Diana Saraceni, Founder, Managing Director, Panakes Partners (Moderator)

Founder of Panakes, Diana has over 20 years of international experience in managing Venture Capital investment funds, through which she invested in over 60 start-ups across Europe. After several years of experience in the strategic consultancy sector at A.T. Kearney, Diana worked as Senior Advisor in the Investment Banking division of Lazard. In 2001 she co-founded 360 Capital Partners, a leading pan-European Venture Capital firm. She is a member of several national and international committees (EU and US) for the selection and promotion of innovative start-ups. She has also co-founded and chaired the International Venture Club, an association that brings together the main European venture capital firms. She is frequently involved as Scientific Advisor to Life Sciences conferences and acting in or chairing juries for the allocation of public funds at Italian, European and US level (i.e. Premio Marzotto, Life Star Awards, EIC H2020 and National Cancer Institute-SBIR initiative).

Janelle Goulard, Partner, Investment, Pangaea Ventures

Janelle has over 12 years of healthcare experience, she has a background in private investments, scaling ventures and management consulting. As partner at Pangaea, with a focus on healthcare investment, Janelle brings her expertise in entrepreneurial endeavours (including launching a population health technology platform; becoming a joint venture with Microsoft and GE), her extensive network in private capital, public and private healthcare sectors. Janelle spent most of her career at GE Healthcare collaborating with global teams across Europe and US.

Oliver Keown, Director, Intuitive Ventures, Intuitive Surgical

Oliver joined Intuitive Ventures in 2019 and leads investment efforts with a focus on identifying future leaders of minimally invasive care, including early stage startups across digital, medical device, therapeutic, and diagnostic domains.

Prior to Intuitive Ventures, Oliver was a healthcare investor with GE Ventures, driving international-startup deal flow and supporting numerous portfolio companies operationally and at the board level. He also spent a number of years advising an array of UK, US, and global healthcare innovation projects across technology, government, commercial, and academic fields. He started his career as a junior doctor and policy advisor in the UK National Health Service and remains dedicated to bringing new technologies, diverse partnerships, and investment to address healthcare‘s biggest unmet needs.

Oliver holds an MD and BSc in pharmacology from the University of Edinburgh, Scotland. He is a widely published author in the fields of healthcare and surgical innovation, and is an advisory board member of the Newsom administration‘s California Initiative to Advance Precision Medicine.

Martin Pfister, Senior Investment Manager: Life Sciences, High-Tech Gründerfonds

Dr. Martin Pfister joined the High-Tech Gründerfonds (HTGF) Medtech/LifeSciences team in Bonn in 2010. HTGF is the largest Seedfonds in Europe with about 900 Mio EUR under management and an active portfolio of about 260 technology-based portfolio companies, about 95 of which are in life sciences. studied a combination of Medicine and Pharmacy in Germany and New York University, Medical School with a PhD in Immunology Started his career in the hospital/laboratory moved to the start-up life sciences world 18 years ago. co-founded two companies in the molecular Dx field (VC backed, Exit) and healthcare services (privately owned, Exit 2018) @ HTGF manages a portfolio of 13 life science companies including Biotech, Medtech and digital health holds board member seat in 4 companies including clinical stage Biotech.

Lu Zhang, Founder & Managing Partner, Fusion Fund

Lu Zhang is the Founding and Managing Partner of Fusion Fund. Lu is a World Economic Forum – Young Global Leader (Class of 2018). She has also garnered other accolades including the Featured Honoree in VC of Forbes 30 Under 30 (2017), Silicon Valley Women of Influence (2018), Town & Country 50 Modern Swans – Entrepreneurship Influencer (2017), and Top 10 All America Chinese Youth (2018). 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 (acq 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. Lu is the board member of the Youth Council of Future Forum and Future Science Award. She received her MS in Materials Science and Engineering from Stanford University.