Week of Innovation 2022 Speakers

2 PM - 3:30 PM ET

Incubators and accelerators are pivotal in developing innovative solutions to address humanity’s most pressing health challenges. Why are academic institutions, major medical centers, and significant life science companies launching incubators and accelerators to offer guidance to biotech, digital health, health information, and medical device start-ups? Beyond financial resources, how are these groups working to advance ideas into the marketplace, and what is their impact?

MODERATOR

Gil Bashe
Chair Global Health and Purpose, FINN Partners

BIO

Nothing has kept Gil Bashe from advancing people’s well-being and access to health innovation from battlefield to boardroom. As a combat medic in an elite paratrooper unit, he tended to the wounded under fire. As a C-suite and global practice leader, he sees communications as the bridge to connect healers from around the world with those seeking to be healed.

Throughout it all, he is dedicated to making a difference in people’s lives and instilling a culture where colleagues are empowered to do the same. At FINN Partners, which makes a difference through collaboration and shared values, he has a role to which he is ideally suited. As Chair Global Health and Purpose at FINN, he champions sectors within one of the world’s leading integrated marketing and communications agencies.

Before FINN, he led Health Practices at other agencies—Sutton PR, Medicus PR, Hill & Knowlton, and Makovsky—all selected by The Holmes Report/PRovoke as “Most Admired Health Agencies.” Earlier in his career, he worked in government affairs for a global non-profit, spent time as a health-industry New Jersey-based lobbyist focusing on drug development and environmental health, served as Group Company CEO of CommonHealth, and was CEO of Health!Quest Global Communications (the portfolio company of top private-equity group GTCR).

As an advocate for health innovation that improves the human condition, Gil currently serves on the Decentralized Trials and Research Alliance, CNS Summit Leadership Council, Galien Foundation, Let’s Win for Pancreatic Cancer, mHealth Israel, and Marfan Foundation advisory boards and previously served on the American Heart Association, Leukemia & Lymphoma Foundation, and American Academy of Pain Medicine Foundation boards—listed among “The Top Brains in the New World of Work” by Fast Company, recognized by the PRSA Health Academy for “Excellence in Public Relations,” selected for the PR News “Hall of Fame” and its Crisis Communications Awards.

Gil serves as an ambassador for the health innovation sector. He is included among the Medika Life “Top 50 Health Influencers,” Medical Marketing & Media “Top 10 Innovation Catalysts,” ranked as a “Top 10 Digital Health Influencer,” and by Digital Salutem and BrainLabs as one of the 15 leaders to follow on social media. PRWeek includes him among the “Top 30 Most Influential People in Health PR,” and PM360 has awarded Gil their prestigious Lifetime Achievement Award.” Gil is a keynote speaker around the globe and is a correspondent for the global news source Health Tech World, writing about digital health advances and editor-in-chief of Medika.Life, a digital platform that hosts many of the world’s most important voices in public health.

Mati Gill
CEO, AION Labs

Product Presentation

Roy Wiesner
Managing Director, aMoon Velocity

Product Presentation

Johannes Fruehauf,
MD, PhD
Founder and President,
BioLabs and LabCentral

Product Presentation

Mary Howard
Program Director,
Design Technologies LLC

Product Presentation

Daniella Kranjac
Founding Partner,
Dynamk Capital LLC

Product Presentation

Philippe Michel
COO, Future4Care

Product Presentation

Sally Allain
Head, Johnson & Johnson Innovation – JLABS @ Washington, DC

Product Presentation

Tom Daniel, MD
Board of Directors, Scripps Research;
Chair, LocanaBio, Inc.

Product Presentation

Jérôme Van Biervliet
Managing Director, VIB Innovation & Business,
VIB

Product Presentation

3:30 PM - 4:30 PM ET

An innovator’s connection to a leadership accelerator, incubator or private equity organization is a strong indicator of success. Financial support is part of the commitment, as are experience and connections. How do these investment and counseling groups help start-ups with their clinical trial design, navigate regulatory and payer system complexities or build a go-to marketing plan? Beyond access to cash, what makes the innovator’s connection to an accelerator, incubator or private equity group success critical?

MODERATOR

Ron Cohen, MD
President, CEO and Founder
Acorda Therapeutics, Inc.

BIO

Ron Cohen, MD is President, CEO and founder of Acorda Therapeutics, Inc., a public biotechnology company developing therapies for disorders of the nervous system, including already approved and commercialized therapies for Parkinson’s disease and Multiple Sclerosis.

Dr. Cohen previously was a principal in the startup and an officer of Advanced Tissue Sciences, Inc., a biotechnology company engaged in the growth of human organ tissues for transplantation uses. He served as Chair of the Board of the Biotechnology Innovation Organization (BIO) and continues to serve as a Director. He has served on the Boards of several biotechnology companies, including VBL Therapeutics and Dyax Corp. until its acquisition in 2016. He also previously served as Chair of the Emerging Companies Section of the BIO Board and as Director and Chair of the New York Biotechnology Association (NYBA).

Dr. Cohen is a recipient of the NY CEO Lifetime Achievement Award and the Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year Award for the New York Metropolitan Region. He was named Neuroinvestment’s CEO of the Year, is an inductee of the National Spinal Cord Injury Association’s “Spinal Cord Injury Hall of Fame,” and was awarded Columbia University's Alumni Medal for Distinguished Service.

Dr. Cohen received the Burke Award from Burke Rehabilitation Hospital for his contributions to helping people with disabilities gain independence. He has been recognized by the New York Biotechnology Association as the NYBA “The Cures Start Here” Business Leader of the Year, by the Westchester County Association as its Leadership Award recipient, by Scientific American as one of the 100 Most Influential People in Biotech, and by PharmaVOICE Magazine as one of the 100 Most Inspirational People in the Biopharmaceutical Industry. Dr. Cohen received his B.A. degree with honors in Psychology from Princeton University, and his M.D. from the Columbia College of Physicians & Surgeons. He completed a residency in Internal Medicine at the University of Virginia Medical Center, and is Board Certified in Internal Medicine.