Biotech Summit

Daniel Abernathy, Director, Otsuka, McQuade Center for Strategic Research and Development

Daniel "Danny" Abernathy is a director in the McQuade Center for Strategic Research and Development (MSRD) a corporate venture capital entity within Otsuka which invests and partners with early-stage drug companies that align with the global strategic vision of Otsuka. Our goal is to search for, identify, and fund innovative early-stage research/development programs that have the potential to improve treatment for diseases and disorders of the CNS, Kidney and Immune System.

Danny’s drug development background spans from discovery through manufacturing, with a focus on leading preclinical and externally facing programs. Previously he has held scientific leadership roles at Landmark Bio, Takeda, and Tessera Therapeutics where he advanced novel platforms and programs into therapeutic development. He earned his PhD in Developmental, Regenerative, and Stem Cell Biology from Washington University in St. Louis, followed by postdoctoral research at Harvard.

Ali Alemozafar, Partner, Wilson Sonsini

Dr. Ali R. Alemozafar is a partner at Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati, where he focuses on strategic intellectual property counseling in a wide range of technical fields, including diagnostics, tools, genomics, digital health, bioinformatics, artificial intelligence, materials and various engineering fields. His expertise includes patent strategy, patent prosecution, and patent diligence—including freedom-to-operate analyses—for financings, mergers and acquisitions, and public offerings. Ali has prepared and prosecuted patent applications in the United States and other jurisdictions, including Europe, China, and Japan. He provides legal counseling to companies at various stages of growth, from pre-financing start-ups to public companies. Prior to joining the firm, Ali worked on data warehousing, business intelligence, and enterprise data integration. He frequently lectures at the UC Berkeley School of Law and University of California College of the Law, San Francisco, on various intellectual property topics, including patent strategy and IP due diligence.

Ben Auspitz, Managing Partner, Curie.Bio's Breakout Fund

Ben Auspitz has been in biotechnology for over two decades as an investor, operator, and founder. He started his career in small company biotech moving between operating roles and venture capital.

At Curie.Bio, Ben is responsible for the Breakout Fund. The Breakout Fund has two goals. First, to help scale seed stage companies to move their programs through transformative clinical data. Second, to identify Series A opportunities from outside the company's own seed ecosystem where Curie’s talented team of drug hunters and developers can give the company an edge in diligence or improve a company’s chances of success.

Before joining Curie.Bio, Ben was a co-founder, founding CEO, and later chairman of IDRx, a company focused on precision oncology. He also co-founded Forge Life Science Partners, a venture capital fund focused on translational stage therapeutic opportunities.

Cynthia Bamdad, Chief Executive Officer and Chief Scientific Officer, Minerva Biotechnologies

Dr. Bamdad oversees all corporate strategy, and scientific and business operations of Minerva Biotechnologies. She was a pioneer in the field of biochips and is now recognized as a leader in the field of cancer stem cells and cancer immunotherapy. Dr. Bamdad holds a B.S. in Physics from Northeastern University and a Ph.D. in Biophysics from Harvard University, where she was a Howard Hughes Doctoral Fellow. While a Ph.D. student at Harvard, Dr. Bamdad invented the first electronic DNA chip and the first universal protein chip.

Dr. Bamdad has been the Principal Investigator on grants and contracts from the National Cancer Institute, National Institute for Mental Health, National Science Foundation, The Huntington Foundation, National Institute of General Medicine, the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), and the Advanced Technology Program (ATP). She has served on special committees to advise research arms of the military on the technical challenges of detecting biological warfare agents (BWA). Dr. Bamdad has also given numerous invited talks to U.S. and foreign institutions on the topics of cancer, neurodegenerative diseases, and biological warfare threat and detection.

David J. Bearss Ph.D., President and CEO of Halia Therapeutics

Dr. David J. Bearss is the President and CEO of Halia Therapeutics, a biotechnology company pioneering therapies that target chronic inflammation and neurodegeneration through insights into genetic resilience. With over 25 years of experience in academia and industry, Dr. Bearss has led the discovery and development of 18 clinical-stage compounds, contributed to the development of two FDA-approved drugs, and co-founded eight biotech startups, including Tolero Pharmaceuticals. He holds a Ph.D. in cell biology from the University of Texas Health Science Center and has authored over 85 peer-reviewed publications and 100 patents. Dr. Bearss is a recipient of the Utah Governor’s Medal of Science and BIO Utah’s Entrepreneur of the Year award.

Miranda Biven, Partner, Wilson Sonsini

Miranda Biven is a partner in the technology transactions practice and a previous member of the board of directors at Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati. Her practice focuses on the life sciences industry, representing public and private companies based in the United States and abroad in complex partnering and licensing arrangements, mergers, acquisitions, divestitures, spin-outs, and other business arrangements. Miranda counsels clients on the legal and business issues associated with such transactions, as well as the full spectrum of technology and intellectual property-based agreements, including research and development agreements; manufacturing, supply, and distribution agreements; clinical trials arrangements; materials transfer agreements; and commercialization and co-commercialization agreements. She also regularly represents clients in their dealings with academic institutions and other not-for-profit organizations.

Prior to joining Wilson Sonsini in 2005, Miranda practiced in New York and Sydney, Australia.

Jason Breen, Partner, Wilson Sonsini

Jason Breen is a partner in the Los Angeles office of Wilson Sonsini, where he represents public and private companies at all stages of growth in M&A transactions, primarily working with clients in the life sciences and technology industries. Jason also represents venture capital, growth equity, and private equity funds and focuses on other strategic transactions, including divestitures, joint ventures, and financings. Throughout his career, Jason has represented a broad spectrum of companies in pivotal M&A transactions. This includes assisting biotech companies like DTx Pharma and XinThera in their sale to Novartis and Gilead respectively, guiding AI healthcare leader Caption Health in its sale to GE Healthcare, and overseeing Amphastar Pharmaceuticals in its acquisition of Eli Lilly’s low blood sugar drug BAQSIMI. Jason has also supported Obsidio, a medical device company, in its sale to Boston Scientific and Novosteo, a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company, in its sale to Cortexyme. Prior to joining Wilson Sonsini, Jason was an equity partner at Goodwin Procter's Los Angeles office and began his legal career at Simpson Thacher & Bartlett LLP in New York. A distinguished figure in corporate law, Jason was honored as the "Corporate Attorney of the Year" by the Los Angeles Business Journal in 2019. He holds a J.D. with honors from UCLA School of Law and a B.S. in Applied Mathematics from Harvard University.

Aoife Brennan, President and CEO, Climb Bio

Aoife is currently President and CEO of Climb Bio (NASDAQ: CLYM), a clinical stage biotech company focused on developing treatments for immune-mediated diseases. She has led the company through the acquisition of Tenet Medicines by Eliem Therapeutics in July 2024 and the subsequent rebranding and full organizational rebuild as Climb Bio. She brings to Climb Bio over 20 years of experience leading drug development organizations across a range of stages and therapeutic areas having most recently served as the President and Chief Executive Officer of Synlogic, a clinical stage biotechnology company developing treatments for rare metabolic diseases based on synthetic biology. She joined Synlogic as Chief Medical Officer in 2016 and was promoted to CEO in October 2018. Prior to Synlogic, Aoife served as Vice President and Head of the Rare Disease Innovation Unit at Biogen, Inc., where she led the global marketing approvals of ALPROLIX®, ELOCTATE® and SPINRAZA® as well as other early-stage programs. She has served as a director and advisor to several public and private biotech companies and including Ra Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (acquired by UCB), and is currently a member of the BOD of Cerevance, LLC and Xilio Therapeutics.

In addition to her roles in biotech, she has also contributed to several civic and non-profit organizations and is a board member of the Critical Path Institute a public-private partnership with the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) dedicated to improving drug development.

Dr. Brennan holds a medical degree from Trinity College Dublin, Ireland and is a graduate of the Harvard Medical School Scholars in Clinical Science Program. She is fellowship trained in internal medicine, endocrinology and metabolism.

Matt Bresnahan, Partner, Wilson Sonsini

Matt Bresnahan is a partner in the San Diego and Los Angeles offices of Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati, where he has focused his practice for the past fifteen years on establishing and building biotech companies. Matt’s training is in all aspects of intellectual property, including strategic patent counseling, patent prosecution, licensing, and litigation. Matt is primary outside IP counsel to more than 50 life sciences companies within the biotechnology, therapeutic, genomics, and medical device fields in Southern California.

Matt leads a team of more than 30 patent attorneys and patent agents based in the San Diego office. A significant number of Matt’s clients are life science spin-outs from, or collaborators with, the one or more of the major universities, hospitals, and research institutions in Southern California.

Brian Bronk, Experienced Business Development Leader, Sanofi

Accomplished Life Sciences Business Development leader with a strong Research and Development background, skilled at building vibrant, productive organizations and teams. Broad experience in start-up biotech and large pharmaceutical environments. Initiated and led BD and R&D programs at all stages of discovery, development, as well as commercial. Adept at creating and communicating strategic and business plans in complex, dynamic and multi-disciplinary organizations. Demonstrated ability to deliver results in a timely manner. Major contributor to multiple successful financing events, from dilutive and non-dilutive sources.

Leadership: Key architect and leader of numerous operational and strategic teams.

Results Oriented: Built and led high performing teams that delivered multiple new partnerships to Sanofi, as well as renegotiated/restructured agreements. While leading R&D, delivered 20+ development candidates, 13 IND filings, 10 Phase 2 starts and 4 products.

Created, negotiated, communicated and delivered against multi-disciplinary time and milestone oriented business plans.

Managing and Mentoring Teams: Forged strong collaborations with key internal and external partners including academic institutions and CRO organizations. Expertise creating, mentoring and leading new and innovative multi-disciplinary teams to efficiently deliver key milestones.

Technology Expertise: Preclinical, Clinical and Commercial knowledge in multiple disease areas, including Rare Diseases, CNS, infectious disease, pain and inflammation and metabolic disorders.

Jay Carter, Head of Corporate Legal, Isomorphic Labs

Jay Carter is the Head of Corporate Legal at Isomorphic Labs in London UK. Isomorphic Labs (Iso) was founded in 2021 with a mission to transform drug discovery with the power of artificial intelligence, ushering in a new era of biomedical breakthroughs. He oversees corporate governance and transactions, risk management, and compliance programs. Prior to joining Iso, he was Deputy General Counsel at a generative AI drug discovery company. He was previously a Corporate associate at Wilson Sonsini in Silicon Valley where he advised high-growth life sciences companies and investors.

David Earp, President and CEO, Circle Pharma

David J. Earp, J.D., Ph.D., has served as the President & CEO and a member of the board of directors of Circle since October 2013. Previously, David held various roles at Geron Corporation (NASDAQ:GERN), including chief patent counsel, chief legal officer and senior vice president of corporate transactions, building a broad IP portfolio and playing an integral role in numerous partnering, licensing and collaboration deals. He led the spin-out of Geron’s nuclear transfer technology into StART Licensing, Inc., and its subsequent acquisition by Viagen Corp. (Austin, Texas). He served on the boards of StART and Viagen, including as executive chairman of Viagen and led the sale of the company to TransOva Genetics (subsequently acquired by Intrexon, now Precigen, NASDAQ:PGEN). David was also a member of the board of directors of TA Therapeutics Ltd. (Hong Kong, PRC) and of Sienna Cancer Diagnostics (Melbourne, Australia) which he helped take public prior to its consolidation with BARD1 Life Sciences Limited (now INOVIQ, ASX:IIQ). Earlier in his career, he was a partner at the intellectual property law firm Klarquist, LLP (Portland, Oregon).

David received his B.Sc. (with first-class honors) in microbiology from the University of Leeds, his Ph.D. in biochemistry and molecular biology from the University of Cambridge, and his J.D. (magna cum laude) from the Northwestern School of Law of Lewis and Clark College. He was a postdoctoral research fellow at the University of California, Berkeley / USDA PGEC.

Ian Edvalson, Partner, Wilson Sonsini

Ian Edvalson is a technology transactions partner in Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati’s Palo Alto office and a former member of the firm’s board of directors. Ian advises numerous domestic and international public and private biopharmaceutical, medtech, and life sciences companies with all of the transactions related to the discovery, development, supply, and commercialization of their products, technologies, and services. He counsels clients with respect to the structuring and negotiating of a wide range of arrangements designed to maximize the value of their businesses.

Ian specializes in working with his clients on the most complex strategic alliances and joint ventures for the development and marketing of all stages of pharmaceutical and other products. In addition, he helps companies with a broad range of other transactions, including technology and asset acquisition, license, discovery, research, development (including clinical development), manufacture and supply, promotion, marketing, distribution, and services agreements.

Ian draws on his almost 30 years of business and legal experience (including his time leading the corporate and business development functions at Third Wave Technologies, a public genomics company) to address the full range of issues and transactions facing biopharmaceutical, medtech, and life sciences companies. He works closely with his clients in setting strategic direction and structuring and negotiating mission-critical business arrangements.

April Effort, Vice President and Head of Corporate Development, Vigil Neuroscience

April Effort is Vice President and Head of Corporate Development at Vigil Neuroscience, where she leads strategy, business development, and partnering initiatives to advance the company’s neurodegenerative disease pipeline. She brings over 15 years of experience in corporate development, licensing, and company building across the life sciences sector. Before joining Vigil, April held senior corporate development roles at Allena Pharmaceuticals and worked with the Third Rock Ventures company creation and partner development teams. Earlier in her career, she led business development at Boston University’s Technology Development Office, managing a diverse portfolio of therapeutic and diagnostic technologies.

Laure Escoubet, CSO, Light Horse Therapeutics

Laure Escoubet, PhD, is the Chief Scientific Officer of Light Horse Therapeutics, a San Diego-based company founded by Ben Cravatt (Scripps Institute), Brian Liau (Harvard) and Nathanael Gray (Stanford).

Laure brings nearly 20 years of experience in drug discovery, building and leading high-performing teams, advancing internal drug discovery programs, and leading the establishment and management of strategic collaborations with biotechnology companies and academic institutions. Prior to joining Light Horse, Laure served as Vice President of Biology at Zentalis Pharmaceuticals and led the Epigenetic Drug Discovery at Celgene/Bristol-Myers Squibb.

Laure completed her postdoctoral training in gene regulation at the University of California, San Diego, in the laboratory of Dr. Christopher K. Glass and earned her PhD in Human Pathophysiology from the University Paul Sabatier in Toulouse, France.

Jennifer Fang, Partner, Wilson Sonsini

With a long-standing career in the legal and life sciences sectors, Jennifer Fang is currently a partner in the Boston office of Wilson Sonsini. She provides counsel to innovative start-ups and pre-IPO companies in the pharmaceutical, biotechnology, medical device, and diagnostic industries, leveraging her legal expertise and Biological Engineering background. Jennifer specializes in navigating transactions, including conversions, spinouts, financings, public offerings, mergers and acquisitions, and joint ventures. Jennifer received numerous honors and recognition, including the 2022 "Best Under 40" award by the National Asian Pacific American Bar Association (NAPABA), recognition in Chambers USA, and an acknowledgement as a “Top Woman of Law” by Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly. She also featured in Boston Magazine’s “Top Lawyers” list. She serves on the General Counsel Advisory Board of the National Venture Capital Association and contributes her thought leadership through frequent speaking engagements on corporate and securities topics. She also co-chairs the firm's Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Committee and serves on the investment committee for the firm's WS Investment Company. Jennifer holds a J.D. from the University of Pennsylvania Law School and an M.Eng. and B.S. in Biological Engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Her memberships extend to MIT Alumni Angels, MIT Alumni Life Science Angels, and Breaking Seven. She also serves as a Mentor for Athena on Board.

Farah Gerdes, Partner, Wilson Sonsini

Farah Gerdes founded and leads the technology transactions practice in Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati's Boston office, where she focuses on the representation of pharmaceutical, biotechnology, medical device, and diagnostic companies in complex collaboration and partnering transactions. She advises numerous domestic and international, public and private life sciences companies on business transactions related to the discovery, development, supply, and commercialization of life sciences products and technologies. She counsels her clients with respect to the structuring and negotiation of a wide range of agreements, including strategic alliances, joint ventures, incubator structures, options, and build-to-buy arrangements, each designed to maximize the value of their assets. In addition, Farah helps companies with a broad range of other transactions, including technology and asset acquisition, license, discovery, research, development (including clinical development), manufacture and supply, promotion, marketing, distribution, and services agreements. She works closely with her clients in setting strategic direction and structuring and negotiating mission-critical business arrangements. As a complement to her transactional IP practice, Farah advises her life sciences clients on a variety of FDA regulatory and healthcare issues, in the context of their business transactions. Farah’s clients include notable industry leaders in the pharmaceutical, biotechnology, medical device, and diagnostic industries. She has represented Recursion Pharmaceuticals in partnering deals with Takeda, Bayer, and Roche/Genentech. She also advised Ultragenyx in its license agreement with Regeneron for the commercialization of Evinacumab outside the US. Other high-profile clients include Tango Therapeutics, Zymeworks, Theravance Biopharma, Rheos Medicines, NanoString Technologies, Neon Therapeutics, GRAIL, Mylan, oresight VISION4, and Neurotechnology Innovations Translator. Gerdes was named a “2023 Top Women of Law” honoree by Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly and made it to the “Rising Stars” list by Northern California Super Lawyers from 2011 to 2015.

Ryan Gill, CEO, Codebreaker

Ryan T. Gill, PhD is the CEO of Codebreaker, a company focused on bringing the biological ground truth to AI by programming biology to predict health. A scientific and entrepreneurial leader at the forefront of genome engineering and machine learning, Gill has built a career advancing technologies that generate high-dimensional biological data and applying AI-driven approaches to enable functional mapping and phenotype definition. He has founded and led as CEO/CSO multiple transformative biotech ventures—including Inscripta and Artisan Bio—and has established deep collaborations and research partnerships with major international companies (Takeda, Shell, DuPont, Novozymes) and institutions (NIH, NSF, DOE, DOD). Gill previously served as a named Professor at the University of Colorado and Danish Technical University, where he led world-class research programs in synthetic biology and high-throughput genome engineering that resulted in over 200 peer-reviewed publications and patents. Gill’s contributions have been recognized across both academia and industry, with honors that include keynote and invited speaking engagements at major scientific conferences, prestigious academic awards, and industry distinctions like “Company of the Year” and “Top 10 Innovation” for technologies he co-invented and brought to market.

Bill Grau, Vice President, Research and Investment Team, Royalty Pharma

Bill Grau is a Vice President on the Research and Investments team at Royalty Pharma, where he has been for the past five years. Previously he was a member of biotech equity research team at Stifel. Bill holds a Ph.D. in Chemistry from the University of Colorado Boulder, where he was an NIH Pharmaceutical Biotechnology Fellow.

Rami Hannoush, Venture Partner, Versant Ventures

Rami Hannoush is a venture partner operating across San Diego and the San Francisco Bay Area. He brings a unique blend of investment experience and deep drug discovery expertise to our company creation efforts.

Rami most recently served as a general partner at Mubadala Capital, building the firm’s healthcare platform in the U.S. and investing in early stage life science companies. He also was a co-founder and CEO of EpiBiologics.

Prior to that, Rami was an accomplished and respected member of the Genentech R&D team for a period of more than 16 years. His leadership roles included area head for new therapeutic modalities and group leader for a multitude of successful programs in the fields of oncology and immunology.

Jenna Hebert, PhD, Investment Director, Venture, RA Capital Management

Jenna Hebert is an Investment Director on the Venture Team at RA Capital Management, a multi-stage investment manager dedicated to company formation and evidence-based investing in healthcare and life science companies. Jenna focuses on identifying and diligencing opportunities for early-stage investments and advises RA's portfolio companies. She currently serves as a board observer for Hemab, Alchemab Therapeutics, and Typewriter Therapeutics. Prior to RA, Jenna was an Analyst and Medical Writer at Costello Medical Consulting. Jenna has a B.A. in Neuroscience from University of Pennsylvania and a PhD in Neuroscience from the University of Oxford.

Norm Hovijitra, Partner, Wilson Sonsini

Dr. Norm Hovijitra is a partner in the technology transactions practice at Wilson Sonsini. He advises emerging and established companies in the life sciences industry on legal and business issues associated with the development, manufacture, and commercialization of their products and technologies, including matters relating to intellectual property strategy and patents. Norm's practice focuses on the representation of clients in complex partnering and licensing arrangements, merger and acquisition transactions, and spin-outs. In addition, he advises clients on a range of related transactions such as license agreements with academic and nonprofit institutions; research and development services agreements; clinical trial agreements; and manufacture, supply, and distribution agreements. Dr. Hovijitra has successfully guided many leading companies through significant transactions. These include Amphastar's asset purchase from Lilly, Arcellx's collaboration with Kite, IGM Biosciences' collaboration with Sanofi, Dren Bio's collaboration with Pfizer, and Vividion Therapeutics' collaboration with Roche among others. His expertise also extends to facilitating impactful collaborations for Vertex Pharmaceuticals and Denali Therapeutics with leading entities, and guiding companies like Arrinex and Akarna Therapeutics through successful acquisitions. Previously, Norm worked as a patent agent at the firm, focusing on patent preparation and prosecution, research related to intellectual property, and due diligence matters in the life sciences and clean technology industries. Norm received his Ph.D. in chemical engineering at Stanford University, where he gained research experience in fermentation, molecular biology, and biochemistry. His graduate work focused on the production and characterization of membrane proteins and lipids.

Christian Howell, Chief Executive Officer, Cognito Therapeutics

Christian Howell is the Chief Executive Officer of Cognito Therapeutics, a late-stage clinical neurotech start-up pioneering non-invasive neuromodulation therapies to treat Alzheimer’s and other neurodegenerative diseases. With more than 20 years of leadership experience across start-ups and global MedTech companies, Christian holds deep expertise in advancing innovative medical technologies from early development through market adoption.

Christian began his career as an officer in the U.S. Navy, where he developed a lifelong commitment to mission-driven organizations and work in service of others—principles that continue to guide his leadership in healthcare. He has since held senior roles at Medtronic, where he led value-based care initiatives, and at Aetion, where he built partnerships that supported a major growth round. A frequent speaker at institutions including Harvard, MIT, and the G20, Christian is recognized for his ability to bridge science, business, and policy to expand access to transformative therapies.

Robert T. Ishii, Partner, Wilson Sonsini

Robert Ishii is a partner in Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati's San Francisco office and is the leader of the firm's mergers and acquisitions group. His practice focuses on mergers and acquisitions, contests for corporate control, and other complex strategic transactions, including divestitures, joint ventures, and other transformative transactions.

He has represented public and private companies, private equity funds, and financial advisors in negotiated and hostile transactions in the technology, medical technology, biotechnology, media, telecommunications, and other industries.

Rob is active in the management of the firm and the San Francisco office. He has served on the firm’s Compensation Committee, Policy Committee, and Nominating Committee.

Alex Key, Partner, Wilson Sonsini

Dr. Alexander Key is a partner in the technology transactions practice of Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati, where he focuses primarily on the representation of biotechnology, pharmaceutical, medical device, diagnostic, and digital health companies. Alex advises private and public companies, both domestic and international, in a broad range of complex partnering transactions, including the structuring and negotiation of acquisitions, licenses, strategic alliances, financings, initial public offerings, research and development agreements and procurement arrangements. He also assists non-profit clients with transactional and intellectual property matters, including The Fogarty Institute and The Buck Institute for Research on Aging. Prior to practicing law, Alex conducted doctoral research on G protein-coupled receptor signaling in the laboratories of Drs. Larry Sklar and Eric Prossnitz and undergraduate research on endocrinology in the laboratory of Dr. Richard Dorin.

Jonathan Kiburz, Vice President Transactions, R&D Business Development, GSK 

Jon Kiburz is Vice President, Transactions, R&D Business Development at GSK, where he leads strategic dealmaking and partnerships to advance the company’s research and development pipeline. He brings over 15 years of experience spanning business development, licensing, and corporate strategy across the biopharmaceutical industry. Before joining GSK, Jon served as Head of Business Development at Immunocore and previously held senior roles at AstraZeneca and MedImmune, where he led oncology and R&D transactions.

Laura Lande-Diner, PhD, Managing Partner, Jefferson Life Sciences

Laura Lande-Diner, PhD, is a scientist, company builder, and investor dedicated to advancing innovative therapeutics.

An experienced biotech entrepreneur and C-suite executive, Laura brings deep expertise in company creation, fundraising, and operational leadership. She has a proven track record of co-founding and scaling life sciences companies, driving corporate and clinical strategy, and securing top-tier venture funding. She excels at partnering with scientific founders and executive teams to shape robust IP portfolios, align product pipelines with strategic objectives, and navigate complex regulatory landscapes. Her strengths in building investor networks and leading business development initiatives have resulted in successful strategic partnerships and long-term value creation.

Laura is the Managing Partner at Jefferson Life Sciences, an early-stage life sciences investment fund focused on backing groundbreaking approaches in human biology and medicine, and part of Jefferson River Capital. Prior to Jefferson Life Sciences, she was a founding executive at Satellite Bio, where she served as Chief Business Officer and later as President. Before Satellite, she was a founding team member at Valo Health, where she designed and led the company’s early data strategy and executed four foundational business development partnerships within 18 months of launch.

Laura earned her PhD in Epigenetics and Molecular Biology from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem Medical School and conducted her postdoctoral research in Circadian Biology at Harvard Medical School, where she later served as an Instructor in Neurobiology. She is a named inventor on numerous patents and applications and has authored multiple peer-reviewed publications. In 2017, she was named one of the 100 Most Inspiring People in the life sciences industry by PharmaVOICE.

David Lennon, CEO, Whitehawk Therapeutics

Dr. Lennon joined the Company in October 2023 as President and CEO and member of the board of directors. Dr. Lennon brings more than twenty years of experience leading global biotechnology and pharmaceutical teams, with significant expertise in development and commercialization in oncology. Most recently, Dr. Lennon served as Chief Executive Officer and member of the board of directors at Satellite Bio, a privately held regenerative medicine company. In his prior role he served for 15 years at Novartis, most recently as President, Novartis Gene Therapies where he was responsible for development, approval and launch of the blockbuster Zolgensma®, the first systemic gene therapy for the rare disease spinal muscular atrophy. In prior roles with Novartis, he held leadership roles in Novartis Oncology for the U.S. and Japan regions, having also held key commercial leadership positions in the United States, China and Switzerland. Dr. Lennon started his career as a scientist, cloning a gene important for genomic stability and prevention of cancer. He holds a PhD in Molecular Medicine from Weill Cornell Medical College of Cornell University and a BA in Biophysics from Columbia College of Columbia University. After completing his PhD, Dr. Lennon joined McKinsey & Company, focusing on R&D strategy and strategic transactions in the pharmaceutical industry.

Lou Lieto, Partner, Wilson Sonsini

Lou Lieto is the chair of Wilson Sonsini’s patents and innovations department. He has decades of experience advising clients on the intricacies of patent law and associated business matters, working with a broad range of innovators in the biotechnology, pharmaceutical, and the life sciences sectors.

Lou helps clients build life science companies and provides advice on IP matters to both investors and companies in connection with financings and M&A transactions.

John Christopher LiPuma, Fortress

Mr. LiPuma is a Director in Fortress’s Intellectual Property Group, where he focuses on a wide variety of investment opportunities in connection with intellectual property, life sciences, and academic institutions. Prior to joining Fortress in 2018, Mr. LiPuma headed business development for Kastle Therapeutics, a private equity backed biotechnology company acquiring ultra-orphan drugs. Before joining Kastle, he was with OrbiMed Advisors, a life sciences focused asset management firm.  At OrbiMed he worked on royalty monetizations, direct lending to late development stage and early commercial stage life sciences companies, and several private equity transactions focused on acquiring legacy assets from big pharma. He started his career as an investment banker at Leerink Partners. Mr. LiPuma holds a B.A. from Hamilton College.

Aaron Nelson, Partner, Novo Holdings

Aaron joined Venture Investments (US) Inc. in June, 2025.

Previously, Aaron was Managing Director at the Novartis Venture Fund, leading Seed & Series A investments in therapeutic drug discovery projects. He also helped a digital health investment program at Novartis, called dRx Capital.

Before working as an investment professional, Aaron worked on across multiple Research & Development units within Novartis, including Trials of the Future and Investigative Toxicology.

Aaron earned a BA at Cornell University, a PhD in Cell and Microbiology at the University of Pennsylvania and conducted post-doctoral studies at the Karolinska Institutet, and received an MD from Tufts University.

Markus Renschler, CEO of Light Horse Therapeutics

Dr. Markus Renschler is a seasoned biotech entrepreneur with a track record of building successful biopharmaceutical companies and leading high-performing teams. He brings deep expertise in capital formation—both private and public—as well as in the development and commercialization of blockbuster oncology drugs.

In August 2024, Dr. Renschler became CEO of Light Horse Therapeutics, a pioneering company applying precision gene editing to small molecule drug discovery. Light Horse’s platform uncovers cryptic, chemically accessible functional domains within disease-relevant targets, enabling the development of potentially first-in-class therapeutics. In December 2024, he led the company into a multi-target collaboration with Novartis to develop novel therapies using Light Horse’s platform.

Previously, Dr. Renschler served as President and CEO of Cyteir Therapeutics (2018–2024), steering it from a private discovery-stage startup to a publicly traded clinical-stage company. Under his leadership, Cyteir raised over $300 million across private financings and an IPO in 2021.

A board-certified medical oncologist, Dr. Renschler has over 25 years of experience spanning basic cancer research to regulatory approval and commercial launches. He played key roles in the development or launch of several major oncology therapies, including Imbruvica® (ibrutinib), Revlimid® (lenalidomide), Pomalyst® (pomalidomide), Vidaza® (azacitidine), and Abraxane® (nab-paclitaxel). Prior to Cyteir, he held leadership roles in clinical R&D, project leadership, business development, and medical affairs at Celgene, Pharmion, and Pharmacyclics, contributing to global registrations and launch strategies across both hematologic malignancies and solid tumors.

Dr. Renschler completed a postdoctoral fellowship in lymphoma immunotherapy with Dr. Ronald Levy at Stanford University. He earned his MD from Stanford University and BA from Princeton University, and served as an Adjunct Clinical Associate Professor of Medicine (Oncology) at Stanford until 2015, where he taught and treated patients in the lymphoma program.

Laura Ripin, Executive Director, Business Development and Licensing, Novartis

Laura Ripin is an accomplished business development leader with over 20 years of experience negotiating complex strategic transactions across various sectors, including pharma, biotech, and not-for-profit organizations. Laura joined Novartis in 2010 and has assumed diverse BD&L roles of increasing responsibility. She has led end-to-end BD&L across Search and Evaluation, Transactions and Alliance Management in Precision Medicine, Oncology, and Hematology, and currently serves as the Head of Business Development and Licensing Transactions for Neuroscience. Throughout her tenure at Novartis, she successfully negotiated several strategic partnerships, including with Matchpoint Therapeutics in 2025, Vyriad and Dren Bio in 2024, and multiple Companion Diagnostic Development and Commercialization agreements with Ventana, Qiagen, Agilent, Roche, and others over the years. Before joining Novartis, Laura served as Director of Business Development and Licensing for Genzyme Genetics' Reproductive and Prenatal Health diagnostics business and led BD&L activities for MGH Brigham’s Precision Medicine Center. Laura began her licensing career in academic technology transfer as a Team Leader and Senior Licensing Officer at Massachusetts General Hospital. She holds a Master’s degree in Biological and Biomedical Sciences, Genetics from Harvard University and a Bachelor of Sciences degree in Biology from Emory University.

Derrick Rowe, Partner, Wilson Sonsini

Dr. Derrick Rowe is a partner in the Washington, D.C., office of Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati, where his practice focuses on patent prosecution and counseling designed to help clients protect their intellectual property rights both domestically and internationally in the life sciences, biotechnology, molecular biology, pharmaceutical, diagnostic, and medical device fields. Derrick has extensive experience and has developed his practice in view of his experience in private practice as well as an in-house counsel at a large pharmaceutical company where he provided patent, contract, regulatory, and strategic counseling for pharmaceuticals and vaccines (including for multiple marketed products and related strategic partnerships). Derrick is the author or co-author of eight peer-reviewed scientific articles and several published legal articles. He has also served as speaker/panelist/moderator in multiple life science settings and has guest lectured at a U.S. law school on the topic of Intellectual Property Licensing Law.

Issi Rozen, General Partner, GV

Issi Rozen is a general partner at GV, where he primarily focuses on the formation of new companies and early-stage investments. Issi is an experienced biotech executive and a serial entrepreneur who co-founded multiple startups, including GV portfolio company Verve Therapeutics. “My background is quite unusual for life sciences,” he explains. “I started in music, got excited about biotech in business school, led strategy and business development efforts at several biotech companies, and then spent a decade at the Broad Institute, spinning out more than 20 companies and co-founding another five.”

Issi served as the Chief Business Officer and a member of the executive leadership team at the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, where he led the creation of the Office of Strategic Alliances and Partnering. He was responsible for developing innovative scientific and business collaborations, initiating and establishing new ventures around novel technologies, and overseeing strategy and licensing of the Institute’s intellectual property portfolio.

“I’ve seen many different shades of companies, and I’ve always loved the opportunity to partner with founders and experiment with different structures to advance early-stage science,” he says. “Closely following the many startups spinning out of the Broad helped me learn to identify why some did better than others when all had potential.”

Laura Tadvalkar, Managing Director, RA Capital Management

Laura Tadvalkar is a Managing Director on the Venture Team at RA Capital Management. Laura works on new company creation and early-stage investments, and serves as a Board Director for Hemab, Be Biopharma, Hyku Bioscience, and Typewriter Therapeutics. She was previously a Board Director at Mariana Oncology and Aliada Therapeutics. Prior to RA, Laura was a Principal at MP Healthcare Venture Management. Prior to MP, she was a Consultant at Clarion Healthcare. Laura holds a BS in Chemistry from Yale University and a PhD in Chemical Biology from Harvard University.

John Tallarico, Global Head, Discovery Sciences, Novartis

John Tallarico leads Discovery Sciences at Novartis, a global team driving innovation at the frontiers of chemistry, biology, and data science. In this role, John’s mission is focused on the early stages of therapeutic discovery, including target identification, target validation, and moving early discoveries into the drug discovery pipeline. John has helped shape Novartis’s approaches to emerging therapeutic modalities to invent new medicines across all Novartis therapeutic areas. A former academic and biotech founder, he brings a deep scientific perspective to strategic collaborations that bridge science and business.

Fez Ujjainwalla, CBO, Terray Therapeutics

Dr. Ujjainwalla joined Terray Therapeutics in 2022 and is responsible for the company’s business development and pipeline strategy as well as alliance management. Prior to joining the company, Fez was Director of Business Development and Licensing (BD&L) at Merck & Co., Inc. He joined Merck in 1995 as Senior Research Chemist and rose to the rank of Executive Director of Chemistry before joining BD&L. He has led discovery programs from inception to early clinical development, delivering eight preclinical development candidates of which three proceeded to clinical trials – including the discovery of the first-in-class small molecule MC4R agonist, MK-0493, for the treatment of obesity. He has also led the search, scientific evaluation and execution of licensing deals and strategic partnerships, establishing numerous transactions across a range of agreement types including target focused R&D licenses as well as dominant platform licenses for DNA-Encoded Library Technology, mRNA Display Technology and Organoid Technology. Fez earned his BSc in Chemistry and PhD in Organic Chemistry from Imperial College of Science, Technology & Medicine and completed his postdoctoral training at The University of Texas at Austin. He is an author on over 85 publications and patents.

Brent Vaughan, CEO and Co-Founder, Eratos

Brent is CEO and co-founder of Eratos Therapeutics along with leading MIT neuroscientist, Edward Boyden, PhD (Y. Eva Tan Professor in Neurotechnology at MIT, Howard Hughes Medical Institute, McGovern Institute & Yang Tan Collective, MIT). Eratos Therapeutics is leveraging the groundbreaking scientific advances of Ed Boyden’s work and building a novel generative AI with deep, proprietary, domain-specific understanding of neurobiology and structure-function relationships throughout the brain that is enabling rapid identification of new targets and the more predictive development of CNS therapeutics.

Prior to founding Eratos, Brent founded and successfully scaled multiple companies and led the development of novel drug and medical device products from inception, creation of foundational IP, IND-enabling and product development through completion of multiple successful clinical programs that resulted in 3 FDA Breakthrough designations, FDA approval of the first-in-category ML/AI based CNS diagnostic and, one of the leading Alzheimer’s Ph3/pivotal development programs.

Quin Wills, Founder & CEO, Ochre Bio

Quin is a medical doctor with further degrees in genetics, mathematics, computational biology, and a doctorate in systems genomics, from Oxford and Cambridge Universities. He started his first drug discovery liver genomics company 17 years ago. More recently he founded and led Novo Nordisk’s Advanced Genomics Department, again focused on liver disease. Frustrated with the lack of therapeutic innovation in chronic diseases, Quin co-founded Ochre Bio, a liver RNA therapeutics company that differentiates itself in the ability to generate large-scale human discovery and validation data at its global R&D sites in Europe, Asia, and the U.S. A key innovation from Quin's team's at the intersection of dry-lab (machine learning) and wet-lab has been the ability to progress a hit to generating human data on the lead within weeks, not years. They do this using whole human livers that they maintain on machines.