Biotech 2050 Podcast

Dr. Maria Soloveychik is the co-founder and CEO of SyntheX, a therapeutics company focused on accelerating drug discovery using synthetic biology. The company’s core technologies, ToRPPIDO and ToRNeDO, rely on genetic engineering and evolutionary selection to synthesize and identify compounds that disrupt protein-protein interactions or lead to selective target degradation. SyntheX was founded in 2016 and is located in San Francisco. Maria has obtained her PhD from the Department of Molecular Genetics at the University of Toronto, where she discovered novel pathways linking metabolism and epigenetic signaling. Maria was previously a research scientist at a structural genomics consortium at the University Health Network in Toronto, where her work led to the determination of numerous structures and identification of several drug candidates.

Bob has been President of Imagion Biosystems since February 2015 and has led the company through the recent restructuring and recapitalization efforts. Previous employment experience includes Pres/GM for Silicon Biosystems and a career in marketing and sales management with more than 25 years experience in the computer, life science and medical diagnostics industries, e.g. Vice President Marketing and Sales for Nanogen, Inc., Senior Vice President of Marketing and Business Development at Gene Logic, and General Manager, Life Sciences at IGEN International, Inc. Mr. Proulx holds an M.A. and B.A. from The State University of New York at Albany and an Executive MBA from the Penn State Smeal College of Business.

Nick Damiano is a serial entrepreneur with broad experience in medical devices and digital health. He has 15 years of experience as a healthcare entrepreneur, engineer, and leader. He is currently Co-Founder & CEO of Zenflow, which is developing a novel office-based therapy to relieve symptoms of benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH), which affects over 500 million men globally. The company has raised over $40 million in funding and conducted successful clinical trials in four countries. Zenflow is backed by leading venture firms including Invus and F-Prime and was one of the first medical device companies funded by Y Combinator, the world’s leading startup accelerator. Prior to Zenflow, Nick was an Innovation Fellow at Stanford University. Before Biodesign, he co-founded Nurep (now called Avail MedSystems), a company developing telemedicine solutions for medical device procedures. In this role, Nick led the successful technical development effort to bring the company's product to market and also played key roles in strategy, sales, and fundraising. Prior to Nurep, he worked in engineering roles for several small medical device companies, including developing critical algorithms for the world’s first leadless cardiac pacing system at EBR Systems. Outside of Zenflow, Nick plays an active role in mentoring and advising medtech and healthcare entrepreneurs and startups. He has served as an advisor in various capacities at StartX, Y Combinator Startup School, Stanford Byers Center for Biodesign, and the Rosenman Institute. He is also a Venture Partner at Pioneer Fund, a venture fund led by Y Combinator alumni. Nick grew up on the east coast and earned his M.S. and B.S. with Distinction in Management Science & Engineering from Stanford University.

Colleen Cutcliffe is the CEO and Co-Founder of Pendulum. She has over 15 years of experience leading and managing biology teams in academia, pharmaceuticals and biotechnology. Prior to starting Pendulum, Colleen was the Senior Manager of Biology at Pacific Biosciences and a Scientist at Elan Pharmaceuticals. Colleen received her Ph.D. in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology from Johns Hopkins University and her B.A. in Biochemistry from Wellesley College.

Dr. Paul R. Billings is a board-certified internist and clinical geneticist, who also holds a PhD in Immunology, from Harvard University. He worked there with Dr. Baruj Benacerraf, who subsequently received the Nobel Prize in Medicine. In 2018, Dr. Billings became the Chief Medical Officer and Senior Vice President for Medical Affairs at Natera. Dr Billings recently has been a Partner in the diagnostic medicine consultancy the Bethesda Group, and the Managing Director of the Bethesda Group Fund. He is Chairman of PlumCare, LLc and Synergenz Biosciences Limited. He has held academic and research appointments at Harvard University, UC San Francisco, Stanford University and UC Berkeley. He co-founded the stem cell company, CBR Systems, was a Director at Ancestry.com and Signature Genomics Inc, and is co-founder and senior advisor of Fabric Genomics, Inc., a leading genome informatics firm. Until 2018, Dr. Billings was the Chairman of Biological Dynamics, a revolutionary molecular measurement platform based in San Diego, CA.

Andy Protter, PhD. joined Auransa in January 2017 as Chief Scientific Officer with 35 years of pharmaceutical industry research and development experience. At Auransa, Dr. Protter has led preclinical R&D which uses AI technology to discover novel drug candidates. Auransa’s lead project for hepatocellular carcinoma has completed all IND-supporting preclinical safety studies. Prior to joining Auransa, Dr. Protter was a Vice President at Medivation where he was responsible for preclinical pharmacology and toxicology of Enzalutamide, a prostate cancer drug that was approved by the FDA. Prior to Medivation, Dr. Protter worked at Scios, a biotechnology company where he also lead preclinical development. Dr. Protter initiated the Natrecor development program and was responsible for all preclinical activities. Natrecor was approved by the FDA for acute decompensated congestive heart failure. In addition Dr. Protter led preclinical efforts selecting a p38 MAP kinase inhibitor drug candidate that was tested in patients with rheumatoid arthritis and surgical pain. In 2004 Johnson and Johnson awarded Dr. Protter the Johnson Medal for his work on Natrecor. Trained as a biochemist at the State University of New York at Stony Brook, Dr. Protter led the first successful cloning of apolipoprotein B, the primary protein on LDL. He has participated in work described in over 84 published papers, 4 book chapters and 28 patents. When not doing science, Andy enjoys hobbies including biking, skiing, sailing, photography and reading.

JoyL is the General Manager of Pfizer CentreOne, a global contract development and manufacturing organization (CDMO) and a leading supplier of specialty APIs embedded within Pfizer. In 2019, under her leadership, Pfizer CentreOne contributed $810M in revenue with a growth rate of 9% while advancing Pfizer’s purpose of delivering breakthroughs that change patients’ lives. In 2020 Pfizer CentreOne received the Life Science Leader and Outsourced Pharma CMO Leadership Award for the fourth consecutive year, recognizing the strong partnerships built with customers. JoyL began her 20+ year career at Pfizer as a healthcare representative and progressed through a series of sales, operational, and strategic leadership roles. Her roles as U.S. Regional Business Director and Commercial Enablement Lead included managing people leaders and demonstrating commercial excellence. Growing in both partnership and organizational management skills, JoyL then became the Global Integration Lead for the Pfizer/Merck KGaA Immuno-Oncology Alliance and Global Operations Lead for Pfizer Essential Health. JoyL was recently named on the Medicine Maker Power List and Putnam Media Top 20 Influential Women in Manufacturing List. She has also received a Rising Star Award by the Healthcare Businesswomen’s Association and the Scrip Best Partnership Alliance Award. JoyL has several industry publications, is a frequent speaker at professional forums and is a board member for the non-profit Pharma & Biopharma Outsourcing Association. A strong proponent of diversity, she is a sought-out mentor and sponsor. JoyL is a graduate of the South Carolina Honors College at the University of South Carolina where she received a Bachelor of Science degree in Biological Sciences with a minor in Medical Humanities. Nicole is Pfizer CentreOne’s Pipeline Development and Innovation Lead. In this role, Nicole has responsibility for assessing competitive intelligence to identify growth opportunities across the Pfizer CentreOne businesses, lead technical and regulatory assessments of pipeline projects and provide development services to meet customer needs. Nicole brings a wide range of expertise to this role, including a background which covers contract manufacturing operations, procurement, business development, and sourcing strategies. Nicole joined Pfizer in 2001 as Pharmaceutical Supply Manager supporting the Parenteral Site in Carolina, Puerto Rico. In 2002, she was promoted to Category Manager in Global Procurement responsible for the identification and selection of contract manufacturers and packagers for pharmaceutical products. She joined External Supply (ES) in 2005 supporting the Divestitures and Business Development Group, and later on moved to manage contractors as an Operations Director. In 2010, Nicole was promoted to ES Strategy and Operations Management Director which included site divestiture support, sourcing, and leading the Americas Virtual Site governance. Nicole’s most recent assignment in Global External Supply included leading the implementation of SAP and partnering with tax and network strategy teams to roll out initiatives aligned with tax efficient system strategies and the standardizing/streamlining supply chain processes across the Global External Supply Virtual Sites. Nicole holds a B.S. Degree in Chemical Engineering from The Georgia Institute of Technology and an M.B.A. from The University of Delaware.

Abbas Kazimi is the Vice President, Head of Business Development at Nimbus Therapeutics, a biotechnology company harnessing quantum mechanics and computational approaches to structural biology to design breakthroughs in medicine. Abbas joined Nimbus in 2014 as Director of Business Development and has driven several of the company’s key transactions that have brought over $775M into Nimbus through financings and transactions, including the exclusive licensing agreement with Genentech, the sale of Nimbus’ clinical NASH program to Gilead in and the multiple strategic alliances with Celgene. Prior to joining Nimbus, Abbas spent a decade in planning, advising, and executing strategic transactions for life sciences clients with industry partners and financial investors across the globe, most recently at Extera Partners, LLC. He earned his M.A. from Harvard University and his B.A. from the University of Texas at Austin.

Dr. Randy Schatzman, Ph.D., is the chief executive officer and a board member of Bolt Biotherapeutics since 2019. He has over 30 years of biotechnology experience. Prior to Bolt, Dr. Schatzman was president and CEO, co-founder and board member of Alder BioPharmaceuticals, Inc. (Nasdaq: ALDR), from 2004 to 2018. Dr. Schatzman and his scientific team co-founded Alder in 2004 and led the company through the discovery and patenting of two monoclonal antibody therapeutics: eptinezumab, now in registration at FDA for migraine prevention and clazakizumab, being developed by Vitaeris for treatment of antibody-mediated kidney allograft failure. Prior to co-founding Alder, Dr. Schatzman was senior vice president of discovery research at Celltech R&D where the team discovered romosozumab which was subsequently licensed to Amgen in a 50/50 partnership. Prior to joining Celltech, he was at Syntex/Roche Bioscience where he served as preclinical team leader for Cytovene and team leader for Valcyte, both of which are currently marketed drugs. Dr. Schatzman received his Ph.D. in Molecular Pharmacology from Emory University before completing an American Cancer Society postdoctoral fellowship in the laboratory of J. Michael Bishop at the University of California, San Francisco. Dr. Schatzman is an inventor on over 30 issued patents and is an author on more than 40 peer-reviewed scientific publications.

Dr. Glenn Rosen has spent the bulk of his career engaged in basic and translational research in cancer and fibrosis. From 1993-2014, Dr. Rosen held a tenured faculty position in the Division of Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine, Department of Medicine, Stanford University. He led a basic and translational research laboratory-his research focused on the study of dysregulated signaling in fibrosis and mechanisms of apoptosis resistance in solid tumors. He also led the clinical Interstitial Lung Disease Program at Stanford. Dr. Rosen joined Bristol-Myers Squibb (BMS) in September 2014 as a Medical Director in the Early Clinical and Translational Research Group, where he led the Phase 2 program of a lysophosphatidic acid receptor antagonist for the treatment of pulmonary fibrosis. This was followed by appointment as Therapeutic Area Head of Fibrosis and Genetically Defined Diseases. In 2016 he was selected as Head, Discovery Fibrosis Biology at Bristol-Myers Squibb, where he led the early discovery and development, and translation of pre-clinical compounds, with a disease concentration in liver and lung fibrosis. Dr. Rosen joined Coherus Biosciences, Redwood City, CA, in April, 2019, where he leads the pre-clinical and translational sciences small molecule program, which is focused on development of a novel selective PPARγ modulator for the treatment of NASH.