Jan. 28-29

Mountain View, CA

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Luminary Award Recipient

Janet Woodcock

Janet Woodcock, M.D., Director, Center for Drug Evaluation & Research, FDA

Janet Woodcock, M.D., Director, Center for Drug Evaluation & Research, FDA

Janet Woodcock is the director of the Center for Drug Evaluation and Research (CDER) at the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). Dr. Woodcock has shown dedication to personalized medicine by fast-tracking individualized treatments through the FDA approval process and by encouraging collaboration between the regulatory and industry arenas. During her tenure, both of the individualized treatments Xalkori and Zelboraf received FDA approval paired with companion diagnostics. Dr. Woodcock has led many of FDA’s drug initiatives. She introduced the concept of risk management in 2000 as a new approach to drug safety. Since 2002, she has led the “Pharmaceutical Quality for the 21st Century Initiative,” FDA’s highly successful effort to modernize drug manufacturing and its regulation. In 2004, she introduced FDA’s “Critical Path” Initiative, which is designed to move medical discoveries from the laboratory to consumers more efficiently. Most recently, Dr. Woodcock launched the “Safety First” and “Safe Use” initiatives designed to improve drug safety management within and outside FDA, respectively. Dr. Woodcock previously served as FDA’s deputy commissioner and chief medical officer. She also led CDER as director from 1994–2005. Prior to joining CDER, Dr. Woodcock oversaw approval of the first biotechnology-based treatments for multiple sclerosis and cystic fibrosis in her position as director of the Office of Therapeutics Research and Review in FDA’s Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research. Dr. Woodcock received her medical degree from Northwestern University Medical School, and her undergraduate degree from Bucknell University. She has held teaching appointments at Pennsylvania State University and the University of California at San Francisco. She joined FDA in 1986.

Luminary Committee

Brian Druker

Brian Druker, Co-inventor, Gleevec

Brian Druker, Co-inventor, Gleevec

Brian Druker M.D., Director of the Oregon Health & Science University (OHSU) Knight Cancer Institute, JELD-WEN Chair of Leukemia Research, OHSU, and an Investigator of the Howard Hughes Medical Institute After having trained in oncology at Harvard's Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Dr. Druker then returned to the lab to begin his research career studying the regulation of the growth of cancer cells and the practical application to cancer therapies. His work was instrumental in the development of Gleevec, a drug that targets the molecular defect in chronic myeloid leukemia. After completing a series of preclinical studies, Dr. Druker spearheaded the highly successful clinical trials of imatinib for CML. Imatinib is currently FDA approved for CML and gastrointestinal stromal tumors. His role in the development of imatinib and its application in the clinic have resulted in numerous awards for Dr. Druker, including the John J. Kenney Award from The Leukemia and Lymphoma Society, the AACR-Richard, and many others.

George Church

George Church, Co-developer, Human Genome Project

George Church, Co-developer, Human Genome Project

George Church, Ph.D. Professor of Genetics, Harvard Medical School and Professor of Health Sciences & Technology, Harvard and MIT With Walter Gilbert he developed the first direct genomic sequencing method in 1984 and helped initiate the Human Genome Project in 1984 while he was a Research Scientist at newly-formed Biogen Inc. He invented the broadly-applied concepts of molecular multiplexing and tags,homologous recombination methods,and DNA array synthesizers. Technology transfer of automated sequencing & software to Genome Therapeutics Corp. resulted in the first commercial genome sequence, (the human pathogen, Helicobacter pylori) in 1994. He initiated the Personal Genome Project (PGP) in 2005 and research on synthetic biology. He is director of the U.S. Department of Energy Center on Bioenergy at Harvard & MIT and director of the National Institutes of Health (NHGRI) Center of Excellence in Genomic Science at Harvard, MIT & Washington University. He has been advisor to 22 companies, most recently co-founding (with Joseph Jacobson, Jay Keasling, and Drew Endy) Codon Devices, a biotech startup dedicated to synthetic biology and (with Chris Somerville) founding LS9, which is focused on biofuels. He is a senior editor for Nature EMBO Molecular Systems Biology.

Kary Banks Mullis

Kary Banks Mullis, Nobel laureate & Inventor of PCR

Kary Banks Mullis, Nobel laureate & Inventor of PCR

He received a Bachelor of Science degree in chemistry from the Georgia Institute of Technology and a Ph.D. in biochemistry from the UC Berkeley, after which Dr. Mullis became a postdoctoral fellow in pediatric cardiology at the University of Kansas Medical School. In 1977, he began two years of postdoctoral work in pharmaceutical chemistry at the UCSF. Dr. Mullis then joined the Cetus Corporation, where, for seven years, he conducted research on oligonucleotide synthesis and invented the polymerase chain reaction. Dr. Mullis received a Nobel Prize in chemistry in 1993, for his invention of the polymerase chain reaction (PCR), a method of amplifying DNA which multiplies a single, microscopic strand of the genetic material billions of times within hours. Among his many other awards, Dr. Mullis was also awarded the Japan Prize in 1993 for the PCR invention and was inducted into the Inventors Hall of Fame in 1998.

Philip R. Lee

Philip R. Lee, Former Director of Health Services, USAID

Philip R. Lee, Former Director of Health Services, USAID

Dr. Philip R. Lee is Senior Scholar, Philip R. Lee Institute for Health Policy Studies and Professor Emeritus of Social Medicine, Department of Medicine, School of Medicine at the University of California, San Francisco. He has been a member of the UCSF faculty since 1969. He retired in 1993 and resumed active Emeritus status in 1997. From July 1993 through January 1997, he served as Assistant Secretary for Health, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Before going to Washington, Dr. Lee served as Director of the Institute for Health Policy Studies, which he founded with Lewis Butler, JD at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) in 1972. He served as chancellor of UCSF from 1969 to 1972. Prior to joining the UCSF faculty he was Assistant Secretary for Health and Scientific Affairs in the Department of Health, Education and Welfare from 1965 to 1969, and was Director of Health Services in the Agency for International Development from 1963 to 1965. A native of San Francisco, Dr. Lee received his M.D. from Stanford in 1948 and an M.S. from the University of Minnesota in 1955. He is the author or co-author of 145 articles in the health field, and he has co-authored numerous books, including "Pills, Profits and Politics"; "Primary Care in a Specialized World"; "Exercise and Health"; "Pills and the Public Purse"; "Prescriptions for Death: the Drugging of the Third World"; "Drugs and the Elderly: Clinical, Social, and Policy Perspectives"; and "Bad Medicine". He has edited two books, one (The Nation's Health) is in its seventh edition. While at UCSF, his research and teaching endeavors in the field of health policy focused on physician payment, prescription drugs, reproductive health policy, health manpower and AIDS-related issues. His current research is focused on diversity in medical education, where the primary focus is a case study of Stanford and UCSF medical schools since 1960. He has just completed a study of Medicare and prescription drugs. Throughout his career he has served (officially and unofficially) as advisor and mentor for countless fellows and students who have gone on to important positions in government, academia and the private sector.

Track 1 Speakers

Alberto Gutierrez

Alberto Gutierrez, Ph.D., Director Office of In Vitro Diagnostics and Radiological Health, FDA

Alberto Gutierrez, Ph.D., Director Office of In Vitro Diagnostics and Radiological Health, FDA

Alberto Gutierrez, Ph.D., is the Director of FDA’s Office of In Vitro Diagnostic Device Evaluation and Safety. Dr. Gutierrez received a bachelor’s degree from Haverford College, and master and doctorate degrees in Chemistry from Princeton University. Dr. Gutierrez has over 10 years of experience in research in the area of structural organic and organometallic chemistry. Dr. Gutierrez joined the FDA in 1992 as researcher and reviewer in FDA’s Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research working on vaccine adjuvants and method development for determination of purity and structure of vaccine components. In 2000, he joined the Office of In Vitro Diagnostic Device Evaluation and Safety as a scientific reviewer, becoming a Team leader for Toxicology in 2003, Director of the Division of Chemistry and Toxicology Devices in 2005 and Deputy Director of the Office of In Vitro Diagnostic Devices in 2007 and Director in 2009.

Amir Dan Rubin

Amir Dan Rubin, President & CEO, Stanford Hospital & Clinics

Amir Dan Rubin, President & CEO, Stanford Hospital & Clinics

Amir Dan Rubin serves as President and CEO of Stanford Hospital & Clinics in Palo Alto. He previously served as COO for the UCLA Hospital System, responsible for the operations of the Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center, Mattel Children's Hospital at UCLA, the Resnick Neuropsychiatric Hospital at UCLA, Santa Monica-UCLA Medical Center and Orthopedic Hospital, among others. Prior to UCLA, Amir served as COO for Stony Brook University Hospital where he was involved in efforts to improve quality, operations, and the patient experience. Prior to Stony Brook, Amir served as ASst. VP of Operations for Memorial Hermann Hospital in Houstons, and before that he was Director of Business Development for the corporate parent of the Memorial Hermann Healthcare System.

Atul Butte

Atul Butte, M.D., Ph.D., Division Chief, Division of Syst. Med., Dept. of Pediatrics, Stanford University & LPCH

Atul Butte, M.D., Ph.D., Division Chief, Division of Syst. Med., Dept. of Pediatrics, Stanford University & LPCH

Atul Butte, MD, PhD is Chief of the Division of Systems Medicine and Associate Professor of Pediatrics, Medicine, and by courtesy, Computer Science, at Stanford University and Lucile Packard Children's Hospital. Dr. Butte trained in Computer Science at Brown University, worked as a software engineer at Apple and Microsoft, received his MD at Brown University, trained in Pediatrics and Pediatric Endocrinology at Children's Hospital Boston, then received his PhD in Health Sciences and Technology from Harvard Medical School and MIT. Dr. Butte has authored more than 100 publications and delivered more than 120 invited presentations in personalized and systems medicine, biomedical informatics, and molecular diabetes, including 20 at the National Institutes of Health or NIH-related meetings.

Catherine Polizzi

Catherine Polizzi, Ph.D., Partner, Morrison & Foerster LLP

Catherine Polizzi, Ph.D., Partner, Morrison & Foerster LLP

Dr. Polizzi is a Partner at Morrison & Foerster, where she helps emerging and established companies through the challenging process of obtaining patents, providing strategic, effective portfolio counseling and management. She develops valuable, strategic portfolios around breakthrough therapies in a variety of areas, including personalized medicine, cancer, autoimmune diseases, inflammatory diseases, infectious diseases, cardiovascular disease, metabolic disorders, and neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer's Disease. Her practice also includes due diligence evaluation and counseling in the context of venture investment assessments, as well as in connection with public and private financing, spin-offs, partnerships, and mergers and acquisitions. Dr. Polizzi is recognized as one of the Top 25 IP managers in California for three years running.

Cliff Reid

Cliff Reid, Ph.D., CEO, Complete Genomics

Cliff Reid, Ph.D., CEO, Complete Genomics

Clifford A. Reid, Ph.D., is co-founder of Complete Genomics and has served as President, Chief Executive Officer and Chairman since July 2005 and as a member of the board of directors since July 2005. From March 2003 to September 2005, Dr. Reid was Vice President of Collaborative Solutions at Open Text Corporation, a software company. In 1995, Dr. Reid co-founded Eloquent, Inc., a digital video communications company, and served as its Chief Executive Officer until 1999 and as its Chairman until 2003, when it was acquired by Open Text. In 1988, Dr. Reid co-founded Verity, Inc., an enterprise text search engine company, and served as its Vice President of Engineering from 1988 to 1992 and as its Executive Vice President from 1992 to 1993. Dr. Reid received a B.S. in Physics from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, an M.B.A. from Harvard University and a Ph.D. in Management Science and Engineering from Stanford University.

Colin Hill

Colin Hill, CEO, President, Chairman & Co-Founder, GNS Healthcare

Colin Hill, CEO, President, Chairman & Co-Founder, GNS Healthcare

Colin Hill has years of expertise in computational physics and systems biology. He serves as CEO and Chairman of GNS Healthcare’s parent company Via Science, chairman of the board of Fina Technologies, on the board of directors of several entities, including AesRx, Center for Applied Mathematics in Bioscience and Medicine, Emergent Behaviors of Integrated Cellular Systems, and the Exceptional Care Without Exception Trust. He has appeared in many publications and television segments including The Wall Street Journal, CNBC, Nature, Forbes, and The Economist. In 2004, Colin was named to MIT Technology Review’s TR100 list of the top innovators in the world under the age of 35. He earned master’s degrees in physics from McGill University and Cornell University.

David A Pearce

David A Pearce, Ph.D., VP Research, Sioux Falls Region, Sanford Health

David A Pearce, Ph.D., VP Research, Sioux Falls Region, Sanford Health

Dr. Pearce is Vice President for Research for Sanford Health and Director of the Sanford Childrens Health and Research Center in Sioux Falls South Dakota. He also directs the leading lab in juvenile Batten disease research. He completed his undergraduate Bachelors of Science Degree with Honors in Biological Sciences at Wolverhampton Polytechnic in 1986. He gained his Ph.D in 1990 at the University of Bath, UK, and did postdoctoral training at the University of Rochester, USA and Oxford University, UK. In his role as Vice President for Research for Sanford Health he oversees the integration of research and clinical trials within the healthcare system. This includes application and development of personalized medicine programs across the footprint of the largest rural healthcare provider in the USA.

David Levison

David Levison, President and CEO, CardioDx, Inc.

David Levison, President and CEO, CardioDx, Inc.

David Levison is the Founder, CEO, and Director of CardioDx. Prior to launching CardioDx, David was a Venture Partner at Texas Pacific Group Ventures and was also the interim Chief Executive Officer of XDx, Inc., a molecular diagnostic company focused on the immune system. Previously, he was the Founder, President and Chief Executive Officer of iScribe, a healthcare technology company acquired by AdvancePCS (now Caremark) in December 2001. Prior to iScribe, David was President of Oncology Therapeutics Network (OTN), which was acquired by Bristol-Myers Squibb in 1996. David also served as Chief Financial Officer of OTN's parent company, Axion, from 1990 to 1993. Prior to Axion, he was with Cole Gilburne Fund, an early-stage, technology-focused venture capital firm. David received his M.B.A. from Stanford University and his B.S. from Williams College.

David de Graaf

David de Graaf, Ph.D., President & CEO, Selventa

David de Graaf, Ph.D., President & CEO, Selventa

Dr. David de Graaf joined Selventa in 2010 to define the company’s scientific strategy, direction and general operations. Additionally, he is responsible for developing key partnerships that will enhance the company’s significance. Previously, Dr. de Graaf served as the Vice President of Biotherapeutics and Integrative Biology at Boehringer-Ingelheim, where he built a successful portfolio of clinical candidates, initiated key collaborations as well as managed scientific leadership and site operations. He also held roles with increasing responsibilities at Pfizer, AstraZeneca and the Whitehead/MIT Center for Genome Research with a focus on bringing innovative systems biology approaches to the early pipeline. Dr. de Graaf completed his postdoctoral fellowship at the Weizmann Institute of Science in Rehovot, Israel in pharmacogenomics of human olfactory systems. He also earned a Ph.D. in mammalian genetics from The University of Illinois at Chicago and a Masters of Science degree in evolutionary genetics from the University of Utrecht in the Netherlands.

Deepak Srivastava

Deepak Srivastava, M.D., Director of the Gladstone Institute of Cardiovascular Disease and Professor at UCSF

Deepak Srivastava, M.D., Director of the Gladstone Institute of Cardiovascular Disease and Professor at UCSF

Dr. Srivastava’s laboratory discovered the genetic basis for cardiac septal and valve defects, revealed complex signaling, transcriptional, and translational networks that regulate progenitor cells to adopt a cardiac cell fate and subsequently fashion a functioning heart. He has leveraged this knowledge to reprogram fibroblasts directly into cardiomyocyte-like cells for regenerative purposes. Dr. Srivastava is a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. Dr. Srivastava received his B.S. from Rice University, M.D. from University of Texas, trained in pediatrics at UCSF, and in pediatric cardiology at Harvard Medical School.

Dietrich A. Stephan

Dietrich A. Stephan, Ph.D., Founder and CEO, Silicon Valley Biosystems (SV Bio)

Dietrich A. Stephan, Ph.D., Founder and CEO, Silicon Valley Biosystems (SV Bio)

Dietrich A. Stephan, PhD is the Founder and CEO of Silicon Valley Biosystems (SV Bio). SV Bio allows turn-key, accurate and comprehensive genetic testing for physicians to improve patient outcomes. SV Bio's platform is comprised of next-generation genome sequencing, precision data analysis, clinical interpretation and an easy-to-use reporting system. SV Bio is funded by Sequoia Capital, the firm that birthed Apple, Oracle, Cisco, Google and leading information companies. Stephan led the Gene Partnership at Harvard Medical School, founded Navigenics, a member of the leadership at the Translational Genomics Research Institute, and is on the Board of the Personalized Medicine Coalition.

Edward Abrahams

Edward Abrahams, Ph.D, President, PMC

Edward Abrahams, Ph.D, President, PMC

Edward Abrahams, Ph.D., is president of the Personalized Medicine Coalition (PMC). Representing scientists, patients, providers and payers, PMC promotes the understanding and adoption of personalized medicine concepts, services and products for the benefit of patients and the health system. It has grown from its original 18 founding members in 2004 to over 200 today. Previously Dr. Abrahams was Executive Director of the Pennsylvania Biotechnology Association, where he spearheaded the successful effort that led to the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania’s investment of $200 million to commercialize biotechnology in the state. Earlier he had been Assistant Vice President for Federal Relations at the University of Pennsylvania and held a senior administrative position at Brown University. Dr. Abrahams worked for seven years for the U.S. Congress, including as a legislative assistant to Senator Lloyd Bentsen, an economist for the Joint Economic Committee under the chairmanship of Representative Lee Hamilton, and as a AAAS Congressional Fellow for the House Committee on the Interior.

Evian Gordon

Evian Gordon, BSc, Ph.D., MBBCh Chairman and CEO Brain Resource

Evian Gordon, BSc, Ph.D., MBBCh Chairman and CEO Brain Resource

Dr. Gordon has over 20 years of experience in human brain research. He was the founding director of the Brain Dynamics Centre at Westmead Hospital, the CEO and Chairman of Brain Resource Company, and a senior lecturer in the Department of Psychological Medicine at the University of Sydney. He edited the first book on Integrative Neuroscience and has more than 250 peer-reviewed scientific publications. In 2003 he was the recipient of the inaugural Royal Societies Eureka Prize for Interdisciplinary Scientific Research.

Gil Omenn

Gil Omenn, M.D., Ph.D., Director, University of Michigan Center for Computational Medicine & Bioinformatics

Gil Omenn, M.D., Ph.D., Director, University of Michigan Center for Computational Medicine & Bioinformatics

Dr. Omenn's research focuses on cancer proteomics and informatics. He leads the Proteomics Alliance for Cancer Research, the HUPO Plasma Proteome Project, the Driving Biological Problems Core of the National Center for Integrative Biomedical Informatics, and the Center for Computational Medicine and Bioinformatics. There are datasets for application of analytical tools, and there are research teams eager to engage in collaborative studies in each of these initiatives. He has long-standing interests in mechanisms of genetic predispositions to risks from environmental and occupational exposures, pharmacogenetics and pharmacogenomics, and science-based risk analyses. Gilbert Omenn is Professor of Internal Medicine, Human Genetics, and Public Health at the University of Michigan. He served as Executive Vice President for Medical Affairs and as Chief Executive Officer of the University of Michigan Health System from 1997-2002. He is PI of the Michigan Life Sciences Corridor Proteomics Alliance for Cancer research program and leader of the international Human Proteome Organization (HUPO)

Hasso Plattner

Hasso Plattner, Prof. Dr. h.c. mult. Co-founder, SAP

Hasso Plattner, Prof. Dr. h.c. mult. Co-founder, SAP

Prof. Dr. h.c. Hasso Plattner is one of the founders of SAP and has been Chairman of the Supervisory Board since May 2003. In this role and as Chief Software Advisor, he concentrates on defining the medium and long-term technology strategy of SAP. He also heads the Technology Committee of the SAP Supervisory Board. With his guidance and expertise, in-memory technology is being applied to enterprise software solutions, which has resulted in a paradigm shift enabling real-time analytics in enterprises. The same technology is currently being applied to analytical processing of large-scale clinical data, with promising results in the field of personalized medicine. In 1998, Hasso Plattner founded the Hasso Plattner Institute (HPI) for IT Systems Engineering at the University of Potsdam with the largest single private contribution to a university ever made in Germany. Despite being a young institute, HPI is already one of the leading computer science institutes in German-speaking Europe. In 2005, Hasso Plattner donated $35 million to fund the Hasso Plattner Institute of Design at Stanford, and also brings his expertise to the d.school as a Professor. Hasso received his Master's Degree in Communications Engineering from the University of Karlsruhe. In 1990, the University of Saarbruecken awarded him an honorary doctorate and, in 1994, he was granted an honorary full professorship. In 1997, Hasso received the Information Technology Leadership Award for Global Integration as part of the Computerworld Smithsonian Awards Program. In 1998, he was inducted into the German Hall of Fame. More recently, Hasso Plattner received the 2010 AmCham Transatlantic Partnership Award and the 2012 Global Benefactor Award by the Churchill Club Academy.

Ira Klein

Ira Klein, MD, MBA, Medical Director, Aetna

Ira Klein, MD, MBA, Medical Director, Aetna

Ira M. Klein, MD, MBA, FACP, Chief of Staff, Office of the Chief Medical Officer, National Accounts Clinical Sales & Strategy, Aetna, Inc. Dr. Klein has been with Aetna since April of 2006, and, as of September 2011, is Chief of Staff to the Chief Medical Officer, responsible for communicating and deploying the strategic efforts of the CMO in multiple areas, including leveraging of business acquisitions, and clinician and clinical program development. Before that, he operated for two years in the National Accounts Sales and Support group at the corporate level, involved in the development of new benefits designs, financial and clinical analytics for National Accounts, and the evolution of oncology strategies.

James R. Heath

James R. Heath, Ph.D., Gilloon Professor & Professor of Chemistry, CalTech

James R. Heath, Ph.D., Gilloon Professor & Professor of Chemistry, CalTech

Dr. Jim Heath is Gilloon Professor and Professor of Chemistry at the California Institute of Technology. He received a B.Sc. degree in chemistry from Baylor University in 1984, and a Ph.D. degree in chemistry from Rice University in 1988, where he studied in the group of Richard E. Smalley. Dr. Heath was a Miller Postdoctoral Fellow at UC Berkeley from 1988 to 1991, and a research staff member at the IBM T.J. Watson Research Labs in Yorktown Heights, New York from 1991 to 1994. In 1994 he left IBM to join the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry at UCLA. He was the founding director of the California NanoSystems Institute (CNSI), prior to moving to Caltech in 2003. Dr. Heath is a Fellow of the American Physical Society, and his awards include Jules Springer Award in Applied Physics (2000); the Feynman Prize (2000); the Sackler Prize in the Physical Sciences (2001), and the Spiers Medal from the Royal Society (2005). Dr. Heath directs the National Cancer Institute-funded NanoSystems Biology Cancer Center, and has been a founder of a number of startup companies, including MTI (acquired by Siemens in 2005), NanoSys, Inc., and Momentum Biosciences, which is a biotech incubator currently operating in Los Angeles.

Jeanne De Sa

Jeanne De Sa, Senior VP, UnitedHealth Center for Health Reform & Modernization, UnitedHealth Group

Jeanne De Sa, Senior VP, UnitedHealth Center for Health Reform & Modernization, UnitedHealth Group

Jeanne is a Senior Vice President for Policy and Strategy at UnitedHealth Group’s Center for Health Reform and Modernization. She serves as an advisor on health policy issues, including Medicaid and Medicare, and conducts analytic and quantitative research on a range of topics related to modernizing the financing and delivery of health care. From 1997 to 2008, Jeanne served as a Principal Analyst at the Congressional Budget Office’s in the Budget Analysis Division’s health care section. She served as one of the agency’s primary Medicaid analysts, developed ten-year spending forecasts for health care entitlement programs, and estimated the financial and impacts of policy interventions in Medicare, Medicaid and public health programs. She also has experience working with state governments on improving their health care systems through work at the Alpha Center (now part of AcademyHealth) and for the state of Massachusetts. Jeanne has a master in Public Policy from the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University and a degree in History from Dartmouth College.

Jeffrey D. Marrazzo

Jeffrey D. Marrazzo, Chief Business Officer, MolecularHealth

Jeffrey D. Marrazzo, Chief Business Officer, MolecularHealth

Mr. Marrazzo serves as chief business officer for MolecularHealth, a treatment decision support company that provides solutions for oncologists seeking to translate complex clinical and molecular data into safer, more effective drug options for their cancer patients. Mr. Marrazzo guides the company’s business strategy and commercial operations and recently formed its collaboration with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. Prior to MolecularHealth, Mr. Marrazzo was a part of the founding team at Generation Health, the first company in a new field of genetic benefit management – helping healthcare payers optimize the use of genetic testing – up to and following the acquisition of a majority of the company’s shares by CVS Caremark. There, he is credited with having built the company’s initial customer base of self-insured employer clients and the first-ever network of genetic testing labs. Previously, Mr. Marrazzo was a senior member of the business development and finance teams at Tengion (TNGN), a clinical-stage regenerative medicine company that went public in April 2010. Mr. Marrazzo has also worked as a healthcare advisor to Pennsylvania Governor Edward G. Rendell and at IBM Business Consulting Services as a management consultant to global pharmaceutical companies. During his career, Mr. Marrazzo has advised physician executives at The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia and investment firms such as Safeguard Scientifics (SFE). He is currently a Director of Vigilant Biosciences. Mr. Marrazzo graduated from the University of Pennsylvania with bachelor’s degrees in Engineering and Economics and holds a dual master’s degree in Business and Public Administration from Wharton and Harvard, a cross-institutional program which he founded.

Joe W. Gray

Joe W. Gray, Ph.D., Director, Spatial Systems Biomedicine Center & Chair of Biomedical Engineering, OHSU

Joe W. Gray, Ph.D., Director, Spatial Systems Biomedicine Center & Chair of Biomedical Engineering, OHSU

Dr. Joe Gray, an internationally renowned cancer and genomic researcher of the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, became the new Gordon Moore Endowed Chair of the Department of Biomedical Engineering in 2011. He also serves as Director of OHSU’s Center for Spatial Systems Biomedicine. Dr. Gray is known for his contributions in developing tests such as fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) and comparative genomic hybridization (CGH), now transforming how treatments are selected for breast cancer patients. Because of his work on the FISH test and other accomplishments, the Stand Up To Cancer initiative selected him to co-lead the organization’s “Breast Cancer Dream Team,” which has been challenged to tackle some of the most ambitious cancer research conducted to date. His awards and honors include being elected to the Institute of Medicine of the National Academies the E.O. Lawrence Award from the U.S. Department of Energy, the Curt Stern Award from the American Society for Human Genetics, a Team Science Award from the American Association for Cancer Research.

John Mattison

John Mattison, M.D., CMIO & Assistant Medical Director, Kaiser-Permanente, SCAL

John Mattison, M.D., CMIO & Assistant Medical Director, Kaiser-Permanente, SCAL

Mattison, in his own words, is an "accidental informaticist" who was very happy being a fourth-generation California doctor. But after implementing an electronic record at his family practice, he was drafted into the effort to create an enterprise electronic medical record at Kaiser Permanente. Mattison and Kaiser took teamwork to new levels by involving more than 2,000 people in the design of HealthConnect. Mattison´s mission now is to create the next generation of clinical documentation architecture that provides the contextual granularity needed for health care communications. John recently joined the Advisory Board of the Open mHealth initiative.

Jonathan Sheldon

Jonathan Sheldon, Ph.D., Global Senior Director, Translational Medicine, Oracle Health Sciences

Jonathan Sheldon, Ph.D., Global Senior Director, Translational Medicine, Oracle Health Sciences

Jonathan Sheldon, Ph.D., is Global Senior Director of Translational Medicine at Oracle. Previously, Dr. Sheldon was Chief Scientific Officer at InforSense, (acquired by IDBS) where he was responsible for the company's strategic direction in the life science and healthcare markets, as well as managing the technical services group responsible for customer implementations. Prior to InforSense, he was Chief Technology Officer for Confirmant Ltd, where he was responsible for developing the company's proteomics products and services. He also established the first bioinformatics group and was Head of Bioinformatics for five years at Roche Welwyn, UK. Dr. Sheldon holds a Ph.D. in Molecular Biology/Biochemistry from the University of Cambridge.

Kim Popovits

Kim Popovits, Chairman, CEO & President, Genomic Health

Kim Popovits, Chairman, CEO & President, Genomic Health

Kim Popovits has served as president and CEO of Genomic Health since 2009 and as president and chief operating officer since 2002. Prior to joining Genomic Health, Popovits served in various roles, most recently as senior vice president of marketing and sales, at Genentech, Inc. During her 15 years at Genentech, she led the successful commercialization of 14 new therapies, including Herceptin. Before joining Genentech, Popovits served as division manager for American Critical Care. In 2008, Popovits was named Woman of the Year by the Women Health Care Executives, and she has been named one of the Most Influential Women in the Bay Area by The San Francisco Business Times from 2006 to 2011. She holds a bachelor of arts in business from Michigan State University.

Laura Esserman

Laura Esserman, M.D., Director, Carol Franc Buck Breast Care Center, Professor of Surgery and Radiology, UCSF

Laura Esserman, M.D., Director, Carol Franc Buck Breast Care Center, Professor of Surgery and Radiology, UCSF

Dr. Laura Esserman, M.D., M.B.A is a surgeon and breast cancer oncology specialist practicing at the UCSF Carol Franc Buck Breast Care Center where she has also held the position of Director since 1996. She co-leads the Breast Oncology Program, the largest of the UCSF Helen Diller Comprehensive Cancer Center's multidisciplinary programs. The program is comprised of 69 faculty members who represent 16 academic specialties and is internationally recognized and well-established with major initiatives in epidemiology, genetics, biology, therapeutics, and clinical cancer care. She is a professor of Surgery & Radiology at UCSF and Associate Director of the UCSF Helen Diller Family Comprehensive Cancer Center where she has founded and led the program in Translational Informatics. As part of this program, her research has focused on bioinformatics, medical and clinical informatics, systems integration, and clinical care delivery. Dr. Esserman received her Bachelor's degree in History of Science from Harvard University and completed her M.D. at Stanford University. She completed her surgery residency and oncology fellowship at Stanford University Medical Center. After her training, she joined the faculty at Stanford and received a Hartford fellowship to attend Stanford Business School where she received her M.B.A. in 1993. She then joined the faculty at the University of California, San Francisco. She has worked at UCSF to develop interdisciplinary teams of clinicians and researchers to bring the best care to patients and find the best platform to integrate translational research and improve the delivery of breast cancer care.

Lawrence Corey

Lawrence Corey, M.D., President & Director, Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center

Lawrence Corey, M.D., President & Director, Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center

Dr. Lawrence Corey is president and director of Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center. He also is principal investigator of the Hutchinson Center-based HIV Vaccine Trials Network, an international collaboration of scientists and institutions that combines clinical trials and laboratory-based studies to accelerate the development of HIV vaccines. At UW, Corey is a professor of laboratory medicine and medicine, adjunct professor of pediatrics and microbiology, and holder of the Lawrence Corey Endowed Chair in Medical Virology. He is also an infectious disease physician at Seattle Cancer Care Alliance.

Leroy Hood

Leroy Hood, M.D., Ph.D., President, Institute for Systems Biology

Leroy Hood, M.D., Ph.D., President, Institute for Systems Biology

Dr. Hood’s research has focused on fundamental biology (immunity, evolution, genomics) and on bringing engineering to biology through the development of five instruments; the DNA and protein sequencers and synthesizers and the ink-jet oligonucleotide synthesizer (making DNA arrays) for deciphering the various types of biological information (DNA, RNA, proteins and systems). These instruments constitute the technological foundation for modern molecular biology and genomics. He has applied these technologies to diverse fields including immunology, neurobiology, cancer biology, molecular evolution and systems medicine. Dr. Hood is a member of the National Academy of Sciences, the American Philosophical Society, the American Association of Arts and Sciences, the Institute of Medicine and the National Academy of Engineering. Dr. Hood is one of only 7 (of more than 6000 members) scientists elected to all three academies (NAS, NAE and IOM). Dr. Hood has also played a role in founding more than 14 biotechnology companies, including Amgen, Applied Biosystems, Systemix, Darwin and Rosetta. He is currently pioneering systems medicine and the systems approach to disease and has recently cofounded the company Integrated Diagnostics—that hopefully will become a platform company for P4 medicine.

Lou Hochheiser

Lou Hochheiser, M.D., CEO, St. John's Medical Center (formerly with Humana)

Lou Hochheiser, M.D., CEO, St. John's Medical Center (formerly with Humana)

Louis I. Hochheiser, MD is the Chief Executive Officer of St. John's Medical Center. Dr. Hochheiser, a Teton County, WY resident, is a family physician with extensive healthcare leadership experience. As the former Chief Medical Leader for a Fortune 100 healthcare insurance and services company, Dr. Hochheiser oversaw the work of a large team of physicians and clinical policy staff located throughout the country. Prior to that, Dr. Hochheiser was chair of the Departments of Family Medicine at Brown University and at the University of Vermont. He has also provided advice and expert counsel nationally to organizations across the health care spectrum,including hospitals and agencies focused on mental health, wellness and prevention.

Mara Aspinall

Mara Aspinall, CEO, Ventana Medical Systems

Mara Aspinall, CEO, Ventana Medical Systems

Mara joined Ventana Medical Systems as President and CEO in September 2011. Ventana, a member of the Roche Group, is the worldwide leader in the development, manufacturing and commercialization of tissue-based cancer diagnostic equipment and products that enable the delivery of personalized healthcare to cancer patients. Previously, Mara spent twelve years with Genzyme Corporation where she held leadership roles including President of Genzyme Genetics and President of Genzyme Pharmaceuticals. Mara is also the Founder and former CEO of On-Q-ity, a venture backed company focused on transforming cancer patient management through the capture of circulating tumor cells (CTCs) in a patient’s blood. An active participant in the healthcare community, Mara has spearheaded many initiatives to educate policymakers about diagnostics, genomics, and personalized medicine. Most recently she founded DxInsights, a non-profit dedicated to non-partisan education on the importance of diagnostics in improving patient care. She is also a founder of the European Personalized Medicine Association (EPEMED) and a former Director of the US Personalized Medicine Coalition (PMC). Mara spent 15 years on the Board of Dana Farber Cancer Institute, chairing the Science Committee and three years as Board member of Blue Cross Blue Shield Massachusetts. She was a member of the Secretary of Health and Human Services' Advisory Council on Genetics in the Obama and Bush Administrations. Mara has written several articles, case studies and editorials on healthcare topics. In 2010 she was named one of the '100 Most Inspiring People in Life Sciences' by PharmaVOICE magazine. Mara started her business career at Bain & Company, an international strategic consulting firm. Mara holds an MBA from Harvard Business School and a BA in International Relations from Tufts University.

Michael Shuster

Michael Shuster, Ph.D., Partner, Fenwick & West

Michael Shuster, Ph.D., Partner, Fenwick & West

Dr. Shuster is a partner in Fenwick & West's Intellectual Property Practice and is co-chair of the firm's Life Sciences Group. Dr. Shuster has legal and technical experience representing companies in biotechnology and high technology areas that include protein and nucleic acid chemistry, clean tech, high resolution protein structures, proteomics, genomics, combinatorial peptide libraries, vaccine development for viral and autoimmune disorders, transdermal drug delivery systems, liposomal drug formulations as well as microfluidics devices.

Michael Snyder

Michael Snyder, Ph.D., Professor & Chair, Stanford Center of Genomics & Personalized Medicine

Michael Snyder, Ph.D., Professor & Chair, Stanford Center of Genomics & Personalized Medicine

Michael Snyder is the Stanford Ascherman Professor and Chair of Genetics and the Director of the Center of Genomics and Personalized Medicine. Dr. Snyder received his Ph.D. training at the California Institute of Technology and carried out postdoctoral training at Stanford University. He is a leader in the field of functional genomics and proteomics. His laboratory study was the first to perform a large-scale functional genomics project in any organism, and currently carries out a variety of projects in the areas of genomics and proteomics both in yeast and humans. These include the large-scale analysis of proteins using protein microarrays and the global mapping of the binding sites of chromosomal proteins. His laboratory built the first proteome chip for any organism and the first high resolution tiling array for the entire human genome.

Neil de Crescenzo

Neil de Crescenzo, Senior Vice President and General Manager, Oracle Health Sciences

Neil de Crescenzo, Senior Vice President and General Manager, Oracle Health Sciences

Neil de Crescenzo is responsible for managing Oracle's industry solutions sold into the healthcare and life sciences markets worldwide. Prior to joining Oracle, Mr. de Crescenzo held a number of leadership positions at IBM, working with healthcare and life sciences clients worldwide. Prior to entering the IT industry, he held leadership positions in healthcare operations at multiple medical centers and a major health insurer. Mr. de Crescenzo began his career in investment banking, working with U.S. and European clients in corporate finance and mergers and acquisitions. In 2005, he was named one of the 'Top 25 Most Influential Consultants' by Consulting Magazine. Mr. de Crescenzo has a BA in political science from Yale University and an MBA in high technology from Northeastern University.

Paul Billings

Paul Billings, M.D., Chief Medical Officer, LIFE Technologies

Paul Billings, M.D., Chief Medical Officer, LIFE Technologies

Dr. Paul R. Billings is the first Chief Medical Officer of LIFE Technologies, a world leader in providing nucleic acid and other analytic tools for biomedical research and the delivery of personalized medicine. Prior to joining LIFE, Dr. Billings was the founding and acting Director and Chief Scientific Officer of the Genomic Medicine Institute at El Camino Hospital in Mountain View, CA. From 2007-2009, Dr. Billings served as President, Chief Executive Officer and Director of CELLective Dx Corporation, a company sought to revolutionize cancer care through the provision of microfluidic products and services focused on circulating tumor cells. For five years until 2007, he was Senior Vice President and Senior Geneticist at Laboratory Corporation of America Holdings Inc (LH).Prior to joining LH, Dr. Billings was Deputy Chief of Staff and Chief of General Internal Medicine at the Palo Alto VA Healthcare System and Stanford Medical School, and then CMO and Deputy Network Director of VISN 17 in the Department of Veterans Affairs. Dr. Billings graduated with an AB in History summa cum laude from UC San Diego, received both his MD and PhD degrees from Harvard University.

Paul J. Utz

Paul J. Utz, M.D., Associate Professor of Medicine Immunology & Rheumatology Stanford University

Paul J. Utz, M.D., Associate Professor of Medicine Immunology & Rheumatology Stanford University

P.J. has expertise in the study of human and murine autoantibodies and autoantigens, apoptosis signaling pathways, animal models of autoimmunity, proteomics and microfluidics. Members of his laboratory are developing several cutting-edge proteomics technologies for immunological applications, including multiplex planar-based autoantigen microarrays and microfluidic CE assays. P.J. is actively involved with many educational programs within the University. He is director of the CCIS Summer High School Research Program, and he provides formal lectures to undergraduate, graduate, and medical students in the School of Medicine and the School of Engineering. He also teaches medical students, residents and fellows in the clinics and on the in-patient wards. Professor Utz is a member of the Scientific Advisory Boards of several Bay Area biotechnology companies. He is also actively involved in consulting with biotechnology companies.

Ralph Snyderman

Ralph Snyderman, M.D., Chancellor Emeritus, Duke University

Ralph Snyderman, M.D., Chancellor Emeritus, Duke University

Ralph Snyderman, MD is Chancellor Emeritus, Duke University and James B. Duke Professor of Medicine in the Duke University School of Medicine. He served as Chancellor for Health Affairs and Dean of the School of Medicine at Duke University from 1989 to July 2004 and led the transition of this excellent medical center into an internationally recognized leader of academic medicine. He oversaw the development of the Duke University Health System, one of the most successful integrated academic health systems in the country, and served as its first President and Chief Executive Officer. Dr. Snyderman has played a leading role in the conception and development of Personalized Health Care, an evolving model of national health care delivery. He was amongst the first to envision and articulate the need to move the current focus of health care from the treatment of disease-events to personalized, predictive, preventive, and participatory care that is focused on the patient. Dr. Snyderman is the recipient of numerous awards recognizing his contributions to research and to developing more rationale models of health care. In 2012, he received the David E. Rogers Award from the Association of American Medical Colleges who referred to Snyderman as “the father of personalized medicine.”

Randy Scott

Randy Scott, Ph.D., Chairman and CEO, InVitae Corporation

Randy Scott, Ph.D., Chairman and CEO, InVitae Corporation

Randy Scott, Ph.D. has served as Executive Chairman since January 2009. Prior to serving as Chairman, Randy served as Chairman and Chief Executive Officer from August 2000 through January 2009. Randy was a founder of Incyte Corporation, a genomic information company, and served Incyte in various roles, including Chairman of the Board from August 2000 to December 2001, President from January 1997 to August 2000 and Chief Scientific Officer from March 1995 to August 2000. Randy holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Chemistry from Emporia State University and a Ph.D. in Biochemistry from the University of Kansas.

Rina Wolf

Rina Wolf, VP Commercialization Strategies, XIFIN, Inc.

Rina Wolf, VP Commercialization Strategies, XIFIN, Inc.

Rina Wolf, Vice President of Commercialization Strategies, Consulting & Industry Affairs, XIFIN, Inc. Ms. Wolf is a nationally recognized expert in the field of laboratory commercialization and reimbursement, with over 20 years of experience in the diagnostic laboratory industry, specializing in Molecular Diagnostic Laboratories. She lectures extensively on these topics and has consulted for major laboratories and laboratory associations throughout the U.S.. She is a former President and board member of the California Clinical Laboratory Association and is an active participant with the ACLA (American Clinical Laboratory Association) and the Personalized Medicine Coalition. Most recently Ms. Wolf held the position of Vice President of Reimbursement and Regulatory Affairs at Axial Biotech, Inc. where she was responsible for creating and implementing their successful reimbursement strategies. Prior to joining Axial Biotech, Inc. Ms Wolf held executive positions in the area of commercialization and reimbursement at RedPath Integrated Pathology, Inc., Genomic Health, Inc., and Esoterix (now LabCorp). Ms. Wolf has a Bachelor of Arts degree from UCLA and a Masters of HealthCare Administration.

Risa Stack

Risa Stack, Ph.D., General Manager, GE’s Emerging Health Innovations

Risa Stack, Ph.D., General Manager, GE’s Emerging Health Innovations

Dr. Risa Stack is a partner at Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers. Since joining the firm in 2003, she has worked to build and support KPCB’s personalized medicine portfolio. Risa has been the founding CEO and a board member of several personalized medicine companies, including CardioDx and Nodality. Risa is a board observer at Tethys, Veracyte and Xdx. In addition to her work directly with portfolio companies, Risa is involved in developing public policy in molecular diagnostics and personalized medicine. Risa is also involved in the development of therapeutics companies, including Corthera and Trius. She was most recently a board member of Corthera (sold to Novartis in 2009), and she is a board observer at Epizyme and Pacific Biosciences. Risa received her B.S. degree in genetics and development with distinction from the University of Illinois and her Ph.D. in immunology from the University of Chicago. She was also a member of the second class of Kauffman Fellows. Risa also serves as a member of the advisory board of the National Summit on Personalized Healthcare and GE’s Healthymagination effort.

Robert Jesse

Robert Jesse, M.D., Ph.D., Principal Deputy Under Secretary for Health, Department of Veterans Affairs

Robert Jesse, M.D., Ph.D., Principal Deputy Under Secretary for Health, Department of Veterans Affairs

Robert L. Jesse, M.D., Ph.D., was appointed Principal Deputy Under Secretary for Health in the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) in 2010.In this position, Dr. Jesse leads clinical policies and programs for the Veterans Health Administration (VHA), the Nation’s largest integrated health care system. In addition to its medical care mission, VHA is the Nation's largest provider of graduate medical education and a major contributor to medical and scientific research. Previously, Dr. Jesse was the Chief Consultant for Medical Surgical Services in the VA’s Office of Patient Care Services, also serving as the National Program Director for Cardiology. Dr. Jesse received his Bachelor of Science degree in Biochemistry from the University of New Hampshire in 1974 and later worked as a research associate at the Harvard School of Public Health. In 1980, he earned his Ph.D. in Biophysics at the Medical College of Virginia, followed by his M.D. in 1984, completing both his Residency and Cardiology fellowship there. Dr. Jesse began his career as the Director of the Acute Cardiac Care Program at Virginia Commonwealth University’s Health System. Prior to assuming national leadership positions in VHA, Dr. Jesse was the Chief of the Cardiology Section at the Richmond VA Medical Center in Virginia.

Rowan Chapman

Rowan Chapman, Ph.D., Head of Precision Diagnostics at GE Healthcare

Rowan Chapman, Ph.D., Head of Precision Diagnostics at GE Healthcare

Rowan Chapman recently joined GEHC Medical Diagnostics as Head of Precision Diagnostics. She is responsible for developing a Precision Diagnostics strategy, working with internal and external partners to integrate lab services, products, software and content. Previously Rowan was the first dedicated member of the life science investment team at Mohr Davidow. As a partner at the firm, she had a leading role in developing the life science investment strategy and practice area. In that capacity, she invested in and held board roles across a spectrum of healthcare and life science companies including molecular diagnostics companies in oncology, women’s health and cardiology. Prior to joining Mohr Davidow, Rowan was an early employee at Rosetta Inpharmatics (an early life science analytics company acquired by Merck) where she held the position of Director of Business Development. Previously, she was marketing manager at Incyte Genomics. Rowan holds a Ph.D. from Cambridge University, UK and was a postdoctoral fellow at the University of California, San Francisco.

Sheila D. Walcoff

Sheila D. Walcoff, J.D., Founding Principal, Goldbug Strategies LLC

Sheila D. Walcoff, J.D., Founding Principal, Goldbug Strategies LLC

Sheila D. Walcoff, J.D., is a health and science attorney and the founding principal of Goldbug Strategies LLC, a boutique consulting and law practice offering business strategy, federal legislative and regulatory advocacy, and legal counsel related to personalized medicine and FDA regulated medical products. Previously, she was a partner in the international law firm of McDermott Will & Emery LLP. Her senior executive government service includes counselor for science and public health policy to US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Michael O. Leavitt and associate commissioner for external affairs at the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). She was the health policy team leader/senior health policy advisor to a 2008 presidential campaign; worked on Capitol Hill as the majority counsel to the U.S. House of Representatives Armed Services Committee; held legal and policy positions at two trade associations; and practiced health law and government strategies for another large international law firm. She graduated from Georgetown University Law Center in Washington DC in 1993 and is licensed to practice law in Washington DC and Maryland. She and her husband, Dr. Jeff Walcoff, have 2 young sons and two Labrador retrievers.

Stefan Roever

Stefan Roever, Co-founder & CEO, Genia Technologies

Stefan Roever, Co-founder & CEO, Genia Technologies

Stefan Roever has a broad entrepreneurial, software, and finance background. He was Co-Founder and CEO of Brokat Technologies, an encryption banking software company. Brokat reached a several billion dollar market cap and went public in 1998 on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange and on NASDAQ in 2000. Mr. Roever was honored with the Ernst and Young Entrepreneur of the Year Award in Germany. He is an active private equity investor and currently serves as Chairman of WRS Materials, a roll-up of wafer reclaim companies. Mr. Roever also is a two time award holder of Technology Pioneer by the World Economic Forum. He earned degrees in both economics and law from the University of Tuebingen.

Stephen M. Stahl

Stephen M. Stahl, M.D., Ph.D., Adjunct Professor of Psychiatry, UCSD

Stephen M. Stahl, M.D., Ph.D., Adjunct Professor of Psychiatry, UCSD

Dr. Stahl is Adjunct Professor of Psychiatry at the University of California, San Diego and Honorary Visiting Senior Fellow, University of Cambridge, U.K. He has held faculty positions at Stanford University, the University of California, Los Angeles, the Institute of Psychiatry London and the Institute of Neurology London. Dr. Stahl was also Executive Director of Clinical Neurosciences at the Merck Neuroscience Research Center in the U.K. for several years. His major interests are dedicated to producing and disseminating educational information about diseases and their treatment in psychiatry and neurology with a special emphasis on multimedia, the Internet and teaching how to teach. Dr. Stahl received his undergraduate and medical degrees from Northwestern University in Chicago and his PhD in pharmacology and physiology from the University of Chicago. He has trained in three specialties: Internal Medicine at the University of Chicago, Neurology at the University of California, San Francisco and Psychiatry at Stanford. He is board certified in psychiatry.

Steven C Quay

Steven C Quay, M.D., Ph.D., FCAP, Founder, Atossa Genetics, Inc.

Steven C Quay, M.D., Ph.D., FCAP, Founder, Atossa Genetics, Inc.

Dr. Quay has served as Chief Executive Officer and Chairman of the Board of Directors of Atossa Genetics, Inc. since 2009. Dr. Quay is certified in Anatomic Pathology with the American Board of Pathology and is a former faculty member of the Department of Pathology, Stanford University School of Medicine. Dr. Quay has 76 U.S. patents, 98 pending patent applications, has authored over 180 papers in oncology and biochemistry, and is a named inventor on patents covering five FDA-approved pharmaceutical products. Dr. Quay is a member of the American Society of Investigative Pathology, the Association of Molecular Pathology, the Society for Laboratory Automation and Screening and the Association of Pathology Informatics, and the American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology.

Susan Garfield

Susan Garfield, DrPH, VP, GfK Bridgehead - a division of GfK Healthcare

Susan Garfield, DrPH, VP, GfK Bridgehead - a division of GfK Healthcare

Susan Garfield, DrPH is market access, reimbursement and economics strategist, with an expertise in demand creation and health economics. For fifteen years, her professional career has focused on innovations in healthcare, the economics of practice change, and the role of reimbursement and policy to the adoption of new technologies. Currently, she is Vice President GfK Bridgehead a division of GfK Healthcare. Gfk Bridgehead is a market leading health care consultancy focusing on the market access needs of biotech, medical device, diagnostic, specialty, and pharmaceutical clients. Prior to joining GfK Bridgehead, Dr. Garfield was the Director, Global Reimbursement, Policy and Economic Strategy at QIAGEN Corporation (formally Digene Corporation) and Director at Boston Healthcare Associates. Dr. Garfield received her Bachelors of Arts from the University of Pennsylvania, a Master’s of Science from the London School of Economics, a Master’s of Science from Harvard University, School of Public Health, and her Doctorate of Public Health from Boston University.

Walter Koch

Walter Koch, Ph.D., Vice President & Head of Global Research, Roche Molecular Systems, Inc.

Walter Koch, Ph.D., Vice President & Head of Global Research, Roche Molecular Systems, Inc.

Dr. Koch has been in his current role of VP and Head of Global Research for Roche Molecular Systems since 2005. As a member of the Executive Leadership Team, he sits on the Life Cycle and Business Development committees, and chairs the Research Portfolio Committee. He is responsible for all RMD research and early development activities, including research efforts associated with biomarker discovery and validation, the development of new platform technologies, and fundamental improvements in the performance of existing products and technologies. He joined RMS in 1998 as a Research Leader and helped lead the launch of the AmpliChip CYP450 assay.

Yael Mosse

Yael Mosse, M.D., Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania

Yael Mosse, M.D., Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania

Yael P Mosse, MD, Assistant Professor in the Department of Pediatrics at the University of Pennsylvania Perelman School of Medicine, and the Children’s Hospital Philadelphia, has served as an integral member of the neuroblastoma disease committee since 2005 and the Vice Chair of Research for the Phase 1/Pilot Consortium since August 2011. Dr. Mosse has an NIH-funded lab to develop rational therapeutic strategies aimed at inhibiting the ALK oncogene in neuroblastoma. She ahs become a key member of a growing team of investigators attempting to streamline the progress of translational genomics, including new drug development. She is currently principal investigator for 2 phase 1 trials, and 1 phase 2 trial of compounds fast-tracked to the clinic because of compelling pre-clinical data performed in her laboratory. In addition, she is a member of the Scientific Review Committee for the New Approaches to Neuroblastoma Therapy (NANT) Phase 1 consortium as well as Institutional PI of this consortium.

Track 2 Speakers

Amy J. Sehnert

Amy J. Sehnert, M.D., Vice President of Clinical Affairs, Verinata Health

Amy J. Sehnert, M.D., Vice President of Clinical Affairs, Verinata Health

Dr Sehnert is Vice President of Clinical Affairs at Verinata Health, a provider of non-invasive prenatal testing services. In this role, Dr. Sehnert leads clinical development programs validating the efficacy and utility of massively parallel sequencing of maternal plasma DNA to detect fetal aneuploidy in pregnant women. She also manages genetic counseling services. Prior to joining Verinata in 2010, Dr Sehnert was Director of Clinical Research at CardioDx, Inc. from 2005 where she conducted clinical studies leading to validation and release of a blood gene expression test used to evaluate patients with stable chest pain. She has authored multiple peer-reviewed papers and spoken widely on the topic of molecular diagnostic test development. Dr. Sehnert received her B.S. with distinction in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Minnesota, M.D. from University of Minnesota, completed pediatrics residency at University of Colorado, and fellowship in pediatric cardiology at UCSF. She has previously held faculty appointments at both UCSF and Stanford University.

Anil Sethi

Anil Sethi, interim-CTO at Cancer Commons, CEO at Pinch Bio

Anil Sethi, interim-CTO at Cancer Commons, CEO at Pinch Bio

A serial entrepreneur, Sethi founded multiple startups in Healthcare Informatics (EHRs) , with successful exits (sale to WebMD, IPO, sale to Citrix). Currently interim-CTO at Cancer Commons, CEO at Pinch Bio (Rx obesity therapeutics), plus incubating a stealth-mode Palo Alto startup: the 99sec integration, to solve interoperability and data exchange.

Ann Kapoun

Ann Kapoun, Ph.D., Vice President of Translational Medicine, OncoMed Pharmaceuticals

Ann Kapoun, Ph.D., Vice President of Translational Medicine, OncoMed Pharmaceuticals

Ann Kapoun is Vice President of Translational Medicine at OncoMed Pharmaceuticals. Her expertise is in the clinical execution and implementation of biomarkers and patient stratification approaches. Dr. Kapoun served as Associate Director of Biomarker R&D in Clinical Pharmacology & Experimental Medicine at ALZA / Johnson & Johnson. Prior to that she was the Department Head of Biomarker R&D at Scios Inc., where she was responsible for their Biomarker and Pharmacogenomics programs in support of clinical trials. Dr. Kapoun received her Ph.D. from Indiana University, Bloomington, IN, and she has co-authored more than 30 scientific publications and patents.

Badri Rengarajan

Badri Rengarajan, M.D., Medical Director, Archimedes

Badri Rengarajan, M.D., Medical Director, Archimedes

Badri Rengarajan, MD is a medical director at Archimedes. His primary responsibilities include leading consulting engagements, providing clinical input to Model development efforts, and building relationships with clinical research leaders. Badri has over ten years of healthcare industry experience, including roles in product development strategy and new product planning, regulatory affairs, market research, and business development. Badri was previously a director of business development and market research at Nodality (personalized/predictive medicine), regulatory team leader at Genentech, and an engagement manager at McKinsey. Badri earned an AB in biology and public policy from Harvard University and an MD from Yale University.

Brett Davis

Brett Davis, Senior Director, Oracle Health Sciences

Brett Davis, Senior Director, Oracle Health Sciences

Brett Davis is a Senior Director in Oracle's Health Sciences Global Business Unit, shaping and driving Oracle's personalized healthcare strategy and solutions. He works closely with leaders in healthcare and life sciences to help them leverage innovative information technologies and applications to innovate and grow. In addition to his role at Oracle, he is on the Board of Directors of the Personalized Medicine Coalition, and served on the US Department of Health and Human Services HRSA’s Genetic Services Policy Project Advisory Panel. Prior to joining Oracle, Brett was a Business Unit Executive in IBM's Healthcare and Life Sciences.

Bruce R.Conklin

Bruce R.Conklin, M.D., Departments of Medicine and Pharmacology, Gladstone Institute of Cardiovascular Disease.

Bruce R.Conklin, M.D., Departments of Medicine and Pharmacology, Gladstone Institute of Cardiovascular Disease.

Dr. Conklin’s research focuses on human genetic variation that leads to cardiovascular diseases, such as cardiac arrhythmias and cardiomyopathy. His laboratory works with induced pluripotent (iPS) cells are derived from patients with disease, or have been engineered to test the role of genetic changes on disease. Dr. Conklin began his research career working for two years with Nobel Laureate Julius Axelrod, Ph.D., at the National Institutes of Health. He then completed his residency at Johns Hopkins Hospital and a postdoctoral fellowship in the laboratory of Henry Bourne, M.D. at UCSF. In 1995 Dr. Conklin joined the Gladstone Institutes and the UCSF faculty where he has advanced to become a Senior Investigator at Gladstone, and a Professor at UCSF. Dr. Conklin is the founder of several public stem cell and genomics projects including BayGenomics, GenMAPP, AltAnalyze and WikiPathways. Dr. Conklin pioneered the field of using designer G protein coupled receptors (RASSLs) for tissue engineering. He was the founding director of the Gladstone Genomics Core and the Gladstone Stem Cell Core. He is a member of several honorary societies including the American Society for Clinical Investigation, and is a Fellow in the California Academy of Sciences.

Carol Berry

Carol Berry, Senior VP and GM, Pharmacogenomic Services Division & CLIA Laboratory, Asuragen

Carol Berry, Senior VP and GM, Pharmacogenomic Services Division & CLIA Laboratory, Asuragen

Carol E. Berry, MBA is currently serving as the Sr. Vice President and General Manager of Asuragen Inc’s Pharmcogenomic Services Division and CLIA Laboratory. Ms. Berry has over 20 years of executive management experience in the diagnostic and biotechnology industry. Prior to Asuragen, Ms. Berry was Vice President of Sales and Marketing at AviaraDx, a start-up molecular oncology company focused on commercializing novel tests in breast cancer and metastatic cancer. In 2002, Ms. Berry joined the senior management team at Ciphergen Biosystems, Inc. a proteomic equipment and pharmacoproteomic research company. She held a variety of positions ranging from business development to head of worldwide sales and marketing. Ms. Berry started her diagnostic career at Roche Biomedical Laboratories where she enjoyed expanding her knowledge and responsibilities for ten years from a sales territory manager to one of the top fifty General Managers in the company. Carol received her Bachelor of Science degree from Texas A&M University and a Masters in Business administration/Information Technology from University of Dallas.

Cesar Duarte

Cesar Duarte, M.D., MSc, Ph.D., Genoprimer Molecular Diagnostic and Personalized Medicine, Brazil

Cesar Duarte, M.D., MSc, Ph.D., Genoprimer Molecular Diagnostic and Personalized Medicine, Brazil

Dr. Cesar Duarte is Medical Director of Genoprimer. He received his medical degree and Ph.D. in Cellular and Molecular Biology from Universidade Federal do Paraná, Brazil. Dr. Duarte has done Internal Medicine Residency at Western Pennsylvania Hospital, Pittsburgh,PA. Dr. Duarte has founded Genoprimer to provide nucleic acid based diagnostic and to divulge Personalized Medicine for the brazilian medical community.

Corey S. Goodman

Corey S. Goodman, Ph.D., Managing Partner & Co-founder, venBio LLC

Corey S. Goodman, Ph.D., Managing Partner & Co-founder, venBio LLC

Corey is a scientist, educator, and biotech entrepreneur and investor. With a B.S. from Stanford and Ph.D. from U.C. Berkeley, he spent 25 years as a biology professor at Stanford and U.C. Berkeley, where he was Evan Rauch Chair of Neurobiology, co-founder of the Wills Neuroscience Institute, and a member of the Howard Hughes Medical Institute. He is currently on the faculty of U.C. San Francisco. During his academic career, Corey published over 200 scientific papers. He was elected a member of the National Academy of Sciences, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and the American Philosophical Society. Corey is the recipient of numerous honors including the Alan T. Waterman Award from the National Science Board, Canada Gairdner Biomedical Award, March-of-Dimes Prize in Developmental Biology, Reeve-Irvine Research Medal, and Trinity College Dublin Dawson Prize in Genetics. Corey moved into biotech to apply biomedical discoveries to human health. He co-founded four biotech companies -- Exelixis, Renovis, Second Genome, and Ossianix -- and led Renovis as President and CEO from a private to public company until its acquisition by Evotec. He was recruited as President and founder of Pfizer’s Biotherapeutics and Bioinnovation Center and a member of Pfizer’s executive leadership team, based on a new entrepreneurial R&D model of small units at major academic and biotech hubs fostering innovative drug discovery and game-changing technology. Today Corey is Managing Partner and co-founder of venBio LLC, a strategic capital biotech investment firm based on a new model of strategic collaboration with pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies including Amgen, Baxter, and PPD. He is Chair of the Board of three biotech companies, and Board member of two others. Amongst his many public policy roles, Corey is on the Board of the California Council on Science and Technology, the Pacific Institute, the Bay Area Science and Innovation Consortium, andis former Chair of the National Academy of Sciences’ Board on Life Sciences. He is an advisor to numerous biomedical foundations, and a member of the editorial board of Science Translational Medicine and Neuron.

Dave Kronlage

Dave Kronlage, SVP Pipeline Development and Pre-commercialization, Pamlab Inc.

Dave Kronlage, SVP Pipeline Development and Pre-commercialization, Pamlab Inc.

Dave Kronlage spearheads the development of new products and pre-commercialization efforts for Pamlab Research and Development. Pamlab is a fully integrated specialty biomedical company that specializes in natural personalized medicine by offering health care providers high quality prescription medical foods to safely target the distinct nutritional requirements of patients suffering from a metabolic or neurological disorder. Dave has over 20 years of marketing, sales, and research experience in the medical industry. Prior to joining Pamlab in 2006, Dave led key initiatives for Boston Scientific and Eli Lilly and Company.

David A. Fryburg

David A. Fryburg, M.D., CMO, Selventa

David A. Fryburg, M.D., CMO, Selventa

Dr. David A. Fryburg is the Chief Medical Officer at Selventa. With over 20 years of clinical and pharmaceutical research experience, Dr. Fryburg is an expert in developing translational medicine strategies for effective drug discovery and development. Prior to joining Selventa, he was at Pfizer and served on the faculty of the University of Virginia Health Sciences Center.

Dean Sproles

Dean Sproles, Founder, Chairman, CEO & President, Iverson Genetic Diagnostics

Dean Sproles, Founder, Chairman, CEO & President, Iverson Genetic Diagnostics

Dean Sproles founded Iverson Genetic Diagnostics in 2007. Today, he serves as the company's Chairman, CEO, and President. Mr. Sproles founded Iverson Genetic Diagnostics after 16 years as a scientist and inventor focused on gene expression technologies. In addition to his work at Iverson Genetic Diagnostics, Dean serves on the Board of Directors at the Swank MS Foundation. He is also a member of the Institute for Systems Biology (ISB) Associates Network. He also serves on the Lake Washington School District Advisory Board.

Deven Atnoor

Deven Atnoor, Ph.D., Principal Bioinformatics Scientist, Oracle Health Sciences

Deven Atnoor, Ph.D., Principal Bioinformatics Scientist, Oracle Health Sciences

Deven Atnoor began his bioinformatics career as a bioinformatics scientist at Whitehead Institute, working on building information systems and programs to support high-throughput sequencing annotation and analysis of various genome projects. Deven has over 10 years of experience working in both academic and pharmaceutical research centers where he has worked closely with the discovery and translational research scientists and clinicians to provide innovative informatics technologies and solutions. Deven’s research interests include developing technologies and platforms for integrated bioinformatics analysis mainly focused on Cancer. Deven is a graduate of Indian Institute of Technology, Mumbai, and has a Ph.D. from University of Cincinnati.

Don Morris

Don Morris, Ph.D., VP, Scientific Product & Technology Development, Archimedes Inc

Don Morris, Ph.D., VP, Scientific Product & Technology Development, Archimedes Inc

Don Morris Ph.D. is the vice president of Scientific Products and Technology at Archimedes Inc. Dr. Morris’s primary role is to lead the development of IndiGO and other patient-centered products based on the individualized decision support methods he invented. He is also responsible for research into new modeling technologies, quality control, and intellectual property development. Dr. Morris has over twenty years of experience developing information products for life science and medical applications. Prior to joining Archimedes he held vice president positions at Lipomics Technologies and XDx and research roles at Incyte Genomics and Affymetrix. He holds a Ph.D. in mathematics from Stanford, has 25 issued U.S. patents and has authored fifteen peer-reviewed papers.

Eric N. Marton

Eric N. Marton, Executive Director, Cedars-Sinai Heart Institute

Eric N. Marton, Executive Director, Cedars-Sinai Heart Institute

Eric Marton currently serves as the Executive Director of the Cedars-Sinai Heart Institute and President of the California Heart Center Foundation. The Cedars-Sinai Heart Institute is now the largest comprehensive heart center in the western United States and is a leader in patient care, clinical training and medical innovation. In 1996, Eric became the Executive Director of University Cardiovascular Medical Group (UCMG) at UCLA. While providing a full spectrum of cardiovascular services, UCMG built the largest heart transplant and heart failure program in the world. In 1999, Eric, along with physicians, scientists, and community leaders created the California Heart Center Foundation to support cardiovascular research and education - with the ultimate goal of developing a true heart institute in the West. In late 2009, Eric facilitated the merger of University Cardiovascular Medical Group and the California Heart Center Foundation with Cedars-Sinai whose Heart Institute was emerging as a national leader. As Executive Director of the Heart Institute, Eric is responsible for strategic planning, physician relations, business development, new facility planning, and information technology. While maintaining his other responsibilities, Eric was a partner at Catalyst Venture Group in Los Angeles from 2000 thru 2005.  During his time with Catalyst and since, Eric has served as a member of the Board of Directors for numerous companies and as a consultant to a number of healthcare and VC/private equity organizations. Eric is a frequent guest speaker at institutions such as the Anderson Graduate School of Management at UCLA, the Marshall School of Business at USC, the American College of Cardiology and the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA. Eric has also been a member of the Young Presidents' Organization (YPO) since 2007.

Frank McCormick

Frank McCormick, Ph.D., FRS, Director, UCSF Helen Diller Family Comprehensive Cancer Center.

Frank McCormick, Ph.D., FRS, Director, UCSF Helen Diller Family Comprehensive Cancer Center.

Frank McCormick, PhD, FRS, is Director of the UCSF Helen Diller Family Comprehensive Cancer Center. Prior to joining the UCSF faculty, Dr. McCormick held positions with Cetus Corporation (Director of Molecular Biology, 1981-1990; Vice President of Research, 1990-1991) and Chiron Corporation, where he was Vice President of Research from 1991 to 1992. In 1992 he founded Onyx Pharmaceuticals, a company dedicated to developing new cancer therapies, and served as its Chief Scientific Officer until 1996. At Onyx Pharmaceuticals, he initiated and directed drug discovery efforts that led to the approval of Sorafenib in 2005 for treatment of renal cell cancer, and for liver cancer in 2007, and the approval of ONYX-015 in 2006 in China for treatment of nasopharangeal cancer. Furthermore, Dr. McCormick’s group led to the identification of a CDK4 kinase inhibitor that is currently in Phase II clinical trials. In addition to his position as Director of the UCSF HDFCCC, Dr. McCormick holds the David A. Wood Chair of Tumor Biology and Cancer Research in UCSF's Department of Microbiology and Immunology. Dr. McCormick is the author of 285 scientific publications and holds 20 issued patents. He is on the advisory boards of Memorial Sloane Kettering, Dana Farber Cancer Center, the Canary Foundation, the University of Wisconsin Comprehensive Cancer Center, and the University of Texas, Southwestern Advisory Board. Dr. McCormick is also the 2012-2013 President of the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR).

Garry Nolan

Garry Nolan, Ph.D., Professor in the Department of Microbiology and Immunology, Stanford University

Garry Nolan, Ph.D., Professor in the Department of Microbiology and Immunology, Stanford University

Dr. Nolan is a tenured Professor in the Department of Microbiology and Immunology at Stanford University. He has published over 140 articles (biochemistry, gene cloning and characterization, virology immunology, transcriptional biology, bioinformatics, and signaling). He holds over a dozen patents in the biotechnology arena, and was honored as one of the top 25 inventors at Stanford University. He was the scientific founder, and was Chair of the scientific advisory board of Rigel Pharmaceuticals (a NASDAQ company); was a co-founder of the limited liability company that led to the creation of CellGate, a drug delivery company; and is the scientific Founder and Chairman of the SAB of Nodality, Inc., a venture funded company researching personalized diagnostics based on single cell interrogations of signaling networks in diseased cells. Dr. Nolan’s laboratory at the Stanford University School of Medicine focuses on the analysis of biological events at the single cell level using novel genetic and FACS-based approaches at the intersection of immunology, autoimmunity, biochemistry, and cancer. Dr. Nolan received his Ph.D. in Genetics at Stanford University under the mentorship of Leonard and Leonore Herzenberg (co-developers of the Fluorescence Activated Cell Sorter) where he worked on the cloning of CD8 and development of the first single cell reporter gene assays. Dr. Nolan did his postdoctoral work in the laboratory of Nobelist David Baltimore at MIT. While working in the Baltimore lab, Dr. Nolan conceived and then co-developed the 293-based retroviral systems that are now a mainstay of retroviral and lentiviral production in research and gene therapy.

Ian Walker

Ian Walker, Ph.D., MBA, Head of Stratified Medicine and Combinations Alliance, Cancer Research, UK

Ian Walker, Ph.D., MBA, Head of Stratified Medicine and Combinations Alliance, Cancer Research, UK

Ian has worked in early phase drug development at Cancer Research UK (CRUK) for over 6 years. He is currently Head of Stratified Medicine and Combinations Alliance and is responsible for the oversight and delivery of these CRUK programmes. Prior to joining CRUK, Ian was Study Director for a major multi-national CRO and was responsible for the European release of a wide range of novel biological agents. Ian holds an oncology PhD from the University of Leeds and an MBA with distinction from Warwick Business School, and is a widely published author in both the drug development and commercial environment.

James Kobielus

James Kobielus, Big Data Evangelist, IBM

James Kobielus, Big Data Evangelist, IBM

James Kobielus is an industry veteran and serves as IBM's big data evangelist. He spearheads IBM's thought leadership activities in Big Data, Hadoop, enterprise data warehousing, advanced analytics, business intelligence, data management, and next best action technologies. He works with IBM's product management and marketing teams in Big Data. He has spoken at such leading industry events as Hadoop Summit, Strata, and Forrester Business Process Forum. He has published several business technology books and is a very popular provider of original commentary on blogs and many social media.

James S. Burns

James S. Burns, President & CEO, AssureRx

James S. Burns, President & CEO, AssureRx

Jim Burns has over 30 years of executive experience in the pharmaceutical, biotechnology, and diagnostic fields. He has served in leadership roles ranging from commercialization, financial, business development, and general management within businesses ranging from early-stage companies to large multinational corporations, venture capital, and private equity. Prior to joining AssureRx Health, Jim served as President and CEO of EntreMed, a public clinical-stage pharmaceutical company developing drugs for the treatment of cancer and inflammatory diseases; as President, EVP and a founder of MedPointe Pharmaceuticals, a specialty branded pharmaceutical company; a founder and Managing Director of MedPointe Capital, a private equity firm; President, CEO and a founder of Osiris Therapeutics; a founding General Partner of HealthCare Ventures LP, a venture capital partnership specializing in forming new pharmaceutical and biotech companies.

Jeff Wisotzkey

Jeff Wisotzkey, Ph.D., HCLD, CC, Director Molecular Pathology, Central Pennsylvania Alliance Laboratory

Jeff Wisotzkey, Ph.D., HCLD, CC, Director Molecular Pathology, Central Pennsylvania Alliance Laboratory

Dr. Wisotzkey serves as the Director of Molecular Pathology and the Technical Director of Laboratory Operations for the Central PA Alliance Laboratory (CPAL). His laboratory receives clinical specimens and testing requests from six regional health systems in the south central Pennsylvania region and performs over 1 million high complexity tests annually, including over 200,000 molecular diagnostic tests. He also serves as a consulting scientific and clinical advisor for the molecular diagnostic programs of client laboratories in the fields of molecular virology, molecular oncology and molecular microbiology. Dr. Wisotzkey earned a PhD from the University of Houston in 1990 studying molecular systematics and completed a postdoctoral fellowship at the Jake Gittlen Cancer Research Institute (Penn State’s Hershey Medical Center) in 1995. He is board certified as a High Complexity Laboratory Director and Clinical Consultant and has been active with the Association for Molecular Pathology since shortly after its inception, serving in various roles, including Chair of the Solid Tumors Division and member of the Infectious Diseases Clinical Practice Committee.

Jianying Hu

Jianying Hu, Ph.D., Manager, Healthcare Analytics Research at IBM T. J. Watson Research Center, NY

Jianying Hu, Ph.D., Manager, Healthcare Analytics Research at IBM T. J. Watson Research Center, NY

Jianying Hu is a research staff member and manager of Healthcare Analytics Research at IBM T. J. Watson Research Center, NY. She received the Ph.D. degree in Computer Science from SUNY Stony Brook in 1993. Dr. Hu’s main research interests include statistical pattern recognition, signal processing, machine learning and data mining, with applications to healthcare analytics, medical informatics, business analytics, document analysis, and multimedia content analysis and retrieval. For the past three years her group has been focusing on developing advanced machine learning and data mining methodologies for deriving data-driven insights to facilitate 'learning health systems'. Dr. Hu has published over 90 technical articles and holds 22 patents. She has served as associate editor for IEEE Transactions on Pattern Analysis and Machine Intelligence, and IEEE Transactions on Image Processing, and is currently on the editorial board of the journals Pattern Recognition, and International Journal on Document Analysis and Recognition. Dr. Hu is a fellow of the International Association of Pattern Recognition and a senior member of IEEE.

John Adler

John Adler, M.D., Founder, Editor-in-Chief, Cureus

John Adler, M.D., Founder, Editor-in-Chief, Cureus

Dr. Adler is a practicing neurosurgeon and Professor of Neurosurgery at Stanford University School of Medicine. Clinically, Dr. Adler specializes in the treatment of brain tumors, spinal tumors and trigeminal neuralgia. In the fields of surgery, medical imaging and therapeutic radiation, he holds nine US patents and has authored more than 180 peer-reviewed publications and books. He was the inventor of the CyberKnife, a non-invasive alternative to surgery for the treatment of tumors that has treated over 100,000 patients worldwide, and was the founder, CEO, Chief Medical Officer and Chairman of Accuray, Inc.

John Hornberger

John Hornberger, M.D., CEO and President, CEDAR Associates LLC

John Hornberger, M.D., CEO and President, CEDAR Associates LLC

Dr. Hornberger is a health services and policy researcher focused on comprehensive assessments – i.e., clinical outcomes, costs, and cost-effectiveness – of emerging pharmaceutical, diagnostics, and device technologies in cancer, infectious diseases (HIV, hepatitis, and herpes zoster), renal disease, eye and skin disease, and others. In cancer, he has published seminal papers on the evaluation of genomic assays, clinical utility studies, and on the cost-effectiveness of specific assays. Other assessments he has conducted include: rituximab for treatment of diffuse large B-cell lymphoma in older adults, capecitabine for anthracycline-pretreated patients with advanced breast cancer, cervical vaginal smear interpretation of atypical squamous cells of undetermined significance (ASCUS), and testing strategies in the diagnosis of lung and breast cancer.

Joseph Victor

Joseph Victor, President and CEO, DVS Sciences

Joseph Victor, President and CEO, DVS Sciences

Mr. Victor sets the corporate strategy for DVS Sciences. Mr. Victor has more than 25 years of experience fostering product innovation and building value for customers, shareholders, and employees. Prior to DVS, Mr. Victor was President and CEO of Applied Precision Inc., a manufacturer of high-end microscopy systems for life sciences research and drug development acquired by GE Healthcare in 2011. Before that he drove significant sales growth, new product development and overall profitability of the Applied Precision business in the roles of President, Sr. VP Life Sciences, VP R&D and Operations, and VP R&D. Prior to Applied Precision, Mr. Victor held various executive management and technical positions in the high technology, energy, and aviation markets. Mr. Victor holds an MBA from UCLA and MS and BS degrees in engineering from the University of Washington. Mr. Victor is based in the company headquarters in Sunnyvale, CA and is also a Director of DVS.

Joyce Peng

Joyce Peng, Marketing Director, BGI Americas

Joyce Peng, Marketing Director, BGI Americas

Dr. Joyce Peng has established herself as a prominent voice for the application of state-of-the art technologies in the life sciences field. Joyce has been promoting bioinformatics and related products at various organizations and is now marketing director at BGI Americas Corporation. She helped define the product line for Oracle in life sciences as a senior product manager. Subsequently, Joyce established proteomics product directions for Rosetta Biosoftware (a subsidiary of Merck) and managed bioinformatics product sales for North America at Life Technologies. In her position as the Strategic Alliance and Growth Manager at Illumina, Joyce managed the partnership with BGI and advanced the application of various sequencing technologies. Now, in her role as marketing director at BGI Americas, Joyce is active in promoting collaborations and alliances with pharmaceutical and biotechnology organizations for the application of BGI’s world-renowned sequencing services. Joyce holds a Ph.D. in Biology from Caltech.

Karthikeshwar Kasirajan

Karthikeshwar Kasirajan, M.D., Chief Medical Officer, Natural Molecular

Karthikeshwar Kasirajan, M.D., Chief Medical Officer, Natural Molecular

Dr. Kasirajan specializes in vascular surgery. He received his undergraduate degree at Madras Medical College in Madras, India. Following undergrad he completed his general surgery residency at Case Western Reserve and his fellowship at the Cleveland Clinic. Dr. Kasirajan has held several academic appointments including Associate Professor of Surgery, and Director of Clinical Research for the Division of Vascular Surgery, both at Emory University. Prior to joining Natural Molecular, Dr. Kasirajan was the Director of Clinical Research for the East Bay Cardiovascular and Thoracic Associates in Concord, California.

Ken Song

Ken Song, M.D., Chief Executive Officer, Ariosa Diagnostics.

Ken Song, M.D., Chief Executive Officer, Ariosa Diagnostics.

Ken Song brought together the initial team for Ariosa Diagnostics and has served as CEO since 2009. Prior to Ariosa, Ken was an investor at Venrock and led multiple investments in healthcare companies. Ken is a board certified physician, has extensive clinical and basic science research experience, and was previously a consultant at McKinsey & Company. Ken received his B.S. in Biology from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and his M.D. from the University of California, San Francisco.

Mark Monane

Mark Monane, M.D., Chief Medical Officer, CardioDx, Inc.

Mark Monane, M.D., Chief Medical Officer, CardioDx, Inc.

Mark Monane joined CardioDx in 2011 as Chief Medical Officer. Prior to joining CardioDx, he served 11 years as managing director of equity research for Needham & Company, where he focused on analyses of emerging biotechnology companies in the cardiovascular and cancer disease areas. Prior to Needham & Company, Mark served as Senior Director of Medical Policy and Practices at Medco Health. Before joining Medco, he was an assistant professor at Harvard Medical School and the Harvard School of Public Health, where he completed fellowship training in geriatrics, clinical pharmacology, and clinical effectiveness. Mark holds an A.B. and an M.B.A. from Columbia University, an M.S. degree in health policy from Harvard University, and an M.D. from New York University.

Mark Trusheim

Mark Trusheim, Visiting Scientist & Executive-In-Residence, MIT Sloan School of Management

Mark Trusheim, Visiting Scientist & Executive-In-Residence, MIT Sloan School of Management

Mark Trusheim is a Visiting Scientist and Executive-In-Residence at the MIT Sloan School of Management. He has been a Special Government Employee for the FDA’s Office of the Commissioner and is the Founder and President of Co-Bio Consulting, LLC. He holds degrees in Chemistry from Stanford University and Management from MIT. Mark’s research focuses on the economics of stratified (personalized) medicines, particularly the integrated quantitative modeling of stratified medicine development and commercialization, to inform public policy, corporate strategy and individual product development programs. He is a former Executive Committee Board Member and Interim President of the Massachusetts Biotechnology Council. As an entrepreneur, Mark founded and was the first President and CEO of Cantata Laboratories which developed and marketed biochemical profiling clinical diagnostics and pharmaceutical biomarker services. Prior to Cantata, Mark worked at Monsanto/Pharmacia, culminating his career there as Co-President and Chief Operating Officer of Cereon Genomics, LLC- a 5 year, $500M collaboration with Millennium Pharmaceuticals.

Marty Tenenbaum

Marty Tenenbaum, Ph.D., Founder & Chairman, Cancer Commons

Marty Tenenbaum, Ph.D., Founder & Chairman, Cancer Commons

Jay M. Tenenbaum, Ph.D. is the Founder and Chairman of Cancer Commons, a non-profit rapid learning community that continuously refines information about cancer subtypes and treatments, based on the literature and actual patient outcomes. Dr. Tenenbaum brings to this endeavor the unique perspectives of a computer scientist, Internet entrepreneur, and cancer survivor. Dr. Tenenbaum was educated at MIT and Stanford in the 1960s. He spent the 1970s doing artificial intelligence research at SRI, the 1980s managing computer science research for Schlumberger, the 1990s pioneering Internet commerce, and the past decade promoting radical innovations in healthcare. He is a fellow and former board member of the American Association for Artificial Intelligence, and a former consulting professor of Computer Science at Stanford. He currently serves as a director of Patients Like Me, the Public Library of Science, Efficient Finance, and Earth Analytics Group.

Masato Mitsuhashi

Masato Mitsuhashi, M.D., Ph.D., Chief Scientific Officer, Hitachi Chemical Research Center

Masato Mitsuhashi, M.D., Ph.D., Chief Scientific Officer, Hitachi Chemical Research Center

Dr. Mitsuhashi serves as Chief Scientific Officer of Hitachi Chemical Research Center, Inc. (HCR), a US subsidiary of Hitachi Chemical Co., Ltd., which operates research and development in life sciences field. Dr. Mitsuhashi is an inventor and developer of novel mRNA quantitative assay called 'Hem(A)+ System' which can extract and quantify leukocyte-derived mRNA from a very small amount of whole blood. Since Hem(A)+-based ex vivo mRNA induction is a powerful platform technology for the discovery of novel biomarkers and is capable of identifying drug responders and non-responders in various diseases, his recent focus is to conduct contract studies for pharmaceutical companies. He has more than 20 U.S. patents and has authored over 150 publications. He is a member of American Association of Immunologists (AAI), Clinical Chemistry (AACC), Molecular Pathology (AMP), and Immunotherapy of Cancer (SITC). During his tenure at HCR since 1990, he was associate adjunct professor at Department of Pathology and advisory board member of the Department of Biomedical Engineering and the Center for Complementary Medicine, University of California, Irvine (UCI). Before joining to HCR, he was a pediatrician in Japan with the subspecialty of allergy and asthma.

Mathias Ehrich

Mathias Ehrich, M.D., VP, Research and Development, Sequenom

Mathias Ehrich, M.D., VP, Research and Development, Sequenom

Prior to his current position, Dr. Ehrich served as Sr. Director, Research and Development. Dr. Ehrich joined Sequenom in 2001 in the company's Hamburg, Germany offices, subsequently he served in various scientific and management roles within the Sequenom R&D department. His contributions include the development of a high throughput quantitative DNA methylation analysis method as well as a panel for the characterization for somatic mutations. Before joining Sequenom, Dr. Ehrich worked as a resident in the neonatal intensive care unit in the Childrens Hospital of Altona, Hamburg. Dr. Ehrich received his MD in from the University of Hamburg where he focused the anti-oxidative properties of vitamins in Thalassemia patients.

Matthieu-P. Schapranow

Matthieu-P. Schapranow, Ph.D., Principal Investigator of In-Memory Technology for Life Sciences, Hasso Plattner Institute

Matthieu-P. Schapranow, Ph.D., Principal Investigator of In-Memory Technology for Life Sciences, Hasso Plattner Institute

Dr. Matthieu-P. Schapranow holds a PhD in Software Engineering from the Hasso Plattner Institute (HPI) in Germany. He also received BSc and MSc degrees in Software Engineering, in 2006 and 2008, respectively. Since June 2012, he is the Principal Investigator of Life Sciences at the Chair of Prof. Plattner at HPI. In this position, he leads research efforts that apply in-memory technology to scientific areas within life sciences. In addition, he is currently visiting scientist at the Institute of Pathology at Charité-Universitätsmedizin, Berlin and a valued member of the Berlin Cancer Society.

Mavis L. Yee

Mavis L. Yee, Partner, Nixon Peabody LLP

Mavis L. Yee, Partner, Nixon Peabody LLP

Mavis Yee is a corporate partner at Nixon Peabody LLP, a full service “Global 100” law firm with approximately 700 attorneys collaborating throughout the United States, Asia and Europe. Based in the firm’s Silicon Valley office, Mavis has extensive experience representing emerging growth companies in all stages of their life cycle, including incorporations, venture capital financings, mergers and acquisitions, private equity, and public company transactions. She also represents venture capital firms in their equity and debt investments. Her clients include private and public companies in a wide array of high growth industries, including social gaming and media, internet, software, semiconductors, telecommunications, life sciences and medical devices.

Mehrdad Ayati

Mehrdad Ayati, M.D., Faculty Stanford University School of Medicine

Mehrdad Ayati, M.D., Faculty Stanford University School of Medicine

Mehrdad Ayati is Faculty of Medicine and Geriatric Medicine at Stanford University School of Medicine. He is Medical Director of Los Altos Subacute Care and Sunnyvale Health System. His interest is educating community and health care related staffs to increase quality of care for elderly. His main focus is complication related to Polypharmacy in elderly and effects of Pharmacogenomics in future of elderly care.

Michael F. Christman

Michael F. Christman, Ph.D., President and CEO, Coriell Institute for Medical Research

Michael F. Christman, Ph.D., President and CEO, Coriell Institute for Medical Research

Michael F. Christman, Ph.D., is the President and Chief Executive Officer of the Coriell Institute for Medical Research. After taking the helm of the Coriell Institute in 2007, Dr. Christman established the Coriell Personalized Medicine Collaborative® (CPMC®): an evidence-based research study with the goal of determining the utility of using genome information in health management and clinical decision-making, as well as to discover presently unknown gene variants that elevate one’s risk of complex disease and affect one’s response to medications. Dr. Christman previously served as professor and founding chair of the Department of Genetics and Genomics for Boston University School of Medicine. Recently, Dr. Christman and other Coriell scientists collaborated with Dr. Charles Rotimi of the NIH to complete the largest genome-wide association study for hypertension and blood pressure in an African American population to date. Dr. Christman received his bachelor’s degree in chemistry with honors from the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, and a doctorate in biochemistry from the University of California, Berkeley. Dr. Christman has published articles in scientific journals such as Science, Nature and Cell, and his work has been described in the NY Times, Wall Street Journal and other media.

Michael Kamerick

Michael Kamerick, DC Specialist Leader, Recombinant By Deloitte

Michael Kamerick, DC Specialist Leader, Recombinant By Deloitte

Michael Kamerick is a recognized expert in biomedical informatics and clinical & translational science, bringing a strong information technology background and experience in healthcare data strategy, governance, and security to Recombinant clients. Michael focuses on strategic consulting and business development, and continues to be active in the CTSA (Clinical and Translational Sciences Awards) and biomedical informatics communities. He also translates his experience and knowledge into product direction as Recombinant develops leading edge data platforms and research solutions for academic medical centers. Prior to joining Recombinant, Michael was the Director of Academic Research Systems at UCSF (University of California, San Francisco) and Co-Director of Biomedical Informatics at the UCSF Clinical and Translational Science Institute. During his tenure at UCSF, Michael led the development and execution of a variety of initiatives to improve the governance, regulatory compliance, security, and technical infrastructure for research data. Michael's background also includes commercial and entrepreneurial experience with a number of information technology and venture capital firms.

Michael Thaler

Michael Thaler, Professor, UCSC

Michael Thaler, Professor, UCSC

Michael Thaler is professor emeritus of pediatrics at UCSF. He holds an MD degree from the University of Toronto and an MA degree in history from UCSF. He trained in pediatrics, molecular biology and pathology, and served as Visiting Scholar in Bioethics at Stanford. He has conducted courses on social, cultural and ethical aspects of the biological sciences at UCSF, Stanford, UC Santa Cruz and UC Berkeley, and has published extensively in the scientific, clinical, and bioethics literature. His public service and professional awards include the UCSF Chancellor’s Faculty Award and the Lifetime Achievement Award of the North American Association for Pediatric Gastroenterology and Nutrition.

Myla Lai-Goldman

Myla Lai-Goldman, M.D., Managing Partner Personalized Science, LLC

Myla Lai-Goldman, M.D., Managing Partner Personalized Science, LLC

In 2009, Dr. Lai-Goldman founded and became the managing partner of Personalized Science, LLC, a consulting company whose mission is to assist its customers achieve successful adoption of innovative diagnostics with actionable results for patient’s unmet medical needs. In 2011, Dr Lai-Goldman founded and became CEO of GeneCentric Diagnostics, Inc., focused on the development and commercialization of novel molecular diagnostic assays that enable oncologists and their patients make more informed, individualized treatment decisions. Additionally, Dr. Lai-Goldman became a Venture Partner with Hatteras Venture Partners, Inc, a venture capital firmed based in Research Triangle Park, NC. Until her retirement on December 31, 2008, Myla P. Lai-Goldman, M.D. was Executive Vice President, Chief Medical Officer of Laboratory Corporation of America® Holdings (LabCorp®), From 1998 until April 2008, Dr. Lai-Goldman also served as Chief Scientific Officer of the company. Dr. Lai-Goldman joined the Company in 1990. Dr. Lai-Goldman earned an MD from the College of Physicians and Surgeons at Columbia University in New York. She is board-certified in anatomic and clinical pathology.

Nigam H. Shah

Nigam H. Shah, MBBS, Ph.D., Assistant Professor of Medicine (Biomedical Informatics), Stanford University

Nigam H. Shah, MBBS, Ph.D., Assistant Professor of Medicine (Biomedical Informatics), Stanford University

Dr. Nigam H. Shah is an Assistant Professor of Medicine (Biomedical Informatics) at the Stanford School of Medicine. Dr. Shah's research is focused on combining the use of ontologies, machine learning and text-mining with prior knowledge encoded in medical ontologies to discover hidden trends from the unstructured medical records and enable data-driven medicine. Dr. Shah holds an MBBS from Baroda Medical College, India, a PhD from Penn State University, USA and completed post-doctoral training at the Stanford Medical School.

Pallav Sharda

Pallav Sharda, M.D., Director for Product Management, OptumInsight

Pallav Sharda, M.D., Director for Product Management, OptumInsight

Pallav is a physician informaticist who left full-time medicine to work in the Healthcare IT field in 2001. He started his career at GE Healthcare, fulfilling roles within services, engineering, R&D and marketing organizations. After GE, he worked at Kaiser Permanente as their Director for Advanced Analytics. Currently Pallav is the Director for Product Management at OptumInsight, responsible for their Health Information Exchange (HIE) solutions. He is also serves as part-time faculty in the graduate Medical Informatics program at Northwestern University. Pallav’s special interests focus on implementation and engineering of clinical information systems, controlled terminologies and clinical clinical decision support. He has authored patents, papers on electronic health record systems and writes about Healthcare innovation at Mutliplyd.com. Pallav received his MBA from Kellogg School of Management (Northwestern University), Masters in Medical Informatics from Columbia University and a Bachelor of medicine and surgery (MBBS) from Delhi University, India.

Peter Hirth

Peter Hirth, Ph.D., Co-founder & CEO, Plexxikon

Peter Hirth, Ph.D., Co-founder & CEO, Plexxikon

Dr. Hirth co-founded Plexxikon in December 2000, and has more than 25 years of biotechnology and pharmaceutical discovery and development experience. Previously, he was president of Sugen, Inc. until the sale of the company to Pharmacia Corporation in 1999. At Sugen, he helped build the company from its inception and advanced several kinase inhibitors through clinical trials for the treatment of oncology. This includes the drug Sutent®, now owned by Pfizer through its acquisition of Pharmacia. Prior to Sugen, Dr. Hirth was a vice president in research with Boehringer Mannheim where, among other responsibilities, he successfully led the company's erythropoietin program. Previously, he also was a research scientist with the Max Planck Institute, following the completion of his post doctoral work at the University of California, San Diego. Dr. Hirth received his Ph.D. in molecular genetics from Heidelberg University, Germany.

Peter J. van der Spek

Peter J. van der Spek, Ph.D., Head of the Department of Bioinformatics, Erasmus Medical Center, Netherlands

Peter J. van der Spek, Ph.D., Head of the Department of Bioinformatics, Erasmus Medical Center, Netherlands

Peter J. van der Spek has been appointed as professor and head of the department of bioinformatics at the Erasmus MC. He obtained his doctoral degree in 1995 in the field of molecular carcinogenesis by cloning cancer predisposition genes. Van der Spek has 6 years of pharmaceutical experience from Akzo-Novel/Organon and Johnson & Johnson and holds several international academic appointments in Japan, Australia and USA. The bioinformatics group at the Erasmus MC focuses on the support of datamining and analysis. This expertise is used for fundamental research, molecular diagnostics, molecular imaging, (forensic) molecular biology and clinical trials. Erasmus MC is one of the largest medical centers of the Netherlands. Van der Spek runs craniofacial research program which provides the biological and technological basis for the bioinformatics group. It concentrates on the way the genome as a whole contributes to the evolution, development, structure and function of the face and brain.

Sarah Greene

Sarah Greene, Executive Director, Cancer Commons.

Sarah Greene, Executive Director, Cancer Commons.

Sarah Greene is Executive Director of Cancer Commons, a nonprofit whose mission is to advance and report the latest precision therapies to patients through Rapid Learning Communities involving patients, researchers and physicians. Most recently she was editor-in-chief of The Scientist magazine and its parent, Faculty of 1000, a post-publication peer review service in London. She is a publishing and new media entrepreneur with three startups acquired by Wiley (Current Protocols), Elsevier (HMS Beagle web magazine and BioMedNet), and Thomson Reuters (Praxis.MD; Best Practice of Medicine). She was a co-founder of the Society for Participatory Medicine and launched the Journal of Participatory Medicine as managing editor. Greene also developed websites with original content and formats for the New York Academy of Sciences (eBriefings, Science & the City) and The New York Times-Health, and was chief content officer at Keas, Inc. She trained as a soil microbiologist and puts this to good use at her family farm in Nebraska.

Stephan Brock

Stephan Brock, Ph.D., Chief Technology Officer, President, Molecular Health

Stephan Brock, Ph.D., Chief Technology Officer, President, Molecular Health

Dr. Brock has worked in several leading positions in the bioinformatics industry focusing on data integration, text-mining and content management supporting the pharmaceutical R&D value chain. As head of development and CEO of Metalife AG, Dr. Brock led a team of 70 analysts, scientists and software developers dedicated to the design, development and delivery to market of a fully integrated, end-user focused bioinformatics product portfolio. In 2004 Dr. Brock established a new business unit for LION Bioscience focusing on a solution for process and portfolio management in the pharmaceutical industry integrating the R&D value chain from early discovery to clinical studies. Dr. Brock received a Ph.D. in biochemistry from the University of Bayreuth.

Tony Blau

Tony Blau, M.D., Founder and Scientific Officer, Partners in Personal Oncology

Tony Blau, M.D., Founder and Scientific Officer, Partners in Personal Oncology

Dr. Tony Blau is Professor in the Department of Medicine/Hematology and Adjunct Professor in the Department of Genome Sciences at the University of Washington (UW). He serves as attending physician on the leukemia service for the Seattle Cancer Care Alliance, a world-class cancer treatment center that unites doctors from the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center (FHCRC), UW Medicine and Seattle Children's Hospital. Dr. Blau co-directs the Institute for Stem Cell and Regenerative Medicine at the UW and the Program for Stem and Progenitor Cell Biology at the UW/FHCRC Cancer Consortium. His research centers on exploiting the latest scientific discoveries for the benefit of patients. He pioneered a method for placing transplanted cells under the “remote control” of small molecule drugs, and has a track record of bringing together laboratories with diverse types of expertise to tackle important problems. Dr. Blau has served on numerous advisory panels for the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and currently chairs the Molecular and Cellular Hematology study section at NIH. He received his medical degree from Ohio State University and completed his residency in internal medicine at Duke University.

Yaniv Erlich

Yaniv Erlich, Ph.D., Whitehead Fellow, Whitehead Institute for Biomedical Research

Yaniv Erlich, Ph.D., Whitehead Fellow, Whitehead Institute for Biomedical Research

Dr. Yaniv Erlich is Andria and Paul Heafy Family Fellow and Principal Investigator at the Whitehead Institute for Biomedical Research. He received his PhD from the Watson School of Biological Sciences at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory. Dr. Erlich’s research interests are computational human genetics. Dr. Erlich is the recipient of the Harold M. Weintraub award, the IEEE/ACM-CS High Performance Computing award, Wolf foundation scholarship for Excellence in exact science, and he was selected as one of 2010 Tomorrow’s PIs team of Genome Technology.

Yusra Hussain

Yusra Hussain, M.D., Clinical Assistant Professor & Medical Director, Aging Adult Services, Stanford Hospital & Clinics

Yusra Hussain, M.D., Clinical Assistant Professor & Medical Director, Aging Adult Services, Stanford Hospital & Clinics

Yusra Hussain began her medical career as a researcher in biotech, working for First Medical, Inc. after which she started medical school. After receiving her medical degree from Hahnemann University School of Medicine, Yusra commenced her residency training in Internal Medicine at St. May’s Medical Center in San Francisco, then concluding her fellowship training in Geriatrics from Stanford University School of Medicine, where she has since been worked as a faculty in the Division of Internal Medicine. Yusra lead the delirium management project at Stanford, while in her current role as a Medical Director of Aging Adult Services. She also started the in-patient geriatric consult service to improve care for hospitalized older adults. Additionally, she is also the medical director at Vi CCRC, and Manor Care, Health Care Center in Sunnyvale.

Yuval Itan

Yuval Itan, Ph.D., Postdoctoral Fellow, The Rockefeller University

Yuval Itan, Ph.D., Postdoctoral Fellow, The Rockefeller University

Dr. Yuval Itan holds a Ph.D. and M.Res. in Modeling Biological Complexity from University College London, the CoMPLEX program, and a B.Sc. in Computational Biology from Bar Ilan University, Israel. Since 2010 he is performing in-silico cutting edge research to identify variants that confer susceptibility to infectious diseases in high-throughput genomic and proteomic data, including the development of novel state-of-the-art methods for this purpose.

Master Of Ceremonies

Asif Dhar

Asif Dhar, Principal & Chief Medical Informatics Officer, Deloitte

Asif Dhar, Principal & Chief Medical Informatics Officer, Deloitte

Dr. Dhar helps clients develop innovative strategies to improve clinical outcomes and therapeutic discovery. His translational informatics work is helping clients discover new approaches to optimize clinical R&D with breakthrough information management approaches. He has been retained by numerous provider systems, Cancer Centers, Life Science companies and Governmental Agencies to define translational medicine and clinical excellence programs. He has developed and launched a number of health analytics solutions that are used by clients to help use clinical data to better understand and improve the health outcomes of specific patient populations. Dr. Dhar lead's Deloitte work to help client's commercialize their informatics solutions and is leading Deloitte health analytics innovations team.

Kara Bortone

Kara Bortone, Director Corporate Development, Prescience International

Kara Bortone, Director Corporate Development, Prescience International

Kara Bortone is Director Corporate Development at Prescience International, a full-scale management firm which focuses on accelerating the commercialization of science and technology by starting and operating life science and cleantech centers of innovation, including incubators, institutes and foundations. Kara manages the selection process for Janssen Labs, a new no-strings-attached, turnkey research center for promising healthcare companies established by Janssen R&D in San Diego. Kara has over 10 years’ experience in business development, marketing, investor relations and communications in the European and the U.S. biotech sector. She holds a BS in Chemistry from the University of North Carolina and a PhD in Biochemistry from the University of Texas

Laurence Marton

Laurence Marton, Program Committee Chairman, PMWC

Laurence Marton, Program Committee Chairman, PMWC

Dr. Marton serves as a consultant to industry and to governmental and academic institutions. In recent years he has been a founder, director, CEO, CSO, and CMO of the SLIL Biomedical Corporation, and CSO of both Cellgate and Progen Pharmaceuticals. These companies were, or are, focused on the discovery and development of novel compounds for the treatment of cancer and other serious diseases. Before moving from academia to industry, Dr. Marton was Dean of the University of Wisconsin-Madison Medical School and previously Chaired the Department of Laboratory Medicine at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF), where he was a Professor in the Departments of Laboratory Medicine and Neurological Surgery. He remains an Emeritus Professor in the Department of Laboratory Medicine at UCSF. He is a leading expert with extensive experience in the fields of cell growth and drug development. His work is focused on the use of polyamine analogs in treating human diseases related to aberrant cell growth and epigenetics, including cancer and other diseases. Dr. Marton serves as a director on the Boards of the California Heart Center Foundation and Cancer Commons, and as a trustee of the American Association for Cancer Research Foundation. He is on the Board of Directors of TOMA Biosciences, is Chair of the Scientific Advisory Board of PharmaJet, and is on the Advisory Boards of Ruga Corp and Contrast Therapeutics. Dr. Marton received his MD from the Albert Einstein College of Medicine and his BA from Yeshiva University.

Luke Timmerman

Luke Timmerman, National Biotechnology Editor, Xconomy

Luke Timmerman, National Biotechnology Editor, Xconomy

Luke Timmerman is the National Biotechnology Editor for Xconomy, an online technology and life sciences publication. Before joining Xconomy in 2008 to lead its West Coast expansion, he was the U.S. biotechnology reporter for Bloomberg News. Luke got his start covering life sciences a decade ago at The Seattle Times. Luke has received a number of awards for his biotech reporting, including the Scripps Howard National Journalism Award, the Sigma Delta Chi Prize, and several ‘Best in Business’ honors from the Society of American Business Editors and Writers. He is a two-time finalist for the Gerald Loeb Award, the highest honor in business journalism. Luke holds a bachelor’s degree in journalism from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, and during the 2005-2006 academic year, he was a Knight Science Journalism Fellow at MIT.

Melinda Richter

Melinda Richter, Founder & CEO, Prescience International

Melinda Richter, Founder & CEO, Prescience International

Melinda Richter is the founder and CEO of Prescience International, a firm dedicated to the commercialization of science and technology through consulting on, starting and managing research centers, incubators, foundations and institutes such as the San Jose BioCenter, the San Francisco Innovation Center, the San Diego BioCenter, the Seattle BioCenter, the Environmental Business Cluster (EBC), the UC Berkeley BioExec Institute. Prescience also provides commercialization services to key government research agencies like the National Cancer Institute and the California Energy Commission; in helping get their grantees investment. The San Jose BioCenter model, a science and technology incubator that provides specialized facilities, capital equipment, laboratory support and business development services to life science and cleantech companies, has the 2009 NBIA Randall Whaley Award for Best Incubator of the Year and also the 2009 NBIA Technology Incubator of the Year Award. In that regard, the BioCenter has become the best-practice model for many entities that wish to capitalize on innovation, ranging from economic development agencies to big corporate players. Ms. Richter currently sits on the governing board of the National Business Incubation Association and the boards of University of California Berkeley’s Haas School of Business BioExec Institute and San Jose State University’s Masters of Biotechnology Program. Ms. Richter holds a Bachelor of Commerce from the University of Saskatchewan in Canada and an M.B.A. from INSEAD in France.

Theral Timpson

Theral Timpson, Host & Producer, Mendelspod

Theral Timpson, Host & Producer, Mendelspod

Theral Timpson is the host and producer of Mendelspod, where he interviews the thought leaders of the life science industry covering the latest trends and issues. He has 15 years experience establishing and growing companies in life science. Prior to Mendelspod, he founded Theral Timpson Productions, offering marketing and business development consulting. His past experience includes Vice President of Marketing at Medax International, President and Co-Founder of Consumer Genetics. Theral is an active blogger and speaker in the life science space. He received training from the E. Goldratt Institute in Theory of Constraints and holds a B.A. degree in English Literature from the University of Utah.

Track 3 Speakers

Andrew Kurtz

Andrew Kurtz, Ph.D., Program Director, National Cancer Institute SBIR Center

Andrew Kurtz, Ph.D., Program Director, National Cancer Institute SBIR Center

Dr. Kurtz has been a Program Director in the Small Business Innovation Research Development Center at the National Cancer Institute. His management portfolio includes projects focused on early-stage cancer drug development, including small molecules, biologics, and novel multifunctional therapeutics based on nanotechnology. Previously, Dr. Kurtz was an AAAS Science and Technology Policy Fellow at the NIH, during which time he served on the management team of The Cancer Genome Atlas Pilot Project. Dr. Kurtz received a PhD in Biochemistry & Molecular Biology from The University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston.

Greg Chin

Greg Chin, Partner, Jones Day

Greg Chin, Partner, Jones Day

Greg represents public and private emerging growth companies. Greg's transactional experience includes (i) numerous public securities offerings, including the IPO's of Alexza, Anacor, Codexis, Complete Genomics and MAP Pharmaceuticals, (ii) mergers and acquisitions, including the sales of Plexxikon and KAI Pharmaceuticals, and (iii) hundreds of venture capital financings on behalf of entrepreneurs and investors. Greg also regularly advises on corporate governance and securities disclosure matters. Although Greg represents a broad range of technology companies, a substantial majority of his clients are in the life sciences and digital health industries. Prior to attending law school, Greg worked for two years in business development and marketing for an emerging growth semiconductor and internet company in Japan.

Stacy Feld

Stacy Feld, J.D., Partner, Physic Ventures

Stacy Feld, J.D., Partner, Physic Ventures

Stacy Feld, J.D., is a Partner at Physic Ventures. Stacy focuses on personalized health solutions to improve and transform care for the health consumer. Specifically, Stacy is interested in life science opportunities offering more precise prevention, diagnosis, and treatment of chronic disease. She is on the board of T2 Biosystems and an observer on the boards of On-Q-ity and Own.

Ted Driscoll

Ted Driscoll, Ph.D., Partner, Lead the Digital Healthcare Practice, Claremont Creek Ventures

Ted Driscoll, Ph.D., Partner, Lead the Digital Healthcare Practice, Claremont Creek Ventures

Dr. Ted Driscoll is a Partner at Claremont Creek Ventures, where he leads the Digital Healthcare investment team. He has also been an active angel investor in the Life Science Angels, HealthTech Capital, and a founding director of the Sand Hill Angels. Prior to his venture capital experience, Ted helped found five successful companies in imaging-related markets. He was founder and CEO of Be Here Technologies, a pioneer in Internet, Broadcast and Videoconferencing technologies. He served as a Division President and CTO of Diasonics, with responsibility for its MRI, ultrasound, digital X-ray, lithotripsy and acoustic ablation technology areas. He had earlier directed the Diasonics technology team that developed the first commercial MRI scanners and numerous advances in MR imaging. Previously, Ted was also Vice President of Engineering and R&D of Identix, now a division of a world leader in fingerprint and face recognition; and Director of R&D at International Imaging Systems, an early pioneer in remote sensing. His research and patents in ultrasound therapy and acoustic hemostasis also led to the founding of another company, Therus, now partnered with Boston Scientific. Ted holds a PhD from Stanford University in Digital Imaging, Masters degrees from Harvard University in Computer Graphics and Remote Sensing and a Bachelor's degree from the University of Pennsylvania. Ted holds 40+ granted US and foreign patents in image-related fields, with approximately 30 additional pending applications. Investment Portfolio: Natera, Geneweave Biosciences, Tibion, AssureRx, GigaGen, ZipLine Medical, CureUs, Fluxion.

TOP 3 Competition Judges

Beth Seidenberg

Beth Seidenberg, M.D., Partner, Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers

Beth Seidenberg, M.D., Partner, Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers

Dr. Beth Seidenberg is a partner at Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers focused on life science investing. She works with entrepreneurs to develop companies with breakthrough technology for treating patients and improving health. Since joining KPCB in 2005, Beth has incubated five companies and was the founding CEO of two: Arresto (sold to Gilead in 2011), focused on antibody therapeutics for cancer and fibrosis; 3-V Biosciences, focused on therapeutics for infectious diseases; Auxogyn, focused on device and diagnostics for in-vitro fertilization; Epizyme, focused on therapeutics based on epigenetic targets; and iPierian, focused on drug discovery for neurodegenerative disorders using induced pluripotent stem cells (iPS). Beth serves on the board of directors of 3-V Biosciences, Auxogyn, Breathe Technologies, Epizyme, iPierian, Redbrick Health and TESARO. Before joining KPCB, Beth was senior vice president of development and chief medical officer of Amgen, Inc. Earlier in her career, she was a senior executive in research and development at Bristol-Myers Squibb Co. and Merck & Co., Inc. Under her leadership, 10 innovative products were developed and marketed globally and achieved more than 40 regulatory approvals. Beth is the chairman and founder of NVCA-MedIC coalition, which focuses on FDA reform, and she is an advocate for fast and safe access to innovative products. She also serves on the foundation board at the Gladstone Institute and the Stanford Coulter Foundation oversight committee. Beth grew up in New York and received her B.S. degree from Barnard College and her M.D. from the University of Miami. She completed her post-graduate training at Johns Hopkins University, George Washington University and the National Institutes of Health.

Diego Miralles

Diego Miralles, M.D., Head, Janssen Research & Development and Janssen Healthcare Innovation

Diego Miralles, M.D., Head, Janssen Research & Development and Janssen Healthcare Innovation

Dr. Diego Miralles is the management sponsor of Janssen Labs as part of his role as site head of the Janssen West Coast Research Center, part of Janssen Research & Development LLC. He oversees the business and operational management of Janssen Labs including the initial concept development, site construction, business model architecting, and company selection criteria. Miralles is also Head of Janssen Healthcare Innovation (JHI), a newly created team within Janssen R&D. JHI is actively testing and launching more than a dozen new business models. The team is focused on enhancing the value of our existing pharmaceutical business by identifying and integrating emerging technologies and novel partnerships in the following areas – clinical trials, adherence and genomics. The team is also identifying business opportunities in newly created markets such as innovative financing of healthcare, optimizing healthcare delivery and health maintenance. Miralles currently serves as an adjunct full professor in the Pharmacology department at the University of California, San Diego and is on the Board of Rady Children’s Hospital. His background includes over 13 years in the healthcare industry and 12 years in the hospital and academic worlds. Prior to heading the West Coast Research Center he was involved in the development of several drugs that made it to the market, including FTC, T-20, Prezista, Intellence and Edurant. He has extensive experience in clinical research, mostly in the HIV/AIDS space, including work on antiviral drug development at Belgium’s Tibotec BVBA, Trimeris, Inc, and Triangle Pharmaceuticals. Miralles was previously on the faculty at Duke University, Durham, NC, where he had a clinical HIV practice after serving as attending in charge at The AIDS Clinical Trial Unit, Beth Israel Medical Center, NY. He completed his fellowship in Infectious Diseases at Cornell University-New York Hospital after a residency in Internal Medicine at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, MN. He graduated from the University Of Buenos Aires School Of Medicine in 1986.

Warren H. Hogarth

Warren H. Hogarth, Partner, Sequoia Capital

Warren H. Hogarth, Partner, Sequoia Capital

Warren H. Hogarth focuses on bioinformatics, SAAS and energy companies. He is a Director of Silicon Valley Biosystems and FutureAdvisor and a Board Observer of AssureRx, C12 Energy and SunRun. Prior to joining Sequoia Capital in 2008, Warren completed his Ph.D. in Chemical Engineering from the University of Queensland in Australia, during which time he was a Fulbright Scholar at Princeton University and a Guest Scientist at the Fraunhofer Institute in Germany. In addition to his Ph.D., Warren has an M.B.A. from Harvard Business School and a B.E. and B.Comm. from the University of Queensland.

VIP Reception Opening Words

Vishal Sikka

Vishal Sikka, Ph.D., Member of the Executive Board, CTO, SAP AG

Vishal Sikka, Ph.D., Member of the Executive Board, CTO, SAP AG

Dr. Vishal Sikka is member of the Executive Board of SAP AG and the Global Managing Board, heading technology and innovation for the company. Sikka has responsibility for technology and platform products, including database and technology especially the industry break-through in-memory database - SAP HANA, as well as analytics, mobile, application platform and middleware. He drives emerging technologies and advanced development for the SAP next-generation technology platform, applications and tools. He also oversees key technology partnerships, customer co-innovation, and incubation of emerging businesses. He has global responsibility for the SAP Research organization, academic and government relations. In addition, Sikka has been chief technology officer (CTO) of SAP since 2007, responsible for the overall technology, architecture and product standards across the entire SAP product portfolio. Sikka is the author of “Timeless Software,” which underpins the SAP architecture and innovation strategy. Sikka holds a doctorate in computer science from Stanford University in California, and his experience includes research in artificial intelligence, programming models and automatic programming, and information management and integration – at Stanford, at Xerox Palo Alto Labs, and as founder of two startup companies.

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