Dr. Juan Alvarez is the AVP of Computational and Structural Chemistry at Merck Research Labs, leading the computational chemistry, cheminformatics, and protein structure determination groups supporting the end to end discovery and early development pipeline. Prior to Merck, Juan was at Alkermes from 2010-2017, where he established and led biologics discovery at Alkermes, advancing ALKS 4230 into the clinic as an immuno-oncology agent. From 2004 to 2010, Juan led Automation Technologies for TransForm Pharmaceuticals (acquired by J&J in 2005), where his team built and applied integrated high throughput lab robotics and big data informatics towards the formulation of small molecules, proteins, and vaccines. Juan also served as the Head of Computational Chemistry for Wyeth Research and Genetics Institute between 1992 and 2004. Juan received his Ph.D. in Pharmaceutical Chemistry from UCSF and an S.B. in Chemistry from MIT.

Dr. Anderson is the Kraft Family Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School as well as Director of the LeBow Institute for Myeloma Therapeutics and Jerome Lipper Multiple Myeloma Center at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute. He is a Doris Duke Distinguished Clinical Research Scientist and American Cancer Society Clinical Research Professor. After graduating from Johns Hopkins Medical School, he trained in internal medicine at Johns Hopkins Hospital, and then completed hematology, medical oncology, and tumor immunology training at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute. Over the last three decades, he has focused his laboratory and clinical research studies on multiple myeloma. He has developed laboratory and animal models of the tumor in its microenvironment which have allowed for both identification of novel targets and validation of novel targeted therapies, and has then rapidly translated these studies to clinical trials culminating in FDA approval of novel targeted therapies. His paradigm for identifying and validating targets in the tumor cell and its milieu has transformed myeloma therapy and markedly improved patient outcome. He is a Fellow of the American Association for Cancer Research and the American Society of Clinical Oncology, and has served as President of the International Myeloma Society and President of the American Society of Hematology.

Stephen W. Bernstein specializes in e-health, “big data,” deployment of electronic health record systems and health-related matters affected by the internetco-ch and the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA), as well as private equity investments, mergers, acquisitions, affiliations and joint ventures involving technology, hospitals and physicians. Stephen is Co Chair of the Firm’s Life Sciences Practice and served as global head of the Health Practice from 2009-2018. He also co-leads the Firm’s Digital Health affinity group, which brings together McDermott lawyers from within and outside the Health Industry Advisory Practice Group to develop thought leadership, share information and collaborate on best practices. Stephen has particular experience working with regional electronic health record collaborations as well as pharmaceutical, biotech, device companies, technology companies, health care providers and insurers concerning uses of health information for clinical and database research, product/disease registries and marketing matters, electronic health record development and implementation, including the ways these endeavors relate to personalized medicine. Stephen has practiced health law since 1988 in Boston, Massachusetts, and in Palo Alto, California. In Palo Alto, he provided on-site counsel to Stanford University Medical Center. Among other accomplishments at Stanford, Stephen participated in the negotiations for the affiliation between Stanford Health Services and Lucile Salter Packard Children’s Hospital. He lectures extensively on health care privacy/HIPAA and related security issues, data mining, clinical research and product/disease registries as well as physician compensation, and electronic health record implementation. Stephen has been featured on National Public Radio’s syndicated program Here and Now and has been quoted by The Wall Street Journal and The Washington Post on medical privacy issues.

Steve Burton is a sports anchor and reporter for WBZ-TV. A New England native, he joined WBZ-TV in August 1994. Prior to that Burton worked as a sports anchor and reporter for New England Sports Network (NESN) since 1988. While at NESN, Burton hosted the pre and post game shows for the Boston Red Sox. Raised in Framingham, Massachusetts, Burton grew up in a sports family. His father, Ron Burton, played for the New England Patriots football team. Young Burton graduated from Framingham High School, where he was the quarterback for the school’s football team and went on to play quarterback for Northwestern University. When he’s not working at WBZ-TV, Burton spends much of his time working at the Ron Burton Training Village, a year long training program that enriches the lives of inner city youth by focusing on education, leadership, physical wellness and spiritual growth. He also serves as a board member on several children’s charities including the Doug Flutie Jr. Foundation for Autism and the Fellowship of Christian Athletes. Burton received a bachelor of science degree in Communications and a master’s degree in Broadcast Journalism from Northwestern University. He lives in the Greater Boston area with his wife and four children.

Jennifer Levin Carter, MD, MPH, MBA is a healthcare executive, Board member and entrepreneur with a successful track record of developing innovative strategies and solutions at the intersection of and healthcare IT and services, digital health and machine learning, precision medicine, genomics and its application to healthcare delivery and life sciences including novel clinical trial delivery and drug development. She was most recently, VP and of Head of Precision Health at Integral Health, A Flagship Pioneering company. In 2018, She Founded TrialzOWN, Inc. a novel clinical trials company in stealth, and was CEO until it’s prelaunch acquisition by Integral Health in March, 2019. Prior to TrialzOWN, Dr. Carter was the Founder and President of N-of-One®, Inc. She served at CEO from 2008-2012, and Chief Medical Officer from 2012 until its acquisition by Qiagen (Market Cap $8B) in 2019. At N-of-One, Dr. Carter led the creation of award winning solutions that delivered novel treatment strategies to hundreds of thousands of patients with cancer globally. Prior to founding and leading N-of-One®, Dr. Carter spent nine years working as an Investment Consultant with Levin Capital Strategies ($13B under management) and with other groups specializing in biotechnology and life sciences investments evaluating existing and emerging markets, new medical technologies, and early-stage companies. After obtaining her MD, Jennifer practiced internal medicine at Mount Auburn Hospital in Cambridge, MA. Dr. Carter graduated Phi Beta Kappa, Summa Cum Laude with distinction with a BS in Molecular Biophysics and Biochemistry from Yale University, an MD from Harvard Medical School, an MPH from Harvard School of Public Health and an MBA from the Sloan School at Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Richard Cassidy is the Head of Operations & Commercialization at the Astellas Institute for Regenerative Medicine (AIRM), based outside Boston. He is responsible for building Astellas’ commercialization approach for its cell-based therapy portfolio, a new and exciting area with the potential to transform healthcare for patients. He also leads Facilities, EH&S and Communications for AIRM. An engineer by training, Richard is driven by a desire to improve and refine how pharmaceuticals contribute to healthcare through changing the companies that create and deliver those pharmaceuticals. He benefits from several years of experience as a cross-functional change agent at both regional and global levels and led the process to develop and execute Astellas’ most recent global corporate strategic plan. Across more than 20 years, he has worked in Pharma, Diagnostics, Med Tech and at a software start-up, giving him a unique and useful perspective as all of these areas rapidly converge. When he’s not working, Richard enjoys exploring the great outdoors with his family, whether hiking in the summer or skiing in the winter.

Abbie has over 30 years of experience in Senior R&D and Executive leadership roles. As partner at Third Rock Ventures, she focuses on the formation, development and strategy of portfolio companies. She has a strong commitment to culture, and prioritizes establishing experienced, diverse teams. Prior to joining the firm, she served as president and CEO of Eleven Biotherapeutics (now Sesen Bio) since 2011. Previously, Abbie was the president and CEO of Taligen Therapeutics from 2008 to 2011, when Taligen Therapeutics was acquired by Alexion Pharmaceuticals; following the acquisition, she served as Alexion’s executive vice president, translational medicine. She has served as the global head of biologics of Novartis AG, the senior vice president of R&D strategy and operations of Millennium Pharmaceuticals (now Takeda) and the vice president of protein technologies of the Wyeth Research facilities. She is a member of the board of directors of Abata Therapeutics and Flare Therapeutics. She has a B.A. in biology from the University of California, San Diego, and a Ph.D. in molecular biology from the University of Arizona.

As President and CEO of the Massachusetts Biotechnology Council, Bob’s mission is to advance Massachusetts' leadership in the life sciences to grow the industry, add value to the healthcare system and improve patient lives. Over the last decade, Bob has truly become a champion for patients by ensuring innovative companies have the best environment possible to research, develop, and commercialize breakthrough therapies and cures for people around the world who need and deserve them. Bob has spent his career in both the public and private sectors. Before joining MassBio, he served as the Undersecretary of Economic Development within Governor Deval Patrick's administration, where he prioritized both healthcare and economic development issues and was a strong advocate for the life sciences industry in Massachusetts. Prior to that, he was elected as State Representative to the 11th Norfolk district for three terms. Bob has also held senior executive positions in the environmental services, capital management and venture capital industries. He brings passion and energy to all of his endeavors.

Mathias Cousin is a Senior Manager at the Boston office of Monitor Deloitte. Mathias co-leads the pre-commercial life sciences practice in New England and has deep experience in helping biotech clients explore and define growth options, and scale their organizations. He spends a significant part of his practice working with cell and gene therapy companies, across autologous and allogeneic platforms. Prior to joining Monitor, he worked in oil & gas and at a biotech startup in Paris where he helped lead business development and raise the series A. He studied business and economics at ESCP-EUROPE & Paris Dauphine University. In his free time, he enjoys spending time biking and with his wife and two young but fast growing kids.

Matt Daniels brings 19 years of commercial real estate experience to JLL’s Suburban Boston Leasing team with experience representing tenant and landlords in the Greater Boston Market. As Brokerage Lead and Executive Managing Director, Matt and his team continue to be market leaders in structuring the region’s most complex and creative transactions on behalf of their clients. Education Phillips Exeter Academy Bachelor of Arts, Brown University

Renee Deehan-Kenney, PhD, is a molecular biologist by training and has spent the last decade guiding drug discovery and biomarker development by designing and building high-resolution molecular models of disease, and creating systems that find meaning in large-scale biological data. Prior to QuartzBio, Dr Deehan-Kenney was VP, Biology & Bioinformatics at PatientsLikeMe where she scaled the computational biology team from inception to 30 members, focused on development of an integrated research platform, and the generation and analysis of multi-omic and patient-generated health data. In addition, she implemented machine-learning, statistical and systems biology-based modeling approaches, collaborating globally with teams based in China and Israel. Dr Deehan-Kenney was also the PI for the DigitalMe Ignite program, a nation-wide registry where blood and survey data was collected for multi-omic measurement and analysis to yield insights about personalized health. Dr Deehan-Kenney was previously Senior Vice President of Research and Chief Scientific Officer at Selventa. In that role, she set the scientific direction for the company’s personalized medicine strategy and built a multidisciplinary team of biologists and computational biologists to characterize disease biology and identify target pathways. Dr Deehan-Kenney holds a doctoral degree in molecular and cell biology from the University of California, Berkeley and a bachelor of science degree in bioengineering with a minor in mathematics from the University of Pennsylvania.

Ann is a General Partner of the investment team at The Engine. Ann is a Board Member at Cambridge Crops, Cellino, E25Bio, Kytopen, Lucy Therapeutics, Syzygy & Vaxess. Ann was most recently at Sanofi where she held senior roles in business development and strategic venture investment. Prior to Sanofi, she was at Flagship Ventures. Ann started her career in R&D at 3M Company, working across fields of materials, biology, engineering. Ann holds an MBA from Harvard and a PhD in Chemical Engineering from MIT. She serves on the Board of Women in the Enterprise of Science and Technology and on the Life Science Council of Springboard Enterprises.

Dr. Marion Dorsch is the Chief Scientific Officer of Blueprint Medicines, a company focused on targeting genetic drivers of disease with highly selective kinase medicines. Marion has over 20 years of experience in the biopharmaceutical industry with a strong track record of discovering and advancing innovative therapies to patients. She joined Blueprint Medicines from Agios Pharmaceuticals, Inc. where she served as Vice President of Biology and contributed to the successful advancement of several molecules targeting defined genetic lesions into clinical trials, two of which were recently approved in relapsed/refractory AML (IDHIFA and TIBSOVO). Prior to joining Agios, Marion was the Director of Cancer Biology at Sanofi Oncology, where she oversaw drug discovery efforts. Earlier in her career, Marion served as research project leader for the Hedgehog pathway inhibitor sonidegib (ODOMZO), now approved in the U.S. and EU for the treatment of locally advanced basal cell carcinoma, at the Novartis Institutes for Biomedical Research and also worked in Inflammation Drug Discovery at Millennium Pharmaceuticals. Marion received her Ph.D. in Biology from the Free University of Berlin, Germany and was a postdoctoral fellow at Columbia University in New York.

Katie Ellias joined the T1D Fund in July 2018 as a Managing Director from Endeavour Vision, a Geneva-based growth stage venture fund, where she focused on medical devices and digital health as Senior Investment Director. She was previously Principal at Sofinnova Partners, Paris, a leading early stage life sciences fund, investing in medical technologies. She served as Board Observer for ReCor Medical (sold to Otsuka Holdings), CorWave, Shockwave Medical (NASDAQ: SWAV), RefleXion Medical, Pixium Vision (PIX.PA), and MD Start, a medical device accelerator. Prior to VC, Katie held roles in Business Development, Sales and Marketing at Medtronic in the Cardiac and Vascular businesses. She began her career at McKinsey & Company and Partners Healthcare in Boston. Katie holds a M.B.A. in Healthcare Management from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania and a B.A. cum laude in International Relations and Political Science from Yale University.

Adam Feuerstein is STAT’s national biotech columnist, reporting on the intersection of biotech and Wall Street. A veteran journalist, Adam was most recently Senior Columnist at TheStreet, where he wrote about biotech and drug stocks. Adam lives near Boston with his wife, two kids and Bo, an insanely cute boxer/mutt.

Jed Finn is a Managing Director and Head of Corporate and Institutional Solutions, which focuses on delivering Stock Plan Administration, Retirement, Deferred Compensation and Financial Wellness programs to Corporations and their employees via both Financial Advisor and Digital channels. Jed also serves as Chief Operating Officer of Morgan Stanley Wealth Management, a role he has held since 2015, where he drives both overall strategy and business performance. Jed serves on the Morgan Stanley Management Committee. Before joining Morgan Stanley in 2011, Jed was a partner in the Financial Services practice at McKinsey & Company. Jed serves on the board of Partnership with Children, a nonprofit organization focused on assisting at-risk children in New York. He holds a B.A. from McGill University and an MBA from MIT Sloan.

Barbara S. Fox, PhD, is a biotechnology executive with extensive leadership expertise starting up and building clinical-stage biotech companies. She is currently was CEO of Rheos Medicines, a biopharmaceutical company developing novel medicines that modulate immune cell metabolism with an initial focus on treating patients with severe autoimmune diseases and cancer. Dr. Fox was previously CEO of Tilos Therapeutics, a company developing antibodies specific for LAP-TGFβ for the treatment of cancer, fibrosis and autoimmune disorders that was acquired by Merck in 2019. Dr. Fox has previously served as Entrepreneur-in-Residence at Partners Innovation Fund, founder and CEO of Avaxia Biologics, founder and CSO of Recovery Pharmaceuticals, VP Discovery and Immunology at ImmuLogic Pharmaceutical Corp., and Associate Professor of Rheumatology at the U. Maryland School of Medicine. Dr. Fox received her AB in chemistry from Bryn Mawr College, her PhD in chemistry from MIT and trained as a post-doc in cellular immunology at the NIH.

Naomi Fried PhD, a national thought leader on healthcare innovation, is founder and CEO of Health Innovation Strategies. Naomi was previously Biogen’s first VP of Innovation and External Partnerships where she developed Biogen’s “innovation beyond the molecule” strategy to deliver non-pharmacological value to patients and providers. Prior to Biogen, Naomi was the first Chief Innovation Officer at Boston Children’s Hospital (BCH). At BCH, Naomi built and led the Innovation Acceleration Program, which focused on enhancing the innovation culture, improving care quality, and assisting the hospital in shaping the future of health care. The Innovation Acceleration program supported strategic innovation initiatives, resourced grass roots innovation, and identified unmet innovation opportunities. Naomi oversaw the creation and administration of the Innovestment Seed Grant program which supported 37 projects and the FastTrack Innovation in Technology (FIT) Program which developed 9 novel clinical software solutions and mobile apps. She also initiated and led the development of BCH’s telehealth strategy. Before moving to the Boston area, Naomi was the VP of Innovation and Advanced Technology in Kaiser Permanente's (KP) Program Offices where she led an effort to identify and assess emerging health care technologies and chaired the board of its internal Innovation Fund for Technology. She formed KP’s Telehealth Working Group and was involved in the start-up and governance of KP’s Innovation Lab, the Sidney R. Garfield Center for Health Care Innovation. She was the Managing Director of the Archimedes Project. Naomi writes and speaks nationally and internationally on innovation and digital health. Naomi received her Ph.D. in Materials Science from MIT and her B.S. in Chemistry from the University of California, Berkeley.

Jim Glasheen, PhD is the Executive Vice Chancellor for Innovation & Business Development at UMass Medical School, a position in which he leads a comprehensive and strategic approach to strengthening the scope and impact of the medical school’s biomedical research enterprise, which currently exceeds $250 million in annual external funding; and leveraging the commercialization of our IP portfolio through alliances, collaborations, agreements and partnerships with new and established life sciences partners. Dr. Glasheen was previously a general partner at Technology Partners, a venture capital fund in California. Companies in which he was an investor and/or board member include: Cadence Pharmaceuticals (CADX then acquired by Mallinckrodt), Revance Therapeutics (RVNC), Iomai (IOMI then acquired by Intercell), Incline Therapeutics (acquired by The Medicines Company), Transcend Medical (acquired by Novartis), Vision 5 (acquired by Allergan), Corcept (CORT), and Elcelyx (private). Glasheen is also the co-founder and co-chairman of the ConsumerMed, a non-profit organization focused on patient-centered health. Prior to his venture career, he was a consultant with McKinsey and Company and was a leader within their Pharmaceuticals and Medical Products practice. He is a graduate of Duke University and Harvard University, where he received a PhD in biology, followed by a postdoctoral fellowship at the University of California Berkeley.

Kathleen Gondek, PhD, is currently the Global Head of Evidence and Outcomes at Takeda. She is responsible for developing and implementing global outcomes and epidemiology research strategies to establish the value proposition for Takeda products from early development through commercialization. Prior to joining Takeda she was Vice President, US Medical Science Liaisons and Medical Affairs Operations at Bayer HealthCare pharmaceuticals and held a number of positions, of increasing responsibility, within the Health Economics and Outcomes Research (HEOR) function that span a 15-year career with the organization. Kathleen is a coauthor on 45 peer reviewed publications and over 100 presentations and has served on numerous external advisory committees including PCORI’s Rare Disease Advisory Panel. Kathleen holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Pharmacy from the State University of New York at Buffalo and a Ph.D. in Pharmacy Practice and Administrative Science from the University of Maryland at Baltimore. Kathleen was a lecturer at Yale University in the School of Public Health. Kathleen currently serves on the board for the Arts and Business Council of Boston.

Meredith Harris is the Executive Director of Marlborough Economic Development Corporation (MEDC), which serves as the sales and promotional arm for the City of Marlborough fostering economic development, job growth, community revitalization and commercial expansion within the city. Prior to joining the MEDC team, she was part of MIT’s Investment Management Company, working directly with the Real Estate team to manage the institutes’ real estate holdings and improve the quality of innovation within Cambridge. Meredith also spent several years working in the Massachusetts State House as a legislative aide to Representative F. Jay Barrows serving the constituents of the 1st Bristol District. She was named a Women of FIRE by Banker and Tradesman and a 40 under 40 awardee by the Worcester Business Journal in 2018. She currently serves as the Mayor’s designee on the Board of Directors for the 495/MetroWest Partnership and Metropolitan Area Planning Council, and she is a member of the Board of Directors for the Marlborough Regional Chamber of Commerce, MassEcon, and the MetroWest Economic Research Center Advisory Board. Meredith is a graduate of UMass Dartmouth and has a Master’s Degree in Public Affairs from UMass Boston.

After training at the University of Cambridge (UK) and spending much of his career in France, Chris Henderson moved in 2005 to Columbia University in New York, where he co-founded the Center for Motor Neuron Biology and Disease, an initiative in translational neuroscience that created a continuum from research on motor neurons through to clinical research on the motor neuron diseases ALS (amyotrophic lateral sclerosis) and SMA (spinal muscular atrophy). He was also director of the Columbia Stem Cell Initiative, a group of 120 laboratories across the university using stem cells to better understand or treat human disease. While still at Columbia, he became (and remains) director of Target ALS, a privately-funded foundation that has stimulated industry investment in ALS research by supporting cutting-edge translational research and nationwide core facilities. In 2014, Trophos - a French biotech of which he was an academic founder - announced positive clinical trial data in patients with SMA and was acquired by Roche. This provided major motivation to become more actively engaged in the biotech world and in October 2014, Henderson moved to Biogen (Cambridge, MA) to lead the neuroscience research program. As Vice President of Neurodegeneration & Repair, he works with a team of clinicians and scientists to take programs on Alzheimer’s disease, frontotemporal dementia, Parkinson’s disease, ataxias, ALS, SMA and multiple sclerosis from early research to clinical proof of concept.

Colin Hill is a leading voice in healthcare technology and co-founded precision medicine company GNS Healthcare in 2000 where he has since served as Chairman & CEO. GNS uses a powerful form of AI, causal AI, to match the right treatment to the right patient. He is a frequent speaker at national and international scientific and industry conferences and has appeared in numerous publications and television programs. Colin sits on the boards of leading mobile health information company, Biotelemetry Inc., and PPD, the second largest Contract Research Organization in the world.

A noted neuroscientist, Susan Hockfield, Ph.D., was the first life scientist and the first woman to serve as President of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, from 2004 to 2012. Previously, she held the positions of Provost and Dean of the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences while she was the William Edward Gilbert Professor of Neurobiology at Yale University. She has received honorary degrees from universities around the world. She is past chairman of AAAS and currently serves as a director of the Charles Stark Draper Laboratory, Partners HealthCare System and Fidelity Non-Profit Management Foundation, and the Council on Foreign Relations, is a life member of the MIT Corporation, and a board member of the Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs at the Harvard Kennedy School of Government.

Rachel has been with BenevolentAI for about 1.5 years as a Senior AI Scientist. She was recently promoted to AI Lead for Target Identification where she works to shape the strategy and application of AI to support drug target identification for preclinical drug development. She has a B.S. in Mathematics from the University of Houston and then spent 2 years at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory working as a science applications software engineer before earning her PhD in Computational Biology from New York University. In her spare time she currently enjoys riding the NYC ferry and planning for her upcoming wedding in September

Stephen Kennedy Smith is a principal at Park Agency - Joseph P. Kennedy Enterprises, the Kennedy family office, and an investor and entrepreneur. Stephen also is the editor of JFK- a Vision for America, published by Harper Collins . Stephen has bee a lecturer at the Sloan school of Management in the visionary investing program, and is currently a fellow at the Connection Science Group at MIT. He currently involved as a board member, advisory board member or partner in a number of health care and technology businesses, including, The Marwood Group- a healthcare-focused strategic advisory firm; Pear Therapeutics, a digital health care company Resolute Bio, and New Frontier Bio. His current investment and business focus is scaling innovative healthcare, and neuroscience companies. Stephen is a board member of the John F. Kennedy Library, and The Joseph P Kennedy Foundation. He also serves on the advisory board at INCAE Business School. He is cofounder and vice president of the World Leadership Alliance, an organization of business and political leaders that promotes, democracy , international understanding and trade. He received his BA from Harvard University, J.D. from Columbia University, and MA Ed from Harvard University School of Education. He has served on the staff of the Senate Judiciary and Foreign Relations Committees. He has taught in the advanced negotiation program at Harvard Law School and is a three-time recipient of the Danforth Award for excellence in teaching at Harvard University. He is also a recipient of the Lyndehurst Foundation Prize for social and artistic achievement. Mr. Smith was Deputy Campaign Manager for Senator Edward Kennedy during his Presidential and Senatorial campaigns, Youth Coordinator for the campaign of Mario Cuomo, served on the New England Steering Committee for the Obama presidential campaign, and continues to be active in Democratic politics.

Dr. Nora Khaldi is the Founder and Chief Scientific Officer of Nuritas, a company helping to solve some of the greatest challenges in biology and medicine. She has a PhD in Molecular Evolution and Bioinformatics as well as a Master’s in Mathematics. Dr. Khaldi is disrupting the status quo of drug discovery by integrating artificial intelligence (AI) and big data to extract peptides from natural sources for the development of therapies to address a broad range of health areas. She has a unique interdisciplinary background in Mathematics, Bioinformatics and Molecular Biology. Nora was the first scientist to show gene transfer between multi-cellular species. This ground-breaking find put into question many of the phylogenetic methods currently in use today. Some of Nora’s publications have been placed in a library of the top 2% of published articles in the fields of biology and medicine. Starting from an idea at her kitchen table and initially funded by personal savings, Dr Khaldi has grown Nuritas rapidly surrounding herself with a team of experts and raising funding from numerous sources in excess of $65m. She also spearheaded the expansion of Nuritas to the USA with the opening of a Boston office. Dr Khaldi has been recognised with numerous awards for her innovation and entrepreneurship. Of note, she was named Woman of the Decade in Business and Leadership at the Women Economic Forum (WEF) European Union Event and received the Rising Star prize form the Tech Excellence Awards in 2017. In 2019 she was inducted into the Young Global Leaders, the World Economic Forum’s foundation for remarkable leaders under 40. Dr. Khaldi continues to lead the Nuritas team in their goal of reaching billions of people with their life-changing ingredients, working with global leaders such as Nestle and BASF to achieve this.

David is the Co-founder, President and Chief Executive Officer of Frequency Therapeutics. He has over 20 years of entrepreneurial experience and has played an integral role in launching, building and operating many successful companies in the life sciences and other innovation sectors. Previously, David was the President and Chief Executive Officer of Entrega Bio, a PureTech Health company developing an innovative capsule technology to make injectable substances available orally. David’s first MIT-based startup was Semprus BioSciences, a biomedical company that went from business concept, to FDA 510(k) clearance and CE Mark approval, to major acquisition in five years. Semprus won the MIT $100K Entrepreneurial Competition for its business plan to develop a novel platform technology for reducing complications associated with long-term medical device implants, such as thrombosis and microbial adhesion. David subsequently led Semprus’ closing on several large financings before the company was acquired by Teleflex in 2012. Prior to Semprus, David was a Senior Executive at the leading venture capital firm, Polaris Partners, where he was responsible for deal-sourcing and originating and the execution of Polaris’ investment in Athletes Performance, a leading training facility for NFL, MLB, NHL and NBA professional athletes.

Judy Luu is a rising senior at the University of Massachusetts Amherst (UMass) majoring in psychology and neuroscience. Judy is a first-generation college student and is from Quincy, Massachusetts. At UMass, Judy works as an Undergraduate Research Assistant in a neuroscience lab where she is studying sex differences in the noradrenergic system in rats. She has also worked in a developmental psychology lab in the past, studying the effects of gender bias on young children. In addition, Judy works as a group tutor on campus, providing academic support for students. Last summer, she interned at Biogen in the Human Resources department as a Research and Development Learning Intern. She is back at Biogen this summer, and is very excited to be interning in the Community Lab, a place where she can combine her passion for science with mentorship. After graduation, Judy plans to work in the biotechnology industry for a few years before heading off to graduate school. Her ultimate dream is to receive her doctorate degree in a neuroscience-related field to better the lives of other people through science research and education.

Joseph R. Malarney is the Complex Manager and a Managing Director at Morgan Stanley’s Coastal New England Complex. With more than 35 years of experience with Morgan Stanley, and its predecessors, Joe is a leader in helping advisors develop their business while embracing the highest level of integrity. Joe started as a Financial Advisor in 1985 at Shearson Lehman Brothers and in 1988, he became a Branch Manager of the Orlando, Florida office. He joined Smith Barney in 1989 as the Branch Manager of the Boca Raton, Florida office. Joe moved back to Boston in 1995 as the Branch Manager of the 28 State Street office. After managing the Boston office for an honorable 25 year term, Joe embraced a new endeavor among the New England region. To offer advisors some of the most innovative and up-to-date financial planning tools in the industry, Joe assembled what is now known as the Coastal NE Complex. As a former advisor, he utilizes his deep knowledge of investment management, estate planning, and retirement planning to deliver comprehensive solutions for his advisors and their clients’ needs. Deeply committed to his career, Joe considers himself a student of managing people to a higher plane in life. He is relentless in his drive to provide advisors and their clients with the best experience possible. He lives with his wife, Christine Carona, in Newton, MA.

Tom is responsible for the Therapeutic Franchises, Commercial, Drug Development, External Innovation and the GI Insight Center. Tom joined Ironwood as chief commercial officer and senior vice president of marketing and sales in 2009. Since then, Tom has designed and implemented Ironwood’s commercial strategy, leading the creation of a sales force and bringing our first medicine, Linzess® (linaclotide) to patients. Prior to joining Ironwood, Tom led the U.S. brand team for denosumab at Amgen Inc. Prior to that, he held a number of senior commercial roles with Novartis AG, including vice president of strategic marketing and operations, where he directed the launch and growth of Zelnorm® (tegaserod maleate) for the treatment of patients with IBS‐C and chronic constipation. He was also part of the founding team at Astra Merck Inc., leading the development of the medical affairs and science liaison group and serving as brand manager for Prilosec® (omeprazole). Tom serves on the board of directors of Acceleron Pharma Inc., serves on the Board of Visitors for the University of Wisconsin – School of Pharmacy where he graduated with a degree in pharmacy.

Dr. Meeker is the Chairman, President & CEO of Rhythm Therapeutics, a biotechnology company focused on developing innovative therapies for rare genetic disorders of obesity. Dr. Meeker was formerly the President and CEO of Genzyme, a Sanofi company, a position he assumed when Genzyme merged with Sanofi in 2011. He was also a member of the Sanofi executive committee. He was most recently CEO of KSQ Therapeutics an early stage functional genomics company. In his career with Genzyme, Dr. Meeker held key positions of increasing responsibility beginning in the R&D organization and subsequently in operating roles, culminating in the position of Chief Operating Officer at the time of the merger. In his most recent role within Sanofi, he headed Sanofi-Genzyme, the specialty care unit with responsibility for Rare Diseases, MS, Oncology and Immunology franchises. Prior to joining Genzyme, Dr. Meeker was the Director of the Pulmonary Critical Care Fellowship at the Cleveland Clinic and an assistant professor of medicine at Ohio State University. He completed his internal medicine training at Harvard’s Beth Israel Hospital and his pulmonary/critical care training at Boston University. He completed the Advanced Management Program at Harvard Business School in 2000. Dr. Meeker is the Chairman of the Board of Trevi Therapeutics and a member of the board at Myokardia. He also serves on the boards of the Biomedical Science Careers Program, the Network for Excellence in Health Innovation and the Dimock Center, a Boston based community health center.

Imran is an intrapreneur driving external innovation with entrepreneurs. He possesses 25 years of business development & licensing, strategy, economic development, and technology transfer experience. Currently, Imran is Vice President and Head of Collaborate to Cure Hub-US within Business Development & Licensing at Bayer Pharmaceuticals; he is responsible for forging new business relationships with academia, biotech and venture capital for early & late stage access to technologies and assets. Prior to Bayer, Imran worked for Boehringer Ingelheim in BD&L leading scouting and evaluation primarily in Boston & San Diego. Imran received Boehringer Ingelheim’s distinguished President’s Award within two years of joining BI. Imran possesses extensive experience covering strategy, business development, alliance management, partnering and licensing in diagnostics, personalized medicine, therapeutics, and technology platforms. He holds a proven track record at other blue-chip organizations like Genzyme Genetics (now LabCorp), Millennium Pharmaceuticals (Takeda), Dana Farber Cancer Center and Mayo Clinic. In the diversity of his experiences, Imran was also the Chief Business Officer for Massbio, where he led the successful turn-around of Massbio, making it the most successful biotechnology state trade-association in the country; at Massbio, he launched several ground breaking mentoring and partnering programs that were later adopted by other state trade associations. Imran is passionate about ecosystem development and new company creation; towards that, he founded many innovative programs centered on life-science mentoring and partnering starting at Massbio, followed by Boehringer Ingelheim and now at Bayer. Through his various programs, Imran has coached over 300 early-stage companies over the past decade.

Award winning former Boston TV news and business anchor Mike Nikitas led live coverage of countless major news events, including the Boston Marathon bombings, 9/11, and New Hampshire Presidential Primaries. He interviewed hundreds of major newsmakers and business leaders, and hosted numerous fundraisers, debates and conferences. Known for clarity and credibility, he brings these characteristics to the core of his work with clients. Nikitas is an adjunct professor of “Media Strategy and Skills,” teaching graduate students at the Carsey School of Public Policy at the University of New Hampshire, Durham. He has guest-lectured at Harvard, Northeastern and Boston University. He has a special interest in veteran’s issues and is the longtime emcee of the annual Massachusetts Veteran’s Day Ceremony. Nikitas appeared as a newscaster in two movies, including the hit film “Ted.” Nikitas is a five-time Emmy nominee as Outstanding Anchor in Boston, and has been inducted into the prestigious “Silver Circle” of the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences.

Deborah Palestrant, Ph.D., M.B.A joined 5AM Ventures in 2018 as Partner, Head of 4:59. Previously, Dr. Palestrant was Vice President of Corporate Development & Strategy at Relay Therapeutics, where she executed business strategy including alliances, partnerships, and other collaborations and led communications. She has over 15 years of life sciences industry experience including drug discovery, company creation, operations, business development, and strategy. Following her postdoctoral fellowship, Dr. Palestrant was a lab head at the Novartis Institutes for Biomedical Research, where she advanced multiple structure-based drug discovery programs. In 2010, Dr. Palestrant joined Third Rock Ventures as a senior associate and helped to build and launch Blueprint Medicines (NASDAQ: BPMC). Upon its launch, Dr. Palestrant served an interim role in operations at Blueprint Medicines. Subsequent to her return to Third Rock Ventures, Dr. Palestrant helped to conceive and launch Editas Medicine (NASDAQ: EDIT), and as part of the original founding team, she led the business development group until joining Relay Therapeutics. Dr. Palestrant holds a Ph.D. in biochemistry and molecular biophysics from Columbia University, an M.B.A from Northeastern University, and was Damon Runyon Cancer Research Foundation Postdoctoral Fellow at The Scripps Research Institute.

Dr. Stuart Peltz founded PTC Therapeutics in 1998 and has served as Chief Executive Officer and a member of the board of directors since the company’s inception. Under his leadership, PTC has grown from a research organization to a publicly traded, global commercial organization with multiple approved products and a foundation of strong technology platforms that continues to drive a robust discovery pipeline for patients with rare disorders. Prior to founding PTC, Dr. Peltz was a Professor in the Department of Molecular Genetics & Microbiology at the Robert Wood Johnson Medical School, Rutgers University. Dr. Peltz is a recognized scientific leader in RNA biology in the area of post-transcriptional control processes involving mRNA turnover and translation, with more than 30 years of research and over 100 publications in this area. Dr. Peltz has received a number of business and scientific awards. Notably, he was elected as a Fellow of the American Academy for the Advancement of Science in 2010. He was recognized as PharmaVoice’s 100 Most Inspiring People in 2009 and received the Dr. Sol J. Barer Award for Vision Innovation and Leadership in 2014. Dr. Peltz earned a Ph.D. from the McArdle Laboratory for Cancer Research at the University of Wisconsin.

Anna joined Mersana in March 2015, bringing a substantial track record of executive leadership and business experience in the biotech industry. Prior to Mersana, Anna was President of Millennium, where she led Takeda Pharmaceutical Co.’s $1.3 billion oncology business. Anna also served as the Executive Vice President of Global Business Development for Takeda Pharmaceuticals where she oversaw global acquisitions, partnering, licensing, and venture investing. In this role, she led Takeda’s $12 billion acquisition of Nycomed, a critical step in the company’s globalization. Anna was a member of Takeda’s executive committee and was elected a corporate officer in 2011. Earlier in her career, Anna served as an executive officer at Millennium Pharmaceuticals and served in various senior leadership positions, playing an integral role in the company’s transformation from a genomics start-up to a fully integrated oncology leader. She was instrumental in the sale of Millennium to Takeda for $8.8 billion. Anna also served on the board of directors of Ariad Pharmaceuticals from May 2015 to February 2017, when it was sold to Takeda for $5.2 billion, and served on the board of Bioverativ from January 2017 to January 2018, when it was sold to Sanofi for $11.6 billion. She currently serves on the board of directors of Dicerna Pharmaceuticals. Anna earned her B.S. in Science and Engineering from Princeton University, M.S. in Chemical Engineering practice from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and M.B.A. from Stanford Graduate School of Business.

Pam Randhawa is CEO and Founder of Empiriko, a biotech company focused on developing R&D technologies for drug discovery and home-based point-of-care devices for personalized patient treatment. Pam has over 20 years of experience in the healthcare and life sciences industries with expertise ranging from policy, corporate strategy, product development, analytics and marketing for Fortune 500 companies, startups and government. Prior to founding Empiriko, she co-founded AgroGreen Biofuels, an alternative biofuels technology company using agriculture waste. Previously, Pam held several executive positions with major healthcare technology companies. She also served as an independent consultant to the State of Ohio, Department of Health, where she led a statewide taskforce for the Health Status of Ohioans for the State Health Plan to increase access and quality, reduce the cost of healthcare and improve public health in Ohio. Pam serves on the Board of Directors of the Massachusetts Life Sciences Center (MLSC), a state investment agency responsible for $1.6 billion fund to support life sciences innovation and create STEM related jobs in Massachusetts. She also serves on the Board of Directors of the Massachusetts Biotech Technology Council and a member of the World Economic Forum’s Global Future Council on Biotechnology. She chairs NSF/NIJ Industrial Advisory Board of Center for Advanced Research in Forensic Science and a member of the NIH review panel for SBIR/STTR Commercialization Readiness Pilot Program. Pam is a member of the Silent Spring Institute’s Leadership Council which studies the links between the environment and women’s health, with a focus on breast cancer. In addition, she serves on the Economic Development Planning Council for the State of MA. She serves as a judge for the Harvard Business School’s New Venture Competition and provides mentorship to startups and young professionals. Pam holds a bachelor’s degree in economics from the University of Rajasth.

Lina is a motivated first year medical student who was diagnosed with Acute Intermittent Porphyria (AIP) in 2014, when she was a freshman in college. Because AIP is rare and the symptoms are non-specific, physicians struggled to reach a diagnosis. She was repeatedly told that there was nothing medically wrong with her. Once she was finally diagnosed, Lina struggled with chronic symptoms, but she persevered and obtained her bachelor’s degree in four years. She went on to complete a post-baccalaureate program to fulfill all the pre-medical requirements, and has begun her first year of medical school. She believes that her experience as a patient will help her become a more compassionate physician.

Nancy is the founding CEO of Syros and has an established track record of value creation in biotechnology. Prior to Syros, she was Chief Medical Officer at Millennium Pharmaceuticals and, previously, Vice President of Clinical Development at Biogen. Nancy has overseen the development of numerous medicines. Under Nancy’s leadership at Millennium, VELCADE became a mainstay of treatment for multiple myeloma. Nancy led development of Millennium’s clinical pipeline, including NINLARO for hematologic malignancies and ENTYVIO for inflammatory bowel disease. At Biogen, Nancy played a central role in developing AVONEX and TYSABRI for multiple sclerosis. Nancy started her career as an assistant professor at Harvard Medical School and a member of the neurology staff at Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH). She trained in neurology and internal medicine at MGH and graduated with a degree in biology from Princeton. She is currently a member of the board of directors of Evelo Biosciences, Seattle Genetics, the Biotechnology Innovation Organization (BIO) and the Damon Runyan Cancer Research Foundation.

Paula Soteropoulos is an executive leader with more than 30 years of experience in the biopharm industry in areas of drug development, manufacturing, business development, global commercialization and company building. Paula is a strategic advisor to 5AM Ventures and serves as the Executive Chairman of a 5AM Ventures NewCo. She also serves on the board of directors of uniQure, a leader in gene therapy and most recently served as the CEO and a member of the board of directors of rare disease therapeutic developer Akcea Therapeutics. Paula was the founding President and CEO in 2015 and led the company through its IPO on NASDAQ in 2017, as well as significant growth: employing over 270 staff in thirteen countries, six drugs in its portfolio with 2 rare disease drug approvals. Under Paula’s tenure, Akcea was named by the Boston Business Journal as Massachusetts’ fastest growing public company in 2017 and one of the top stock performers in Massachusetts in 2018 and named one of Massachusetts’ Top 100 Women-Led Businesses in 2016, 2017, 2018 and Top 20 in 2019. Prior, Paula served as Senior Vice President and General Manager, Cardiometabolic Business and Strategic Alliances at Moderna Therapeutics and worked for over 20 years at Genzyme Corporation, most recently as Vice President and General Manager, Cardiovascular, Rare Diseases. She also serves on the Advisory Board of the Tufts University Chemical and Biological Engineering Department. Paula has been involved with a number of initiatives to support the development of female leadership in business, including the Healthcare Business Women’s Association and Women Unlimited. Paula has B.S. and Master’s degrees in Chemical and Biochemical Engineering from Tufts University and an executive management certificate from the Darden School of Business, University of Virginia.

John Tallarico is the Head, Chemical Biology and Therapeutics department at Novartis Institutes for Biomedical Research. In this role, John’s mission is focused on the early stages of therapeutic discovery, including target identification, target validation, and moving early discoveries into the drug discovery pipeline. This work covers all therapeutic areas of interest to Novartis. Prior to Novartis, John served as Head of Chemical Technologies at the Harvard Institute for Chemistry and Cell Biology where he was an Instructor in the Department of Cell Biology, Harvard Medical School from 2000 to 2004. At that time, John’s research was focused on the nascent field of Chemical Genetics. John received in PhD in Chemistry from Boston College and a B.A. in Chemistry from Miami University.

Dr. Tesi has been President, Chief Executive Officer and acting Chief Medical Officer since the formation of INmune Bio in September 2015. From November 2011 to May 2015, Dr. Tesi was CEO, President and Acting Chief Medical Officer of FPRT Bio Inc., a development-stage biotech company formed to develop XPro1595 for the treatment of neurodegenerative disease and other inflammatory diseases. From November 2010 to October 2011, Dr. Tesi was Chief Medical Officer of Adienne SRL, an emerging biotech company in Bergamo, Italy focused on products to treat patients with hematologic malignancy. From June 2007 to September 2010, Dr. Tesi was CEO and President of Coronado Biosciences, a company he founded. Dr. Tesi had an academic transplant surgery career treating patients with end-stage liver, pancreas and kidney disease after receiving his MD degree from Washington University School of Medicine in 1982. Dr. Tesi has been a licensed physician since 1982 and Fellow of the American College of Surgery since 1991.

Tamar leads global corporate affairs and is responsible for communications, government affairs, and policy for Alexion. In addition, she serves as Chairwoman of the Board for Alexion’s charitable foundation and serves as the Alexion lead for Inclusion and Diversity. Prior to Alexion, Tamar led Federal Executive Branch Strategy and State Government Affairs for Bristol-Myers Squibb. Tamar has more than 20 years of progressive experience in healthcare spanning across several sectors of the industry. Tamar holds a M.S. in Health Sciences with a concentration in Public Health from Trident University. Tamar also serves on the board of directors for MassBio Board, the Boston Chamber, and sits on the Schwartz Center (MassGeneral Hospital) Leadership Council.

Charles (“Chuck”) Wilson is the former President and Chief Executive Officer of Unum Therapeutics Inc. (now named Cogent Biosciences, Inc.), a company developing novel therapies for the treatment of cancer. From 2008 to 2014, Dr. Wilson served as Vice President, Global Head of Strategic Alliances for the Novartis Institutes for BioMedical Research (NIBR), the research and early development division of Novartis. In this role he was responsible for leading partnering efforts across all disease areas up through clinical proof-of-concept. His efforts included academic and biotech collaborations, equity investing in early stage companies, in-licensing of compounds, and spin-out of assets/technologies to start ups. In 2001, Dr. Wilson co-founded Archemix, a Cambridge, MA biotech company focused on the development of aptamers as therapeutics, and served as its Chief Technology Officer where he was responsible for both developing the company’s technology platform and managing its drug discovery efforts. As part of the senior management team, Dr. Wilson helped the company raise over $100 million in equity financing and advance multiple programs into clinical development. Before moving into industry, Dr. Wilson was a professor in the Markey Center for the Molecular Biology of RNA at the University of California, Santa Cruz from 1994 to 2001. Trained in structural biology and molecular biology, Mr. Wilson received a PhD with David Agard (UCSF, HHMI) and received his postdoctoral training with Nobelist Jack Szostak (Havard University / Massachusetts General Hospital). He received a B.A. and M.A. from Boston University. In addition to serving as Board Chair for the Massachusetts Biotechnology Council, he also serves as a member of the Board for GigaGen, Inc.

Dr. Yu completed his undergraduate degree in biochemistry and molecular biology at Harvard College, his M.D. and Ph.D. degree (in Neuroscience) from the University of California at San Francisco, clinical neurology training at Massachusetts General Hospital and Brigham and Women’s Hospital, and a fellowship in neurodevelopmental genetics at MGH and Boston Children’s Hospital. He joined the faculty in the Division of Genetics and Genomics as Instructor in 2010 and Assistant Professor in 2013.