SPEAKERS
Summer 2022 Meeting
DR. KEITH FLAHERTY
Co-Founder Loxo Oncology
Director of Clinical Research, Mass General Cancer Center
Director of the Henri and Belinda Termeer Center for Targeted Therapy, Mass General
Dr. Keith Flaherty is a Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School, Associate Physician of Medicine, Hematology/Oncology at Massachusetts General Hospital, and Director of Clinical Research, Massachusetts General Hospital Cancer Center. Dr. Flaherty is also the Deputy Chair for Biomarker Sciences and the Chair of the Developmental Therapeutics Committee in the Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group. Dr. Flaherty has served as Principal Investigator for numerous first-in-human clinical trials with novel, targeted therapies, including the first in-human trials of the first prospectively developed selective BRAF inhibitors for metastatic melanoma and has published more than 300 peer-reviewed papers. He currently serves on the board of directors of Loxo Oncology, Inc. (NASDAQ: LOXO). Dr. Flaherty has a Bachelor of Science from Yale University and medical degree from Johns Hopkins University. Dr. Flaherty trained in internal medicine at Brigham and Women’s Hospital and completed a medical oncology fellowship at the University of Pennsylvania.
DR. NIELS EMMERICH
Global Head of Search and Evaluation, Abbvie
Niels joined Abbvie in 2011 and has held several positions at AbbVie, including Global Commercial Leader for a late-stage oncology program, Director and Head of Commercial Business Development for Oncology, Senior Director and Head of Search and Evaluation, Oncology, and most recently Vice President and Global Head of Search and Evaluation. Transactions that Niels was involved in in his current and previous role include acquisitions (Pharmacyclics, Stemcentrx), R&D collaborations and license agreements (Argen-X, CytomX, Dong-A-ST, Harpoon, M2Gen, MD Anderson PureMHC, Turnstone, X-Chem,) and venture investments.
Prior to joining AbbVie Niels was CEO of BioPheresis, co-founder and COO of immatics biotechnologies GmbH, and a strategic management consultant for McKinsey & Company.
Niels attended University of Tuebingen in Germany and received a Master’s in Biology and a Ph.D. in Immunology.
DR. ALFRED SLANETZ
CEO, Geneius Biotechnology
Former CEO, Bluebird Bio
Former Head of Product Development, Genetech
Dr. Slanetz is the founder of Geneius Biotechnology and has been President, Chief Executive Officer and a director of the Company full time since its inception. Prior to co-founding the Company, he served as Chief Executive Officer and President of Bluebird Bio.
Dr. Slanetz also served as Vice President, Business Development of TRANSGENE in May 1996. From 1994 to 1996, he served as Manager, New Product Planning and Development at Genentech Inc. Prior to that, Dr. Slanetz was a Management Consultant for Arthur D. Little.
He received his Ph.D. in Molecular and Immunobiology from Yale University, as well as a Masters from Brown University.
DR. BRIAN LEYLAND JONES
Former Director of Emory and McGill Cancer Centers
CMO National Foundation for Cancer Research
Chief Science Officer, The Darwin Foundation
Brian Leyland-Jones, BSc (Ist class Hons), MB BS, PhD, FRACP, FRCPC is the Chief Medical Officer and Scientific Advisory Board Member for the National Foundation for Cancer Research (NFCR) and Chief Scientific Officer of The Darwin Foundation. He also serves as the Chief Medical Officer of OTraces, Xylonix and the N OF 1 Mission, collectively devoted to the implementation of prevention and cure of malignancy globally. He sits on several national and international boards including the Asian Foundation for Cancer Research (AFCR), NED Biosystems, Non-Pareil, Ratio and is Director Emeritus for the WIN Consortium. He founded Xanthus, AKESOgen and Viviphi.
Dr. Leyland-Jones holds biochemistry, medical, and doctoral degrees from the University of London. Following residency training at Hammersmith, Brompton, St. Bartholomew’s and London hospitals, he completed a clinical pharmacology fellowship at Cornell University and a medical oncology fellowship at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center. He then joined the academic staff at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center and New York Hospitals with a special research interest in Early Phase clinical, clinical pharmacological and biomarker evaluation of many anticancer compounds, including the platinums and anthracycline analogs in use today. In 1983, he moved to the National Cancer Institute (NCI) to head the Developmental Chemotherapy section. During his time with the NCI, he was responsible for the overall development of approximately 70 anti-cancer compounds in various stages of transition from in-vitro screening to Phase III clinical trials, including overseeing the early development of paclitaxel in Phase 1 and 2 trials. From 1990 to 2000, he served as founding chair of Oncology and director of the McGill University Comprehensive Cancer Centre. He recruited and built a broad multifaceted cancer centre, including a robust cross-hospital clinical trials enterprise, with deep clinical pharmacologic and biomarker support. Dr. Leyland-Jones continued as the Minda de Gunzberg Chair in Oncology and professor of medicine at McGill University in Montreal, Canada for 7 additional years, focusing on the development and biomarker strategies of several of the new targeted oncologic agents.
He joined Emory University in 2007. As Director of the Winship Cancer Centre and Associate Vice-President of Health Sciences, Dr. Leyland-Jones lead the Centre to obtain National Cancer Institute Cancer Centre Designation, the first in the State of Georgia, and for the first time in 30 years. Dr. Leyland-Jones was instrumental in building the Genomics Medicine Program at the Avera Cancer Institute in Sioux Falls, SD where he was the Vice President of Molecular and Experimental Medicine from 2014-2019. Dr. Leyland-Jones’ principal academic contributions have been in the fields of anticancer therapy development, the pharmacodynamics, pharmacokinetics, and pharmacogenetics of oncological clinical trials, the translation of preclinical models into the clinic, biomarker endpoints in Phase I/II clinical trials, and screening and mechanistic studies of novel targeted and chemotherapeutic anticancer agents.
Dr. Leyland-Jones is the recipient of numerous research grants, and has served as principal, co-principal and co-investigator on more than 100 clinical studies. He has authored and co-authored more than 210 peer-reviewed articles and book contributions, 25 books and book chapters, 425 abstracts and 35 patents. He has a robust speaking and private consulting practice that takes him all over the world.
LYNDA CHIN, MD
CEO, Apricity Health
Founder, Department of Genomic Medicine, MD Anderson
An elected member of the National Academy of Medicine, Dr. Chin is a renowned cancer genomic scientist and a leader in the application of analytical technologies, AI/ML, and big data in medicine. Her groundbreaking work synthesizing terabyte-scale datasets in genomics and oncology research has opened new frontiers in digital medicine.
As founding chair of the Department of Genomic Medicine at the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Dr. Chin launched projects to transform workflows for patient-oriented research harness high-velocity clinical and research data, and democratize cancer care expertise across a network of global partner care centers. As Chief Innovation Officer of the University of Texas System, she forged initiatives to create infrastructure for more equitable access to care for underserved populations. In her work at The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA), she was Principal Investigator driving development of the Firehose data pipeline, served on the Scientific Steering Committee of the International Cancer Genome Consortium (ICGC), and is actively involved in conceptualizing the next phase of ICGC, ICGC-ARGO (Accelerating Research on Genomic Oncology).
Dr. Chin earned a B.A. degree from Brown University and a M.D. degree from Albert Einstein College of Medicine. She conducted her clinical and scientific training at Columbia Presbyterian Medical Center and Montefiore Medical Center in NY and went on to a productive academic research career at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, where she was a professor at Harvard Medical School and a senior associate member at the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard.
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STEVEN M. FERGUSON, CLP
Deputy Director and Chair, Licensing and Entrepreneurship, NCI
Steven M. Ferguson currently serves as the Deputy Director, Licensing and Entrepreneurship. Prior to joining NIH Office of Technology Transfer in 1990, Mr. Ferguson served in marketing and management positions in biomedical firms subsequent to being a scientist at the National Cancer Institute. His healthcare experience has also included work as Director of Marketing and Public Relations for a rural 70-bed hospital. Registered to practice before the USPTO and a Certified Licensing Professional (CLP), Mr. Ferguson also holds Master's Degrees in Business Administration (George Washington University) and Chemistry (University of Cincinnati) as well as Bachelor’s Degree in Chemistry (Case Western Reserve University). Mr. Ferguson has been an economic reviewer for Maryland Industrial Partnerships (MIPS) as well as the Advanced Technology Program (ATP) grant programs and is an instructor for both the USDA Graduate School and the NIH FAES Graduate School where he is also the department chair for the new Certificate in Technology Transfer Program. Mr. Ferguson was also the Susan T. and Charles E. Harris Visiting Lecturer at the Watson School of Biological Sciences at the Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory and has published articles on licensing and technology transfer issues.
MICHAEL L. SALGALLER, PHD
Director Invention Development and Marketing Unit (IDMU), NCI
Dr. Michael Salgaller leads the Invention Development and Marketing Unit (IDMU) within the National Cancer Institute’s (NCI’s) Technology Transfer Center, where he leverages over 20 years of business, scientific, and investment experience in various life science sectors to support technology development and commercialization. The IDMU serves in a business development role to foster licensing and collaborative activity between buy-side stakeholders and the NCI (as well as NIH in general). Immediately prior to returning to the NCI, Michael was a Vice President at The Conafay Group, a healthcare-focused government affairs firm in downtown DC, where he led alliance development activities centered on civilian health. He served as President of Biologics Consulting Group, a boutique firm providing professional services focused on regulatory affairs. Michael spent several years on the investment team of an early-stage venture capital firm dedicated to the life sciences. He began his buy-side career as Vice President of R&D for Northwest Biotherapeutics, where he led the development of cancer cell therapies that achieved clinical benefit. He began his career as a Senior Scientist with Dr. Steve Rosenberg at the NCI. He is the author of “Biotechnology Entrepreneurship,” and teaches an entrepreneurship class at NIH. He is on the Board of Canines-N-Kids, a foundation supporting cooperation between researchers in pediatric and veterinary oncology. He has written over 70 scientific/business articles and book chapters. Dr. Salgaller received his PhD in Pathology from The Ohio State University.
KUNAL BHATIA
Director, Healthcare Investment Banking, Cowen
Kunal Bhatia is a Director in the Health Care Investment Banking group, focusing on Life Sciences. During his tenure at Cowen, Mr. Bhatia has advised public and private companies, across various stages in their lifecycle, on capital raising and strategic / business development efforts. Prior to joining Cowen, Mr. Bhatia worked in the Health Care Investment Banking group at RBC Capital Markets. Prior to this, Mr. Bhatia held positions at Jefferies and Credit Suisse focused on executing leveraged finance transactions for clients across the Health Care, Energy and Technology sectors. Mr. Bhatia has a BA in economics and finance from the College of William and Mary.
BILL KADEL
Vice President, Equity Capital Markets, Cowen
Bill Kadel is a Vice President on the Equity Capital Markets Desk at Cowen, focusing on Life Sciences. During his tenure at Cowen, Mr. Kadel has helped issuers raise over $5 billion in equity capital across private financings, IPOs, follow-ons, SPACs and other equity linked transactions. Prior to joining Cowen, Mr. Kadel worked in the ECM Advisory group at Solebury Capital and spent 3 years in strategic investor relations at The Trout Group. Mr. Kadel has a BA in Economics from Moravian College.
DR. PHILIP FRIEDLANDER
Professor, Medicine, Hematology and Medical Oncology
Dr. Friedlander received medical school training at Columbia University where he obtained his M.D. and Ph.D. degree in Biology. He remained at Columbia Presbyterian Medical Center to complete his postdoctoral training in Internal Medicine and subsequently completed a clinical fellowship in Medical Oncology at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center. He then joined the faculty of the Dana Farber Cancer Institute/Brigham and Women’s Hospital as an attending physician within the Melanoma and Cutaneous Oncology Programs and as an Instructor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School.
His clinical interests include the development of targeted therapies and immunotherapies for patients with melanoma, merkel cell carcinoma, advanced cutaneous squamous cell carcinoma, basal cell carcinoma, and sebaceous gland tumors. At the Dana Farber Cancer Institute he acted as a principal investigator testing novel therapeutic approaches for melanoma including PARP inhibition, hsp90 inhibition, anti-apoptotic approaches, and immune modulatory and anti-CTLA4 based strategies. He investigated in non-melanoma skin cancers novel therapeutic strategies such as hedgehog signaling pathway inhibition in advanced basal cell carcinoma.
As a member of the Division of Hematology/Medical Oncology and as the Director of the Melanoma Medical Oncology Program at Mount Sinai, he will be caring for patients with cutaneous malignancies and continue working to develop collaborative translational and basic science projects and treatments for patients with cutaneous malignancies.