Investor Panels and Entrepreneur Workshops
BIG PHARMA
Pipeline Strategy for Preclinical and Early Clinical Assets
BIG PHARMA
BIG PHARMA
Pipeline Strategy for Preclinical and Early Clinical Assets
In recent years, big pharma companies have begun looking outwards for innovative new therapeutics to add to their pipelines. This panel brings together speakers from various big pharma companies discussing topics such as:
- How big pharma sources assets
- The evaluation and investment process
- Key factors of interest
- How early-stage big pharma is willing to look
These panelists will shed light on the process that big pharma goes through when sourcing early-stage assets and advise startups on how they can best make a case for themselves. Panelists will also explore various trends within the therapeutics marketplace, what assets are of interest to their company, and what they think will be big in the future.
Panelists | |
Stacy Feld Head, Johnson & Johnson Innovation, West North America, Australia & New Zealand Johnson & Johnson Innovation (Moderator) |
Stacy is Regional Head, Johnson & Johnson Innovation, West North America, Australia & New Zealand, located at the Innovation Center in South San Francisco, California. In this role, she leads the Innovation Center team to build, advance, and manage a portfolio of co-investments and collaborations spanning the pharmaceutical, consumer health and medical device sectors. Stacy is also responsible for expanding and nurturing the external networks within the innovation community, including academia, venture capital, entrepreneurs and other governmental and private organizations.
Stacy has more than twenty years of diverse business experience translating innovative science and technology into transformative commercial solutions for patients and consumers. She has held a range of leadership positions in the healthcare, biotech, life sciences and consumer health sectors as a business development executive, venture capital investor, business and innovation strategist and transactional attorney. |
Erin Denny Director in BD Amgen |
Erin is a Director within Business Development at Amgen where she leads oncology search and evaluation. In this role, she is responsible for identifying external opportunities and conducting technical diligence on all licensing, collaboration and acquisition deals across oncology therapeutics.
Prior to Erin’s current role, she worked in Strategic Planning and Operations within Amgen’s Business Development group where she assessed opportunities across therapeutic areas and technology platforms. Prior to that, she worked as a Clinical Analyst at Doctor Evidence, a healthcare technology firm focused on developing a medical intelligence platform. Erin received her undergraduate degree from the University of Southern California (USC) and completed her PhD in Molecular and Cellular Biology at the City of Hope. Erin serves on the Board for the Pacific Region of the Healthcare Businesswomen’s Association (HBA) and holds an advisory role for the Los Angeles chapter of the Association for Women in Science (AWIS). |
Leslie Cousens Sr. Director, Search & Evaluation Respiratory & Immunology AstraZeneca |
Leslie earned her Ph.D. in biology and medicine, focusing on immunology, from Brown University in 1999. Her academic research experience in cellular and molecular immunology spans basic science in animal models through translational science in cellular immunotherapy. Prior to AstraZeneca, she led R&D efforts in the autoimmune space for a small biotech company in Providence, Rhode Island. Leslie joined AstraZeneca’s Emerging Innovations Unit in January 2015, taking an entrepreneurial approach to deliver new medicines through drug repositioning and incubating novel technologies by leveraging external collaborations. She has been supporting Respiratory & Immunology, BioPharmaceuticals R&D as Senior Director of Search & Evaluation since 2020. |
Tim Luker Sr. Director, Emerging Technology & Innovation, Corporate BD Eli Lilly & Co |
Tim Luker is currently VP External Innovation at Eli Lilly. He leads Lilly’s external advancing innovation process within Global Corporate Business Development. This role supports Lilly’s external VC funds targeting transformational early stage research across 4 therapy areas and runs due diligence and search and evaluation initiatives.Tim is an experienced drug hunter with 17 years’ experience (>60 patents and publications). Prior to Lilly he worked at Shire, Polleo Pharma (founder) and AstraZeneca.Tim has a PhD in chemistry from the University of Southampton, carried out post-doctoral research at Universiteit Van Amsterdam and is a Prince2 qualified project manager. |
Imran Nasrullah Head of Collaborate to Cure Hub – USA Bayer |
Leads Bayer’s Open Innovation Center for the East Coast, and is responsible for early access to technology and co-creation of new companies. Intrapreneur driving external innovation with entrepreneurs. Drives several mentoring & partnering programs he created at Bayer.Imran is an outcomes driven biopharmaceutical leader, recognized for delivering innovation and being creative, dynamic, and cross functionally capable. Recipient of Boehringer Ingelheim’s President Award. Extensive experience covering business development, alliance management, partnering and licensing activities in diagnostics, personalized medicine, therapeutics, and technology platforms with proven track record from Boehringer Ingelheim, Massbio, Genzyme Genetics, Millennium Pharmaceuticals..Possess strong business acumen, critical thinking, negotiations and sophisticated quantitative tools to illuminate business and technology opportunities, structure and negotiate deals, analyze intellectual property and understand financial exposure for drug development programs, technology platforms and new diagnostic services.Proven in negotiation and execution of complex agreements with biopharmaceutical, academic, and government entities enhancing R&D performance, acquiring strategic assets and accelerating product and service launches, covering purchases, collaborations, clinical trials, platform technologies and others. Demonstrable track record at Boehringer Ingelheim, Genzyme Genetics, Millennium Pharmaceuticals, MassBio, Dana Farber Cancer Center and Mayo Clinic.Founded BI Grass Roots Innovation programs – BI Office Hours, BI Academy, and BI Innovation Prize. Additionally, founded Massbio’s Pharma Days and MassConnect, a start-up mentoring service. Additionally, founded PharmaDays, a MassBio partnering service connecting major pharmaceutical companies with biotechnology and the academic community for one-on-one partnering.Industrial Expertise: Intrapreneurship, search & evaluation, business development, licensing, negotiation, transactions, collaboration and alliance formation & management; inflammation, oncology, metabolics therapeutics and diagnostics. |
DIAGNOSTICS INVESTORS
New Generation of Technologies Changing Treatment Paradigms
DIAGNOSTICS INVESTORS
DIAGNOSTICS INVESTORS
New Generation of Technologies Changing Treatment Paradigms
This panel focuses on investments in innovative diagnostics, ranging from IVD, genomics, precision medicine, and more. Topics may include:
- Current areas of interest
- Current challenges in this ecosystem – Navigating the competitive landscape
- Commonly observed red flags
- Successful deals
Panelists will discuss how companies can successfully fundraise for their budding diagnostics technology and the best way to successfully approach and develop a relationship with relevant investors. Panelists will also explore current areas of interest and why they are relevant, as well as developmental and regulatory hurdles and how companies can address these problems to attain key milestones.
Panelists | |
Tom Miller Managing Partner GreyBird Ventures (Moderator) |
Tom Miller is a global healthcare industry leader and an experienced and visionary CEO. He graduated from the University of Massachusetts at Lowell and then received a Masters degree in Medical Physics from the Harvard University/MIT Health Sciences and Technology Program. Tom initially pursued an academic career, working at Los Alamos National Laboratory, the Swiss Institute for Nuclear Research (now the Paul Scherer Institute), Brookhaven National Laboratory, and the Massachusetts General Hospital.
Tom then joined Siemens Medical Systems where, after 9 years, he became the first non-German CEO of a German factory and business unit. He left Siemens after 15 years to become CEO of the global medical operations of Carl Zeiss. After completing a successful turnaround, he joined Analogic Corporation as CEO. After three years and a doubling of the stock price, Tom left to help establish and become CEO of LightLab Imaging, a leader in the field of cardiovascular optical coherence tomography. Subsequently, after a profitable sale of LightLab to a Japanese company, Tom re-joined Siemens, where he became a member of the operating board and CEO of the Customer Solutions Division of Siemens Healthcare, responsible for 26,000 employees in over 130 countries. Tom is a frequent speaker on healthcare technology and business at such venues as the National Press Club, the National Library of Medicine, the National Institute of Health, and the American Hospital Association. He was selected by the diagnostic imaging industry to provide Congressional testimony to the House Health Sub-Committee as well as the European Parliament on healthcare technology policy. Internationally, Tom has given keynote speeches at the Arab Health meeting in Dubai, the World Health Organization in Bejing, the Innovation for Health Conference in Amsterdam, the TiE Leapfrog Conference in Bangalore, the World Executive Healthcare Forum in Montreal, and the NHS Economic Research Council in London. Tom remains active with students and young entrepreneurs as an organizing committee member and judge for the AIM-HI Women’s Venture Competition and through numerous lectures at business schools in the USA and Germany. His commencement address at the India Institute of Technology in Roorkee, the oldest technical institute in Asia, highlights this commitment. Tom Serves on the Board of Hummingbird Diagnostics, Genetika+, JF Healthcare, and Angstrom Bio, and as Chair of the Board of Ceres Nanosciences, Atlas 5D and Platomics. |
Mary Amor Head of Ventures & BD Siemens Healthineers |
Siemens Healthineers has offices worldwide. The firm invests in medical technology companies that are strategically relevant to Siemens. Siemens invests in new technologies via venture investing, collaborations, incubation, or M&A. The firm invests worldwide. |
David Gordon Head of Investments Longliv Ventures |
David Gordon is a Digital Health pioneer and a tech veteran. He has been at the forefront of technology for some 25 years, holding senior positions at Intel, Partner Communications Company (Orange Israel), and Elbit – in strategic planning, product development, business development and technology forecasting; he has created and managed research, innovation and corporate venturing frameworks. He was one of the founders of Partner, where he managed for 7 years its international business; over the years he was involved in several start-up ecosystems via entrepreneurship, investment and mentoring.
David Gordon started his career as a military officer, a programmer and an archaeologist and also spent a term in journalism. He currently also serves as a research fellow at the Institute for National Security Studies (INSS) – the prestigious Israeli think tank. David holds B.Sc. and M.A. degrees of the Hebrew University in Jerusalem. |
Ekkehard Kauffmann Partnering, Strategy and Transactions Roche Diagnostics |
Ekkehard is part of Partnering, Strategy and Transactions at Roche Diagnostics, and is responsible for external growth strategies as well as evaluating and securing early to commercial stage innovation for Roche Diagnostics through acquisitions and other deal types. Previous leadership roles in business development and R&D at Bayer and in the Novartis spin-off company Zeptosens. Ph.D. in Biophysics and executive MBA education background. |
Brad Murray Senior Associate Xontogeny |
Bradley Murray is a Senior Associate at Xontogeny where he leverages his diverse skillset to engage biotechnology companies seeking financing and partnership.
Most recently, Brad spent 5 years as a computational biologist and managing the build out of T-cell therapeutics platform capabilities at Intellia Therapeutics. While at Intellia, Brad applied his expertise in genomics, gene editing, and machine learning to enable both in-vivo and ex-vivo CRISPR/CAS9 therapeutics to enter the clinic for the first time. Prior to Intellia, Brad was a computational associate at The Broad Institute where he developed algorithms for the analysis of cancer genome sequencing data. His work at the Broad Institute led to novel drug targets, clinical trials in new indications, and publications cited over 10,000 times. Brad holds a BS in Biology and Economics from Georgetown University and an MBA in finance and entrepreneurship from Boston College. |
Lu Zhang Managing Partner Fusion Fund |
Lu Zhang, Founder and Managing Partner of Fusion Fund, is a renowned Silicon Valley investor, a serial entrepreneur and a Stanford Engineering alumna. Lu is a World Economic Forum Young Global Leader (Class of 2018). She has also garnered other accolades including the Featured Honoree in VC category of Forbes 30 under 30 (2017), Silicon Valley Women of Influence (2018), Top 10 All America Chinese Youth (2018), Town & Country 50 Modern Swans Entrepreneurship Influencer (2017). Lu was recently selected as the Best 25 Female Early-Stage Investor by Business Insider in 2021. Prior to starting Fusion Fund, she was the Founder and CEO of a medical device company focused on non-invasive technology for the early diagnosis of Type II diabetes (acquired in 2012). Lu is a frequent speaker at tech events and conferences and also serves as a mentor and advisor to several tech innovation programs in Silicon Valley. |
CORPORATE VENTURE CAPITAL
The Corporate Landscape Morphed & New Opportunities Abound
CORPORATE VENTURE CAPITAL
CORPORATE VENTURE CAPITAL
The Corporate Landscape Morphed & New Opportunities Abound
Corporate venture capital firms are an important source of capital for early-stage companies. Many major pharmaceuticals and large corporations have set up a corporate investment arm to identify early-stage companies. Strategically and financially driven in varying degrees, the implications of working with CVCs are huge, as the resources, network, and guidance provided by the CVC and the associated parent company are incredibly valuable to an entrepreneur who is actively growing their business.
This panel will discuss the following topics and more:
- How are CVCs different from traditional VCs?
- How strategically vs. financially are CVCs driven, and how does this affect their decision-making process?
- How closely does the CVC communicate with the parent company?
- What does working with a CVC entail?
Panelists will discuss each of their investment mandates and how they relate to corporate interests, and how they have been sourcing opportunities during COVID. Panelists may also explore current trending areas of interest, and what they see as emerging fields in the near future.
Panelists | |
Tad Weems Managing Director Agilent Technologies (Moderator) |
Tad currently leads the Agilent team that manages the partnership/investment relationships with about 30 early stage life science tools companies. He has been in the life science tools industry for 20 years, serving in a variety of research, business development, nancial and management roles. Prior to joining Agilent, Tad co-founded and successfully exited two companies; thus, is very familiar with the funding, commercialization and growth issues that entrepreneurs face. Additionally, he has worked in both the venture capital and petrochemical industries, serves on multiple Boards, holds several patents and is a Wharton MBA and chemical engineering graduate of UT Austin and UC Berkeley. |
Fiona MacLaughlin Director Johnson & Johnson Innovation (JLABS) |
Based in London, UK, Fiona brings more than 20 years of experience in the life science industry to Johnson & Johnson Innovation –JJDC, Inc. (JJDC), where she serves as the principal of venture investments.
Prior to joining JJDC, Fiona served as a director at Inkef Capital, where she led both pharma and MedTech investments and held Board seats in a number of portfolio companies. A qualified pharmacist, Fiona is passionate about helping early-stage companies establish a value-building trajectory by engaging and challenging management and creating optimal development plans. Fiona began her career in biotech focusing on the development of non-viral gene therapy and other novel delivery solutions. A fundamental interest in philanthropy led her to the Wellcome Trust and a focus on translational funding, including establishing a fund to support the development of affordable healthcare technologies in India. Fiona’s transition to venture investing began with a move to Advent Life Sciences, where she was involved in helping shape and build a number of early-stage companies including Arrakis Therapeutics. |
Michelle Snyder Investment Partner McKesson Ventures |
Michelle Snyder brings over 25 years’ healthcare industry experience in marketing, business development, strategic planning, and general management, and is recognized as a leader in the digital health space. Prior to joining McKesson Ventures, she was Chief Marketing Officer at Welltok as well as an early executive at Epocrates, where she worked for over a decade to build the company into one of the most recognized brands among clinicians. Other roles include positions at The Wilkerson Group, Lewin Group and Georgetown Center for Health Policy Studies. |
Frances Taheri Global Ventures Digital Health Lead Accenture Ventures |
Frances has over 8 years of experience working across a range of digital innovation transformations and leads Accenture Venture’s global digital health startup portfolio. In this role, she has built considerable expertise in partnering and investing in growth-stage companies.
Her superpowers are in teaching technology trends and in standing up successful experimentation programs across the healthcare industry. She is the connector between digital health startups and industry clients with a passion for finding cutting-edge technology solutions and designing innovative ways to improve business performance. |
FAMILY OFFICES pANEL
How Do Family Offices View Seed & Series A Rounds?
FAMILY OFFICES PANEL
FAMILY OFFICES PANEL
How Do Family Offices View Seed & Series A Rounds?
This panel focusing on understanding how family offices view direct investments in early-stage healthcare opportunities (seed – series A) and how the differ/compare to VCs. Topics may include:
- Primary differences between institutional VCs and family office investors
- How family offices source investments / how to get on their radar
- Trends in the early-stage healthcare investment space
The primary goal of this panel is to help entrepreneurs understand how family offices view early-stage investments in the healthcare space and best practices for approaching, pitching and working with these groups as well as debunking some common misconceptions about family offices.
Panelists | |
Andy Merken Partner, Corporate and Securities Co-Chair, Life Sciences Burns & Levinson (Moderator) |
Andy is a Partner in the Corporate Group and the Venture Capital & Emerging Companies Group. He is also the Co-Chair of both the Life Sciences Group and the Securities Group. Andy focuses on business and transactional matters for a wide range of clients, with a particular concentration on Seed round and Venture Capital financings, recapitalizations, mergers & acquisitions, private equity transactions, and corporate governance.
In addition to his corporate finance and mergers & acquisitions work, Andy represents entrepreneurs, start-up and growth-stage companies, and investment banks, as well as venture capital investors, private foundations, family offices, and angel investors, in formation and structuring matters, equity and compensation, business contracts and general business advice and planning. Andy also represents C-level and R&D executives in employment matters, including equity compensation. Andy works with clients in a variety of industries, including life sciences (biotech/biopharmaceutical, medical device, healthcare, digital health, and healthcare services), business services, software, financial services, venture capital, investment banking, consulting, legal services, consumer products, staffing, food services, real estate, and entertainment. |
Patrick Burgermeister Partner KIZOO Technology Ventures |
Patrick Burgermeister is an expert in life science investing with a double background in molecular biology and business. He joined Kizoo in 2019 coming from the venture capital group BioMedPartners where he was one of the partners. Moreover, his industry career encompasses also banking (as a senior analyst for pharma/biotech) and pharma (as a senior portfolio manager at Novartis). Patrick supports various biotech companies as a director on their boards, was a successful business developer for early-stage biotech companies and led collaboration and licensing deals with public and private companies. He headed business development at several companies including Apeiron Biologics and BioVersys. |
Ruchi Dana Board Member Dana Group |
Dr. Ruchi Dana is a qualified medical practitioner, who has transitioned successfully into a seasoned entrepreneur and Business Leader. Ruchi did her MD from AMU and her full-time MBA from Stanford University. Ruchi also received her PMP Certificate in Public Management and Social Innovation from Stanford University. Ruchi is a frequent speaker at various industry conferences and sits on multiple Corporate, startup, non-profits and University boards including Dana Group of Companies, Dubai, Duluth Medical Technologies Inc, USA, NGO Aaroogya Foundation, India and the California State University, Chico Cybersecurity Advisory Board. Ruchi has been recognized by Forbes Middle East as the “Next Generation Business Leader, Arab World” for 3 consecutive years 2017, 2018 and 2019. She has also been recognized by Campden Wealth as the “Women to Watch” in September’18 issue, and was conferred with the Yuva Ratna Award, 2018. Ruchi has also been recognized as “Top 75 Family Business Leaders” 2019 by Campden Research (UK). Recently, Dr Ruchi was featured on the Forbes ME Top Power Businesswomen 2020. Since joining Dana Group, Ruchi has been instrumental in starting the Value-added Steel manufacturing division in 2008, Lubricants and Grease manufacturing division and also Retail, Hospital and Real Estate divisions for Dana Group in 2014. Dr. Ruchi is actively involved in strategic planning for Dana Group and manages the family office investments. Ruchi has also worked with Golden Seeds, an investment firm in New York and New Silk Route Growth Capital, a PE firm in Dubai, she has mainly focused on healthcare-related investments at both these firms. |
John Steuart Managing Director Steuart Ventures |
John has been managing venture capital funds for more than 20 years, at Ala Capital, Claremont Creek Ventures (co-founder), Prolog Ventures, and Steuart Ventures. John also co-founded CyberGold, an Internet payments and loyalty marketing company. The founding team built the company from three co-founders to 150 employees and took it public. After that came a $500 million merger with a competitor, Mypoints. The combined company was acquired by United Airlines. John spent the next couple of years working at its corporate VC arm, United Airlines New Ventures. In 2007, John led the Series A investment in Natera together with Sequoia Capital. The molecular diagnostic company successfully completed an IPO in July 2015. John currently invests in testing technologies and digital health. In August 2015 Roche acquired John’s portfolio company GeneWeave in a $425 million transaction. In August 2016, Myraid Genetics purchased John’s portolio company Assurex in a $410 million deal. John currently serves on the boards of Natera (NTRA), SmartZip, TOMA Bio, and Rally4. |
Lauren Tyra Chief Scientific Officer Green Park & Golf Ventures |
Dr. Tyra joined Green Park & Golf in 2017 and serves as Chief Scientific Officer. Prior to joining Green Park & Golf, she completed graduate studies in the Neuroscience program at UT Southwestern Medical Center. During her doctoral studies, she was awarded the prestigious Graduate Research Fellowship from the National Science Foundation to support her research and broader impact activities on the UTSW campus and in the local community. Through her research, she developed an expertise in the mechanisms organisms use for recycling and growth, as well as a deep understanding of the fields of neuroscience and developmental biology. Dr. Tyra is a published scientific author, with publications in Developmental Cell, eLife, Development, and the Journal of Cell Biology.
At GPG, Dr. Tyra leads diligence efforts and has participated in more than 60 of the firm’s healthcare and technology investments. She serves as an active board observer for Genomenon, Prima Temp, and Gregor Diagnostics. |
The Early-Stage Pivot Panel
Switching Directions with AI Technology
The Early-Stage Pivot Panel
The Early-Stage Pivot Panel
Switching Directions with AI Technology
The opportunities for AI applications within life science and healthcare are innumerable and the need only increases. With so many options available to the early-stage entrepreneur, how do they know when it’s time to pivot the company or expand beyond their offerings? How do they approach potential pivots when fundraising or working with their current investors? Learn how to discuss early-stage pivots with partners, accept feedback, and how to be both steady and flexible while at the helm of the ship.
Panelists | |
Renee Yao Global Healthcare AI Startups BD Lead NVIDIA Corporation (Moderator) |
Renee Yao (she/her) leads global healthcare AI startups at NVIDIA, managing more than 1,300 healthcare startups in the digital health, medical instrument, medical imaging, genomics, and drug discovery segments. Previous to this role, she was a senior product manager and product marketing manager for AI systems, building bundle solutions and reference architectures for the self-driving car, telecom, and big data analytics industries. Yao graduated from the Haas School of Business at UC Berkeley with a focus in economics and IT. She was named one of the top 50 B2B product marketers to watch. In her free time, she enjoys competitive ballroom dancing, reading, and traveling. |
Marina Cortes Venture Partner Hike Ventures LLC |
Marina is a multilingual professional equipped with a background in health research and a unique skill-set acquired through her experience in Consulting and Venture Capital. She started her career in healthcare investment at BDC Capital and later joined an advisory team, wherein she notably advised private companies on IPO dual listing (HKEX, NYSE) and due diligence M&A buyer side. Later on, she oversaw the global strategy of Heartbeat AI and developed strategic partnerships in Japan and South Korea. Meanwhile maintaining key investor relations she gained a keen interest in VC fundraising and LP relations and advised several LPs and GPs on VC/PE fundraising in North America and Asia. Marina has a strong passion for VC fund operations, investor relations, and, enjoys helping startups and organizations expanding to international markets. BS from the University of Montreal; MS from Seoul National University. |
Heather Petty Sr. Manager, Program Development Xontogeny |
Heather has been with Xontogeny since it was founded in 2016, starting as an Associate to support the build out of the company’s due diligence process and engagement with entrepreneurs and scientific founders. In her current role as Senior Manager of Program Development, Heather works with the team to construct program activities for portfolio companies and companies in final diligence stages. These activities span optimization of early preclinical through clinical development and includes building upon existing vendor relationships, evaluating appropriate service providers, and assessing the competitive landscape. Prior to joining Xontogeny, Heather interned at Sarepta Therapeutics in support of the eteplirsen (Exondys51) FDA advisory committee hearing. She obtained her MBS degree from Keck Graduate Institute, a specialized program that focuses on translating ideas into commercial products in the biopharmaceutical industry across all modalities and therapeutic areas. Prior to that, she conducted breast cancer cell research and worked to develop a novel diagnostic for early detection of sepsis while acquiring her undergraduate degree at Southwestern University. Heather currently sits on the Young Professional Executive Committee for The Genesis Foundation, a non-profit that provides coordinated care to patients with rare and genetic diseases and is an active member of Women in Bio. |
Rohit Pratap Singh Vice President, Investments Xeraya Capital |
Rohit joined Xeraya Capital in August 2015. He has more than a decade of experience in PE/VC investments and front-end investment banking. Rohit has extensive experience in the PE/ VC/ M&A space. As an investment banker, he has represented clients from Asia, Europe and the US, advising them on cross-border acquisitions worth over USD 1 billion and as a VC he has been part of investments in US, W.Europe and Asia. Apart from developing skill sets in equity transactions, Rohit also brings in cross-cultural work experience gained from working in different regions and jurisdictions, an understanding of local/international M&A laws and an extensive network of bankers and fund managers. Prior to Xeraya, Rohit worked in PwC, KPMG and Rabobank in their respective M&A/ IB teams. He graduated as an engineer and has an MBA from India’s leading institution – Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur. He is also a Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) charter holder. |
MEDICAL DEVICE INVESTORS
Investing in Novel Engineering
MEDICAL DEVICE INVESTORS
MEDICAL DEVICE INVESTORS
Investing in Novel Engineering
Investing in medical devices has become more complex with time. While standard medical devices are still a mainstay, there are an increasing amount of combination devices, software-enabled devices and diagnostic devices that require investors to have expertise in multiple sectors. Panelists may discuss topics such as:
- The benefits vs. risks of devices that cross sectors
- Regulatory challenges
- Amount/type of data they want to see before investing
Panelists will discuss how to meet the challenges of raising financing for a new device and advise startups on how to make the investment case for their novel technology. Panelists will also explore what technology areas are of top interest to them and how a startup can make themselves stand out in the crowd.
Panelists | |
David Uffer Senior Partner Alira Health Ventures (Moderator) |
David Uffer joined Alira Health with over 25 years of management experience in the medical device, products and clinical diagnostics field. He has lead strategy development, strategic planning and business development activities in these fields for mid and large cap public companies.
David has directed business development deals ranging from M&A, licensing, distribution and co-development for companies such as Medtronic (legacy Covidien) in their respiratory and medical products business, as well as Hologic and Boston Scientific. He has held management roles at Integra Lifesciences and Abbott Labs. David has a BA from Clark University, Worcester, MA and an MBA from Thunderbird, School of Global Management, Glendale, AZ.
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Anke Cassing Principal High-Tech Gründerfonds |
Anke is principal at HTGF, a European seed investor that has already helped forge more than 650 start-ups since 2005. She has many years of experience in strategic marketing and business development in medical technology, biotechnology and in pharmaceutics. She holds a doctorate in biology and studied economics. At the HTGF, she finances high-potential, tech-driven start-ups. |
Rick Jones Partner BioAdvance |
Dr. Frederick “Rick” Jones is a life science investor, entrepreneur and physician with extensive experience in biopharmaceuticals and healthcare. Prior to BioAdvance, Rick was a Director at Broadview Ventures, a philanthropic venture investor with a mission to support early stage companies with potential breakthrough technologies in cardiovascular disease. At Broadview he participated in all aspects of the investment process including sourcing opportunities, diligence, negotiating deal terms, supporting portfolio companies and serving on corporate boards.
Rick began his career as an internal medicine physician, most recently as Assistant Professor Clinical Medicine in the University of Pennsylvania Health System. Prior to that he was on staff at the Lahey Clinic and served in the Naval Medical Corps at Long Beach Naval Hospital. Rick received his BA, MD and MBA degrees from the University of Pennsylvania. |
Yaniv Sneor Founding Member Mid Atlantic Bio Angels |
Yaniv Sneor is a (reformed) physicist, who made the transition into the business world after being bitten by the entrepreneurial bug. Yaniv has been involved in founding, growing, managing and re-engineering companies for the past 25+ years, in multiple industries. He ran companies of different sizes and at different life-stages, led re-structuring activities, purchased and sold multiple companies, and negotiated and integrated joint ventures and strategic relationships.Yaniv is one of the founders of MABA – Mid Atlantic Bio Angels (bioangels.net) a life science angel investor group. He is president of Blue Cactus Consulting (bluecactusconsulting.com), and CEO of Native State Therapeutics, a recently-formed biotechnology company, in the neurodegenerative space. |
Mishael Zohar Associate OrbiMed Advisors LLC |
Mishael Zohar, MD MBA, is an Associate at Orbimed Israel a leading healthcare investment firm, with $13 billion in assets under management, covering venture capital investments in biotech, medical devices, and diagnostic companies. Prior to joining OrbiMed he Co-founded and managed Orion.ID – a startup company that developed and designed medical applications for mental health early prevention and management. Before establishing Orion.ID Mishael was Co-partner & Head of the Training Division at M-TACS – a company that provides tactical medical solutions services worldwide. Mishael received his BMedSc and MD from Ben-Gurion University, Faculty of Health Sciences, as well as an MBA in Innovation and Entrepreneurship from the Interdisciplinary Center Herzliya, Harrison School of Business. Dr. Zohar is a researcher at the Julis-Rabinowitz Data Science institute at IDC, Herzliya focusing on medical big data. |
DIGITAL HEALTH
Leveraging Software to Lower Costs and Improve the Quality of Care
DIGITAL HEALTH
DIGITAL HEALTH
Leveraging Software to Lower Costs and Improve the Quality of Care
This panel focuses on investing in innovative digital health products that bring new efficiencies to the healthcare system, change how care is delivered or managed, and how patients are involved in their own care. Panelists will explore topics related to investing in digital health, including:
- In what kinds of digital health technologies are they interested in investing?
- What metrics and evidence do you look for in a digital health startup?
- How can an early stage digital health company demonstrate the value of their products?
- What are the main challenges for startups raising capital in this space?
The moderator and panelists will discuss this rapidly evolving field of healthcare investment, and will introduce the audience to the key fundraising opportunities and challenges facing digital health entrepreneurs today.
Panelists | |
Roberto Rosas Director Health Innovation Capital (Moderator) |
Roberto Rosas is a Director at Health Innovation Capital (HIC), a venture capital impact fund focused on the unmet medical needs of pediatric patients. Roberto focuses on early-stage investments in digital health, tech-enabled healthcare services, medtech, and therapeutics across the pediatric patient care continuum. Prior to HIC, Roberto spent five years at Silicon Valley Bank in Palo Alto/San Francisco, where he helped finance dozens of leading venture-backed digital health, medtech, and therapeutics companies. Roberto has also co-founded a company driving better outcomes for diverse patients through increased cultural sensitivity, and previously founded an EdTech golf company. As a first-generation undocumented immigrant, Roberto is passionate about ensuring that all patients gain access to equitable care. Roberto holds BAs in Economics and Hispanic Studies from Columbia University and is pursuing his MBA at University of Chicago Booth School of Business. |
Jochen Hurlebaus Head of Digital Health Innovation Roche Diagnostics |
Jochen heads the Digital Health Innovation Chapter within Roche Diagnostics International. He holds a PhD in Bioinformatics and an Executive MBA and has more than 18 years of experience in the Life Science and Diagnostics industry. From 2007 to 2017 he has established the Innovation & IP Management department within Roche Diagnostics. In 2018 he established the Startup Creasphere in Munich which is now one of the leading Digital Health Accelerators in Europe with satellite programs in Singapore and the Silicon Valley. Together with startups Roche is bringing digital transformation of healthcare to patients, providers and payers. In 2019 Jochen took the leadership of Digital Health Innovation within Roche Diagnostics International. |
Masashi Kiyomine Partner Kicker Ventures |
Masashi is the Founder & Managing Partner at Kicker Ventures, a US based venture capital fund he founded in 2021. With a vision to set the future standard of healthcare, Masashi is reimagining the traditional VC model and created a novel global healthcare innovation platform that partners with entrepreneurs to maximize impact all over the world.
As part of this new model, he has created Co-Studio, an open innovation style incubator based in Japan focused on “Social Medicine,” a term he has coined. Co-Studio’s revolutionary approach to new business creation has resulted in the launch of 8 companies since 2020. Prior to founding Kicker Ventures, Masashi spent 13 years at Mitsui Global Investment where he specialized in Digital Health and Medical Devices and served as the Head of Global Life Sciences Venture Investment team. Masashi has been appointed as a Specially Appointed Professor (Visitor) at Tohoku University in 2020 and acts as advisor to several healthcare and innovation programs, including Innohub by METI and AMDAP by Tokyo. Masashi is a columnist at Nikkei Beyond Health and holds a dual B.A. in Engineering and Asian Studies at Dartmouth College. |
Mark McDade Co-founder and Partner Qiming Venture Partners USA |
Mark McDade co-founded Qiming Venture Partners USA in January 2017 and has over 30 years of successful operating experience in private and public healthcare and life sciences companies. Prior to Qiming, Mark was Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer (COO) of UCB, the Brussels, Belgium-based global biopharma.
Previously, Mark served as Chief Executive Officer (CEO) and a director of PDL Biopharma and led Signature Bioscience as its CEO. Mark also was a founder and director of Corixa Corporation, where he served as COO and then as President & COO. Earlier in his career, Mark was COO of Boehringer Mannheim Therapeutics, the biopharmaceutical division of Corange. Prior to that, he held several positions of increasing responsibility at Sandoz Ltd. (now Novartis), including business development, product management, and general management. Mark is on the boards of several of Qiming’s portfolio companies, notably serving as chairman of the board of Icosavax (Nasdaq: ICVX). He previously served as chairman of the board of Aimmune Therapeutics until its acquisition by Nestlé Health Sciences and as a director of Dermira until its acquisition by Eli Lilly & Company. He also serves as a director of Mumbai-based Lupin Ltd. and as a trustee of the National Marine Sanctuary Foundation. |
Jun Deng Investment Partner Joyance Partners |
Jun is an Investment Partner at Ataraxia VC, which manages Joyance Partners and Social Starts funds. She is a strategist with experience, from seed to growth, in Life Sciences and Healthcare. At Ataraxia, Jun set the healthcare investment strategies and has led over forty investments, including two exits, Volumetric Bio acquired by 3D System and Osmosis acquired by Reed/Elsevier. She served board roles at Nymbl Science, BioEclipse Therapeutics, and Pop Up Health. Jun was a venture mentor at Singularity University and is currently a mentor at Endless Frontier Labs, New York University-associated accelerator program. She is a strategic investor at HealthTech Capital. Prior to her VC career, Jun has over seven years of scientific research experience. Jun holds a Ph.D. in Molecular Physiology from the University of California, Los Angeles. |
Z Haroon Chairman and General Partner Julz Co |
Julz Co is an investment management company focused on investing in early-stage healthcare companies in the area of therapeutics, medical devices, services and digital healthcare. The company has offices in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, USA and Suzhou, China. Julz invests globally in companies that have novel and proprietary technology addressing a vital market need and are driven by experienced management teams. |
Tales from the Road
Biotech and MedTech Innovators on their Fundraising Journey
Tales from the Road: Biotech and MedTech Innovators on their Fundraising Journey
Tales from the Road
Biotech and MedTech Innovators on their Fundraising Journey
The industry has quickly adapted to a “new normal” – entrepreneurs and investors meet virtually over digital platforms to discuss potential investment opportunities, and it is not uncommon to see entrepreneurs raise capital from investors they have never met before in person. That said, there is no doubt that the fundraising journey continues to be challenging for many. In this panel, you will be able to hear fellow entrepreneurs share their experiences, from successes to challenges. This panel will discuss the following topics and more:
- What are some of the greatest challenges entrepreneurs have faced, especially during the pandemic, and how were they overcome?
- How did entrepreneurs identify investors that fit their technology?
- What are some misconceptions entrepreneurs had about the early-stage investment landscape?
Furthermore, entrepreneurs will share unique tips and insights they have gained from their fundraising experiences, and how others can work their way towards a more successful campaign.
Panelists | |
Greg Mannix Vice President International Business Development Life Science Nation (Moderator) |
Greg Mannix is Vice President of International Business Development at Life Science Nation. After graduating from the University of California, he moved to Europe where he began a career in the life sciences and obtained a Master’s degree from IE Business School in Madrid. He has extensive experience in sales and marketing management in the medical devices field. He has worked extensively in Europe, North America and Latin America and he speaks English, Spanish and French. Greg’s role at LSN is to provide international early-stage companies with the tools and strategies to succesfully fundraise and to facilitate cross-boarder investments, licensing and M&A transactions. |
David Bravo CEO Pannex Therapeutics |
Founder and CEO of the company, he discovered pannexin and pain relationship in 2014. Former Assistant Professor at the USACH, Chile. Awarded with the national prize of innovation, 2015. More than 10 years of experience in Drug Discovery, Innovation and Technological Development. |
James F. Lynch PhD, MBA CEO NanoPharmaceuticals |
Dr. Lynch is a 35-year veteran of the pharmaceutical industry spanning R&D, business development, commercial operations, management consulting and organizational development with leadership roles in public and private biopharma companies. Dr. Lynch has numerous value-creating transactions, including as a founding member of Reliant Pharmaceuticals, acquired by gsk for $1.6 B.
Dr. Lynch began his career at Novartis Pharmaceuticals with roles in R&D, Strategic Marketing, Project Management (PhI-PhIV) and Medical Affairs. As a Founding Member of Reliant Pharmaceuticals, he helped start and grow Reliant from inception to 500+ employees with a successful sale to gsk for $1.6 B. Dr. Lynch was a management consultant at a global, technology practice, where he directed global R&D Acceleration projects for Pfizer and Mallinckrodt. Dr. Lynch was an Associate Director for Business Development and Strategic Planning at Hoffman-La Roche and Senior Director for Global Business Development at Quintiles. Dr. Lynch acquired, assumed the President role, and turned around a pharmaceutical recruiting & staffing firm. Dr. Lynch earned a BS degree in Chemistry at Siena College, a PhD in Inorganic/Analytical Chemistry at Seton Hall University, and an Executive MBA at Columbia University. Dr. Lynch is a volunteer member of the Crohn’s & Colitis Foundation Industry Working Group, for which responsibilities include guidance of investments. |
Christina Lopes CEO & Founder FidoCure |
Christina K. Lopes is CEO and Co-founder of One Health Company and its flagship product Fidocure, the first precision cancer treatment platform for dogs. Before One Health, Christina was Managing Director of Cerberus Capital, a U.S. private equity firm with $30B under management. She previously served as Advisory Board Director for International Planned Parenthood and advised the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women. Active in the worlds of biotech and human health, Christina is currently a Trustee for The Common Project and the World Economic Forum recognizes Christina as a Young Global Leader for her pioneering efforts in women’s health and business. Christina holds a bachelor’s degree from the University of Massachusetts, a master’s degree in International and Political Affairs from Columbia University, and has completed doctoral coursework at Princeton University. |
Esther M. Alegria, PhD CEO APIE Therapeutics |
Dr. Esther Alegria is the CEO and leads a team of seasoned industry experts to further the transition of Idiopathic Pulmonary Fibrosis (IPF) and Heart Failure (HF) therapies from pre-clinical trials into clinical trials worldwide. Prior to becoming CEO, she was a Senior Executive Biopharmaceutical Advisor at Catalyst Excel & Advance where she lent her 28 years of experience in R&D through to commercialization to establish and start up pharmaceutical & biopharmaceutical companies.
She was also the Senior Vice President of Global Manufacturing at Biogen, where she was responsible for the company’s successful manufacturing operations in Denmark, Massachusetts, and North Carolina. These facilities covered the world-class production of large-scale drug substances, medical device assemblies, finished goods, and small-molecule manufacturing operations. Dr. Alegria held positions of increasing responsibility in the R&D Wyeth Organization (now Pfizer), where she earned the company award for analytical technology in the development & launch of Prevnar. Business NC Magazine selected Esther in 2009 as Woman Extraordinaire of the Year for being an influential leader within her company and for her impact on its economic success and forward-thinking strategies. Throughout her career, Esther has mentored others to pursue their education and further develop their professions. Her simple and approachable style welcomes men and women to seek her mentorship and see her as a role model. Esther holds a PhD in Chemistry from the University of Hawaii and an Executive Business Management certification from Harvard Business School. |
Longevity Entrepreneurs Discuss Their New Products
Longevity Entrepreneurs Discuss Their New Products
Longevity Entrepreneurs Discuss Their New Products
Six entrepreneurs building business in the longevity market will share their vision, team and concept and the traction they are getting in the market. Topics will cover cognitive fitness and memory loss, mobility, aging in place, staffing and online learning and training.
Panelists | |
Beth Sanders Founder & CEO LifeBio |
Beth Sanders is the founder and CEO of LifeBio.com and MyHello.com. She earned a BA in English and journalism; she is now pursuing her masters in gerontology. Beth created the LifeBio Reminiscence Method and she is author of the biography application available online at LifeBio.com. Beth and her team are experts in agetech—pursuing new AI, machine learning, and natural language processing approaches to expedite the creation of useful biographical information. This information improves outcomes care delivery in health care settings and for older adults living at home; this evidence-informed approach results reductions in both depression and loneliness. Beth is a thought leader on the importance of true person-centered care, starting by knowing an individual holistically. Beth is also leading the rollout of MyHello, a loneliness intervention adopted by health plans to help older adults who are socially isolated, using tech-enabled phone interventions that connect people with much-needed engagement using life story work. Beth is also the principal investigator for the LifeBio Memory Project, an SBIR Phase II funded effort to help people living with dementia and their care partners |
Dor Skuler Co-Founder Intuition Robotics |
A serial entrepreneur, Dor Skuler has co-founded five ventures, the most recent being Intuition Robotics, following his passion to develop artificial intelligence-driven robotics that address major social issues of the 21st century.
Having trained in Israel’s elite military intelligence unit 8200, Dor made a mark on interactive broadcast technology with Zing Interactive Media (acquired by Invesco, NASDAQ: IVZ) and security software through Safend (acquired by Wave Systems Corp, NASDAQ: WAVX). Dor then joined Alcatel-Lucent to create and lead innovative ventures, most notably Cloudband (NYSE:ALU), the world’s first platform for Network Functions Virtualization (NFV), cited by Nokia as a major motive to purchasing the French-American telecoms giant. As Senior Vice President at Alcatel-Lucent, Dor was a regular speaker on the telecoms circuit, frequently cited in the media and made the Global Telecom Business ’40 under 40’ list in 2009, 2011 and 2013. Dor holds an MBA and Master’s of Science in Marketing from Temple University, has co-authored ‘Cloud Computing: Business Trends and Technologies’ published by Wiley in 2016 and holds board level advisory and director roles for several telecoms, cyber security and tech-led social impact ventures. |
Henry Mahncke CEO Posit Science |
Dr. Henry Mahncke is the CEO of Posit Science. He joined Posit Science at its inception in 2003 as Vice President of Research & Outcomes, where he led the first large-scale clinical trials of a publicly available cognitive training program. He became CEO of Posit Science in 2011. Previously, he served as consultant at McKinsey focused on health care and video games, and then as a science and technology advisor to the British government. Dr. Mahncke earned his PhD in Neuroscience at the University of California, San Francisco, where he studied brain plasticity with Dr. Michael Merzenich. |
Mark Scher CEO Spiro100 |
A USC Marshall School of Business graduate with a background in financial and statistical analysis, Mark heads up Operations, Sales, Product Development, and Finances. Mark lives in Los Angeles with his wife Julie and two young children Benjamin (3) and Isabella (1). He enjoys spending time with family, exercising, and everything related to sports. Mark is inspired by his three living grandparents who continue their active lifestyles well into their late 80’s and 90’s. His grandfather who is no longer with us passed away after a fall, making fall prevention not just an academic issue, but personal. |
Menno Gravemaker Founder and CEO Momo Medical |
Menno is founder and CEO of Momo Medical. Since being a kid Menno has had a fascination for creating and building things. He was eight years old when collecting candle stumps from the neighbours, made new candles from these stumps, and then sold them at his mothers’ book club. Menno is an electrical engineer from the Delft University of Technology. During his study he joined global semiconductor company ASML to attract the best talent to the company. Menno has founded Momo Medical to solve part of the care staff shortage and help senior care revolutionise care staff workflow. Momo’s motto: “We help caregivers answer the question: Who needs me?” |
Emerging Products and Technologies for Aging at Home Panel
New Products and Technologies Emerge in the Aging at Home Arena
Emerging Products and Technologies for Aging at Home Panel
Emerging Products and Technologies for Aging at Home Panel
New Products and Technologies Emerge in the Aging at Home Arena
Seniors today are prioritizing the ability to live well where they choose. The aging baby boomer generation and the ongoing Covid 19 pandemic have emphasized the opportunities and the technology is inventive. Learn more about what life science investors are seeing as important trends in this popular space.
Panelists | |
Abby Levy Managing Partner Primetime Partners (Moderator) |
Abby has spent her career helping businesses and consumer brands grow as an operator, entrepreneur and advisor, most notably in the wellness sector. Prior to Primetime Partners, Abby was an executive at SoulCycle, where she oversaw business development and revenue growth outside the consumer studio business, with an emphasis on building new digital products as the Senior Vice President of Strategy & Growth. Abby has also been a Founder herself, teaming with Arianna Huffington to launch Thrive Global, a behavior change technology company focused on employee productivity and wellness. Abby served as President of Thrive Global and remains on the Thrive Board. Abby began her career at McKinsey & Company then led product development at OXO International. She is a graduate of Princeton University and Harvard Business School. |
Tracy Chadwell Founding Partner 1843 Capital LLC |
Tracy Killoren Chadwell is the Founding Partner of 1843 Capital, a venture capital fund focused on early stage technology companies, with an investment thesis in “silvertech” or technology for the aging population. In 2021, Tracy was named to Forbes Magazine’s Inaugural “50 Over 50” list and in 2019 to Entrepreneur Magazine’s list of “100 Powerful Women.” Notable investments include Beautycounter (Exited: $1B), Tempo Automation (Exited Nasdaq:TMPO), and May Mobility. Formerly, she was a Partner at Baker Capital, a $1Billion growth capital fund and a VP at Robertson Stephens. She is a current Advisory Board Member Millennium Technology Venture New Horizons Fund, Adviser Recuro Health, Adviser UBS Project Entrepreneur, and Board Member Early Stage Montana. |
Dan Hermann Managing Partner Ziegler LinkAge |
Dan Hermann joined Ziegler in 1987. In 2018 he was named President and CEO. He also is the Head of Investment Banking, a member of the Ziegler Board and Executive Committee. As the Head of Investment Banking, Dan is directly responsible for managing Ziegler’s Investment Banking activities. He not only fosters the growth of existing practices, but also pursues potential new practices. With a focus on cross-practice collaboration, he plays on active role in maximizing synergistic opportunities across all investment practices, especially within the healthcare and senior living sectors. As the head of both the healthcare and senior living practices, Dan was instrumental in the creation of and fundraising for the Ziegler Link•Age Longevity Fund, L.P. (the “Fund”). The Fund is one of the first to focus on the aging market and companies that provide innovative products, services and technologies to meet the growing needs of seniors and senior living providers in this changing era of healthcare reform. During his 30-year tenure with Ziegler, Dan has become a leading investment banker in the senior living industry. He has structured and led or co-led more than 325 senior living financings exceeding $8.2 billion, cumulating far-ranging experience in the management, structuring and financial analysis of every type of senior living financing. Dan has utilized his expertise to create financing structures for a large clientele – from stand-alone nursing homes to multi-facility, multi-state systems, including start-up campuses and campuses undergoing major renovation projects. His particular emphasis in recent years has been to provide resources for key decision-makers in an organization to effectuate sound financial and strategic planning initiatives. To that end, Dan has assisted numerous multi-facility systems in their corporate planning efforts. When appropriate, he assists these and other organizations in the structuring of their financings and has developed financing alternatives using the broadest range of financing structures available to maximize yields and flexibility for his clients: traditional fixed rate issues, credit enhanced variable rate structures, extendable rate unenhanced issues, derivative applications, and off-balance sheet financings. Prior to joining Ziegler, he worked for a “Big Four” public accounting firm. Dan currently resides on a number of investment committees, including the Ziegler Link•Age Longevity Fund, and is on the Advisory Board for Caremerge and the Board for Masterpiece Living. In October 2005, Dan was named to the Contemporary Long Term Care 2005 CLTC Power & Influence Top 25 listing, the magazine’s selection of today’s decision makers “who hold the reins and help shape the path” for senior living. He has lectured at Harvard and internationally on senior living finance (its historical trends, strategic positioning issues, growth potential and other), and served as a member of the CARF-Continuing Care Accreditation Commission’s Financial Advisory Panel. Dan received a B.S. in finance and accounting from Illinois State University, Normal, Illinois, and an M.B.A. with an emphasis in health services management from Kellogg Graduate School of Management at Northwestern University, Evanston, Illinois. He is a Certified Public Accountant and holds a number of securities certifications. |
Kerry Rupp General Partner True Wealth Ventures |
Kerry Rupp is a General Partner at True Wealth Ventures, an early-stage venture capital fund investing in women-led businesses that improve human and/or environmental health. She is also a nationally-certified instructor for the National Science Foundation’s Innovation Corps (I-Corps) program, helping university-based teams to commercialize their science and technology research. She is an active startup coach who is asked to judge at startup competitions nationwide and is a frequent speaker on entrepreneurship, innovation and early-stage investing. She serves as a mentor at Capital Factory, on the Advisory Panel of the Texas Health Catalyst program at Dell Medical School, on the Advisory Board at Jon Brumley Texas Venture Labs at UT Austin, and on the Founding Steering Committee for Beam, an organization focused on making Austin the best place to be a woman entrepreneur. She is also a board director for VidaFuel, reHarvest Provisions, Rosy, and Flourish, and a board observer for BrainCheck and Atlantic Sea Farms, all True Wealth Ventures’ portfolio companies.
Previously, Kerry was CEO at DreamIt, a Top Ten US startup accelerator and early-stage venture fund, where she was directly involved with the launch of over 150 companies. During her 5-year tenure with DreamIt, she grew its programs to five cities, raised a $20M follow-on fund, and initiated the DreamIt Access (minority entrepreneur), DreamIt Athena (female entrepreneur), and DreamIt Health programs. Before DreamIt, Kerry was herself the founder of an online travel service, Holiday Golightly, which organized unique group travel excursions for women. She has also advised senior executives at Allrecipes.com, ReadersDigest, LexisNexis, Payscale, and Taleo on stategy, business development and marketing. She has held Vice President level positions at AllRecipes.com, Jobster, Classmates.com and LexisNexis. Kerry began her career as a consultant with McKinsey and Andersen Consulting (now Accenture). Kerry holds an MBA from Harvard Business School and a BA in Biology from Duke University. In addition to her startup ecosystem service, she is the Board Chair for the Texas 4000 for Cancer, is a Member of the Austin Area Research Organization (AARO), and is on the Host Committee for the Austin Community Foundation’s Women’s Fund Keyholder event every year. She is an avid adventurer that has visited over 50 countries and all 50 US states. |
Tales from the Road
AI Innovators on their Fundraising Journey
Tales from the Road: AI Innovators on their Fundraising Journey
Tales from the Road
AI Innovators on their Fundraising Journey
Hear from fundraising entrepreneurs on their processes researching, pitching, and working with investors. AI technology has incredible potential in healthcare, but also raises unique challenges. Hear from founders on how AI fits into their story and solutions, and how they sourced the right investors for them.
Panelists | |
Rory McCann Marketing Manager & Conference Producer Life Science Nation (Moderator) |
Rory McCann is the marketing manager and a conference producer at Life Science Nation. She manages marketing initiatives, including podcast and newsletter production, and produces AI content for the Redefining Early Stage Investment (RESI) event series. Past experience includes podcast production for The Chain, Medtech Talk, and Breaking Health, and associate conference production at Cambridge Innovation Institute. Rory has a Bachelor’s of Science in Broadcast Journalism from Emerson College in Boston, MA. |
Sam Cooper CEO Phenomic AI |
Sam Cooper finished his PhD at Imperial College London, under the supervision of Prof. Robert Glen an early pioneer in chemo-informatics, and inventor of the FDA approved drug Zomig®, as well as Dr. Chris Bakal a leader in high content screening. Over this period Sam worked to use novel ML approaches to answer questions in biology and drug discovery. Sam set up Phenomic AI in 2017, following his PhD, alongside Oren Kraus, as an early stage AI/ML company backed by a combination of Silicon Valley and Canadian VC funding. Phenomic AI has since evolved into an early stage biotech company developing novel therapeutics that target the ability of cancer associated fibroblasts (CAFs) to suppress the immune system in the tumour microenvironment. Phenomic AI is headquartered in Toronto with offices in Boston. |
Richard Hanbury CEO Sana Health |
Richard developed Sana’s neuromodulation platform to eradicate his own life-threatening pain problem following a spinal cord injury from a jeep crash in Yemen in 1992. It is now his life’s mission to help as many people as possible find relief. He previously founded a software startup, and before that worked for McKinsey. He has spent 28 years developing Sana’s technology from the original benchtop device to the current device undergoing clinical trials.
What he most loves about leading Sana Health is hearing story after story from Sana users who say that Sana gave them their life back. Richard obtained an MBA from the Wharton School and a Diploma in Law from College of Law London. |
Shrenik Jain Founder & CEO Marigold Health |
Shrenik is the founder and CEO of Marigold Health, which is an anonymous social network where people with mental health and substance use conditions support each other. Before Marigold, Shrenik worked numerous roles in public service. His initial exposure to healthcare came as a first responder, serving as an EMT within multiple fire departments and rescue squads. He was also a senior team leader within Baltimore mentoring nonprofit Thread, in which he was most active immediately pre- and post- the 2015 Freddie Gray Uprising. Marigold’s founding team of engineers and clinicians met at Johns Hopkins, where Shrenik studied Applied Math and Public Health.
Marigold Health’s mission is to give people agency in their health and recovery. We achieve this by training people in recovery to support others and by designing technology to facilitate human connection. Since 2016, Marigold has engaged thousands of patients and validated novel peer-peer interventions in multiple federally-funded studies. We pride ourselves on designing for accessibility – over 75% of our current members are on public health insurance, and our provider partners are a diverse network of FQHCs, substance use treatment providers, and large health systems. For more information on Marigold, including directions on how to join the Marigold community, please visit www.marigoldhealth.com. |
Stephany Lapierre Founder & CEO TealBook |
Stephany Lapierre is the founder/CEO of TealBook, a highly coveted supply chain thought leader, and one of the most influential minds in emerging data technologies. She has been recognized as one of the Top 100 Most Influential Women in Supply Chain, and her company, TealBook, has both been named a Top 50 company to watch by Spend Matters and won the Cool Vendor Award by Gartner. Prior to TealBook, Stephany spent 10 years building a successful strategic sourcing and procurement consulting firm focusing on large scale sourcing optimization projects. Given her experience and visibility into the data issues crippling procurement she has made it her mission is to deliver a “Trusted Source of Supplier Data” to an ever-growing eProcurement space. Currently, TealBook is the only Big Data company that provides a self-enriching and self-maintaining mechanism to fix enterprise supplier data, forever. |
Tales from the Road
Age-Tech Innovators on their Fundraising Journey
Tales from the Road: Age-Tech Innovators on their Fundraising Journey
Tales from the Road
Age-Tech Innovators on their Fundraising Journey
Age-tech entrepreneurs are pounding the pavement, seeking funding to enable seniors to live longer, healthier lives. Learn the strategies they’ve implemented to stand out to investors, book meetings, make deals, and work effectively with investors and strategic partners.
Panelists | |
Phil Newman Founder & CEO Longevity.Technology (Moderator) |
Phil Newman the founder of First Longevity and Editor-in-Chief of www.Longevity.Technology – a news and digital investment platform for international investors and Longevity start-ups. |
Jean Anne Booth Founder & CEO UnaliWear Inc. |
A serial entrepreneur, Jean Anne started UnaliWear after selling previous startups to Texas Instruments and Apple.
Jean Anne was the founder of Luminary Micro, the creators of the Stellaris microcontroller platform and the first to market with ARM Cortex-M3-based microcontroller solutions. Luminary Micro was purchased by Texas Instruments in May 2009, and was one of the top VC-backed M&As of 2009. Jean Anne retired from TI in 2012 after serving as the general manager for TI’s Stellaris family of products. Jean Anne was also a founder at Intrinsity, the creators of the graphics chip in Apple iPad products. Intrinsity sold to Apple in 2010. Jean Anne holds a BSEE from the University of Texas at Austin, and an MSCE from National Technical University. |
Marc Rippen CEO Alertgy |
Marc is an experienced and highly skilled technical engineer with over 30 years of experience. He has worked for multiple fortune 500 companies, Department of Defense (DOD), NASA, SOCOM, and DARPA commercializing dozens of ground-breaking and revolutionary technologies. He holds various degrees across multiple interrelated disciplines including: Microbiological Sciences and Immunology, Biophysics, Analytical Chemistry, Masters of Aeronautical Science, and Management of Engineering and Technology. |
Peter Schlecht CEO & Founder Braingrade |
Peter’s goal in life is to change the world while increasing the chance of a promising future.
He is best described as an entrepreneur. With Braingrade, Peter & his team provide direct access to our brains and improve our cognitive abilities while helping millions of Alzheimer’s patients. After the exit of his AI company, he founded Artificial Link and the neuroscience company Braingrade. Besides running Braingrade, he supports as a Mentor Singularity University, Singa, Startupbootcamp, Betahouse, and Founder Institute. His charitable activities include Bitkom, Wirtschaftsrat, Mensa, Sandbox & Founders Pledge. |
Sam Yang Managing Director and Co-Founder Xandar Kardian |
Sam Yang has been a serial entrepreneur from the dot-com era while he was still in high school. During the past 23 years, Sam launched 8 start-ups, two of which were venture-backed, including his latest, Xandar Kardian Inc., which just raised its first Series A funding. He is currently the co-founder and CEO of Xandar Kardian, a company focused on disruptive radar healthcare solutions that are now FDA 510(k) cleared for RHR + RR monitoring of patients in hospitals, long-term facilities and residential homes. |
The Regulatory Pathway for AI in Healthcare Panel
Navigating the Process with Strategic Partners
The Regulatory Pathway for AI in Healthcare Panel
The Regulatory Pathway for AI in Healthcare Panel
Navigating the Process with Strategic Partners
Whatever the business model, the regulatory road for AI technology can be long, winding, and unpredictable. However, the right partners will be an asset to the process and beyond. Learn how to discuss your progress and projections with current and potential investors, and even how to incorporate the regulatory risks into your pitch.
Panelists | |
Keagan Lenihan Vice President, Operations Altoida Inc (Moderator) |
Keagan has over 20 years of experience working within the United States (US) government to disrupt how healthcare is delivered, covered, and reimbursed. Prior to Altoida, she played a key leadership role in the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) COVID-19 response, overseeing programs across PPE, diagnostics, therapies, and vaccines. She is a highly skilled team builder and organizational designer, having led staffing for four US departments (Ed, LB, HUD, and HHS). |
Ronald Dorenbos, PhD Principal & Managing Director BioFrontline LLC |
As former Head of Innovation Management and Scouting and member of Takeda’s Digital Strategy team Ronald helped Takeda with its technology and innovation strategy. Earlier, at the Life Science division of PA Consulting, Ronald led projects for some of the world’s top 10 pharmaceutical companies around strategy, commercialization and digital health. As founder of BioFrontline he provides management, strategy and commercial advice to life sciences companies in the US, Europe and Asia. After obtaining MAs in Biotechnology and Molecular Biology and a PhD in Pharmaceutical Biology in the Netherlands Ronald led research projects on Parkinson’s disease, Schizophrenia and the genetics of aggressive behavior, before making the transition to industry. As a consultant Ronald got involved in projects related to artificial intelligence and he has been following the field for over 10 years. He is frequently invited to deliver presentations and keynotes related to AI in Pharma and Healthcare and has presented at national and international events. Ronald founded the LinkedIn groups ‘AI – Artificial Intelligence’, ‘Small Molecules’, ‘Boston Biotech’ and ‘Golden Triangle Biotech’ that serve over 10,000 members. |
Gerard Honig Director, Research Innovation Crohn’s and Colitis Foundation |
Gerard currently serves as Director of Research Innovation at the Crohn’s & Colitis Foundation, a leading patient advocacy organization and funder of R&D in the field of inflammatory bowel diseases (IBD). At the Foundation, he directs investments and R&D programs focused on patient-centric innovation to address unmet needs in IBD. He has been working in the gastroenterology and immunology field for over 12 years. He was responsible for the development of models to predict complicated disease course using machine learning analysis of transcriptomic and proteomic data; this work resulted in a diagnostics development partnership. He also launched and manages a new venture philanthropy program, IBD Ventures, to fund product development in IBD, with 16 investments since 2018, and the IBD Biomarker Summit to support collaborative advances in IBD biomarker R&D. He previously founded and served as CEO of Symbiotic Health, a biotech startup company focused on GI diseases, and performed immunology and microbiome research in leading academic laboratories. He co-chairs the Foundation for NIH Mucosal Healing Consortium which seeks to develop definitive clinical trial endpoints & biomarkers for IBD trials using AI-enabled image analysis and serves on the Board of Directors for the Peggy Lillis Foundation. I received my PhD in Neuroscience from the University of California San Francisco as a fellow of the Howard Hughes Medical Institute. |
Brian Malkin Partner McDermott Will & Emery |
Brian Malkin counsels pharmaceutical and biologic clients on Food and Drug Administration (FDA) regulatory matters and intellectual property (IP) law, with an emphasis on patent litigation. His practice at the intersection of FDA- regulated products and patent law makes him a valuable partner to drug manufacturers, biotechnology clients, medical device companies and cannabis companies as they develop new products and protect their innovations though life cycle management, bring their products to market and pursue transactional opportunities. |
Longevity Investors Share Their Investment Thesis
Longevity Investors Share Their Investment Thesis
Longevity Investors Share Their Investment Thesis
Who is investing in the longevity market? What are the priorities of corporate, venture, seed and angel investors. What are some of the successful growth stories. Who has been funded from RESI.
Panelists | |
Mel Barsky Director, BD CABHI |
Mel Barsky is a Director at the Centre for Aging + Brain Health Innovation (CABHI). CABHI, led by Baycrest Health Sciences, helps innovators develop, disseminate, scale, and promote adoption of promising innovations in the aging and brain health sector. CABHI was formed as a unique private / public collaboration that raised over $124M and has levered an additional $70M+ for investing in validation testing in the brain health and longevity sector. To-date, CABHI has funded over 300 projects globally. CABHI innovators and companies have secured over $110M in follow on investments. Mel is leading the continued international growth of CABHI.
Prior to CABHI, Mel was Co-Founder, President & COO of INTERVENT Canada. INTERVENT has served over 2.5 million patients globally; over 200 corporations; and has been published in more than 100 peer reviewed major medical journals demonstrating the efficacy of its programs and improvement in health outcomes. Previously, Mel was a Founding Partner and Executive Director of Scotiabank Private Equity Investments, where, he invested private and public ventures, primarily in financial services and information technology sectors. In his spare time, Mel enjoys playing basketball, guitar and travelling with his wife, 5 kids and Australian Labradoodle. |
Max Zamkow Partner Third Act Ventures |
Max is the Founding Partner of Third Act Ventures, a seed-stage Venture Capital firm investing specifically in Agetech. Max started his entrepreneurial career while earning a BS & MS in Bioinformatics from Stanford University and before moving to the other side of the table was an integral part of Mobclix (acquired by Velti), NoiseToys (acquired by Jawbone), and Fav.tv (acquired by TVGuide.com). Max is known for his Agetech newsletters, co-leading Aging2.0 New York, and for successfully pitching DCM during a blackout. Singularly focused on Agetech, he seeks out and empowers entrepreneurs that are tackling the challenges and opportunities in aging. |
Christine Brocato System VP, Strategic Innovation CommonSpirit Health |
Christine Brocato is the System VP of Strategic Innovation at CommonSpirit Health, the parent company of Dignity Health and Catholic Health Initiatives. In close partnership with operational leaders, Christine co-leads innovation projects related to care automation, transportation, addressing social determinants, mental health, and ambulatory care transformation.
Christine is passionate about helping vulnerable and Medicaid populations receive access to patient-centered care and access to social resources that prevent health disparities. She has more than 15 years of health care management experience, with leadership roles that shaped business strategy, corporate development initiatives, and product roadmaps at Genentech, Abbott Vascular, and Kaiser Permanente. Christine is a board observer for Ascension Ventures. Christine has an MBA from Georgetown University and a Bachelors of Science in Combined Sciences from Santa Clara University. Christine lives in the Bay Area with her husband and two daughters. In her free time, she advocates for closing the digital divide for Oakland’s youth as an active Board Member of TechExchange. |
Abby Levy Managing Partner Primetime Partners |
Abby has spent her career helping businesses and consumer brands grow as an operator, entrepreneur and advisor, most notably in the wellness sector. Prior to Primetime Partners, Abby was an executive at SoulCycle, where she oversaw business development and revenue growth outside the consumer studio business, with an emphasis on building new digital products as the Senior Vice President of Strategy & Growth. Abby has also been a Founder herself, teaming with Arianna Huffington to launch Thrive Global, a behavior change technology company focused on employee productivity and wellness. Abby served as President of Thrive Global and remains on the Thrive Board. Abby began her career at McKinsey & Company then led product development at OXO International. She is a graduate of Princeton University and Harvard Business School. |
Dominic Endicott Founding Partner 4Gen Ventures |
Dominic Endicott is a dual UK/US citizen, born in England, raised in Catalonia, and currently operating between Winchester, England and Boston in New England. He speaks Castilian and Catalan, as well as mid-Atlantic English. He studied at the London School of Economics (LSE) and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). He began work at Boston Consulting Group (BCG) in Madrid. He was a partner and head of North America at Cluster Consulting, a start-up firm focused on launching mobile operators, which grew from zero to $100M in revenue in 8 years, and was acquired by Diamond Technology Partners in 2000. Diamond is now part of PwC. The founding team at Cluster set up Nauta Capital in 2005 (AUM $400M), and Dominic set-up and managed Nauta’s US operations. At Nauta, he led the first VC investment in Great Call, a US-based firm oriented around technology for older customers and care-givers. Great Call grew from $1M revenue at investment to around a $300M revenue run-rate, and was acquired by Best Buy in 2018 for $800M. While remaining active at Nauta, Dominic is currently in the process of setting up 4Gen Ventures, a Venture capital firm out of London/Boston focused on the global opportunity from this macro-trend. |
Defining and Funding Age-Tech Innovations Panel
Using the Language that Speaks to Investors
Defining and Funding Age-Tech Innovations Panel
Defining and Funding Age-Tech Innovations Panel
Using the Language that Speaks to Investors
Age-tech, longevity, healthy aging, healthtech, elderly care, senior care, etc… the terms are vast in this sector of the life sciences. Early-stage companies specializing in the aging industry can define themselves in many ways. What definitions are investors looking for? And the importance of pliability in your definition in an industry that is always morphing.
Panelists | |
Joshua Barney Member Barrington Angels (Moderator) |
Joshua Barney is a California and Illinois licensed attorney. He has served as general counsel and financial advisor for the U. S. operations of several foreign corporations including LSIS USA (formerly LG), Kawasaki Trading and Kia Corporation. His legal background includes corporate joint ventures, merger and acquisitions, corporate start-ups, and trade secret litigation. He has been a co-founder of several technology and biotech companies. He currently manages two angel funds, Barrington Angels and SISU Funds. He holds degrees from CSU Chico, University of California, Davis, and Columbia University, NY. |
Yael Benvenisti CEO Mediterranean Tower Ventures |
For the past 4 years CEO of Mediterranean Towers Ventures, a corporate venture capital that invests in AgeTech (Technologies for aging well) early-stage technology companies.
Founder of the Israeli AgeTech entrepreneurial ecosystem space, and represent Aging2.0 international organization in Israel . A board member of the Israeli Gerontology Association and a member of the Israeli Leadership forum. Throughout the years, Yael has organized and served as the chairperson/ Invited speaker in local and international conferences, was involved in writing a number of policy papers (local and internationals) and worked to promote municipal, national and internationals programs/ implementation of technologies. |
Hope Walls Investment Analyst Nationwide Ventures |
Hope Walls is an investor with Nationwide Ventures, the venture capital arm of Nationwide Insurance, one of the largest insurance and financial services companies in the United States. Nationwide Ventures invests in early to late stage startups to accelerate the digitization of Nationwide’s core and adjacent businesses. Focus areas for investment for Nationwide Ventures include agetech/longevity, insurtech, fintech, mobility, proptech, and cybersecurity. |
Max Zamkow Partner Third Act Ventures |
Max is the Founding Partner of Third Act Ventures, a seed-stage Venture Capital firm investing specifically in Agetech. Max started his entrepreneurial career while earning a BS & MS in Bioinformatics from Stanford University and before moving to the other side of the table was an integral part of Mobclix (acquired by Velti), NoiseToys (acquired by Jawbone), and Fav.tv (acquired by TVGuide.com). Max is known for his Agetech newsletters, co-leading Aging2.0 New York, and for successfully pitching DCM during a blackout. Singularly focused on Agetech, he seeks out and empowers entrepreneurs that are tackling the challenges and opportunities in aging. |
Bodil (Bo) Arlander Lead Venture Partner, Portfolia Active Aging & Longevity Fund Portfolia |
Bo Arlander has been an active angel investor since 2015, and is currently a Managing Director of Golden Seeds and a Lead Venture Partner at Portfolia’s Active Aging & Longevity focused fund. In 2009, she co-founded Moxie Capital, LLC, a private equity firm focused on investing in consumer and retail companies in the lower middle market. Prior to that, Bo was a founding member of the Bear Stearns Merchant Banking group and a Senior Managing Director of Bear, Stearns & Co. Inc. She was a Senior Partner in the private equity group’s $1.5 billion institutional fund raised in 2000 as well as its $2.7 billion fund raised in 2006 with a particular focus on soft-line retail, apparel, beauty and healthy lifestyle companies. Prior to joining Bear, Stearns & Co. Inc. in 1997, she was a Vice President in the mergers & acquisitions department of Lazard Frères & Co. LLC, which she joined in 1991. Bo graduated summa cum laude from New York University with a B.S. in General Business. Born and raised in Finland, Bo attended the Swedish School of Economics and Business Administration in Helsinki prior to moving abroad.Bo has served on the boards and various board committees of two publicly traded companies and numerous privately owned companies. Today, she continues to serve on the board of privately held Crew Knitwear LLC and Epoque Evolution, Inc. |
Negotiating Term Sheets
Negotiating Term Sheets
This interactive workshop, organized and led by McDermott Will & Emery, will provide wisdom to early-stage CEOs and management on the latest trends in term sheets, with a focus on founder and management equity opportunities. The workshop will cover common issues of concern to entrepreneurs (valuation/dilution, liquidation preference, board makeup, protective provisions, anti-dilution). Experts from the legal, investment and entrepreneurial community will discuss the interplay of financing milestones in the term sheet discussion.
Speakers | |
Mark Mihanovic, Partner, McDermott Will & Emery
Mark J. Mihanovic, head of the Firm’s California Corporate group and head of the Emerging Companies/Venture Capital group, focuses his practice primarily in the areas of corporate finance and mergers and acquisitions. He represents companies in a broad range of industries, with a particular emphasis on technology, life science and health care companies. Mark serves as corporate liaison partner in the Firm’s strategic alliance with MWE China Law Offices based in Shanghai. Mark serves as lead counsel on behalf of issuers and underwriters in public offerings and private placements (including private investments in public equities (PIPEs)) of equity and debt securities. He handles stock and asset acquisitions, divestitures, mergers, proxy fights and joint ventures and has had primary oversight responsibility for the regional and worldwide acquisition programs of multiple clients. Mark represents early-stage companies in connection with formation and organizational issues and venture capital and other financings and has also represented investors in complex venture capital transactions involving equity and debt. Mark has substantial experience advising corporate boards of directors and management regarding fiduciary duties (including in connection with potential change in control transactions and consideration of “poison pill” stockholders rights plans) and corporate governance issues. He assists publicly traded companies with their Securities and Exchange Commission filings and other securities compliance matters. He also advises investment banks on securities compliance issues and in acting as financial adviser and delivering fairness opinions in the context of acquisitions and restructurings. |
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Richard Smith, Counsel, McDermott Will & Emery Richard B. Smith focuses his practice on representation of life sciences companies and related transactions. He has served as counsel to public, private and emerging life sciences companies, advising those companies on strategic business transactions such as licensing, joint ventures, and collaborations involving research, development, marketing, supply, clinical development and co-promotion of pharmaceutical, diagnostic and medical device products.Richard also advises companies on other corporate issues common to life sciences companies, including corporate formation of new ventures, venture capital, private equity, venture philanthropy and other forms of financing, mergers and acquisitions, as well as university and institutional licensing and intellectual property strategies. |
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Aaron Gani, Founder & CEO, BehaVR, Inc. Aaron Gani has been creating applications and experiences with technology throughout his career in healthcare and financial services, up to and including serving as Chief Technology Officer of Humana, a Fortune 50 managed care organization.After more than a decade in healthcare leading technology development and innovation in population health, disease management programs, pharmacy, primary care, urgent care, Health IT, and clinical analytics, and constantly working on ways to improve and empower consumer health with technology, data and analytics, Gani resolved to create scalable solutions to the massive unmet needs in mental and behavioral health and believes Virtual Reality therapeutic experiences can close that gap.Gani is a founding member of the Strategic Advisory Board of the Digital Medicine (DiMe) Society, and a founding advisory board member of the International Virtual Reality Healthcare Association (IVRHA). Gani holds a Master’s in Predictive Analytics from Northwestern University, an MBA, General Management and Health Sector Management from Duke University’s Fuqua School of Business, and a BS in Management/CIS from the University of Louisville. |
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Michele Colucci, Founder/Managing Partner, DIgitalDx Venture
Michele Colucci, Founder/Managing Partner, is a lawyer, investor, serial entrepreneur, and philanthropist. She has authored five patents in the technology space and founded companies in the legal, technology, retail, and entertainment spaces. Michele’s extensive experience operating in highly regulated verticals has focused on issues from management to legal (employment, corporate, International, litigation, torts, negotiations, business strategy, and marketing). Her most recent company focused on the application of big data and artificial intelligence in legal technology. She has worked at law firms including Hughes Hubbard & Reed, run her own media production company, owned and operated a chain of retail stores in the political space, run a political fundraising venue, and founded a legal technology company. Michele has served on public and private Boards of Directors including Global Indemnity Group, Nephrosant, Optina Diagnostics, Prime Genomics, Trayt, and Delphi Diagnostics, and is Chair of the MedTech Healthcare Lobby. She is also an Advisor to eHealth Analytics (a digital health startup) and Quantellia (a platform powering decision-based analytics through artificial intelligence). She is a Huffington Post blogger on female entrepreneurship and an award-winning expert on E-Local. She has served as a guest lecturer and mentor at Stanford University’s School of Engineering focused on Global Marketing and Entrepreneurship and has lectured at USC’s Gould School of Law. In 2017 Michele was named by the Nobel Laureate Foundation as a West Coast Ambassador for her ongoing work in concert the Nobel Laureate Foundation to expand their global footprint and aid young scientists— selected from around the world to attend their summer program—to connect, learn, and interact with Nobel Laureates in their field of study. She has served on nonprofit boards including NOFAS (National Organization for Fetal Alcohol Syndrome), Hope After Divorce, and City Hearts. |
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Jarett Rieger, ESQ.,MBA, Sr. Director, Innovation & Industry Alliances, Associate General Counsel, Moffitt Cancer Center Mr. Rieger oversees the Office of Innovation and Industry Alliances at Moffitt Cancer Center. This department is responsible for patenting and licensing; startup support; and forging industry collaborations and strategic alliances. Mr. Rieger spearheaded the initial design and growth of the office, which was established in 2003 and grew the office from 3 FTEs in 2004 to 16 FTEs. He currently manages an annual operating budget greater than $2.0M. His office has executed 200 licenses, formed 13 startups, received 123 U.S. issued patents, and secured approximately $150M in global research/license funding over the past five years.Mr. Rieger redesigned the department internship program in 2012, which has been recognized in various publications; the department has hosted over 70 internal and external interns. He has chaired the annual Business of Biotech Conference since 2006. The conference showcases Moffitt innovation and draws more than 300 attendees. Additionally, he led the preparation and execution of several department strategic plans.Mr. Rieger was promoted from Technology Transfer Associate to Manager in 2005; promoted from Manager to Director in 2006; to Senior Director in early 2016.Prior to joining Moffitt, Mr. Rieger practiced as a patent attorney at Breed Technologies in Lakeland, Florida.With regards to leadership community programs, Mr. Rieger is a graduate of Leadership Tampa, Class of 2012, and Leadership Hillsborough, Class of 2010.Mr. Rieger earned his Juris Doctor and Master of Business Administration degrees from Stetson University College of Law in Saint Petersburg, Florida; he received his Bachelor of Arts in Chemistry from Rollins College in Winter Park, Florida. |
Intellectual Property (IP) Workshop & Fireside Chat
Licensing in Life Sciences
Speakers | |
Therese Finan Of Counsel Burns & Levinson |
Therese Finan has more than 20 years specialized in securing and protecting clients’ intellectual property rights through asset development and management, due diligence, litigation, and licensing while maintaining a focus on the clients’ business objectives. She serves clients from startups to Fortune 50 companies through all phases of the patent process, including preparing patent applications and securing worldwide patent protection, strategically managing patent portfolios while focusing on risk assessment, advising on infringement and validity positions, providing freedom-to-operate analysis, conducting due diligence for business transactions, developing and negotiating licenses, and resolving disputes.
She assists clients in a variety of industries and technologies, primarily in the life sciences industry spanning biotechnology, pharmaceuticals, chemistry, nanotechnology, and medical devices. Her practice is bolstered by her deep background in the biomedical and biotechnology fields, including research in biochemistry, cell biology, and immunology. Therese also has significant experience counseling clients on trademark matters from developing to securing brand ownership, including procuring and enforcing trademark rights, and resolving domain disputes. Early in her career, Therese gained experience in public policy and the health care sector. |
Ricardo García CEO & Founder Oncoheroes Biosciences |
Ricardo is a seriel entrepreneur. Passionate about taking on new challenges and with a background in computer engineering and management and business administration, he sold his first company at the age of 22. This led to the creation and development of various companies, predominantly in the field of technology with a strong bent towards innovation.
His son Richi’s brain tumor diagnosis in 2011 forced him to abandon all his plans and move to Boston to save his life. Thankfully that battle has been won, but the fight continues. After the diagnosis of his son, Ricardo launched the Richi Childhood Cancer Foundation, a 501 (c) (3) non-profit organization established in the US and with links around the world, and Oncoheroes Biosciences, a groundbreaking Boston-based biotech company focused on developing new therapies exclusively for pediatric cancer. |
Mark Saulich Associate Director Commercialization, Northeastern University |
As Associate Director of Commercialization for Northeastern University’s Center for Research Innovation, Mark is focused on advancing Northeastern innovations from lab to market. He and his team build partnerships with industry and support the efforts of Northeastern spinouts. Prior to joining Northeastern, Mark worked as a technology scout at a global open innovation consulting company called yet2.com. He has over 20 years of experience in open innovation and technology transfer. |
Sa’ar Yaniv Director of Business Development Fortress Biotech |
Sa’ar is somewhat of a renaissance man, with experiences ranging from espresso bars, gold mines, and woodworking to frozen yogurt, ski instruction, and bottled water from the Chilean Patagonia
Nevertheless, for the past four years, Sa’ar has been an integral part of the BD&L team at Fortress Biotech, with deals signed in oncology, rare disease, dermatology, and more. Previously, Sa’ar had worked for over 10 years as an equity research analyst at Oppenheimer, JPMorgan, and Roth Capital, among others, and spent over 5 years as a free lance consultant to the life science industry. |
Fundraising Challenges and Highlights of First-Time Founders & CEOs
Fundraising Challenges and Highlights of First-Time Founders & CEOs
Hear from first-time founders and leaders on how they’re navigating the early stages of their startups. Women In Bio supports the growth of female entrepreneurs in life science. Learn more about the first-time process for these leaders and gain insight into their early-stage success and strategy
Panelists | |
Sibylle Hauser Chair, WIB-Entrepreneur Center Women in Bio (Moderator) |
Sibylle Hauser’s international professional career spans over 25 years in global Pharma incl. Boehringer Mannheim/Roche for 9 years, emerging Biotech and global contract manufacturing. As Strategic Advisor – Life Science at Richtr Financial Studio she supports innovative founders and companies in the life science space. One of the expert niches is “Positioning for Capital”. In 2014 she joined the SOCAL Chapter of Women in Bio and started a local female founders’ group in 2018. As national Chair of Women in Bio-Entrepreneur Center with 90+ associated female founders in the life sciences across the US she supports the organizations mission to “move the needle” in funding $$ for female (Co-)founders in the life sciences. Since 2020 she has served as member of BIOCOM Capital Committee as well as the Scientific Investment Advisory Committee at the Gates Center for Regenerative Medicine, University of Colorado.
Also I noticed in the email sent earlier that Elizabeth Jaworski’s company was incorrectly labelled, she works for XN Health, not ClickSeq Technologies – that one is on me, not sure what happened there. |
Jessica Gibson, MBA Co-Founder & CEO Ariel Precision Medicine |
Jessica is the CEO and co-founder at Ariel. Her background in genomics, healthcare and pharma is now enabling Ariel to create strategic partnerships and collaborations that serve multiple customers in the healthcare community. Jessica loves working at Ariel because she has been able to build innovative solutions to enable the diagnosis and management of chronic diseases and really move the needle on a number of challenging conditions. |
Elizabeth Jaworski, PhD Co-Founder & CEO XN Health |
Elizabeth Jaworski (CEO) graduated from the University of Florida in 2013 with a Bachelor of Science where she majored in Bio-technology and minored in Entomology. There she did research under Dr. Thomas Colquhoun in the Environmental Horticulture Department. Her main goals were to elucidate and manipulate the plant volatile compound biosynthesis pathways in order to enhance olfactory experiences.
Elizabeth performed her PhD work in the Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology (BMB) at the University of Texas Medical Branch, Galveston (UTMB) graduating in 2018. She first studied the role of RNA splicing and RNA metabolism in skeletal muscle development under the supervision of Dr. Muge Kuyumcu-Martinez . Later, she moved into the world of RNA virus evolution under the supervision of Dr. Andrew Routh studying the formation and emergence of Defective RNA genomes of RNA viruses including as Flock House virus using both Illumina and Oxford Nanopore sequencing in parallel (Jaworski et al. PLoS Pathogens, 2018). During that time she developed new sequencing technologies, including Poly(A)-ClickSeq, which has become the focus of the services provided by ClickSeq Technologies. |
Bhawanjit Brar, PhD Co-Founder & CEO JAAN Biotherapeutics |
Dr. Brar founded Jaan Biotherapeutics in 2015, following 7 years at Zensun USA, where she held various positions including the Vice President of Clinical Research, managing a United States Phase 2 clinical trial for a first in class therapeutic for the treatment of heart failure. Dr. Brar completed her undergraduate degree in Biochemistry from Swansea University in Wales and a Ph.D. in Physiology/Endocrinology from the University of Reading U.K. Dr. Brar has served as a consultant for many years helping companies to develop therapeutics through to clinical testing before founding Jaan Biotherapeutics. Dr. Brar is an inventor/co-inventor of numerous patents. In her spare time Dr. Brar like to spend time with her teenage daughters, walking her rescue American Staffordshire Terrier, cooking and running. She serves on the Board of Directors of her community as well as a member of the Women in Biosciences Founders Forum Group. |
Judith Kelleher-Anderson, PhD President & CEO Neuronascent, Inc. |
Dr. Kelleher-Andersson has over twenty years of experience developing small-molecule, central nervous system therapeutics in the biotechnology industry. Prior to founding Neuronascent, she was Director of Drug Development and Research at Neuralstem, Inc., Centaur Pharmaceuticals and Cortex Pharmaceuticals, Inc. She headed the Alzheimer’s disease program in collaboration with Astra-Zeneca while at Centaur, and successfully brought a small-molecule agent to pre-nomination status. She invented a depression therapeutic that completed Phase IIb, while at Neuralstem. Dr. Kelleher-Andersson has over 70 US, European and World patents. She received her Ph.D. in biochemistry from University of Missouri-Columbia and completed post-graduate work at UCLA with a Mental Retardation Fellowship and at University of California, San Francisco in the Neurology Dept. |
How to Evaluate Your Banking Partner Workshop
How to Evaluate Your Banking Partner Workshop
How to Evaluate Your Banking Partner Workshop
Life Science companies need more from a bank than just accounts and transactions. The right banking partner brings a mix of excellent service, industry expertise, and the ability to help companies grow. Join Nishta Rao of First Republic Bank to hear what companies should be looking for in a sound banking partner.
Nishta Rao, Managing Director, Life Science, First Republic Bank
Nishta is currently Managing Director at First Republic Bank where she is responsible for the growth and expansion of the Bank’s Life Science vertical. Prior to this, Nishta was Managing Director, BioLabs@NYULangone where she supported the translation of technologies into commercially viable products and therapies. In addition Nishta has also launched and led Princeton Innovation Center BioLabs (PICb). Nishta served as Senior Director of Scientific Operations at Kadmon, a biotech startup based in New York City that focuses on discovery, development, and commercialization of small molecules and biologics. Nishta, a molecular biologist by training, has scientific experience both in academia and industry. She has worked at Mt. Sinai Innovation Partners, the technology transfer office at Mt. Sinai as a Business Development Analyst evaluating technologies and developing partnerships aimed towards commercialization of new technologies. Nishta also serves as a mentor to several startup companies in the Life Science and Healthcare space.