Julie Louise Gerberding, M.D., M.P.H., is the President and CEO of the Foundation for the National Institutes of Health (FNIH), a non-profit organization that builds large public-private-patient biomedical research partnerships in support of the NIH mission.

She directed the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) from 2002-2009 and led the agency through more than 40 public health emergencies, including SARS, avian influenza, and numerous natural disasters.

She is a globally recognized infectious diseases expert whose multi-sector career trajectory spans senior leadership roles in academia as a tenured faculty member at the University of California, San Francisco, government service, President of Merck Vaccines, and Executive Vice President and Chief Patient Officer at Merck & Co., Inc.

She currently co-chairs the Center for Strategic International Studies (CSIS) Bipartisan Alliance for Global Health Security.

Her board service includes McKesson, Mayo Clinic, Case Western Reserve University, Research!America, National Health Council, and several biotech companies.

Dr. Gerberding is a member of the National Academy of Medicine and the adjunct faculties of the University of California, San Francisco, and Case Western Reserve University.

She is the recipient of many honorary degrees, most recently at Baylor College of Medicine, and has received many accolades, including recognition by Time Magazine as one of the most influential people in America and by Fortune Magazine’s Most Powerful Women list.

Since becoming MIT’s 18th president in January 2023, Sally Kornbluth has rallied the community to help solve the great challenges of our time.

She and her leadership team created the Climate Project at MIT to develop technological, behavioral and policy solutions to respond to the multiple challenges of global climate change. She has also intensified MIT’s efforts to help make sure that AI is broadly beneficial for society, launched MIT HEALS, a new initiative to inspire, accelerate and deliver solutions to the world’s most urgent health challenges, and introduced an MIT-wide effort aimed at helping make manufacturing more productive, resilient and sustainable.

In a time of ongoing challenges to the Institute’s mission, she is focused on ensuring that the vital work of the people of MIT continues.

A cancer biologist, Kornbluth joined the Duke University faculty in 1994, and by 2005 had risen to full professor. She stepped into administration the following year as vice dean for basic science at the Duke School of Medicine and in 2014 became the university’s provost. She is a member of the National Academy of Medicine and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.

Steven M. Paul, M.D. is the Founder and Chair of the Board of both Seaport Therapeutics and Rapport Therapeutics and a Venture Partner at Third Rock Ventures. Dr. Paul is the former President and CEO of Karuna Therapeutics (now Bristol Myers Squibb), a biotechnology company developing medicines for schizophrenia, Alzheimer’s disease and pain. He is also a co-founder and former board member of Sage Therapeutics and Voyager Therapeutics.

Dr. Paul was the Founding Director of the Appel Alzheimer’s Disease Research Institute at Weill Cornell Medical College, as well as professor of neuroscience, psychiatry and pharmacology.

He is currently a professor of neurology and psychiatry at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis.

Dr. Paul spent 17 years at Eli Lilly and Company, during which time he served in several key leadership roles, including Executive Vice President of Science and Technology and President of the Lilly Research Laboratories. Prior to Lilly, Dr. Paul served as a Laboratory/Branch Chief and the Scientific Director of the National Institute of Mental Health.

Dr. Paul has authored or co-authored more than 600 papers and book chapters. He is an elected fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science and a member of the National Academy of Medicine.

Dr. Paul is the chairman of the board of the Foundation for the National Institutes of Health.

Dr. Paul received his bachelor’s degree in biology and psychology from Tulane University, and his M.S. and M.D. degrees from Tulane University School of Medicine.

As Executive Vice President, Innovative Medicine, R&D and Johnson & Johnson (J&J) Executive Committee member, John’s mission is to focus the best research and development teams in the world at the intersection of unmet medical need and innovation to change the trajectory of human health. A biomedical research leader with a distinguished career across nonprofit, academia, and industry, John encourages a culture that is fast-paced and open to reimagining how life-saving medicines are discovered, developed and delivered. Employing multiple drug modalities, John’s team works across a wide range of areas, including oncology, immunology, neuroscience and select disease areas where there's high unmet need.

Prior to joining Johnson & Johnson in April 2023, John held executive leadership positions at Sanofi and Roche, serving on their respective executive committees. He served as CEO of Sanford-Burnham Medical Research Institute (now Sanford Burnham Prebys) where he established multiple therapeutic area-aligned research centers and platform technology centers. John has authored more than 900 research publications and holds more than 130 patents. He was recognized among the top 10 most cited researchers in life sciences and medicine and still ranks among the world’s top 100 most highly cited scientists. He is a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science and the recipient of many honors and awards.

An accomplished scientist and leader, John holds a Bachelor of Arts in Chemistry from the University of Virginia, Charlottesville and an M.D. and Ph.D. (Immunology) from the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine.

Joni L. Rutter, Ph.D., is the director of the National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences (NCATS) at the National Institutes of Health (NIH).

She oversees the planning and execution of the Center’s complex, multifaceted programs that aim to overcome scientific and operational barriers impeding the development and delivery of new treatments and other health solutions.

Under her direction, NCATS supports innovative tools and strategies to make each step in the translational process more effective and efficient, thus speeding research across a range of diseases, with a particular focus on rare diseases.

By advancing the science of translation, NCATS helps to turn promising research discoveries into real-world applications that improve people’s health.

In her prior role as the NCATS deputy director, Rutter collaborated with colleagues from government, academia, industry, and nonprofit patient organizations to establish robust interactions with NCATS programs.

During her career, Dr. Rutter has earned a national and international reputation for her diverse and unique expertise via her journal publications and has received several scientific achievement awards, including the 2022 Rare Disease Legislative Advocates, RareVoice Award–Federal Advocacy and the 2022 FedHealthIT–Women in Leadership Impact Award.

Rutter received her doctorate from the Department of Pharmacology and Toxicology, Dartmouth Medical School, Hanover, New Hampshire, and completed a fellowship at the National Cancer Institute within the Division of Cancer Epidemiology and Genetics.

Mikael Dolsten recently retired from Pfizer Inc after a 16-year tenure as Chief Scientific Officer and President of Pfizer Research & Development, where he oversaw the regulatory approval of over 36 medicines and vaccines, while advancing more than 150 drug candidates into clinical studies. He championed breakthrough innovations across small-molecule medicines, biotherapeutics, gene therapies, and vaccines and played a leading role in the global response to the COVID pandemic. Currently, he serves as Chair of the Prix Galien Bridges Committee and Member of the Prix Galien USA Committee.

His leadership experience includes serving as President of Wyeth Research, Executive Vice President and Head of Worldwide Research at Boehringer Ingelheim, and Global VP at AstraZeneca, managing cardiovascular, metabolic, and gastrointestinal R&D. Earlier, he led R&D at Astra Draco (pulmonary & inflammation) and headed Immunology-Oncology research at Pharmacia, Sweden. During his 30+ years as an R&D leader, he has been connected to some 50 drug and vaccine approvals and several hundreds of novel candidate drugs transiting to clinical studies. Dr. Dolsten has VC experience from work with Orbimed, ATP, and Pfizer venture groups and has been involved in numerous small and large corporate business transactions exceeding $100B in size.

He currently sits on the public boards of Agilent Technologies, Novo Nordisk and Rocket Pharmaceuticals. He also serves as chairman, board member, or advisor of several private Biotechs, including Orbis Medicine, Fair Journey Biologics, ImmuneAi, Arbor Biotechnologies, Orogen Therapeutics, and ChAI discovery. He is investment advisor to Blackstone Life Sciences, GV (legacy Google Ventures), Bais & Co, and Formation Bio. His supervisory affiliations include the Scripps Research Institute, the Foundation for the NIH, Research America and membership in The Royal Swedish Academy of Engineering Sciences. Dr. Dolsten has advised Obama, Biden, and Trump administrations in public health initiatives, and the UK Government’s G7 leadership for pandemic responses.

With over 160 scientific publications and numerous patents, Dr. Dolsten holds both a Ph.D. in Tumor Immunology and an M.D. from the University of Lund, Sweden, where he serves as a Visiting Professor.

Dr. Cedric Francois, MD, PhD is the visionary Co-Founder and CEO of Apellis Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ: APLS), which he and his cofounders built from the ground up from novel scientific concept to a life-changing pipeline, and successfully navigated through development, rapid team growth, public listing, and recently, commercialization.

Prior to co-founding our company, Cedric co-founded Potentia Pharmaceuticals, a private biotechnology company, which transacted with Alcon Research Ltd in 2009.

Cedric received his MD degree from the University of Leuven in Belgium and his PhD degree in physiology from the University of Louisville. Following postgraduate training in pediatric and transplant surgery, Cedric joined the research team that performed the first successful hand transplantation in Louisville in 1999.

Mr. Lee joined Pacira as Chief Executive Officer and member of the Board of Directors in January 2024. An accomplished biopharmaceutical leader, Mr. Lee brings thirty years of global experience and a strong track record of product development and commercial success across both small biotech and large pharmaceutical organizations. He most recently served as Chief Executive Officer and member of the Board of Directors of publicly traded Forma Therapeutics from March 2019 until its acquisition by Novo Nordisk in October 2022. During his tenure at Forma, Mr. Lee transformed the organization from an early-stage drug discovery company into one focused on the clinical development of lead assets in rare hematologic disorders and cancer.

Prior to Forma, Mr. Lee served as Senior Vice President, Global Product Strategy and Therapeutic Area Head for Immunology, Ophthalmology and Infectious Diseases at Genentech, a member of the Roche Group. He was responsible for driving the global development and commercialization strategy for the late-stage portfolio and the in-line business. Mr. Lee’s 13-year tenure at Genentech included leadership positions of increasing scope and responsibility focused on delivering transformative medicines to patients and driving the growth of multiple products in oncology, immunology, and ophthalmology to blockbuster/multi-blockbuster status.

Prior to Genentech, Mr. Lee spent approximately 13 years across Novartis, Janssen, and Eli Lilly. He received a Bachelor of Science degree in Chemical Engineering from Vanderbilt University and an MBA from the Wharton Graduate School of Business. Mr. Lee currently serves as a Director of Bausch Health Companies, Inc. (NYSE: BHC) and as an Advisor to Lightstone Ventures.

Judy Lieberman, MD, PhD holds an Endowed Chair in Cellular and Molecular Medicine at Boston Children’s Hospital and is Professor of Pediatrics at Harvard.

Her laboratory has been in the forefront of developing RNAi-based therapeutics and using RNAi for genome-wide screening. They were the first to show that siRNAs could be used to treat disease in vivo and to develop cell-targeted RNAs that knock down gene expression in vivo in immune cells and cancer.

She is currently developing methods for tumor-targeted gene knockdown or editing for cancer immunotherapy.

The Lieberman laboratory also identified the mechanism behind inflammatory death (pyroptosis) triggered by pathogens and intracellular danger signals.

Recent work identified important roles for pyroptosis in anti-tumor immunity, sepsis, SARS-CoV-2, Yersinia, and Group A streptococcal infection, and neurodegeneration. Her lab also studies the role of killer lymphocytes in immune protection from infection and cancer, focusing on molecular pathways used to kill mammalian cells and microbes.

She was the first to describe CD8 T cell exhaustion in humans (the basis for current checkpoint blockade therapies) and to do clinical studies of antigen-specific T cell immunotherapy.

Dr. Lieberman is a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, the National Academy of Sciences and the National Academy of Medicine and is a recipient of the 2022 William B. Coley Award for Distinguished Research in Basic and Tumor Immunology.

Rob Lin is CEO of Avista Therapeutics. He was Founding CEO of BlueSphere Bio and currently serves on the board of directors of BlueSphere Bio, Avista Therapeutics, and VegaVect, Inc.

Previously, he was Vice President of Translational Science at UPMC Enterprises. He has also been CFO of Phlebotics and Vice President of Finance at the International Diseases Research Institute.

Prior to that he led the finance and strategy team for the Global Health Program at the Gates Foundation and held strategy positions at Millennium Pharmaceuticals (now Takeda Oncology) and Dean and Company.

He is a CFA Charterholder and previous Term Member of the Council on Foreign Relations. Dr. Lin earned a PhD in Genetics and an MMSc at Harvard University, as well as an MS in Chemical Engineering and a BS in Biological Sciences from Stanford University.

Dr. Devyn Smith brings significant cell and gene therapy development and platform expertise from his 20+ year career.

Devyn joined Arbor Biotechnologies as Chief Executive Officer on April 27, 2021 after concluding his role as Chief Operating Officer of Sigilon Therapeutics.

Prior to Sigilon, Dr. Smith worked in a variety of roles at Pfizer Inc., including COO of the UK-based Neusentis Unit focused on discovering and developing cell therapies.

He received his Ph.D. in Genetics from Harvard Medical School. He is an inventor on multiple patents and has published in leading scientific journals throughout his career.

Dr. Smith is a board member and officer for ARM (Alliance for Regenerative Medicine), the cell and gene therapy industry group.

Dr. Michael Rosenblatt’s career has been in academia, pharma and biotech/venture. He is a physician-scientist, now advising biotech and pharma companies, as well as serving on boards. He serves on the Harvard University Board of Overseers.

Currently he is an advisory partner at Ascenta Capital and senior advisor to Bain Capital Life Sciences and Flagship Pioneering. He is also Co-Chair of the Galien Forum and Chair of the Prix Galien USA Awards Committee. Previously, he was Chief Medical Officer of Flagship Pioneering, a Cambridge, MA-based firm that creates innovative biotech companies (Moderna is an example). Before that, he was Merck’s Chief Medical Officer. He also served as Dean of Tufts University School of Medicine, and prior to that, Robert Ebert Professor of Molecular Medicine and George R. Minot Professor at Harvard Medical School. He was President of Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center and Director of the Harvard-MIT Division of Health Sciences and Technology.

He graduated summa cum laude from Columbia and received his M.D. magna cum laude from Harvard. Internship, residency, and endocrinology training were all at the Massachusetts General Hospital.

As Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Albert Bourla leads Pfizer in its purpose, “Breakthroughs that change patients’ lives,” with a focus on driving scientific and commercial innovation to transform human health.

After taking on the role of CEO in January 2019, he accelerated Pfizer’s transformation to become a more science-driven company – divesting its non-science-based businesses and increasing its R&D and technology budgets. To create a culture where the company’s people and science thrive, Albert and his leadership team established Pfizer’s Purpose Blueprint, which includes four core values: Courage, Excellence, Equity and Joy.

Albert is a Doctor of Veterinary Medicine and holds a Ph.D. in the Biotechnology of Reproduction from the Veterinary School of Aristotle University. He is a Genesis Prize Laureate and has received additional recognition, including the American Association of Cancer Research’s Outstanding Achievement Award for Service to Cancer Science and Medicine and the Courage Against Hate Award from the Anti-Defamation League. He was named among Time’s 100 Most Influential People in Health and CEO of the Year by CNN Business.

Albert is Chair of the Board of Directors for both the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America (PhRMA) and the Pfizer Foundation, and Co-Chair of the Board of Directors for the Partnership for New York City.

Albert can be found on X at @AlbertBourla and on LinkedIn.

Joel S. Marcus, JD, CPA, is Executive Chairman and Founder of Alexandria Real Estate Equities, Inc. (NYSE: ARE), a real estate investment trust (REIT) that pioneered life science real estate and transformed it from a specialty niche to a mainstream asset class. Alexandria is the preeminent, largest, and longest-tenured owner, operator, and developer uniquely focused on collaborative Megacampus™ ecosystems in AAA life science innovation cluster locations. Since co-founding Alexandria in 1994 as a garage startup with $19 million in Series A capital, he has led its remarkable growth into an S&P 500 company that has become the leading REIT focused on the life science industry, with a total market capitalization of $25.7 billion and an operating asset base of approximately 40 million square feet as of June 30, 2025.

Mr. Marcus also leads Alexandria Venture Investments, the company’s strategic venture capital platform, which he founded in 1996. Some of his most notable early-stage investments include Alnylam Pharmaceuticals, Google, and Intra-Cellular Therapies. With approximately $1.5 billion under management, Alexandria Venture Investments actively invests in disruptive life science companies that are advancing transformative new modalities, platforms, and innovative medicines to meaningfully improve human health.

Mr. Marcus introduced Alexandria’s thought leadership vertical in 2011 when he co-founded the renowned Alexandria Summit®, a highly collaborative, neutral platform that explores important issues facing human health and leverages its powerful collective voice to foster impactful collaborations and shape policy. He also leads Alexandria’s corporate responsibility initiatives, which aim to address some of the nation’s most urgent challenges, including the mental health crisis.

Mr. Marcus serves on the boards of several biotechnology companies and non-profits, including the Emily Krzyzewski Center, National Medal of Honor Museum, Navy SEAL Foundation, Office of Strategic Services Society, and TOPGUN Association. He served on the board of directors of Intra-Cellular Therapies from 2006 until its acquisition by Johnson & Johnson in 2025. Mr. Marcus received his undergraduate and Juris Doctor degrees from the University of California, Los Angeles.

Lynne Zydowsky, PhD, Chief of Science of Alexandria Real Estate Equities, Inc./Alexandria Venture Investments, President and Co-Founder of the Alexandria Summit, and President of Zydowsky Consultants, is an experienced executive in the life science industry who has been involved in the launching and building of several successful companies. With over 25 years of experience, Dr. Zydowsky has played key roles in corporate development, operations, and finance. She is a long-standing advocate for biomedical research and the advancement of global health.

In 2003, Dr. Zydowsky founded Zydowsky Consultants, a consulting practice offering services to life science companies. Prior to that, Dr. Zydowsky was Co-Founder and Chief Operating Officer of Renovis, Inc. (now Evotec) and served as Vice President of Pharmaceutical Business Development at Exelixis, Inc. As part of their executive management teams, she contributed to the growth and development of both companies, which led to their initial public offerings.

In 2011, Dr. Zydowsky, along with Mr. Joel Marcus and Ms. Deeda Blair, co-founded the Alexandria Summit. The neutral, interactive platform convenes a diverse group of visionary stakeholders for transformative discussions and collaborations that help drive the discovery and development of novel, cost-effective therapies; shape policy to advance innovation that saves lives and cures disease; and inspire new ways of addressing the urgent need to transform our healthcare system.

Dr. Zydowsky currently serves on the Board of Directors for the Reagan-Udall Foundation for the FDA (since October 2018); the Board of Trustees for Butler University (since September 2016); and the board of two private animal health companies.

Dr. Zydowsky is personally engaged in critical philanthropic efforts as a member of the Global Board for the international non-profit buildOn, an organization focused on breaking the cycle of poverty, illiteracy, and low expectations through its after-school programs for urban teens based on changing lives and communities through service locally and globally.

Dr. Zydowsky earned her PhD in Chemistry from The Ohio State University and was a National Institutes of Health postdoctoral fellow in the Department of Biological Chemistry and Molecular Pharmacology at Harvard Medical School. She has a Bachelor of Science degree in Pharmacy from Butler University.

Dan Skovronsky is the chief scientific officer of Eli Lilly and Company and serves as Lilly’s executive vice president of science and technology. Dan is also president of Lilly Research Laboratories and president of Lilly Immunology, as well as has responsibility for global business development.

Dan joined Lilly in 2010 when the company acquired Avid Radiopharmaceuticals Inc., where he had been CEO since founding the company in 2004. At Lilly, he has held various leadership roles, including chief medical officer; vice president, tailored therapeutics; vice president, diabetes research; and senior vice president, clinical and product development.

Dan completed his residency training in pathology and fellowship training in neuropathology at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania. He received his M.D. from the Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania, in 2001, and his Ph.D. in neuroscience from University of Pennsylvania in 2000. Dan earned a Bachelor of Science in molecular biophysics and biochemistry from Yale University in 1994.

Dr. Michael Rosenblatt’s career has been in academia, pharma and biotech/venture. He is a physician-scientist, now advising biotech and pharma companies, as well as serving on boards. He serves on the Harvard University Board of Overseers.

Currently he is an advisory partner at Ascenta Capital and senior advisor to Bain Capital Life Sciences and Flagship Pioneering. He is also Co-Chair of the Galien Forum and Chair of the Prix Galien USA Awards Committee. Previously, he was Chief Medical Officer of Flagship Pioneering, a Cambridge, MA-based firm that creates innovative biotech companies (Moderna is an example). Before that, he was Merck’s Chief Medical Officer. He also served as Dean of Tufts University School of Medicine, and prior to that, Robert Ebert Professor of Molecular Medicine and George R. Minot Professor at Harvard Medical School. He was President of Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center and Director of the Harvard-MIT Division of Health Sciences and Technology.

He graduated summa cum laude from Columbia and received his M.D. magna cum laude from Harvard. Internship, residency, and endocrinology training were all at the Massachusetts General Hospital.

Pratap was elected CEO of ZS in July 2021. Prior to this, he led the firm’s global pharmaceuticals practice for nine years, as well as a practice focused on the dynamics of healthcare ecosystems. He founded and led its advanced data science capability track, which focuses on AI. He has also served on ZS’s board of directors since 2012.

Pratap has advised numerous leading companies in the pharmaceutical and healthcare industries on a wide range of issues, including market access and managed care, using AI across the pharmaceutical value chain, marketing mix, sales force strategy and incentive compensation. More recently, his work has focused on developing effective strategies and analytics for changing customers in the new healthcare ecosystem.

A recognized healthcare industry expert, Pratap regularly contributes his insights to publications including The Wall Street Journal, Bloomberg Businessweek, Business Insider, Fortune, Medical Marketing & Media, NPR, Pharmaceutical Executive and others. His thought leadership work focuses on topics as diverse as healthcare policy; life sciences companies’ new commercial and organizational models; and the evolving relationships between patients, providers and payers and the life sciences organizations that serve them.

Pratap holds a Ph.D. in artificial intelligence from the University of California, Berkeley and a B.Tech from the Indian Institute of Technology Delhi. He also serves as a Trustee of the Virtua Health System in New Jersey and chairs its Innovation committee.

Rob Davis is chairman of the board and chief executive officer of Merck. Previously, Rob served as Merck’s president, responsible for the company’s operating divisions — Human Health, Animal Health, Manufacturing and Merck Research Laboratories. Prior to that, he was executive vice president, Global Services, and the company’s chief financial officer.

Rob joined the company as chief financial officer in 2014 with additional responsibility for real estate operations, corporate strategy and business development. In 2016, his role was expanded to include responsibility for information technology and procurement, forming Global Services. He became president in April 2021, CEO and a member of the board of directors on July 1, 2021, and chairman of the board on December 1, 2022.

Prior to joining Merck, Rob was corporate vice president and president of Baxter’s medical products business. During his tenure at Baxter, he held several other positions, including president of Baxter’s renal business, chief financial officer and treasurer. Before joining Baxter in 2004, Rob held numerous positions of increasing responsibility over 14 years at Eli Lilly and Company.

Rob serves on the board of directors for Duke Energy Corporation, one of America’s largest energy holding companies, and is chair of its finance and risk management committee and a member of the corporate governance committee. In addition, Rob is a member of the Northwestern Law Board at the Northwestern University Pritzker School of Law. He is also a board member of Project HOPE, a nonprofit organization focused on empowering health care workers to deliver expert care when and where it is needed most, and of Catalyst, a global nonprofit that promotes equal access to career opportunities and corporate leadership for women.

Rob received his J.D. from the Northwestern University Pritzker School of Law, his M.B.A. from Northwestern University’s Kellogg Graduate School of Management and his bachelor’s degree in finance from Miami University.

Angela Hwang, CEO-Partner and Chief Executive Officer, joined Flagship Pioneering in 2025 as CEO-Partner of Flagship Pioneering and CEO of Metaphore Biotechnologies. Metaphore’s novel AI drug design platform is creating a new class of highly differentiated functional antibodies directed towards diseases across multiple therapeutic areas.

Angela brings nearly three decades of experience from Pfizer where she held various leadership roles, including most recently as a member of Pfizer’s executive leadership team, serving as Chief Commercial Officer and President of the Global Biopharmaceuticals Business. During her tenure, Angela’s teams brought nearly 600 critical therapies in oncology, internal medicine, rare diseases, inflammation and immunology, vaccines and hospital injectables to patients across 185 countries. She has led many groundbreaking product launches during her career, including the world’s first COVID-19 vaccine and oral antiviral treatment, and executed dozens of business development deals to grow and expand Pfizer’s portfolio.

Angela currently serves on the Board of Directors of UPS. She is also on Cornell’s Johnson Graduate School of Management’s Advisory Committee and is a board member of Connecticut Innovations, Connecticut’s state venture capital fund.

Consistently recognized for her leadership, she has been ranked among the world’s top leaders in healthcare and business. In 2024, Angela was selected by CNBC as a Changemaker in Business. In 2023, she was recognized as an Ascend A-list Honoree for her professional achievements as an Asian American leader. Fortune named her as one of The Most Powerful Women in Business four years in a row from 2020 to 2023. Cornell University named her a Robert S. Hatfield Economic Fellow in 2022. In 2021, she received The President’s Award from the National Diversity Council and was also named an A100 Honoree which recognizes the most impactful AAPI leaders.

Angela received a BS in Microbiology from the University of Cape Town and an MBA from Cornell University.

Thomas Schinecker, PhD, is CEO of the Roche Group and President of the International Federation of Pharmaceutical Manufacturers & Associations (IFPMA). He began his career at Roche in 2003 as part of a management development program, followed by various roles across six countries and three continents.

Throughout his time at Roche, he has been Head of Marketing and Sales in Austria, Lifecycle Leader for Diagnostics’ Sequencing Solutions and General Manager of Roche Diagnostics in Sweden as well as in Germany. For two years, he led Roche Diagnostics’ largest business unit, including Research and Development, before taking over the Diagnostics Division, which he led from October 2019 to December 2022. He is also Member of the Labor Berlin (Charité and Vivantes) innovation board, member of the foundation boards at IMD Business School and the Lucerne Festival, and he serves as Chair of the Biopharmaceutical CEOs Roundtable (BCR). He is also Member of the board of directors at Chugai Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd.

He began studying genetics at the University of Salzburg, then continued his studies in molecular biology at New York University, where he received his MS and PhD.

George Damis Yancopoulos, M.D., Ph.D. is co-Founder, co-Chairman, President and Chief Scientific Officer of Regeneron, and is widely recognized as one of the most successful entrepreneurs, scientists and drug discoverers/inventors in biotech history.

As an entrepreneur, Dr. Yancopoulos co-founded and built Regeneron – alongside long-time partner Leonard S. Schleifer, M.D., Ph.D. – into one of the world’s premier biotech companies, based on an unprecedented record of bringing important new medicines all the way from discovery to patients.

He and his team invented numerous life-transforming treatments and multiple industry-leading technologies such as the VelocImmune® mouse (with a genetically humanized immune system that can efficiently generate human antibody drug candidates).

Dr. Yancopoulos grew up in New York City, attending public schools and graduating as valedictorian of both the Bronx High School of Science and Columbia University, where he received his M.D. and Ph.D. in Biochemistry and Molecular Biophysics.