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 Massachusetts based President operating in the Biotechnology space. If you think a President 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.
Mark Mallon
Executive Vice President, Global Product and Portfolio Strategy, Medical Affairs and Corp. Affairs of AstraZeneca
Mark Mallon is responsible for the growth and performance of AstraZeneca’s International region, which predominantly includes AstraZeneca’s commercial businesses in Asia Pacific, Russia, Latin America, the Middle East and Africa. Most recently, Mark served as Regional Vice President for Asia Pacific where he was accountable for the growth and performance of the AstraZeneca business in 14 markets. While in this role Mark has also served as President of AstraZeneca China, responsible for the company’s overall operations in China and Hong Kong. Previously, Mark led the marketing, sales and commercial operations for AstraZeneca K. K. (Japan). Since joining AstraZeneca in 1994, Mark has held a number of additional leadership roles, Including Marketing Company President of the AstraZeneca Italian subsidiary company and Vice President of Marketing and Sales Operations of AstraZeneca’s US business. While in the US, Mark also was a Board Member for the Christiana Care Network, one of the the largest healthcare networks on the East Coast. Mark received a Bachelor of Science degree in Chemical Engineering from the University of Pennsylvania and an MBA in Marketing and Finance from the Wharton School of Business. He is based in Shanghai.
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About AstraZeneca, NeoGenomics: AstraZeneca is a global pharmaceutical company that discovers, develops, manufactures, and markets prescription medicines.
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Junfeng Luo
Co-Founder & Vice President, R&D – NuProbe, China of NuProbe
Junfeng Luo is a Co-Founder and Vice President of R&D at NuProbe, China.
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About NuProbe: An early stage molecular diagnostics company.
Ros Deegan
President and Chief Business Officer of Bicycle Therapeutics
Ros Deegan, MBA, is president and chief business officer of Bicycle Therapeutics Inc., the U.S. subsidiary of Bicycle Therapeutics. Prior to joining Bicycle, Ros most recently served on the senior leadership team at Trevena, Inc. as senior vice president, business development and operations, and previously held the role of head of finance and operations. While at Trevena, she was responsible for start-up operations, negotiating a significant option and license agreement with Forest Laboratories, Inc., and leading finance and human resources through to the company’s first S-1 filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. During her tenure, the company moved three programmes into the clinic, and raised over $200 million in private and public financings. Prior to joining Trevena, Ros served as director of business development at GSK in the U.S., leading transactions for the virtual immuno-inflammation group. Prior to that, she served as the director of operations for the Centre of Excellence for External Drug Discovery (CEEDD) and as marketing manager for GSK’s U.K. launch of Bonviva for post-menopausal osteoporosis and in business development. Ros holds a first-class degree from Cambridge University and received her MBA with distinction from INSEAD.
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About Bicycle Therapeutics, Creative Destruction Lab (CDL), OMass Technologies: Bicycle Therapeutics is developing a technology for the creation of new generation biotherapeutics.
Chris Mirabelli
President & CEO of Leap Therapeutics
Dr. Mirabelli has served as the Chairman of our Board of Directors since 2016 and has also served as our President and Chief Executive Officer since our inception in 2011. Dr. Mirabelli has been a managing director of HealthCare Ventures LLC since 2000. From December 1999 to May 2000, Dr. Mirabelli served as president of pharmaceutical research and development and member of the board of directors of Millennium Pharmaceuticals, Inc., following its merger with LeukoSite Inc., where Dr. Mirabelli had been serving as president, chief executive officer and chairman of the board of directors since 1993. He was a co-founder of Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ: IONS), where he held several positions including senior vice president of research, from 1989 until 1993. Dr. Mirabelli started his career at SmithKline and French Laboratories (now part of GlaxoSmithKline Plc) R&D Division. He is a member of the board of advisors of the Blavatnik Biomedical Accelerator Fund at Harvard Medical School and the Boston Biomedical Innovation Center. Dr. Mirabelli is a member of the Board of Trustees of Guilford College. He received his Ph.D. in molecular pharmacology from Baylor College of Medicine and a B.S. degree in biology from State University of New York at Fredonia.
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About Leap Therapeutics: Leap Therapeutics is a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company.
Paul Chang
President, CEO/CSO and Lead Founder of ARase Therapeutics
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About ARase Therapeutics: Arase Therapeutics is a science-focused oncology company developing therapies that modulate cancer-relevant cell signaling pathways.
Earl May
Vice President of Lead Discovery of Civetta Therapeutics
Earl May is the Vice President of Lead Discovery at Civetta Therapeutics. He is a former Senior Director Biophysics at Warp Drive Bio, Inc. Mr. May graduated from the University of Maryland Baltimore County with a BA in Biochemistry and received an MPhil and Ph.D.in Molecular Biophysics and Biochemistry at Yale University.
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About Civetta Therapeutics: Civetta Therapeutics is a cancer therapeutics company to advance new medicines through small molecule targeting of beta-propeller domains.
Rachel E. Haurwitz
Co-founder, President & CEO of Caribou Biosciences
Rachel is a co-founder of Caribou Biosciences and has been President and CEO since its inception. She has a research background in CRISPR-Cas biology, and is also a co-founder of Intellia Therapeutics. Rachel is an inventor on several patents and patent applications covering multiple CRISPR-derived technologies, and she has co-authored scientific papers in high impact journals characterizing CRISPR-Cas systems. In 2014, she was named by Forbes Magazine to the “30 Under 30” list in Science and Healthcare, and in 2016, Fortune Magazine named her to the “40 Under 40” list of the most influential young people in business. Rachel earned an A.B. in Biological Sciences from Harvard College, and received a Ph.D. in Molecular and Cell Biology from the University of California, Berkeley.
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About Caribou Biosciences: Caribou Biosciences is a biotechnology company that develops CRISPR technologies and allogenic cell therapies for oncology.
Sabrina Chiasson
Vice President of Polaris Partners
Sabrina joined Battery in 2015 as an associate. She focuses on later-stage software investments, including growth equity, buyouts, rollups, carve-outs and take-privates. Before coming to Battery, Sabrina was an associate at H.I.G. Growth Partners, a private equity firm focused on recapitalizations of lower-middle market, growth oriented businesses. There, she sourced, evaluated and executed investments in the consumer, healthcare and technology sectors. She also previously spent time at Westwind Investors, a private investment firm focused on growth-equity investments and buyouts. Sabrina received a B.A. in biology and economics from Dartmouth College. While at Dartmouth, Sabrina was captain of the varsity Alpine ski team.
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About Polaris Partners: Polaris Partners invests in healthcare and technology companies across all stages from founding to profitable growth.
Miguel Ilzarbe
Vice President, Executive Operations of Flagship Pioneering
Miguel Ilzarbe joined Flagship Ventures in 2015 as the Vice President of Executive Operations. In this role, he acts as a Sr. Advisor to Flagship’s CEO focused on strategic development of the firm, operational leadership of VentureLabs and support of new initiatives across the firm. Miguel was previously the Chief of Staff and the Director of Operations and Management, within the Broad Institute of Harvard and MIT’s Directors Office, supporting Eric Lander. He administratively spearheaded a large international multidisciplinary effort at the Broad titled SIGMA (Slim Initiative in Genomic Medicine for the Americas). SIGMA, a $134M dollar collaboration with the Carlos Slim Health Institute aims to understand the genetic basis of Diabetes, Cancer and Kidney disease with a focus on Latin American populations. Prior to the Chief of Staff role, Miguel served as the assistant director of the Genome Sequencing and Analysis Program at the Broad. In this capacity he was responsible for project management and administrative issues within the program. He came to the Broad from the Dana-Farber/Harvard Cancer Center, where he was responsible for all subcontracting and financial activities of the center, as well as leading a team that had fiduciary responsibility over all of Dana-Farber’s core facilities. Before his career in research administration, Miguel spent two years as a lab supervisor of Dana-Farber’s DNA sequencing facility, four years at the sequencing facility at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center and four years in military intelligence. Miguel holds a bachelor’s degree in Diagnostic Genetic Sciences from the University of Connecticut and an MBA in Technology Management from the University of Phoenix. He also completed Electronic Warfare Coursework in the United States Navy.
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About Flagship Pioneering: Flagship Pioneering is a venture capital firm that invests in life sciences and healthcare companies.
Dick Farrahar
Senior Vice President, Executive Operations of Flagship Pioneering
Dick Farrahar joined Flagship Ventures in 1999 as Senior Vice President, Executive Operations. Dick has over 30 years of experience overseeing operations, human resources, organizational development, team building, and workforce strategy. Before joining Flagship, Dick was Vice President of Applera Corporation, where he was responsible for the integration of PerSeptive Biosystems with Applera Corporation following the merger of the two companies in 1998. In addition, Dick guided the process of combining PerSeptive Biosystems, Applied Biosystems, Tropix and Molecular Informatics into a new $1 billion Applied Biosystems division of Applera. He had previously served as Senior Vice President, Executive Operations for PerSeptive Biosystems. Earlier Dick had a long career with Digital Equipment Corporation in both human resources and operations, and for the last several years of his tenure was a member of DEC’s Executive Committee reporting to the CEO.
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About Applera Corporation, Flagship Pioneering, PerSeptive Biosystems: Flagship Pioneering is a venture capital firm that invests in life sciences and healthcare companies.
Simba Gill
President & CEO of Evelo Biosciences
Simba Gill, PhD is an entrepreneur, investor and CEO who believes passionately that science and globalization will dramatically improve life in the 21st century. Dr. Gill is currently the CEO of Evelo, Sr. Partner at Flagship Ventures, and Executive Chair of Blackfynn. Dr. Gill founded or had lead roles in moksha8, Epirus, Maxygen, Verdia, Avidia, Codexis, Systemix and Valentis, four of these companies have been taken public and three were acquired through strategic trade sales. Exit valuations were between $400M – $6B. Dr. Gill has also led, built and launched several commercial businesses/products generating annual revenues of between $150M-$2B. Dr. Gill has founded and/or had lead roles in pioneering companies in the fields of antibodies, stem cells, directed molecular evolution, immunodiagnostics and the cancer microbiome. He has also been an investor, advisor, founder and CEO of several emerging market life science companies. Dr. Gill was a Partner at TPG, focused on investments in Life Sciences and Emerging Markets. Early in his career, Dr. Gill was co-head of Worldwide Marketing for Recormon. He also led corporate and market development and strategy from inception to commercialization of the Elecsys system, which became one of the world’s most widely used immunodiagnostic platforms. Dr. Gill served on the Board of Directors of the Tuberculosis Alliance, The Djerassi Resident Artists Program and the International Advisory Board of INSEAD. Dr. Gill was also the founder of Dispatches, an in-depth written and photojournalism periodical focused on key global issues. Dr. Gill has an MBA from INSEAD and carried out his PhD with focus on developing humanized antibodies to treat cancer. This work was done at King’s College, London in collaboration with the LMB at Cambridge and Celltech.
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About Epiva, Evelo Biosciences, moksha8 Pharmaceuticals, TPG Growth: Evelo Biosciences is dedicated to improving the lives of patients globally through the development of monoclonal microbials.
Daniel Grau
President, Chief Executive Officer, and Director of Sojournix
Grau co-founded and has served as Chief Executive Officer and Director at Sojournix since 2016. An experienced biotech entrepreneur and operating executive, Mr. Grau led the deal to acquire SJX-653 and has driven the rapid growth and financing of the company from startup to clinical-stage pharmaceutical business. Prior to Sojournix, Mr. Grau served as President at Heptares Therapeutics (acquired 2015), Chief Executive Officer at Cortria (acquired 2010), and Chief Operating Officer at CombinatoRx (IPO 2005). Mr. Grau currently serves as an advisor to HotSpot Therapeutics and previously served as a member of the Product Advisory Board at Concert Pharmaceuticals and as an advisor to Nimbus Therapeutics. Earlier in his career, Mr. Grau worked with multi-national pharma companies as a management consultant focused on corporate and business franchise strategy, M&A, and new product launches. Mr. Grau earned his M.Phil., M.A., and M.A.R. degrees from Yale University, where he was awarded a Mellon Fellowship, the Day Graduate Prize, and a Bass Fellowship, and a B.A. with High Honors from Davidson College, where he held a Dana Honor Scholarship, a Montgomery Scholarship, and was elected to Phi Beta Kappa.
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About Cortria Corporation, Heptares Therapeutics, Sojournix: Sojournix is a biotechnology company developing innovative medicines for women’s health and endocrine disorders.
Richard Compton
Vice President of Commercial Operations of Oxford Nanopore Technologies
Rich joined Oxford Nanopore from Illumina where he played a key role as Vice President and General Manager of the EMEA Region. Metrichor was founded to provide real-time, integrated analysis solutions based on nanopore sensing technology to the Clinical and Applied markets. Prior to Illumina, Rich gained twelve years of experience helping commercial & research customers successfully integrate and deploy enterprise scale software solutions in both research and quality/regulated environments as Vice President & General Manager EMEA of Dassault Systèmes Biovia unit.
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About Oxford Nanopore Technologies: Oxford Nanopore Technologies develops nanopore-based electronic systems for analyzing single molecules, including DNA, RNA, and proteins.
Jonathan Montagu
President & Chief Executive Officer of HotSpot Therapeutics
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About Atlas Venture, HotSpot Therapeutics: HotSpot Therapeutics is a developer of a therapy platform designed to discover medicines and provide proper treatment.
Tricia Moriarty
Vice President of Finance and Administration of Excel Venture Management
Ms. Moriarty is the Vice President of Finance and Administration for Excel Venture Management bringing with her 10 years of private equity experience. In this capacity she oversees the operational, financial and administrative aspects of the firm including financial reporting, human resources, facilities and investor relations. Prior to Excel Venture, Tricia was Director of Finance and Administration for CB Health Ventures (CBHV) where she worked in a similar capacity managing venture funds with $150 million of capital under management. Prior to CBHV, she was a Manager in the Global Income Unit at State Street Corporation where she managed daily operations and client service for clients in the Asia Pacific region. Ms. Moriarty has a BS in Business Administration from Northeastern University where she graduated with honors.
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About CB Health Ventures, Excel Venture Management: Excel Venture Management builds companies that apply transformative life science technologies to solve problems in healthcare and beyond.
Steve Miller
Vice President, Translational Medicine of Blueprint Medicines
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About Blueprint Medicines: Blueprint Medicines engages in the discovery and development of highly selective kinase inhibitors for genomically defined cancer subsets.
Chris Robinson
Vice President Recruiting of Third Rock Ventures
Chris Robinson joined Third Rock Ventures in 2010. Chris has more than 15 years of research and development-focused recruiting experience in life sciences and high technology. During his executive search career, Chris has focused on senior level executive searches within R&D organizations of both public and private biopharmaceutical and medical device companies. Prior to joining Third Rock Ventures, Chris was the co-founder of Pivotal Search, a boutique life sciences executive search and recruiting consulting practice where he led business development and executed searches. Previous to founding Pivotal, Chris was also one of the founding members of a life sciences R&D practice at another national search firm. Before moving to the life sciences industry Chris was the recruiting manager for a venture-backed technology start-up, Taqua Systems, where he helped them grow from 20 people to 300 people in three locations. Chris holds a BS in Physiology from the University of Massachusetts, was honorably discharged from the United States Marine Corps and he is a Desert Storm veteran.
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About Third Rock Ventures: Third Rock Ventures invests in transformational life science companies that show high growth potential
Lisa Wyman
Vice President Quality of Acceleron Pharma
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About Acceleron Pharma: Acceleron is a biopharmaceutical company engaged in developing, manufacturing and commercializing novel biotherapeutics.
Nick Davis
Founder, President, and Chief Executive Officer of Theonys
Nick Davis is the Founder, President & Chief Executive Officer of Theonys — a therapeutics company developing new small-molecule medicines to selectively stop the translation of disease-causing proteins in cancer, chronic inflammation and other serious human diseases.
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About Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Theonys: Theonys is harnessing the power of tRNA to pioneer an entirely new class of genomic medicines.
Chris Lento
Vice President of Commercialization of Pear Therapeutics
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About Pear Therapeutics: Pear Therapeutics is a software-based digital therapeutics platform designed to treat disease and enhance the efficacy of pharmaceuticals.
Bernard Davitian
Vice President and Managing Director of Sanofi Ventures
Bernard Davitian has extensive experience in the life sciences and biotech industry, marked by a number of successful transactions involving financings and M&A. His track record includes, among others, the successful IPO of Transgene on the NASDAQ and Euronext in 1998 ($100 million raised) and the sale of Fovea Pharmaceuticals to Sanofi in 2009 in a €370 million cash transaction. Bernard joined Sanofi in 2010 as Vice President, Deputy of Global Head, Business Development Corporate Licenses and was promoted to Vice President and Managing Director of SGBV in 2012. Prior to Sanofi, Bernard was EVP & CFO of Fovea Pharmaceuticals, CEO of Neurotech Pharmaceuticals, and EVP & CFO of Transgene. Bernard began his career in the biotech sector by serving in various capacities at Institut Mérieux (now Sanofi Pasteur), including Corporate CFO. In addition to his SGBV-related Boards of Directors responsibilities, which include Immune Design, Proteostasis Therapeutics, Esperance Pharmaceuticals and Kahr Medical, Bernard also represents Sanofi on the Board of Directors of Warp Drive Bio. Bernard holds an MSc in Management from EM Lyon Business School (France). He is also a Certified Public Accountant (CPA) and holds an executive M.B.A. (AMP program) from Wharton Business School.
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About Good Eggs, Sanofi Ventures: Sanofi Ventures operates as the corporate venture capital arm of Sanofi.
William Sibold
Senior Vice President of Sanofi Ventures
Bill Sibold is responsible for Genzyme’s Multiple Sclerosis franchise as the company prepares to launch two products.
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About Sanofi Genzyme, Sanofi Genzyme, Sanofi Genzyme, Sanofi Ventures: Sanofi Ventures operates as the corporate venture capital arm of Sanofi.
Nello Mainolfi
Founder, President & CEO of Kymera Therapeutics
Nello Mainolfi is the Founder, President, and Chief Executive Officer at Kymera Therapeutics.
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About Kymera Therapeutics: Kymera Therapeutics is a biotechnology company that specializes in the field of targeted protein degradation.
Greg Verdine
Co-Founder, President & CEO, CSO of LifeMine Therapeutics
Greg Verdine is the Founder of Gloucester Marine Genomics Institute & he attended Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1986.
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About FogPharma, Gloucester Marine Genomics Institute, Harvard Medical School, Harvard University, LifeMine Therapeutics, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Wave Life Sciences: Discovering powerful new drugs from eukaryotic microbes by combining Genomics with AI and Synthetic Biology.
Marian Nakada
Vice President, Venture Investments of Johnson & Johnson Development Corporation
Marian Nakada, PhD, Vice President, Venture Investments, joined Johnson & Johnson Development Corporation (JJDC) in 2013. She is based in Boston, MA. Previously, Dr. Nakada was Vice President of Strategy & Operations and External Innovation for Johnson & Johnson’s Biotechnology CoE, where she helped drive the development and execution of the biotechnology strategy across Janssen R & D. In her role as External Innovation lead, she nurtured many productive partnerships with external partners in the biotech industry and helped build an external innovation network to complement internal research and support the execution of the Janssen R&D Biologics strategy. Dr. Nakada joined Centocor in 1990, as a scientist, performing basic research related to biologics for inflammatory and cardiovascular indications. In 2001, she took on the leadership of the newly formed Oncology Research group at Centocor. In 2007, Dr. Nakada joined the Business Development group where she participated in executing technology licenses for the Johnson & Johnson pharmaceuticals group. In that role, she identified and championed external technology opportunities to ensure that Centocor’s technologies were competitive with the industry. Dr. Nakada has authored 62 peer reviewed publications and 14 book chapters and reviews. She has a BA in Biology from Harvard College and a PhD in Pharmacology from the University of Pennsylvania.
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About Johnson & Johnson Development Corporation, Women in VC: Johnson & Johnson Development Corporation, a venture capital subsidiary, finances technology companies focused on patient health.
Kadir Kadhiresan
Vice President, Venture Investments of Johnson & Johnson Development Corporation
V. Kadir Kadhiresan, PhD, joined Johnson & Johnson Innovation – JJDC, Inc. (JJDC) in 2007 and focuses on investments in medical devices and digital health. Kadir has more than two decades of operational, investment and business development experience. Based in Boston, Kadir works closely with Johnson & Johnson leadership to identify business needs and has responsibility for sourcing, investing and managing venture investment opportunities. He holds board seats for several JJDC portfolio companies. Some of his investments include Coherex Medical (Acquired by Biosense Webster/JNJ), Spinal Modulation (Acquired by St.Jude/ABT), Novocure (NASDAQ: NVCR), Torax Medical (Acquired by Ethicon/JNJ), Neotract (Acquired by Teleflex) and Inspire Medical Systems (NYSE: INSP). Before joining JJDC, Kadir was head of Business Development at Guidant, Inc., now Boston Scientific, Inc., where he led several transactions to access novel medical device technologies.
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About Johnson & Johnson Development Corporation: Johnson & Johnson Development Corporation, a venture capital subsidiary, finances technology companies focused on patient health.
Tara O’Meara
Vice President, Clinical Development Operations of Bluebird Bio
Tara O’Meara is the Vice President of Clinical Development Operations at bluebird bio. Tara oversees a team responsible for the execution and analysis of bluebird bio’s lentiviral vector based gene therapy development programs. Currently bluebird bio has 4 active programs using ex vivo gene therapy for: cerebral adrenoleukodystrophy, transfusion dependent thalassemia, sickle cell disease and multiple myeloma. bluebird’s objective is to develop and bring to market the most advanced products based on the transformative potential of gene therapy as a one-time treatment option for patients with severe genetic and rare diseases and cancer. Prior to joining bluebird, Tara ran multiple clinical trials in 2 other rare diseases, LAL Deficiency and Pompe disease. Tara served as the clinical project manager for the clinical trials that were used as the basis for the regulatory submissions that led to the approval of Myozyme™ in the United States, Europe, and more than 40 additional countries worldwide. Tara has also been responsible for everything from small Phase II trials to very large, global Phase III trials in multiple therapeutic areas, including rare inherited diseases. Tara holds a BS in biology and a minor in women’s studies from Tufts University.
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About Bluebird Bio: Bluebird Bio offers products based on the transformative potential of gene therapy for patients with genetic and orphan diseases.
Pieter Muntendam
President and CEO of SQ Innovation
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About G3 Pharmaceuticals, SQ Innovation: SQ Innovation is a biopharmaceutical company that develops and commercializes pharmaceutical products.
Michael T. Heffernan
President , CEO & Chairman of the Board of Collegium Pharmaceutical
Michael Heffernan has 25 years of experience in the pharmaceutical and related healthcare industries. He is currently Co-Founder, President, CEO of Collegium Pharmaceutical. Collegium is specialty pharmaceutical company focused on the development of pharmaceutical products for the treatment of chronic pain. He was also previously the founder, President and CEO of Onset Therapeutics, a dermatology focused company that develops and commercializes products for the treatment of skin related illnesses and was responsible for the spin-off of this business to create PreCision Dermatology. Michael held prior positions as Co-Founder, President and CEO of Clinical Studies Ltd., a pharmaceutical contract research organization that he successfully sold. He also served as President and CEO of PhyMatrix, a public $400 million integrated healthcare services company where he was hired to restructure the company. Michael started his career at Eli Lilly and Company and served in numerous sales and marketing roles. He has also been a member of the Board of Directors, Advisor and Angel Investor in a number of healthcare companies. He is currently a member of the Board of Directors of TyRx, a venture backed medical device company, Cornerstone Therapeutics (NASDAQ:CRTX), a specialty pharmaceutical company and PreCision Dermatology. Michael earned his B.S. Degree in Pharmacy from the University of Connecticut and is a Registered Pharmacist.
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About AvengeBio, Collegium Pharmaceutical: Collegium Pharmaceutical is a specialty pharmaceutical company focused on the development of products for the treatment of chronic pain.
Heow Tan
Vice President of Technical Operations of Collegium Pharmaceutical
Heow Tan has worked in the pharmaceutical industry for 25 years. He joined Collegium Pharmaceutical in 2006. He is responsible for CMC Product Development and Manufacturing activities. His experience in CMC includes working with oral, semi-solid and parenteral products, and successfully taking a product from pre-clinical to FDA and European approval. Prior to Collegium, he worked at Praecis Pharmaceuticals Inc., Waltham, Massachusetts as Vice President of Industrial Operations and Development;, He has also served as the Director of Manufacturing Operations for SciClone Pharmaceuticals Incorporated, San Mateo, California. Heow started his career in the Pharmaceutical industry working for Syntex Laboratories in Palo Alto, California, serving as the Manager of Manufacturing Engineering and Manager of Materials Control. He obtained his M.S. in Engineering from the Ohio State University, Ohio, and his M.B.A. from the University of Santa Clara, California.
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About Collegium Pharmaceutical: Collegium Pharmaceutical is a specialty pharmaceutical company focused on the development of products for the treatment of chronic pain.
Joseph Ciaffoni
President and Chief Executive Officer of Collegium Pharmaceutical
Joe Ciaffoni was appointed President and Chief Executive Officer of Collegium Pharmaceutical in July 2018. Joe Ciaffoni joined Collegium Pharmaceutical in May 2017 as Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer. Prior to joining Collegium, he served as President, U.S. Branded Pharmaceuticals of Endo International plc. Before that, Joe Ciaffoni held various positions of increasing responsibility at Biogen, including Senior Vice President, Global Specialty Medicines Group, Senior Vice President, U.S. Commercial and Vice President, U.S. Neurology Field Operations and Marketing. Prior to joining Biogen, he was Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer of Shionogi Inc. and President of Shionogi Pharmaceuticals. Joe Ciaffoni also previously served as Vice President, Sales for Schering-Plough (now Merck) and held several commercial leadership roles at Sanofi-Synthelabo (now Sanofi) and Novartis. Joe Ciaffoni received a B.A. in Communications and an M.B.A. from Rutgers.
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About Collegium Pharmaceutical: Collegium Pharmaceutical is a specialty pharmaceutical company focused on the development of products for the treatment of chronic pain.
Parker Cassidy
Vice-President of Strategy and Business Development of Farcast
Parker leads worldwide commercial operations for Mitra Biotech, a pioneer in novel technologies to better predict personalized therapy response in oncology. Mitra’s proprietary CANScriptTM assay tests how a patient’s tumor responds to numerous therapy combinations while retaining the critical components of the tumor microenvironment, including the immune compartment and heterogeneity. Mitra has demonstrated an extremely high correlation between its in-vitro predictions and what happens in-vivo in the clinic across different tumor types and drug classes. Importantly, the company has also demonstrated that immune checkpoint inhibitors can be successfully tested on the platform. Parker works with clinicians to demonstrate CANScriptTM clinical utility, and with biopharma clients to use the system as models for patient response – speeding development of new drugs. For over 15 years, Parker has been developing and launching novel diagnostic and drug discovery products and services with companies including BD and Upstate Biotechnology (now EMD Millipore).
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About Farcast: Farcast develops a diagnostic platform that delivers powerful predictions for personalized cancer treatment selection and drug development.
Liang Schweizer
Co-founder, President and CEO of HiFiBiO
Liang Schweizer is the Co-founder, President and CEO of HiFiBiO Therapeutics. Previously, she co-founded Harbour Biomed and served as its CSO, successfully transforming a technology platform company to an antibody drug discovery enterprise. Before launching her entrepreneurial career, Liang served as Head of Asian Cancer Research at Sanofi, advancing Sanofi’s Asia-Pacific oncology pipeline as well as contributing to global oncology programs from preclinical to clinical efforts. Before joining Sanofi, Liang Schweizer was a director at Bristol-Myers Squibb Company, heading a group of scientists at Leads Discovery and Optimization (LDO), overseeing 60+ in vitro pharmacology projects across different therapeutic areas. Under her leadership, the team made significant contributions to 4 marketed drugs and impacted over 20 clinical candidates. She is also a co-inventor of multiple BMS Immunoncology (IO) clinical candidates. Liang Schweizer graduated from the University of Science and Technology of China (USTC) majoring in Biology. She received her Master’s degree in Microbial Engineering at the University of Minnesota with minor in Chemical Engineering. Liang earned her Ph.D. in Molecular Biology from the University in Zurich, Switzerland. Her postdoctoral training was with Dr. Harold Varmus, a Nobel Laureate, at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center (MSKCC), New York.
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About HiFiBiO: HiFiBiO provides proprietary single cell technologies for applications in drug and biomarker discovery and development.
John Ruesch
Vice President of Biogen Idec
John Ruesch is the associate director in QC/Stability/Compliance in the Analytical Research and Development of Pfizer Global Biologics.
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About Biogen Idec: Biogen Idec is an American biotechnology company that provides therapeutics for neurological, autoimmune, and rare diseases.
Stephen Hoge
President of Moderna Therapeutics
Stephen leads strategy, business development, and preclinical oncology for Moderna and is the inventor of several mRNA patents. Prior to Moderna, Stephen was a partner at McKinsey & Company and a leader in the firm’s Healthcare and Corporate Finance practices. At McKinsey Stephen advised senior management teams of leading biotech and pharmaceutical companies on a wide range of strategic, financial and operational issues. Prior to joining the firm, Stephen was a physician in New York. He holds an M.D. with thesis from the University of California, San Francisco, and a B.S. in Neuroscience from Amherst College.
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About Moderna Therapeutics, Onkaido Therapeutics: Moderna Therapeutics is a biotechnology company that specializes in drug discovery and drug development based on messenger RNA.
Juan Andres
Senior Vice President Technical Development, Manufacturing and Quality of Moderna Therapeutics
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About Moderna Therapeutics: Moderna Therapeutics is a biotechnology company that specializes in drug discovery and drug development based on messenger RNA.
Stephane Bancel
President and Founding CEO of Moderna Therapeutics
Stephane joined Flagship Ventures in 2013 and focuses on providing strategic counsel and support to portfolio companies. He is President and Founding Chief Executive Officer of Moderna Therapeutics, a Flagship VentureLabs – founded company. He is also executive chairman of the board for portfolio company BG Medicine, Inc. Stephane was previously CEO of bioMerieux, a world leader in the diagnostics industry. During his five years leading the company, he accelerated the company’s sales growth rate, enhanced its position as a global leader in clinical microbiology and re-accelerated its immunoassay franchise by focusing on high medical value biomarkers. During that time, the company’s market capitalization nearly doubled despite the financial crisis. Prior to his time at bioMerieux, Stephane was Managing Director of Eli Lilly in Belgium and Executive Director of Global Manufacturing Strategy and Supply Chain at Eli Lilly in Indianapolis. He holds a Master of Engineering from Ecole Central Paris, a Master of Science in Chemical Engineering from the University of Minnesota and an MBA from Harvard Business School. Stéphane was elected a 2009 Young Global Leader by the World Economic Forum. He was elected best CEO for Investor Relations in France in 2009 and was ranked #1 CEO in the Biotechnology sector according to the 2011 Thomson Reuters Pan European EXTEL Study.
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About Flagship Pioneering, Moderna Therapeutics, Qiagen: Moderna Therapeutics is a biotechnology company that specializes in drug discovery and drug development based on messenger RNA.
Georgianna Harris
Vice President of Regulatory Affairs of Alkermes
Georgianna Harris leads the regulatory affairs department at Alkermes. In this role, Dr. Harris provides regulatory strategy and guidance for development candidates and commercial products. Prior to joining Alkermes, Dr. Harris spent 25 years at Merck, in positions of increasing responsibility spanning laboratory research and regulatory affairs. During her tenure with Merck’s regulatory affairs organization, Dr. Harris oversaw global development, registration and post-registration activities for multiple small-molecule and biologic medicines for obesity, bone, oncology, diabetes and women’s health indications. Dr. Harris received a Bachelor of Science degree from Boston College and a Ph.D. in biochemistry from the University of Wisconsin. She was subsequently a postdoctoral research fellow at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, in the Department of Chemistry.
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About : Alkermes is a biotechnology company that develops, manufactures and commercializes medicines for the treatment of chronic diseases.
Mike Landine
Senior Vice President of Corporate Development of Alkermes
Mike Landine oversees Alkermes’ corporate development activities. Prior to leading corporate development, Mr. Landine served as Chief Financial Officer and Treasurer of Alkermes from March 1988 until June 1998. Mr. Landine is a member of the Board of Directors of Kopin Corporation, a publicly traded manufacturer of components for electronic products. He also previously served on the Board of Directors of GTC Biotherapeutics, a biotechnology company, from 2005 to 2010. Mr. Landine received a Bachelor of Science degree in accounting from Bentley University and is a Certified Public Accountant.
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About : Alkermes is a biotechnology company that develops, manufactures and commercializes medicines for the treatment of chronic diseases.
Blair Jackson
Vice President of Business Development of Alkermes
Blair Jackson leads business development at Alkermes, encompassing licensing efforts, new product evaluation and alliance management. Since joining Alkermes in 1999, Mr. Jackson has served in various roles within the company in both a scientific and corporate capacity. Mr. Jackson also serves on the board of Civitas Therapeutics, a privately held biopharmaceutical company focused on developing transformative pulmonary delivery therapies. Mr. Jackson received a Bachelor of Arts degree in biochemistry from the University of Calgary, a Bachelor of Arts in chemical engineering and a Master of Business Administration from the University of Alberta, and a Master of Science in chemical engineering practice from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
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About : Alkermes is a biotechnology company that develops, manufactures and commercializes medicines for the treatment of chronic diseases.
Madeline Coffin
Vice President of Human Resources of Alkermes
Madeline Coffin leads Alkermes’ human resources team, with responsibility for global compensation and benefits, talent acquisition, employee engagement and growth and organization development. Ms. Coffin has held a number of senior human resource positions at companies including Analog Devices, Sun Microsystems, Wang Software and Bay Networks. Prior to joining Alkermes, she founded her own company, which focused on the strategic human resource needs of growing companies for clients in a broad range of industries. Ms. Coffin holds a Bachelor of Arts degree from Penn State University and a Master of Industrial and Labor Relations from Cornell University.
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About : Alkermes is a biotechnology company that develops, manufactures and commercializes medicines for the treatment of chronic diseases.
Giulio Ruffini
President, CSO and co-founder of Neuroelectrics
Dr. Giulio Ruffini is the CEO and CTO of Starlab and the president and CSO of Neuroelectrics. He obtained a BA in Mathematics & Physics from Berkeley and a PhD in theoretical physics from UC Davis/LANL in 1995. In 2000 he founded Starlab to transform science into high-impact technologies.
12 years later he founded Neuroelectrics, a company which combines high-precision multichannel stimulation technologies with advanced biophysical and neuro-computational models.
For the past 15 years, Giulio has been developing technology for and researching the use of non-invasive brain monitoring and brain stimulation techniques, with a focus on EEG and transcranial current stimulation. His paper on brain-to-brain telepathy communication was the top 10 most shared papers of 2014. He is currently leading or involved in several European programs such as Galvani ERC Synergy, STIPED or Neurotwin.
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About Neuroelectrics: Neuroelectrics is a digital brain health company that diagnoses and treats brain disorders with personalized neuromodulation, and improves overall brain health.
Kurt Graves
President & CEO of Intarcia Therapeutics
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About Intarcia Therapeutics: Intarcia Therapeutics develops therapies for diseases that require long-term chronic treatment.
David Franklin
Vice President, Commercial Operations of Intarcia Therapeutics
Mr. Franklin joined Intarcia in March 2006 as Vice President, Commercial Operations. Prior to joining Intarcia, Mr. Franklin was Senior Vice President, US Business Unit and Acting Senior Vice President, Global Marketing for Idenix Pharmaceuticals. As head of the US Business from March 2005 through March 2006, Mr. Franklin developed and executed plans for the commercialization of telbivudine, an antiviral for the treatment of chronic hepatitis B, and built the US Business Unit, an organization comprising approximately 40 Medical, Marketing and Sales personnel. From June 2003 until March 2005, Mr. Franklin served as Vice President, Commercial Operations, leading the Idenix Global Marketing group, directing brand development for telbivudine and for a phase II hepatitis C drug candidate and leading commercial efforts to form a global co-promotion and licensing alliance with Novartis AG. Prior to these responsibilities, Mr. Franklin held positions of increasing responsibility with Idenix as Executive Director, Marketing and Corporate Communications and Director, Marketing and played key roles in multiple private and public financing transactions and in business development and licensing transactions. Prior to joining Idenix in 1998, Mr. Franklin was Senior Product Manager, HIV Products for Bristol-Myers Squibb Co. with responsibility for Zerit and Videx, two antiviral therapies for the treatment of HIV infection. Prior to joining the HIV Products Division, Mr. Franklin held sales and sales administration positions within the Bristol-Myers Squibb Oncology Division from 1990 to 1995, responsible for sales force support, incentive compensation and alliance management. Mr. Franklin received a BA from Gettysburg College in 1988.
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About Intarcia Therapeutics: Intarcia Therapeutics develops therapies for diseases that require long-term chronic treatment.
Patricia Hurter
Senior Vice President, Pharmaceutical & Preclinical Sciences of Vertex Pharmaceuticals
Hurter joined Vertex in 2004 as Head of Formulation Development, became the Vice President of Pharmaceutical Development in 2006, and is currently the Senior Vice President of Pharmaceutical and Preclinical Sciences. The scope of her responsibilities include Pharmaceutical Development (development of chemical processes for drug substance manufacture as well as drug product formulation and process development, and associated characterization methods for activities from the discovery phase through to validation for commercial manufacturing), DMPK (preclinical drug metabolism and pharmacokinetics) and drug safety evaluation. Prior to joining Vertex, Dr. Hurter was Director of Formulation Development at Merck from 2000 to 2004. Before joining the pharmaceutical industry, Dr. Hurter worked in the paper industry for 8 years where she studied the microstructure of paper and its effects on end use performance. Dr. Hurter has a Ph.D. in Chemical Engineering from MIT, an M.S. in Mechanical Engineering from West Virginia University and a B.Sc. in Chemical Engineering from the University of Natal, Durban, South Africa.
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About Lyndra Therapeutics, Vertex Pharmaceuticals: Vertex Pharmaceuticals is focused on the discovery and development of small molecule drugs for the treatment of serious diseases.
Amit K. Sachdev
Executive Vice President, Chief Patient Officer. and Chief of Staff of Vertex Pharmaceuticals
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About Vertex Pharmaceuticals: Vertex Pharmaceuticals is focused on the discovery and development of small molecule drugs for the treatment of serious diseases.
David Altshuler
Executive Vice President, Global Research and Chief Scientific Officer of Vertex Pharmaceuticals
Dr. Altshuler is a Professor of Genetics and Medicine at Harvard Medical School, where he has served on the faculty since 2000. He is also one of the four founding members of the Broad Institute of Harvard University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Trained as a clinical endocrinologist and a human geneticist, Dr. Altshuler’s clinical work is focused on characterizing patterns of variation in human genetics and applying this information to help isolate the genetic contribution to common diseases, including type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular disease and cancer. Through his work with multiple public-private partnerships, including the SNP Consortium, the International Haplotype Map Project and the 1000 Genomes Project, Dr. Altshuler has helped further the scientific community’s understanding of DNA sequence variation in the human genome and its contribution to the development of specific diseases. At the Broad Institute, he has directed its Program in Medical and Population Genetics since 2003 and has served as Chief Academic Officer since 2009. He is also on the faculty of Massachusetts General Hospital’s Department of Molecular Biology, the Diabetes Unit of the Department of Medicine and the Center for Human Genetic Research. Since 2012, he has served as Adjunct Professor of Biology at MIT. Dr. Altshuler has received numerous awards for his research and clinical activities related to human genetics, including the Stephen Krane Award from Massachusetts General Hospital, which recognized him as the Department of Medicine’s top young investigator, the 2011 Curt Stern Award of the American Society of Human Genetics given for outstanding scientific achievements in the last 10 years and the Richard and Susan Smith Pinnacle Award of the American Diabetes Association, which recognized his research into the contributing genetic cause of diabetes. He is a member of the American Society for Clinical Investigation, the Association of American Physicians and the US Institute of Medicine. He has served on advisory boards for many leading institutions, government organizations. Dr. Altshuler received his B.S. from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, a Ph.D. from Harvard University and his M.D. from Harvard Medical School. He completed his internship, residency and clinical fellowship training at Massachusetts General Hospital.
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About Harvard Medical School, Vertex Pharmaceuticals: Vertex Pharmaceuticals is focused on the discovery and development of small molecule drugs for the treatment of serious diseases.
Michael Parini
Executive Vice President & Chief Legal and Administrative Officer of Vertex Pharmaceuticals
Mr. Parini is the Executive Vice President and Chief Legal and Administrative Officer at Vertex. He serves on the company’s Executive Committee and oversees the Legal, Compliance, Quality, Corporate Communications and Human Resources functions. Mr. Parini joined Vertex in 2016 after more than a decade at Pfizer Inc. where he served in multiple leadership roles within the company’s global legal team, including Senior Vice President and Associate General Counsel. He was responsible for the strategic management of Pfizer’s global litigation activities, including civil, intellectual property, government and employment litigation. He also served as Chief Counsel for multiple key business units within Pfizer, advising Pfizer’s leadership team on business issues related to investment decisions, patent disputes, global pricing strategies and commercial operations activities, among other responsibilities. Prior to Pfizer, Mr. Parini served as a healthcare attorney at Akin, Gump, Strauss, Hauer & Feld, L.L.P. in Washington, D.C., where he provided legal counsel on federal and state regulatory and policy issues. Mr. Parini is a member of the New York and District of Columbia bars. He received a B.S. in American government from Georgetown University and a law degree from Georgetown University Law.
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About Vertex Pharmaceuticals: Vertex Pharmaceuticals is focused on the discovery and development of small molecule drugs for the treatment of serious diseases.
Stephanie Franklin
Senior Vice President & Chief Human Resources Officer of Vertex Pharmaceuticals
Stephanie Franklin is the Senior Vice President and Chief Human Resources Officer (CHRO) at Vertex. She oversees all global aspects of human resources, including Talent Acquisition, Total Rewards, Global Organization & Leadership Development, HR Business Partners, Engagement and Diversity & Inclusion. Prior to joining Vertex in August of 2017, Stephanie was SVP, Global Human Resources at Nuance Communications where she was responsible for the HR Business Partner & Global HR Operations functions, Talent & Organizational Development and M&A. Before Nuance, Stephanie was the Vice President of Talent & Integrated HR Solutions at Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts and spent twelve years at Procter & Gamble. Stephanie is a business-focused, results oriented executive with over 20 years of experience in diverse industries and geographies who invests in designing & implementing successful HR strategies that enable organizations to achieve their unique potential. She is a leader in the community as Board Member and President of the Human Resources Leadership Forum (HRLF), a member and former Board Chair of the Boston-Manchester March of Dimes, and a member of the Bottom Line Massachusetts Regional Advisory Board. Stephanie was also co-founder & leader of the Procter & Gamble Boston Women’s Network, a senior mentor for the Women Unlimited Leadership Development Program, and Vice Chair of the United Way of Massachusetts Bay Healthy Childhood Development Initiative.
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About Vertex Pharmaceuticals: Vertex Pharmaceuticals is focused on the discovery and development of small molecule drugs for the treatment of serious diseases.
Damian Wilmot
Senior Vice President, Chief Risk and Compliance Officer of Vertex Pharmaceuticals
Mr. Wilmot is the Senior Vice President, Chief Risk and Compliance Officer at Vertex. He is responsible for leading the company’s Global Compliance (the Office of Business Integrity & Ethics), Global Litigation & Enterprise Risk Management, and Quality Assurance organizations. Before taking on his current role in 2017, Mr. Wilmot was the chief litigation counsel and also served as the company’s interim head of Compliance and interim head of Human Resources. His previous professional experience includes serving as the chief litigation counsel for another global pharmaceutical company and as a litigation partner with Goodwin Procter LLP. Mr. Wilmot previously was an Assistant United States Attorney in the District of Massachusetts and worked as a judicial law clerk on the State of Connecticut Supreme Court. He has served on the boards and advisory committees of numerous nonprofit, civic, and for-profit organizations, including the Massachusetts Judicial Nominating Commission (by gubernatorial appointment), the John F. Kennedy Library Foundation, and the Boys and Girls Club of Boston. In 2010, the Boston Business Journal recognized him as one of Boston’s outstanding business leaders under the age of 40. He has also been honored as one of Boston’s most influential people of color in healthcare and life sciences. Mr. Wilmot is a graduate of Trinity College in Hartford, Connecticut, and Suffolk University Law School in Boston.
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About Vertex Pharmaceuticals: Vertex Pharmaceuticals is focused on the discovery and development of small molecule drugs for the treatment of serious diseases.
Mark Bunnage
Senior Vice President & Site Head, Boston Research of Vertex Pharmaceuticals
Dr. Bunnage joined Vertex in 2016 as Senior Vice President and Site Head for Boston Research. He oversees preclinical research from project initiation through to the identification of new candidate medicines. His team works on a number of serious diseases, including adrenoleukodystrophy, alpha-1 antitrypsin deficiency and sickle cell. Prior to joining Vertex, Dr. Bunnage spent 20 years at Pfizer, Inc., where he held a variety of roles within Medicinal Chemistry. From 1996 to 2011, Dr. Bunnage was based at Pfizer’s research site in the U.K. where he became Head of Medicinal Chemistry, Sandwich Laboratories. In 2011, he was appointed Vice President, Worldwide Medicinal Chemistry, and relocated to Cambridge, Massachusetts where he worked until 2016. Dr. Bunnage studied chemistry at the University of Durham and conducted postgraduate research with Professor S G Davies at the University of Oxford. He then moved to The Scripps Research Institute in La Jolla, California to work with Professor K C Nicolaou as a NATO postdoctoral fellow. Dr. Bunnage has broad interests in Drug Discovery and is an author or inventor on over 50 publications and patents. He is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Chemistry and a visiting Professor in Chemistry at the University of Oxford.
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About Vertex Pharmaceuticals: Vertex Pharmaceuticals is focused on the discovery and development of small molecule drugs for the treatment of serious diseases.
Eugene A. Gregerson
Vice President R&D of Stryker
Eugene A. Gregerson is the Vice President R&D at Stryker Spine.
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About Stryker: Stryker is a medical technology company that offers products and services in orthopaedics.
Anna Turetsky
Vice President of Lightstone Ventures
Anna is an Associate at Lightstone Ventures (LSV), where she evaluates new investment opportunities in the biopharmaceutical and medical device sectors out of the firm’s Boston office. Before joining Lightstone, Anna was an Analyst at Fletcher Spaght Inc., a healthcare strategy consulting firm in Boston. While at Fletcher Spaght, she advised clients in the medical device, biopharmaceutical, and healthcare IT sectors. Anna’s projects included researching and presenting market growth stories for public M&A transactions, supporting private equity due diligence for device deals, and developing best practices and strategy for a first-time life science venture fund in Canada. Anna holds a PhD from Harvard University, which she completed under the guidance of Professor Ralph Weissleder, Director of the Center for Systems Biology at Massachusetts General Hospital. Her interdisciplinary research combined chemical biology, engineering, and translational medicine to develop novel cancer diagnostics. While at Harvard, Anna was a National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellow, an Early Technology Assessment Fellow at the Harvard Office of Technology Development, and held leadership positions in several career development-focused student groups. She also completed life science and corporate finance coursework at MIT Sloan School of Management and Harvard Business School. Anna’s additional work experience includes an internship with Siemens Venture Capital and consulting for Innotrove, LLC, an advisor to Merck’s MRL Ventures.
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About Lightstone Ventures: Lightstone Ventures is a leading global venture capital firm.
John Casey
Co-Founder, Vice President, Head of Business Development of Senda Biosciences
John is the Co-Founder, Vice President, and Head of Business Development of Senda Biosciences. Before that, he joined Flagship Pioneering in 2015 as an associate after completing the VentureLabs Fellows program. At Flagship, John works as part of a venture creation team, exploring innovative ideas and opportunities, and developing critical scientific and business components that will lead to the firm’s next breakthrough startups. Before joining Flagship, John earned his doctorate in biological engineering in Angela Belcher’s lab at MIT, where he designed and developed thermostable de novo enzymes on viral capsid proteins. His work led to a collaboration with the pharmaceutical industry to develop cleaner, more versatile manufacturing processes. John was an active contributor to Boston’s entrepreneurial community while a graduate student. As associate director for MIT’s $100K Entrepreneurship Competition, he partnered with local and national businesses to raise the competition’s six-figure annual budget. He developed a new prototyping contest with increased resources and direct support for student entrepreneurs. He subsequently served as Chair of the $100K’s board of directors. Additionally, John was a communication fellow in the Biological Engineering Department and served as the biotechnology editor for the MIT Entrepreneurship Review. John received his B.S. in biological engineering from Louisiana State University, where he was a Goldwater Scholar and named the top graduating student in his class. His thesis research explored site-specific oligonucleotide modifications. John was active in LSU’s Student Government, president of the campus Habitat for Humanity chapter, and a co-founder and president of an organization for Mandarin Chinese speakers.
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About Senda Biosciences: Senda Biosciences is a therapeutics platform company leveraging unprecedented insights into the molecular connections between humans.
Suresh Jain
Co-Founder, President & COO of Acylin Therapeutics
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About Acylin Therapeutics: Acylin Therapeutics operates in the pharmaceutical and drug manufacturing industry developing inhibitors of cellular acetylation.
Len Usvyat
Vice President, Applied Advanced Analytics of Fresenius Medical Care
Len Usvyat is a vice president of integrated care analytics at Fresenius Medical Care’s North America Medical Office, where he is responsible for supporting analytical efforts for Fresenius’s integrated care assets such as its pharmacy, vascular care centers, urgent care facilities, hospitalist group, and the Fresenius health plan. These efforts vary and include activities such as routine and custom reporting, predictive modeling, outcomes analysis, and research. He also chairs FMCNA’s Predictive Analytics Steering Committee. Len has over 15 years of experience in data management, analytics, research, and epidemiology. Previously, he worked with Renal Research Institute, an FMCNA subsidiary, on a variety of research projects related to patient outcomes and quality reporting. Len has published over 40 manuscripts in peer reviewed journals. He holds a master’s degree from the University of Pennsylvania and a PhD from the University of Maastricht in the Netherlands.
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About Fresenius Medical Care: Fresenius Medical Care is a healthcare company that provides dialysis treatment for those with chronic kidney diseases.
Yalonda Howze
Executive Vice President, Chief Legal Officer, Chief Compliance Officer and Corporate Secretary of Codiak Biosciences
Yalonda Howze is the Executive Vice President, Chief Legal Officer, Chief Compliance Officer and Corporate Secretary at Codiak BioSciences.
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About Codiak Biosciences: Codiak is a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company focused on pioneering the development of exosome-based therapeutics.
Frédéric Sweeney
Vice President, Corporate Development & Strategic Financing Lead of bioMerieux
Dr. Frédéric Sweeney is the vice president, corporate development and strategic financing lead of bioMerieux. Prior to joining bioMerieux, Fred was Vice-President of Business Development & Strategic Alliances for Tornado Spectral Systems (TSS), a commercial stage nanophotonics and spectroscopy technology company strongly driven by an OEM partnership business model. Having joined as an original founding member of the company, Fred managed all aspects of commercialization and go-to-market strategy for TSS’ product portfolio. He led a number of large partnership agreements with world-leading spectroscopy companies and several in/out-licensing deals. Fred also worked as part of the life sciences investment team at VenGrowth Private Equity Partners, one of Canada’s premier private equity and venture capital firms. His main responsibilities at VenGrowth were to provide operational support and coordinate follow-on investments for portfolio companies, as well as sourcing and performing due diligence on new investment opportunities for the firm. Fred also acted as an observer on the Board of numerous companies in the medical device, therapeutic, diagnostic and biomaterials space. Fred holds a Ph.D. in molecular and medical genetics from the University of Toronto as a Terry Fox Scholar of the National Cancer Institute of Canada. During his scientific training, he acquired a deep expertise in clinical diagnostics and cancer biology by using structural and molecular biology as well as small molecule biochemistry.
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About bioMerieux: bioMérieux develops and produces in vitro diagnostic solutions for private and hospital laboratories, mainly for the diagnosis.
Jo Viney
Co-Founder, President and Chief Scientific Officer of Pandion Therapeutics
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About Pandion Therapeutics: Pandion Therapeutics develops innovative modular proteins, antibodies, and bispecifics for autoimmune and inflammatory diseases.
Chen Schor
Co-Founder, President & CEO of resTORbio
Schor is a global healthcare industry leader with vast experience in pharmaceuticals, biotechnology, medical devices, business development and private equity. Schor has supported and helped build multiple healthcare companies and led multiple licensing, partnerships and M&A transactions with total value exceeding $8 billion with companies such as GSK, Amgen, Pfizer, Bayer, Teva and EMD-Serono. Prior to joining Novalere, Schor was VP Global Business Development with Teva Pharmaceuticals and had leadership roles at several emerging pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies. Schor was also a Partner at Yozma venture capital where he led the foundation and growth of multiple companies from inception to significant commercial success. Schor holds a Master in Business Administration, a B.A. in Biology, a B.A. in Economics, and is also a Certified Public Accountant (CPA).
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About Novalere FP, Predix Pharmaceuticals, resTORbio, Synta Pharmaceuticals: resTORbio is a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company focused on the development and commercialization of novel therapeutics.
Hugh O’Dowd
President & CEO of Neon Therapeutics
Neon Therapeutics’ chief executive officer, Hugh O’Dowd, joined the company in 2016, bringing more than 20 years of expertise in pharmaceutical leadership and moving important oncology therapies from clinical development through commercialization. Hugh joined Neon Therapeutics from Novartis Oncology, where he spent more than 20 years in a variety of leadership roles, including chief commercial officer and head of global strategy. In this role, he was responsible for global commercialization for the oncology portfolio, including global brand leadership, health economics and pricing, early phase commercial development, strategic capabilities, business development, and licensing and global sales excellence. Hugh began his career in pharmaceuticals in 1992 at Glaxo in sales, and moved to Novartis in 1996. Following a career of increasing levels of responsibility in sales and marketing, he took a leading role in the commercialization of Gleevec, and assumed country- and region-level commercial leadership roles before overseeing the entirety of Novartis Oncology commercialization and strategy in 2011. Since 2015, Hugh was country president and general manager of Novartis in the United Kingdom and Ireland. Hugh holds a B.A. from Loyola University Chicago, and an MBA from the Kellstadt Graduate School of Business at DePaul University Chicago.
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About Neon Therapeutics: NEON Therapeutics is focused on unlocking the full potential of the immune system to recognize and attack cancer.
Richard Gaynor
President, Research & Development of Neon Therapeutics
Gaynor joined Neon Therapeutics in 2016, having spent 15 years in related senior roles at Lilly Oncology where he led preclinical and early clinical research, directed the biomarker and research group and served on key company portfolio review committees. Richard began his career in academia, spending nine years on the faculty at UCLA School of Medicine followed by 11 years on the faculty at UT Southwestern Medical School, including time serving as the chief of hematology-oncology and director of the Simmons Cancer Center. Richard chaired the Lilly Oncology Research and Development Committee and helped oversee a variety of collaborations, including with Bristol-Myers Squibb, Merck, AstraZeneca and GE. He is the author of nearly 150 publications and participates on numerous boards and committees, including several with the AACR, the Stand Up To Cancer scientific advisory committee, the MD Anderson Moon Shots advisory board, the Damon Runyon Cancer Research Foundation and Accelerating Cancer Cures.
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About Neon Therapeutics: NEON Therapeutics is focused on unlocking the full potential of the immune system to recognize and attack cancer.
Clive Wood
Senior Vice President of Boehringer Ingelheim
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About Boehringer Ingelheim: Boehringer Ingelheim is a global group of companies embracing many cultures and diverse societies.
Jason Laramie
Title Vice President, Global Head Translational Medicine Data Science of Novartis Institutes for Biomedical Research
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About Novartis Institutes for Biomedical Research: Novartis Institutes for BioMedical Research (NIBR) is the innovation engine of Novartis
Andrew J. Buckler
President and CTO of Elucid
Andrew Buckler comes to Elucid Bioimaging with 30 years of industry R&D experience spanning imaging science, medical devices, and molecular medicine. He founded Elucid’s predecessor company BBMSC and co-founded vascuVis. with Philips, Agilent, HP, Siemens, and Eastman Kodak. Andrew Buckler has developed a number of quantitative imaging products, including a program that netted $100M new revenue in its first year, with a life cycle > 7 years and with spin offs touching all parts of a $1B annual imaging business, and holds 9 patents. He is also the originator of an in-vivo imaging hardware and software molecular medicine product for research applications in disease management and drug discovery. Andrew Buckler has served as Program Director for the Quantitative Imaging Biomarker Alliance (QIBA) since its inception, is presently a scientific advisor to the Foundation for the National Institutes of Health (FNIH) for regulatory decision making in clinical trials, and has served as Subject Matter Expert in imaging for both radiology and pathology informatics to the NCI, and Principal Investigator (PI) for grant programs from NSF in computer-aided prognostics and from NIST for the pursuit of informatics services for statistically valid and clinically meaningful development and performance assessment of quantitative imaging biomarkers. Andrew Buckler holds a certificate in “Leading Science-Based Enterprises” from Harvard Business School, an MSCS from the University of Rochester, and a BSEE from Lehigh University.
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About Elucid: Elucid improves accuracy, experience, and cost-effectiveness of cardiovascular diagnostic imaging.
Shawn Marcell
Co-Founder, President & CEO of Torus Biosystems
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About Torus Biosystems: Torus Biosystems is a biotech startup that delivers molecular diagnostics for infectious diseases.
Bob Smouse
President of Respiratory Motion
As a business leader and entrepreneur, Dr. Smouse has had considerable success building successful organizations from the ground up, including raising over $20M for two startup companies, selling one company for $50M and presently managing operations, fund raising strategies, investor relations and strategic planning at a second company. He has served as early-stage advisor to 3 other successful start-ups (two acquired in 2018 and a third in US IDE Clinical trials). He has a proven ability to assemble teams, raise funds, and navigate regulatory and fundraising pathways. Throughout his career, Dr. Smouse has been dedicated to both addressing clinical needs and ensuring successful market impact. He has domain expertise in med-tech startups with proven success developing products and introducing them to markets. He is also a recognized expert in vena cava filters, lower extremity biomechanical forces, stent design, and fatigue testing by FDA and industry. With his strong communication and leadership skills, he has had considerable success developing and maintaining relationships with key stakeholders in research, clinical, and business roles.
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About BrightWater Medical, ELGCO Medical Incubator, Respiratory Motion: Respiratory Motion ExSpiron is FDA and CE Mark cleared and non-invasively measures minute ventilation, the fundamental unit of breathing.
Jose Almeida
President and CEO of Baxter International
Jose Almeida is chairman and chief executive officer of Baxter International Inc. Prior to joining Baxter in October 2015, Almeida served as chairman, president and chief executive officer of Covidien plc from 2012 through 2015 and was named a director of the company in 2011. Almeida previously served as president of Covidien’s Medical Devices organization, where he oversaw several businesses accounting for approximately two-thirds of the company’s total annual revenues and approximately three-quarters of its operating profit. Almeida also served in several leadership roles at Covidien’s predecessor, Tyco Healthcare, including president of its worldwide medical device business and vice president of worldwide manufacturing. In addition to Covidien and Tyco, Almeida held leadership positions at Wilson Greatbatch Technologies, Inc., American Home Products’ Acufex Microsurgical division, and Johnson & Johnson’s Professional Products division. He began his career as a management consultant at Andersen Consulting (Accenture). Almeida served as chairman of the board of directors of Advamed from 2014 to 2015 and has been an active member of the AdvaMed board since 2005 and its executive committee since 2010. He also serves on the Board of Trustees of Partners in Health. A native of Brazil, Almeida received a bachelor’s of science degree in mechanical engineering from Escola de Engenharia Mauá in São Paulo.
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About Baxter International, The Carlyle Group: Baxter International Inc., through its subsidiaries, develops, manufactures and markets products that save and sustain the lives of people.
Geoff MacKay
Founder, President & CEO of Avrobio
Geoff is a pioneer in cell and gene therapy with a track record of successful leadership at innovative biotechs. He is the former CEO of Organogenesis Inc., the world’s leading cell therapy company. During his tenure at the helm, the company treated 1 million patients with living cell therapies, received the first approval of an allogeneic cell therapy from the FDA’s Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research and led the field of regenerative medicine. Geoff is also the founding CEO of eGenesis, a biotech dedicated to applying CRISPR Cas-9 gene editing to xenotransplantation. Earlier in his career, Geoff spent 11 years at Novartis in senior leadership positions within the global transplantation and immunology franchise. Geoff sits on the boards of Talaris Therapeutics and Satellos Bioscience. Past activities include chairman of the board of MassBio, chairman of the board of the Alliance of Regenerative Medicine, and a member of the advisory council to the Health Policy Commission for Massachusetts.
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About Atlas Venture, Avrobio: Avrobio is a clinical stage company developing step-change cell and gene therapies targeting cancer and rare disease.
Anne Marie Cook
Senior Vice President & General Counsel of SAGE Therapeutics
Anne Marie Cook was appointed Senior Vice President, General Counsel and Secretary in December 2011. Ms. Cook was most recently a partner with Boston-based law firm Choate Hall & Stewart LLP (Choate). There she represented life science companies in structuring and negotiating strategic transactions such as joint ventures, collaborations, mergers and acquisitions and intellectual property licenses. She also provided general legal support in connection with the research, development and commercialization of pharmaceutical products. Prior to joining Choate, Ms. Cook was Senior Vice President, Business & Corporate Development, General Counsel at ViaCell, Inc. Prior to that, she was Vice President, Chief Corporate Counsel, at Biogen Idec Inc.
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About SAGE Therapeutics: SAGE Therapeutics develops and delivers novel medicines for most debilitating and disabling central nervous system disorders.
John Cerio
Senior Vice President and Global Head of Human Resources of Orchard Therapeutics
John brings over 25 years of HR leadership experience in the pharmaceutical and biotech industry building high growth, high performance, mission driven and entrepreneurial companies. Until recently John served as Vice President of Human Resources and Administration for Agenus where he led the HR function through periods of rapid growth, transformation and global expansion including the acquisition and integration of 4-antibody AG and the recruiting and on-boarding of over 150 R&D staff, responsible for creating and advancing an Immuno-oncology portfolio of over a dozen clinical candidates including 4 that are currently in phase 2. Prior to Agenus, he was Vice President of Global HR for PerkinElmer Life Sciences during which time the company more than doubled in size and annual sales. Earlier in his career, John spent nearly 10 years with Bristol-Myers Squibb company in a series of HR leadership roles with increasing responsibilities ranging from Director of HR for Corporate Staff to Head of HR for their Oncology and Immunology division. John earned his B.S. in Industrial and Labor Relations from Cornell and his M.A. in Organizational Psychology from Columbia. He also completed the Global Leadership Development Programme at the London Business School.
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About Orchard Therapeutics: Orchard Therapeutics is a biotechnology company dedicated to transforming the lives of patients through innovative gene therapies.
Frank Thomas
President & Chief Operating Officer of Orchard Therapeutics
Frank brings nearly 20 years of experience in the biopharmaceutical industry as an accomplished financial and business executive. Frank has a background developing and executing capital markets strategies for private and public companies as well as experience in operations management, and corporate and business development. Until recently Frank served as president and chief operating officer of AMAG Pharmaceuticals where he helped develop the business from a single product company in 2011 to one with a portfolio of commercial and development-stage products that generated more than $600 million in sales in 2017. During that time, Frank raised more than $1.8 billion in new capital to support the significant growth of AMAG. Before joining AMAG, he served as chief operating officer and chief financial officer for Molecular Biometrics, Inc. Earlier in his career, Frank also served as chief financial officer for Critical Therapeutics and Esperion Therapeutics. Each completed its initial public offering in the United States during his tenure. Frank currently serves on the board of directors of Zafgen (Nasdaq: ZFGN) and Spero Therapeutics (Nasdaq: SPRO). Frank received a Bachelor of Business Administration (BBA) from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor.
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About Orchard Therapeutics: Orchard Therapeutics is a biotechnology company dedicated to transforming the lives of patients through innovative gene therapies.
René M. Lemieux
Senior Vice President of Faze Medicines
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About Faze Medicines: Faze Medicines is a biotechnology company.
Raul Krauss
Co-Founder & Vice President of Disarm Therapeutics
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About Disarm Therapeutics: Disarm Therapeutics is a biotechnology company developing disease-modifying therapeutics for patients with axonal degeneration.
Raul Krauss
Co-Founder & Vice President of Disarm Therapeutics
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About Disarm Therapeutics: Disarm Therapeutics is a biotechnology company developing disease-modifying therapeutics for patients with axonal degeneration.
Lubomir (Lubo) Nechev
Senior Vice President CMC Development of Alnylam Pharmaceuticals
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About Alnylam Pharmaceuticals, Alnylam Pharmaceuticals: Alnylam Pharmaceuticals is a biopharmaceutical company focused on the discovery, development and commercialization.
John Leonard
President , Chief Executive Officer & Member Board of Directors of Intellia Therapeutics
After a 30-year career in pharmaceutical R&D, John Leonard retired from his position as Chief Scientific Officer and Senior Vice President of Research and Development at AbbVie in 2013. Inspired by the opportunity to work with a new therapeutic modality and form a new company, he returned to his life’s passion and joined the Intellia team to direct the research and development effort to make CRISPR/Cas9 technology into a therapeutic reality. John is among the leading R&D executives who have led breakthrough medicines through their discovery, development and launch into blockbuster drugs. While serving as the Global Head of Pharmaceutical R&D at Abbott Laboratories, John oversaw the development of numerous novel therapeutics. His ground-breaking work with HIV protease inhibitors Norvir® and Kaletra® led to new treatment paradigms for AIDS, his years of work with Humira® made it the all-time top-selling drug worldwide, and he led significant growth of the R&D pipeline at Abbott and Abbvie. John’s teams were twice recognized with the prestigious Prix Galien Award for excellence in pharmaceutical research. In addition to serving on the Board of Directors of Intellia, John serves on the Board of Directors of QuintilesIMS (NYSE:Q) and Chimerix (Nasdaq:CMRX). He received his M.D. from the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine and completed his residency in Internal Medicine at Stanford University School of Medicine followed by a fellowship at the National Institutes of Health.
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About Intellia Therapeutics: Intellia Therapeutics is a genome editing company that develops curative gene-editing treatments.
Anjen Chenn
Senior Vice President of Metamark Genetics
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About Metamark Genetics, University of Illinois at Chicago: Metamark Genetics develops prognostic and predictive diagnostic tests that enable personalized treatment planning for cancer patients.
Kenneth Rice
President and Executive Officer of Chelexa BioSciences
Kenneth Rice has served as a director of HTI since May 2017. Mr. Rice has served as the President and Chief Financial Officer of LikeMinds, Inc., an affiliate of Alseres Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (“Alseres”) since 2016. Since 2005, Mr. Rice has served as the Executive Vice President, Chief Financial Officer and in-house counsel to Alseres. Mr. Rice led the effort to enter into a value-maximizing strategic M&A transaction culminating in the sale of the company for just under $100M. In addition, since 2012, Mr. Rice has served as Executive Chairman of Chelexa. From August 1999 through March 2001, Mr. Rice served as Vice President and Chief Financial Officer of MacroChem Corporation, a publicly-traded drug delivery company. He has over 25 years of experience in operations, finance, marketing and sales and business development in both private and public life science companies. Mr. Rice received his BSBA from Babson College, his MBA from Babson College, his Juris Doctorate from Suffolk University Law School and his LLM from Boston University Law School.
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About Alseres Pharmaceuticals, Chelexa BioSciences, Metamaterial Inc.: Chelexa BioSciences, Inc. is focused on infection prevention therapies for the skin.
Bruce Rosengard
Vice President, New Business Ventures of The Medicines Company
Bruce R. Rosengard is the Chief Medical Science and Technology Officer for Johnson & Johnson Medical Devices Companies. In this role, he is responsible for creating and delivering on a future oriented, strategic, and relevant medical innovation strategy. Bruce and his team will identify emerging surgical trends and novel technology platforms with the goal of bringing innovative device solutions in the surgical and interventional spaces into the Medical Devices portfolio. A cardiothoracic surgeon and NIH-funded scientist, Dr. Rosengard, previously served as Vice President, New Business Ventures for The Medicines Company, where he played a pivotal role in several major acquisitions that have expanded the Medicines Company’s Surgical and Perioperative Care franchise. Before joining The Medicines Company, Bruce was the Surgical Director of Cardiac Transplantation at Massachusetts General Hospital and on the faculty of Harvard Medical School. In addition to leading the clinical program, he ran an NIH-funded laboratory in transplantation immunology. Prior to this, Dr. Rosengard was the inaugural British Heart Foundation Professor and Chairman at the University of Cambridge, where he pioneered “beating heart” transplantation. Bruce started his career at The University of Pennsylvania, where he performed the first combined heart-lung transplant at the institution, described a novel cellular mechanism responsible for triggering of transplant rejection, and patented a stem cell-based therapy to treat congestive heart failure. Bruce was graduated summa cum laude from Tufts University with a double major in Biology and Chemistry. He obtained his MD degree from John Hopkins, where he also completed his postgraduate training in general surgery, cardiothoracic surgery, and surgical critical care. During his training, he also completed a two-year postgraduate fellowship in transplantation immunology at the National Cancer Institute. Bruce has authored more than 80 peer-reviewed publications, has given more than 40 invited talks at national or international meetings, and has served on the Boards of several professional societies.
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About Johnson & Johnson Innovation, The Medicines Company: The Medicines Company is focused on advancing the treatment of critical care patients through the delivery of innovative, cost-effective
Giuseppe Ciaramella
Chief Scientific Officer & President of Beam Therapeutics
Dr. Giuseppe Ciaramella is the Chief Scientific Officer of Beam Therapeutics. Dr. Ciaramella has more than 20 years of drug discovery experience at Moderna, AstraZeneca, Boehringer Ingelheim, Pfizer and Merck. Throughout his career he has held several leadership roles, with a particular focus in the fields of antivirals, immunology and biotherapeutics. Prior to joining Beam Therapeutics, Dr. Ciaramella was the CSO of the Infectious Diseases division of Moderna Therapeutics, where he was instrumental in generating some of the first mRNA vaccines to be dosed in humans, several of which are progressing through clinical studies. At Boehringer Ingelheim, he served as Vice President and Head of Collaborative Research where he had responsibility for external R&D and was a member of the Research Leadership Team. Prior to Boehringer Ingelheim, he spent 14 years at Pfizer in the UK where he held several Discovery leadership positions, including head of Biotherapeutics, head of Antivirals and head of Lead Discovery. He has contributed to several clinical candidates, both small molecule and biologics and to the anti-HIV drug Maraviroc (Selzentry TM), which won the USA Prix Galien for Best Pharmaceutical in 2008. He is a member of the Infectious Diseases Society of America (IDSA) and of the American Society of Gene Therapy (ASGT). Dr. Ciaramella holds a Ph.D. in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology from University College London.
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About Beam Therapeutics: Beam Therapeutics is a biotechnology company developing precision genetic medicines through the use of base editing technology.
Ellen Chiniara
Executive Vice President, General Counsel and Corporate Secretary of Alexion Pharmaceuticals
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About Alexion Pharmaceuticals: Alexion Pharmaceuticals is a biopharmaceutical company that engages in the development and commercialization of mid-to-late-stage therapies.
Andrew Plump
President, Research & Development of Takeda
Bachelor’s degree, MIT; MD, University of California, San Francisco; PhD, Rockefeller University. Formerly: Senior Vice-President, Research & Translational Medicine, Deputy to the President of R&D, Sanofi; Vice-President, Worldwide Cardiovascular Research Head, Merck. Chief Medical and Scientific Officer and R&D Head, Takeda, leading drug discovery and development across Takeda’s core therapeutic areas, which include oncology, gastroenterology, CNS, cardiometabolic and vaccines.
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About Takeda: Takeda Pharmaceutical Company Limited operates as a research-based pharmaceutical company in Japan.
John D. Bonasera
Vice President, Clinical, Regulatory & Quality Affairs of Medrobotics
Mr. Bonasera brings over 30 years of experience in the medical device industry, having directed quality assurance, regulatory affairs and clinical development at multinational corporations and early stage medical technology companies. He has been responsible for developing and executing effective and novel strategies to navigate challenging regulatory paths to achieve FDA and foreign approvals that led to the commercialization and/or clinical trials of a variety of complex medical devices including implanted drug delivery systems, implanted resorbable spinal implants, and embolic micro particles. Prior to joining Medrobotics he directed clinical trials of new and innovative technologies including the use of a patient’s own stem cells to create new blood vessels in untreatable vascular disease to prevent amputation of the leg and foot and to improve cardiac function after heart failure. In each regulatory and clinical project he lead teams of engineers, physicians, attorneys, statisticians and other experts. Mr. Bonasera has a BA in Biology and Psychology from the University of Massachusetts. He is a certified regulatory professional and a certified medical technologist. In his early career he supervised hospital laboratories and received a faculty appointment to Northeastern University to teach clinical laboratory science.
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About Medrobotics: Medrobotics is a medical robotics company developing and commercializing the Flex Robotic System.
John D. Bonasera
Vice President, Clinical, Regulatory & Quality Affairs of Medrobotics
Mr. Bonasera brings over 30 years of experience in the medical device industry, having directed quality assurance, regulatory affairs and clinical development at multinational corporations and early stage medical technology companies. He has been responsible for developing and executing effective and novel strategies to navigate challenging regulatory paths to achieve FDA and foreign approvals that led to the commercialization and/or clinical trials of a variety of complex medical devices including implanted drug delivery systems, implanted resorbable spinal implants, and embolic micro particles. Prior to joining Medrobotics he directed clinical trials of new and innovative technologies including the use of a patient’s own stem cells to create new blood vessels in untreatable vascular disease to prevent amputation of the leg and foot and to improve cardiac function after heart failure. In each regulatory and clinical project he lead teams of engineers, physicians, attorneys, statisticians and other experts. Mr. Bonasera has a BA in Biology and Psychology from the University of Massachusetts. He is a certified regulatory professional and a certified medical technologist. In his early career he supervised hospital laboratories and received a faculty appointment to Northeastern University to teach clinical laboratory science.
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About Medrobotics: Medrobotics is a medical robotics company developing and commercializing the Flex Robotic System.
Frederic Chereau
President & CEO of LogicBio Therapeutics
Frederic Chereau joined LogicBio Therapeutics as President & CEO in 2016.
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About LogicBio Therapeutics: LogicBio Therapeutics is a gene therapy startup
Mark Jones
Vice President of Engineering of Mevion Medical Systems
Bringing multidiscipline engineering expertise, Mark joined Mevion in 2006 serving as Lead Mechanical Engineer of the magnet and RF accelerator systems and subsequently as Mechanical Engineering Director since 2007. With more than 27 years of experience, Mark has led the development of numerous successful medical equipment products. Mark’s innovative designs have earned him 5 patents while developing MRI and CT imaging products at Analogic Corporation, cardiac imaging products at XRE Corporation, and most recently genetic research and molecular diagnostics products at Affymetrix. Mark holds a B.S. Mechanical Engineering degree from Norwich University as well as a M.S. Engineering Management degree from the Gordon Institute of Tufts University.
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About Mevion Medical Systems: Mevion Medical Systems develops radiation therapies for the treatment of cancer.
Joseph K. Jachinowski
President and Chief Executive Officer of Mevion Medical Systems
Joe comes to Mevion Medical Systems with a distinguished 28-year track record of successfully developing products and building companies in the field of radiation therapy for cancer. He was most recently Executive Vice President of Elekta AB, a leading supplier of radiation therapy equipment, and CEO of Elekta Holdings with overall responsibility for all of Elekta’s North American operations. Prior to Elekta, he co-founded IMPAC Medical Systems, and served as its President and CEO through its initial public offering and culminating in its sale to Elekta in 2005. Joe began his career at Varian Medical Systems, where he was responsible for leading the team that developed their innovative linear accelerator products in the 1980s.
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About Mevion Medical Systems: Mevion Medical Systems develops radiation therapies for the treatment of cancer.
David Meeker
Chairman, President & Chief Executive Officer of Rhythm Pharmaceuticals
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About Rhythm Pharmaceuticals, Sanofi Ventures: Rhythm is a biopharmaceutical company focused on developing and commercializing peptide therapeutics
Irene Aquino
Vice President, Patient Advocacy and Customer Engagement of Rhythm Pharmaceuticals
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About Rhythm Pharmaceuticals: Rhythm is a biopharmaceutical company focused on developing and commercializing peptide therapeutics
Steve Chartier
Vice President of Operations, Regulatory, and Quality of InfraReDx
Mr. Chartier joined Infraredx in 2007 as Director of Clinical and Regulatory Affairs before serving as Vice President of Clinical and Regulatory Affairs in 2008 and Vice President of Operations, Quality, and Regulatory Affairs beginning in February 2010. Prior to joining the company, Mr. Chartier was the Senior Director of Preclinical Development and Regulatory Affairs at NUCRYST Pharmaceuticals, Inc. Throughout his 20+ years in the medical industry he held positions of increasing responsibility at Biogen Idec, Beth Israel Medical Center, and the Dana Farber Cancer Institute. Mr. Chartier is regulatory affairs certified as a member of the Regulatory Affairs Professional Society. He holds a B.A. from Saint Anselm College.
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About InfraReDx: InfraReDx designs and develops intelligent catheter-based coronary imaging devices.
Stephen Sum
Vice President of Research and Development of InfraReDx
Dr. Stephen Sum joined InfraReDx in 2005 as a Senior Scientist before serving as Director of Biomedical Systems in 2010 and Vice President of Research and Development beginning in December 2011. Prior to joining InfraReDx, Dr. Sum was a Senior Scientist at MediSpectra where he helped develop an optical device for the detection of cervical cancer. Dr. Sum holds a B.Sc. in applied chemistry from the University of Waterloo, an M.S. in Information and Systems Science from Carleton University, and a Ph.D. in Analytical Chemistry from the University of Delaware.
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About InfraReDx: InfraReDx designs and develops intelligent catheter-based coronary imaging devices.
Jim Glasheen
President / Co-founder of Clade Therapeutics
Over the past 25 years, Jim led efforts to translate biomedical innovations into broader societal impact as an academic, a strategic consultant, a venture investor, and an executive. Previously, he was co-founder and founding President and CEO of Atalanta Therapeutics, Executive Vice Chancellor at UMASS Medical School, co-lead of Life Science Practice at Technology Partners Venture Capital, and a leader within the Pharmaceutical and Medical Products practice at McKinsey & Company. His training includes a post-doctoral fellowship at University of California, Berkeley, a PhD from Harvard University, a Deutscher Akademischer Austauschdienst Fellowship at Universität des Saarlandes and a BS from Duke University.
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About Clade Therapeutics: Clade Therapeutics discovers and delivers next-generation cell medicines to improve the lives of patients.
Anne-Marie Kline
Vice President of Marketing of Living Proof
Anne-Marie has over 20 years driving complex cross-channel marketing campaigns for brands across CPG, automotive, travel, insurance, technology, sports, music and retail. A respected industry thought leader, she’s been named one of Business Insider’s “Most Creative Women in Advertising.” Prior to joining Living Proof, she spent 10 years at Digitas where she built the Social Content practice and award-winning BrandLIVE, DigitasLBi’s proprietary real-time marketing platform and approach, which drives relevance and value for brands every day. Prior to joining DigitasLBi, Anne-Marie was the Director of Brand Communications at Tweeter Home Entertainment Group. Before that she was at Wolf Associates, where she developed premiere sports marketing programs for Fortune 500 brands. Anne-Marie holds a Bachelor of Science from Emerson College.
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About Living Proof, Potential Energy Coalition: Living Proof is a biotechnology company developing product formulae to solve beautycare problems.
Kate Rumrill
President and CEO of Ablative Solutions
Kate brings 27 years of experience in the Medical Device and Pharmaceutical Industry. Previously she held the position of Vice President, Global Clinical and Medical Affairs at Covidien. She has extensive experience in product development in the CNS space through her time at Aspect Medical Systems and Eli Lilly & Company. Kate first joined NeoSync in 2010, leading the company’s clinical and regulatory activities, and later rejoined as President and CEO in April 2015. She holds a BS degree in both Biology and Psychology from the State University of New York.
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About Ablative Solutions: Ablative Solutions is a medical device firm that offers an alternative to surgical renal denervation for treating hypertension.
Sujit Basu
Vice President and Head of Drug, Device and Combination Product Development of Shire
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About Shire: Shire biotechnology company that focuses on serving people with rare diseases.
Allison Bebo
Senior Vice President, Human Resources of Hologic
Allison Bebo joined Hologic in February 2015 as Senior Vice President, Human Resources with 15 years of human resources experience. From 2000 to 2015, Mrs. Bebo held various human resources leadership positions within ANN INC., primarily focused on talent acquisition, associate relations, and talent management. She most recently served as Vice President, Talent Management. From 2007 to 2012, she served as the Vice President, Human Resources for the Ann Taylor and LOFT field organization. She served as Director of Organizational Effectiveness from 2004 to 2007 and as Director of Talent Resources from 2000 to 2004. From 1997 to 2000, she served as the District Manager for the Northeast Region for Ann Taylor and from 1994 to 1997 she served as Store Manager for Ann Taylor in Stamford, Conn. She holds a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science from the University of California, Los Angeles.
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About Hologic: Hologic engages in the development and supply of medical imaging systems and diagnostic products focused on the healthcare needs of women.
Jay Stein
Co-founder, Chairman Emeritus, Senior Vice President & Chief Technical Officer of Hologic
Jay A. Stein, a co-founder, Chairman Emeritus, Senior Vice President and the Chief Technical Officer of the Company, has served as Executive or Senior Vice President and Chief Technical Officer of the Company since its organization in October 1985. Since October 2007, Dr. Stein has served as Chairman Emeritus pursuant to which he continues to participate in meetings of the Board. He served as a director of the Company from October 1985 through October 2007, including as Chairman of the Company’s Board from June 2001 to November 2002. Dr. Stein received a Ph.D. in Physics from The Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He is the principal author of numerous patents involving X-ray technology.
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About Hologic: Hologic engages in the development and supply of medical imaging systems and diagnostic products focused on the healthcare needs of women.
W. David Lee
President & Chief Scientific Officer of Lumicell
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About Lumicell, Precision Healing: Lumicell is a biotechnology company that develops and markets image-guided cancer surgery solutions.
Kevin Hershberger
President & Chief Executive Officer of Lumicell
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About Lumicell: Lumicell is a biotechnology company that develops and markets image-guided cancer surgery solutions.
Michelle Zhang
Senior Vice President, Translational Research and Early Development of Ikena Oncology
Senior Vice President, Translational Research and Early Development at Ikena Oncology.
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About Atlas Venture, Ikena Oncology: Ikena Oncology is a biotechnology company that advances new immunometabolic therapies for cancer.
