing novel therapeutics for a variety of diseases.
Willam Rutter
CEO and Founder of Boston Biomedical
Dr. Rutter is Chairman and Founder of Synergenics, LLC, which owns and controls a portfolio of biotechnology companies at various stages of development. In his academic career, Dr. Rutter joined the University of California–San Francisco (UCSF) as head of the newly formed department of Biochemistry and Biophysics in 1968, and played a key role in developing UCSF into a major scientific institution. In research, he is particularly known for the discovery of the enzymes involved in the expression of DNA (RNA polymerases), the first cloning of the insulin gene, the cloning of hepatitis B virus (HBV), and formation of an HBV-like particle that provided the basis for a safe and protective vaccine. With 2 colleagues, Dr. Rutter founded Chiron in 1981, a pioneering biotech firm that developed the first recombinant vaccine (against HBV) with Merck and a process for manufacturing insulin from yeast with Novo-Nordisk. Chiron was the first to clone the AIDS (HIV) virus and to discover, clone, and sequence the hepatitis C virus (HCV). Chiron developed quantitative diagnostic tests for HIV, HBV, and HCV, thus providing the means for eliminating blood contaminated with these viruses, a major contribution to public health worldwide. Chiron developed and promulgated the concept of “viral load” as the basis for determining disease status, as well as the basis for developing and evaluating antivirals and other treatment protocols for these and other diseases. Prior to Chiron, Dr. Rutter was a consultant to Abbott Laboratories for about 20 years, and a member of the Amgen Scientific Advisory Board. Dr. Rutter’s past board memberships include Novartis, Sangamo Biosciences, Cytokinetics, Nugen, Oscient Pharmaceuticals, and Epitomics. Dr. Rutter also currently serves on the boards of Eureka Genomics, Apexigen, One Globe, and Cellworks. He is Chairman of the Synergenics companies: Synco Biopartners, ReLIA Diagnostic Systems, Numera Health, Ventria Bioscience, Humabs Biomed, Pathologica, and BioEnergenix. Dr. Rutter is a member of the National Academy of Sciences and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and has received numerous awards for his contributions to science and the biotechnology industry.
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About Boston Biomedical: Boston Biomedical focuses on the research and development of novel therapeutics to treat cancer.
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.
Phillip Beachy
Co-Founder of Fate Therapeutics
Phillip Beachy studies the normal functions of secreted protein signals of the Hedgehog pathway and the pathological roles of such signaling pathways in developmental disorders and cancer growth. Phillip Beachy is the Ernest and Amelia Gallo Professor at Stanford University School of Medicine in the Departments of Biochemistry and Developmental Biology, and is a member of the Institute of Stem Cell Biology and Regenerative Medicine. He received a Ph.D. in biochemistry at Stanford University School of Medicine and spent two years as staff associate at the Carnegie Institution’s Department of Embryology. He was previously a professor of molecular biology and genetics at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. Phillip Beachy has been an Investigator of the Howard Hughes Medical Institute since 1988, has been elected a member of the National Academy of Sciences (2002) and is a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences (2003) and of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (2001). His work has been recognized by many awards, including the National Academy of Sciences Award in Molecular Biology (1998), the March of Dimes Prize in Developmental Biology (2008) and the Keio Medical Science Prize (2011).
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About Fate Therapeutics, PellePharm: Fate Therapeutics is a stem cell and developmental biology research company using biological mechanisms to develop stem cell therapeutics.
Yuichi Iwaki
Founder , President and Chief Executive Officer of MediciNova
Dr. Iwaki holds three professorships at the University of Southern California School of Medicine in the Departments of Urology, Surgery and Pathology and has been Director of the Transplantation Immunology and Immunogenetic Laboratory since 1992. He is also a visiting professor at the Nihon University School of Medicine, Kyushu University and Toho University, School of Medicine in Japan. Prior to joining the faculty at the University of Southern California School of Medicine, Dr. Iwaki held professorships at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine in the Departments of Surgery and Pathology from 1989 through 1991. He received both his M.D. and Ph.D. degrees from Sapporo Medical School in Sapporo, Japan. Dr. Iwaki is the author of 200 peer-reviewed publications and more than 40 books. He has been advising pharmaceutical companies and venture capital funds regarding research and investment strategies for over 30 years and is a board member of several biotechnology companies.
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About MediciNova, MediciNova japan: MediciNova is a biopharmaceutical company that acquires and develops novel, small-molecule therapeutics.
Raju Mohan
Co-Founder & CEO of Akarna Therapeutics
Raju Mohan is the Founder & CEO at Ventyx Biosciences.
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About Akarna Therapeutics, Escalier Biosciences, New Science Ventures, Ventyx Biosciences: At Akarna, our mission is to develop best-in-class treatments for NASH and other chronic liver diseases
Gene Yeo
Co-Founder of Locanabio
Dr. Yeo has expertise in RNA processing, computational biology, genomics, neurological diseases, virology and stem cells. He holds bachelor degrees in chemical engineering and economics from the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, an MBA from the Rady School of Management at UCSD, and a PhD in Computational Neuroscience from MIT. In addition to his role at UCSD, Gene has a visiting appointment at the National University of Singapore. In 2011, he was awarded the Alfred P Sloan Fellowship for his work in computational molecular biology. Dr. Yeo is an author of over 70 peer-reviewed publications, invited book chapters, review articles, and has also served as Editor on several books. Dr. Yeo is funded by grants from the National Institutes of Health, California Institute of Regenerative Medicine, the ALS Association, Genentech and Roche Pharmaceuticals. He also serves on the Scientific Advisory Boards of biotech companies, consults to biotech and pharmaceutical companies, and has founded start-ups in the biotechnology space.
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About Locanabio, University Of California San Diego School Of Medicine: Locana develops RNA-targeting gene therapies for patients with severe neurodegenerative, neuromuscular, and retinal diseases.
Atul Butte
Co-Founder & Scientific Advisor of NuMedii
Atul Butte, MD, PhD is the Priscilla Chan and Mark Zuckerberg Distinguished Professor and inaugural Director of the Bakar Computational Health Sciences Institute (bchsi.ucsf.edu) at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF). Dr. Butte is also the Chief Data Scientist for the entire University of California Health System, the tenth largest by revenue in the United States, with 20 health professional schools, 6 medical schools, 6 academic health centers, 10 hospitals, and over 1000 care delivery sites. Dr. Butte has been continually funded by NIH for 20 years, is an inventor on 24 patents, and has authored over 200 publications, with research repeatedly featured in the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, and Wired Magazine. Dr. Butte was elected into the National Academy of Medicine in 2015, and in 2013, he was recognized by the Obama Administration as a White House Champion of Change in Open Science for promoting science through publicly available data. Dr. Butte is also a founder of three investor-backed data-driven companies: Personalis (IPO, 2019), providing medical genome sequencing services, Carmenta (acquired by Progenity, 2015), discovering diagnostics for pregnancy complications, and NuMedii, finding new uses for drugs through open molecular data. Dr. Butte trained in Computer Science at Brown University, worked as a software engineer at Apple and Microsoft, received his MD at Brown University, trained in Pediatrics and Pediatric Endocrinology at Children’s Hospital Boston, then received his PhD from Harvard Medical School and MIT.
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About NuMedii, Personalis, University of California, San Francisco: NuMedii is a biotechnology company that discovers and de-risks effective drugs by translating life sciences big data into therapies.
Gini Deshpande
Founder and Chief Executive Officer of NuMedii
Gini Deshpande is the founder and chief executive officer at NuMedii.
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About NuMedii: NuMedii is a biotechnology company that discovers and de-risks effective drugs by translating life sciences big data into therapies.
Kunwoo Lee
Co-Founder & CEO of GenEdit
Kunwoo Lee is a CEO and co-founder of GenEdit, which focuses on development next-generation therapeutics for genetic diseases through CRISPR/Cas9 delivery. He has developed many novel delivery systems and published 13 peer-reviewed papers.
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About GenEdit: GenEdit develops next generation therapeutics for genetic diseases through safe and efficient CRISPR/Cas9 delivery.
Kathleen Sereda Glaub
Co-Founder of CuraSen Therapeutics
Kathleen Sereda Glaub, MBA, has been Chief Executive Officer of Afferent Pharmaceuticals, Inc since September 2014. Kathleen Sereda Glaub served as President of Plexxikon, Inc. until May 2013. She served as Chief Financial Officer of Plexxikon, Inc. She co-led Plexxikon for twelve years from 2001 to 2013. Completing her experiences across the drug commercialization cycle, she negotiated co-promotion rights and established a specialty sales force for the marketing of Zelboraf (R), Plexxikon’s first FDA-approved drug which is marketed with a companion diagnostic. She has over 30 years of management and company-building experience for biopharma and innovation-based companies. Her experience includes over $4 billion in financing, M & A and restructuring transactions. Most recently, she has served as an independent advisor to private companies for Corporate Strategy, Business Development and Financing. From 1993 to 1998, Kathleen Sereda Glaub served as Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer of Cell Genesys, Inc., where, among other transactions, she was instrumental in the spinout of Abgenix and the acquisition of Somatix Therapy Corporation. Prior to Cell Genesys, she served as Treasurer of Genentech, where she worked for five years. Previously, she worked for Intel Corporation for over five years where she held various Treasury and Finance Positions. She has been a Director of Codexis, Inc. since September 22, 2014 and Afferent Pharmaceuticals, Inc since November 2013. Kathleen Sereda Glaub received a BA from the University of California, Berkeley and an MBA in finance from Northwestern University
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About CuraSen Therapeutics: CuraSen Therapeutics is a biotechnology company.
Thierry Thaure
Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Cephea Valve Technologies
Thierry Thaure is a senior executive with 30 years experience with medical devices as an entrepreneur and Chief Executive Officer. He demonstrated success in building businesses with disruptive technologies and driving their market expansion. Thierry Thaure played a key role in companies such as Origin MedSystems, Intuitive Surgical, Accuray, and EndoGastric Solutions. He has extensive experience in cardiac surgery and the early phase of angioplasty. Thierry Thaure has a BS in Biomedical Engineering from Duke University and an MBA from Kellogg’s Graduate School of Business.
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About Cephea Valve Technologies: Cephea Valve Technologies, Inc. provides catheter delivered mitral valve regurgitation products/heart
Matteo Montorfano
Co-Founder of Cephea Valve Technologies
Matteo Montorfano is a full time interventional cardiologist specializing in advanced interventional procedures in both cardiovascular and structural heart disease. He is also the cath lab Director at the San Raffaele Scientific Institute in Milan, Italy.
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About Cephea Valve Technologies: Cephea Valve Technologies, Inc. provides catheter delivered mitral valve regurgitation products/heart
Juan Granada
Co-Founder of Cephea Valve Technologies
Juan Granada is an active interventional cardiologist specializing in advanced interventional procedures and is the Executive Director and Chief Scientific Officer of the Skirball Center for Cardiovascular Research at the CRF. Over the last 10 years, Juan Granada has focused on testing new emerging technologies and has been the leading investigator of technologies such as Cardiac imaging, new Endovascular therapies and tissue regeneration.
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About Cephea Valve Technologies: Cephea Valve Technologies, Inc. provides catheter delivered mitral valve regurgitation products/heart
Alaide Chieffo
Co-Founder of Cephea Valve Technologies
Alaide Chieffo is a full time interventional cardiologist specializing in advanced interventional procedures at the San Raffaele Hospital in Milan. She is also the Director of Research in Interventional Cardiology at San Raffaele Hospital and she is Scientific Director of the Master in Invasive Cardiology program at the University of Vita e Salute in Milan. Alaide Chieffo has won multiple research awards, authored more than 30 papers, and co-authored over 100 papers.
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About Cephea Valve Technologies: Cephea Valve Technologies, Inc. provides catheter delivered mitral valve regurgitation products/heart
Akash Bakshi
CEO and Co-Founder of ANA Therapeutics
Akash Bakshi is the Co-Founder and CEO of ANA Therapeutics.
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About ANA Therapeutics, NeuroBo Pharmaceuticals, YourChoice Therapeutics: ANA Therapeutics is a biotech company that is developing a novel coronavirus vaccine intended to save human lives.
Andrew Bartynski
Co-Founder and COO of ANA Therapeutics
Andrew Bartynski is the Co-Founder and COO of ANA Therapeutics.
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About AesculaTech, ANA Therapeutics: ANA Therapeutics is a biotech company that is developing a novel coronavirus vaccine intended to save human lives.
Nadja Mannowetz
Co-Founder and CSO of ANA Therapeutics
Nadja Mannowetz is the Co-Founder and CSO of ANA Therapeutics.
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About ANA Therapeutics, YourChoice Therapeutics: ANA Therapeutics is a biotech company that is developing a novel coronavirus vaccine intended to save human lives.
Jonathan Charlesworth
Co-Founder and Head of Clinical Sciences of Noctrix Health
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About Noctrix Health: Noctrix Health is an early-stage medical device company that focuses on developing a revolutionary therapy for a chronic illness.
George Miljanich
Co-Founder & Chief Scientific Officer of SiteOne Therapeutics
George Miljanich PhD, is a co-founder and Chief Scientific Officer at SiteOne. SiteOne is George’s third start-up. He has been developing ion channel therapeutics and analgesics for over 25 years. In 2010, he co-founded and was founding President and CEO of SiteOne Therapeutics.He is also CEO at Airmid Inc., a clinical-stage company developing treatments for autoimmune disorders. Prior to Airmid, he was Senior Director and head of analgesia research at Elan Pharmaceuticals, playing a key role in clinical development, FDA approval, and commercialization of the analgesic, PRIALT®. Prior to Elan, he was a co-inventor and co-developer of PRIALT at the Neurex Corporation. George has a BS and PhD in Chemistry from UC Berkeley and UC Santa Cruz and was a post-doctoral fellow at UC San Francisco, then was Professor of Neurobiology at the University of Southern California. George has authored over 50 scientific publications and is co-inventor on 23 U.S. patents. He is on the advisory boards of Naurex Pharmaceuticals, Adynxx Pharmaceuticals, and Jazz Pharmaceuticals, all developing and/or marketing treatments for pain. He is also Vice President of the Toxinomics Foundation, which fosters development of toxin-based therapeutics. George was the recipient of the 2012 Ménez Award for his contributions to toxinology.
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About Airmid, SiteOne Therapeutics, Toxinomics Foundation: SiteOne Therapeutics is a San Francisco-based company that develops novel therapeutics and diagnostics.
Shalabh Gupta
Founder, President & CEO of Globavir
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About Globavir, Unicycive Therapeutics: A New Approach to Treating Global Infectious Diseases
Christopher Kirk
Co-Founder & CSO of Kezar Life Sciences
Dr. Kirk has held numerous positions in target and drug discovery as well as preclinical development in the biotechnology industry. He is currently the Vice President of Research at Onyx Pharmaceuticals, Inc. in South San Francisco, CA, which acquired Proteolix, Inc. in 2009. At Proteolix, Dr. Kirk played a key role in the discovery and early development of carfilzomib, a proteasome inhibitor currently in Phase 3 clinical trials, ONX 0912 (formerly PR-047), an orally bioavailable proteasome inhibitor currently in Phase 1 testing, and ONX 0914 (formerly PR-957), a first-in-class selective inhibitor of the immunoproteasome. Prior to joining Proteolix, Dr. Kirk held positions in drug discovery in inflammation at Affymax, Inc. and in target discovery in inflammation and oncology at Deltagen, Inc. Dr. Kirk is listed as an inventor on over 40 patents and has authored publications in several select journals including Nature Medicine and Nature Reviews. Dr. Kirk received his Ph.D. from the University of Michigan in 1999.
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About Kezar Life Sciences: Kezar Life Sciences company focused on the discovery and development of drugs targeting protein homeostasis for autoimmune disorders
John Fowler
Co-Founder and CEO of Kezar Life Sciences
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About Kezar Life Sciences: Kezar Life Sciences company focused on the discovery and development of drugs targeting protein homeostasis for autoimmune disorders
Melanie Matheu
CO-Founder & CEO of Prellis Biologics
Matheu co-founded Prellis Biologics in October 2016, with the mission to create fully vascularized human tissues and organs for transplantation. Her realization that the tiny blood vessels necessary for creating human organs could be replicated using the laser technology at the center of her PhD thesis work, led to development of the blended engineering and biology approach Prellis is using to solve the human organ shortage. Dr. Matheu is an expert in laser-based imaging of the immune system and developed Prellis’ platform technology. She brings her multi-disciplinary experience in specialized laser microscopy, cell biology, physiology, and biophysics to address the unsolved biomedical challenge of rapid 3D printing of large, vascularized tissues.
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About Prellis Biologics: Prellis employs holographic tissue printing technology with rapid fully human antibody discovery, in vitro human disease and ADME/Tox models
Alison LaSov
Co-Founder & CEO of Advekit
Alison is a Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist and CEO of Advekit, the online marketplace that provides an end-to-end solution for patients seeking Mental Health treatment. Alison is a Los Angeles native and earned her B.A. from UCLA and an M.A. from Pepperdine University.
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About Advekit: Advekit is an online healthcare platform that makes mental health therapy easily accessible and affordable.
Sam Mazin
Founder & CTO of RefleXion Medical
Sam Mazin is the President of RefleXion Medical and inventor of the company’s core technology. While a Postdoc in Radiology at Stanford University, Sam was selected by the Kauffman Foundation as one of thirteen postdocs in the nation to commercialize promising innovations. His prior research at Stanford was focused on the design of a novel X-ray computed tomography (CT) system, resulting in several journal papers and a patent, as well as the Joel Drillings Award from the American Heart Association. His work on a PET-based algorithm received the prestigious Cum Laude award from the SPIE international medical imaging society. He has been invited to speak about his research by the American Heart Association, GE’s Global Research Center, US Oncology, and Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center. In 2008 Sam participated in the Stanford Graduate School of Business Ignite program for entrepreneurship, where he was one of five participants named a GlaxoSmithKline Garnier Fellow. Sam holds a PhD in Electrical Engineering from Stanford and a BASc in Computer Engineering from the University of Waterloo, Canada.
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About RefleXion Medical: RefleXion Medical is a developer of biologically-guided radiotherapy systems for patients with cancer.
William Brendel
Co-Founder and Science Lead of Heali AI
William Brendel is currently Co-Founder of Heali AI. He is tackling machine learning problems from Computer Vision to Natural Language Processing and creating new mathematical optimization frameworks. With seven years of academic research and more than eight years of hand-on research, engineering, and program/product management experience at top companies in USA and Europe (Snapchat, Amazon/A9, Google) he is proficient in Machine Learning, Computer Vision and Mathematics. Passionated about science, cutting edge real-time server-side and mobile technologies (including deep learning systems), and product design and management.
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About Heali AI: Heali is a platform created to help users personalized nutrition.
Tien Lee
Founder & CEO of Aardvark Therapeutics
Dr. Lee has 20 years of experience as a biotechnology innovator and executive who has been integrally involved with the founding or advancement of several biopharmaceutical companies. Since 2017, Dr Lee has been the founder/CEO of Aardvark Therapeutics, Inc. Prior to this, Dr. Lee joined Nantkwest in 2014 and served as its Chief Strategy Officer until March, 2017. His experience includes therapeutics for immunology, cardiovascular, oncology, neurology, and infectious disease indications.
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About Aardvark Therapeutics: Aardvark Therapeutics specializes in small molecule therapeutics for obesity and rare genetic metabolic disorders.
Phil Baran
Founder of Vividion Therapeutics
Phil Baran serves as a founder at Vividion Therapeutics.
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About Sirenas Marine Discovery, Vividion Therapeutics: Vividion is a developer of a novel drug discovery platform designed to offer transformative treatments to patients with serious illnesses.
David Campbell
President, CEO, Director, and Founder of Janux Therapeutics
David Campbell founded Janux Therapeutics and currently serves as President, Chief Executive Officer, and Director. He previously worked at Avalon Ventures as Entrepreneur in Residence.
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About Janux Therapeutics: Janux Therapeutics develops immunotherapies that generates immune responses to prevent tumors and not affecting a patient’s healthy tissue.
George Uy
Chief Executive Officer & Founder of Trigr Therapeutics
George Uy is the Chief Executive Officer & Founder at Trigr Therapeutics.
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About Trigr Therapeutics: TRIGR Therapeutics is a privately-owned company specializing in the field of next generation cancer therapies.
Jeanne Loring
Co-Founder & Chief Scientific Officer of Aspen Neuroscience
Jeanne Loring is a Co-Founder and Chief Scientific Officer at Aspen Neuroscience.
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About Aspen Neuroscience: Aspen Neuroscience is a biotechnology company that uses innovative genomic approaches combined with stem cell biology.
Matthew Omernick
Chief Creative Officer and Co-Founder of Akili Interactive Labs
Matt was most recently Executive Art Director at LucasArts, the video game division of Lucasfilm. Matt oversaw studio-wide art teams on multiple projects. Prior to LucasArts, he held Senior positions at Microsoft, Dreamworks, Electronic Arts, and Day 1 Studios. Matt has shipped over 15 game titles including, Star Wars: The Force Unleashed, Mercenaries, Star Wars: Battlefront, and the critically acclaimed Medal of Honor franchise. He has spent over seven years teaching college-level computer graphics courses at Cal State, The Academy of Art University and the Art Institute of San Francisco. He also authored the book, “Creating the Art of the Game,” published in 2004, which has become an industry and educational standard.
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About Akili Interactive Labs: Akili builds clinically-validated cognitive therapeutics, assessments, and diagnostics that look and feel like video games.
Amro Albanna
Co-Founder, President, and CEO of Aditxt Therapeutics
Amro Albanna currently works as Co-Founder, President, and CEO at Aditx Therapeutics.
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About Aditxt Therapeutics: Aditxt Therapeutics is a biotechnology company developing a novel nucleic acid-based technology.
Ryan Holmes
Founder and CEO of SpaceVR
Ryan Holmes, CEO, SpaceVR is the world’s first virtual reality platform allowing users to #BeAnAstronaut and experience space firsthand from any mobile, desktop or virtual reality device. Through the use of 360-degree cameras, SpaceVR technology feeds footage from low earth orbit back to Earth so consumers can experience space travel in immersive virtual reality.
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About SpaceVR: SpaceVR is a virtual reality (VR) experience in zero gravity floatation, delivering cinematic, virtual space, therapy and super learning.
Solomon Ssenyange
Founder & CEO of Single Helix Genomics
Solomon Ssenyange is the CEO and Co-FounderCEO and Co-Founder at Single Helix Genomics.
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About Single Helix Genomics: Single Helix Genomics has developed an automated and portable therapeutics-on-demand (TOD) device.
Dan Piacquadio
President, CEO & Founder of Therapeutics Incorporated
Dr. Piacquadio is the former President and Chief Executive Officer of Therapeutics, Inc. In 1997, he led the formation of the company, which is dedicated to the field of dermatology and serves the needs of biotechnology, pharmaceutical and investment communities. Previously, Dr. Piacquadio was director of R&D for Oncotherm, a hyperthermia company, and was responsible for regulatory affairs and clinical development. He went on to establish the clinical research program for the Division of Dermatology at the University of California, San Diego and served as director of this facility from 1989 to 1997. Dr. Piacquadio has been instrumental in the non-clinical and clinical development phases of many soft tissue augmentation products, including Hylaform (Biomatrix). He played a key role in defining regulatory strategy and clinical development of the first laser-based hair removal technology pioneered by Thermolase. As a consultant to the FDA Generic Drug Group, Dr. Piacquadio co-led the development of the current bioequivalency standards for topical steroids. Dr. Piacquadio has a B.S. in biomedical engineering from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and received his medical degree from the University of Pennsylvania. He received his graduate clinical training at Brown University as an intern in internal medicine, and his dermatology training at University of California, San Diego.
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About 10xBio, Therapeutics Incorporated: Therapeutics Incorporated is a drug development company focused on dermatology-related areas.
Mark DePristo
Co-Founder and CEO of BigHat Biosciences
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About BigHat Biosciences: BigHat Biosciences is a protein therapeutics company that develops an antibody design platform guided by artificial intelligence.
Steven Kent
Founder of Invicta Medical
Steve is the inventor of Invicta’s core technologies. His mission is to save and impact millions of lives through cutting edge, breakthrough medical technology.
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About : Invicta Medical operates as a medical technology company that develops therapies for sleep apnea.
David Puerta
Co-Founder of Forge Therapeutics
David Puerta, Ph.D. is a founder of Forge Therapeutics and leads the chemistry functions of the company. Dr. Puerta brings to Forge over 10 years experience of innovation and disruptive solutions. Prior to Forge, Dr. Puerta served as Vice President of Discovery at Living Proof where he was responsible the discovery and development of several key technologies, two of which are currently in successful, award-winning products. As one of the initial employees of Living Proof and member of the Executive Management Team, Dr. Puerta helped build the company through the creation of R&D strategic and tactical goals, intellectual property and business strategies, corporate culture, and marketing initiatives. As a graduate student at the University of California, San Diego, Dr. Puerta developed a bioinorganic approach to metalloprotein inhibition with Forge Founder Prof. Seth Cohen; changing the way researchers approach drugging these targets. Dr. Puerta has published over a dozen articles and is an inventor on dozens of issued and pending patents.
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About Forge Therapeutics: Forge Therapeutics is a biotechnology company developing novel medicines by combining bio-inorganic with medicinal chemistry.
Zachary Zimmerman
Co-Founder & CEO of Forge Therapeutics
Zachary Zimmerman, Ph.D. is a founder and CEO of Forge Therapeutics and leads business functions including corporate development, strategic planning, business operations and finance. Dr. Zimmerman has over 15 years of biotechnology start-up experience holding various business and scientific positions at Arcturus Therapeutics, Regulus Therapeutics, Alnylam Pharmaceuticals, and 454 Life Sciences. He brings both practical and strategic senior management experience to Forge Therapeutics and is a proven and capable leader who can build and motivate teams to achieve great results. Dr. Zimmerman has successfully driven company growth through strategic alliances, financings and non-dilutive grant awards. He has led and supported several business transactions including the Regulus Therapeutics initial public offering raising $80.9M in gross proceeds. Additional strategic activities include the business development efforts for multiple therapeutic alliances with large biopharma such as Astra Zeneca, Sanofi, GSK, Biogen, Takeda, Kyowa Hakko and Cubist totaling $3.2B with over $200M in upfront cash payments. Dr. Zimmerman has also led the strategic planning and execution of over $70M in non-dilutive grant funding from the Federal Government (NIH, DOD, DARPA, DTRA, and BARDA) and medical research foundations including the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation, Michael J. Fox Foundation, and Accelerate Brain Cancer Cures. Dr. Zimmerman is a trained cellular biologist with expertise in drug discovery and development. He was a post-doctoral fellow at Stanford University School of Medicine and earned his Ph.D. in Molecular, Cellular, and Developmental Biology at University of California, Santa Cruz. Other previous experience includes research at The Scripps Research Institute, and sales and marketing at Mediatech, Inc.
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About Blacksmith Medicines, Forge Therapeutics: Forge Therapeutics is a biotechnology company developing novel medicines by combining bio-inorganic with medicinal chemistry.
Seth Cohen
Co-Founder of Forge Therapeutics
Seth Cohen is a scientific founder and advisor of Forge Therapeutics and a Professor and former Chair of the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry at the University of California, San Diego. Dr. Cohen is a world leading authority on the design, synthesis, and evaluation of inhibitors of metalloproteins and has successfully designed novel ligands that better target the metal active site of proteins for therapeutic uses. He was a NIH postdoctoral fellow at M.I.T., earned a Ph.D. in Chemistry at the University of California, Berkeley and a B.S. in Chemistry and a B.A. in Political Science at Stanford University. He has published >150 research papers and given dozens of invited lectures. He sits on numerous boards and review panels for journals, federal agencies, and non-profit organizations. His research and teaching accomplishments have been recognized as a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, American Chemical Society, and the Royal Society of Chemistry (U.K.). He also served as the AAAS Roger Revelle fellow (2008-2009) working at the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP). He is currently the Chair of the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry at the University of California, San Diego and is a scientific founder of Cleave Biosciences.
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About DARPA, Forge Therapeutics: Forge Therapeutics is a biotechnology company developing novel medicines by combining bio-inorganic with medicinal chemistry.
Brian H. Johnston
Founder, President and CEO of SomaGenics
Brian has over 30 years of experience in scientific innovation and product development. He holds a Ph.D. in biophysical chemistry from the University of California, Berkeley and did post-doctoral research at UCSF and MIT. Dr. Johnston was previously Director of the Nucleic Acids Program at SRI International and Consulting Professor of Pediatrics at Stanford University School of Medicine. He has coauthored 56 scientific papers and 24 patents.
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About Real Seq Biosciences, SomaGenics: SomaGenics is a privately held biotechnology company.
Charles S. Craik
Co-Founder and Chairman of Scientific Advisory Board of Catalyst Biosciences
Charles S. Craik, Ph.D. is a Professor in the Departments of Pharmaceutical Chemistry, Cellular & Molecular Pharmacology, and Biochemistry & Biophysics at the University of California at San Francisco (UCSF) and also the Director of the Chemistry and Chemical Biology Graduate Program. Dr. Craik co-founded Catalyst Biosciences, Inc., in 2003 and served as its Chairman of the Board and President. He serves as Chairman of Scientific Advisory Board of Catalyst Biosciences, Inc. He served as Chairman and Member of Advisory Board of Catalyst Biosciences, Inc. He serves as Scientific Advisor of Ironwood Pharmaceuticals Inc. (a/k/a Microbia, Inc.). He joined the UCSF faculty in 1985. He serves on advisory panels for the National Institutes of Health, the National Science Foundation, the National Academy of Sciences and the Department of Energy. Dr. Craik is Associate Editor of the Journal Protein Engineering and has co-authored two books. He has organized several international meetings on topics including Protein Engineering, Drug Discovery, and The Biology of Proteolysis. He has published over 200 research articles on various biochemical topics. He focuses on the Chemical Biology of proteolytic enzymes and their natural inhibitors. He serves as Member of Scientific Advisory Board at Protagonist Pty Ltd. Dr. Craik received his Ph.D. in Chemistry from Columbia University in New York and carried out his postdoctoral research at UCSF with Dr. William Rutter.
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About Catalyst Biosciences: Catalyst Biosciences is a drug R&D company creating catalytic biopharmaceutical products based on engineered human proteases.
Mark B. Knudson
Founder, Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer of EnteroMedics
Mark B. Knudson, Ph.D., has served as our President, Chief Executive Officer and Chairman of the board since December 2002. Dr. Knudson also served as President and Chief Executive Officer of Venturi Group, LLC and Venturi Development, Inc., positions he held from 1999 and 2001 until their dissolutions in 2008 and 2009, respectively. Dr. Knudson served as Chairman of the board of Restore Medical, Inc., a publicly-held medical device company focused on the treatment of sleep disordered breathing, from 1999 through July 2008 when it was acquired by Medtronic, Inc. Dr. Knudson was also a member of the audit committee of Restore Medical. Dr. Knudson received a Bachelor of Science in biology from Pacific Lutheran University and a Ph.D. in physiology from Washington State University.
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About EnteroMedics, ReShape Lifesciences: EnteroMedics® Inc. (NASDAQ: ETRM) is the developer of in-class weight loss treatments for obesity and obesity related risk factors.
John S. Patton
Co-Founder and Advisor of InCarda Therapeutics
Dr. John Patton began Dance Biopharm operations in 2010 with a carefully selected core team. Previously, he was the co-founder of Inhale Therapeutics (now Nektar), where he helped lead the development and FDA approval of the first inhaled insulin product. During his 18-year tenure at Inhale, Patton was a key driver for the company’s business development deals, participating in financings totaling more than $700M. Prior to founding Inhale, Patton led the drug delivery group at Genentech from 1985-1990; before that time, he was a tenured professor at the University of Georgia. Dr. Patton was the founding investor in Halozyme Therapeutics in 1998 and a co-founder in 2009 of Incarda Therapeutics, Inc., a product-focused cardiovascular company. Dr. Patton previously served as a member of the board of directors of Actvaero GmbH, a drug delivery company, from 2007 until its acquisition by Vectura Group plc in March 2014. Dr. Patton also serves as a member of the advisory board of the College of Science at Pennsylvania State University and is a member of the Scripps Institution of Oceanography Advisory Counsel. Dr. Patton earned a B.S. in Zoology from Pennsylvania State University, an M.S. in Oceanography from the University of Rhode Island, and a Ph.D. in Marine Biology from the University of California, San Diego. Dr. Patton also has held post doctorate positions in Biomedicine at Harvard Medical School and the University of Lund in Sweden. He is author or co-author of more than 100 publications, and inventor or co-inventor of more than 37 patents.
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About Aerami Therapeutics: Incarda Therapeutics offers a novel approach to treat cardiovascular conditions and diseases by the inhalation route.
Antonio Lamb
CEO and Co-Founder of MicroSynbiotiX
Antonio received his B.Sc. in Molecular, Cell, and Developmental Biology from the University of California, Santa Cruz in 2015. He has studied the molecular genetics of plants, agrobacteria, and microalgae. He ranked in the top 10% of his class in biochemistry and genetics, and helped his SF DIYBio team place bronze in the 2015 International Genetically Engineered Machine (IGEM) Competition.
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About MicroSynbiotiX: MicroSynbiotiX engages in the development of a technology solution that eliminates the excessive use of antibiotics in farmed fish.
Y. Peter Li
Co-Founder of BlossomHill Therapeutics
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About BlossomHill Therapeutics: BlossomHill Therapeutics, Inc. is a biopharmaceutical company focusing on oncology and autoimmune disorders.
