The Speakers
SAY HELLO TO
OUR SPEAKERS
Maher Albitar
Founder, Chief Executive Officer, Chief Medical Officer
Genomic Testing Cooperative, LCAMaher Albitar
Founder, Chief Executive Officer and Chief Medical Officer
Genomic Testing Cooperative, LCAMaher Albitar is the Founder, CEO, and Chief Medical Officer of Genomic Testing Cooperative, LCA, a position he has held since 2018. He also serves as a Professor in the Department of Oncology at Hackensack Meridian School of Medicine. Prior to this, he was the Senior Vice President, Chief Medical Officer, and Director of Research and Development at NeoGenomics from 2010 to 2018. Between 2003 and 2010, he worked as the Medical Director and Chief of Research and Development for Hematopathology and Oncology at the Nichols Institute, Quest Diagnostics. From 1991 to 2003, Albitar held tenured faculty positions at the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, where he served as the Chief of the Leukemia Section in the Laboratory Medicine and Pathology Department, the Director of the Molecular Laboratory, and the Director of the Hematopathology Fellowship Program. He is an AP/CP pathologist trained at Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island, with fellowship training in Hematopathology and Genetics from the University of Pennsylvania and the Howard Hughes Medical Institute. Albitar has authored over 300 peer-reviewed papers, book chapters, and review articles, and holds more than 60 patents and patent applications.
Gabriele Allegri
Vice President
Global Commercial Precision Medicine
Johnson & Johnson Innovative MedicineGabriele Allegri
Vice President
Global Commercial Precision Medicine
Johnson & Johnson Innovative MedicineMarried and a father of two, with a degree in Management Engineering obtained across Italy, France, and Germany, Gabriele Allegri began his career in the USA at an American startup focused on Big Data. Two years later, he returned to Europe and started working for the consulting firm Accenture at the Innovation Center in Sophia Antipolis, France, managing various projects for European key accounts across different sectors.
In 2004, he returned to Italy with a scholarship to pursue his MBA at Bocconi Business School. After an internship at Eli Lilly in 2005, he joined Johnson & Johnson Innovative Medicine. Here, he initially held the role of Product Manager for the newly created HIV Franchise, then assumed the role of Group Marketing Manager in Turkey. Upon returning to Italy, he took on various roles with increasing responsibilities until becoming Business Unit Head for Infectiology, Immunology, and CNS.
In 2016, he was appointed General Manager for Johnson & Johnson Diabetes Care Company, a J&J Group company focused on diabetes management through a mix of medical and pharmaceutical products. Under his leadership, the first integrated teleassistance service branded JnJ was launched in the Italian market.
Returning to Janssen Italy as head of Regional Market Access and the tender office, he was also given responsibility for managing the newly acquired Actelion, a company involved in rare diseases, specifically pulmonary arterial hypertension.
Currently, Gabriele is Vice President of Precision Medicine, based in the United States. He is also a board member of the Personalized Medicine Coalition (PMC) and vice-president of the Precision Cancer Consortium (PCC). The PMC is a coalition dedicated to advancing personalized medicine through the promotion of public policies and patient education. The PCC is a consortium committed to improving the precision of cancer therapies and developing new therapeutic solutions for cancer patients.
Gabriele maintains a strong passion for his work and healthcare, convinced that he can actively contribute – together with his Team and Johnson & Johnson Innovative Medicine – to introducing innovative therapeutic solutions to the Italian market and developing proximity care that raises current standards of care for the benefit of all patients.
Marija Balic
Professor
Department of Medicine, Division of Hematology/Oncology
UPMCMarija Balic
Professor
Department of Medicine, Division of Hematology/Oncology
UPMC
Amit Bar-Or
Director, Center for Neuroinflammation and Neurotherapeutics
UPENNAmit Bar-Or
Melissa and Paul Anderson President’s Distinguished Chair
Professor, Department of Neurology
Chief, Division of Multiple Sclerosis and Related Disorders
Director, Centre for Neuroinflammation and Experimental Therapeutics
University of Pennsylvania and Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP)Dr. Bar-Or holds the Melissa and Paul Anderson President’s Distinguished Chair at the University of Pennsylvania, where he Directs the Centre for Neuroinflammation and Experimental Therapeutics (CNET) and serves as Chief of the Division of Multiple Sclerosis (MS) and related disorders. His clinical focus is on MS and other neuroinflammatory disorders, in both adults and children for which he is cross-appointed at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP) and co-directs the age-span program in MS and related disorders that ensures seamless pediatric through adulthood transition of care, and provides a focus on education and research.
Following an undergraduate degree at McMaster University, Dr. Bar-Or earned his medical degree at McGill University, Montreal, Québec. He completed an Internal Medicine Internship and Neurology residency at the Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH), Harvard Medical School (HMS), followed by postdoctoral clinical fellowship training at the MGH and laboratory fellowship training in cellular and molecular neuroimmunology at the Brigham and Women’s Hospital (BWH) Center for Neurologic Disease, also completing the Clinical Investigator Training Program (CITP) leading to a master’s degree in Medical Science and Translational Research at HMS and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), with additional training through the Harvard School of Public Health Certificate Program in Clinical Effectiveness. He then joined the Department of Neurology and Neurosurgery at the Montreal Neurological Institute and Hospital, McGill University, where he attained tenured Professor rank in 2012 and subsequently also served as the Institute’s Associate Director for Translational Reseacrh prior to arriving at Penn.
Dr. Bar-Or’s research focuses on neuroimmune health and central nervous system (CNS) inflammatory diseases across the age span. He runs a cellular and molecular Neuroimmunology lab directed at understanding general principles of immune regulation and immune-neural interactions, and their contributions to inflammation, injury and repair of the human central nervous system. Major contributions have included discovery of cellular mechanisms by which human T cell, B cell, and myeloid cell subsets modulate one another and interact with brain cells; elucidating the mode-of-action of experimental therapies; advancing the development of clinically meaningful biomarkers; and developing precision medicine strategies for autoimmune and CNS inflammatory diseases. For hos work. Dr. Bar-Or has received multiple awards including the 2021 prestigious Barancik Prize for Research Innovation in MS.
Dr. Bar-Or is passionate about education and mentoring, having trained over 80 students at both pre- and post-doctoral levels with emphasis on clinician-scientist trainees in neuroimmunology and autoimmunity. He has published over 350 peer-reviewed publications, led multiple national and international collaborative research initiatives, and is considered a highly sought-after speaker. He is past-President of the Canadian Network of MS Clinics (CNMSC) and the International Society of Neuroimmunology (ISNI), and served on the Board of Directors of the Americas Committee for Treatment and Research in Multiple Sclerosis (ACTRIMS) and the Federation of Clinical Immunology Societies (FOCIS), where he continues as a long-standing member of the Education Committee. He currently serves on the International Advisory Committee on Clinical Trials in Multiple Sclerosis and on the Steering Committee of the NIH Immune Tolerance Network (ITN) and is co-PI of the NIH Autoimmunity Center of Excellence (ACE), and member of the Leadership Council of the Colton Center for Autoimmunity at the University of Pennsylvania.
Ezra Cohen
Chief Medical Officer
TempusEzra Cohen
Chief Medical Officer, Oncology
TempusEzra Cohen, MD joined Tempus Labs in May 2023 as the CMO, Oncology. Dr. Cohen is a leading medical oncologist and cancer researcher. Prior to Tempus he was the Chief of the Division of Hematology-Oncology as well as the Associate Director of Clinical Science at UCSD Moores Cancer Center. Dr. Cohen obtained his medical degree from University of Toronto in 1990 and trained in internal medicine at Albert Einstein College of Medicine. Subsequently, he completed a hematology/oncology fellowship at the University of Chicago and joined the faculty there in 2002. He joined the faculty at UCSD in 2014 as full professor.
Thomas Conrads
Director, Women's Health Research
Inova Fairfax HospitalThomas Conrads
Director, Women's Health Research
Inova Fairfax Hospital
Chief Scientific Officer, Gynecologic Cancer Center of Excellence (GYN-COE), Murtha Cancer Center (MCC)
Walter Reed National Military Medical CenterDr Conrads specializes in applying advanced proteogenomic technologies to advance cancer research. Throughout his scientific career, he has pioneered advancements in chemistry and biology and established and sustained integrated multidisciplinary research programs aimed at uncovering novel molecular insights and translational opportunities for clinical translation.
He is currently the Director of Women’s Health Research for the Women’s Service Line at Inova Health System and the affiliated Women’s Health Integrated Research Center (WHIRC), a state-of-the-art facility equipped with a robust cell and tissue culture unit, a world-leading laser capture microdissection facility, and a CAP-approved biorepository housing over 80,000 specimens from more than 8,000 enrolled patients. Our center also boasts extensive computational resources and a state-of-the-art high-resolution mass spectrometry facility.
At the WHIRC, Dr Conrads also serves as the Chief Scientific Officer of the Gynecologic Cancer Center of Excellence (GYN-COE) under the Murtha Cancer Center (MCC) at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center and the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences. Within the WHIRC, the Research Pathology Center conducts laser microdissection on 8,000 cancer cases for proteogenomic profiling, while the Clinical Proteomics Platform serves as the central proteomics discovery reference laboratory for the Applied Proteogenomics Organizational Learning and Outcomes (APOLLO) program, a cornerstone of the US Federal Cancer Moonshot initiative.
In his role within the APOLLO Research Network, he serves as Director of the Clinical Proteomics Platform and Co-Director of the Research Pathology Center. Additionally, he contributes to the Executive Leadership Committee and co-lead the Tissue Into Laboratories task force, emphasizing commitment to advancing cancer research through innovative proteogenomic strategies.
Jason Crites
Founder and CEO
Assurance Health DataJason Crites
Founder and CEO
Assurance Health DataJason has 20 years’ experience in data analytics and virtualization. He is a commercialization and data visualization expert with competencies in engineering, management and acquisition integration. As an ex-IBM sales executive, he generated a billion in revenue and led the development of the Federated Data Model and the Global Storage Solution. Jason is a citizen scientist, public speaker, and an early advocate of models for large-scale data sharing and analytics.
Sundeep Dugar
Chief Executive Officer
Aayam TherapeuticsSundeep Dugar
CEO, Aayam Therapeutics
CEO, Myto Therapeutics
CEO, Rarefy Therapeutics
CSO, Pacegenix IncDr. Dugar's pharmaceutical career began at Schering-Plough, where he was the first medicinal chemist hired to launch a program that ultimately led to the discovery and development of Zetia® and Vytorin®. After 12 years at Schering-Plough and Bristol-Myers Squibb, Dr. Dugar joined Scios in 1999 to establish and lead the small molecule drug discovery program, with a focus on kinases. Under his leadership, the initiative quickly grew into a robust drug discovery and development effort, resulting in multiple programs and two clinical candidates within just two years. In 2002, Scios was acquired by Johnson & Johnson for $2.4 billion, a significant increase from its market cap of around $110 million in 1999.
From 2002 to 2005, Dr. Dugar served as Vice President of Chemistry at Johnson & Johnson’s Fremont, CA facility. In this role, he was responsible for medicinal chemistry at Scios/J&J and for driving strategic process chemistry efforts at CILAG in Schaffhausen. He also played a key role in the due diligence process that led to Johnson & Johnson's in-licensing of the blockbuster drug Xarelto from Bayer.
Dr. Dugar's experience in drug discovery and development spans a broad range of therapeutic areas, including oncology, CNS, cardiovascular, inflammation, pain, neurodegenerative, and infectious diseases, across both major pharmaceutical companies and biotech firms.
In late 2005, Dr. Dugar founded Advantium Pharma, a full-service CRO based in Pune, India. Within 18 months, he successfully exited through an equity sale to Sequoia Capital, achieving a 7x return in two years. In 2008, he founded Sphaera Pharma in Singapore, with the goal of creating a new and unique model for drug discovery and development. Sphaera Pharma raised $14 million in equity financing, and this model has proven highly successful, leading to the discovery and development of multiple platform technologies, spin-offs, and licensing deals. The intellectual property generated at Sphaera Pharma was instrumental in the founding of Epirium Bio, which raised $85 million in December 2019 based on the IP Dr. Dugar developed.
Throughout his career, Dr. Dugar has consistently combined his scientific and business expertise to deliver sustained value to investors and shareholders while advancing therapeutics that benefit patients.
Robert Dumanois
Director
Reimbursement Strategy
Thermo Fisher ScientificRobert Dumanois
Director, Reimbursement Strategy
Thermo Fisher ScientificAs director of reimbursement strategy, Rob leads market access and evidence development activities for Thermo Fisher Scientific’s clinical sequencing division. Experienced in all facets of NGS testing’s coverage, coding, and billing – Rob works with CLIA labs, pharma partners and coalitions to explain the complex and often contradictory U.S. environment and devise pathways to achieve their desired goals. He’s also worked with Oncomine™ Dx Target Test: the first FDA-approved next-generation sequencing (NGS) in vitro diagnostic test for non-small cell lung cancer. This companion diagnostic is now covered nationally by Medicare and dozens of commercial payers. Rob joined Thermo Fisher (Life Technologies) in 2012 through an acquisition of Navigenics, where he led development and growth of payers and employers. Rob was also a Territory Vice President at RelayHealth, with duties that included payer-facing sales of secure messaging and e-prescribing. He also held senior sales and sales management positions with UnitedHealthcare.
Ysabel Duron
Founder/Executive Director
The Latino Cancer InstituteYsabel Duron
Founder/Executive Director
The Latino Cancer InstituteYsabel Duron is a pioneering, award-winning Latina journalist, a cancer survivor, and for the last 23 years, a leading patient activist around Latino community engagement. Her encore career as a cancer patient advocate and non-profit agency builder commenced when she was diagnosed with cancer in 1999.
This past February President Joe Biden appointed Duron to the National Cancer Advisory Board which advises the Director of the National Cancer Institute. She is the first patient advocate to serve on the NCAB.
Duron describes her “work in and with community,” as a learning classroom and credits the experience with preparing her for her advocacy role. Among other things, her former agency developed programs for low income, Spanish-speaking and immigrant communities to address gaps along the cancer continuum including cancer awareness education, navigation into screening, psychosocial support groups and a lay community navigator program to support and guide low income, Spanish-speaking cancer patients in the public health care system in Santa Clara County (San Jose), California.
Between 2008 and 2016, under her leadership at Latinas Contra Cancer (LCC), Duron convened 5 unique National Latino Cancer Summits, turning its lens on cancer issues in the Latino community, collaborating with advocacy groups, researchers and health care providers to investigate, and address cancer related impacts.
LCC also created linguistically and culturally appropriate education tools using a bingo game model to dispel myth and misinformation, promote healthy eating and exercise as well as screening and early detection; training up to 200 promotores aka community health workers to use these tools to raise awareness and navigate eligible participants into screenings. This bingo concept was adapted for the African American and Pacific Islander communities, and cited by the NIEHS – IBCERCC Committee, on which Duron served, in the 2012 Breast Cancer and the Environment, Prioritizing Prevention Report.
In 2017, Ms. Duron launched her third and current agency, The Latino Cancer Institute (TLCI), to amplify Latino voices about the cancer burden – acting as a force multiplier through a nationwide network of stakeholders; dedicated to promote the work of Latino community service agencies; to provide collaboration with the global cancer research community; and to drive policy to improve health outcomes and diminish disproportionate Latino cancer mortality.
The Institute has since convened 4 National TLCI virtual Forums as Duron continues to bring together researchers, clinicians, advocates, government and industry officials across the cancer landscape.
TLCI’s collaborations include engagements with academic partners such as the Stanford Cancer Institute, Universities of California at San Francisco and Davis, Georgetown University Lombardi Comprehensive Cancer Center, George Washington Cancer Center, the California Primary Care Association (FQHCs), San Diego and San Jose State Universities. Duron is a published co-author in over 10 research papers.
TLCI’s robust engagement has resulted in two invitations to the White House, once for a re-launch (Feb 2022) of President Joe Biden’s Cancer Moonshot initiative to drive cancer screenings and decrease cancer mortality by 50% in 25 years. The 2nd White House event (Oct 2022) spotlighted the American Cancer Society launch of the newly formed National Breast Cancer Roundtable (NBCRT) on which Duron was invited to serve. NBCRT aims, among other policy initiatives, to address disparities in cancer screening and access, advanced diagnostics and quality treatment impacting racial and ethnic populations.
Duron also serves on the Institutional Review Board (IRB) of the All of Us Research Program at the National Institutes of Health; invited to join in 2016 by former NIH Director Francis Collins, as a patient advocate.
Duron is also a member of the California Initiative to Advance Precision Medicine Advisory Council (CIAPM), which advises the Governor on the direction of Precision Medicine issues in the state.
As a member of the Independent Citizen’s Oversight Committee (since 2019) of the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine (CIRM), a tax-payer funded stem cell research program, Duron successfully drove a motion that requires research proposals to include a plan on recruiting a proportionate number of racial and ethnic minorities into newly funded COVID Clinical Trials. The expansion of diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) has since been incorporated into the majority of Requests for Proposals funded by the Institute and drives frameworks for internal organizational operations. CIRM CEO, Maria Millan, said that the “culture,” has changed amongst CIRM scientific reviewers who now more vigorously question the quality of the DEI plan in the research proposals, which are also scored by patient advocates and can be returned to applicants for improvements.
As a member of the National Rapid Research Coalition, for the Johns Hopkins University Center for Health Security between 2020 and 2022, Duron advised on the community’s role in an equitable and effective Covid vaccination rollout (titled CommuniVax), supported the research site team in California (one of five sites around the country), consulted on and assisted in editing the three CommuniVax national reports.
Duron was also elected in 2021 to the University of California Center for Data Drive Insights and Innovation (UCCDI2) which engages in a collaborative approach with UC Health to build a pre-eminent data-driven learning healthcare system that improves the human condition.
A broadcast journalist for 43 years, Duron was inducted into the National Association of Hispanic Journalists Hall of Fame in 2009. A 1970 graduate of San Jose State University with a B.A. in Journalism, Duron distinguished herself in both the journalism and non-profit worlds winning a number of prestigious awards. These include two Emmys, a Radio-TV News Director Award, the Girl Scouts Juliette Gordon Award for her Trouble with Teacher Series, the Silicon Valley NAACP Chapter W.E.B. Dubois Award, as well as the Living Legacy Award from the Chicana- Latina Foundation, the 2005 Bay Area Most Influential Latino from the SF Business Times, a Lifetime Achievement Award from the International Women’s Media Association, and the 2011 Latino Spirit Award from the Latino Caucus of the California Legislature.
Duron’s non-profit work garnered her the 150-thousand dollar Purpose Prize (2013) from ENCORE, and won her the Distinguished Public Service Award from the American Psychosocial Oncology Society among others.
Allison Eck
Director, Pathology and Laboratory Medicine
Doylestown HealthAllison Eck
Director, Pathology and Laboratory Medicine
Doylestown HealthAllison Eck is the lead histotechnologist at Doylestown Hospital in Pennsylvania. She has been a histotechnologist for 15 years after graduating with a degree in histotechnology from Harford Community College in Maryland and a bachelor’s degree in biology from Lycoming College in Pennsylvania. She holds her histotechnologist (HTL) and qualification in laboratory safety (QLS) certifications through the ASCP, as well as her Allied Health Instructor (AHI) certification through AMT. Allison has spoken at a variety of professional conferences on respiratory disease as well as lab safety and ergonomics.
Stephen Ekker
Professor and Associate Dean
Innovation and Entrepreneurship
Dell Medical SchoolStephen Ekker
Professor and Associate Dean, Innovation and Entrepreneurship
Dell Medical School
Associate Vice President, Research Translation
University of Texas at AustinStephen C. Ekker, Ph.D., is a professor of pediatrics and associate dean of innovation and entrepreneurship at Dell Medical School, and associate vice president for research translation at The University of Texas at Austin. He also serves as a professor in the Department of Molecular Biosciences in UT’s College of Natural Sciences.
Ekker is a genome engineer and entrepreneur who uses zebra fish in vivo and human cells in vitro to develop new molecular DNA editing tools to understand our genome and create new therapeutics. He leads the development of key innovation and entrepreneurship education and applications within Dell Med and collaboratively across the University.
He has performed gene editing for three decades at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, Johns Hopkins University, University of Minnesota and Mayo Clinic. He was previously the dean of the Mayo Clinic Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences. He was also was the founder and inaugural director of the Mayo Clinic Office of Entrepreneurship and is a strong advocate of the bench-to-business-to-bedside model of research translation.
Ekker is also an inventor and has been continuously funded by the National Institutes of Health for more than two decades. He has co-authored over 170 scientific publications and has served as the founding president of the Genome Writers Guild — a nonprofit international genome engineering society — and president of the Zebrafish Disease Models Society. As an entrepreneur, he co-founded his first company, Discovery Genomics Inc., which was acquired by Immusoft in 2016 for key technology that now conducts first-in-class human gene therapy based on programmed B cells.
Ekker was the scientific advisor for Opentrons Labworks while the startup went from accelerator to unicorn, and is the scientific founder of Primera Therapeutics, which focuses on developing therapies for patients with mitochondrial disease. As CEO of LifEngine Technologies Inc., Ekker is a scientific co-founder, investor and director of LifEngine Animal Health (LEAH) Laboratories, which focuses on making new therapies for companion animals and their humans; it is the first gene editing company out of the prestigious Y Combinator startup incubator.
Harry Erba
Director, Leukemia Program
Duke Cancer InstituteHarry Erba
Director, Leukemia Program
Duke Cancer InstituteAn expert in hematologic malignancies,Harry Erba, MD, PhD, is the director of both the Leukemia Program and Phase I Development in Hematologic Malignancies in the Division of Hematologic Malignancies and Cellular Therapy in the Department of Medicine at the Duke Cancer Institute in Durham, North Carolina.
Dr. Erba is a clinical investigator focused on the development of novel therapies for the treatment of diseases such as acute myeloid leukemia (AML), myelodysplastic syndromes, and myeloproliferative neoplasms. He is particularly interested in addressing the critically unmet need amongst older patients diagnosed with AML, since only a minority of these patients ever receive treatment. He is dedicated to improving outcomes for these patients by studying targeted therapies that effectively treat bone marrow failure and thereby improve quality of life and survival.
After graduating Summa Cum Laude from Yale University, Erba pursued a medical degree and PhD, both from Stanford University in California. He completed his internship and residency in internal medicine and a fellowship in hematology-oncology at Brigham and Women's Hospital.
Marni Falk
Distinguished Endowed Chair, Department of Pediatrics
Executive Director, Mitochondrial Medicine Frontier Program
CHOPMarni Falk
Distinguished Endowed Chair, Department of Pediatrics
Executive Director, Mitochondrial Medicine Frontier Program
CHOPProfessor, Division of Human Genetics in the Department of Pediatrics
University of Pennsylvania Perelman School of MedicineMarni J. Falk, M.D., is Distinguished Endowed Chair in the Department of Pediatrics and Executive Director of the Mitochondrial Medicine Frontier Program at The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP), and Professor in the Division of Human Genetics within the Department of Pediatrics at the University of Pennsylvania (UPENN) Perelman School of Medicine in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania USA. A board-certified Clinical Geneticist, Dr. Falk works to improve precision clinical care, diagnostic approaches, precision therapeutics, and genomic resources for rare disorders, with a focus on mitochondrial disease. She organized and is co-leader of the global Mitochondrial Disease Sequence Data Resource (MSeqDR) consortium, co-leader of the ClinGen Mitochondrial Disease Gene and Variant Expert Curation Panels, organizer of the international mitochondrial zebrafish consortium (MZC), and organizer of the CHOP/UPENN Mitochondria Research Affinity Group (MITO RAG) that has ~300 participants. Dr. Falk is PI of an active translational research laboratory group at CHOP investigating the causes and global metabolic consequences of mitochondrial disease, and targeted therapies, in C. elegans, zebrafish, mouse, and human cell models of genetic-based respiratory chain dysfunction. She also designs and directs multiple clinical research studies and treatment trials in mitochondrial disease patients. In 2023, she co-founded Rarefy Therapeutics LLC, focused on advancing the late-stage development of data-driven, precision therapeutics for rare diseases.
Dr. Falk received her B.S. degree in Biology graduating Summa cum Laude and Phi Beta Kappa, as well as M.D. degree in the Alpha Omega Alpha Medical Honor Society from a combined 7-year program at the George Washington University School of Medicine. She then completed dual specialty training in a 5-year Pediatrics and Clinical Genetics residency program at Case Western Reserve University. Dr. Falk has authored more than 175 peer-reviewed publications, and edited “Mitochondrial Disease Genes Compendium: From Genes to Clinical Manifestations”.
Dr. Falk is a member of the Scientific and Medical Advisory Board of The United Mitochondrial Disease Foundation (UMDF); founding member of the CHOP Center for Mitochondrial and Epigenomic Medicine (CMEM); CHOP-site PI of the North American Mitochondrial Disease Consortium (NAMDC); member of the Mitochondrial Medicine Society (MMS), Society for Pediatric Research (SPR), Society for Inherited Metabolic Disease (SIMD), American Society of Human Genetics (ASHG), and American College of Medical Genetics and Genomics (ACMGG); and elected member of the University of Pennsylvania John Morgan Society (JMS), Interurban Clinical Club (ICC), and American Society of Clinical Investigators (ASCI).
Rong Fan
Professor, Biomedical Engineering
Yale University
Professor, Pathology
Yale School of MedicineRong Fan
Professor, Biomedical Engineering, Yale University
Professor, Pathology, Yale School of Medicine
Member, Yale Cancer Center (YCC), Yale Stem Cell Center (YSCC), and the Human & Translational Immunology Program (HTI)Dr. Rong Fan is the Harold Hodgkinson Professor of Biomedical Engineering and of Pathology. His research interest has been centered on the development and deployment of single-cell and spatial omics technologies to investigate normal development, aging, and disease. He received a B.S. in Applied Chemistry from University of Science and Technology of China, a Ph.D. in Chemistry from the University of California at Berkeley, and then completed his postdoctoral training at California Institute of Technology, prior to joining the faculty of Department of Biomedical Engineering at Yale University in 2010. He developed a microchip that allows for simultaneous measurement of 42 immune effector proteins in single cells at high throughput, which remains the highest multiplexing to date for a single-cell protein secretion assay. In collaboration with Novartis and Kite Pharma, it was applied to profiling antigen-specific activation states of chimeric antigen receptor (CAR)-engineered T cells, resulting in the discovery of novel single-cell biomarkers including polyfunctional strength index to characterize the quality of CAR-T infusion products and predict the clinical responses and immune-related adverse effects(irAEs) prior to treatment. This microchip, called IsoCode, and the automation system, called IsoLight, have been commercialized by IsoPlexis, a company co-founded by Dr. Fan. Now, this system has been used by >100 major pharmaceutical companies and cancer centers around the world for monitoring CAR-T or checkpoint inhibitor immunotherapies. Dr. Fan is also a pioneer in developing NGS-based spatial omics sequencing technologies. He conceived the concept of spatial multi-omics and developed the first spatially resolved multi-omics sequencing technology called DBiT-seq (Liu et al., Cell 183, 1665–1681, 2020) which allows for spatial co-profiling of whole transcriptome and hundreds of proteins (spatial-CITE-seq) at cellular level in complex tissues. He further developed a first-of-its-kind technology to enable spatial epigenome sequencing including spatial-ATAC-seq (Deng et al., Nature 609 (7926), 375-383, 2022) and spatial-CUT&Tag (Deng et al., Science 375 (6581), 681-686, 2022). These technologies may unlock a whole new field in spatial biology with applications in a wide range of biological and biomedical research. Dr. Fan co-founded IsoPlexis, Singleron Biotechnologies, and AtlasXomics. He is the recipient of multiple awards including the NCI Howard Temin Career Transition Award, the NSF CAREER Award, and the Packard Fellowship for Science and Engineering. He has been elected to American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering (AIMBE), Connecticut Academy of Science and Engineering (CASE), and the National Academy of Inventors (NAI).
Phil Febbo
Executive Committee Member
BloodPACPhil Febbo
Executive Committee Member
BloodPACChief Scientific Officer
Chief Medical Officer
VeracytePhillip G. Febbo joined Veracyte in 2023 and serves as Chief Scientific Officer and Chief Medical Officer. Dr. Febbo is a distinguished life sciences leader with more than 25 years of experience across academia and the molecular diagnostics industry. Prior to Veracyte, he served as Chief Medical Officer for Illumina where he led the successful strategy to engage clinical customers. Prior to that, he was Chief Medical Officer for Genomic Health, where he oversaw the development and expansion of the company’s test portfolio. Earlier in his career, Dr. Febbo was a Professor of Medicine and Urology at the University of California, San Francisco Medical Center, and before that he was an Associate Professor of Medicine and Molecular Genetics and Microbiology at Duke University School of Medicine. He currently serves on the board of the Reagan Udall Foundation for the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and was previously a director for Varian, Inc. Dr. Febbo holds a B.A. in Biology from Dartmouth College and an M.D. from the University of California, San Francisco. He completed his internal medicine residency at Brigham and Women's Hospital and his medical oncology fellowship at the Dana Farber Cancer Institute.
Andrea Ferreira-Gonzalez
Professor and Chair, Molecular Diagnostics
Director, Molecular Diagnostics Laboratory
Virginia Commonwealth UniversityAndrea Ferreira-Gonzalez
Professor and Chair, Division Molecular Diagnostics
Director Molecular Diagnostics Laboratory
Virginia Commonwealth UniversityAndrea Ferreira-Gonzalez, Ph.D., is the Chair of the Division of Molecular Diagnostics and Director of the Molecular Diagnostics Laboratory in the Department of Pathology at the Virginia Commonwealth University Health System. Dr. Ferreira-Gonzalez has devoted over 25 years to the field of Molecular Genetics and has been recognized nationally and internationally for her work in this field. At the national level, Dr. Ferreira-Gonzalez is a consultant for the FDA’s Clinical Genetics Panel of the Medical Devices Advisory Committee, Center for Devices and Radiological Health. She served in the HHS Advisory Committee on Genetics, Health, and Society (SACGHS). She also served as a member of HHS Clinical Laboratory Improvement Advisory Committee (CLIAC) and Veteran Administration Genomic Medicine Advisory Board. She has been involved in developing clinical guidelines with the Clinical Laboratory Standard Institute and Association for Molecular Pathology (AMP). Dr. Ferreira-Gonzalez also served as President, Secretary-Treasurer of AMP, and Chair of the Professional Relations Committee. Dr. Ferreira-Gonzalez serves as a member of the Molecular Biology Education Committee for IFCC. Dr. Ferreira-Gonzalez has over 90 peer-reviewed publications. She also is the author of 12 chapters in books related to the practice of Molecular Genetics.
Scott Friedman
Dean, Therapeutic DiscoveryChief, Division of Liver DiseasesIcahn School of Medicine at Mount SinaiScott Friedman
Dean, Therapeutic DiscoveryChief, Division of Liver DiseasesIcahn School of Medicine at Mount SinaiDr. Scott L. Friedman is the Dean for Therapeutic Discovery and Chief of the Division of Liver Diseases, at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai. He has performed pioneering research into the underlying causes of scarring, or fibrosis associated with chronic liver disease, affecting millions worldwide. Dr. Friedman was among the first to isolate and characterize the hepatic stellate cell, the key cell type responsible for scar production in liver. His work has spawned an entire field that is now realizing its translational and therapeutic potential, with new anti-fibrotic therapies for liver disease reaching clinical trials. Dr. Friedman’s work has been continuously funded by the NIH since 1985; he was awarded his first faculty NIH grant (RO1) in 1986 at the age of 31. A 1979 graduate of the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, he served as the President of Alpha Omega Alpha Honor Society, then was a Medical Resident at the Beth Israel Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, followed by a Gastroenterology Fellowship at UCSF before assuming a faculty position there which he held for ten years. During a 1995-96 sabbatical from UCSF he was a Senior Fulbright Scholar and Visiting Professor at the Weizmann Institute of Science in Israel, in the laboratory of Professor Moshe Oren. Dr. Friedman has given invited honorary lectures throughout the world and has been a named lecturer or Visiting Professor at over 30 institutions worldwide. He is widely recognized as a dynamic, effective speaker, and is also a respected author, with over 300 peer-reviewed publications. Dr. Friedman was a recipient in 1993 of the Saul Horowitz, Jr. Outstanding Alumnus Award from Mount Sinai. In 2003, Dr. Friedman was honored with the International Hans Popper Award by the Falk Foundation in Freiburg,Germany, in recognition of his outstanding contributions to the understanding of liver disease and its treatment. He has mentored over 75 postdoctoral fellows and students, most of who remain in academic training programs or faculty. In 2012 he was awarded the European Association for the Study of Liver Diseases International Recognition Award in Barcelona, Spain, and in 2013 he was awarded the Shanghai Magnolia Gold Award by the Mayor of Shanghai and the China Friendship Award from the Premier of China in 2014 in recognition of his efforts to improve the health of the residents of Shanghai and China through his research achievements. As Chief of the Division of Liver Diseases at Mount Sinai since 2001, Dr. Friedman has expanded the faculty from 5 to 25 individuals, increased NIH grant funding more than 5-fold, clinical trials income more than 10-fold, and overseen the creation of the largest liver fellowship in the United States. He has been a member of the American Society of Clinical Investigation since 1995, the Association of American Physicians since 2004, and was elected as a Fellow of the American Gastroenterological Association in 2008, the Am. College of Physicians in 2013, the American Assn. for the Study of Liver Diseases in 2014 and the American Association for the Advancement for Science in 2015. Dr. Friedman’s appointment in 2012 as Dean for Therapeutic Discovery at Mount Sinai recognizes his unique strengths in translating basic science into clinically meaningful advances, and his investigative work in liver disease has been instrumental in fueling the tremendous growth in emerging diagnostics and therapeutics for hepatic fibrosis. As President of the American Assn. for the Study of Liver Diseases in 2009 (the sixth Mount Sinai faculty member to hold this position), Dr. Friedman oversaw several major new initiatives that accelerated its growth and brought the Association to new levels of income and international visibility.
Mark Garner
Global Cancer Segment Market Manager
Agilent TechnologiesMark Garner
Global Cancer Segment Market Manager
Agilent TechnologiesSaba Ghassemi
Research Assistant Professor
Pathology and Laboratory Medicine
UPENNSaba Ghassemi
Research Assistant Professor
Pathology and Laboratory Medicine
UPENNDr. Saba Ghassemi graduated with a Master’s degree in Mechanical Engineering from Villanova University. She then completed her PhD at Columbia University, training under Drs. Michael Sheetz and James Hone. During this time, she was an active member of an NIH-funded interdisciplinary center: The Nanomedicine Development Center (NDC) for Mechanobiology, Directing the Immune Response. During her PhD studies, Dr. Ghassemi identified an intracellular sarcomere-like unit that is responsible for sensing the mechanical properties of the extracellular environment. Combining nanotechnology and cell biology, she showed that this mechano-sensing unit operates at the nanoscale regime. Dr. Ghassemi completed her post-doctoral fellowship at the University of Pennsylvania at the Center for Cellular Immunotherapies (CCI) in Dr. Michael Milone’s lab. She focused on improving CAR T cell differentiation and potency. Her studies showed that CAR T cells progressively differentiate over time: reducing the ex vivo expansion to 3 days increases potency and durable efficacy in pre-clinical models of ALL. The findings from this work are currently being translated into a clinical trial at UPenn led by Dr. Carl June. Dr. Ghassemi was awarded the St. Baldrick’s Scholar Award (2018), Early Career Scientific Research Award from the National Blood Foundation (2019), as well as a DoD Career Development award (2020). Dr. Ghassemi has emerged as an expert in the CAR T cell field with invitations to present her findings at national and international conferences (ASH, ASGCT, AAI, ISCT) and is the author of numerous peer-reviewed publications. She is also a co-inventor on several patents involving methods for improving the efficacy, expansion, and fitness of CAR T cells for adoptive immunotherapy. The overarching goals of the Ghassemi Lab are to use a multidisciplinary approach that combines engineering with CAR T cell immunology to develop potent CAR T cells for adoptive immunotherapy of cancer.
Stephan Grupp
Medical Director
Cell and Gene Therapy Lab
Children’s Hospital of PhiladelphiaStephan Grupp
Medical Director
Cell and Gene Therapy Lab
Children’s Hospital of PhiladelphiaStephan Grupp, MD PhD, is Chief of the Cellular Therapy and Transplant Section, Director of the Susan and Steven Kelly Center for Cancer Immunotherapy, and Medical Director of the Cell and Gene Therapy Lab at CHOP, as well as Novotny Professor of Pediatrics (with tenure) at U Penn’s Perelman School of Medicine. He has authored over 250 articles and book chapters during his research career across the translational spectrum. He leads the largest pediatric cell therapy program in the country, a group which recently celebrated treating their 500th CAR T patient. Dr. Grupp came to CHOP in 1996 after receiving his MD/PhD in Cincinnati and doing his clinical training in Boston. His primary area of research is the use of CAR T and other engineered cell therapies in pediatric cancers and other life-threatening disorders such as sickle cell disease. He led all of the pediatric ALL trials of the CAR T product CTL019 (tisa-cel), including Novartis’ international registration trial, leading to the first FDA approval of a CAR product (Kymriah). As a result of this work, he presented the Clinical Perspective at the first FDA ODAC CAR meeting. He is currently the Study Steering Committee Lead for the Vertex international registration trial of their CRISPR-edited product for sickle cell disease. Dr. Grupp was elected to the National Academy of Medicine in 2019.
Hakon Hakonarson
Director
Center for Applied Genomics
Children's Hospital of Philadelphia
Research InstituteHakon Hakonarson
Director
Center for Applied Genomics
Children's Hosptial of Philadelphia
Research InstituteDr. Hakonarson is director of the Center for Applied Genomics and professor of Pediatrics at the Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania. He leads a $40 million commitment from Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia to genomically characterize approximately 100,000 children, an initiative that has gained nationwide attention in the Wall Street Journal, New York Times, Time Magazine, Nature, and Science.
Sarah Hersey
Vice President
Precision Medicine
Bristol Myers SquibbSarah Hersey
Vice President, Precision Medicine
Bristol Myers SquibbSarah is currently the Vice President, of Precision Medicine for Bristol Myers Squibb. She has more than 20 years of industry experience in leading R&D organizations, CLIA and GLP laboratories, device manufacturing, consortiums, assessment and implementation of technology strategies, and development of in vitro diagnostics. In addition, she continuously works to further education and awareness in the Precision Medicine and Companion Diagnostic spaces. Prior to joining BMS, Sarah was the Vice President, Precision Medicine & Companion Diagnostics for Celgene, where she founded their Precision Medicine Organization in 2016. She joined Celgene after having held the position as the Global Head of Future Precision Medicine for Novartis, where the team submitted and gained approval for multiple Health Authority applications; including the first pre-market approval for a distributable NGS CDx.
Sarah has also held multiple roles with increasing responsibility within Johnson and Johnson (JNJ) including Global Head of Operations, Assay Program Leader for Companion Diagnostics Center of Excellence, Director of Materials Process Development and Enabling Technologies. At JNJ, Sarah co-led or was the operating company’s representative on key corporate strategic initiatives including, but not limited to: Nanotechnology, Critical to Quality Flow Down and Pathology Business Opportunity Team and had accountability for CLIA laboratories in the US and Europe. In addition, her prior experience also includes start-up and establishment of a GLP laboratory, technical support and quality assurance. Sarah has BS and MS degrees in Chemistry and Biology from Northern Illinois University, Regulatory Affairs Certification (RAC) and an MBA from California State University.
Shahanawaz "DJ" Jiwani
Director, Pathology, Frederick National Lab
Director, CLIA LaboratoriesShahanawaz DJ Jiwani
Director, Pathology, Frederick National Laboratory for Cancer Research
Director, CLIA LaboratoriesPorscha Johnson
Executive Owner/Principal Consultant
PJW Clinical Pharmacy Consulting, LLCPorscha Johnson
Executive Owner/Principal Consultant
PJW Clinical Pharmacy Consulting, LLCDr. Porscha Johnson Williams is a graduate of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and earned her Doctor of Pharmacy from Howard University College of Pharmacy in Washington, DC. She furthered her training through the completion of a post-doctoral clinical pharmacy fellowship in hematology/oncology and critical care at Howard University Hospital. Double-certified in pharmacogenomics, Porscha serves as the strategic advisor for various molecular tumor board services and precision medicine development. She collaborates with a multidisciplinary team for informed treatment decision-making according to novel approaches and cutting-edge research within the field.
Furthermore, Porscha oversees and contributes to many initiatives including a health system-wide Precision Oncology Program, the curation and delivery of educational material and presentations to all disciplines, as well as serves as an independent consultant for medical oncology and pharmacogenomics. Dr. Porscha Johnson Williams enthusiastically embodies a special interest in the clinical utility of precision oncology and pharmacogenomics/genetics to optimize therapy, improve outcomes, and advocate for health equity for all cancer patients.
Sanjay Juneja
Hematologist & Medical Oncologist, Mary Bird Perkins Cancer Center
"TheOncDoc", Social & News Media EducatorSanjay Juneja
Hematologist & Medical Oncologist, Mary Bird Perkins Cancer Center
“TheOncDoc”, Social & News Media Educator
Podcast Host, “Target Cancer: Podcast”
Co-Founder, Medfluencers
Co-Founder, TensorBlackSanjay Juneja, MD is a triple board certified hematologist & medical oncologist driven by the need of democratized, accessible innovation in the rapidly evolving cancer space. Through his nationally-recognized social media content as @TheOncDoc, Dr. Juneja has amassed over 700,000 subscribers and, as host of “Target Cancer: Podcast”, has over one million downloads in over 100 countries to date. For his merits, Dr. Juneja was invited by the White House to participate on their Healthcare Leaders in Social Media roundtable through 2023, and in 2024 awarded by Targeted Oncology as the first recipient of their ‘2024 Oncology Icons’. He is an avid Keynote speaker nationally and abroad, and has been featured on several news outlets including CNBC, PBS, WIRED magazine, and the Washington Post.
Outside of his current practice, Dr. Juneja provides consultation and insights in effective messaging when it relates to challenging topics such as cancer and their treatments, to healthcare professionals and biotech / pharmaceutical companies alike. He is a co-founder of Medfluencers, an agency dedicated to ensuring social media education is done in a responsible and compliant manner, as well as to ensure healthcare professionals are aware of state and federal regulations. Dr. Juneja is an editorial board member for the journal ‘AI in Precision Oncology’, and a co-founder of TensorBlack–an educational AI in Healthcare company assembled to ensure the understanding of AI, as well as its applications in the oncology setting. Lastly, Dr. Juneja is a fervent advocate for health equity and access to care, and actively participates in legislative capacities and policy writing on a state and federal level through his affiliations with Alliance for Patient Access, Cancer Advocacy Group of Louisiana, Figs Advocacy Group, xCures, and the Louisiana Oncology Society.Rick Kittles
Inaugural Senior Vice President
Research
Morehouse School of MedicineRick Kittles
Inaugural Senior Vice President
Research
Morehouse School of MedicineRick Kittles, Ph.D., is the inaugural Senior Vice President for Research at Morehouse School of Medicine. Dr. Kittles was previously Professor and founding Director of the Division of Health Equities within the Department of Population Sciences at the City of Hope (COH) and Associate Director of Health Equities of COH Comprehensive Cancer Center. Dr. Kittles is also Co-founder and Scientific Director of African Ancestry, Inc. Dr. Kittles serves on many national and international steering committees and advisory boards. He has been a member of the Board of Scientific Counselors (BSC) for the National Human Genome Research Institute (NHGRI/NIH) and is Past Council Chair of the Minorities in Cancer Research (MICR) of the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR). He has been at the forefront of the development of genetic markers for ancestry and how genetic ancestry can be used in studies on disease risk and outcomes. He received a Ph.D. in Biological Sciences from George Washington University in 1998.
Dr. Kittles’ research has focused on understanding the complex issues surrounding race, genetic ancestry, and health. He has published over 260 research articles and is well known for his research on prostate cancer and health disparities among African Americans.
Arutha Kulasinghe
Lead, Clinical-oMx Lab
University of Queensland
Scientific Director
Queensland Spatial Biology CentreArutha Kulasinghe
Lead, Clinical-oMx Lab, University of Queensland
Scientific Director, Queensland Spatial Biology CentreDr Arutha Kulasinghe completed his Bachelor of Science and Honours majoring in Medical Microbiology at the University of Pretoria (South Africa). In 2014, he undertook his PhD studies in the investigation of circulating tumour cells in head and neck cancers at the Queensland University of Technology (QUT), receiving his doctorate in 2017. In 2019, Dr Kulasinghe began a Peter Doherty NHMRC Early Career Fellowship to develop biomarkers of immunotherapy response in head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC) and lung cancer. His research aims to use spatial analysis of the tumour microenvironment and profiling of liquid biopsy (circulating tumour cells/circulating tumour DNA) to identify biomarkers of response to immune checkpoint inhibitors. Dr Kulasinghe is supported by a number of funding agencies including the NHMRC, Cure Cancer and the GPRWMF.
Neha Kumar
Global Commercial Lead Precision Medicine Strategy
Johnson & JohnsonNeha Kumar
Global Commerical Lead, Precision Medicine Strategy
Johnson & JohnsonVictor LaGroon
Chief Diversity Officer
Department of Veterans Affairs
Head, Global Health Equity Strategy
Assurance Health DataVictor LaGroon
Chief Diversity Officer, Department of Veterans Affairs
Head of Global Health Equity Strategy, Assurance Health DataVictor LaGroon was sworn-in August 2022, as the Chief Diversity Officer (CDO) at the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) Office of the Secretary. He also served as a voting member of the White House Chief Diversity Officer Executive Council. As CDO, Victor was responsible for the development of VA’s Inclusive, Diversity, Equity and Access (I-DEA) strategy and governance. Victor has led the development, adoption and implementation of VA-wide I-DEA programs and policies in support of the Department’s strategic priorities, enabling accountability and transparency of data, driving results, ensuring the most effective initiatives are in-place and communicating and amplifying the I-DEA message.
Prior to his previous position, Victor served as the Director of Strategic Partnerships and Alliances for the Division of Health Equity, Department of Population Sciences at City of Hope. He also led Veteran hiring and retention strategies for the Diversity, Equity and Inclusion team at City of Hope, while working as the advisor to the Governance Council on DEI policies and initiatives. Victor also served as the first Director of the Mayor’s Office of Veterans Affairs for the City of Chicago after being appointed by Mayor Rahm Emanuel.
Victor has worked at the University of Illinois at Chicago campus for the Office of the Chancellor of Health Affairs, where he was responsible for external partnerships as well as community and legislative relations. Victor also coordinated Cancer Disparities Strategies for the Comprehensive Cancer Center at the University of Chicago. While working with academic institutions Victor also served as Chairman of the Advisory Council on Veteran Affairs for the City of Chicago where he also sat on the Board of Commissioners for the Commission on Human Relations.
Victor credits his experience and its impact on serving people to his time spent with the 10th Mountain Division, U.S. Army, where he served as an Intelligence Analyst and was medically retired in 2006. He currently speaks nationally and has testified before the 117th House Veterans Affairs Committee on a variety of issues including access to care, Veterans benefits, transition and employment strategies. With a focus on those from at risk and underrepresented communities including transition and employment strategies.
Today, Victor serves as a policy expert, global health strategist and advisor on issues of equity, international affairs and undeserved populations. While Victor consults on a number of projects, one of which is as co-founder of Veterans for Democracy which focuses on the social civic impacts Veterans make in local communities. Victor also is co-founder of the Black Veterans Cancer Care Collaborative in partnership with Morehouse School of Medicine.
Adrian Lee
Professor and Director
Institute for Precision Medicine
University of PittsburghAdrian Lee
Professor and Director
Institute for Precision Medicine
University of PittsburghDr. Adrian Lee is the Pittsburgh Foundation Chair and Director of the Institute for Precision Medicine (IPM), a joint effort by UPMC and the University of Pittsburgh to move biomedical research into personalized well-being and clinical care. He is also Professor of Pharmacology & Chemical Biology and Human Genetics at UPMC Hillman Cancer Center. Dr. Lee received B.Sc. and Ph.D. degrees in England, and came to San Antonio, Texas for his postdoctoral studies. He was subsequently recruited to Baylor College of Medicine and to the University of Pittsburgh in 2010. The goal of Dr. Lee’s research laboratory is to translate basic cell and molecular research findings into the understanding and treatment of breast cancer. Dr Lee has published over 180 peer reviewed research articles. His laboratory is supported by funding from the NIH, Department of Defense, Susan G. Komen for the Cure, Breast Cancer Research Foundation, and other sources.
Jennifer Leib
Founder
Innovation Policy SolutionsJennifer Leib
Founder
Innovation Policy SolutionsJennifer Leib founded Innovation Policy Solutions, a government relations firm specializing in genomics and precision medicine policy. Some of her accomplishments include leading the advocacy effort in support of the plaintiffs in the Supreme Court’s unanimous decision in the Association for Molecular Pathology vs. Myriad Genetics Inc. that invalidated gene patents, serving on the Executive Committee of the Coalition for Genetic Fairness which successfully advocated for passage of the Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act, and more recently, assisting companies with navigating the evolving regulatory and reimbursement landscape for diagnostic testing for SARS-Cov-2. Previously, Jennifer co-founded another consulting firm, HealthFutures, which was acquired by CRD Associates in 2009. Board certified in genetic counseling, she also worked at the National Institutes of Health, the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions, and in the biotechnology industry.
Joe Lennerz
Chief Scientific Officer
BostonGeneJoe Lennerz
Chief Scientific Officer
BostonGeneJoe Lennerz, MD, PhD is the Chief Scientific Officer at BostonGene. Dr. Lennerz oversees the comprehensive product lifecycle management, data utilization and regulatory science for BostonGene, a leading provider of AI-driven molecular-genetic and immune profiling solutions.
Before BostonGene, Dr. Lennerz served as the Associate Chief of Pathology and the Medical Director of the Center for Integrated Diagnostics at Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) and Harvard Medical School. His leadership focused on overseeing all aspects of personalized diagnostics, ensuring the rapid clinical integration of innovative technologies.
Dr. Lennerz completed his MD and a PhD in molecular medicine at the University of Erlangen, Germany. His background includes residency training in anatomic pathology at Washington University in St. Louis and fellowships in molecular genetic-, gastrointestinal-, and liver pathology at MGH and Harvard Medical School.
Dr. Lennerz's expertise extends to regulatory science, molecular-genetic biomarkers, payer operations, and the financial sustainability of high-complexity diagnostics. He served as the principal investigator in the first FDA instrument precision study for a whole slide scanning system. His dedication to advancing healthcare and diagnostics is evident through his multifaceted contributions in academia, regulatory science, and personalized medicine.
Lauren Lieman
Executive Director
BloodPAC ConsortiumLauren Lieman
Executive Director
BloodPAC ConsortiumAt BloodPAC Lauren is focused on creating an open database for liquid biopsies to accelerate the development of safe and effective blood profiling diagnostic technologies for patient benefit. Prior, she was the Senior Director of External Partnerships at White House Cancer Moonshot Task Force during the Obama Administration. Previously, Lauren was a Senior Advisor for the Melanoma Research Alliance and Director of Philanthropy at Elysium Management LLC in New York City. From 2008-2010, Lauren worked for the Millennium Promise Alliance, where she led the major gifts fundraising effort and spent significant time in sub-Saharan Africa. Lauren was also the head of marketing and investor relations at Steel Partners, LP, an activist hedge fund investing globally. She received her undergraduate degree in communications from the University of Pennsylvania. She also holds an MBA from the University of North Carolinas Kenan-Flagler Business School and a masters degree in public relations and corporate communications from NYU.
Howard McLeod
Professor & Center Director
Utah Tech UniversityHoward McLeod
Professor & Center Director
Utah Tech UniversityDr. Howard McLeod is an internationally recognized expert in precision medicine, having made novel contributions at the discovery, translation, implementation, and policy levels. Dr. McLeod has been recognized as a Fellow of both the American Society of Clinical Oncology and the American College of Clinical Pharmacy. He has also been an active Board Member and/or Founder for over a dozen privately held and publicly traded companies. Howard has published over 600 peer reviewed papers on pharmacogenomics, applied therapeutics, or clinical pharmacology and continues to work to advance innovative healthcare.
Luciano Martelotto
Associate Professor
Single Cell Innovation Lab
University of Melbourne Centre for Cancer ResearchLuciano Martelotto
Associate Professor
Single Cell Innovation Lab
University of Melbourne Centre for Cancer ResearchAssociate Professor Luciano Martelotto stands at the forefront of the genomics and biotechnology fields, his extensive research encapsulating the development and deployment of leading-edge technologies aimed at deciphering complex biological phenomena. Martelotto's scholarly contributions have significantly impacted a myriad of research areas, notably cancer genomics, cancer progression, and the intricacies of organ and tissue development, among others. His work is pivotal in advancing our understanding and treatment of cancer, contributing to the burgeoning fields of immunotherapy and precision medicine.
Martelotto's scientific journey is marked by a rich and diverse background, having delved into plant genetics, microbiology, cancer biology, and genomics. This breadth of experience forms the bedrock of his research program, which seeks to bridge disparate disciplines to foster health discoveries. His program is characterized by a multidisciplinary approach, integrating concepts and methodologies from across the scientific spectrum to address critical health questions and, ultimately, enhance patient outcomes through technological innovation.
The scope and influence of Martelotto's research are evident not only in his wide-ranging publications but also in his active engagement in synergistic collaborations and community-oriented projects. He has established and maintains a significant online presence, offering resources and training in single cell and spatial-omics technologies, particularly aimed at empowering researchers in under-resourced regions. Further exemplifying his commitment to knowledge dissemination, Martelotto has played a key role in training cohorts at prestigious institutions such as Harvard Medical School and the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute.
A pivotal achievement in Martelotto's career is the establishment of the Single Cell Innovation Lab at the University of Melbourne Centre for Cancer Research. This initiative has catalyzed numerous high-impact studies across the Victorian Comprehensive Cancer Centre alliance. His expertise also led to his recruitment for the development of Harvard Medical School's R&D single cell laboratory and consultancy roles in establishing Spatial Transcriptomics Units, significantly contributing to the global scientific community's knowledge base.
In addition to his academic pursuits, Martelotto is deeply involved in the biotech industry, serving as a consultant, advisor, and board member for several health and technology companies. He is the founder of the Single Cell Ninjas and the Global Alliance for Spatial Technologies, underscoring his leadership in the Single cell and Spatial technologies field. His role as co-organizer of a renowned single cell analysis course at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory further highlights his influence and dedication to advancing scientific education.
Luciano's educational background, with a PhD in Biological Sciences and post-doctoral training in cancer genomics and single cell sequencing technologies, underpins his interdisciplinary approach to research. His commitment to bridging technology and biology for health improvement is also manifest in his leadership of the Single Cell and Spatial-omics lab at ACE/SAIGENCI. This lab is envisioned as an incubator for developing new genomic tools and methodologies, fostering a collaborative environment for innovation in genomics research and application.
Associate Professor Luciano Martelotto exemplifies the quintessence of a modern scientist: deeply knowledgeable, profoundly interdisciplinary, and unwaveringly committed to the betterment of human health through technological advancement.
Susan Monarez
Deputy Director
ARPA-HSusan Monarez
Deputy Director
ARPA-HDr. Susan Coller Monarez is a globally recognized leader with more than 20 years of experience in health innovation. Throughout her career, Monarez has focused on understanding the critical challenges within the health ecosystem and the greatest opportunities for innovation to meet these challenges. Prior to serving as ARPA-H deputy director, Monarez led innovation at the Health Resources and Services Administration, focused on ethical use of AI/ML to support improved health outcomes, novel approaches to addressing social determinants of health, expanding access to behavioral health, ending the opioid epidemic, addressing health equity gaps in maternal and infant mortality, and improving the country’s organ donation and transplantation programs.
Dr. Monarez has also served at the White House as the assistant director for National Health Security and International Affairs in the Office of Science and Technology Policy and as the director of Medical Preparedness Policy on the National Security Council. In both White House roles, she led efforts to enhance the nation’s biomedical innovation capabilities including combating antibiotic resistant bacteria and MDR/XDR TB, expanding telehealth and remote patient monitoring, establishing safeguards to ensure personal health data privacy, and improving pandemic preparedness. Monarez led the development of several Presidential-level national strategies, action plans, and policy directives related to domestic and global health.
Dr. Monarez also served in leadership positions at the Homeland Security Advanced Research Projects Agency within the Department of Homeland Security and the Biomedical Advanced Research Projects Agency within HHS. In addition to leadership roles within the federal government, Monarez has served on numerous advisory panels, including for the National Academies of Science, the National Science Advisory Board for Biosecurity, and the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development. Monarez has also served as the U.S. representative on several international cooperative initiatives including with the European Union, Canada, France, the Netherlands, and the United Kingdom in bilateral and multilateral engagements.
Dr. Monarez was a Science and Technology Policy fellow with the American Association for the Advancement of Science. Prior to government service, Monarez was a postdoctoral fellow and graduate student, respectively, at Stanford University and the University of Wisconsin, where she focused on technology development to prevent, diagnose, and treat infectious diseases with a focus on people living in low- and middle-income countries.
Mike Montalto
Vice President
Precision Medicine Global Development
AmgenMike Montalto
Vice President
Precision Medicine, Global Development
AmgenDr. Michael Montalto Ph.D., Vice President of Precision Medicine, Global Development since February 2024.
Dr. Montalto is a transformational research and development leader with 25 years of experience in both diagnostic device and pharmaceutical companies including a strong history of leading large multidisciplinary teams from innovation to development and commercialization. He is considered an industry leader in digital pathology and artificial intelligence applications for biomarker discovery, as well as translational and precision medicine more broadly, and has further served in several senior functional leadership roles for in-vitro diagnostic devices including research, development, clinical, medical, regulatory, business development and commercial organizations. In his current role as Vice President of Precision Medicine at Amgen, Dr. Montalto is responsible of the strategy and execution of translational and precision medicine in support of discovery biology, clinical development, and companion diagnostics, across all global therapeutic areas.
Prior to Amgen, Dr. Montalto served as the Chief Scientific Officer of PathAI, a leading start-up technology company developing AI-powered digital pathology and software platforms for biopharmaceutical and diagnostic healthcare industries. Under his leadership, the company launched over 25 AI-based product applications, established partnerships with 80% of the top 20 Pharma, received multiple IVD regulatory clearances in the US and EU, established biopharma laboratory clinical trial services, published several high impact journal articles, and helped establish record growth of their sales funnel.
Prior to PathAI, Dr. Montalto led the Translational Sciences Organization as a Vice President at Bristol Myers Squibb, comprising all clinical biomarker platform laboratories, as well as pathology, radiology, sample operations and biobank in support of all therapeutic areas and companion diagnostic development. During his tenure, his team supported flagship biomarker testing programs such as PharmDx 28-8 (PD-L1/Agilent), Tumor Mutational Burden (Roche/Foundation Medicine), ctDNA/MRD (Illumina, ThermoFisher) for drug program Opdivo (Nivolumab), Yervoy (Ipililumab) and Opdualag (Relatlimab).
Dr. Montalto has significant entrepreneurial experience leading teams to invent and develop novel spatial multiplexing technology platforms within General Electric Global Research (GE GRC) Division, which are currently on the market through Danaher/Cytiva (CellDive™) and Neogenomics (Multiomyx™). Additionally, he led teams at GE GRC that pioneered novel digital pathology imaging and software technologies (Dynamx™; VL4/120™) that served as the basis for a joint venture that he co-founded between GE Healthcare and the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center (Omnyx, LLC) that was sold to Inspirata Inc in 2018 and subsequently Fuji, Inc in 2023.
Dr. Montalto is currently serving on the editorial board of the Journal of AI in Precision Oncology and as a member of the Friends of Cancer Research Digital Pathology Working Group and FNIH Biomarker Consortium Steering Committee. Dr. Montalto has previously served on NIH Study Sections for In Vivo Molecular Imaging Centers, as well as, serving on the Digital Pathology Association Executive Committee as President and a long-standing member of their Board of Directors. He has served as a scientific advisor to Lieca and Perkin Elmer/Akoya and various start-up companies in the digital pathology sector. He received his PhD from Albany Medical College in tumor biology and post-doctoral fellowship training at Brigham and Women’s Hospital and Harvard Medical School in Cardiovascular Anti-inflammatory drug discovery.
Susanne Munksted
Chief Precision Medicine Officer
DiaceuticsSusanne Munksted
Chief Precision Medicine Officer
DiaceuticsSusanne Munksted, Chief Precision Medicine Officer of Diaceutics, brings a wealth of experience to her role in leading a global team of precision medicine industry experts dedicated to enhancing the testing ecosystem to help patients capitalize on new breakthrough personalized medications. Susanne's journey in molecular pathology has been marked by notable achievements, including spearheading several global launches of companion diagnostic products. As a leading author of the Practice Gaps Study, Susanne played a pivotal role in identifying seven key clinical practice gaps contributing to patient leakage, and her impactful contributions to the field have earned her a well-deserved place among the PharmaVoice 100 list of transformational leaders in life sciences.
Muhammed Murtaza
Associate Director, Human Genomics and Precision Medicine
University of Wisconsin-MadisonMuhammed Murtaza
Associate Professor, Surgery
Associate Director, Human Genomics and Precision Medicine
University of Wisconsin-MadisonDr. Muhammed Murtaza is an Associate Professor within the Department of Surgery and Associate Director of the Center for Human Genomics and Precision Medicine.
His research interests include improving access to cutting-edge technology in cancer diagnostics (liquid biopsies) for patients in lower-income settings.
The Murtaza Lab is interested in furthering research around circulating and cell-free tumor DNA and RNA. More specifically how it can provide insights Into the tumor’s genome thus providing improvements to cancer care.
Christine Nguyen
Deputy Director, Rare Diseases, Pediatrics, Urological and Reproductive Medicine
FDAChristine Nguyen
Deputy Director, Rare Diseases, Pediatrics, Urological and Reproductive Medicine
FDADr. Christine Nguyen is the Deputy Director of the Office of Rare Diseases, Pediatrics, Urologic and Reproductive Medicine (ORPURM), in the Office of New Drugs, that oversees the development, review, and regulation of applications for drug and biologic products in the Division of Rare Diseases and Medical Genetics. In her role, she leads in important scientific, clinical, regulatory and policy considerations related to the development of treatment of inborn errors of metabolism, including lysosomal storage disorders, organic acid disorders, and amino acid metabolism disorders. Dr. Nguyen also provides oversight for rare disease drug development across the Office of New Drugs with coordination of rare disease education, policy, research and stakeholder engagement. Prior to becoming Deputy Director of ORPURM, Dr. Nguyen was the Deputy Director for Safety and then Division Director in the Division of Urology, Obstetrics and Gynecology and served as the acting Deputy Office Director in the previous Office of Drug Evaluation II that regulated complex therapeutic areas related to endocrinology, metabolism, pulmonary, rheumatology, analgesia, pain, and addiction. Since joining the FDA in 2005, Dr. Nguyen has actively engaged in and contributed extensively to regulatory and scientific initiatives, within and outside of FDA, and has been the co-investigator on several FDA research grants. She has co-authored numerous publications on regulatory science and complex FDA decisions.
Dr. Nguyen received her Medical Doctor (M.D.) with Thesis degree from the University of California at San Francisco (UCSF) School of Medicine. She subsequently completed a residency in obstetrics and gynecology at the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine and is a Diplomate of the American College of Obstetrics and Gynecology.
Roddy O'Connor
Assistant Professor of Research
University of Pennsylvania Perelman School of MedicineRoddy O'Connor
Assistant Professor of Research, CAR-T Cell Metabolism
University of Pennsylvania School of MedicineDr. O'Connor's research emphasizes novel conditioning strategies and genetic approaches to confer unique metabolic attributes to CAR T cells. In collaborative research with Nucleus Biologics, Dr. O'Connor developed a customized, cGMP grade, CAR T cell culture medium for the University of Pennsylvania (UPenn) clinical sector. In a recent paper, he shared how this state-of-the-art medium formulation enhances CAR T cell potency and anti-tumor function. As medium composition can obscure metabolic responses induced by CAR co-stimulation, he recently designed a physiologic medium specifically for the Seahorse assay (Agilent Thought Leader Award). His team were also the first to show how nonnative enzymes increase the resilience of CAR T cells against metabolic (lactate, hypoxia) and immune (Siglec) checkpoints in solid tumor environments. His expertise in T-cell metabolism has been recognized through an Award for Excellence in Immunology (AAI) and exemplified by several industry sponsored research alliances with Seahorse Bioscience, Nucleus Biologics, and Agilent. At UPenn, his team is now poised to translate our advances in CAR T cell metabolic fitness to target various malignancies and auto-immune diseases. Dr. O’Connor is a highly regarded expert in CAR-T cell metabolism and has presented his findings at AAI, ASGCT, and the CAR-TCR Summit. Dr. O’Connor co-organizes the annual metabolomics symposium at UPenn and has presented several workshops as well as a webinar series with Nucleus Biologics on CAR-T cell metabolism.
Oriana Papin-Zoghbi
CEO & Co-Founder
AOA DxOriana Papin-Zoghbi
CEO & Co-FounderAOA DxOriana is a visionary leader in the field of women’s health and diagnostics. Recently honored in Inc’s 2022 Top 100 Female Founders for her work in ovarian cancer diagnosis, Oriana brings a wealth of knowledge and expertise bringing disruptive diagnostics to market and changing the landscape of clinical practice. Oriana is passionate about entrepreneurship and problem solving and hopes to use these skills to revolutionize early cancer detection, particularly in cancers that disproportionately affect women.
Oriana has global experience creating and leading organizations resulting in successful strategic exits. Prior to AOA, she led teams at early-stage startups and large life sciences companies. Oriana has a track record of developing a highly productive culture and turning visions into reality. She has a proven technical record of creating market entry strategies and product launches in new markets, including launching nationwide HPV screening in East Africa and novel diagnostics in maternal fetal medicine, oncology and infectious diseases.
As CEO of AOA, her dedication and work have earned her numerous awards and recognition, including the Massachusetts Life Sciences Center MassNextGen Award, The Eddies People’s Choice Award and The Wave Summit’s Emerging Women Founder in Bio Award.
Oriana holds a degree from Boston University in Economics and International Relations, and she has experience both living and working in various geographies
Amanda Paulovich
Professor, Aven Foundation Endowed Chair
Fred Hutchinson Cancer CenterAmanda Paulovich
Professor and Aven Foundation Endowed Chair
Director, CLIA Targeted Proteomic Laboratory
Translational Science and Therapeutics Division
Fred Hutchinson Cancer CenterDirector, Clinical Research Proteomics Platform
Brotman Baty Institute for Precision MedicineProfessor, Department of Medicine/Division of Hematology & Oncology
University of Washington School of MedicineDr. Paulovich is Professor and Aven Foundation Endowed Chair at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center in Seattle. As a medical oncologist, Dr. Paulovich was struck by the paucity of effective diagnostics for measuring clinically relevant phenotypes in her patients, and the limitations that this put on her ability to practice “personalized oncology.” One patient’s tumor would melt away with standard of care therapy, whereas another patient with what appeared to be the same tumor would nonetheless experience disease progression on the same therapy. One patient would experience life-threatening toxicity, whereas another patient receiving the same therapy would not develop side effects.
Out of these experiences, she became passionate about ushering in a new approach to medical decision making, no longer based on single-gene or single-protein diagnostics, but rather combining multimodal data (e.g., molecular, demographic, clinical) to arm clinicians with tools for early and effective interventions to promote wellness and enable precision medicine.
Over the past 20+ years, Dr. Paulovich's interdisciplinary laboratory at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center has focused on proteogenomic approaches to understanding cancer biology and on laying the groundwork for the clinical translation of NextGen diagnostics to support precision medicine.
Dr. Paulovich completed a residency in Internal Medicine at Massachusetts General Hospital and a fellowship in Oncology at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute. She completed her Ph.D. training in genetics with Dr. Lee Hartwell at the University of Washington and postdoctoral training in genomics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology with Dr. Eric Lander. She completed her M.D. at the University of Washington, and her B.S. at Carnegie Mellon University.
Andrew Pecora
Chief Innovations Officer and Vice President of Cancer Services
Hackensack University Medical CenterAndrew Pecora
Chief Innovations Officer and Vice President of Cancer Services
Hackensack University Medical CenterWhen Andrew L. Pecora, M.D., FACP, CPE, joined John Theurer Cancer Center, he elevated cancer care to the department level and reorganized cancer services into 14 separate divisions. His accomplishments include the aggressive recruitment of leading oncologists from all over the United States, the addition of innovative basic research and clinical trials, the expansion of patient care services, and the acquisition of new state-of-the-art technology that has helped make John Theurer Cancer Center one of that nation’s top 50 best cancer centers — and the only one in New Jersey with this designation.
A certified hematologist/oncologist, Dr. Pecora is recognized internationally as one of the world’s foremost experts in blood and marrow stem cell transplantation, cellular medicine, and immunology research. In 1989, he spearheaded the development of John Theurer Cancer Center’s Adult Blood and Marrow Stem Cell Transplantation Program and is responsible for many advancements used in stem cell transplantation today.
Dr. Pecora’s current research involves developing vaccines and other cellular therapies that boost the power of a patient’s own immune system to fight cancer, as well as targeted therapies that destroy cancer cells. His research has been published extensively in prestigious medical journals, and he is a frequently requested lecturer at conferences all over the world. Dr. Pecora’s award-winning research is funded by the National Cancer Institute, Amgen, Merck, and the AHEPA Research Foundation.
Emanuel Petricoin
Co-Director Center, Applied Proteomics & Molecular Medicine
George Mason UniversityEmanuel Petricoin
Distinguished University Professor
Co-Director Center for Applied Proteomics and Molecular Medicine
School of Systems Biology
George Mason UniversityDr. Emanuel F Petricoin has been the Co-Director of the Center for Applied Proteomics and Molecular Medicine (CAPMM) at George Mason University since 2005, where he is a Distinguished University Professor. Prior to this position, he served as Co-Director of the FDA-NCI Clinical Proteomics Program from 2001-2005, and a Senior Investigator within the Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research at the US Food and Drug Administration from 1993-2005. The focus of the CAPMM is the invention and use of proteomics technologies for oncology-based applications, infectious disease research, personalized therapy, molecular diagnostics, and biomarker discovery. He was part of 2 SU2C Dream Teams (pancreatic cancer and melanoma) and is a PI on numerous precision oncology trials including the I-SPY2 TRIAL. He is a co-founder of 3 life science companies. Dr. Petricoin’s expertise includes, precision oncology, precision medicine, development of genomics and proteomics-based companion diagnostics, proteomics and protein biomarkers, cell signaling, molecular diagnostic assay development, biologics and cellular therapeutics regulation, as well as artificial intelligence-based algorithms for therapy matching and precision oncology efforts.
He has co-authored 501 publications (H-Index 116) and is a co-inventor on over 40 filed and published patents. He has authored over 25 book chapters, is a Senior Editor for Cancer Epidemiology Biomarkers and Prevention and on the editorial board of JCO Precision Oncology, Nature: Precision Oncology, Proteomics, Biomedical Microdevices, Proteomics-Clinical Applications, Proteomics-Protocols, Molecular, Carcinogenesis, Journal of Personalized Medicine, and Dr. Petricoin is a founding member of the Human Proteomic Organization (HUPO). He has received numerous awards including the Distinguished University Professorship at George Mason University, the NIH Director’s Award, FDA Distinguished Scientist Award, 2015 Innovator of the Year Award, GAP50 Top Virginia Entrepreneurs, Nifty 50 Award, American Society of Cytopathology Basic Research Award, the Roche Diagnostics/CLAS Distinguished Scientist Award, and the Harvard University Leading Edge Award and is a Kentucky Colonel. He is the recipient of over 60 competitive grants and contracts from the NIH, DoD, DTRA, DARPA DOE as well as several philanthropic and non-for-profit foundations and pharmaceutical company contracts. Dr. Petricoin is a member of the Board of Directors for the Gateway for Cancer Research Foundation, serves on the AACR Exploratory IND Clinical Trials Task Force, and has served as the GMU faculty representative to the George Mason Research Foundation, the GMU faculty representative to the Virginia Biosciences Health Research Committee, and faculty representative to the GMU Board of Visitors. He currently serves on the Distinguished University Professor Committee.
Jasmine Plummer
Founding Director, Center for Spatial Omics
Member, Comprehensive Cancer Center
St. Jude’s Children’s Research HospitalJasmine Plummer
Founding Director, Center for Spatial Omics; Member, Comprehensive Cancer Center, St. Judes Children's Hospital
Associate Professor, Department of Developmental Neurobiology and Department of Cellular and Molecular BiologyDr. Jasmine Plummer, PhD is the founding Director of the Center for Spatial Omics and member of the Comprehensive Cancer Center at St Jude’s Children’s Research Hospital. She is an Associate Professor and cross appointed in the Department of Developmental Neurobiology and the Department of Cellular and Molecular Biology. She received her PhD in Molecular and Medical Genetics at the University of Toronto, Mount Sinai Hospital. Dr. Plummer completed her post doctoral training at Children’s Hospital Los Angeles and University of Southern California and moved into a faculty role at Cedars Sinai where she became a funded PI of the Human Cell Atlas. Dr. Plummer was also co-director of the Genomics Core at Cedars Sinai which focused on generating genomic data for a variety of technologies from single cell and spatial assays to sequencing. Dr. Plummer’s lab uses a multi-omic approach through single cell and spatial genomics to better understand the pathogenesis of neurodevelopmental disorders and cancer. Since moving to her new role, Dr. Plummer has established one of the first center’s specializing in the application of spatial technologies to a variety of disease types.
Giovanna Prout
Chief Executive Officer
ScaleBioGiovanna Prout
Chief Executive Officer
ScaleBioGiovanna Prout, Chief Executive Officer of ScaleBio has served across many rolls in the Genomics Tools industry. Prior to joining Scale, Giovanna was the VP of Marketing at both Deepcell and 10X Genomics. She also spent over a decade at Illumina, holding positions in Product Management and Marketing, Operations, Supply Chain, and Development.
Daniel Rader
Seymour Gray Professor of Molecular Medicine Chair Department of Genetics
University of PennsylvaniaDaniel Rader
Seymour Gray Professor of Molecular Medicine
Chief, Division of Translational Medicine and Human Genetics, Department of Medicine
University of Pennsylvania Chief, Division of Translational Medicine and Human Genetics, Department of MedicineDr. Rader is the Seymour Gray Professor of Molecular Medicine and Chair of the Department of Genetics at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, where he also serves as Chief of the Divisions of Human Genetics in the Departments of Medicine and Pediatrics and the Associate Director of the Institute for Translational Medicine and Therapeutics.
Dr. Rader’s research is focused on the human genetics and physiology of lipid metabolism and cardiometabolic disease, as well as the translational implications for novel therapeutic approaches and for implementation of genomic medicine. Dr. Rader founded and directs the Penn Medicine BioBank, an integrated resource to support human genetics and translational research, and he is a champion of genomic medicine applied to disease prevention. Dr. Rader sees patients with lipid disorders and has been regularly recognized by Top Doctors in Philadelphia. He has been a recipient of several national and international research awards. He has been elected to the National Academy of Medicine and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.
Julie Ramage
Principal
Harbor Precision Genomics ConsultingJulie Ramage
Principal
Harbor Precision Genomics ConsultingJulie Ramage is a seasoned leader in the field of precision genomics and healthcare consulting. With a wealth of experience spanning over 30 years, Julie has made significant contributions to the biopharmaceutical industry, particularly in the areas of oncology, pathology, data regulation, and reimbursement.
Current Role: Principal at Harbor Precision Genomics Consulting
As the Principal of Harbor Precision Genomics Consulting, Julie leads a team of experts dedicated to advancing precision medicine. Her role involves strategic planning, client engagement, and driving innovative solutions for genomics-driven healthcare. Julie’s passion lies in bridging the gap between cutting-edge research and practical applications in clinical settings.
Prior Work: AstraZeneca and Pfizer
Before joining Harbor Precision Genomics Consulting, Julie held pivotal roles at two major pharmaceutical companies:
- AstraZeneca: As the Director of Precision Medicine Quality Initiatives and Partnerships, Julie spearheaded initiatives that integrated genomics into drug development. Her work focused on optimizing patient outcomes through personalized treatment strategies.
- Pfizer Oncology: Julie contributed significantly to Pfizer’s companion diagnostic activities. Her expertise in biomarkers, data aggregation, and regulatory compliance played a crucial role in advancing oncology therapies.
Laboratory Experience and Pathology Expertise
Julie’s background includes extensive laboratory experience, where she has worked hands-on with cutting-edge technologies and platforms. Her understanding of pathology and molecular diagnostics has been instrumental in shaping her career.
Leadership and Advocacy
Julie’s commitment to the field extends beyond her professional roles. She served as the President of the California Clinical Lab Association, advocating for quality standards and innovation in clinical laboratories. Additionally, Julie actively participates in organizations such as the Precision Medicine Coalition and LUNGevity, where she collaborates with fellow experts to drive advancements in personalized medicine.
Julie Ramage’s multifaceted journey reflects her unwavering dedication to improving patient care through precision genomics
Adam Resnick
Director, Center for Data-Driven Discovery in Biomedicine
CHOPAdam Resnick
Member , Abramson Cancer CenterDirector , Children's Brain Tumor Tissue Consortium, Division of Neurosurgery, Children's Hospital of PhiladelphiaDirector, CHOP/PENN Department of Neurosurgery Brain Tumor Tissue BiorepositoryDirector for Neurosurgical Translational Research, Division of Neurosurgery, Children's Hospital of PhiladelphiaDirector, The Center for Data Driven Discovery in Biomedicine (D3b), Children's Hospital of PhiladelphiaScientific Chair, Children's Brain Tumor Tissue Consortium, Children's Hospital of PhiladelphiaStokes Investigator, Children's Hospital of PhiladelphiaVice-Chair of Research, Division of Neurosurgery, Children's Hospital of PhiladelphiaTrained as a neuroscientist, Dr. Resnick joined the Department of Neurosurgery at CHOP in 2007 and began developing a laboratory-based research program dedicated to pediatric brain tumors and the context of their developmental biology. Beginning with an early focus on the characterization of the genetic underpinnings of pediatric low grade gliomas, Dr. Resnick and his research partners engaged efforts to define novel, molecularly informed, targeted approaches for therapeutic intervention in childhood brain cancers.
To support better integration in platforms that would more rapidly inform the preclinical and biochemical modeling of rare diseases, Dr. Resnick and his team launched and participated in new consortia-based approaches for biospecimen-driven research and clinical trials, with the aim of developing scalable ecosystems of collaborative, iterative discovery. These initiatives include the Children's Brain Tumor Tissue Consortium (CBTTC) and the Pacific Pediatric Neuro-Oncology Consortium (PNOC), where Dr. Resnick serves as Scientific Chair. Including more than 20 pediatric hospitals, the consortia provide for the development of research platforms that fully embrace data-driven approaches for brain tumors across ages, diseases, and institutions.
In 2016, Dr. Resnick launched the Center for Data-Driven Discovery in Biomedicine (D³b) at CHOP with co-director Dr. Jay Storm, Chief of the Division of Neurosurgery at CHOP. The Center's activities build on the group's experiences in neuro-oncology and focus on collaborative, data-driven science to harness information-systems-based advancements in technology. Comprised of a diverse set of a multidisciplinary team members, D³b's transformative mission is to build and support a scalable, patient-partnered healthcare discovery and educational ecosystem on behalf of all children.
Ralph Riley
Global Commerical Diagnostics Market Access Leader
Janssen Global ServicesRalph Riley
Global Commercial Diagnostics Market Access Leader
Janssen Global ServicesHenry Rodriguez
Founding Director, Office of Cancer Clinical Proteomics Research
Division of Cancer Treatment and Diagnostics
NCI/NIHHenry Rodriguez
Founding Director, Office of Cancer Clinical Proteomics Research
Division of Cancer Treatment and Diagnostics
National Cancer Institute
National Institutes of HealthFormer Assistant Director for Strategic Health and Cancer Science
Executive Office of the President
The White HouseDr. Rodriguez serves as the Founding Director of the Office of Cancer Clinical Proteomics Research and is a member of the Senior Leadership team at the National Cancer Institute, National Institutes of Health. Recently, he served as Assistant Director for Strategic Health and Cancer Science in the Executive Office of the President at the White House.
A cell and molecular biologist with a background in business, Dr. Rodriguez has dedicated his career to conducting biomedical research on mechanisms of cancer in basic and clinical science to inform novel diagnostics and therapeutics, and to the development of measurement science, standards, and technology. Dr. Rodriguez founded the Office of Cancer Clinical Proteomics Research that leads the Clinical Proteomic Tumor Analysis Consortium (CPTAC), which combines proteomics and genomes to gain a complete understanding of tumor biology and its application in clinical trials. This endeavor resulted in the formation of the International Cancer Proteogenome Consortium (ICPC) and the Applied Proteogenomics Organizational Learning and Outcomes (APOLLO). The ICPC encompasses 14 nations and promotes collaboration and public data sharing in multiomics cancer research, while APOLLO focuses on patient care for active-duty military personnel and veterans.
Previously, Dr. Rodriguez held multiple roles at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (Department of Commerce), including Director of a Cell and Tissue metrology research group, and Health Sciences Program/Policy Analyst in the Office of the Director.
Born in Miami, FL, Dr. Rodriguez earned his A.A. in biology from Miami Dade Community College, B.S. in biology/chemistry and M.S. in biology from Florida International University, Ph.D. in cell and molecular biology from Boston University, and M.B.A. in finance and management from Johns Hopkins University. Fellowships were conducted at the Scripps Research Institute and City of Hope Cancer Center.
Frank Sasinowski
Director
Hyman, Phelps & McNamara, PCFrank Sasinowski
Director
Hyman, Phelps & McNamara, PCFrank J. Sasinowski, M.S., M.P.H., J.D., has played a pivotal role in assisting sponsors and patient organizations in developing new medicines, contributing to the FDA approval of hundreds of new drugs, including over 100 new molecular entities, often targeting serious and rare diseases. Frank was involved in 6 of the most recent 7 drugs that the FDA approved through its accelerated approval process. He is actively engaged in many cell and gene therapies and played a significant role in the approval of Zolgensma, the first systemic gene therapy.
Frank joined the FDA in 1983 as a regulatory counsel in the Center for Drugs and Biologics, where he was instrumental in implementing both the 1983 Orphan Drug Act and the 1984 Hatch-Waxman Act. In 1987, he left the FDA as Deputy Director of the Health Policy Staff in the Commissioner’s office and joined HPM (Hyman, Phelps & McNamara, P.C.).
In its March 2012 issue, the Drug Information Journal published Frank’s seminal analysis on therapies for rare disorders: “Quantum of Effectiveness Evidence in FDA’s Approval of Orphan Drugs: Cataloguing FDA’s Flexibility in Regulating Therapies for Persons with Rare Disorders.” His other papers on Accelerated Approval and Orphan Drugs are also widely cited by the FDA, industry, and academia.
Since 2014, Frank has served as an Adjunct Professor of Neurology at the University of Rochester. His work has been widely recognized by both industry and political leaders. For example, Frank was invited by both political parties to testify at the May 2014 inaugural congressional hearing on the 21st Century Cures Act. In August 2018, he was appointed to the Board of Directors for the Alliance for Regenerative Medicine (ARM) Foundation for Cell and Gene Medicine. In May 2013, the National Organization for Rare Disorders (NORD) awarded Frank its first-ever Lifetime Achievement Award. In 2000, Frank was elected to NORD’s Board of Directors, where he served as Chair and Vice Chair and remained on the Board until 2016. In 2017, Frank joined the Board of the EveryLife Foundation for Rare Diseases, where he currently serves as Vice Chair.
In October 2012, President Obama recognized Frank’s contributions to the President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology (PCAST) report, “Propelling Innovation in Drug Discovery, Development, and Evaluation.” Frank is also a founding Board member of IndoUSrare, a patient organization representing individuals in India and the U.S. with rare conditions. Additionally, he has served on the Board of Directors of the United States Pharmacopeia (USP).
Nicole St. Jean
Global Head, Precision Medicine External Innovation
GSKNicole St. Jean
Global Head, Precision Medicine External Innovation
GSK
Eric Schadt
Chief Scientific Officer
PathosEric Schadt
Chief Scientific Officer
PathosDr. Schadt is Chief Scientific Officer at Pathos, working to re-engineer drug development by leveraging the power of advanced AI technologies.
Dr. Schadt, a mathematician by training, joined the Icahn School of Medicine as Chairman and Professor, Department of Genetics and Genomic Sciences and as the founding Director of the Icahn Institute for Genomics and Multiscale Biology in 2012, and based on advances made during that time, in June 2017 he spun a large part of his Mount Sinai efforts into Sema4, a next generation health information company enabling physicians and patients with state of the art genomics tests and interpretations driven by advanced machine learning approaches that leverage the digital universe of data to better prevent, diagnose, and treat disease. He was previously the Chief Scientific Officer at Pacific Biosciences, overseeing the scientific strategy for the company, including creating the vision for next-generation sequencing applications of the company’s technology. He was also a founding member of Sage Bionetworks, an open access genomics initiative designed to build and support databases and an accessible platform for creating innovative, dynamic models of disease.
His most recent efforts at Pathos center on the generation and integration of large-scale, high-dimension molecular, cellular, and clinical data to build more predictive models of cancer that in turn drive drug discovery and development efforts, towards precision medicine strategies that better ensure the right patient is delivered the right drug at the right time. These efforts were motivated by the genomics and systems biology research he led at Merck/Rosetta to elucidate common human diseases and drug response using novel computational approaches applied to genetic and molecular profiling data.
His objectives are to unlock genomic insights with deep learning systems, causal AI, and digital technology to reinvent medicine with personalized predictive models of disease and wellness that radically improve individual wellbeing.
Nick Seddon
CEO, Optum Genomics
Nick Seddon
CEO, Optum Genomics
Nick is CEO of the newly formed Optum Genomics. He has been at UnitedHealth Group for seven years.
Before joining Optum, Nick served as Special Advisor for Health and Life Sciences for UK Prime Minister David Cameron. In this capacity, Nick played a central leadership role in developing and implementing the strategy to ensure the long-term sustainability of the UK’s National Health Service (NHS). He was also at the heart of the Prime Minister’s program to sequence 100,000 genomes.
He is a Visiting Professor at the Imperial College London Institute of Global Health Innovation. In July 2016 he was awarded an MBE in the Queen’s Honors.
David Sheehan
Founder, President, and CEO
Nucleus BiologicsDavid Sheehan
Founder, President, and CEO
Nucleus BiologicsDavid Sheehan is the Founder, President, and CEO of Nucleus Biologics. As CEO, Dave led the development of innovative cell culture tools to simplify and accelerate the design, customization, and ordering of cell culture media products. Today, Nucleus Biologics offers a unique portfolio of products and services that can support your innovative research from discovery to commercialization. Prior to Nucleus Biologics, Dave was COO of Volcano Corporation, a publicly held life sciences company that was sold to Philips for $1.2 billion. Previous to Volcano, Dave was the CEO of Digirad, a cardiovascular imaging company that he took public in 2004, and in leadership positions at Baxter and Haemonetics. Dave holds an MBA from The Tuck School at Dartmouth College and a BS in Mechanical Engineering from Worcester Polytechnic Institute.
Giselle Sholler
Director, Pediatric Oncology Research
Penn State Hershey Children’s HospitalGiselle Sholler
Division Chief, Pediatric Hematology/Oncology/BMT
Director, Pediatric Oncology Research
Penn State Hershey Children's HospitalProfessor, Pediatrics and Pharmacology
Chair, Beat Childhood Cancer ConsortiumDr. Sholler is currently the Division Chief of Pediatric Hematology/Oncology/BMT and Director of Pediatric Oncology Research at Penn State Hershey Children’s Hospital, Professor of Pediatrics and Pharmacology and Chair of the Beat Childhood Cancer consortium. Dr. Sholler’s preclinical research has led to the opening of 18 clinical trials for children with cancer. She founded and oversees the Beat Childhood Cancer consortium which is a collaborative team of over 55 universities, research centers and children’s hospitals that have come together to bring new therapies to children in need across the US and Canada. This team has led the research studying both Precision Medicine approaches to cancer as well as novel therapeutics including studying DFMO for maintenance therapy in neuroblastoma to keep children in remission.
Sana Syed
Associate Professor, School of Data Science
University of VirginiaSana Syed
Associate Professor, School of Data ScienceAssociate Professor, School of MedicineUniversity of VirginiaDr. Sana Syed is a Translational Clinical Scientist with expertise in pediatrics, gastroenterology, global health/epidemiology, and data science. She holds an adjunct faculty appointment at Aga Khan University in Karachi, Pakistan. Her overarching research interest involves leveraging machine learning to analyze big data in gastroenterology. Specifically, she focuses on studying small intestinal structure and function in children with various small bowel enteropathies, including celiac disease, inflammatory bowel disease in the U.S., and environmental enteropathy in global health contexts, with the aim of driving innovations in potential treatment modalities.
Over the past several years, Dr. Syed's work has concentrated on applying machine learning and artificial intelligence (AI) methods to study patterns of disease in small bowel biopsies. Her research initially received seed funding from two UVA-specific mechanisms (Engineering in Medicine, THRIV scholar) and more recent career development funding from the NIH – NIDDK (K23 DK117061). Dr. Syed co-directs the Gut Intelligence Lab, a multidisciplinary team of medical professionals, data scientists, and engineers dedicated to exploring and addressing questions related to gut structure and function. The lab's overall aim is to challenge and transform clinical practice paradigms by utilizing novel AI and machine learning methods, making significant contributions to the field of medicine, particularly pediatric gastroenterology.
Janet Woodcock
Former Acting Commissioner
FDAJanet Woodcock
Former Acting Commissioner
FDAFormer Director
Center for Drug Evaluation and Research
FDADr. Janet Woodcock recently completed a long career at the FDA. She served as Director of the Center for Drug Evaluation and Research for over twenty years in several stretches. Most recently she served as Principal Deputy Commissioner and prior to that as Acting FDA Commissioner.
Dr. Woodcock held multiple other senior positions at FDA including at the Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research. She was the therapeutics lead for “Operation Warp Speed” during the COVID pandemic. Her most recent effort was spearheading a major reorganization of FDA’s foods program and the Office of Regulatory Affairs. Dr. Woodcock completed many major regulatory initiatives during her FDA tenure. She was instrumental in getting the biosimilars legislation enacted and worked to ensure adoption in the clinical community.
Additionally, Dr. Woodcock worked with industry and Congress to bring about the first GDUFA. After passage of the legislation, she oversaw an extensive reorganization of the generic drug review program at CDER, that successfully met the aggressive targets of the legislation and led to eventual reauthorizing, with elimination of backlogs and approval of thousands of generic drugs.
Dr. Woodcock received a Bachelor of Science in Chemistry from Bucknell University, and earned her Doctor of Medicine from the Feinberg School of Medicine at Northwestern University Medical School.
Lee-Anne Zinetti
Executive Director Precision Diagnostics, Oncology
NovartisLee-Anne Zinetti
Executive Director Precision Diagnostics, Oncology
NovartisLee-Anne Zinetti is currently the Executive Director of Healthcare Systems, Partnerships & Diagnostics - Oncology at Novartis. With over a decade of experience in the pharmaceutical and diagnostics industries, she has a strong background in precision oncology and has recently been diving deeper into the topic of AI and how it can be leveraged to improve access to precision medicine. At Novartis, she focuses on simplifying clinical and patient care pathways to improve outcomes for oncology patients, leveraging innovative treatments and technologies to redefine relationships with healthcare systems and enhance patient identification and access to Novartis’s innovative medicines.
Previously, Lee-Anne held key roles at QIAGEN and Roche Diagnostics. She is recognized as a top AI voice on LinkedIn and actively engages in discussions about the potential of AI to close healthcare disparity gaps and improve patient outcomes. Additionally, she serves on the board of FT3 - From Testing to Targeted Treatment, a non-profit organization dedicated to advancing precision medicine through multi-stakeholder collaboration.
SPONSOR
Interested in sponsoring the event? Email Nigel Russell by using the link below!
