Speakers
DR. AJIT SINGH
Partner, Artiman Ventures
Former Chief Executive Officer of the Digital Radiology and Medical Informatics, Siemens
Former President of the Oncology Care Systems Group, Siemens
Ajit Singh focuses on early-stage Technology and Life Science investments. He currently represents Artiman on the boards of Aditazz, CORE Diagnostics, medECUBE, and Visby Medical.
Ajit is also an Adjunct Professor in the School of Medicine at Stanford University and serves on the Board of Directors of Max Healthcare based in New Delhi, India.
Prior to joining Artiman, Ajit was the President and CEO of BioImagene (acquired by Roche), a Digital Pathology company. Before BioImagene, Ajit spent nearly twenty years at Siemens in various roles, most recently as the Chief Executive Officer of the Digital Radiology and Medical Informatics business of Siemens Healthcare. His previous roles included President and CEO of the Oncology Care Systems Group, Group Vice President of Siemens e-Health, and Vice President of Siemens Health Services. From 1989 to 1995, he was at Siemens Corporate Research working on Artificial Intelligence, Robotics, Computer Vision, and Image Analysis. During this time, he concurrently served on the faculty at Princeton University.
Ajit has a Ph.D. in Computer Science from Columbia University, a master’s degree in Computer Engineering from Syracuse University, and a bachelor’s degree in Electrical Engineering from Banaras Hindu University, India. He has published two books and numerous refereed articles and holds five patents.
DR. RONJON NAG
Professor, Stanford University
President of the R42 Group Venture Fund
AI Pioneer
Ronjon Nag is an inventor, teacher and entrepreneur. He is an Adjunct Professor in Genetics at the Stanford School of Medicine, becoming a Stanford Distinguished Careers Institute Fellow in 2016. He teaches AI, Genes, Ethics, Longevity Science and Venture Capital. He is a founder and advisor/board member of multiple start-ups and President of the R42 Group, a venture capital firm which invests in, and creates, AI and Longevity companies. As an AI pioneer of smartphones and app stores, his companies have been sold to Apple, BlackBerry, and Motorola. More recently he has worked on the intersection of AI and Biology. He has been awarded the IET Mountbatten Medal by the Institution of Engineering and Technology, the 2021 IEEE-SCV Outstanding Engineer Award, the $1m Verizon Powerful Answers Award, the 2023 COX AI Lifetime Achievement Award, the 2023 MIT Great Dome Award, and is the 2024 Inductee in the Silicon Valley Engineering Hall of Fame. Professor Nag has a Ph.D from Cambridge, an M.S from Massachusetts Institute of Technology and a B.Sc. from Birmingham in the UK. He has numerous interests in the intersection of AI and Healthcare including being CEO of Agemica.ai working on creating a vaccine for aging.
He has many firsts including:
Firsts:
• First laptop with speech recognition built-in (with Apricot, 1984)
• First selling cursive handwriting recognition (with Lexicus, 1991)
• First speech recognition phones (with Lexicus/Motorola, 1996)
• First large-vocabulary Chinese speech recognition (with Lexicus/Motorola, 1996)
• First Chinese predictive text system on a phone (Lexicus/Motorola, 1997)
• First predictive text systems in 40 languages on Motorola phones, (Lexicus/Motorola, 1997)
• First touch screen mobile phone with handwriting recognition (Lexicus/Motorola, 1999)
• First combined mobile search engine and directory (with Cellmania, 2000)
• First private label downloadable operator billable apps store (Cellmania, 2000)
• First BlackBerry Operator Billing apps store (Cellmania,2010)
• First Neural Network Artificial Intelligence System in the Cloud (Ersatz Labs, 2014)
• First Throwable 360 Ball Camera (Bounce Imaging, 2015)
• First Android powered smart light switch (Brightswitch 2017)
• First blood pressure watch with temperature and pulse oximetry add-ons for Back to Work Covid Kit (GTCardio 2019)
• First no code AI life sciences app store (Superbio.ai 2022)
• First proposal for an aging vaccine (Agemica 2023)
DR. ABE HEIFETS
Founder, Atomwise
Founder, Stealth Mode Startup
Dr. Abraham Heifets is CEO and Co-Founder of Atomwise, where he and Co-Founder Dr. Izhar Wallach invented the use of deep convolutional neural networks for drug discovery. Dr. Heifets was a Massey Fellow at the University of Toronto—a center for AI innovation—and a Fellow of the Ontario Brain Institute. His doctoral work applied machine learning and classical AI techniques to organic synthesis planning, a long-standing challenge in chemistry. His vision of AI bringing better, safer and more potent drugs to patients was recently featured in the July 2019 Moonshot issue of Newsweek. Dr. Heifets is a thought-leader on the use of AI for drug discovery and is an author on 24 papers, patents and patent applications. Dr. Heifets has presented his work to the U.S. GAO, the National Institutes of Health, the American Chemical Society, and the Association for the Advancement of Artificial Intelligence.
ANNE DEGHEEST
Managing Partner, HealthTech Capital
Anne DeGheest pioneered the HealthTech or Digital Health space as a healthcare executive, an entrepreneur, angel investor, corporate advisor and mentor capitalist. She is the founder of HealthTech Capital and MedStars.
Since she founded MedStars, in 1986, she has been a business consultant to large healthcare companies and a mentor capitalist specializing in early-stage healthcare companies.
Her life science portfolio companies have generated over $27 billion in market capitalization including 8 IPOs. She provided angel capital, hands-on operating expertise and/or business strategy in the founding of major venture-backed companies like Pyxis (CareFusion), Aspect Medical (acquired by Covidien), VISX (acquired by AMO), Thermage (merged into Solta Medical), VISICU(acquired by Philips), Masimo (Nasdaq: MASI). She also helped grow new entrepreneurial divisions of large corporations like ASP/Johnson & Johnson, Baxter, Medtronic and McKesson. She was also part of the founding executive team of Nellcor (a division of Covidien), MedPool and OmniCell (Nasdaq: OMCL). She was an Entrepreneur-In-Residence with Canaan Partners and IVP.
In 2010, Anne founded HealthTech Capital, a group of private and corporate investors dedicated to funding and mentoring new "HealthTech" startups to decrease healthcare cost and empower patients. HealthTech capital is an ecosystem of angels, venture capitalists, providers, payers and healthcare industry key players with the three sets of expertise needed to succeed in this new HealthTech space: healthcare, technology and user engagement.
She organized the HealthTech Conferences between 2012-2015 and is a frequent speaker at industry conferences and a guest-lecturer at Stanford Business School. She has an MBA from Harvard and a master's in business engineering from the University of Brussels. She is also a recognized artist.
JAY ROBERTS
Managing Partner, DigiLife Fund
Jay Roberts has been a senior strategic executive in the healthcare industry for over 30 years. He is serving as our Managing Partner for DigiLife Fund II, leading fundraising, due diligence and investment decisions along with members of the DigiLife team and syndicate investment funds. He currently serves as a member of the Board of Directors for Caidya, Inc.; Veriskin, Inc.; CohereMed, Inc.; NaviPoint Health, Inc.; Vyant Bio, Inc. and is a member of the Fellows of DIA.
Jay has held Chief Executive Officer, Chief Operating Officer and Chief Financial Officer positions for publicly-traded and venture and private equity backed healthcare technology, diagnostics, software solutions and manufacturing companies throughout a successful industry career; including leading more than 50 M&A and debt and equity transactions.
Until February 2023, Jay was the President and Chief Executive Officer of Vyant Bio, Inc., an innovative biotechnology company reinventing drug discovery for complex neuro-developmental and neuro-degenerative disorders. Jay had previously served as the Chief Executive Officer and Operating Officer of Cancer Genetics. Prior to joining Cancer Genetics, Jay served as the Chief Financial Officer for VirMedica, Inc., an innovative technology solutions company that provides an end-to-end platform that enables specialty-drug manufacturers and pharmacies to optimize product commercialization and management. Before VirMedica, Jay was the Chief Financial and Administrative Officer for AdvantEdge Healthcare Solutions Inc., a global healthcare analytics and services organization. Prior to that, Jay also served as the Chief Financial Officer and Treasurer for InfoLogix, Inc., a publicly-traded, healthcare-centric mobile software and solutions provider. InfoLogix was acquired by Stanley Healthcare (NYSE: SWK), with Jay leading the transaction. He has also held CFO roles at leading public medical device and healthcare services firms including: Clarient, Inc., a publicly-traded provider of diagnostic laboratory services; and Daou Systems, Inc., a publicly-traded healthcare IT software development and services firm. In addition, he has held key senior executive roles with MEDecision, Inc., HealthOnline, Inc., and the Center for Health Information.
Jay formerly was a member of the Board of Directors and Past Chair for the Drug Information Association (DIA), a global neutral forum enabling drug developers and regulators access to education and collaboration. He also served on the Board of Directors for vivoPharm, Pty, Ltd, a holding company of Vyant Bio based in Melbourne, Australia. and is the past Chairman of the Board of Directors for AdvantEdge Healthcare Solutions Private Limited, based in Bangalore, India and a director of Gentris Hong Kong Limited, a global biopharma services company.
Jay is a current member of the Alliance of CEOs based in San Francisco, CA and is a recognized thought leader and is invited to speak and serve as an expert panelist for numerous programs and publications, covering topics related to “conscious capitalism”, leadership and mentoring, corporate finance, mergers and acquisition, capital formation, and innovation related to cancer treatments and the healthcare industry generally.
SHUBHRA JAIN
Head of Healthcare Investments, Tarsadia Investments
Shubhra Jain is a former physician turned Investor based in San Francisco, California, currently serving as the Head of Healthcare Investments at Tarsadia Investments. With a diverse background in medical devices and bioengineering, Shubhra has successfully invested in companies like Berkeley Lights (Series E) and Mission Bio (Series B), showcasing a strong track record in supporting cutting-edge technologies in health and bio. Having transitioned from a medical career to a prominent role in the investment sector, Shubhra Jain has leveraged her expertise to lead cross-functional teams and drive successful business strategies, positioning herself as a key player in the venture capital landscape for innovative startups in sectors such as Medical Devices and BioTech.
KAUSHIK SRINIVASAN, JD, MBA
Co-Founder and Partner, Cerulean Health
Kaushik Srinivasan, JD, MBA is an accomplished C-Suite executive, entrepreneur, and investor with deep experience in the healthcare industry. Leveraging his cross-functional expertise, he has been a strategic investor and operator focused on helping early and growth stage companies in healthcare and life sciences accelerate operational and fundraising milestones through a combination of business strategy, industry relationships, and a team of subject matter experts.
MIKA NISHIMURA
Operational Partner, Gilde Healthcare
Mika is a commercialization executive with extensive leadership experience in conceiving, planning, and launching disruptive medical technologies in 50 markets across North America, EMEA, Asia-Pacific, and Latin America. She has an exceptional track record of leading businesses from inception to across different clinical segments, including cardiovascular, fertility, and oncology.
Mika is an independent director of SI Bone (NASDAQ – SIBN), an orthopedic/spine implant company, Accuray (NASDAQ – ARAY), a radiation oncology equipment manufacturer, and HOYA (Tokyo Stock Exchange Prime: 7741), a diversified manufacturer of life science and IT products leveraging advanced optics technologies. In addition, she is also a board advisor to Tristel, plc, a UK public company, and a leader in high-level disinfection and decontamination technology.
Since 2011, Mika has been an Operational Partner with Gilde Healthcare Partners, a life-science focused venture fund with $2B under management and currently investing out of Gilde V, a $460M fund.
In her most recent operating role, Mika was Vice President, Commercialization at nVision Medical Corporation, an early clinical-stage company focused on early detection of ovarian cancer acquired by Boston Scientific for $275M. Previously, Mika was Vice President, Commercial Development at Auxogyn, a company focused on reproductive health. Progyny, Inc acquired the company in 2015.
Earlier in her career, Mika was Vice President, International Sales Operations and Marketing at ev3 Inc., where she held P&L responsibilities for the emerging markets.
Mika has an MBA from Harvard Graduate School of Business Administration and a BA in Economics from Yale University.
LIZZIE LEE
Senior Associate, McKesson Ventures
Lizzie brings over a decade of healthcare industry experience to her work at McKesson Ventures. She’s an advocate for the power of what novel startups and industry veterans can achieve together. Before joining the McKesson Ventures team, Lizzie helped launch and manage McKesson’s multi-year strategic growth initiative to position the business through long-term market disruption.
Prior to this, Lizzie was a consultant at ZS Associates where she worked with top life science companies on go-to-market strategy, launch planning and market access. She also helped build the firm’s innovation team. Lizzie earned her B.S. in Mechanical Engineering at Northwestern University. Outside of work, you can find Lizzie enjoying the outdoors by boat, skis, or even on foot.
GEOFF KUZIEMKO
Partner, O'Melveny
Dr. Geoff Kuziemko focuses his practice on assisting clients, primarily in the life sciences sector, with intellectual property and technology-intense transactions. His work runs the gamut of complex transactions, from out-bound license and in-bound license, development, commercialization, strategic alliance and joint venture, collaboration, and profit sharing agreements to commercial agreements for distribution, manufacture, and supply, as well as intellectual property due diligence for strategic acquisitions and financings involving life sciences businesses, products, and patents.
NANCY SCHROEDER
Counsel, O'Melveny
Nancy is an intellectual property litigator, focused primarily on complex patent litigation. Nancy has experience litigating matters involving a wide array of technologies, ranging from semiconductors and mobile communications technologies to pharmaceuticals and medical devices. Nancy has represented clients in US district courts, the ITC, and the Federal Circuit, as well as in post-grant proceedings before the USPTO and PTAB.
STEVEN FERGUSON
Deputy Director, Licensing and Entrepreneurship, National Institutes of Health
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.