With a medical, scientific, and philanthropic career that spans more than 30 years, Dr. Sue Desmond-Hellmann has devoted her life to improving the human condition through innovation.

Most recently, she was the CEO of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, and before that served as the first female and ninth overall chancellor of the University of California at San Francisco (UCSF), overseeing all aspects of the university and medical center's strategy and operations. She had previously completed her oncology clinical training at UCSF in the 1980’s, both in the Bay Area and in Uganda, to work on the emerging HIV/AIDS epidemic and cancer. Dr. Desmond-Hellmann credits this as a turning point in her career – sparking her desire to make a difference.

Before UCSF, she spent 14 years at biotech firm Genentech, where she served as president of product development, leading the development of a number of breakthrough medicines, including two of the first gene-targeted therapies for cancer, Avastin and Herceptin. For her groundbreaking work, Forbes named Dr. Desmond-Hellmann one of the world's seven most "powerful innovators," calling her "a hero to legions of cancer patients." Among numerous accolades and awards, she has been listed among Fortune’s "top 50 most powerful women in business," named to the NonProfit Times’ ‘Power and Influence Top 50’ list, inducted into the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and elected to the Institute of Medicine.

Previously a member of the board of directors at both Facebook and Procter & Gamble, she now serves on the board of directors at Pfizer, OpenAi, is an advisor at GV (formerly Google Ventures), and Lazard. She remains an active volunteer and mentor at UCSF and UC Berkeley. 

Angela Hwang is CEO-Partner of Flagship Pioneering and CEO of Metaphore Biotechnologies. She 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. 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. She currently serves on the Board of Directors of UPS and Connecticut Innovations, Connecticut’s state venture capital fund. She is also on Cornell’s Johnson Graduate School of Management’s Advisory Committee.

Consistently recognized for her leadership, she has been ranked among the world’s top leaders in healthcare and business. In 2024, Ms. Hwang 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.

Lykke Hinsch Gylvin assumed the role of Chief Medical Officer and Head of Medicine at Boehringer Ingelheim in November 2022. She brings more than 20 years of strategic medical leadership experience in Global, US and affiliate roles across all phases of drug development, driving innovation across the pharmaceutical value chain, from early-stage development to post-approval lifecycle management.

She has broad disease area expertise within immunology, respiratory, ophthalmology, neuroscience and metabolism incl. rare diseases. Before joining Boehringer Ingelheim, Lykke has held senior roles at AstraZeneca, Roche and Novartis. Her journey also includes executive leadership in global and regional medical affairs, with a focus on advancing patient-centric solutions and scientific excellence.

Nick Leschly is a biotechnology executive and entrepreneur with over two decades of leadership experience advancing transformative therapies for patients.

He is Founder and CEO of Atida Bio and Chair and Co-Founder of Altido Therapeutics.

Previously, he was CEO of bluebird bio where he led the company for 12+ years, scaling it from an early-stage gene therapy startup to a publicly traded leader in cell and gene therapies. He subsequently guided the spin-out of 2seventy bio, an oncology-focused cell therapy company later acquired by Bristol Myers Squibb.

Earlier in his career, he was a founding partner at Third Rock Ventures and held drug development roles at Millennium Pharmaceuticals.

He holds a B.S. in molecular biology from Princeton and an MBA from the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School. He is a board member of Rethink Foods in NYC and The CEPIA School in Costa Rica.

Alex founded the Mark Cuban Cost Plus Drug Company after being incensed by the skyrocketing costs of generic drugs for his patients.

He graduated from the University of Colorado at Boulder at the age of 18 with a BA in Biochemistry, then went on to earn an MD at the Duke University School of Medicine and a PhD (DPhil Oxon) at Oxford University in Mathematics as a Marshall Scholar.

Alex completed a surgical internship at the Brigham and Women’s Hospital / Harvard Medical School and held a residency in diagnostic radiology, as well as a fellowship in pediatric radiology at the Johns Hopkins Hospital.

He then served as an adjunct faculty member at the Stanford University School of Medicine and continues to practice as an emergency radiologist.

While in graduate school, Alex founded Altitude Medical, a startup dedicated to reducing the rates of nosocomial diseases in hospitals.

John F. Crowley is the President and CEO of the Biotechnology Innovation Organization (BIO), the premier biotechnology advocacy organization representing biotech companies, industry leaders, and state biotech associations in the United States and more than 35 countries around the globe.

He was previously the Founder and Executive Chairman of Amicus Therapeutics, where he also served as CEO from 2005 to 2022. John’s decades of biotech experience and deep passion for the field have made him a strong supporter of policies that empower innovation, enable entrepreneurship, and put people and patients first.

His involvement with biotechnology stems from the 1998 diagnosis of two of his children with Pompe disease, a severe and often fatal neuromuscular disorder. The 2010 major motion picture, Extraordinary Measures, is inspired by the Crowley family journey.

He also served as a commissioned officer in the U.S. Navy Reserve from 2005-2016, including service to multiple arms of U.S. Government. He attended the U.S. Naval Academy and went on to earn a B.S. in Foreign Service from Georgetown University, a JD from the University of Notre Dame Law School, and an MBA from the Harvard Business School.

After earning her Ph.D. in Biochemistry from the University of Cincinnati, Dr. Du joined Pfizer in the United States in the early 1990s. At Pfizer central research, she played a key role in the development of multiple early and late-stage products, two of which received U.S. FDA approval. She also led the scientific efforts of Pfizer’s global metabolic licensing group.

Dr. Du co-founded Hutchison MediPharma (HMP) and Hutchison China MediTech (Chi-Med, now HUTCHMED), serving as CEO and Chief Scientific Officer, respectively. After more than a decade in these roles, she then joined Sequoia Capital China and led several landmark healthcare investment deals and served on multiple public and private boards.

Dr. Du founded Zai Lab in 2014 and took the company public on the NASDAQ in 2017. She is a recipient of numerous global awards and honors.

Maria Freire became Chair of Biogen's Board of Directors in June 2026, having joined the board in 2021. She is also Chair of the company's Corporate Governance Committee and is Founder and Principal of The Freire Group, a strategic advisory firm serving life sciences organizations. She spent nine years as President and Executive Director of the Foundation for the National Institutes of Health, where the Accelerating Medicines Partnership and, in 2020, the ACTIV pandemic response partnership were launched, structures that brought NIH, FDA, CDC, the European Medicines Agency, competing biopharmaceutical companies, foundations, and patient organizations into shared research programs. Before that she was President and CEO of the Global Alliance for TB Drug Development, where the pipeline included pretomanid, now approved for multidrug-resistant tuberculosis.

Dr. Freire has chaired the Science Board of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, served on the WHO Commission on Intellectual Property Rights, Innovation and Public Health, and was appointed to the UN Secretary-General's High-Level Panel on Access to Medicines. She serves on the boards of Alexandria Real Estate Equities and Exelixis, and is a member of the National Academy of Medicine and the Council on Foreign Relations. She holds a BS from Universidad Peruana Cayetano Heredia in Lima and a PhD in biophysics from the University of Virginia.

Mr. Paulsen joined the Ferring Board of Directors in July 2021, became Chairman of the Board in July 2023, and was appointed Chief Executive Officer on 1st February 2026.

Since 2020, he has also served as Chairman of Ferring Ventures SA. He is a member of the Harvard Medical School Board of Fellows and Chairman of the Audit and Finance Committee of the State Pension Fund of Georgia.

Additionally, he is Chairman of the International School of Economics at Tbilisi State University, having previously served as Senior Advisor to the Vice Prime Minister of Georgia.

Before joining Ferring, Mr. Paulsen worked at Mars Inc., Coca-Cola and Credit Suisse.

He holds a Master’s degree in Finance from the London School of Economics and Political Science and is a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Management Accountants in the UK.

Andrew Plump is President of R&D at Takeda and serves as a member of the company’s board of directors.

His career spans nearly 30 years in the pharmaceutical industry and academia. He has been recognized for his contributions to the healthcare industry, education and the arts.

He serves on several not-for-profit boards, including the Board of Trustees for the Boston Symphony Orchestra, the Sarnoff Cardiovascular Research Foundation, the Biomedical Science Careers Program and as Chairman of the Board of Directors for the PhRMA Foundation.

Prior to Takeda, Dr. Plump served as head of Research & Translational Medicine, Deputy to the president of R&D at Sanofi, based in Paris, France. Before that, he was Worldwide Cardiovascular Research Head at Merck.

Dr. Plump received his M.D. from the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF), his Ph.D. in cardiovascular genetics and his B.S. from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). He completed a residency in internal medicine and a fellowship in medical genetics at UCSF.

Lieven is a senior partner and leads QuantumBlack, AI by McKinsey, globally and in Europe. A doctor by training, he is a member of our Life Sciences Practice and serves clients across Europe, North America, Asia, and Africa. Lieven has extensive experience in designing and executing ambitious change journeys, with a particular focus on pharmaceutical companies and biotech as well as public health institutions. For many years, he has led McKinsey’s digital and analytics work across the value chain in life sciences, as well as our global team supporting R&D organizations. He has helped some of the world’s most preeminent institutions leverage the full potential of AI and data while fundamentally changing how teams operate, innovate, and collaborate.

Before joining McKinsey, Lieven qualified as a doctor at the Katholieke Universiteit Leuven and completed an MSc and MPhil in neuroscience at Columbia University. He also worked as a fellow with Columbia’s technology transfer office and as an intern with the Belgian Embassy in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

Ramesh Durvasula is the Chief Data Officer and ad interim Chief AI Officer at Roche, where he leads the Roche Digital Technology data organization and the company’s strategic AI initiatives.

Based in Switzerland, Ramesh is responsible for architecting Roche’s global data and AI strategy and overseeing high-impact projects, including the development of pharma’s largest AI factory.

Ramesh joined Roche in early 2026 from Eli Lilly & Company, where he served as Senior Vice President of R&D Tech. While at Lilly, he was the architect of the Research Data Lake, a foundational investment that accelerated the deployment of Generative AI for molecule discovery. His leadership was instrumental in building the industry’s first agentic AI systems and launching TuneLab, a pioneering federated machine learning platform for cross-company data collaboration.

With a career spanning Lilly, Bristol-Myers Squibb and Tripos (now a part of Certara), Ramesh has consistently bridged complex science and digital transformation. He is a recognized advocate for pre-competitive industry collaborations, such as the Pistoia Alliance Chemical Safety Library project.

He holds a PhD in Biochemistry from the University of Virginia.

Daphne Koller is CEO and Founder of insitro, a causal AI therapeutics company focused on discovering and advancing novel, transformative medicines.

Daphne was the Rajeev Motwani Professor of Computer Science at Stanford University, where she served on the faculty for 18 years. She was also the co-CEO and President of Coursera, an online education platform that touched over 150M learners, and the Chief Computing Officer of Calico Labs.

She is the author of over 300 refereed publications with an h-index of over 150. Daphne was recognized as one of TIME Magazine’s 100 most influential people in 2012 and 100 most influential people in AI in 2024.

She received the MacArthur Foundation Fellowship in 2004, the ACM Prize in Computing in 2008, the ACM AAAI Allen Newell Award in 2019, and the AnitaB.org Technical Leadership Abie Award Winner in 2022.

Daphne was inducted into the National Academy of Science in 2023, into the National Academy of Engineering in 2011 and elected a fellow of the American Association for Artificial Intelligence in 2004, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 2014, and the International Society of Computational Biology in 2017.

Alex Zhavoronkov is Founder, CEO and CBO of Insilico Medicine (HKEX:3696), a leading clinical-stage biotechnology company developing next-generation generative AI and automation platforms for drug discovery.

Since 2014, he has invented critical technologies in the field of generative artificial intelligence and reinforcement learning for the generation of novel molecular structures with the desired properties and the generation of synthetic biological and patient data.

Under his leadership, Insilico raised over $530 million in multiple private rounds from expert biotechnology, healthcare, and financial investors, opened R&D centers in 8 countries and regions, and partnered with multiple pharmaceutical, biotechnology, and academic institutions.

Since 2021, the company nominated 33 preclinical candidates, 13 reached clinical stage, and 1 program with a novel target and novel molecule completed Phase IIa in IPF with favorable safety, tolerability and encouraging dose-dependent efficacy.

Since 2012, he has published over 300 peer-reviewed research papers and 3 books. He serves on the advisory or editorial boards of Trends in Molecular Medicine, Aging Research Reviews, Aging, and Frontiers in Genetics, and founded and co-chairs the Annual Aging Research and Drug Discovery.

He is Adjunct Professor of AI at the Buck Institute for Research on Aging.

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, Chief of Science of Alexandria Real Estate Equities, Inc./Alexandria VentureInvestments, 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 30 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, she founded Zydowsky Consultants, offering services to life science companies. Prior to that, she 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 FNIH President’s Leadership Council (since 2026); Board of Directors for the Reagan-Udall Foundation for the FDA (since October 2018); on the board of two private animal health companies, and former Board of Trustees for Butler University.

She is a member of the Global Advisory 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.

Amit Etkin, MD, PhD, is Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Alto Neuroscience, a clinical-stage biotechnology company pioneering precision psychiatry.

He is a trained psychiatrist, neuroscientist, and served on Stanford University’s faculty for over a decade before launching Alto out of his research lab. As a tenured Professor, Dr. Etkin became an international leader in the neuroscience of psychiatric disorders and their treatments, receiving an NIH Director’s Pioneer Award for precision psychiatry work.

He has a proven track record of success with publications in high-impact journals, raising extensive private and public funding, and managing a large and diverse team of scientists, clinicians, and engineers towards a shared scientific vision.

Dr. Etkin took Alto public on the NYSE (ANRO) and also received an EY Entrepreneur of the Year award.

Husseini K. Manji, is Co-Chair of the UK Government’s Mental Health Goals Program and Professor at the University of Oxford, as well as Adjunct Professor at Yale University and Visiting Professor at Duke University.

He previously served as Global Neuroscience R&D Head at Johnson & Johnson, where he oversaw the discovery, development, and/or launch of several transformative treatments for serious neuropsychiatric and neurodegenerative disorders.

He helped pioneer the first novel antidepressant mechanism in more than 60 years and led the work behind the first-ever neuroscience medication to receive FDA Breakthrough Therapy designation. His pipeline/portfolio also advanced several novel MOA
treatments for neuropsychiatric/ neurodegenerative disorders.

Before that, he was Chief of the Laboratory of Molecular Pathophysiology and Director of the Mood and Anxiety Disorders Program at the U.S. National Institutes of Health, then the largest program of its kind in the world. His research centers on disease- and treatment-induced changes in synaptic and neural plasticity in severe neuropsychiatric disorders, with sustained emphasis on translational science and biomarker/treatment development.

Elected to the U.S. National Academy of Medicine, Dr. Manji has chaired/served on the World Dementia Council, WEF Global Future Councils, NIH Novel/Exceptional Technology and Research Advisory Committee, and NAM Neuroscience/ Behavior/ Brain Function/Disorders. He serves on the several Boards/SABs including Harvard University/McLean Hospital, and the Dana Foundation.

His several honors include the National Academy of Medicine International Mental Health Prize, the NIMH Director’s Career Award, and the PhRMA Research & Hope Award. He has authored more than 350 publications.

Mark A. Mintun has led Lilly’s Pain and Neurodegeneration R&D since January of 2018 and assumed his current position over Neuroscience R&D in 2021.

In 2010, Dr. Mintun joined Avid Radiopharmaceuticals, now a wholly owned subsidiary of Eli Lilly & Co., as Chief Medical Officer and became its President in 2014.

Prior to Avid, Dr. Mintun was Professor and Vice-Chair of Radiology at the Mallinckrodt Institute of Radiology at the Washington University School of Medicine, with joint appointments in Psychiatry, Neurology, Bioengineering, and the Anatomy and Neurobiology Departments.

He earned a BS in Chemical Engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1977, received his medical degree in 1981 at Washington University School of Medicine and completed a research fellowship in neurology and residency training in nuclear medicine.

Dr. Mintun has co-authored over 200 research publications that include reports of brain imaging to characterize flow/metabolism relationships, neurotransmitter systems, circuitry for processing affective stimuli and the pathology of neurodegenerative diseases.

After joining Avid he led development programs for both amyloid and tau imaging of patients with neurodegenerative diseases. More recently he has overseen Lilly’s extensive neuroscience research and development programs for Alzheimer disease, Parkinson disease and Chronic Pain conditions.

In addition to his position at Ovid, Dr. Levin is concurrently the chairman of Ceryvyn Therapeutics Ltd.

Before founding Ovid, he was President and CEO of Teva Pharmaceutical Industries. At Bristol-Myers Squibb, as a member of the executive committee, he was the architect of the String of Pearls strategy, which transformed the company and helped set the immuno-oncology revolution in motion. He joined Bristol from Novartis, where he led global strategic alliances.

He has served on the boards of Biocon and Lundbeck, and is a past chairman of BIO. He was selected by Endpoints in 2021 as one of the 60 living pioneers of the industry and the recipient of the Albert Einstein Award for Leadership in Life Sciences and the B’nai B’rith Award for Distinguished Achievement.

He edited the 2020 bestseller Biotechnology in the Time of Covid-19 and published Biotech in the Balance: Saving a Strategic Industry in an Age of Distrust in May 2026.

He holds a doctorate in chromatin structure from Oxford and medical and surgical degrees from Cambridge, and has practiced medicine in England, South Africa, and Switzerland. He received the Albert Einstein Award for Leadership in Life Sciences.

Gil Bashe is Chair of Global Health and Purpose at FINN Partners, where he advises organizations across the health ecosystem on innovation, access, and patient engagement.

A former combat medic, he has spent more than three decades working at the intersection of health policy, communications, and advocacy, with earlier leadership at Medicus PR, Hill & Knowlton and Makovsky, and stints in trade associations and private equity.

His book, Healing the Sick Care System: Why People Matter (February 2026), argues that the widening gap between how healthcare is delivered and how it is experienced stems less from a shortage of innovation than from a loss of human connection. Bashe is Editor-in-Chief of Medika Life and serves as a Prix Galien Award judge, alongside board service with the American Diabetes Association and the Marfan Foundation.

He has received the PM360 Lifetime Achievement Award and been named among PRWeek's Top 30 Most Influential People in Health PR. He serves on the boards of the Decentralized Trials & Research Alliance, Marfan Foundation, and American Diabetes Association's New York/New Jersey chapter and on the advisory boards of the Galien Foundation, Clinics IV Life (as chair) and Let's Win! Pancreatic Cancer.

Julie Fleshman has been a global catalyst for change in the fight against pancreatic cancer since losing her dad to the disease, just four months after his diagnosis at the age of 52 at a time when very little was known about the disease, only a handful of researchers were studying it, and the five-year survival rate was just 4%. In 1999, Fleshman was hired as PanCAN’s first employee, became its first Executive Director in 2000 and in 2004, became President and CEO. Under her leadership, PanCAN has grown from a staff of one with annual revenues of $228,000 to an employee team of over 130, raising more than $37 million annually.

During her tenure, advocacy and grassroots efforts have expanded to nearly 60 affiliates nationwide and yielded a 1185% increase in federal funding for pancreatic cancer research, and the organization has invested over $249 million in research to date. Fleshman encourages collaboration and convening leading experts and key stakeholders to build a continually expanding community across the country who are focused on accelerating progress for patients.

Margaret (Peggy) Hamburg is an internationally recognized leader in public health and medicine. She is co-president of the InterAcademy Partnership, a consortium of over 150 academies of science, medicine, and engineering from around the world. She recently served as vice-chair of the President's Intelligence Advisory Board and on the Foreign Affairs Advisory Board to the Secretary of State.

Prior to this, she was Foreign Secretary for the U.S. National Academy of Medicine and President/Chair of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS). She previously served as Commissioner of the U.S. FDA and founding Vice President/Senior Scientist at the Nuclear Threat Initiative. Other positions include assistant secretary for planning and evaluation at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, NYC Health Commissioner, and Assistant Director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases at the National Institutes of Health. Dr. Hamburg is an elected member of the Council on Foreign Relations, the National Academy of Medicine, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and the UK Academy of Medical Sciences.

She sits on numerous boards and is the recipient of multiple honorary degrees and awards. She graduated from Harvard College and Medical School, and completed her medical residency at Weill Cornell Medical Center. 

Vardit Ravitsky is President and CEO of the Hastings Center, an independent, nonpartisan bioethics research institute that is among the most prestigious bioethics and health policy institutes in the world. She is a Senior Lecturer on Global Health and Social Medicine at Harvard Medical School. Previously, she was a Full Professor in the School of Public Health at the University of Montreal.

She is Past-President of the International Association of Bioethics, and a Fellow of the Canadian Academy of Health Sciences. Her research focuses on the ethics of genomics and reproduction, as well as the ethics and governance of health AI. She is particularly interested in the various ways in which cultural frameworks shape public debate and policy around bioethical issues.

She has published over 250 articles and commentaries on bioethical issues and has given over 300 talks world-wide and over 400 media interviews. Ravitsky holds a BA from the Sorbonne University in Paris, an MA from the University of New Mexico in the U.S., and a PhD from Bar-Ilan University in Israel. She has also been a Fellow at the Department of Bioethics at the NIH and faculty in the School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania.

Dr. Katherine High is CEO of RhyGaze, Inc., a biotech company focused on restoring vision
in retinal diseases using gene therapy.

A physician-scientist, she was a long-time faculty member at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania and an Investigator at the Howard Hughes Medical Institute at CHOP. Dr. High co-founded Spark
Therapeutics, where she led development of Luxturna, the first FDA-approved gene therapy
for a genetic disease, and of Beqvez, a gene therapy for hemophilia B.

She is an elected member of the National Academy of Sciences, serves on the board of directors of CRISPR Therapeutics and Incyte, and advises GV (Google Ventures).

As Senior Vice President and Virology Therapeutic Area Head at Gilead Sciences, Jared provides strategic oversight for Gilead’s HIV, Viral Hepatitis, Respiratory, and Emerging Virus programs. He previously served as Gilead’s Vice President of Clinical Development and HIV Franchise Head.

Jared has conducted extensive research for over two decades on HIV and other infectious diseases globally. He led the Partners PrEP Study, which led to the approval of Truvada as the first medication for pre-exposure prophylaxis for HIV prevention in 2012 and a second trial that led to the first global approval of the dapivirine vaginal ring as a topical microbicide for HIV prevention in women. In 2022, he oversaw the team that received the approval of Sunlenca, the first HIV capsid inhibitor and medication for HIV dosed once every six months.

Prior to joining Gilead Sciences, Jared served as Director of the University of Washington/Fred Hutch Center for AIDS Research, Co-Principal Investigator of the NIH-funded Microbicides Trials Network, and tenured Professor of Global Health, Medicine and Epidemiology at the University of Washington, where he was Vice Dean for Strategy and Faculty Affairs at the School of Public Health.

He is Affiliate Professor of Global Health and Medicine at the University of Washington, a Fellow of the Infectious Diseases Society of America, and an elected member of the American Society for Clinical Investigation. He has published over 500 scientific articles on HIV and holds an MD and PhD in epidemiology from the University of Washington.

Dr. Howard Y. Chang is responsible for leading all aspects of discovery research at Amgen.

Prior to joining Amgen, Dr. Chang led a research laboratory at Stanford University focused on deciphering regulatory information in the human genome for disease diagnosis and therapy. A physician-scientist and board-certified dermatologist, he served as Professor of Dermatology, Genetics, and Pathology at Stanford and Investigator of the Howard Hughes Medical Institute.

He is the winner of the Albany Prize, Lurie Prize in Biomedical Sciences, and NAS Award in Molecular Biology for discoveries of regulatory RNAs and an elected member of the National Academy of Sciences, National Academy of Medicine, and American Academy of Arts and Sciences. He is a serial entrepreneur having founded five biotech companies.

Dr. Chang holds a MD from Harvard Medical School, a PhD in Biology from MIT, and an AB in Biochemical Sciences from Harvard University.

J. Larry Jameson is President of the University of Pennsylvania. He previously led Penn Medicine for more than a decade as Executive Vice President of the University of Pennsylvania for the Health System and Dean of the Raymond and Ruth Perelman School of Medicine.

While leading Penn Medicine, he oversaw the opening of the largest capital project in the University’s history and the creation of the Serving a Changing World strategic plan. His leadership helped accelerate breakthroughs in CAR T cell therapy, gene-based treatments, and mRNA technology, while fostering a culture of excellence in patient care, research, and education.

Before joining Penn in 2011, he was Dean of Northwestern University’s Feinberg School of Medicine and Vice President for Medical Affairs. Earlier, he was Associate Professor of Medicine and Chief of the Thyroid Unit at Massachusetts General Hospital.

A leading physician-scientist, Dr. Jameson has made seminal contributions to understanding the genetic basis of hormonal disorders. He has authored more than 350 scientific publications, co-edited Harrison’s Principles of Internal Medicine, and held leadership roles in major medical and scientific organizations.

His honors include election to the National Academy of Medicine and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, as well as awards from the Endocrine Society, American Thyroid Association, and American College of Surgeons.

Dr. Renee Wegrzyn, PhD, is the Co-Founder of Transfyr, a physical AI company focused on leveraging scientific observability to reduce “science friction” and make biological research more interpretable, robust, and transferable.

Most recently, she served as inaugural Director of the Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health (ARPA-H) from 2022 to 2025, where she built the agency from zero-to-one and managed a $4 billion portfolio to accelerate transformative health innovation.

A veteran of the ARPA model, Renee previously led breakthrough portfolios in gene editing and biomanufacturing at DARPA and served as a technical advisor to IARPA.

Her private sector experience includes leadership roles at Ginkgo Bioworks as VP of Business Development and Head of Innovation, several diagnostic start-ups, and serves on multiple company and advisory boards.

Recognized as a TIME 100 Innovator, Rock Health Top 50 Digital Health Innovator, and recipient of the Superior Public Service Medal, Renee holds a BS and PhD in Applied Biology and Bioengineering from Georgia Tech.

Rob Lin, PhD, CFA, is CEO of Avista Therapeutics. He was Founding CEO of BlueSphere Bio and currently serves on the board of directors of BlueSphere Bio, Code Biotherapeutics, 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 Term Member of the Council on Foreign Relations.

Rob holds a PhD in human genetics from Harvard University, an MMSc in medical sciences from Harvard Medical School, where he was a Harvard-Markey Biomedical Scientist Fellow, and an MS in Chemical Engineering from Stanford University.

Bruce Booth is a partner at Atlas Venture, where he focuses on the discovery and development of novel medicines and therapeutic platforms. He is also is chairman and was founding CEO of Kymera Therapeutics and Nimbus Therapeutics. He serves as chairman of Hotspot Therapeutics and Matchpoint Therapeutics and board member of Lifordi Immunotherapeutics and Sionna Therapeutics, as well as several seed-stage companies. He previously served on the boards of prior Atlas companies that have since been acquired.

Bruce serves or has served as an advisor in various capacities to Takeda, UCB, the Gates Foundation, and the Penn State Research Foundation. He recently joined the board of the Appalachian Mountain Club and volunteers as a coach with New England Disabled Sports.

Bruce blogs about biotech and venture capital topics at LifeSciVC.com. Prior to joining Atlas in 2005, he was a consultant at McKinsey & Company and an investor for Caxton Health Holdings. As a British Marshall Scholar, he holds a DPhil (PhD) in molecular immunology from Oxford University.

Ying Huang is CEO at K2 Therapeutics. Previously, he served as CEO of Legend Biotech Corporation (LEGN). He brings over 9 years of experience in research and development at a major pharmaceutical company and 12 years of experience as a biotechnology analyst on Wall Street.

Under his leadership, Legend grew to be the largest, independent cell therapy company. It’s lead product, Carvykti, an autologous BCMA targeting CAR T therapy developed jointly with Johnson & Johnson, is approved in the US, EU, and Japan with annual sales over $2B.

Ying was a Managing Director and Head of Biotech Equity Research at Bank of America Merrill Lynch, where he led a team of analysts covering US biotech industry. His knowledge and expertise have been recognized by the Institutional Investor survey as a top-ranked biotechnology analyst on Wall Street. Ying has been a biotech analyst since 2007 and previously worked at Wachovia, Credit Suisse, Gleacher, and Barclays before joining Bank of America Merrill Lynch.

Prior to his Wall Street career, Ying was a Principal Scientist at Schering-Plough focusing on small molecule drug discovery in the therapeutic areas of cardiovascular and central nervous system. He is the co-author of multiple patents and peer-reviewed publications.

Ying holds Ph.D. in Bio-organic Chemistry from Columbia University.

Dr. Monia is the CEO, a member of the board of directors, and a founding scientist of Ionis Pharmaceuticals.

His contributions at Ionis include research into the medicinal chemistry and mechanisms of action of RNA-targeting modalities to treat human diseases, most notably antisense-based therapeutic strategies.

Dr. Monia has extensive experience across a range of therapeutic areas, including oncology, metabolic disease, inflammation, neurological disease and cardiovascular disease, which have resulted in a broad range of successful clinical achievements and in marketing approvals for new medicines.

He has published more than 200 primary research manuscripts, reviews and book chapters, and is an inventor on more than 100 issued patents.

He serves as a senior editor for the journal Nucleic Acid Therapeutics, sits on the board of directors of Cognition Therapeutics, and has also been president of the Oligonucleotide Therapeutics Society (OTS), whose Lifetime Achievement Award he won in 2025.

Dr. Monia received his Ph.D. in Pharmacology at the University of Pennsylvania and B.S. degrees in Molecular Biology and Analytical Chemistry at Stockton State University in Pomona, New Jersey.

Esther Rajavelu is President and CEO of Spero Therapeutics and a member of Spero's Board of Directors. She joined the company in 2023 as CFO and CBO and was appointed CEO in 2025. She holds over 25 years of experience in the biopharmaceutical industry spanning operating leadership, capital markets, and strategic advisory.

Prior to joining Spero, she was CFO of Fulcrum Therapeutics, a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company focused on rare genetic diseases. Earlier in her career, Ms. Rajavelu was a senior biotechnology equity research analyst at UBS, Oppenheimer, and Deutsche Bank, covering small- and mid-cap biotechnology companies. She also served as an investment banker at Bank of America Merrill Lynch, executing capital markets and M&A transactions, and began her career in strategy consulting. Across these roles she advised biopharma executives and boards on capital strategy, transactions, and value creation, at companies ranging from emerging companies to large pharmaceutical organizations.

Ms. Rajavelu holds an MBA in Finance and Health Care Management from The Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania and a BA from Wesleyan University.

Dr. Helen Torley joined Halozyme in January 2014 as President and CEO. Under her leadership, the company has advanced its ENHANZE® technology into multiple blockbuster franchises for its partners, and established Halozyme as a leader in innovative drug delivery solutions with the recent acquisitions of Elektrofi’s Hypercon technology and Surf Bio.

She brings almost three decades of biopharmaceutical leadership and a strong track record of building commercial organizations and launching high-impact medicines, having overseen several successful product launches, including Kyprolis®, Prolia®, Sensipar®, and Miacalcin®.

Before joining Halozyme, Dr. Torley was Executive Vice President and Chief Commercial Officer of Onyx Pharmaceuticals from 2011 to 2013, where she led the U.S. launch of Kyprolis®, built Onyx’s exU.S. commercial capabilities—particularly in Europe—and managed the company’s commercial collaborations with Bayer on Nexavar® and Stivarga®.

Prior to Onyx, Dr. Torley spent 10 years at Amgen, holding multiple senior leadership roles. She served as Vice President and General Manager of the U.S. Bone Health Business Unit (2009–2011) and the U.S. Nephrology Business Unit (2003–2009), helping drive major product growth and operational excellence across both portfolios.

Earlier in her career, she held senior management roles at BristolMyers Squibb from 1997 to 2002, including Regional Vice President of Cardiovascular and Metabolic Sales and Head of Cardiovascular Global Marketing.

Dr. Torley began her professional career in clinical medicine as a senior registrar in rheumatology at the Royal Infirmary in Glasgow, Scotland. She earned her Bachelor of Medicine and Bachelor of Surgery from the University of Glasgow and is a Member of the Royal College of Physicians.

Kenneth C. Frazier is the former Chairman and CEO of Merck, following his retirement from more than 30 years with the company, including a decade-long tenure as CEO. Currently, he is chairman of Health Assurance initiatives at the venture capital firm General Catalyst where he advises on investments and partnerships for companies that are well-positioned to help transform the healthcare industry through collaborative and responsible innovation.

Upon his retirement from Merck, Ken has committed himself to organizations dedicated to leading social change and building greater equity for all people. He is the co-founder and co-chair of OneTen, a coalition of leading organizations committed to upskilling, hiring, and promoting people without four-year degrees into family-sustaining jobs.

Ken’s contributions, especially in the legal, business, and humanitarian fields, have been widely recognized. Under his leadership, Merck delivered innovative life-saving medicines and vaccines as well as long-term and sustainable value to its multiple stakeholders. Ken substantially increased Merck’s investment in research, including early research, while refocusing the organization on the launch and growth of key products that provide far-reaching benefits to society. He also led the formation of philanthropic and humanitarian initiatives that built on Merck’s 130-year legacy.

Ken joined Merck in 1992 and held positions of increasing responsibility, including General Counsel, before becoming President and CEO in 2011. Prior to joining Merck, Ken was a Partner with the Philadelphia law firm of Drinker Biddle & Reath.

Ken serves on the boards of Eikon Therapeutics, Paradigm, and Transcarent, as well as a number of non-profit boards, including Cornerstone Christian Academy in Philadelphia, PA, the Harvard Corporation, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, and the National Constitution Center. He also is a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, the American Bar Association, the American Philosophical Society, the College of Physicians of Philadelphia of which he is a Fellow, the Council of the American Law Institute, and the Legal Services Corporation’s Leaders Council, of which he is co-chair. Ken also serves on the ABA Task Force on American Democracy.

As a strong advocate for social justice and economic inclusion, Ken is the recipient of numerous awards and honors, including the Anti-Defamation League Courage Against Hate Award, the Botwinick Prize in Business Ethics from Columbia Business School, the Legend in Leadership Award from the Yale School of Management, the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund National Equal Justice Award, and the National Minority Quality Forum’s Lifetime Achievement Award. In 2018, Ken received the Harvard Law School Association Award, the highest honor given by the prestigious association, in recognition of his extraordinary service to the legal profession, Harvard Law School, and the public. In that same year, Ken was named one of the World’s Greatest Leaders by Fortune magazine and was also named one of TIME’s 100 Most Influential People; he again was celebrated by TIME on that list in 2021. In 2019, he became the first recipient of the Forbes Lifetime Achievement Award for Healthcare. In 2021, his peers named Ken Chief Executive magazine’s CEO of the Year. In 2022, he received the highly esteemed Fordham-Stein Prize from Fordham Law School, an honor bestowed for work embodying the highest standards of the legal profession, and in 2023, the Lifetime Achievement Award from the American Lawyer magazine. Most recently, Ken received the John Minor Wisdom Award from the American Law Institute which is given from time to time for outstanding achievement in the area of civil rights and related fields following in the example of Judge Wisdom.

Ken received his bachelor’s degree from The Pennsylvania State University and holds a J.D. from Harvard Law School.

Joaquin Duato is Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Johnson & Johnson, the world’s most comprehensive healthcare company, with a unique business model that spans both Innovative Medicine and MedTech. Joaquin became CEO in January 2022 and Chairman in January 2023.

Building on 140 years of healthcare innovation, Joaquin has sharpened Johnson & Johnson’s focus to six areas of high-growth and high-unmet medical need: Oncology, Immunology, euroscience, Cardiovascular, Surgery and Vision. The depth and scale of Johnson & Johnson’s portfolio and pipeline is shaping the future of healthcare.

A dual citizen of the U.S. and Spain, Joaquin earned a Master of Business Administration from ESADE in Barcelona, Spain, and a Master of International Management from Thunderbird School of Global Management in Arizona.

Olivier Laureau is President and CEO of the Servier Group and the Servier International Foundation for Research.

A graduate of the Panthéon-Assas University in Paris, France, Olivier Laureau joined the Servier Group in 1982 in the Intellectual Property Department before joining the Legal Department where he oversaw international contracts. In 2000, he joined the Finance Department and was appointed Chief Financial Officer of the Group in 2008.

As President and CEO of the Group since 2014, Olivier Laureau has undertaken a holistic transformation plan to ensure its independence, development and sustainability and fulfil its vocation: committed to therapeutic progress to serve patient needs.

The cornerstones of this strategy are to maximize the potential of the Group’s medicines in cardiology, metabolism and venous diseases, to research and develop innovative and targeted therapies in the field of oncology, neuroscience and immuno-inflammation, and to drive the drug portfolio development, through a dynamic ecosystem policy, and a strong international expansion.

Deeply involved in the debates surrounding the healthcare sector at French and international levels, Olivier Laureau is a member of the Board of Directors of the G5, an organization of leading French pharmaceutical companies. He is also a Board Member of the European Federation of Pharmaceutical Industries and Associations (EFPIA) and a member of the Biopharmaceutical CEOs Roundtable (BCR), a global policy forum gathering CEOs of the member-companies of the International Federation of Pharmaceutical Manufacturers & Associations (IFPMA).

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.

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.