Lovisa Afzelius is a general partner at Flagship Pioneering. Lovisa has held or holds leadership positions such as CEO, co-founder, president, chairman of the board, and executive director across emerging biotech companies as well as large pharma. A computational scientist by training, she brings two decades of leadership experience and a passion for data-driven drug discovery, from early inception to clinical development across multiple therapeutic areas. Business delivery oriented, ambitious and highly motivated individual with excellent track-record of developing and executing complex strategic and operational plans across boundaries in a global matrix organization.

Apple Inc, 1987-1997 and 2001-2009; BioTeam Head Global Sales; Global Myasthenia Gravis Patient Advocate - Argenx, Alexion, Regeneron, Amgen, Cartesian Tx, J&J. Digital Health Technology Advisor - Resonate Health, Somebody ToTalk To, MamaHealth, SkyMedAI, DataCore Software, eLumindata, Dr Martha Hall Designs, Mon4t, Dasion AI, SkyMedAI. Speaker: World Orphan Drug Congress - East 2025; Digital Health and AI Summit 2024, Chief Patient Officer Summit West, 2026; CUPA 2026; World Orphan Drug Congress 2025; MGFA National Patient Conference 2026;

Surge is cofounder/CEO at Nabla Bio, a protein design company developing AI and wet-lab technologies for drug discovery. Surge created the first protein language model as a graduate student in George Church's lab at Harvard, where he got his PhD. Outside of work Surge likes hanging out with his wife and Nabla co-founder Frances, and their two dogs Archie and Riley.

Dr. Brownstein is an Assistant Professor in Pediatrics at Harvard Medical School and the Assistant Director of the Molecular Genetics Core Facility at Boston Children's Hospital. Her current work focuses on gene discovery and advancing the fields of genome sequencing and analysis, with an emphasis on identifying complex structural variation. As part of the Innovation and Digital Health Accelerator at BCH, she serves as a conduit between academia and industry.

Michael Chambers co-founded Aldevron while studying chemistry, microbiology, and biotechnology at North Dakota State University. Aldevron evolved from a small NDSU lab into a cornerstone of the global genetic medicine industry. Today, Aldevron manufactures nucleic acids, recombinant enzymes, and products used in molecular diagnostics, cell and gene therapies, gene editing, and vaccines. Michael served as Aldevron's CEO until 2020, when he transitioned to Executive Chairman. In 2021, Danaher Corporation (DHR) acquired Aldevron for $9.6 billion. Michael continues to work at Aldevron, his family office, Hive & Colony, and the Centurion Foundation. He is a board member of the Whitehead Institute at MIT and Sarepta Therapeutics (SRPT). Michael's wife and five daughters split time between Fargo and Boston.

Senior pharma/biotech executive with strengths in leveraging data analytics and generating innovative ideas to develop solutions for drug discovery and development. Succeed in blending systems and strategic thinking, people engagement capabilities, with hands-on technical skills in tackling complex issues. Experience and accomplishments in: * Building and mentoring high performing teams * Delivering scientific and technical depth * Translating ideas into products * Influencing and driving changes * Recognizing untapped opportunities * Scaling operations Technical interest: predictive modeling in service of reducing time and cost of drug discovery.

I founded Clora to organize the world’s life sciences talent. We’re applying technology to accelerate development by enabling companies to access specialized consultants time and cost-effectively. Prior to Clora, I was the head of clinical development at several biopharma companies. I’ve led development activities for 20+ Phase II/III programs that have resulted in 6 product approvals to date. Additionally, I’ve managed business development initiatives in Europe, Asia, and Latin America.

Leading healthcare and life sciences investments and incubating new companies with Breyer Capital with a focus on applications of computation to improve patient care from bench to bedside.

Brett rejoined F-Prime Capital in 2018 and focuses on investments in healthcare technology and service companies. Previously, he led finance, partnerships, and business operations at PatientPing, a healthcare technology company providing real-time admission and discharge notifications to coordinate patient care. Previously, Brett worked at Aledade, F-Prime Capital, and McKinsey & Company. Brett holds an M.B.A. from Harvard Business School and a B.S.E. in Biomedical Engineering from Duke University.

Cindy Crowninshield, RDN, LDN, HHC is Executive Event Director of the Bio-IT World Conference & Expo, where she leads programming at the intersection of AI, data, informatics, and digital transformation across life sciences, biotech, pharma, and healthcare. Since joining Cambridge Innovation Institute in 2005, Cindy has played a central role in the evolution of Bio-IT World into a premier global event focused on the technologies, AI-driven innovations, and data strategies accelerating biomedical research, drug discovery, and precision medicine. She has led the conference since 2007, driving content spanning generative AI, multimodal data, bioinformatics, precision medicine, intelligent lab automation, knowledge graphs, and enterprise-scale scientific infrastructure. Her work focuses on identifying emerging technologies and operational trends shaping modern R&D while connecting cross-disciplinary leaders across science, technology, healthcare, and enterprise innovation. In addition to conference leadership, Cindy hosts and develops the Inside Bio-IT interview series, spotlighting innovators advancing AI, computational biology, precision medicine, and next-generation R&D infrastructure. She actively connects with researchers, startups, and industry leaders interested in showcasing breakthrough research, operational case studies, and emerging technologies through Bio-IT programming, interviews, and collaborative industry initiatives. Cindy is also a licensed registered dietitian, author, adjunct instructor, and one of the founding members of the Women in Bio Greater Boston chapter.

Cris joined Sanofi Ventures in 2020 to lead investments in AI and Digital Health. He holds a 20-year track record of building startups, tech innovation platforms, and healthtech deal-making with some of the largest organizations in the world. Prior to Sanofi, Cris was a founding member of Johnson & Johnson Innovation and Global Head of Digital Innovation since 2013. He held chief digital and data responsibilities, driving digital health strategy and new venture partnerships throughout spanning the Pharmaceutical, Consumer and Medical Device businesses.? Previously, Cris led emerging technology programs within research informatics at Novartis for six years. With entrepreneurial DNA, Cris is notably known for his role in the innovation economy since co-founding Ultra Light Startups, one of the largest and oldest startup venture pitch accelerators in the U.S, catalyzing hundreds of companies in Boston, NYC, and Silicon Valley, leading to several acquisitions by major tech companies. Cris was named 40 Under 40 by the Boston Business Journal and a Top 40 Healthcare Transformer by MM&M Magazine.? Cris currently serves on the boards of Aetion, Carbon Health, Click Tx, Empatica, Medisafe, Nucleai, and Omada. Cris holds a M.Sc. in Computer Information Systems from Boston University and a B.S. in Business Administration from Suffolk University.?

Waze founding team member who scaled product to $1B exit. Serial founder, driving Real-World Experience (RW) category creation. Building the first Patient-derived, AI-native health data accelerating clinical trials and health research. 1.3B crowdsourced data points, by 3M patients in 1250 conditions, growing daily.

In his role at Google Cloud; Bill oversees a strategy and organization whose goal is to bring accelerated cloud-based scientific solutions to the fast-growing and ever-evolving Biotechnology segment. The Google Cloud Biotech organization aims to provide value from the top venture firms investing in early-stage biotechnology doing pre-clinical research through the numerous commercial opportunities; IPO, licensing partnerships, and commercialization. In support of the biotech ecosystem the organization partners with industry leaders, technology, and solution providers to assure that Google Cloud can deliver the best environment for the rapid evolution of science and return for its investors. The biotech solution organization and its partners deliver a number of solutions which lower the cost of scientific research across numerous modalities by utilizing Artificial Intelligence, Big Data, Gene Editing, Precision Medicine, Gene Sequencing as well as Synthetic Biology. Bill has over 15 years of experience in the biotech and biopharma ecosystem where he has led similar organizations at various startups and at EMC & Dell Technologies. He is a former founder of the Life Sciences User Groups in Cambridge, MA and a current member of the Massachusetts Biotech Council. He has a degree in Management Information Systems and executive certifications from Babson College.

Interested in building and funding great companies.

Rohan co-leads the healthcare and life sciences practice at Obvious Ventures, an early venture firm with over $1.5B in AUM. At Obvious, he has led investments ranging from frontier AI labs to platform life sciences and precision-medicine companies. Prior to joining Obvious, he led venture investments at Verily Life Sciences, a Google spinout, and at Northpond Ventures, a life-sciences–focused venture firm. He started his career in product management building electronic medical records at CompuGroup, and productizing neural networks for diagnostic applications at Verily. Rohan studied biological sciences at the University of Oxford and earned an MBA from Harvard Business School. He grew up in a small wine-growing town in southern Germany, and is a soccer fan and an aspiring tennis player.

Luba Greenwood is a distinguished executive, investor, and company builder with over 20 years of experience in the healthcare and tech sectors. Luba has served as the Chief Executive Officer and Chair of the Board of Gallop Oncology and Kojin Therapeutics. She was previously the Managing Partner of the Dana Farber Cancer Institute Venture Fund, Binney Street Capital (BSC), which she has founded, investing and building companies across therapeutics, diagnostics, and digital sectors. She has also served as a lecturer at Harvard University in the School of Engineering and Applied Sciences. Ms. Greenwood has extensive board experience globally and serves on public and private boards, across multiple industries, including healthcare and tech, and has successfully contributed to the growth and profitability of numerous organizations, bringing her operational, industry, and financing expertise. She has a proven track record of building world-class teams and companies, building SABs with renown scientists and industry leaders, driving digital transformation and artificial intelligence initiatives, guiding companies through mergers & acquisitions, complex business development transactions, financing, and organizational change and scaling. With a strong understanding of board dynamics and corporate governance best practices, and as a former lawyer, she has also guided organizations through compliance, activist actions, and human resources challenges. She has served as Chair of the board as well as on the Compensation, Audit, and Nomination committees of a number of companies including In8Bio (INAB), BenchSci, Swiss-based Stalicla, Abcam (Abcam), where she has spearheaded the sale to Danaher (DHR), and non-profit, Massachusetts Biotechnology Council (MassBio). Ms. Greenwood has previously served in leadership roles at Google Life Sciences (Verily) and as Vice President of Global Business Development and Mergers & Acquisitions at Roche, where she also led diagnostics BD and established and led the East Coast Innovation Hub. Luba has led $5B+ in M&A, BD deals, and investments across multiple therapeutic areas, diagnostics, life sciences, and tech sectors globally. She has also co-founded and advised biotech and digital health companies in the immunotherapy, AI/ML, women's health, and microbiome space, including Luca Biologics. Her invaluable contributions to the healthcare industry have earned her recognition as a thought leader and a trusted advisor to CEOs of leading academic centers worldwide, including the Dana Farber Institute and Wyss Center for Bio and Neuroengineering in Geneva. She is a Thought Leader for the New England Journal of Medicine (NEJM) Catalyst and serves on Investor Committee for the National Cancer Institute. With a background as a former lawyer at Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr and expertise in regulatory, policy, and intellectual property matters, Ms. Greenwood brings a unique perspective to the table. Her commitment to advocating for women in science and technology has garnered several awards and honors, including the Science Club for Girls Catalyst Award.

Paulina joined Sanofi Ventures in 2022 with a background in early stage biotech investing and company building. Paulina’s active investments include Attovia, Avilar, Latigo, Odyssey, NextPoint, Normunity, Nuvig, Tisento, Vrata and ZagBio. Prior investments include Aliada Therapeutics (acquired by Abbvie). Prior to joining Sanofi, Paulina was a Principal on the investment team at Omega Funds. While there Paulina incubated and served as the founding investor for Scorpion Therapeutics (acquired by Eli Lilly). Paulina’s investments also included Arrakis, IFM, Ikena (NASDAQ: IKNA), Synthekine, Theseus (NASDAQ: THRX), and Vanqua Bio. Paulina began her career with Polaris Partners. Paulina served on the boards of Kala Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ: KALA), Neuronetics (NASDAQ: STIM), Microchips Biotech (acquired by Dare Biosciences), Arsenal Medical and CAMP4 Therapeutics (NASDAQ: CAMP), where she was the Founding CEO. Paulina completed her postdoctoral fellowship in Robert Langer’s lab in the Chemical Engineering department at MIT. During her time at MIT, Paulina founded the MIT Postdoctoral Association and served as its President. Paulina also served on the MIT Intellectual Property Committee. Paulina completed her PhD in Molecular Medicine from the Wake Forest University School of Medicine and graduated magna cum laude from East Carolina University with a quadruple major in biochemistry, neuroscience, biology and chemistry. Paulina attended East Carolina University on a full athletic scholarship and served as the captain of the women’s varsity tennis team.

Rachel Humphrey has over 25 years of experience in clinical drug development, particularly in the field of cancer treatments and immunotherapies. Currently she serves as President and Founding CEO of Normunity, a Boston-based biotech focused on immune-oncology. Highlights of her career include leading the development of multiple blockbuster cancer therapies: the CTLA-4 inhibiting immunotherapy Yervoy® (ipilimumab) at BMS, the PD-L1 inhibiting immunotherapy Imfinzi® (durvalumab) at AstraZeneca, and the kinase inhibitor cancer drug Nexavar® (sorafenib) at Bayer. After working at these big pharmaceutical companies, Rachel took her drug development expertise to emerging biotech companies, where she served in the role of Chief Medical Officer at Black Diamond Therapeutics, CytomX Therapeutics and Mirati Therapeutics, respectively. She previously served on the Board of Directors of CytomX Therapeutics and Xilio Therapeutics, respectively, and currently serves on the Board of Directors of Pyxis Therapeutics and Sporos Bioventures. Rachel started her career as an oncology fellow and staff physician at the National Cancer Institute. She received her training in internal medicine at The Johns Hopkins Hospital, her MD from Case Western Reserve Medical School, and her BA from Harvard University.

CFO at Seismic Therapeutics. Former Managing Director in Healthcare Investment Banking focused on biotech and life sciences. Former surgeon. NIH-sponsored, published clinical researcher.

As a venture partner at Third Rock, John works with the platform team to develop, implement, and refine technology roadmaps for companies across our portfolio with a focus on the identification and integration of drug discovery and development technology platforms. Prior to joining Third Rock, John was the vice president of information technology and informatics at Infinity Pharmaceuticals where he was responsible for information systems, software development, computational science, biostatistics, clinical data management, and clinical informatics. Over the course of almost 13 years at Infinity, John had the unique opportunity to play a critical role in the genesis and evolution of the company's science, technology, and business. John, who has proven to be a sucker for worthy charities, once allowed his coworker to shave his head with a Flowbee to raise money for a local nonprofit organization focused on cancer patient support.

Kristina E. Kitko, PhD, is currently a Director of Venture at Eli Lilly and Company. She is based in San Francisco as part of larger Corporate Business Development efforts, primarily targeting early-stage external innovation across Lilly’s core therapeutic, functional, and business units. Her role supports Lilly’s multiple external venture investments in both funds and companies globally (>$2bill), as well as due diligence and search and evaluation initiatives. She focuses primarily on investment across AI tools and technologies broadly, spanning early-stage R&D, clinical, and commercial applications. Kristina comes from an operational background within biotech. Prior to Lilly, she worked in Corporate Strategy at Crinetics Pharmaceuticals, and in venture creation at Flagship Pioneering and as an independent consultant. Kristina completed her PhD in Pharmacology and Electrical Engineering from Vanderbilt University as an NSF IGERT fellow, and her postdoctoral training in Brain and Cognitive Sciences across MIT and Harvard.

Michael Langer is the Co-Founder and Managing Partner of T.Rx Capital, a venture firm focused on company creation and seed-stage investments at the intersection of early biology and transformative medicine. Michael is an Executive Producer of Superhuman Body, a forthcoming IMAX film designed to inspire the next generation of scientists and innovators. The film is narrated by Academy Award–winner Matthew McConaughey. He serves on several scientific and healthcare leadership boards, including the Leadership Board of Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, the Global Board of Directors for MassChallenge, the Leadership Board of the Terasaki Institute for Biomedical Innovation, and acts as Senior Advisor for Special Projects at the Galenus Foundation. He previously co-founded the Young Coders Society, served on the Board of Advisors of the Museum of Science, and was a Young Leader at the Milken Institute as well as a World Economic Forum Global Shaper. Before T.Rx, Michael founded Old Silver VC, a family investment firm backing early companies in healthcare and deep tech, particularly novel materials. The portfolio included more than 20 startups such as BigHat Biosciences, ATAI Life Sciences AG, Seismic Therapeutics, Soufflé Therapeutics, and Opentrons. Old Silver VC operated in close collaboration with Susan Langer (former Head of Strategy at Biogen, current board member) and Dr. Robert Langer (MIT Institute Professor and founder of more than 40 biotech companies, including Moderna). Michael previously served as Head of Search, Evaluation, and In-Licensing at Pear Therapeutics, where he led or co-led 15 transactions across digital therapeutics development and commercialization. He holds a BA from Lehigh University in Science, Technology & Society, with double minors in Entrepreneurship and Sustainable Development.

Sebastien Lefebvre is an applied AI and data product executive with over 20 years of experience spanning pharmaceuticals, healthcare, and agricultural biotechnology. He is currently Head of Technology, Data, and AI at Aurelis Insights, where he is building a patient-centric, de-identified real-world insights platform in collaboration with nonprofit and commercial partners. Previously, Sebastien held senior leadership roles at Inari, Alexion, Biogen, and AstraZeneca, leading enterprise data platforms, AI/ML initiatives, multi-omics knowledge graphs, digital diagnostics, and precision medicine programs. His work bridges industries to translate advanced data and AI capabilities into scalable products that accelerate discovery, improve patient outcomes, and support strategic decision-making across the life sciences.

Dylan V. Livingston is the founder and President of the Alliance for Longevity Initiatives (A4LI), the first 501(c)(4) organization in the U.S. devoted exclusively to advancing longevity science through public policy. He launched A4LI in 2022 to combat age-related diseases—including cancer, cardiovascular disease, and Alzheimer’s—by connecting scientific research with legislative action. Under Livingston’s leadership, A4LI helped establish the bipartisan Longevity Science Caucus and supported state-level Right-to-Try expansion measures SB422 and SB535. He also founded the H-SPAN Summit in Washington, D.C., and led the organization’s first Longevity Science Congressional Briefing in 2024. In 2025, A4LI facilitated more than 70 meetings between advocates and members of Congress, and the 2026 summit will be held in partnership with Georgetown University Medical Center. Livingston was recognized on Forbes 30 Under 30 for his work in building a national organization focused on longevity policy. Before founding A4LI, he gained experience on political campaigns, including serving as a field organizer for President Joe Biden’s 2020 campaign in Pennsylvania.

Rana Lonnen is a healthcare technology investor, entrepreneur, and molecular biologist. At Novartis, she leads strategic investments in technology companies, on a mission to transform the healthcare ecosystem and make positive impact on people’s lives. Previously, Rana was Head of Preclinical Development at a UK biotech, Auspherix; investment consultant to IP Group in London; Founder and CSO of a UK-based Biotech, Axendos therapeutics. Prior to this, she was a Wellcome Trust-backed principal investigator in drug discovery in the field of Infection, Immunity, and Inflammation, author and inventor on high impact peer-reviewed publications and patents; before this, Rana worked at Bristol-Myers Squibb, in sales and marketing. Rana holds a PhD in molecular biology and an MBA from Imperial College London. She personally cares about equitable healthcare, social justice, sustainability, and the future of antimicrobial resistance. In her downtime, Rana likes to make culinary experiments, be in nature, and read. Rana is a board observer at Aktana, Cota Healthcare, H1 Insights, Koneksa, Mekonos, NuvoAir, and Dopavision. She is based out of Basel, Switzerland.

A globally oriented technology executive leading research, biotech, and consumer products organizations through complex changes. I have built organizations for explosive growth, consolidated them in business downturns, and led merger/acquisition/divestiture programs. I have led teams in 20+ countries, led all aspects of IT including major business transformations and culture change across organizations. I am an adept strategic thinker with experience advising several early stage biotech firms, an advisory board member to a software startup, and board chair for large ($100M+) social services agency. I have set technology strategy, implemented global programs, fixed broken operating models, rebuilt teams, negotiated large scale partnerships, and always focused on business success.

Mike Nally is the Chief Executive Officer of Generate:Biomedicines and is a CEO-Partner at Flagship Pioneering. With a deep commitment to innovation and patient care, Mike's expertise in leading global organizations has been instrumental in the company's efforts to make protein therapeutics programmable. Since his appointment in 2021, Mike has been a driving force behind several key initiatives that have significantly bolstered Generate:Biomedicines' position as the leader in Generative Biology®. Under his leadership, the company successfully completed its Series B and C financing rounds and has raised more than $750 million since inception. These funding milestones have enabled the advancement of Generate:Biomedicines’ pioneering work in generative AI and a robust pipeline of protein therapeutics with two clinical assets and more than 15 preclinical candidates. Before joining Generate:Biomedicines, Mike held several key leadership positions at Merck & Co., Inc. As Chief Marketing Officer, he was responsible for the Global Marketing and Brand Strategy of a diverse portfolio encompassing innovative medicines and vaccines, generating over $40 billion in revenue. His previous roles at Merck & Co. include serving as President of Global Vaccines and managing the company's operations in Sweden and the UK. Mike holds an MBA from Harvard Business School, a degree in Accounting and Finance from the London School of Economics, and a BA in Economics from Middlebury College.

Samantha Perrone is a technology leader with over 20 years of experience in cloud. She's spent the duration of her career in sales leadership roles, most recently focusing on the AI Native/Startup and Venture Capital segments. She has deep expertise in regulated industries, specifically Healthcare and Life Sciences, where she built and led initiatives at both Salesforce and Amazon within these verticals. Separate from her work, she sits on the Board and the National Trust of Springboard, a women's startup accelerator.

Sam Reiman has been the Director of the Richard King Mellon Foundation since 2019, and a member of the Foundation's Board of Trustees since 2020. As Director, Reiman oversees, on behalf of the Board of Trustees, the Foundation's staff, strategy, and annual philanthropic program. In 2024, the Foundation disbursed more than $155 million in grants and program-related investments, ending the year with net assets of $3.1 billion. Reiman joined the Foundation in 2015, as Associate Director. His work prior to the Foundation included serving as a Senior Consultant for Deloitte in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. Reiman grew up in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, and his higher education began at Harrisburg Area Community College. He went on to receive a BA in Science, Technology and Public Policy from Franklin & Marshall College, matriculating on a work-study scholarship and graduating cum laude. Reiman subsequently earned an MS in Public Policy and Management, with a Minor in Business Administration, from Carnegie Mellon University, and an MS in Biotechnology from The Johns Hopkins University. He and his wife, Sandra, have two daughters, Isabella and Sofia.

Dr. Irene Rombel is the CEO, President, and Co-Founder of BioCurie, a TechBio company located in Cambridge, MA, and the greater Philadelphia region. BioCurie is pioneering mechanistic artificial intelligence (mAI) to transform the development and manufacturing of cell, gene, and nucleic acid therapies. Irene is an industry veteran with 25+ years of leadership experience in science and business, spanning biotechnology, big pharma, investing, and academia. Prior to founding BioCurie, Irene held leadership roles at Spark Therapeutics and Johnson & Johnson; was Founder and President of Biomedical Intelligence LLC, a life science consulting company; and a biotechnology hedge fund analyst. Dr. Rombel started her career in academia as an assistant professor at UT Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas, in the Center for Biomedical Inventions, leading research on DNA vaccines, synthetic biology, and cell-specific targeting. Her postdoctoral research on transcriptional regulation at UC Berkeley and UC Davis made fundamental scientific contributions to the understanding of promoter-enhancer control of gene expression. Dr. Rombel is on Columbia University’s Translational Therapeutics Accelerator Steering Committee and the Columbia University Irving Cancer Drug Discovery Advisory Board. Irene received her PhD in Biochemistry from the University of Otago, New Zealand, and MBA from Southern Methodist University, Dallas, Texas. Irene is also a registered U.S. Patent Agent.

For over 30 years in clinical research and development, Julie Ross has grown and led many organizations - from building and scaling CROs and operating units within, serving as CEO of a $200M global organization, and driving innovation across business development, commercial strategy, and clinical operations. Throughout her career, Julie has retained a constant commitment to improving outcomes for patients and advancing the science of clinical trials. In her newest role, Julie is CEO of StuffThatWorks, the only organized data platform that provides direct access to patients, their insights, and their data. STW is an AI-native company founded and built by the original development team for the platform and app Waze.

Catherine Sabatos-Peyton, Ph.D., is Larkspur Biosciences’ Chief Executive Officer and a 2024 Termeer Fellow. Prior to joining Larkspur, Catherine was Executive Director and Head of Immune Modulation at Novartis Institutes for BioMedical Research (NIBR), overseeing strategy and development of immunotherapy programs through development into Ph1-3 clinical trials. Catherine joined Novartis in 2014 from the acquisition of CoStim Pharmaceuticals where she was Director of Immunology, developing the cancer checkpoint antibodies that became part of the Novartis pipeline. Catherine was a Fulbright Fellow at the University of Oxford. She earned her Ph.D. from Harvard University and went on to a postdoctoral fellowship at UCSF, followed by a fellowship at the University of Bristol, under sponsorship from the UK Multiple Sclerosis Society.

Dr. Joe Shonkwiler leads the Healthcare and Life Science (HCLS) practice for startups and investors at Google Cloud, bringing extensive experience across government, big tech, and the startup ecosystem. He previously served as the founding COO and Acting Deputy Director of the Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health (ARPA-H), where he oversaw the deployment of over $2 billion in biomedical R&D funding. He also held a key business development role at AWS focused on HCLS startups and investors. A former VP at the venture-backed startup Aledade and CEO of the Columbia University spinout CollectedMed, Dr. Shonkwiler also served as Senior Health Policy Advisor to former U.S. Senator Rob Portman. He began his career as a surgical resident and holds an MD from Columbia, an MBA from MIT, an MPP from Princeton, and a BA from the University of Notre Dame.

Claire is a partner at SpringTide and has spent her career focused at the intersection of healthcare, life sciences, and business. Prior to SpringTide, she was an investor at Meridian Street Capital, where she focused on seed-stage health tech, and Anterra Capital, where she focused on the intersection of biotech and agriculture while launching several animal health startups. Previously, she served as the Chief of Staff at Crestovo, a microbiome therapeutics startup acquired by Finch Therapeutics. She began her career at ClearView Healthcare Partners, a boutique life sciences consultancy, where she advised pharma and biotech clients on a variety of growth strategy topics. Claire holds bachelor’s degrees in biological engineering and management science from MIT. She is on the board of Leash Labs and serves as a board observer at IgniteData and Paterna Biosciences.

Becky serves as Chief Financial Officer at Soufflé Therapeutics where she leads capital formation, investor relations, and financial operations. Becky joined Soufflé after an almost 20-year career in Banking where she was recognized for her effective leadership in corporate and financial strategy and operational execution, as well as her ability to lead and scale teams of varying sizes and expertise within the U.S. and globally. In her most recent role at HSBC, Becky built and ran the firm's Healthcare Investment Banking franchise for the Americas. Earlier in her career, she spent 15 years in roles of increasing responsibility at Wells Fargo where she built and ran the firm's early-stage Life Sciences efforts including establishing their first VC/Institutional Investor coverage. Becky has advised both early-stage and large corporate Life Sciences organizations on long-term financing strategies to enable their scientific and clinical progress, including private capital raises, IPOs, Follow-ons, At-the-Market-Offerings, convertible and corporate bonds, as well as M&A, business development and licensing strategies. Becky’s applies her financial expertise in the service of patients and is a long-standing board member of the American Cancer Society of New England.

Adam Townsend has served as President and Chief Executive Officer of Merida Biosciences since 2025. Adam has over 20 years of global biopharmaceutical experience in commercial operations and corporate development. Prior to Merida, Adam was Chief Operating Officer at Apellis where he led U.S. and international commercial and medical affairs organizations. From January 2024 to February 2025, he built and led commercial organization as Apellis transitioned to a commercial-stage company with two approved products. Prior to joining Apellis, Adam worked at Biogen with progressive leadership roles in commercial and corporate development, leading the successful launch of multiple blockbuster products in neurology and rare disease. Adam has also held numerous leadership positions with increasing levels of responsibility in Europe at EUSA Pharma and Amgen. Adam began his career in sales at Novartis UK. Adam received a BSc (Honors) degree in medical biochemistry from the University of London, UK.

As Co-Founder, CEO, and Principal Scientist at StarfleetBio, Van Etten leads the development of cryptographically attested end-to-end genomic privacy for rare and age-related disease research, including DNAVault, an on-device iOS application where personal genome data never leaves the user's phone in plaintext. He brings 25+ years of experience in computational biology and bioinformatics, having previously co-founded BioTeam in 2002 and led it for two decades as a trusted informatics partner to NIH, pharma, biotech, and government agencies. Van Etten honed his informatics skills at the Whitehead Institute Center for Genome Research at MIT during the Human Genome Project, contributing to landmark SNP mapping work published in Nature. He holds a PhD in genetics and continues to focus on making genomic insights more accessible while preserving individual privacy and data sovereignty.

Dr. Jo Viney, Ph.D., is Cofounder, President and CEO of Seismic Therapeutic, the machine learning immunology company developing medicines for autoimmune disease. A seasoned biotech executive and entrepreneurial scientist, she has co-founded 3 biotech startup companies in MA - the first of which, Pandion Therapeutics, was acquired by Merck in 2021 for $1.85B. Prior to Pandion she held research leadership positions and contributed to the drug discovery pipelines at Biogen, Amgen, and Immunex. She is an experienced director on both private and public company boards. Jo is a big advocate for workplace inclusiveness and regularly volunteers her time with a number of organizations focused on increasing diversity.

Anna Marie Wagner’s career has spanned investing and operating roles in both hypergrowth and mature companies, focused on technology and the life sciences. She is currently the co-founder and CEO of a stealth physical AI startup, focused on tacit knowledge in science. Previously, Anna Marie was on the executive team at Ginkgo Bioworks (NYSE:DNA), where over the years she built and led numerous functions including finance, corporate development, and AI. Anna Marie led Ginkgo’s public offering in 2021, raising $1.6 billion in what still is the largest-ever go-public raise in biotech, and launched Ginkgo's AI efforts, including its marquee collaboration with Google. Previously, she was a technology investor at Bain Capital Private Equity where she focused on vertical software, marketplaces, and digital media businesses. Since 2023, she has also been serving as an executive fellow at Harvard Business School, where she co-teaches an elective course on failure (and loves the irony!). Anna Marie lives in Boston and her house is overrun with boys—in the form of a husband, two children, and two cats.

Dr. Susan J. Ward is Founder and Executive Director of the Collaborative Trajectory Analysis Project (cTAP), a multi-stakeholder initiative applying advanced data science to large-scale patient datasets to improve clinical trial design and evidence generation in rare diseases, particularly Duchenne muscular dystrophy. A pharmaceutical executive, scientist, and strategist, her career has focused on solving complex cross-disciplinary challenges in biomedical innovation. She previously held senior leadership roles at Wyeth (now Pfizer), where she became the first woman to head R&D in the U.K. and oversaw development and global approvals of therapies including Enbrel and Rapamune, and at Millennium Pharmaceuticals (now Takeda), where she led corporate strategy and technology platforms. As a consultant and advisor she has helped shape research and productivity strategies for companies including Alnylam and Novartis. Dr. Ward serves on the External Advisory Board of the European PaLaDin initiative, is an experienced biotech board director, and a former trustee and finance chair of the Cambridge School of Weston, a leader in progressive education. She holds a PhD from the University of Manchester, has authored more than 65 peer-reviewed publications, and holds nine patents.

Investor and operator of life science and technology companies. Interested in how culture, media and financial markets can drive transformative change within life sciences and deep tech.