Dr. Aggarwal joined Ocera Therapeutics as Chief Business Officer in April 2014. Previously Dr. Aggarwal was a life sciences venture capital investor, serving as a Managing Director of Investor Growth Capital, a Partner at Panorama Capital, and an associate with JPMorgan Partners.  Prior to joining JPMorgan Partners, Dr. Aggarwal was employed by KBL Healthcare Ventures, and completed an analyst program at Wasserstein Perella & Co. Dr. Aggarwal has served on the board of directors of several companies including Alvine Pharmaceuticals, Aupsex Pharmaceuticals, FlowCardia, Hyperion Therapeutics, NextWave Pharmaceuticals and PIramed. Dr. Aggarwal received his M.D. from Columbia University, College of Physicians & Surgeons, and his B.S. in Agricultural Economics from Cornell University.

Barbara Araneo, Ph.D., serves Novo Nordisk, Inc as the Director of Strategy and Sourcing in the Diabetes Research Unit.  Previously, she was a member of the JDRF Research team as the Director of the Diabetes Complications Therapeutic Area, where her role was to create and manage a portfolio of externally funded research grants aimed at translation of primary discovery along the path of new therapeutics and biomarkers.  Dr. Araneo served on the faculty of the University of Utah’s Department of Pathology as Associate Professor and has over 70 publications and 30 patents.  In addition to her academic career, Dr. Araneo was Vice President of Development at StemCells Inc., where she was responsible for directing the effort to bring the company’s neural cell-based product candidate from the exploratory and preclinical proof of principle stages into clinical development under the FDA regulatory process. Prior to joining StemCells, Dr. Araneo was a Scientific Co-Founder and Senior Vice President of Research and Development at Pharmadigm, a privately held biopharmaceutical company with a number of products discovered at the company and developed for various stages of clinical development for inflammatory conditions. Over her career Dr. Araneo specialized in translational research concentrating on bringing disease-modifying targets through validation and drug proof of concept. She has led project teams to enable filing of INDs, communicate with the FDA and initiate first in man clinical trials.  Dr. Araneo obtained her doctorate in Cellular Immunology from the University of Rochester and completed postdoctoral training at Washington University School of Medicine and the Department of Microbiology at UCLA.  In addition to a doctorate degree, Dr. Araneo holds certification in US Regulatory Affairs. 

Sakae Asanuma, CFA, MBA is President & CEO at Astellas Venture Management and US Head of Astellas Innovation Management. Sakae is a Bay area based Venture Capitalist, focusing on Biotech Investments since 2000. He has invested in 30+ life science start-ups, achieving 7 IPOs and 10 M&As to date

Sakae joined Astellas Venture Management (AVM) in June 2011 and has been running AVM/AIM-US since 2012. Prior to AVM, he was CEO at Yasuda Enterprise Development America (Japan’s major VC firm with $800M under management) from 2000 to 2011, originating all of the US biotech investment activities for Yasuda and supporting business development discussions with Japanese pharmaceutical companies on behalf of his portfolios.

Prior to Yasuda, Venture Capitalist and Buy-side Equity Analyst in Japan at Meiji-Yasuda Life Insurance Company from 1988 to 1999, managing its $20B equity portfolios. Sakae holds a Master of Business Administration from Carnegie Mellon University.

Michael joined Celgene’s Business Development team following the company’s acquisition of Abraxis BioScience in the fall of 2010.  In the 3+ years Michael has been with Celgene, he has successfully completed 8 transactions and has taken the lead from a BD perspective in putting in place the company’s biologics collaborations, including deals announced with OncoMed, Adimab, AnaptysBio, Inhibrx and Sutro Biopharma.  Michael joined Abraxis in early 2008, and among other accomplishments, helped establish the Abraxis commercial presence in China and helped lead the commercial launch of Abraxane in that market.  Prior to joining Abraxis, Michael was involved in the tech / telecom area, working for two technology companies in southern California.  Prior to these engagements, Michael was a sell-side Research Analyst at Morgan Stanley covering the wireless telecom space.  Michael received his undergraduate degree from the Johns Hopkins University and his MBA from the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University.  

Dr. Trond Erik Vee Aune earned his Ph.D. in molecular biology at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology in 2008 for his work on recombinant protein production in E. coli. His main focus was on how to optimize the xylS/Pm expression system for increased titres through directed evolution of the XylS transcription regulator. Dr. Aune then co-founded Vectron Biosolutions AS together with his colleague Professor Svein Valla. The company's core technology is the VB expression system for industrial production of proteins in E. coli and other bacteria. This technology can be used to increase the yields and solubility of therapeutic proteins significantly, and thus lower the manufacturing costs of many biopharmaceutical products. Dr. Aune is now chief executive officer in Vectron Biosolutions AS.

Steve has been with Merck & Co., Inc. for the past 10 years.  He received his Ph.D. in Medical Microbiology and Immunology from the University of Wisconsin and continued his post-doctoral training at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in Seattle.  Most recently Steve joined Merck's External Scientific Affairs department as a Scientific Liaison supporting the West Coast (Bay Area and Pacific Northwest) activities.  In this role, he acts on behalf of Merck to identify new collaboration, licensing, product acquisition/co-development, and strategic alliance opportunities in his geographic area.

Dr. François Binette is Vice President of Research and Business Development, for OrthoCyte Corp, the orthopedic subsidiary of Biotime Inc. As head of OrthoCyte, Dr. Binette is responsible for all development and partnering activities for the subsidiary. With over 20 years of experience in regenerative medicine therapy development, Dr. Binette helped pioneer the first FDA BLA-approved cell therapy product for human use while at Genzyme.  He then led R&D for Biosyntech, a startup biomaterials company in Montreal and brought numerous corporate partnership deals leading up to a public offering. With a passion for innovation making a real impact on patients, Dr. Binette then joined DePuy, the orthopedic franchise of Johnson and Johnson where he led several innovative regenerative medicine combination product development initiatives from bench top to approved clinical trials in US an Europe. Following JNJ, Dr. Binette joined the Spinal and Biologics business unit of Medtronic, the world largest medical device company, after which he founded Rediens Inc, a spine therapy start up company in California. Dr Binette received his PhD from Laval University in Québec City, followed with post-doctoral training at the Sanford-Burnham institute in La Jolla, and Harvard Medical School in Boston.

As Head of Company Sourcing for Janssen Labs, Kara leads the company recruitment and selection process for Jansen Labs including Janssen Labs San Diego, Janssen Labs @QB3 in San Francisco and Janssen @LabCentral in Cambridge/Boston. In this role, Kara is actively building a pipeline of prospects and driving licensee companies through diligence, selection, and joining Janssen Labs. Kara coordinates with the J&J Innovation Centers and J&J Development Corporation to build opportunities and grow relationships between Janssen Labs companies and potential strategic partners.

Constantine Chinoporos is responsible for Sanofi’s global licensing function, having assumed that role in 2014.  Additionally, the North American and European regional Business Development teams report to him.  Constantine brings extensive experience in Business Development with nearly 20 years of working in external innovation-focused roles.  He joined Sanofi following the Genzyme acquisition as the regional head of Business Development for Sanofi’s North American Pharmaceutical division. He assumed this role in December 2011.  Prior to this position, he was a Vice President in Genzyme’s Corporate Development group, which he joined in 2001.  Before Genzyme, Constantine served in various capacities at Eli Lilly and Company over a twelve year period, including roles in Corporate Finance & Investment Banking as well as the Office of Alliance Management.  Constantine’s deal experience includes licensing, M&A, and product/business divestitures.  Constantine received an undergraduate degree in History as well as an MBA from Cornell University.  

Mr. Colberg co-founded Kalos Therapeutics in 2005.  Mr. Colberg has developed the corporate philosophy of Kalos, identified and worked to shape the strategy behind the primary products, and markets for Kalos. He has raised the seed round, series A round and grant financing.  Mr. Colberg recruited and retained the executive team and scientific advisory board and has had an active hand in the clinical development plan.  Mr. Colberg has investigated new compounds and constructs for potential licensing or acquisition and continues to explore new opportunities for Kalos.  His continuing role in the Company will be to provide the strategic vision, be active in the development of relationships that will lead to collaborations, promote corporate governance, assist in the establishment of corporate regulations and controls and preside over board level functions.  Mr. Colberg has experience in corporate finance and management. He was CEO of Primary Inc., a company dealing with issues related to The Stark legislation where he pioneered the plan for acquisitions and the business model initiating early efforts in personalized medicine electronic medical record meshed with patient data and billing and advanced use of diagnostics. Prior to that he was a Vice President at the Financial Group doing syndications and equity investment research. In this capacity Mr. Colberg was named Young Entrepreneur of the Year by Price Waterhouse.

David Collier, M.D., is Chief Executive Officer of Velocity Pharmaceutical Development and Managing Director of CMEA Capital. 

As CEO of Velocity Pharmaceutical Development (VPD) since its inception in 2011, Dr. Collier is pioneering a new business model for the development of promising drug candidates.  VPD acquires the rights to individual therapeutic drug candidates from biotechnology companies, academia, and pharmaceutical companies, and invests in their development through clinical proof-of-concept (generally phase 2). Following proof-of-concept, VPD seeks to sell each drug asset to a major pharmaceutical company. VPD is structured as a holding company, owning a portfolio of virtual companies, each of which develops a single drug candidate, all managed by a single expert team.  This development team includes several highly experienced former Chief Medical Officers from the biotechnology industry. 

Dr. Collier joined CMEA Capital in 2001 to focus on investments in biotechnology companies developing drugs through clinical trials across many different therapeutic areas. Examples include Ardelyx (minimally-absorbed drugs acting on the GI tract), Auspex Pharmaceuticals (Huntington’s Disease), and Arcion Therapeutics (neuropathic pain).  Before joining CMEA, Dr. Collier was a Managing Director at Burrill & Co., a private merchant bank focused exclusively on life science companies, where he played a leading role in the management of the company’s life science venture capital funds. Earlier in his career, he was Assistant Vice President at First Options of Chicago where he directed a group of traders and managed a large portfolio of futures and options.

Dr. Collier holds an M.D. from the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine, an M.B.A. from the Wharton School, and a B.A. in Physics from Wesleyan University.

Dr. Douville is a senior executive with significant entrepreneurial experience in the biotechnology and pharmaceutical industries. He is a founder and the Chief Executive Officer of Milestone Pharmaceuticals Inc. While at Milestone, he raised $17 million in several rounds of equity financing with leading life sciences venture capital firms in order to advance Milestone’s lead program from discovery to the clinic. Dr. Douville has been a Director on Milestone’s Board since its inception in 2005 and served as Chairman of the Board from 2011 to 2012.  Prior to Milestone Pharmaceuticals, he held the positions of CEO and Chief Business Officer at Galileo Genomics (later Genizon Biosciences), a population genomics company he co-founded. As the founding CEO, he negotiated Galileo’s seminal strategic alliance with Myriad Genetics that provided the company’s initial round of financing and subsequently, as Chief Business Officer, he played a key role in preparing the company for its successful $16 million Series A financing with VCs. After leaving Galileo in 2001, Dr. Douville was involved in advising other biotech start-ups in a consulting capacity. Dr. Douville obtained his Ph.D. in Neuroscience from McGill University in 1991 and later pursued post-doctoral research activities at the University of Zurich. He obtained an MBA from the HEC business school of the University of Montreal in 1997.

Cammie Edwards, PhD, Program and Alliance Management (ITA), provides a direct interface between UCSF teams and external collaboration partners. In that role, she works with both teams in establishing collaborative strategic plans, maintaining effective communication, promoting cross-functional activities, monitoring progress and developing risk mitigation strategies. Cammie joined UCSF as the Program Director for the Stephen and Nancy Grand Multiple Myeloma Translational Initiative (Grand MMTI) in 2011, where she provides strategic and operational oversight for the program. Prior to joining the Grand MMTI, Cammie worked for 10 years with DNA Bridges, Inc., a corporate development firm dedicated to helping life science companies advance their programs and products. In her role there, she assisted clients in raising funds (> $20 million in both private and federal funding), corporate positioning, business development and managing large contracts for clients. She worked successfully with both U.S. and international clients in a broad range of areas including cancer therapeutics, biologics, vaccines, biodefense and biomarker technologies. Cammie obtained her PhD from the University of California, Berkeley.

Van Ellis has extensive experience in a wide variety of technology-based transactions and corporate matters in the life sciences field. He routinely represents early stage and multinational life sciences companies, including their pharmaceuticals, biologics, diagnostics, medical device, vaccine, and consumer care/OTC divisions. He advises clients on the full range of transactions that arise during the life cycle of a product, from billion dollar global collaborations to daily commercial and operational matters. These transactions include arrangements in the areas of drug discovery, research and development, clinical trials, licensing of development stage and approved products, manufacturing and supply, marketing and co-promotion, technology transfers, strategic alliances and joint ventures. He also counsels clients in connection with initial public offerings and mergers and acquisitions. Prior to joining Morrison & Foerster Van was an Associate General Counsel at the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, where he oversaw the development and implementation of policies governing the conduct of clinical trials, and advised on the formation and launch of a joint venture in South Africa to research co-infection of HIV and tuberculosis.

Mr. Finney  joined Allergan in January 2006 with over 20 years of experience managing corporate development and commercial operations.  Mr. Finney has substantial licensing, partnering, and M&A experience from both the buy-side and the sell-side and has been directly responsible for a number of successful partnerships. In Mr. Finney’s current role as Vice President, Business Development he oversees Allergan’s Neurology, Urology, Neurotoxin and Alliance Management corporate activities. Prior to joining Allergan, Mr. Finney served in various business and commercial operations roles from 2000 – 2005 at Prometheus Laboratories and Amylin Pharmaceuticals.  Prior to that Mr. Finney held various commercial positions at Parke-Davis division of Warner-Lambert from 1991 through the acquisition of Parke-Davis by Pfizer in 2000. Mr. Finney received a Bachelor’s Degree in Exercise Physiology from Cal State University, Long Beach and a MBA from Pepperdine University.

Robert Geho is a co-founder and CEO of Diasome Pharmaceuticals, Inc. In his role at Diasome, he leads the management and strategic direction of the Company’s Phase 3-enabled targeted insulin therapies, as well as the development of Diasome’s novel Type 2 diabetes technology and oral therapy for obesity. In addition to his responsibilities at Diasome, he is a co-founder and director of SDG, Inc., a nanotechnology therapeutics company that is an Equity Partner Company of the Cleveland Clinic Foundation in Cleveland, Ohio. Mr. Geho has led or co-led multiple rounds of financing for several biotechnology companies, and he has been a key participant in the formation of multiple life sciences focused companies. He received both his undergraduate degree and MBA from Case Western Reserve University. Mr. Geho also serves as a member of the board of directors of the Diabetes Hands Foundation in Berkeley, CA.

Miles Gerson joined UCLA's Office of Intellectual Property and Industry Sponsored Research in 2012 as the Managing Officer of Business Development. In this role, he serves as public representative for the Office, helping to promote UCLA intellectual property, identify potential industry sponsors, and expand licensing, spin-out & entrepreneurial activity at UCLA. Prior to UCLA, Miles helped to launch Surefire Medical Inc., a medical device company in Colorado, and served as an analyst for multiple investment firms including, High Country Venture, the CSU Management Fund, a venture fund for emerging research at Colorado State University, and Dag Dvergsten AS, a private equity/venture firm based in Oslo, Norway. Miles holds a JD/MBA from the University of Wisconsin, Madison, where he specialized in strategic management in life and engineering sciences, and worked with WARF to help guide the commercialization of academic research. Miles also holds a Bachelors and Masters degree in Neuroscience from Wesleyan University.

Mr. Paul Grayson previously served as CEO of Fate Therapeutics, a San Diego-based, privately held biopharmaceutical company focused on the development of therapies that act through stem cell modulation. Before this, he was managing director of Sanderling Ventures where he was a founding board member of multiple portfolio companies including: Calcimedica, Taligen Therapeutics (acquired by Alexion Pharmaceuticals), and Naviscan. Prior to Sanderling, Mr. Grayson served as the founding Chairman and CEO of Senomyx Inc. and part of the founding management team of Aurora Biosciences (acquired by Vertex). He received his M.B.A. from the University of California, Irvine, and his B.A. in Computer Science and Biochemistry from the University of California, Los Angeles.

Daryn A. Grossman is a Partner in the New York office, head of the Life Sciences Group and co-head of the Technology, Media & Communications Group. Referred to by Chambers USA as “skilled and resourceful” and commended by IAM Licensing 250 2010 for her life sciences expertise, Daryn concentrates in technology and intellectual property-related transactions and advises clients in identifying, protecting, and exploiting intellectual property assets. She joined Proskauer after heading up the New York Technology Practice of Brobeck, Phleger & Harrison LLP.

Daryn focuses her practice on the biotechnology, pharmaceutical and medical device fields. She has extensive experience in structuring and negotiating complex transactions where intellectual property assets drive the deals, such as outsourcing transactions, corporate partnering transactions, domestic and international joint ventures, strategic equity investments, spin-offs, development, licensing and distribution agreements, and sponsored research and clinical trial arrangements. Daryn also counsels venture capitalists and strategic investors in evaluating intellectual property portfolios in connection with private equity investments, public offerings and mergers and acquisitions. She has a global practice and advises clients with respect to business partners based in the U.S., Europe, South America, Asia, Australia, Israel and Canada.

Her clients include companies in the biotechnology, pharmaceutical and medical device fields. She represents entities in all stages: from start-up ventures just beginning to assemble IP portfolios to Fortune 500 companies with well-established IP programs. Daryn has been involved in successful deals with parties such as Amgen, Novartis, Merck, Pfizer, Bayer AG, Hoffman LaRoche, Mundipharma, Eli Lilly & Co., Medtronic, Bard, Johnson & Johnson, Janssen, Biocryst Pharmaceuticals, Boston Scientific Corporation, 3D Pharmaceuticals, Celgene Corporation, Les Laboratories Servier, sanofi-aventis, Aspen Pharmacare, sanofi-pasteur, Shimoda Biotech (Pty) Ltd., Recoly N.V., Roche Pharmaceuticals, Exosome Diagnostics, University of Melbourne, Albert Einstein College of Medicine, Columbia University, Mt. Sinai School of Medicine, Emory University, Le Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, University of Bath, University of St. Andrew's, St. Jude Children's Research Hospital and Duke University.

Daryn is a frequent lecturer on entrepreneurship and issues related to life sciences, technology, licensing and intellectual property law.

Harry Gruber, M.D., is the CEO and co-founder of Tocagen, a privately funded, clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company pursuing the discovery, development and commercialization of gene therapy products for the selective treatment of cancer. Tocagen’s lead investigational product, Toca 511 & Toca FC, is being evaluated in three clinical trials in patients with recurrent high grade glioma, including glioblastoma (GBM), and is designed to selectively infect and kill cancer cells via a proposed dual mechanism of action: first, selectively infecting cancer cells and second, activating the immune system against the tumor. Dr. Gruber is a founder and/or an inventor of the underlying technology for the following public companies, which achieved a combined value over $7 billion: Viagene, Inc. (gene therapy company ultimately acquired by Novartis Pharmaceuticals), Gensia Inc. (acquired by Teva Pharmaceutical Industries, Ltd.), INTERVU Inc. (acquired by Akamai Technologies, Inc.), Kintera Inc. (acquired by Blackbaud) and Metabasis, Inc. (acquired by Ligand Pharmaceuticals). Prior to founding Gensia, he was on the faculty at the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine. He is the author of over 100 original scientific articles and an inventor on over 33 issued and numerous pending patents. Dr. Gruber holds a medical degree and bachelor’s degree from the University of Pennsylvania.

Dr. John Gu, founder of Renascions and Renascions Pharmaceuticals II, is an adjunct professor at Molecular Pharmacology Department at City of Hope, and was a faculty member and a program director at Sidney Kimmel Cancer Center.  Dr. Gu was the recipient of the NIH Fellowship for the Human Genome Project at Washington University in St Louis. He was trained in the Human Genome Project (HGP) and worked on the discovery and applications of genome-wide SNPs (single nucleotide polymorphisms) as biomarkers.  His most recent scientific focuses include developing clinical applications using GWAS SNP data based on Renascions' proprietary technology, ReAL.  ReAL has been used in various clinical programs in collaborations with industrial partners, and has achieved outstanding results.  Renascions is also transforming itself into a drug development company, while continue to serve its partners.  Dr. Gu previously worked as a senior scientific staff and section head at Motorola Life Sciences, and as an executive at Vita Genomics, Shanghai GeneCore Biotechnologies, and CytoPharm Therapeutics.  He has extensive knowledge and broad relationships with CFDA for new drug development in China.

Phil Gutry joined MPM’s San Francisco office in 2011. He serves on the board of Amphivena Therapeutics and has been involved in MPM’s investments in Astute Medical, Vascular Pharmaceuticals, and CoStim Pharmaceuticals. He previously worked for five years in Corporate Development at Gilead sciences where he focused on M&A and licensing in antiviral, respiratory, liver disease, and oncology. Prior to Gilead, Phil was a Principal at Riverside Partners where he spent six years focused on private equity investments in life science instrumentation, diagnostics, and medical products companies. Phil began his career with The Wilkerson Group, a healthcare focused consulting firm. Phil holds an M.B.A. from The Wharton School and an A.B. from Dartmouth College.

Dana Hammill is the Director of Business Development and Alliance Management for the Translational Research Program (TRP). She is responsible for the development and cultivation of broad and deep external partnership relations in all solution areas, including strategic pharma-academia alignment, technology transfer, multiple project timelines and expectations, finances, and commercialization efforts.  In addition to creating value-added analyses, reports, and other critical tracking tools needed for long range alliance planning and prioritization, she also supports a multifunctional team within the TRP to help determine, plan, and track strategic direction and progress to ensure delivery of agreed upon milestones. 

Jonathan Hirsch is the Founder and President of Syapse, a software company transforming healthcare by bringing omics into routine medical use. At Syapse, Jonathan works closely with diagnostic and healthcare providers, helping translate customer problems into software solutions. Jonathan is an Advisory Board member of the SXSW Accelerator, a member of the UCSF Technology Advisory Group, and a member of the Steering Committee of Free the Data!, an effort started by Genetic Alliance to crowdsource the interpretation of cancer genes. Earlier in his career, Jonathan worked in Neuroscience Commercial Development at Abbott Laboratories, where he developed strategies to fund drug development through partnerships and private equity financing. His research at the Center for Molecular Neurobiology at the University of Chicago helped establish the effect of exercise on promoting hippocampal neurogenesis and combating Alzheimer’s disease. Jonathan received an M.Sci. in Neuroscience from Stanford University, and an A.B. in Biology and Political Philosophy from the University of Chicago.

Nouhad currently leads Regeneron’s Business Development team, which is responsible for sourcing, evaluating and executing in-licensing, out-licensing, and new collaboration opportunities.  Prior to joining Regeneron in 2011, he held various positions at Genentech in Corporate Finance, M&A and most recently in Business Development where he was responsible for licensing and collaborations in ophthalmology.  Before Genentech, Nouhad spent several years working in biotechnology investment banking and equity research at Morgan Stanley and Robertson Stephens. He received an undergraduate degree in Molecular Biology from Princeton University and an MBA from the Wharton School at University of Pennsylvania.

Alexander Johns brings over two decades of bio-pharmastrategy consulting experience from industry leaders, including many of the themost successful launches, to start-up companies. Alexander earned his MBA fromthe University of Chicago in 1987 and joined Frank Lynn & Associates wherehe began bio-pharma strategy consulting in 1990. Alexander continued to expandhis biotech clientele as Founder & Principal at Quality Directions1991-1995 and then as Founder & Chairman of bioStrategies Group 1995-2011.Alexander now leads Areté Strategies as Founder & Chairman.

Ken has over 25 years experience in the innovative pharmaceutical industry with leading global companies such as Bristol-Myers Squibb, Hoechst Marion Roussel and Marion Merrell Dow. He held a variety of management positions with these companies in the areas of sales and business development, regulatory affairs, reimbursement and market access. Ken's past contributions in helping build leading global cardiovascular brands such as Plavix, Pravachol, Cardizem, and Avapro will provide strategic guidance for the company's technologies in the areas of market analysis, regulatory affairs, pharmacoeconomics, licensing and commercial development.

Dan is an entrepreneur and executive with extensive experience in guiding early stage businesses. He has served as CEO of Antibe since its formation in May, 2009. Dan is a director and audit committee member of Green Shield Canada, one of the country's largest health benefits administrators. He is a member of the Law Society of Upper Canada and the New York Bar, and holds a JD from Queen's University.

Dan is an entrepreneur and executive with extensive experience in guiding early stage businesses. He has served as CEO of Antibe since its formation in May, 2009. Dan is a director and audit committee member of Green Shield Canada, one of the country's largest health benefits administrators. He is a member of the Law Society of Upper Canada and the New York Bar, and holds a JD from Queen's University.

Jay Lichter is an entrepreneur and seasoned investor in the biotechnology and pharmaceutical arena with over 25 years of expertise in management, scientific research, and business development. He currently serves as president and CEO of COI Pharmaceuticals. As managing director of Avalon Ventures, Dr. Lichter led investments in Afraxis, Carolus, Otonomy, Sova and Zacharon Pharmaceuticals. Dr. Lichter has served as CEO of many these companies, which has included leading both their business and scientific operations during the companies’ formative periods. He is on the board of directors for most of these companies and also served as Chairman of the Board of RQx, another Avalon company. He led the first life science investments for the Avalon IX portfolio, Sova Pharmaceuticals, and serves as its CEO and board member. He also led the investment in Aratana Therapeutics, where he serves as chairman of the board. Dr. Lichter took over the leadership of Avelas in order to turn that company around after a change in management and serves as a director on the board. Dr. Lichter is the inventor on over 260 patent and patent applications for six Avalon portfolio companies, including 78 issued patents. Dr. Lichter has been involved in licensing or merger and acquisition deals valued in excess of $1 billion. In addition to his Avalon activities, Dr. Lichter serves as a director on the board of the John Wayne Cancer Institute and a trustee and Chairman to Pacific Ridge School located in Carlsbad. Dr. Lichter held postdoctoral positions in Human Genetics at Yale University and pharmacogenetics at DuPont Merck Pharmaceutical Co. Dr. Lichter obtained his Ph.D. in biochemistry from the University of Illinois at Chicago, and a B.S. from the Univ. of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

Graeme Martin is President and CEO of Takeda Ventures, Inc (TVI), the strategic venture investment arm of Takeda Pharmaceutical Company, Ltd. Since joining Takeda in 2003, Dr Martin has overseen investment into 21 early and mid-stage biotechnology companies which have produced strategic relationships with Takeda R&D operations. One company, Envoy Therapeutics, was acquired by Takeda in 2012. During more than 35 years in multinational Pharmaceutical and Biotech R&D, both in Europe and the USA, Dr Martin has worked on three novel drug IND candidates, including  zolmitriptan, an acute treatment for migraine now marketed worldwide under the brand name Zomig®. He is the author of more than 85 peer-reviewed publications and book chapters. He received his Bachelor of Science degree in Pharmacology from the University of Bath, UK and his doctorate from University College, London, UK.

John practiced medicine for many years before dedicating his career to applying technology to improve healthcare delivery.  He is the physician leader of Personalized Medicine at Kaiser Permanente, including big data analytics.  He is founder of the international XML standard for health record exchange, now known as the CCD, CDA, and cCDA.  He is an active advisor/participant in the Global Initiative for Genomics and Health, and actively involved in advancing a wide variety of open source standards for genomics, proteomics, mobile health apps, and IOT.  He has published in a wide variety of fields, teaches at multiple universities, and consults internationally on health policy and health information technology.  His current focus is on using modern technology to restore ancient wisdom, including mindfulness as a path to health and fitness.  He has launched numerous innovation projects in pursuit of those objectives.

Michael McCully serves as Executive Vice President, Chief Financial and Business Officer of Charleston Laboratories, Inc.  Mr. McCully established his career in the biotech industry in the early 2000’s as an analyst and pundit at the advisory firm Recombinant Capital, Inc.  A frequent and noted speaker on industry meta-trends, Mr. McCully specialized in both the structuring and valuation of biotech and pharmaceutical strategic transactions.  In 2008, Recombinant Capital merged with Deloitte, and Mr. McCully assumed a role in Deloitte’s Life Sciences Practice, based in San Francisco.  Mr. McCully advised hundreds of biotech and pharmaceutical companies during his years with Recombinant Capital and Deloitte, successfully leading teams through both buy-side and sell-side transactions, culminating with more than 40 completed transactions with an aggregate value in excess of $6 billion.  Since leaving Deloitte in 2010, Mr. McCully has held senior advisory roles for multiple public and private biotechnology companies, as well as serving as Head of Business Development for Elan Pharmaceuticals BioNeurology unit.  Prior to his transition to industry, Mr. McCully was a Research Associate at Purdue University.  He holds a BS from Purdue University and a hybrid MS from Northwestern University.  

Neela Patel is a Director of Licensing-Scientific Assessment at AbbVie (formerly Abbott Laboratories) with responsibility for identification and evaluation of discovery and early clinical stage collaboration and licensing opportunities worldwide for oncology. In addition, Dr. Patel serves as the therapy area liaison for oncology discovery, partnering with senior management to create the overall strategy for the pipeline, and assessing all incoming opportunities for technical robustness and strategic fit. Prior to her role in Business Development, she served as Director of Global External Research, with a focus on building the early stage discovery pipeline through collaborations. Dr. Patel has over twenty years pharma/biotech industry experience with small molecules and biologics from early stage discovery through IND filing, with a focus on oncology and ophthalmology. Most recently, she led Preclinical and Translational Medicine at Poniard Pharmaceuticals where she established the biology department and jointly created a preclinical product pipeline with the head of chemistry, including FAK inhibitors which were licensed to Verastem in 2011. Prior to Poniard, Dr. Patel served in drug discovery management positions of increasing responsibility at Genentech, SUGEN/Pharmacia, and Roche Bioscience. Dr. Patel was also a key member of several start-up company teams to establish the overall business and scientific strategies and to seek and secure funding.

Paul Resnick, M.D., M.B.A. (Vice President, Business Development) leads Juventas' business and commercial development. Prior to Juventas, Dr. Resnick led business development for Intellikine, culminating in its acquisition by Takeda Pharmaceuticals. He previously held roles at Pfizer, Rinat Neuroscience (acquired by Pfizer), InterMune, and Roche and also practiced medicine. Dr. Resnick's professional experience includes product and business development with solid performance leading and executing business strategy resulting in transforming collaborations. Dr. Resnick earned a Master of Business Administration from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania and a Doctor of Medicine from the Medical College of Wisconsin.

Dr. Sikora has 8 years of management and 12 years of biomedical research experience. His area of expertise is Diagnostics and Therapeutics in Cardiology. Prior  to Stemedica he worked at GenWay between 2006 and 2013 as Senior Vice President, in charge of Custom, Catalog, and FirstMark Cardiology Diagnostics Divisions. Within a short period of time, he was able to establish business development related to GenWay’s proprietary IgY microbead technology, Seppro® system. He also established and led FirstMark Diagnostic Division at GenWay. He has taken the lead in forming partnerships, agreements and sales for GenWay’s custom services business, and he plays a key role in the development of the Company’s diagnostic FirstMark business. He is also Chair of Scientific Advisory Board for the FirstMark. The Board is comprised of top Key Opinion Leaders in US Cardiology. In 2008 Dr. Sikora successfully divested two largest divisions of GenWay to Sigma-Aldrich.

Prior to joining GenWay, Dr. Sikora was a founder and Vice President of Business Development in MC-Fibers. During his tenure in MC-Fibers, he successfully established a customer base and developed the business strategy for the company.. During his work at the Burnham Institute, Dr. Sikora developed a novel bioinformatics/experimental biology streamlining method for rapid experimental conformation of computational predictions, analyzed the SARS genome which resulted in a U.S. patent and published a number of research articles.

Dr. Sikora obtained his MBA degree from the Rady School of Management at the University of California, San Diego and his Ph.D. degree from UCLA. Dr. Sikora received his undergraduate degree in Biochemistry from UCLA with cum laude.

Kevin Skol leads business development activities at Isis Pharmaceuticals.  Kevin is primarily responsible for implementing Isis’ innovative partnering structures which includes traditional licensing transactions, preferred partner alliances and satellite company partnerships.  Prior to Isis, Kevin was a marketing director, neuroscience at Valeant Pharmaceuticals leading its migraine franchise.  Kevin also spent several years in business development at Valeant where the team completed numerous transactions including company and product acquisitions, co-promotions, in-licenses, out-license and divestitures.  Prior to joining Valeant, Kevin was Vice President of Corporate Development at Digital Gene Technologies (DGT), a private genomics based company, who oversaw the Corporate Development and Investor Relations teams.  Prior to DGT, Kevin served in the business development group at Elan where he specialized in drug development and delivery joint ventures between Elan and a range of biotechnology companies.  Prior to Elan, Kevin spent a number of years at Goldman, Sachs & Company as a financial analyst within the Structured Finance and Real Estate Groups.  Kevin serves as a member of the Board of Directors of Ingredient Innovations International (3i), a nutraceuticals company based in Ohio.  Kevin holds a BA in Economics from Yale University and an MBA from the Harvard Business School. 

Mary Jo Struttmann joined Astellas US LLC in December 2004. Since joining Astellas, she has been primarily responsible for establishing, driving & maintaining successful collaborative relationships with multiple partners such as Ambit, Boehringer Ingelheim, GlaxoSmithKline, Hoffmann-La Roche, Inc., Medivation and Theravance.   Mary Jo led the formalization of Astellas’ Alliance Management model, including the development and implementation of processes and tools for effective Alliance Management.   Prior to joining Astellas, Mary Jo held various positions of increasing responsibility in Medical Affairs, Managed Care, Sales, Marketing & Business Development within DuPont Pharmaceuticals, Bristol-Myers Squibb & Bristol-Myers Squibb Medical Imaging.  Mary Jo has a BS in Nuclear Medicine and a MBA from Haub School of Business, St. Joseph’s University.  Mary Jo received the Certification of Achievement – Alliance Management (CA-AM) from the Association of Strategic Alliance Professionals (ASAP), demonstrating a level of excellence in the profession of alliance management. 

Mark Wiggins is Senior Vice President, Business and Corporate Development at Elcelyx Therapeutics, where he leads  strategic financing and partnering activities.  Mr. Wiggins was formerly Chief Business Officer of Mpex Pharmaceuticals where he led commercial planning activities for an inhaled antibiotic for cystic fibrosis as well as business development activities, resulting in the successful acquisition by Axcan (now Aptalis).  Prior to Mpex he was Executive Vice President of Business and Corporate Development and was a member of the Executive Committee at Biogen Idec.  Mr. Wiggins was also head of marketing and played a key role in the collaboration and product launch with Genentech of Rituxan®, a $6 billion product for cancer and autoimmune disorders. As global head of business development, Mr. Wiggins and his team acquired three companies and completed over 15 significant licensing/partnering transactions, many of which are significant value drivers for Biogen Idec today. Prior to Biogen Idec, Mr. Wiggins worked in marketing and business development with Schering-Plough (now Merck), Johnson & Johnson and Pfizer Pharmaceuticals. Mr. Wiggins received his BS degree in finance from Syracuse University and an MBA from the University of Arizona Eller College of Management.

Wei is currently leading business development activities at Good Start Genetics, a next generation molecular diagnostics company.  Previously, Wei was at Safeguard Scientifics, a public venture capital fund, where he led healthcare investments including Good Start Genetics.   Prior to Safeguard, Wei worked at BioAdvance, a Pennsylvania state initiative committed to funding early-stage life sciences companies. Wei has also interned at or consulted for several venture capital firms in the US and Asia.  In his early career, Wei worked in the biotech industry developing biologics in various therapeutic areas.  Wei holds a BS from Nanjing University in China, a PhD in chemistry from Boston University, and an MBA from the Wharton School at University of Pennsylvania.  Wei also completed the prestigious Kauffman Fellows Program dedicated to innovation investing.