Bob Abraham, PhD | SVP & Chief Scientific Officer, Oncology Research Unit ,
Robert (Bob) Abraham, Ph.D., is Senior Vice President and Chief Scientific Officer for the Oncology Research Unit, where he is responsible for overseeing the discovery of new candidates for the treatment of cancer.
Prior to this role, Dr. Abraham served as the Vice President of Oncology Research at Wyeth and Co-Chair of the Wyeth Oncology Therapeutic Area Strategic Committee. While at Wyeth, he also served as a member of the Discovery Review Board and the Discovery Executive Committee, and was the Director of the Wyeth Discovery Postdoctoral Training Program.
Prior to joining Wyeth, Dr. Abraham was a professor at The Sanford-Burnham Institute for Medical Research (SBIMR) in La Jolla, California. He served as the Director of the SBIMR Cancer Research Center and successfully guided the center to a renewal of its designation as one of nine National Cancer Institute-sponsored basic science centers in the United States.
Dr. Abraham also founded and directed the program in Signal Transduction Research in the SBIMR Cancer Center, and retains an appointment as an Adjunct Professor at the SBIMR, together with an Adjunct Professor Appointment in Pharmacology at the University of California, San Diego. Previously, Dr. Abraham was a professor in the Department of Pharmacology and Cancer Biology at Duke University Medical Center, and was the first recipient of the Glaxo-Wellcome Chair of Molecular Cancer Biology at Duke. Before his arrival at Duke University, Dr. Abraham worked at the Mayo Clinic as a professor and postdoctoral fellow in immunology and pharmacology.
Dr. Abraham received his Ph.D. in pharmacology at the University of Pittsburgh, and his B.S. in biology from Bucknell University. He is the author of more than 200 scientific publications in peer-reviewed journals, and has served on and chaired grant review panels at the National Institutes of Health. He is a reviewer for many leading scientific journals, including Nature, Science, and Cell.
Jame Abraham, MD | Director, Breast Oncology Program ,
Dr. Abraham did his Fellowship in Medical Oncology from the National Cancer Institute (NCI) of the National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD. He did his residency at School of Medicine, University of Connecticut, CT and Medical degree from Calicut Medical College in India.
He was the first Bonnie Wells Wilson Distinguished Professor and Eminent Scholar in breast cancer research, and Professor of Medicine and section chief of Hematology Oncology at West Virginia University, before joining Cleveland Clinic.
He was a member of NSABP breast committee since 2002-14 and member of the breast cancer working committee since 2010. He is a member of NSABP Division of Industry trials advisory board. He is also a member of the breast cancer research committee for the newly formed NRG Oncology group.
He has two patents; one on risk stratification of patients with breast cancer and another patent on novel breast cancer imaging.
He the founding editor of Bethesda Handbook of Clinical Oncology, a 800 page, one of the best selling oncology textbook by Lippincott Williams and Wilkins in the world. He is the chief editor of the Emerging Cancer Therapeutics series, published by Demos publication in New York. He is also one of the editors of the journal Community Oncology. Abraham has more than 100 scientific papers and abstracts in many national meetings and journals, including the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Journal of National Cancer Institute, Annals of Internal Medicine, Clinical Cancer Research, Cancer and Bone Marrow Transplantation
He received several awards, including the Dean’s award for excellence in Clinical Medicine in 2010 from West Virginia University, award from the President of India, in 2009 for his contributions in Medicine (nominated by Pazhassi Raja Trust). He received the Clinician of the Year Award (2006) and Outstanding Faculty Award (2007) by the Department of Medicine of WVU. He was also awarded the Volunteer of Year Award, by American Cancer Society (WV) in 2007.
Vishal Agrawal, MD | President , Healthcare Solutions
Vishal Agrawal, M.D., is president of the Harris Healthcare Solutions business, a nationally recognized leader in clinical integration solutions. The business offersa full range of interoperability solutions, including IT infrastructure and management, clinical workflow and analytics, health information exchange, and imaging.
Harris solutions improve healthcare quality, safety, efficiency, cost, and outcomes by ensuring that the right information travels, with security and privacy, to the right person, at the right time, on the right device, at the point of care.
Dr. Agrawal joined Harris in 2013 and brings more than 15 years of experience developing strategies for and advising leading government and commercial healthcare organizations in North America. He was formerly at McKinsey & Company, where he was a partner and leader in the firm’s North American Healthcare Systems and Services practice. While at McKinsey he significantly expanded the practice’s impact across public-sector and military healthcare, including successfully developing strategies to drive health system performance improvements.
Prior to his business career he served as a research fellow at the Howard Hughes Medical Institute and the Department of Molecular Biophysics and Biochemistry at Yale University.
He received a bachelor of science degree in molecular biophysics and biochemistry and a master’s degree in molecular biophysics from Yale University, as well as a medical doctorate degree from Yale University School of Medicine. He is widely published and an active speaker on various healthcare, informatics, health insurance, and healthcare delivery system issues. Harris is an international communications and information technology company serving government and commercial markets in more than 125 countries. Harris is dedicated to developing best-in-class assured communications® products, systems, and services.
Jack Andraka | Inventor, Scientist, Cancer Researcher ,
Jack Andraka is a Maryland high school student who at age 15 created a novel paper sensor that detects pancreatic, ovarian, and lung cancer in 5 minutes for as little as 3 cents. He is the winner of the 2012 Intel International Science and Engineering Fair, the Smithsonian American Ingenuity Award and a National Geographic Explorer. He was named a Champion of Change by President Obama for his work to break down scientific journal paywalls. Jack is currently working at the Georgetown Lombardi Cancer Center on nanorobots and improvements on his sensor. He also has worked extensively on environmental issues and has developed an ultra-inexpensive water filter for developing nations made from recycled plastic water bottles. Jack also speaks about open access, STEM education and universal Internet availability.
Twitter Handle: @JackAndraka
Jeff Arnold | Chairman & CEO ,
Jeff Arnold is Chairman and CEO of Sharecare, a health and wellness engagement platform he founded with Dr. Mehmet Oz, in partnership with Harpo Productions, Sony Pictures Television and Discovery Communications. Sharecare helps people maximize their human potential by connecting them to personalized health resources including high-quality information from experts, clinical decision support tools, interactive programs and local healthcare providers.
Previously, Arnold was Chairman and CEO of HowStuffWorks.com, an award-winning online resource used by millions of people each month, which he sold to Discovery Communications, where he served as Chief Digital Strategy Officer, and Chief Architect of The Curiosity Project until December 2011.
At the age of 28, he founded and served as CEO of WebMD Corporation, the first healthcare company to harness the power of the Internet to create a destination for consumers, healthcare institutions and physicians to find trustworthy medical information.
He was inducted into the Honor Society of Nursing, Sigma Theta Tau International, as an Honorary Member in recognition of his superior achievements and contributions to the advancement of nursing and health care at national and global levels. Arnold also has been honored by the World Economic Forum; inducted into the Technology Hall of Fame of Georgia; named Entrepreneur of the Year, Southeast Region by Ernst & Young; and received the prestigious Phoenix Award, which recognizes companies and individuals who embody strength, tenacity and leadership in Georgia's healthcare information technology industry.
Currently chairman of Forbes Travel Guide, Arnold also has served on numerous boards for public, private and charitable organizations over the years.
Twitter Handle: @SharecareNow
Usman Azam, MD | Head Cell & Gene Therapies Unit ,
Usman (Oz) Azam is the Head of the Cell & Gene Therapies Unit (C&G TU) at Novartis Pharmaceuticals. He is a member of the Pharmaceutical Executive Committee and Pharma Leadership Team.
Most recently he was the Head of Global Medical Affairs & HEOR General Medicines. Previously he was the Chief Scientific Officer and Head of US Medical responsible for US clinical development, evidence-based medicine, medical affairs and aspects of regulatory affairs for North America. He started his career at Novartis by leading Global Regulatory Affairs for the Neurosciences & Ophthalmic Franchise within Global Development. Oz has an extensive U.S., global and international pharmaceutical industry background, with strong experience in science, regulatory and commercial.
He joined us in 2009 from Novaccel Therapeutics LLC, where he was Chief Executive Officer, a company he founded focusing on accelerating assets in the translational medicine setting. Prior to this he served as Chief Medical Officer at Aspreva Pharmaceutics Inc, a company that focused orphan disease states and on the development of Mycophenolate Mofetil (Cellcept) in autoimmune diseases such as lupus nephritis, myasthenia gravis, and pemphigus vulgaris. Aspreva was acquired by Galenica SA in 2008.
Prior to this he worked at Ethicon J&J as their Chief Medical Officer. He served as Vice President &Therapeutic Area Head in Sexual Medicine & Urogenital Sciences in J&J Pharmaceutical Research & Development where he led large NDA submissions and was also responsible for development phases II through to IV.
Oz is a graduate of the University of Liverpool, United Kingdom, where he completed undergraduate studies in Human Biology & Anatomy. He graduated from the University of Liverpool School of Medicine & attained board certification as an Obstetrician & Gynecologist in the U.K. He undertook subspecialty training in the field of Urogynecology at the University of Leicester, U.K where he worked in the department of Epidemiology & Public Health and undertook research related to pelvic floor disorders. He has published in peer reviewed journals in the areas of Sexual Medicine, Urogynecology and Health Economics. He has been a resident of the US since 2001.He previously served as a Clinical Assistant Professor at the Robert Wood Johnson Medical School in New Brunswick, NJ.
Maria Bartiromo | Anchor, Global Markets Editor ,
Maria Bartiromo joined FOX Business Network (FBN) as Global Markets Editor in January 2014. She is the anchor of Opening Bell with Maria Bartiromo on FBN (9-11 AM/ET) and hosts Sunday Morning Futures with Maria Bartiromo, a Sunday business program (10 AM/ET) on FOX News Channel (FNC).
Bartiromo has covered business and the economy for more than 25 years and was one of the building blocks of business cable network CNBC. During her 20-year tenure as the face of CNBC, she launched the network’s morning program, Squawk Box; anchored The Closing Bell with Maria Bartiromo; and was the anchor and managing editor of the nationally syndicated On the Money with Maria Bartiromo, formerly The Wall Street Journal Report with Maria Bartiromo.
Bartiromo has been a pioneer in her industry. In 1995, she became the first journalist to report live from the floor of the New York Stock Exchange on a daily basis. She joined CNBC in 1993 after five years as a producer, writer and assignment editor with CNN Business News, where she wrote and produced some of CNN's top business programs.
She has received numerous prestigious awards, including two Emmys and a Gracie Award. Her first Emmy was for her 2008 News and Documentary coverage of the 2007-2008 financial collapse and her “Bailout Talks Collapse” coverage was broadcast on NBC Nightly News. She later won a second Emmy for her 2009 documentary, “Inside the Mind of Google,” which aired globally on CNBC. Bartiromo won a Gracie Award for “Greenspan: Power, Money & the American Dream,” also broadcast globally on CNBC.
In 2009, the Financial Times named her one of the “50 Faces That Shaped the Decade,” and she was the first female journalist to be inducted into the Cable Hall of Fame Class of 2011. Bartiromo is the author of several books, including The Weekend That Changed Wall Street, published by Portfolio / Penguin, and The 10 Laws of Enduring Success, published by Random House; both were released in 2010.
Marsha Barwick | Director of Applied Sciences ,
Marsha Barwick is the Director of Marshfield Clinic’s Applied Sciences division, with direct oversight for technology transfer, commercialization and enterprise development in the biotechnology sector, specializing in life sciences. Barwick has been with Marshfield Clinic for fourteen years, ten of those in Applied Sciences, serving in various positions which garnered her experience in business development, product development, and additional commercial ventures. Through her tenure in the medical technology marketspace , she has served in leadership positions on the board of directors for such entities as BioForward, Midwest Research University Network (MRUN) and Wisconsin Security Research Consortium and Wisconsin Technology Council. Prior to joining Applied Sciences, she spent four years in Marshfield Clinic’s Corporate Communications department, responsible for system wide events, public relations and fund development.
Most recently she has served as president of the UW Foundation Board of Directors, and chaired the team which successfully constructed a student housing unit with nearly 100 beds to serve the higher education student population in and around Marshfield. She has been involved with various other community boards and not for profit organizations, including Marshfield Area United Way, ODC and Marshfield’s Human Services Academy. She is a graduate of the Leadership Marshfield program. Marsha has been an active Sunrise Rotarian since 1997, serving her club as president in 2000-2001. Following that time, she continued to serve Rotary as assistant governor, assistance governor coordinator and has served on various district level committees. She is a multiple Paul Harris Fellow.
Marsha holds a Bachelor of Arts in Communication from University of Wisconsin Stevens Point and a Master’s degree in Business Administration from Lakeland college.
Jerome Belinson, MD | CEO ,
President, Preventive Oncology International, Inc. Professor of Surgery, Cleveland Clinic Lerner College of Medicine, Jerome L Belinson, MD is the Ex-officio Chairman of the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology at the Cleveland Clinic Foundation He has dedicated his career to advancing the screening and treatment of gynecologic cancers. Dr Belinson began the first formal gynecologic oncology service at the University of Vermont in 1977. Voted Teacher of The Year at the University of Vermont, and on two occasions at the Cleveland Clinic; Dr. Belinson received the 2004 distinguished graduate Citation of Merit from the University of Missouri Medical School, The Bruce Hubbard Stewart Award for humanitarianism in Medicine at the Cleveland Clinic. Dr. Belinson is the founding director of Preventive Oncology International, Inc. ("P.O.I."), a research organization that blends humanitarian work with investigative science. Dr. Belinson has served as an Advisor to the India Institute of Cytology and Preventive Oncology in 2001 and 2013; the medical advisory board for the Gates Foundation START project), and serves on the Board of Directors of Grounds for Health; the Global Initiative Against HPV and Cervical Cancer, http://giahc.org/; and the Global Coalition Against Cervical Cancer (GC3). Dr Belinson has worked for more than 17 years in many rural Chinese provinces as well as in the Dominican Republic, Mexico and Peru. In 2010 Dr. Belinson was awarded "The People's Republic of China Friendship Award". This award is the highest award for foreign experts who have made outstanding contributions to the country's economic and social progress. In China his activities lead to develop a cervical cancer consortium throughout China, collaborations for the Chinese with the World Health Organization, the NIH, and the Gates Foundation, but most importantly almost 60,000 women in the studies received screening for cervical cancer, often for the only time in their lives.
Edward Benz, MD | President & CEO ,
Edward J. Benz, Jr. M.D. is President and Chief Executive Officer of the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, CEO of Dana-Farber/Partners Cancer Care, Principal Investigator and Director of the Dana-Farber/Harvard Cancer Center, Director of the Dana Farber/Brigham and Women’s Cancer Center and a member of the Governing Board of the Dana-Farber/Children's Hospital Cancer Center. He is the Richard and Susan Smith Professor of Medicine, Professor of Pediatrics, Professor of Genetics and Faculty Dean Emeritus for Oncology at Harvard Medical School.
Benz has enjoyed a distinguished career in academic medicine. In the early 1970’s, he was among the first to apply the emerging technologies of molecular genetics to the study of human disease. His early work, started in medical school, delineated the molecular defects responsible for reduced hemoglobin synthesis that cause common inherited anemias called the thalassemias. Since that time, he and his laboratory group have made major contributions to our understanding of the molecular basis of hemoglobinopathies; the structure, function and regulation of genes encoding the NaK-ATP’ase; and, more recently, the biogenesis and molecular pathology of the red cell membrane cytoskeleton. Benz continues to be an active NIH funded investigator, holding two NIH RO1 grants. He also was instrumental in founding one of the nation’s first Family Medicine programs and Family Medicine residencies in Lancaster, Pa., while working with a medical school mentor, Dr. Nikitas Zervanos, in the late 1960’s.
He has authored over 300 peer reviewed books, articles, reviews, chapters and abstracts. Among the recent contributions of his laboratory are the discovery of a novel messenger RNA splicing factor that is induced during red cell maturation and regulates the gene expression of a key membrane protein called protein 4.1R; and, the demonstration that protein 4.1R plays key roles in cell division, mitosis, and epithelial cell organization, in addition to its role in maintaining red cell membrane function.
Roy A. Beveridge, MD | Senior Vice President & Chief Medical Officer ,
Dr. Roy Beveridge joined Humana in June 2013 as Senior Vice President and Chief Medical Officer. He is responsible for developing and implementing Humana’s clinical strategy, with an emphasis on advancing the company’s integrated care delivery model, especially in the areas of quality and cost improvement. He is a member of the Management Team, which sets the strategic direction for the company.
Previously, Dr. Beveridge served as Chief Medical Officer for McKesson Specialty Health, a Dallas-based subsidiary of McKesson Inc. Prior to McKesson’s acquisition of US Oncology in 2010, he served as the Executive Vice President and Medical Director at US Oncology. Dr. Beveridge also was the Co-Director of the Bone Marrow Transplant Program at INOVA Fairfax Hospital in Falls Church, Virginia.
Dr. Beveridge earned a Bachelor of Arts degree from Johns Hopkins University and a medical degree from Cornell University Medical College. He completed his residency in internal medicine at University of Chicago Hospitals and his fellowship at Johns Hopkins Hospital.
Board certified in medical oncology and internal medicine, Dr. Beveridge has authored numerous articles on a wide range of medical topics such as hematology, stem cell transplantation and quality/value-based medical practice.
Dr. Beveridge is a member of the MedFusion Board of Directors and of the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) and the American Society of Hematology. Previously, he has served on the boards of the American Cancer Society and the National Patient Advocate Foundation
Twitter Handle: @humana
Brian Bolwell, MD | Chair, Taussig Cancer Institute ,
Brian Bolwell, MD is Chairman of the Taussig Cancer Institute of the Cleveland Clinic. As Chairman, he is responsible for all clinical, financial, academic, operational, professional, and strategic issues pertaining to cancer medicine at CCF. Over 140 physicians, both at the main campus and at many regional centers report directly to Dr. Bolwell. He was Director of the Bone Marrow Transplant Program for 24 years, and Chairman of the Department of Hematologic Oncology & Blood Disorders from 2006-2011. He has authored over 450 articles and abstracts concerning bone marrow transplantation, lymphoma, and other hematologic malignancies. Dr. Bolwell has edited the textbook “Current Controversies of Bone Marrow Transplantation” (Humana Press, 2000), and is co-editor of the textbook “Clinical Malignant Hematology” (McGraw Hill, 2007). Dr. Bolwell is an ad hoc reviewer for the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Bone Marrow Transplantation, Blood, Annals of Internal Medicine, and many other scientific periodicals. Dr. Bolwell has served as a grant reviewer for the National Cancer Institute on multiple occasions. He has also served on leadership committees for the American Society of Hematology (ASH) and the Center for International Bone Marrow Transplantation Research (CIBMTR).
Dr. Bolwell is a Professor of Medicine of the Cleveland Clinic Lerner College of Medicine at Case Western Reserve University, and Deputy Director of the Case Comprehensive Cancer Center.
Jennifer Bonilla, PhD | Vice President, Global Strategy & Program Management ,
Jenn Bonilla’s expertise is in leading and managing portfolio, development, and commercialization strategies and programs for pharmaceutical and diagnostic businesses. She is currently Vice President, Global Strategy and Program Management at Genomic Health, Inc., a life science company committed to improving the quality of cancer treatment decisions through the research, development and commercialization of clinically-validated molecular diagnostics. Prior to Genomic Health she worked at Genentech, Merck & Co., Inc., and consulting firms. Jenn earned her Ph.D. and M.A. in Cognitive Psychology at Princeton University.
Melissa Brammer, MD | Group Medical Director, BioOncology Medical Affairs ,
Dr. Melissa Brammer is currently Group Medical Director for US Medical Affairs, BioOncology, leading the Medical Affairs HER2-positive Breast Cancer and Woman's Health franchise at Genentech. She completed her MD; Internship and Residency in Internal Medicine; and Fellowship in Hematology and Medical Oncology at Tulane University School of Medicine in New Orleans. She received her MPH degree from the Tulane School of Public Health in Epidemiology and Clinical Research. Following completion of her training, she practiced oncology in New Orleans. She was appointed Assistant Professor of Medicine at Tulane, where she specialized in Breast and GI Oncology, and served as Director of the Breast Cancer Center at the Medical Center of Louisiana in New Orleans. Following Hurricane Katrina in 2005, she moved to San Francisco joining Genentech, Inc. to work on Herceptin® and the HER2 pipeline.
Dena Bravata, MD | Chief Medical Officer & Head of Products ,
Dena Bravata is Chief Medical Officer and Head of Products at Castlight Health. She leads the team of clinicians, quality experts, product managers, product marketers, and health services analysts who create and deliver Castlight products and services. She also leads Castlight’s efforts to evaluate the effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of innovative benefit designs to drive down health care costs while improving quality.
Prior to joining Castlight, Dena was a practicing internist—for nearly a decade in her own private practice in San Francisco and prior to that as an attending physician at Stanford University and the Palo Alto VA. Dena has published widely on health care quality, clinical effectiveness, and public health. Dena has an undergraduate degree from Yale University, an M.D. degree from Columbia University, and an M.S. in Health Policy from Stanford University.
Twitter Handle: @CastlightHealth, @DenaBravata
Eric Brown, PhD | Director of Watson Technologies ,
Eric Brown is the Director and Principal Investigator for Watson Technologies at the IBM T. J. Watson Research Center. Eric earned his B.S. at the University of Vermont and M.S. and Ph.D. at the University of Massachusetts, all in Computer Science. Eric joined IBM in 1995 and has conducted research in information retrieval, document categorization, text analysis, question answering, bio-informatics, and applications of automatic speech recognition. Since 2007 Eric has been a technical lead on the DeepQA project at IBM and the application of automatic, open domain question answering to build the Watson Question Answering system. The goal of Watson is to achieve human-level question answering performance. This goal was realized in February of 2011 when Watson beat Ken Jennings and Brad Rutter in a televised Jeopardy! exhibition match. Eric's role on the project has spanned architecture development, special question processing, and hardware planning, and he is currently focused on applying Watson to clinical decision support in Healthcare. Eric has published numerous conference and journal papers, and holds several patents in the areas of text analysis and question answering.
Thomas Budd, MD | Staff, Hematology & Oncology ,
George Thomas Budd, MD, is a staff physician in the Taussig Cancer Center at Cleveland Clinic. His clinical interests include breast cancer, sarcomas and experimental therapeutics. His research interests are focused on experimental therapies, breast cancer and sarcomas.
Board-certified in internal medicine with a subspecialty in medical oncology, Dr. Budd has authored more than 100 articles, book chapters and textbooks. He is a reviewer for numerous peer-reviewed publications including Journal of Clinical Oncology, Cancer and Clinical Cancer Research.
In addition, Dr. Budd is a fellow of the American College of Physicians and a member of the Society of Clinical Oncology and American Association for Cancer Research.
Dr. Budd received his medical degree from the University of Kansas Medical School. He completed his internship, residency, and fellowship in medical oncology at Cleveland Clinic.
Peter Buca | Vice President Technology & Innovation ,
Peter Buca is currently Vice President of Technology & Innovation for Parker Hannifin’s Fluid Connectors Group. A native Clevelander, Mr. Buca earned his Bachelor of Science in Industrial Engineering at Cleveland State University and Master of Business Administration at Baldwin Wallace University. During his 35 years with Parker, Mr. Buca has introduced product, process and service innovations and led teams in the commercialization of these new ideas. His key accomplishments with Parker include: the development of Parker’s Macrospray technology and its deployment for use in electronics cooling; using designed experiments and statistical process control to improve and expand manufacturing operations for Parker’s Aerospace Group; and establishing Parker’s cooperative development effort with Cleveland Clinic Innovations. Mr. Buca is currently responsible for engineering and new product development for Parker’s Fluid Connectors Group, whose divisions have over 400 new product programs in their pipeline and have contributed substantially to Parker’s growth and financial performance. Mr. Buca is active in advancing science and technology education, and holds seven patents issued in highly diverse areas of motion and control technology.
Falko Busse, PhD | Vice President, Radiology Solutions ,
Dr. Busse is leading the Radiology Solutions organization within Philips Healthcare. This organization defines, develops and implements solutions “beyond the box”, focusing especially on clinical decision making, practice improvement and quality metrics in a healthcare environment that transitions from volume to value of care. While technology itself offers solutions to clinical problems, the team addresses the additional challenge to manage the population’s care with the optimum use of resources towards defined quality metrics.
Prior to leading Radiology Solutions, Dr. Busse focused on business development and built-up a Therapy unit within Philips. That business developed completely new image guided therapeutic paradigms with a focus on Oncology, like MR-guided Focused Ultrasound or MR-guided Radiation Therapy. Besides the technology development, the unit drove the validation of the clinical claims, the collection of clinical evidence to support these claims, comparative effectiveness studies, as well as cost effectiveness studies and the development of dedicated reimbursement codes.
In previous functions Dr. Busse served as the Chief Technology Officer of the Philips’ MRI business, as well as the Vice President for Medical Imaging Research, leading Corporate Research departments in the US, Germany and The Netherlands. Dr. Busse received his PhD and master’s degree in Physics from the University of Bonn, Germany, and completed a post-doctoral research fellowship by the Humboldt Foundation in Kopenhagen, Denmark.
Twitter Handle: @falkobusse, @philipshealth
John Campanelli | Publisher/Editorial Director ,
John Campanelli is publisher at Crain's Cleveland Business.
He returned to his hometown of Cleveland in 2013 after more than two years in Detroit as editor of Crain Communications Inc.'s Waste & Recycling News (WRN).
Prior to joining Crain Communications, John spent more than 13 years at The Plain Dealer as a copy editor, reporter and editor. Among his accomplishments at WRN was a top-to-bottom reinvention of Waste & Recycling News' editorial product, including a new website, expanded digital products, a focus on social media and an emphasis on strong editorial work across multiple platforms.
WRN's "Curbside Live," hosted by John, won a Neal Award as the nation's best business-media webcast after just its first full year in production. John has won multiple awards for his work, including the Casey Medal for Meritorious Journalism, the AASFE Excellence in Feature Writing Award and numerous Ohio AP awards, including second place for Ohio sports columnist of the year. He graduated with honors from The Ohio State University in 1993.
Twitter Handle: @johncampanelli
Daniel Cantillon, MD | Staff, Cardiovascular Medicine ,
Daniel J. Cantillon, MD, FACC, FHRS, is a staff physician in the Section of Electrophysiology and Pacing in the Robert and Suzanne Tomsich Department of Cardiovascular Medicine, Sydell and Arnold Miller Family Heart & Vascular Institute at Cleveland Clinic. He is board-certified in internal medicine, cardiovascular disease and cardiac electrophysiology and pacing.
Dr. Cantillon also serves as the Medical Director for the Central Monitoring Unit located at the Cleveland Clinic administrative campus in Beachwood, OH, that provides continuous cardiac rhythm monitoring, as well as hemodynamic and respiratory monitoring for patients at Cleveland Clinic’s main campus and regional hospitals. In addition, Dr. Cantillon is serving in his second elected term on the Board of Trustees for the American College of Cardiology (ACC), Ohio Chapter, and serves as the co-chair of the Health Policy committee. Dr. Cantillon also holds an academic appointment in the Cleveland Clinic Lerner College of Medicine, and teaches a course in ECG interpretation for senior medical students.
Mark Capone | President ,
Mark C. Capone, President of Myriad Genetic Laboratories, joined the company in October 2002. He currently serves on the Board of the American Clinical Laboratory Association. Prior to joining Myriad, he served for 17 years with Eli Lilly and Company where he held positions as Product Development Manager, Manufacturing Plant Manager and Area Sales Director. He served on the boards of directors of Rules Based Medicine and Crescendo Bioscience before they were acquired by Myriad. Mr. Capone received his Bachelor of Science degree in Chemical Engineering from Penn State University, graduating with highest distinction, and his Master of Science degree in Chemical Engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He also earned a Master of Science in Management from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. In 2012, Mr. Capone was elected Outstanding Engineering Alumnus at Penn State and he is a member of the Industrial and Professional Advisory Council at Penn State.
Todd Clyde | Executive VP, Global Field Operations ,
Todd Clyde is a seasoned leader in the B2B enterprise software space. He is known for his ability to define and articulate market strategy then motivate teams to embrace it. Todd is a passionate advocate for his customers and is driven by their realization of value and overall success.
Todd is responsible for the functions of sales, professional services, and support at Mindjet. Prior to Mindjet, Todd was with Monitise (Clairmail), a provider of enterprise software for mobile banking and payments, where he was EVP of sales & marketing. Prior to that, Clyde ran sales for two software companies focused on master data management and human capital management respectively. He also served at Accenture for 12 years as part of the industrial products and high tech practices.
Christopher Connor | Chairman & CEO ,
Christopher M. Connor is Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of The Sherwin-Williams Company, a $10 Billion Global Leader in the Paint and Coatings Industry. Mr. Connor was elected Chief Executive Officer by the Company’s Board of Directors on October 25, 1999 and added the title of Chairman on April 26, 2000.
Mr. Connor, 58, began his employment with The Sherwin-Williams Company in 1983 as Director of Advertising for the Paint Stores Group. Over his 31-year career with Sherwin-Williams, Mr. Connor has held a number of increasingly important assignments in many different functional areas of the Company. In every one of these assignments he has been privileged to work with the outstanding men and women of Sherwin-Williams as they have prospered and grown the Company together.
Today, Sherwin-Williams operates over 3,900 paint stores in the United States, owns many of the paint and coatings industry leading brand names, and sells products in over 115 countries around the world.
Sherwin-Williams’ culture of excellence has created an environment where outstanding technology, strong marketing, operational excellence and engagement all continue to play a role in the Company’s growing success. Sherwin-Williams has been recognized by many business publications for financial excellence, integrity of business practices, strong track record of dividend payments and notably, by Fortune Magazine, as one of our nation’s top 100 companies to work for on three separate occasions.
In addition to The Sherwin-Williams Company Board of Directors, Mr. Connor serves on the board of the Eaton Corporation and the Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland. His many civic and community board engagements include the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum, The Playhouse Square Foundation, University Hospitals Health System, United Way Services of Greater Cleveland, Fisher College of Business at The Ohio State University, the National Association of Manufacturers, The American Coatings Association and the Greater Cleveland Partnership.
Mr. Connor is a 1974 graduate of Walsh Jesuit High School and a 1978 graduate of The Ohio State University. He and his wife, Sara, have three adult children.
Delos Cosgrove, MD | CEO & President ,
Delos “Toby” Cosgrove, MD, is President and Chief Executive Officer of Cleveland Clinic in Cleveland, Ohio.
He heads a $6 billion healthcare system comprised of Cleveland Clinic, 8 community hospitals, more than 75 outpatient locations in northern Ohio, including 16 full-service family health centers, Cleveland Clinic Florida, Lou Ruvo Center for Brain Health, Las Vegas, Cleveland Clinic Toronto, and Cleveland Clinic Abu Dhabi.
Dr. Cosgrove received his medical degree from University of Virginia School of Medicine, completed medical training at Massachusetts General Hospital, and Brook General Hospital in London. He earned an undergraduate degree from Williams College, Williamstown, Massachusetts.
In 1967, he was a surgeon in the U.S. Air Force, serving Da Nang, Vietnam. He was awarded the Bronze Star and Republic of Vietnam Commendation Medal.
Dr. Cosgrove joined the Cleveland Clinic in 1975 and was named Chairman of the Department of Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgery in 1989. Under his leadership, Cleveland Clinic’s heart program was ranked number one in America for ten years in a row (U.S. News & World Report).
He has published nearly 450 journals articles, book chapters, one book and 17 training films. He performed over 22,000 operations and earned an international reputation in cardiac surgery valve repair before his retirement in 2006. He has 30 patents for developing medical products for surgical environments.
He has received numerous awards and Inside Business’s “Power 100” listing for Northeast Ohio, and is ranked among Modern Healthcare’s “100 most powerful people in healthcare” and “most powerful physician executives.
Christine Cournoyer | CEO ,
Christine Cournoyer is Chief Executive Officer of N-of-One. Prior to joining N-of-One, she was President and Chief Operating Officer of Picis (now a division of United Healthcare), a leading company in the healthcare IT market offering software solutions that bridge revenue cycle and clinical workflow management for the high-acuity operations of hospitals such as emergency rooms, operating rooms, and critical care. Under Ms. Cournoyer's leadership, Picis' revenues and profits more than doubled in five years, resulting in its sale to United Healthcare in 2010. At the time of its acquisition, Picis' systems were installed in more than 1,800 medical centers, hospitals, and integrated delivery networks in 19 countries around the world. Prior to joining Picis, Ms. Cournoyer was Managing Director of Harte-Hanks, a database and analytics marketing company. She also served as President and Chief Operating Officer of Lightbridge, Inc. and held senior management positions at IBM, including Vice President of Business Transformation and Chief Information Officer of IBM's software group. She also served as Senior Vice President at Lotus Development. Ms. Cournoyer was named one of the "10 Most Influential Women in Technology" by Businessweek magazine and one of Boston Magazine's "Top 100 Women Who Run This Town." She served on the boards of the Stride Rite Corporation, GTECH, and BJ's Wholesale Club during the period that BJ's was taken private. She is currently a Corporator for Emerson Hospital and a member of the Boston Club and the Women Corporate Directors. Ms. Cournoyer earned a B.S. from UMass, Lowell and an M.A. in Economics from Northeastern University. She also attended Massachusetts Institute of Technology's Executive Education Program.
Twitter Handle: @NofOne
Ambassador Sally Cowal | SVP, Global Programs ,
Sally G. Cowal is Senior Vice President, Global Health at the American Cancer Society. She leads the Society's efforts to reduce the global burden of cancer primarily through advocacy for effective tobacco control measures; improvement of access to cancer screening, treatment and pain relief; and collaborations with other cancer control organizations, advocates and governments.
Cowal has been a key contributor to the public health and nonprofit arenas, having helped found the Joint United Nations Program on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) in Switzerland and serving as its director for external relations to raise awareness of AIDS as a public health and economic issue, as well as serving as founder, president and CEO of the Cuba Policy Foundation, a nonprofit organization dedicated to the study of the benefits of expanding trade and people-to-people contact with Cuba.
Cowal served as U.S. Ambassador to the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago, appointed by former Presidents George H.W. Bush and William J. Clinton. Cowal has also served as U.S. Deputy Assistant Secretary of State, minister counselor for public affairs at the U.S. embassy in Mexico, and counselor for political affairs at the U.S. Mission to the United Nations. Other Foreign Service assignments have taken her from India to Colombia to Israel.
She comes to the American Cancer Society most recently from Population Services International (PSI). Cowal is a graduate of De Pauw University (B.A.) and George Washington University (M.P.A,).
Twitter Handle: @AmbassadorCowal
Joe Cunningham, MD | Managing Director ,
Prior to founding Santé, Joe was a healthcare Venture Partner with Austin Ventures and was previously the Vice Chair of the Ascension Health Ventures investment committee. He is also the former Chief Medical Officer of the Providence Health System and Executive Director of the 300-physician Providence Health Alliance, both of which belong to the Ascension Health system. He has extensive management experience and is recognized nationally for his expertise in healthcare delivery systems, physician associations and compensation models. Joe currently serves on advisory boards for both Health Services Corporation (BC/BS) and United Healthcare. He is board certified in both Internal Medicine and Quality Assurance and Peer Review. Joe received his BS and MD degrees from Texas A&M University and his MBA from Baylor University.
Twitter Handle: @SanteVentures
Angela Davies, MD | Chief Medical Officer ,
Angela M. Davies, MD, FRCP(C) joined Champions Oncology in January 2014 as the company’s Chief Medical Officer. Most recently, Dr. Davies served as Chief Medical Officer at Novocure, where she had global responsibility for the organization’s clinical development program and commercial safety. Dr. Davies previously served as Chief Medical Officer at OSI Pharmaceuticals where she led the oncology clinical development program for Tarceva (erlotinib) and the pipeline compounds. Prior to OSI she was Associate Professor of Medicine at University of California, Davis where she practiced as a medical oncologist specializing in thoracic malignancies and development therapeutics. Dr. Davies is a board-certified internist and medical oncologist and continues to practice clinical oncology in the academic setting. She obtained her medical degree and completed her specialty medical training at McMaster University, Hamilton, Canada and University of Toronto, Toronto, Canada.
Jörg Debatin | VP & CTO ,
Jörg Debatin is the Vice President and Chief Technology Officer for GE Healthcare, a $17 billion division of General Electric. Jörg is responsible for leading GE Healthcare's global Science and Technology organization, whose research and development teams create and sustain innovative diagnostics, healthcare IT, and life sciences product offerings that reduce healthcare costs, improve healthcare quality, and increase patient access to healthcare globally.
A highly regarded physician and winner of several academic honors and awards, Jörg's background includes medical diagnostics, leadership of major medical institutions, and extensive experience in magnetic resonance imaging.
Jörg began his career as a diagnostic Radiologist working at Duke, Stanford, and Zurich, Switzerland. He was appointed Professor of Diagnostic Radiology at the University of Essen, Germany in 1999. Jörg's previous experience also includes 8 years as Medical Director & CEO of the University Medical Center, Hamburg-Eppendorf, where he implemented a clear portfolio strategy focusing on complex medicine, and established a Comprehensive Cancer Center linking clinical medicine with new oncologic research strategies.
Before joining GE Healthcare, Jörg served as CEO for Amedes AG for three years, and led the development of out-patient diagnostic services. Jörg holds a medical degree from the University of Heidelberg, Germany. He also attained an Executive M.B.A from Hochschule St. Gallen, Switzerland. Jorg lives in Hamburg with his wife and four sons.
Sheila Dharmarajan | Head of Business Development ,
Sheila Dharmarajan joined ZelnickMedia in 2014. Ms. Dharmarajan is Head of Business Development at ZelnickMedia and is responsible for originating investment opportunities and outreach.
Prior to joining ZelnickMedia, Ms. Dharmarajan was an on-air television reporter for CNBC and Bloomberg Television.
Before her foray into television, Ms. Dharmarajan was an investment professional at both Permira and Welsh, Carson, Anderson & Stowe, where she focused on analyzing and executing private equity investments across a range of industries including healthcare, consumer / retail and information services. Ms. Dharmarajan began her career as an investment banking analyst at Donaldson, Lufkin & Jenrette and was an associate director in the mergers & acquisitions group at IAC/InterActiveCorp.
Ms. Dharmarajan graduated from the Wharton School at the University Of Pennsylvania, with a BS in Finance and Management. Ms. Dharmarajan also earned her MBA from the Stanford Graduate School of Business.
Twitter Handle: @SheliaD_TV
Breanna DiGiammarino | Head of Cause ,
Breanna DiGiammarino is the Head of Cause at Indiegogo. She leads the company’s work in all areas of impact, particularly focusing on nonprofits, social enterprise and personal cause. She has worked with the company’s most ipactful campaigns in the health space, from the $550,000 Parkinson’s Institute to the $10,000 PICC line arm band and April’s fight against Lymphoma.
Prior to Indiegogo, Breanna was the Senior Associate at the Draper Richards Kaplan Foundation, a social venture fund in San Francisco, where she helped raise $30 million to support the company’s second fund for social entrepreneurship called the Springstep Venture Fund and increased the number of applications from hundreds to thousands.
Before that, she was an Associate Consultant at The Bridgespan Group, the non-profit arm of Bain & Company, where she consulted with high impact educational organizations and foundations including the Cristo Rey Network to help urban students into work-study programs and the Gates Foundation to improve low-income graduation rates.
Breanna holds a Master of Public Administration in Nonprofit Management from the NYU Wagner School of Public Service and graduated with a B.A in Biology and Government from the University of Virginia.
Ashley Dombkowski, PhD | Managing Director ,
Ashley Dombkowski, Ph.D. is a Managing Director with Bay City Capital, a $1.6B venture capital firm focused on life sciences. She has more than 15 years of experience as an investor, operating executive, and entrepreneur in the healthcare field. Prior to joining Bay City, she served as Chief Business Officer and Vice President of Operations for 23andMe, where she oversaw the company's finance and operations activities and had responsibility for the company's long term business strategy focused on database growth plans, R&D productivity, and profitability. Prior to joining 23andMe, she was a Managing Director with venture capital firm MPM Capital where she also served as a member of the firm's Investment Committee. During her years at MPM she focused on developing innovative biotechnology, medical device, and healthcare IT companies, including companies such as 23andMe, Adolor, Alnara, BioVitrum, Epizyme, iPierian, Neosil, Nevro, Rigel, and Tercica. Prior to this, she was a Healthcare Equity Analyst for hedge fund Tiger Management L.L.C. and for institutional asset management firm Dresdner RCM Global Investors. Dr. Dombkowski holds a Ph.D. in Mathematics from Rice University and received her B.A. in Mathematics from Wellesley College. She has been widely quoted in publications ranging from Nature to The Wall Street Journal and she has appeared in media outlets ranging from CNBC to TedMed. She was recognized as one of the 100 Most Influential Women in Business by the San Jose/Silicon Valley Business Journal in 2010. She is a member of the Board of Directors of USA Volleyball.
Robert Duggan | President & CEO ,
Twitter Handle: @pharmacyclics
Raed Dweik, MD | Staff, Pulmonary Medicine & Pathobiology ,
Raed A. Dweik, M.D. is Professor of Medicine and Director of the Pulmonary Vascular Program in the Departments of Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine in the Respiratory Institute at Cleveland Clinic. He is board certified in internal medicine, pulmonary disease, and critical care medicine. Dr. Dweik's clinical interests are in pulmonary hypertension, asthma, critical care, and chronic beryllium disease. He has a joint appointment in the department of Pathobiology in the Lerner Research Institute (LRI) and is Professor of Medicine at the Cleveland Clinic Lerner College of Medicine of Case Western Reserve University.
Dr. Dweik's research interests are in exhaled breath analysis and the role of nitric oxide in cardiopulmonary physiology and disease especially pulmonary hypertension and asthma. He served on several related national and international panels and committees including: the American Thoracic Society (ATS) Chronic Beryllium Disease Diagnosis and Management Committee, the ATS taskforce to Standardize measurement of Nitric Oxide (NO) in exhaled breath, and the Joint ATS-ERS taskforce on Exhaled Breath Condensate (EBC). He also chaired the ATS committee writing the guidelines for the use and interpretation of exhaled NO (FENO) in clinical practice and the ATS committee on pulmonary hypertension phenotypes.
Dr. Dweik has been the recipient of many awards including The Best Doctors in America, America's Top Physicians, Who's Who in Medicine and Healthcare, Who's Who in Science and Engineering, Who's Who in America, and Who's Who in the World. Dr. Dweik has been the recipient of the Distinguished Teacher Award from the Internal Medicine Residency Program in 2000-01, 2003-04, 2004-05, 2006-07, 2007-08 and the Pulmonary Fellowship Program in 2006-07. In 2007, he also received the Scholarship in Teaching Award from Case Western Reserve University.
Dr. Dweik is an editorial board member of the American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine, the Journal of Clinical and Translational Science, the Open Nitric Oxide Journal, and the Journal of Breath Research of which he is a Founding Member. He is also a journal reviewer for several peer-reviewed publications. He is a Fellow of the American College of Physicians (FACP), the Royal College of Physicians of Canada (FRCPC), the American College of Chest Physicians (FCCP), the Society of Critical Care Medicine (FCCM), the American Heart Association (FAHA), and the Pulmonary Vascular Research Institute (PVRI). He is a member of the American Thoracic society (ATS) and a founding member of the International Association for Breath Research (IABR).
After receiving his medical degree from the University of Jordan Faculty of Medicine, Dr. Dweik completed his internship and residency in internal medicine at Miami Valley Hospital and Wright State University in Dayton, OH. He completed his fellowship in pulmonary and critical care medicine at The Cleveland Clinic.
David D. Dworaczyk, PhD | Director, Life Sciences Strategic Development , Health Sciences Global Business Unit
Dr. Dworaczyk has done extensive work with numerous healthcare, Pharma, Biotech, Diagnostic and CRO focused Venture and Private Equity investment groups assessing and evaluating investment opportunities from an operational, strategic and business potential perspective. He is currently the Director of Life and Health Sciences Strategic Development at Oracle and has also served as COO for Comprehensive Clinical Development, Sr. Vice President, General Manager & COO at Generation Health/MetaDiagnostic, a start-up focused on molecular diagnostics, genomics and personalized medicine, and was COO for M2Gen, a for-profit subsidiary of the Moffitt Cancer Center. His responsibilities included leading all operational functions across multiple business units with extensive experience in genomics/biomarkers, translational medicine, patient targeted drug development and personalized medicine.
Dr. Dworaczyk has over 30-yrs of experience in the pharmaceutical, biotechnology, molecular diagnostic, medical device and CRO industry where he has held senior level positions in R&D, Global Operations, Business Development (L&A/M&A), Clinical Development, Strategic Planning, Project Management and Commercial Operations. He has been directly engaged in start-up companies and turn-around situations. He has also gained expertise in Decision and Risk Analysis, has done extensive research in strategic planning, R&D portfolio management
Dr. Dworaczyk has advanced degrees in Cell and Molecular Biology and in Leadership and Business Administration.
Charis Eng, MD, PhD | Chair, Genomic Medicine Institute ,
Charis Eng, MD, PhD is the founding Chair of the Genomic Medicine Institute and founding Director of the institute’s clinical component, the Center for Personalized Genetic Healthcare, at the Cleveland Clinic, as well as Professor and Vice Chairman of the Department of Genetics and Genome Sciences at Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine.
Author or co-author of >390 original peer-reviewed articles and holder of >$30 million in lifetime research grant funding, Dr. Eng was honored with the Sondra J. and Stephen R. Hardis Endowed Chair in Cancer Genomic Medicine in 2008 and the American Cancer Society Clinical Research Professorship in 2009. More recently, she was elected to the Institute of Medicine of the US National Academies of Sciences for her achievements and leadership in genetics- and genomics-based research and personalized healthcare. Dr. Eng was recently named to the 400 most influential biomedical researchers in the world.
At the clinical interface, Dr. Eng is acknowledged as one of the rare “go to” people on what is and how to implement genetic- and genomics-enabled personalized healthcare. As such, she served a 5-year term on the Board of Directors of the American Society of Human Genetics, is a member of the Clinical Science Committee of the Personalized Medicine Coalition, serving as its Chair 2007-09, and was appointed to the US Department of Health and Human Services’ Secretary’s Advisory Committee on Genetics, Health and Society (2009-11). She also co-chaired their Task Force to examine whole genome sequencing for clinical application, and serves on the Expert Panel of the WHO Grand Challenges Project on Public Health Genomics in Developing Countries.
Dr. Eng received her BA, MD and PhD from the University of Chicago, internal medicine residency at the Beth Israel Hospital, Boston and medical oncology fellowship at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Boston. She then underwent unique formal training in clinical cancer genetics at the University of Cambridge, UK.
Phil Febbo, MD | Chief Medical Officer ,
After 20 years as a physician scientist at leading Institutes throughout the country, Phil Febbo, joined Genomic Health as Chief Medical Officer in 2013. Immediately prior to Genomic Health, Phil served as Professor of Medicine and Urology at the University of California, San Francisco where his laboratory focused on using genomics to understand the biology and clinical behavior of prostate cancer and his clinical practice focused on genitourinary oncology. While at UCSF, Phil was the Co-Leader of the Prostate Cancer Program at the UCSF Helen Diller Family Comprehensive Cancer Center and the Program Principal Investigator of the Translational Research Program for the Alliance for Clinical Trials in Oncology. Phil holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in Biology from Dartmouth College, received his M.D. degree at the University of California, San Francisco and completed Internal Medicine Residency at the Brigham and Women' s Hospital in Boston, Massachusetts. After his fellowship in Medical Oncology at the Dana Farber Cancer Institute, he was an Attending Physician in the Genitourinary Oncology Center at the Dana Farber Cancer Institute, Instructor at Harvard Medical School, and a post-doctoral fellow in Dr. Todd Golub's laboratory at the Dana Farber Cancer Institute as well as the Whitehead Institute Center for Genomic Research of MIT (now the Broad Institute). In 2004, Phil moved to Duke University Medical Center’s Institute of Genome Sciences and Policy. In 2010, he returned to UCSF. Phil’s laboratory was funded by the NIH, DOD, Damon Runyon Cancer Research Foundation, and the Prostate Cancer Foundation. He has been a member of the American Society for Clinical Investigation since 2009.
Gary Fingerhut | Executive Director ,
Gary M. Fingerhut is the Executive Director at Cleveland Clinic Innovations. Established in May 2000, Innovations operates as the commercialization arm of Cleveland Clinic and was recognized by Global Corporate Venturing as number 4 in the world for healthcare corporate venturing. Gary leads a talented team of professionals guided by some of the nation’s top venture capitalists. The Cleveland Clinic Innovations team has successfully executed over 500 licenses, and created 69 spin-off companies that have raised more than $910 million in equity investment and commercialization grants. These efforts have resulted in the creation of over 1,100 jobs.
Gary has more than 30 years of technical and executive experience in the software industry, leading companies from start-up through acquisition. Prior to joining Cleveland Clinic in 2011 Gary held a number of senior level positions at Axentis, of which he is a co-founder. Axentis, a Wolters Kluwer business, is a software provider of on-demand solutions used by life science customers and other highly regulated industries to minimize their exposure to risk and optimize business performance; a $5 billion (2010) company with 19,000 employees worldwide. Between 1999 and 2011, Gary held several leadership roles at Axentis including General Manager, Chief Technology Officer and Senior Vice President.
Prior to Axentis, Gary was a senior executive at Complient and Chief Executive Officer of Business Technologies Inc., a software development and consulting firm that provides application design and build services.
Gary currently serves on the board of directors of BioEnterprise, Enforcer eCoaching, Inc., Enspire DBS, HealthXL, i360Medical Ltd., iComet Technologies, Inc., ImageIQ, Inc., Infuseon Therapeutics, Inc. iVHR, Inc., and Talis Clinical, LLC.
Twitter Handle: @Gary_Fingerhut
Ed FitzGerald | County Executive ,
Ed FitzGerald is the first Cuyahoga County Executive, taking office in 2011 under a charter government that replaced the traditional three county commissioners and host of elected officials with an executive and 11-member County Council. His administration has emphasized job creation, restoring integrity to county government, and delivering superior human services county-wide.
Before being elected as County Executive, Ed was voted in for three terms as a city councilman and then mayor of Lakewood. As mayor, he built a partnership with city council, working together to save millions of dollars and launching major initiatives with noteworthy accomplishments in safety, public integrity and economic development. Without raising taxes and while actually shrinking the size of local government, Ed overhauled every city department to do more with less.
He has also served as Assistant Cuyahoga County Prosecutor, successfully prosecuting cases ranging from drug dealing to homicide; and as a special agent with the Federal Bureau of Investigation, where he was assigned to the Organized Crime Task Force in Chicago and headed up a wide-ranging and successful investigation into organized crime and political corruption. He also worked as a staff member in the U.S. House of Representatives while attending law school. Ed holds a bachelor of arts in political science from The Ohio State University and a law degree from Cleveland-Marshall College of Law.
Ed and his wife Shannon have been married for 21 years and are the proud parents of Jack, Connor, Colleen and Bridget.
Don Fowler | President & CEO ,
As president and CEO of Toshiba America Medical Systems, Inc., Don Fowler is responsible for the overall leadership of the company and executes strategies that support Toshiba’s mission to deliver integrated diagnostic solutions through long-term customer partnerships to improve the lives of all people. Fowler joined Toshiba America Medical Systems, Inc. in 2011 as general manager and senior vice president driving the growth of Toshiba’s multi-modality business in the United States. Before joining Toshiba, Fowler held the position of vice president, MR Business Unit, at Siemens Medical Solutions, USA (Healthcare Sector). He had profit and loss responsibility for a large matrix organization and oversaw sales and marketing, while also setting the business direction for sales, service, marketing and research. Fowler also has significant international experience having spent three years abroad with global responsibility for sales and marketing and has experience in business development, global marketing and sales, and has worked in both the CT and ultrasound modalities.
Twitter Handle: @DLFowler814
Margaret Glenn, MD | Resident Fellow ,
Thomas J. Graham, MD | Chief Innovation Officer and Chair Holder, Justice Family Chair in Medical Innovations ,
Renowned Hand Surgeon, Dr. Thomas Graham, started his career at Cleveland Clinic, departing in 2000 as the Director of the Clinic’s Hand & Upper Extremity Center; he then returned after a decade as the Chief of the Congressionally-designated National Hand Center and Surgeon-in-Chief of the Arnold Palmer Sports Health Center in Baltimore. Graham’s clinical practice is recognized as the premier destination for the care of the professional athlete’s hand and wrist, and he serves as the Team Physician or Hand Surgery Consultant for numerous Teams and Leagues.
As Chief Innovation Officer, Dr. Graham leverages his experience as a serial entrepreneur and one of the Clinic’s most prolific inventors to grow the success that Cleveland Clinic Innovations has established as a world leader in commercializing the creative and transcendent thought of their physicians and scientists. Graham was responsible for establishing the Healthcare Innovation Alliance that promotes collaboration between Academic Medical Centers and Research Universities to develop technologies to improve and extend human life.
Graham’s history as a surgeon-scientist, educator and Program Director aligns with the mission of Cleveland Clinic’s Orthopaedic and Rheumatology Institute to deliver excellence in musculoskeletal care, conduct meaningful scientific inquiry and educate future leaders in the specialty. He assists in setting the vision for the Institute as the Vice-Chairman of Orthopaedic Surgery.
A graduate of Williams College, he received his M.D. from the University of Cincinnati. He completed his Orthopaedic Surgery Residency at the University of Michigan and a fellowship in Hand and Upper Extremity Surgery at the famed Indiana Hand Center, with additional training in Elbow Surgery at Mayo Clinic. He completed the two-year Executive Program in Healthcare Management, jointly sponsored by Cleveland Clinic and the Weatherhead School of Business of Case Western Reserve University.
Graham holds a gubernatorial appointment to the Ohio Third Frontier Advisory Board and serves on the Boards of BioEnterprise, TeamNEO, and the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. He also serves as Co-Chair of the Global Center for Health Innovation Advisory Council, the Cleveland-based nexus for worldwide thought-leadership for innovation, education and commerce in healthcare. An Ohio native, he is married to his childhood sweetheart; they have two adult daughters
Michael Greeley | General Partner ,
Michael is a General Partner at Foundation Medical Partners. Prior to joining Foundation, Michael served as founding general partner at Flybridge Capital Partners, an early stage venture capital firm that managed nearly $600 million, where he led the firm's healthcare investments. He also served on the board of International Data Group, the initial flagship Limited Partner for the IDG Ventures global network of funds and Flybridge Capital Partners.
Recent representative investments include BlueTarp Financial, MicroCHIPS, PolyRemedy, Predictive Biosciences, Predilytics, T2 Biosystems, TARIS Biomedical and VidSys. Previously, Michael focused on emerging-growth company financings with Polaris Partners, was a senior vice president and founding partner of GCC Investments, and held positions at Wasserstein Perella & Co., Morgan Stanley & Co. and Credit Suisse First Boston.
Michael currently serves as chair of the Entrepreneurship Committee of the Massachusetts Information Collaborative and on the Investment Committee for the Partners Innovation Fund, as well as serving on several other boards including the New England Investors' Committee of Capital Innovation, and New England and National Venture Capital Associations. Recently named by the Boston Globe as the "Go-To" investor for life sciences, healthcare and medical devices and a Mass High Tech All-Star, Michael earned a B.A. with honors in chemistry from Williams College and an M.B.A. from Harvard Business School.
Twitter Handle: @greels1
Lee Greenberger, PhD | Chief Scientific Officer ,
Lee Greenberger, PhD. is Chief Scientific Officer of the The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society.
He is responsible for planning and executing the strategy for all LLS research programs, including grant funding programs, the Therapy Acceleration Program (TAP), as well as other research initiatives. Dr. Greenberger guides LLS's efforts to translate innovative research into clinical trials that ultimately will pave the way for new therapies to treat blood cancers.
Most recently, Greenberger was the global head of search and diligence for oncology and immunology at Bristol-Myers Squibb where he examined opportunities for over 200 oncology companies and helped set the business strategy for oncology and immunology. Prior to that, he served for six years as vice president for research at Enzon Pharmaceuticals where he was responsible for pre-clinical pharmacology, toxicology, process development, and analytical chemistry efforts associated with the discovery and development of oncology assets. Greenberger also held positions of increasing responsibility in the research organizations of Johnson & Johnson and Wyeth Pharmaceuticals, where he began his industry career in 1990 at American Cyanamid/Lederle Laboratories, which was later acquired by Wyeth. He was given the President's Award for his work at Wyeth.
Dr. Greenberger holds a bachelor's degree from the University of Rochester and a Ph.D. from Emory University. He has done post-doctoral work at Columbia University and was on faculty at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine. Greenberger has published more than 85 publications, mostly focused on oncology, during his research career.
Twitter Handle: @LLSusa
John Greskovich, MD | Taussig Cancer Institute ,
John F. Greskovich Jr., M.D., graduated Phi Beta Kappa from Miami University in Oxford, Ohio, earning his Bachelor of Arts degree in Mathematics. At The Ohio State University, he completed his medical school training and post-graduate work in nuclear and biomedical engineering. He was awarded a National Cancer Institute Research Fellowship to study Boron Neutron Capture Therapy for malignant brain tumors. Dr. Greskovich completed his radiation oncology residency and an advanced training Fellowship in Gamma Knife Radiosurgery and Thoracic Oncology at The Cleveland Clinic. Dr. Greskovich joined The Cleveland Clinic Staff as Director of Thoracic Radiation Oncology and Associate Staff in Gamma Knife Radiosurgery. In his role as Quality Assurance Officer in Radiation Oncology, Dr. Greskovich served on the Quality Management and Improving Organizational Performance Committees.
Dr. Greskovich was recruited to Case Western Reserve University and University Hospitals of Cleveland as the Program Director for the Radiation Oncology Residency Program, Director of Thoracic and Head and Neck Radiation Oncology, and Section Head Radiation Therapy at the Wade Park Veteran’s Administration Hospital. While at Case Western Reserve University, Dr. Greskovich served as Principle Investigator in both esophageal and head and neck cancer clinical trials researching novel therapeutic agents and radioprotectors.
The University of Georgia’s Georgia Health Sciences University recruited Dr. Greskovich as Chief of Radiation Oncology and Medical Director of the Georgia Radiation Therapy Center. Dr. Greskovich led innovative program development in the areas of Intensity Modulated Radiation Therapy, Image-Guided Radiation Therapy, PET-CT Guided Radiation Therapy, and Adaptive Radiation Therapy. Dr. Greskovich served on the University’s Medical Executive and Cancer Committees as well as the Physician’s Practice Group Marketing and Business Operations Committees. Dr. Greskovich was awarded the Georgia Cancer Coalition Distinguished Cancer Clinician Award to support his research.
The Cleveland Clinic Foundation recruited Dr. Greskovich back to develop programs in Head and Neck Cancer Intensity Modulated Radiation Therapy and Adaptive Radiation Therapy. He serves the Taussig Cancer Institute as member of the Service Line Cost Management, Project Governance, Revenue Cycle, and New Taussig Cancer Institute Building Committees. Further, Dr. Greskovich chairs the Committee on Media, Marketing, and Philanthropy and serves on the Operations committee for Radiation Oncology
Dr. Greskovich has researched, published, and lectured on a wide variety of basic science, clinical, and quality improvement topics including neutron beam dosimetry, Gamma Knife radiosurgery, predictive modeling of lung tumor motion, radioprotectors, advanced radiation therapy planning techniques, HDR brachytherapy, healthcare value, and an assortment of multimodality treatment regimens for head and neck, esophageal, and lung malignancies. In 2014, he presented at the plenary session of the ASTRO-ASCO-AHNS Multidisciplinary Head and Neck Cancer Symposium on improving healthcare value by evaluating the comparative effectiveness of two definitive chemoradiation arms of a phase III randomized study in stage III-IVb head and neck cancer.
Recently, Dr. Greskovich completed his masters of business administration degree at Ohio University with a concentration in healthcare management. He earned a Cleveland Clinic Innovator Award for the design of a new HDR brachytherapy applicator. He co-directs the annual Cleveland Clinic Multidisciplinary Head and Neck Cancer Update in Florida. In January 2015, Dr. Greskovich will become the inaugural Medical Director of the Department of Radiation Oncology of the new Cleveland Clinic Cancer Center in Weston, Florida.
Stephen Grobmyer, MD | Section Head, General Surgery ,
Dr. Stephen R. Grobmyer is a Surgical Oncologist and Director of the Breast Center at Cleveland Clinic. His influential research has been featured nationally on NBC Nightly News, National Public Radio, The New York Times, and Vogue. He has been the recipient the Lester Dragstedt Physician Scientist Award and the Society of Surgical Oncology Clinical Investigator Award. He has been named to Best Doctors in America for the last 6 consecutive years.
Dr. Grobmyer graduated from Rice University and The University of Texas Southwestern Medical School. Following medical school, he completed general surgery residency at New York Hospital-Cornell Medical Center. Following residency, he completed a 2 year Surgical Oncology fellowship at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center. Between 2004 and 2012, he was on the faculty at the University of Florida in the Division of Surgical Oncology. In 2011 he was honored by being named the inaugural incumbent of the Edward M. Copeland III Endowed Chair in Breast Cancer Research. He is currently Professor of Surgery at Lerner College of Medicine of Case Western University.
His research interests include the development and application of novel nanomaterials for breast cancer prevention and therapy. His work has also been supported by numerous foundations and organizations: including the National Institutes of Health, the U.S. Department of Defense Breast Cancer Research Program, and The Margaret Q. Landenberger Research Foundation.
He has done significant work internationally lecturing in South America, Japan, Europe and the Middle East. He recently was invited to participate in the prestigious 2014 Kyoto Breast Cancer Consensus Conference. In 2012, he represented the American College of Surgeons as the Japan travelling fellow, an honor given to only 1 member of the American College of Surgeons each year.
Kevin Haar | President & CEO ,
Kevin Haar has utilized his 25 years of experience in building teams for rapid growth organizations to transform Appistry from a technology-focused "big data" company to a leader in the delivery of focused solutions for genomics research and medicine. Prior to Appistry, Haar spent 17 years at Rational Software, serving in several strategic positions and playing an integral role in transforming the company from a software startup into an industry powerhouse with more than $800 million in annual revenues which was acquired for $2.1 billion acquisition by IBM. He held several management positions at HP before joining Rational. Haar holds a Bachelor of Science in Electrical Engineering and a Master of Business Administration from Washington University in St. Louis.
Twitter Handle: @appistry
C. Martin Harris, MD | Chief Information Officer ,
C. Martin Harris, M.D., M.B.A., is the Chief Information Officer and Chairman of the Information Technology Division of Cleveland Clinic in Cleveland, Ohio.
Dr. Harris’ interest and expertise in the area of improving the practice of medicine through the innovative application of information technology is reflected in his serving on numerous national policy and technology organizations.
Appointed to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Health Information Technology Standards Committee, which is charged with making recommendations to the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology on standards, implementation specifications, and certification criteria for the electronic exchange and use of health information.
Past Chairman of the Board, Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society (HIMSS)
Past Chairman of the Board, Health and Human Services Board of Regents of the National Library of Medicine, which serves as an advisory body to the U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services
Presidential appointment to the Commission on Care for America’s Wounded Warriors
Presidential appointment to the Congressional Commission on Systemic Interoperability, which studies the steps required to develop a national health information network
Former Advisor to the Director of the National Institutes of Health
Dr. Harris received his undergraduate and medical degrees from the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia. His residency training in general internal medicine was completed at The Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania. He completed a Robert Wood Johnson Clinical Scholar fellowship in General Internal Medicine at The University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine and holds a Masters in Busi¬ness Administration in Healthcare Management from The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania.
A. Marc Harrison, MD | CEO ,
Marc Harrison, MD serves as Chief Executive Officer of Cleveland Clinic Abu Dhabi, a world-class multispecialty hospital, specifically designed to address a range of Abu Dhabi’s most complex medical requirements.
In his role as CEO, Dr. Harrison is responsible for overseeing Cleveland Clinic Abu Dhabi’s overall strategy, activation and, when the hospital begins seeing patients in 2015, its effective operation as the first-ever US multispecialty hospital to be replicated outside of North America. He leads the organization to deliver on key promises: bringing Cleveland Clinic-quality care to Abu Dhabi; providing alternatives to traveling abroad for complex and critical care requirements; and developing the next generation of Emirati leaders.
Dr. Harrison joined Cleveland Clinic Abu Dhabi in 2011 after 12 years with US-based Cleveland Clinic, where he joined the staff of the Children’s Hospital in 1999. Subsequently, he served as Medical Director of the Pediatric Intensive Care Unit (PICU), Chairman of the Department of Pediatric Critical Care, Associate Chief of Staff, Director of Medical Operations and Chief Medical Operations Officer. In his most recent role as Chief Medical Operations Officer at Cleveland Clinic, Dr. Harrison grew medical operations from a team of six to more than 1,700 people over a four-year span. He was responsible for streamlining the Hospital Transfer process, creating a variety of clinical services, as well as revamping the day-to-day operations of many aspects of patient care.
He holds a medical degree from Dartmouth Medical School, a Master’s in Medical Management from Carnegie Mellon University and a certificate in Managing Healthcare Delivery from Harvard Business School. Dr. Harrison is a Fellow of both the American Academy of Pediatrics and the Society of Critical Care Medicine. He serves on the board of directors of the American Medical Groups Association and AmCham Abu Dhabi.
An All-American Triathlete and seven-time Ironman, Dr. Harrison and his pediatrician wife, Mary Carole, and their three children live in Abu Dhabi.
Mike Harsh | VP & Executive Advisor ,
Mike Harsh is Vice President and Executive Advisor, GE Ventures. As innovation accelerators, GE Ventures identifies growth opportunities for GE and its partners, providing access to more than 50 years of proven technologies and finding new ways to bring ideas to market faster.
Previously, Mike served as GE Healthcare’s Chief Technology Officer, leading the global Science and Technology Organization and its research and development teams in diagnostics, healthcare IT, and life sciences. Mike was appointed to this position in 2009.
Mike began his career at GE in 1979 as an electrical design engineer in nuclear imaging, and subsequently held numerous design and engineering management positions with X-ray, Ultrasound, Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI), Patient Monitoring, and Information Technologies.
In 2004, Mike was named Global Technology Leader - Imaging Technologies Lab at the GE Global Research Center, where he led the research for imaging technologies across the company as well as the research associated with computer visualization/image analysis and superconducting systems. He led Engineering for GE Industrial and Enterprise Solutions from 2006 to 2009. Mike was named an officer of the General Electric Company in November, 2006.
In 2008, Mike was elected to the American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering College of Fellows for his significant contributions to the medical and biological engineering field. He received the Professional Achievement Award from Marquette University’s College of Engineering from the College of Engineering Alumni Association in 2013.
Mike is a graduate of Marquette University in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, where he earned a bachelor’s degree in Electrical Engineering. He holds numerous U.S. patents in the field of medical imaging and instrumentation.
Fred Hassan | Managing Director ,
Fred Hassan is a Partner and Managing Director with the private equity firm, Warburg Pincus. He is also a Board member of Time Warner.
Fred Hassan is the former Chairman of the Board and Chief Executive Officer of Schering-Plough Corporation. Prior to joining Schering-Plough in April 2003, Hassan was Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Pharmacia Corporation – a company that was formed in March 2000 as a result of the merger of Monsanto and Pharmacia and Upjohn. Hassan joined Pharmacia & Upjohn as Chief Executive Officer in 1997.
Previously, Hassan was Executive Vice President of Wyeth, with responsibility for its pharmaceutical and medical products business. He was elected to Wyeth’s Board of Directors in 1995. Earlier in his career, Hassan spent 17 years with Sandoz Pharmaceuticals (now Novartis) and headed its U.S. pharmaceuticals business.
Hassan received a B.S. degree in chemical engineering from the Imperial College of Science and Technology at the University of London and an M.B.A. from Harvard Business School. Hassan has chaired significant pharmaceutical industry organizations including The Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America (PhRMA) and The International Federation of Pharmaceutical Manufacturers Associations (IFPMA). Mr. Hassan is also a member of The Business Council.
Fred Hassan’s book, “Reinvent - A Leader’s Playbook for Serial Success” was published in February 2013 by Wiley and has been discussed in many global organizations including the World Bank. In 2014 he was selected by a CNBC panel among the top 200 people who have had a profound influence in the past quarter century.
Sean Hogan | VP, Healthcare ,
Sean Hogan is Vice President of IBM Healthcare, globally, and in this capacity is responsible for leading IBM’s healthcare business including strategic direction, investment decisions and operations. Mr. Hogan’s organization leads the development of IBM’s Healthcare Industry Solutions, business partnerships as well as growth and investments initiatives.
Throughout his professional career, Mr. Hogan has focused on business strategy, innovation and growth – particularly growth that is predicated on business model transformation and advanced technology. Before assuming his current position, Mr. Hogan held several executive responsibilities within the IBM’s Healthcare & Life Sciences business. Prior to joining IBM’s Health Care and Life Sciences business, Mr. Hogan was Director, IBM Emerging Business Opportunity group in IBM Corporate Strategy which focused on creation and launch of new growth businesses for IBM.
Prior to joining IBM, Mr. Hogan held leadership positions in several strategy consulting and successful start‐up organizations, including Mainspring, Renaissance Worldwide and Booz Allen Hamilton.
Mr. Hogan earned his MBA from Harvard Business School and his Engineering and under‐ graduate degrees from Dartmouth College/Thayer School of Engineering. Sean and his wife Jana live in Ridgefield, CT with their three children, Matthew, Jared and Kate.
Twitter Handle: @IBM
Leroy Hood, MD, PhD | President ,
Dr. Hood's outstanding contributions have had a resounding effect on the advancement of science since the 1960s. Throughout his career, he has adhered to the advice of his mentor, Dr. William J. Dreyer: “If you want to practice biology, do it on the leading edge, and if you want to be on the leading edge, invent new tools for deciphering biological information.”
Hood was involved in the development of five instruments critical for contemporary biology—namely, automated DNA sequencers, DNA synthesizers, protein sequencers, peptide synthesizers, and an ink jet printer for constructing DNA arrays. These instruments opened the door to high-throughput biological data and the era of big data in biology and medicine. He helped pioneer the human genome program—making it possible with the automated DNA sequencer. Under Hood's direction, the Human Genome Center sequenced portions of human chromosomes 14 and 15.
In 1992, Hood created the first cross-disciplinary biology department, Molecular Biotechnology, at the University of Washington. In 2000, he left the UW to co-found Institute for Systems Biology, the first of its kind. He has pioneered systems medicine the years since ISB's founding. Hood has made many seminal discoveries in the fields of immunology, neurobiology and biotechnology and, most recently, has been a leader in the development of systems biology, its applications to cancer, neurodegenerative disease, and the linkage of systems biology to personalized medicine.
Hood is now pioneering new approaches to P4 medicine—predictive, preventive, personalized and participatory, and most recently, has embarked on creating a P4 pilot project on 100,000 well individuals, that is transforming healthcare.
In addition to his ground-breaking research, Hood has published 750 papers, received 36 patents, 17 honorary degrees and more than 100 awards and honors. He is one of only 15 individuals elected to all three National Academies—the National Academy of Science, the National Academy of Engineering, and the Institute of Medicine. Hood has founded or co-founded 15 different biotechnology companies including Amgen, Applied Biosystems, Rosetta, Darwin, Integrated Diagnostics and Indi Molecular.
Paul Hudson | President, AstraZeneca US and Executive Vice President, North America ,
Responsibilities
Paul Hudson is responsible for leading AstraZeneca’s commercial operations in North America and represents the region as a member of the Senior Executive Team. In this capacity he is accountable for driving growth and maximizing contribution of North America to AstraZeneca’s global business.
Prior experience
Prior to his role in North America, Paul served as Representative Director and President of AstraZeneca K. K., the Japanese subsidiary of AstraZeneca PLC. He has served as a Standing Board Member of JPMA (Japan Pharmaceuticals Manufacturers Association) and EFPIA (European Federation of Pharmaceutical Industries and Associations) in Japan.
Previously Paul was President of AstraZeneca’s business in Spain. He joined AstraZeneca in 2006 as Vice President and Primary Care Director, UK.
Before AstraZeneca, Paul worked for Schering Plough, where he held roles of increasing seniority, including leading biologics global marketing, based in the US. He began his career at GSK UK and Sanofi-Synthelabo UK with roles in sales and marketing.
Education
· Degree in Economics from Manchester Metropolitan University
· Diploma in Marketing from Chartered Institute of Marketing, UK
Affiliations
· BIO: Board of Directors
· Healthcare Leadership Council: Member
· Institute of Medicine: Member of the Value & Science Driven Health Care Roundtable
Twitter Handle: @AstraZenecaUS
Jeffrey R. Immelt | Chairman & CEO ,
Jeffrey R. Immelt is the ninth chairman of GE, a post he has held since September 7, 2001. Mr. Immelt has held several global leadership positions since coming to GE in 1982, including roles in GE's Plastics, Appliances, and Healthcare businesses. In 1989 he became an officer of GE and joined the GE Capital Board in 1997. A couple years later, in 2000, Mr. Immelt was appointed president and chief executive officer.
Mr. Immelt has been named one of the "World's Best CEOs" three times by Barron's, and since he began serving as chief executive officer, GE has been named "America's Most Admired Company" in a poll conducted by Fortune magazine and one of "The World's Most Respected Companies" in polls by Barron's and the Financial Times.
Mr. Immelt was the chair of President Obama's Council on Jobs and Competitiveness. He is a member of The American Academy of Arts & Sciences.
Mr. Immelt earned a B.A. degree in applied mathematics from Dartmouth College in 1978 and an M.B.A. from Harvard University in 1982. He and his wife have one daughter.
Twitter Handle: @JeffImmelt, @GeneralElectric
Mayor Frank Jackson | Mayor ,
Frank Jackson, the 56th Mayor of Cleveland, lives in Cleveland’s Central neighborhood, where he grew up. He graduated from Cleveland Public Schools and served in the U.S. Army. After returning to Cleveland, he earned an associate’s degree from Cuyahoga Community College and his BA ,MS, and JD from Cleveland State University.
He began his public service career as an Assistant City Prosecutor in the Cleveland Municipal Court Clerk’s Office. From 1990 through 2005, Jackson represented Cleveland’s 5th Ward on Cleveland City Council. From 2002-2005, Jackson also served as President of Cleveland City Council. In January, 2006, Jackson began his tenure as Mayor of Cleveland.
As Mayor, Jackson is focused ensuring that the city offers an excellent quality of life for every resident, business and visitor and is addressing every aspect of City operations and policy to guarantee that he reaches that goal, including:
Quality of Life
- Crafting Cleveland’s Plan for Transforming Schools, a child-centered plan that would lead to systemic change in how we educate our children
- Bringing together Ohio colleges, universities, the Cleveland Metropolitan School District and educational stakeholders to create the Higher Education Compact, a commitment to helping Cleveland’s children succeed in college
- Establishing a scholarship for CMSD students, city employees and their children
- Improving the health of Clevelanders through the Healthy Cleveland Initiative, in partnership with Cleveland City Council and the four major local hospital systems
Public Safety
- Revising the Use of Deadly Force Policy to help heal the breach between the community and the police
- Building partnerships with local, state and federal law enforcement agencies and community organizations to address gun violence, youth violence and violence prevention
- Improving police officer training and implemented new technology to reduce response time and provide better service
Development
- Investing more than $160 million in Cleveland’s neighborhoods since 2008, on streetscapes, recreation facilities, city parks and other capital improvements
- Working with the public sector to encourage a reported $7 billion in development in Cleveland, including the Greater Cleveland Aquarium, the Cleveland Horseshoe Casino, the Cleveland Convention Center and Global Center for Health Innovation, Flats East Bank Project, Uptown, and the Campus Village Project
- Building a sustainable economy through Sustainable Cleveland 2019, a 10-year initiative to grow a sustainable economy throughout the region
- Presenting Cleveland’s Downtown Lakefront Development Plan to encourage 3.5 million square feet in new development that encourages recreation, entertainment commercial
J. Eric Jelovsek, MD | Staff ,
J. Eric Jelovsek, MD MMEd is the Director of the Multidisciplinary Simulation Center and Residency Program Director in the Obstetrics and Gynecology at Cleveland Clinic.
Dr. Jelovsek received his BS degree in Biochemistry from North Carolina State University in 1995 and MD degree from East Tennessee State University in 1999. He completed his residency in Obstetrics and Gynecology at Duke University in 2003 and Female Pelvic Medicine and Reconstructive Surgery in 2006 at Cleveland Clinic. He also completed a fellowship in Medical Education in the Cleveland Clinic Lerner College of Medicine and holds a Master's Degree in Medical Education (MMEd) from the University of Dundee, Scotland.
Dr. Jelovsek is currently an Associate Professor of Surgery in the Cleveland Clinic Lerner College of Medicine at Case Western Reserve University. He practices Female Pelvic Medicine and Reconstructive Surgery and his research interests include development of clinical prediction models and clinical trials for a variety of pelvic floor disorders as well as educational assessment and simulation. He is the co-principle investigator for the Cleveland Clinic in the Pelvic Floor Disorders Research Network; a network sponsored by the Eunice Kennedy Shriver Foundation in the NICHD of the National Institute of Health in the United States. He is also co-director for the American Urogynecologic Society Board Review Course and an investigator for the IBM Watson- Cleveland Clinic Partnership investigating the role Watson Technology will have in medical education.
Russ Johannesson | COO ,
Russell Johannesson is Chief Operating Office of Sharecare, the health and wellness community founded by Jeff Arnold and Dr. Mehmet Oz that helps people engage with the most qualified resources and programs they need to improve their lives. Prior to joining the company in March 2013, he served as Chief Client Officer at OptumHealth, a UnitedHealth Group company, the information and technology-enabled health services company dedicated to making the health system work better for everyone. In this position, Johannesson oversaw OptumHealth's revenue generation activities, client relationships, and market strategy and development - driving over $8 billion in annual revenue across all markets and geographies.
Prior to joining OptumHealth, Johannesson held several leadership positions with Carlson Marketing Worldwide, most recently as Executive Vice President of U.S. Client Services responsible for Carlson's domestic U.S. business. He has also held a variety of consulting leadership and business development positions in the health care and technology space at Sapient Corporation, Stamos Associates, Deloitte & Touche, The First National Bank of Chicago and John Morton Company.
Johannesson earned a B.A. in economics from the University of Chicago and an MBA in finance from the University of Chicago, Graduate School of Business.
Twitter Handle: @SharecareNow
Elaine Jones, PhD | Executive Director ,
Elaine V. Jones, PhD joined Pfizer Venture Investments as Executive Director, Venture Capital in 2008. She is responsible for making and managing venture investments for Pfizer and currently manages the PVI investments in Aquinox Pharmaceuticals (Vancouver, B.C.), Autifony Therapeutics Ltd. (London, UK), Flexion Therapeutics (Boston, MA), Mersana Therapeutics (Cambridge, MA), Merus B.V. (Utrecht, The Netherlands), MIRNA Therapeutics (Austin, TX), Mission Therapeutics (Cambridge, UK), Neuronetics Inc. (Malvern, PA) and TetraLogic Pharma (Malvern, PA). Elaine brings 13 years of venture capital experience and a strong background in research and product assessment, built on her significant experience in pharmaceutical drug discovery and business development to the PVI team.
Most recently, Elaine was a General Partner with the venture fund, EuclidSR Partners. There, she was responsible for the fund’s investments in Acurian, Fluidigm, InnaPhase and Targacept.
Prior to joining ESR, Dr. Jones began her private equity career in 1999 at S.R. One, GlaxoSmithKline’s venture fund, where she managed investments including Adolor, Avantium, Nucleonics, Scynexis and Vicuron. Previously, she served as Director of Scientific Licensing for SmithKline Beecham and was a research scientist in SmithKline Beecham Pharmaceutical R&D.
Dr. Jones is a graduate of Juniata College and received her PhD in Microbiology from the University of Pittsburgh.
Twitter Handle: @pfizer
Neil Jordan | Worldwide General Manager, Health Industry ,
Neil Jordan is the general manager of Health for Microsoft Worldwide Public Sector. In this role, Jordan acts as chief strategist for the organization’s Health industry initiatives worldwide, including defining and articulating the Microsoft vision for the future of Healthcare, and how Microsoft products, technologies and partner solutions will make it a reality.
Blending a deep background in healthcare-focused technology, Jordan leads Microsoft’s collaboration with an ecosystem of partners around the world to provide solutions that meet the specific needs of customers working to deliver better health outcomes for more people. Since the establishment of the global team, he has driven consistent growth of this multi-billion dollar business.
Before assuming his current role, Jordan was the head of Healthcare at Microsoft UK where he was responsible for managing strategic operations and senior customer and partner relationships. He led the NHS National Programme for IT, the largest ever civil IT procurement and the largest application delivery in Microsoft’s history, including managing close engagement with the UK government.
Jordan joined Microsoft in 2000 as a telecommunications solutions sales manager where he was responsible for market entry into the areas of mobility, hosting and web services solutions in the UK. Prior to joining Microsoft, Jordan worked at IBM Software Group UK for eight years where he was the EMEA strategic alliances manager, leading contract development for the IBM and Lotus software channel organization.
Jordan began his career in technology in 1992 working for Lotus in the business communications and partner sales space.
Currently residing in the Seattle-area, Jordan is a former professional classical singer and continues to perform and teach. He also sits on the board of King FM, a Seattle-based classical radio station. Jordan is a frequent industry speaker and visiting lecturer at the Royal Society of Medicine, London and the Eastman School in New York. He obtained a Bachelor of Arts honors degree in archaeology and anthropology; and a Master of Arts in biological anthropology from Cambridge University.
Matt Kalaycio, MD | Chair, Hematologic Oncology and Blood Disorders ,
Matt Kalaycio, MD, FACP is the Chairman of the Department of Hematology and Medical Oncology at the Cleveland Clinic Taussig Cancer Institute. He is also a Professor of Medicine in the Cleveland Clinic Lerner College of Medicine of Case Western Reserve University. Dr. Kalaycio trained at the Cleveland Clinic and joined the staff in 1994. He has since served as Director of the Leukemia Program (1995-2005), Chronic Leukemia and Myeloma Program (2006-2011), and the Bone Marrow Transplant Program (2012-2013). He is Co-Chairman of the Chronic Leukemia Working Group of the Center for International Blood and Marrow Transplant Registry. He is the author or co-author of over 150 peer-reviewed manuscripts and has edited or co-edited 2 textbooks.
Jared Kesselheim, MD | Partner ,
Jared joined Bain Capital Ventures in 2008 to focus on healthcare and has been actively involved in investments in healthcare information technology, healthcare services, and diagnostics.
Prior to joining Bain Capital Ventures, Jared completed his residency in internal medicine at the Massachusetts General Hospital. Jared has also worked at McKinsey & Company and the Massachusetts General Physicians Organization. Jared received his MD from Harvard Medical School and his MBA with high distinction from Harvard Business School, where he was a Baker Scholar and an enthusiastic bench-warmer for the hockey team. He also received his AB, summa cum laude, from Harvard College, where he was elected to Phi Beta Kappa and where he co-authored the Hasty Pudding Theatricals' musical "Me and My Galaxy."
Outside of work, Jared enjoys strategizing with his wife Dara about how they can keep their young sons Zachary, Eli, and Alex from climbing up the furniture. He also likes to watch cooking shows on the Food Network, but has an astronomically high ratio of cooking-shows-watched to actual-meals-cooked.
Twitter Handle: @bainventureteam
Deepak Khuntia, MD | VP, Medical Affairs ,
Dee Khuntia serves as VP of Medical Affairs for Varian Medical Systems and reports to Kolleen Kennedy within Varian’s Oncology Systems business unit. He has been in this position since March 2013.
As part of Medical Affairs, Dr. Khuntia serves key roles in regulatory affairs, product development, and clinical research. He serves as a resource for all parts of our business requiring clinical and medical input.
Dr. Khuntia is currently in his 9th year of medical practice. He continues to maintain a limited clinical presence outside of Varian along with his primary position in Medical Affairs. Prior to joining Varian, Dr. Khuntia was an Associate Professor at the University of Wisconsin where he served as the Residency Program Director and Vice Chair of Outreach.
Dee’s clinical interest includes brain tumors, lung cancer, radiosurgery and brachytherapy. He has a special interest in education, advanced radiotherapy delivery, informatics and healthcare policy. He continues to be actively involved in research and serves as a co-Principal Investigator in multiple RTOG trials. He serves on multiple committees in radiation oncology, including on the American Board Radiology as a board examiner and on the Board of Directors of Medical Physics Publishing. He serves on the editorial panel of multiple oncology journals. He has been part of over 100 invited national and international lectureships, seminars, and visiting professorships and has over 100 peer-reviewed manuscripts, abstracts and textbook chapters.
Dr. Khuntia completed his Medical Doctorate at the University of Illinois and his residency training at the Cleveland Clinic Foundation.
Eric Klein, MD | Chair, Glickman Urological Institute ,
Eric A. Klein, MD is the Andrew C. Novick Chair of the Glickman Urological and Kidney Institute and Professor of Surgery in the Lerner College of Medicine of the Cleveland Clinic. Following undergraduate training at Johns Hopkins University, he was a cum laude graduate of the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine. He subsequently completed residency training in Urology at the Cleveland Clinic and a fellowship in Urologic Oncology at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center. He joined the staff of the Cleveland Clinic in 1989 and currently serves as a member of the Department of Cancer Biology of the Cleveland Clinic Lerner Research Institute, the Taussig Cancer Institute, and the Genitourinary Malignancies Program in the Case Comprehensive Cancer Center.
Dr. Klein is a member of numerous professional societies including the American Association of Genitourinary Surgeons, the Clinical Society of Genitourinary Surgeons, the Society of Urologic Oncology, the Society of Pelvic Surgeons, the American College of Surgeons, the Société Internationale d’Urologie, the American Society of Clinical Oncology, the American Association of Cancer Research, and the American Urological Association. He served as President of the Society of Urologic Oncology from 2009 - 2011.
Dr. Klein’s clinical and research interests cover all of urologic oncology and particularly clinical trials for localized and locally advanced prostate cancer. Under his direction, the Prostate Cancer Research Program has been recognized as “Program of the Year” by the Cleveland Clinic. He has served as Chairman of the Localized Prostate Cancer Committee of the Southwest Oncology Group and was the National Study Coordinator for the NCI-sponsored Selenium and Vitamin E Cancer Prevention Trial (SELECT). Dr. Klein has contributed more than 400 papers to the scientific literature, authored or edited 8 books on urologic malignancies, and serves as the Editor-in-Chief of Urology. He has delivered more than 200 invited scientific lectures including 10 named lectureships, and has served as a Visiting Professor at more than 50 institutions around the world. Dr. Klein was awarded the F. Mason Sones Innovation Award by the Cleveland Clinic in 2009, The Joe V. Meigs Award by the Society of Pelvic Surgeons in 2013, and received a Presidential Citation for career contributions from the American Urological Association in 2014.
Brian Kolonick | General Manager, Healthcare Innovations Alliance ,
Brian Kolonick handles project management and new business development for Cleveland Clinic's Healthcare Innovation Alliance program. Prior to joining Cleveland Clinic Innovations, Brian was an Assistant Director in Cleveland Clinic's Corporate Communications Department, overseeing not only the public and media relations for Innovations, but also the Heart and Vascular Institute, Cleveland Clinic Abu Dhabi, Global Patient Services and Bioethics. Prior to joining Cleveland Clinic, Brian was the Director of Marketing and Communications for National Stroke Association, a national non-profit dedicated to reducing the incidence and impact of stroke. Brian received his bachelor's degree from The Ohio State University and is currently completing the final year of an MBA.
Steven Krein | Co-Founder & CEO ,
Steven Krein is the Co-founder and CEO of StartUp Health, a unique global platform to help entrepreneurs accelerate health, wellness, and healthcare. Steven is a serial entrepreneur, speaker, investor, and entrepreneurial coach. Steven has co-founded and led several companies since 1995, including OrganizedWisdom, an advertising and subscription based service for doctors, and Webstakes/Promotions.com, a global online advertising, direct marketing, and technology company, which he took public on Nasdaq and grew to a $500M market cap before it was acquired by iVillage in 2002. Steven began his online career with Law Journal Extra!, now known as Law.com, the first online legal news and information website, which was acquired by American Lawyer Media. Steven has been a keynote speaker at Google Think Health, The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, and the Johnson & Johnson Leadership Summit; and he has been on The Today Show, CNN, the Fox News Channel, CNBC Power Lunch, CNBC Marketwatch, and Bloomberg News.
Steven is a Member of Corporate Board and the Advisory Board for Health Data Consortium, a nonprofit private/public initiative supported by The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, and other major players in healthcare. Steven received his J.D. degree from Widener University School of Law and B.A. degree from the University of Maryland-College Park. Steven is a member of YPO (Young Presidents’ Organization) Metro New York Chapter and lives in New York City with his wife and three daughters.
Twitter Handle: @stevenkrein and @wisdomceo
Mark Kvamme | Co-Founder & Partner ,
Mark was a partner at Sequoia Capital for 12 years, where he led investments in companies such as Linkedin, MarkLogic, Cast Iron, and FunnyOrDie.com. Prior to co-founding Drive Capital, Mark was the interim Chief Investment Officer and President of JobsOhio, a nonprofit corporation created to run the state's economic development activities.
Twitter Handle: @mdkmoto
David Longworth, MD | Chair, Medicine Institute ,
David L. Longworth, M.D. received his undergraduate degree from Williams College in 1974 where he was elected to Phi Beta Kappa and graduated summa cum laude with a degree in chemistry. He received his medical degree in 1978 from Cornell University Medical College where he was elected to Alpha Omega Alpha and was the valedictorian of his class. Dr. Longworth completed residency training in Internal Medicine at the University of California in San Francisco and thereafter fellowship training in Infectious Disease at Brigham and Womens and Beth Israel Hospitals at Harvard Medical School. He is board certified in both Internal Medicine and Infectious Disease.
Dr. Longworth joined the Department of Infectious Disease at Cleveland Clinic in 1986 and served as Chairman of the Department from 1992-2002.
Kandice Marchant, MD | Institute Chair, Pathology and Laboratory Medicine ,
Kandice Kottke-Marchant, MD, PhD, is Chair of the Pathology and Laboratory Medicine Institute at Cleveland Clinic.
Dr. Kottke-Marchant earned a BS degree in biomedical engineering and biochemistry from Northwestern University in Evanston, Ill., in 1979. She earned her MS and PhD degrees in macromolecular science in 1983 and 1985, respectively, from Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, Ohio. She received an MD from CWRU in 1986.
Steven Mawhorter, MD | Medicine Institute ,
Dr. Mawhorter is a board-certified specialist in infectious diseases, internal medicine, and pediatrics. He is Director of the International Travelers’ Health Clinic and an Infectious Disease Consultant in the Department of Infectious Disease at The Cleveland Clinic in Cleveland, Ohio. He is an Associate Professor of Medicine at the Cleveland Clinic Lerner College of Medicine of Case Western Reserve University.
He graduated summa cum laude from Wheaton College, Wheaton, IL in 1980. His major was biochemistry, and included a unique opportunity to study health issues among the Ifugao people of northern Luzon, Philippines as part of the Human Needs and Global Resources special curriculum project.
Dr. Mawhorter received his medical degree from Duke University School of Medicine in Durham, North Carolina, and the diploma in tropical medicine and hygiene (DTM&H) at the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine in Liverpool, England. He completed a combined internal medicine and pediatric combined residency at the University of Rochester in Rochester, New York, where he also served as Chief Resident in internal medicine. He completed a fellowship in infectious diseases at the University Hospitals of Cleveland at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, Ohio. He performed post-fellowship research at the National Institutes of Health (NIH, Bethesda, Maryland) in the Laboratory of Parasitic Diseases in the area of parasitic immunology.
Active in clinical care and research, Dr. Mawhorter has been published in such journals as the Journal of Heart and Lung Transplantation, Journal of Immunology, Clinical Infectious Disease, Journal of Clinical Gastroenterology, AIDS, Journal of Infectious Diseases, Chest, Cleveland Clinic Journal of Medicine, and the Journal of Travel Medicine. He remains active in the area of translational research in the immunology of infectious diseases, especially applied to solid organ and bone marrow transplant recipients. He is a member of the American College of Physicians, American Society of Microbiology, Infectious Diseases Society of America, American Society of Transplantation, American Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene, The Wilderness Medical Society, and the International Society of Travel Medicine.
Mike McIntyre | Columnist ,
Mike McIntyre, a Northeast Ohio native, writes the "Tipoff" column for The Plain Dealer and cleveland.com and hosts the daily public affairs talk show, "The Sound of Ideas," on WCPN FM 90.3 and the Ohio Channel.
Twitter Handle: @michaelmcintyre
Dana Mead | Partner ,
Dana Mead joined Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers as a partner in May 2005 to work in the firm’s life sciences practice. He leverages experience accrued from his venture-funded, startup management roles and board participation to support entrepreneurs and innovators dedicated to making a real difference in the lives of millions suffering from life-limiting diseases. Dana serves on the boards of Apnicure, Awarepoint, Corventis, Inspire Medical Systems, Intersect ENT, Invuity, Pulmonx, Spiracur, Spinal Modulation, and Teladoc.
For the past 30 years, Dana’s career has focused on identifying new medical technologies, developing new markets and therapies, and building world-class management teams. He has worked with physician thought leaders around the world representing 12 medical specialties. Before joining KPCB, Dana was president of Guidant Vascular Intervention, a fully integrated billion-dollar division with more than 4,500 employees. He joined Guidant in 1992 and held positions of increasing responsibility during his tenure, including vice president and general manager, Cardiac & Vascular Surgery; vice president and general manager, Stents, Vascular Intervention Group; president, Japan and A/P Operations based in Tokyo; and vice president, Corporate Relations and Policy, with responsibility for investor relations, corporate communications, corporate marketing and public policy initiatives. Earlier in his career, Dana worked in various sales and marketing roles at Allergan, Inc. and Johnson & Johnson.
Dana formerly served as a director of the Cardiovascular Research Foundation, Aesthera (acquired by Solta [Nasdaq: SLTM]), Navigenics (acquired by Life Technologies Nasdaq: [LIFE]) and OtisMed (acquired by Stryker [Nasdaq: SYK]). He currently serves on the boards of the California Healthcare Institute and Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital at Stanford University, and he is the former chair of the Lafayette College West Coast Advisory Council. A native of Connecticut, Dana received his B.A. degree from Lafayette College and holds an M.B.A from the University of Southern California.
Twitter Handle: @KPCB
Neil Mehta, MD | Staff ,
Dr. Mehta is an Associate Professor of Medicine at the Cleveland Clinic Lerner College of Medicine of Case Western Reserve University, a primary care physician in the Medicine Institute at the Cleveland Clinic, and is the Web Editor for the Journal of General Internal Medicine. His areas of interest lie at the intersection of medicine, education and technology and this is reflected in his current role as Director of Education Technology for the Lerner College of Medicine and Director of the Center for Medical Education and Training at the Cleveland Clinic. He also spearheads the "IBM Watson goes to Medicine School" Project" at the Lerner College of Medicine. Neil is active in various social media platforms and has presented at national and international meetings on the use of Web 2.0 and social media in education and lifelong learning. Neil is also a course director for the "Becoming a Digital Citizen - Technology for Lifelong Learning" at the Harvard Macy Institute, and faculty for "Masters in Education for Healthcare Professionals" at the Cleveland State University.
Vincent Miller, MD | CMO ,
Dr. Miller joined Foundation Medicine in October 2011 after nearly 20 years at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center where he served as an Attending Physician. His work in clinical and translational research in lung cancer culminated in observations and collaborative efforts critical to identification of EGFR sensitizing and resistance mutations. He is considered a world’s expert in lung cancer and clinical trial design and interpretation. Dr. Miller has authored and co-authored numerous abstracts, reviews, and peer-reviewed articles, which have appeared in such journals as Proceedings of the National Academy of Science USA, Cancer Research, Clinical Cancer Research and the Journal of Clinical Oncology.
Dr. Miller has received the prestigious American Cancer Society Clinical Oncology Career Development Award and the Louise and Allston Boyer Award, and was most recently recognized by the Bonnie J. Addario Lung Cancer Foundation with the 2011 Thierry Jahan “A Breath Away from the Cure” award for his efforts and contributions to lung cancer research. He is a Fellow of the American College of Physicians and a Member of the American Association for Cancer Research, the American Society of Clinical Oncology, and the International Association for the Study of Lung Cancer.
Dr. Miller, a National Merit Scholar, received a BA in mathematics at the University of Pennsylvania, where he was honored as a Benjamin Franklin Scholar, and an MD at the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey in Newark. He completed an internship and residency, and then served as Chief Medical Resident in Internal Medicine at Thomas Jefferson University Hospital in Philadelphia, and subsequently a fellowship in Medical Oncology at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center.
Dan Moulthrop | CEO ,
Dan Moulthrop is CEO of The City Club of Cleveland, the nation’s oldest continuously running free speech forum. Founded in 1912, The City Club convenes over a hundred programs every year on topics covering just about every issue and topic of importance to Northeast Ohio, including political debates, panel discussions, speeches and conversations with thought leaders.
He was a co-founder of The Civic Commons, a Knight Foundation project creating a social media environment designed for civil civic dialogue. Prior to that, he was the host of Sound of Ideas on 90.3 WCPN ideastream.
Dan is also co-author, with Dave Eggers and Ninive Calegari, of the best-selling book Teachers Have it Easy: The Big Sacrifices and Small Salaries of America's Teachers (The New Press, 2005), which provided the basis for the 2011 documentary "American Teacher." He's an award winning local public radio host, a former high school teacher and a graduate of UC Berkeley's Graduate School of Journalism. He lives in Shaker Heights, Ohio, with his wife and three children.
Twitter Handle: @danmoulthrop
Deepak Nath, PhD | President, Molecular Diagnostics ,
Deepak Nath is President, Molecular Diagnostics, Abbott. He was appointed to his current role in April 2014.
Previously, Nath was Divisional Vice President and General Manager, Ibis Biosciences, Abbott. Prior to that he held several leadership positions in Abbott Vascular, including: Divisional Vice President, Strategic Marketing; Divisional Vice President and General Manager, Nordics and Eastern European Direct Operations; and, most recently, Divisional Vice President, Central and Eastern Europe, Middle East and Africa.
Before joining Abbott in 2007, he held leadership roles at Amgen and worked as consultant at McKinsey & Company where he served leading companies in healthcare and other industries. He began his career as a scientist in the computational physics group at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory.
Deepak holds B.S. and M.S. degrees in Mechanical Engineering, as well as a Ph.D. in Theoretical Mechanics (Mechanical Engineering), all from the University of California, Berkeley.
Lee Newcomer, MD | SVP, Oncology, Genetics & Women's Health ,
Lee N. Newcomer, MD, MHA, is the Senior Vice President at UnitedHealthcare (UHC) with strategic responsibility for Oncology, Genetics and Women’s Health.
He began his management career as a Medical Director for CIGNA Health Care of Kansas City in 1990. From 1991 to 2000, Dr. Newcomer was the Chief Medical Officer at UHC where his work emphasized the development of performance measures and incentives to improve clinical care. Dr. Newcomer was a founding executive of Vivius, a consumer directed venture that allowed consumers to create their own personalized health plans. He returned to UHC in 2006 to focus on combining clinical, financial and administrative incentives for improved and affordable cancer care.
Dr. Newcomer is a board certified medical oncologist; he practiced medical oncology for nine years in Tulsa, Oklahoma and Minneapolis (Park Nicollet Clinic).
He is the former Chairman of Park Nicollet Health Services (now HealthPartners), an integrated system of physicians and hospitals in the Minneapolis and St Paul metropolitan area. The group is nationally recognized for its leadership in quality, safety and cost effectiveness.
Dr. Newcomer earned a BA degree from Nebraska Wesleyan University, an MD degree from the University of Nebraska College of Medicine, and a Masters of Health Administration from the University of Wisconsin at Madison. He completed his internship and residency in internal medicine at the University of Nebraska Medical Center and a fellowship in medical oncology at the Yale University School of Medicine.
Twitter Handle: @UHGNewsroom
Steve Nissen, MD | Department Chair, Cardiovascular Medicine ,
Steven Nissen is Chairman of Department Cardiovascular Medicine at Cleveland Clinic - 7yrs. He served 9yrs as vice-chairman and 5yrs as medical director ofthe Cardiovascular Center (C5) that directs multicenter clinical trials.
National leadership positions include term as President of the American College of Cardiology 2006–2007, the professional society representing American cardiologists.
Dr. Nissen served as member of the Cardio Renal Advisory Panel of Food and Drug Administration(FDA) for 5 years, and Chairman the final year of his membership. He continues to serve as Advisor tos everal FDA committees. In July 2008, while serving as guest member of the Endocrine and Metabolism Advisory Panel, he recommended new approach for approval of diabetes drugs, which was ultimately adopted by the Agency in November 2008.
Steve Nissen is also known for his role in public policy discussions, particularly in the area of drug safety. He has testified in both the Senate (Health Education and Labor Committee) and House of Representatives (Energy and Commerce Committee) on the need to reform the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). He was actively involved in discussions with Congress on the FDA Amendments Act of 2007 that added additional regulatory authority for the Agency.
In 2007, Time Magazine selected Dr. Nissen as one of the world’s 100 most influential people. He was selected for the Outstanding Scientist Award by the Cleveland Clinic in 2004. On 3 occasions, the Cardiovascular Medicine Fellows awarded him the Outstanding Teaching Award. He also received the distinguished Outstanding Contributions to Cardiovascular Research Award from the Gill Heart Institute of the University of Kentucky in 2004. Contributions to scientific literature include more than 400 peer reviewed journal articles and 60 book chapters.
Dr. Nissen works closely with pharmaceutical companies on the development of new therapies for cardiovascular disease, but maintains longstanding policy of requiring companies to donate all related honoraria directly to charity so that he receives neither income, nor tax deduction.
John Nottingham | Co-President ,
John Nottingham is Co-President of Nottingham Spirk, one of the leading business innovation firms with nearly 1000 commercialized patents. The Nottingham Spirk "Vertical Innovation" process has helped client companies earn over $45 billion in combined sales.
John Nottingham, and his innovation team have co-created such award winning innovations as SpinBrush, the largest selling powered toothbrush line; Swiffer SweeperVac, the largest selling floor care appliance; EC Vue, first non-invasive electrocardiographic heart mapping system; and the HeathSpot Station, the first integrated, commercialized telemedicine/medical device system.
John received his industrial design degree from the Cleveland Institute of Art and has received several honorary doctorate degrees. He serves on the Cleveland Clinic Board of Trustees, CWRU Research & Tech Commercialization Board, boards of the Cleveland Institute of Art and University Circle Inc., as well as several private equity company boards of directors.
Crain's recently named John as one of the top 10 most prolific Northeast Ohio inventors of the last 40 years. John and his innovation team have received numerous awards including the IDEA Gold Award, Edison Gold Awards, CLIO Awards, DuPont Packaging Gold Award, EDI Innovation Award, Brand Package of the Decade Award, CES Product of the Future Award, Nortech Innovation Awards, SIFE Champion Award, Ohio Patent Impact Award and the Society of Plastics Engineers Product of the Year Award. John is also an inductee of the Inside Business Hall of Fame.
John has presented numerous times on the subject of breakthrough innovation, and has shared speaker platforms with Neil Armstrong, Colin Powell and Clayton Christensen, author of "The Innovator's Dilemma." He has been featured on The Today Show, CNN, NBC Nightly News, Wall Street Journal, Fortune, Forbes, Japan Forbes, Bloomberg BusinessWeek, New York Times, Wired and Fast Company.
Twitter Handle: @NottinghamSpirk
Stephen Ondra, MD | SVP & Chief Medical Officer ,
Stephen Ondra is responsible for the strategy and oversight of medical policies, medical management, pharmacy, quality improvement and performance measurement programs. He also serves as a key national spokesperson for the company and health policy advocate for policyholders. Before joining HCSC, he was senior vice president and chief medical officer for Northwestern Memorial Hospital. Previously, he was appointed by President Obama as the senior policy advisor for the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs and then served at the White House in the Executive Office of the President.
He is a veteran of Operations Desert Storm and Desert Shield, and he was awarded a Bronze Star Medal and the Army Commendation Medal for his extraordinary service. After attending the U.S. Military Academy, he completed pre-medical studies at Illinois Wesleyan University and medical school at Rush Medical College in Chicago.
Michael Pellini, MD | CEO , Foundation Medicine
Dr. Pellini joined Foundation Medicine as President and Chief Executive Officer in May 2011, bringing a breadth of experience in life sciences and the clinical diagnostics and laboratory industries to the company. Dr. Pellini came to Foundation Medicine from Clarient, a GE Healthcare Company, where he held the position of President and Chief Operating Officer. Dr. Pellini joined GE Healthcare through the acquisition of Clarient, Inc., where he worked with the company’s leadership team to drive critical regulatory and reimbursement strategies in parallel with the development and commercialization of multiple diagnostic tests.
Prior to his tenure with Clarient, Dr. Pellini served as Vice President, Life Sciences at Safeguard Scientifics, Inc. where he leveraged his business and medical expertise to explore new market opportunities and to support Safeguard’s partner companies. Prior to Safeguard, he was Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer at Lakewood Pathology Associates, a national molecular and pathology services company, which was acquired by Water Street Healthcare Partners in 2006. Prior to that, Dr. Pellini was an Entrepreneur-in-Residence at BioAdvance, where he was responsible for reviewing and evaluating early-stage life science companies. He also served as President and Chief Executive Officer of Genomics Collaborative, Inc., a Boston-based biotech firm that was acquired by SeraCare Life Sciences, Inc. in 2004.
Dr. Pellini received a BA from Boston College, an MBA from Drexel University and an MD from Jefferson Medical College of Thomas Jefferson University.
Twitter Handle: @MichaelPellini, @FoundationATCG
Lilli Petruzzelli | Vice President, Oncology Translational Medicine ,
Lilli received her MD and PhD from Albert Einstein College of Medicine and did her internship and residency training in Internal Medicine and her fellowship in Hematology at the Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston. She was appointed Assistant Professor of Medicine at the University of Michigan in 1994 where she established a laboratory-based research program focused on the regulation of integrin-dependent adhesion in leukocytes and a clinical practice specializing in hematologic malignancies. She was promoted to Associate Professor in 2002.
Lilli began her career in the pharmaceutical industry at Millennium in 2007, where she played key role in the clinical development of a NAE inhibitor and the second generation proteasome inhibitor MLN9708. Lilli joined Novartis in 2009 and since 2011 has been the OTM Clinical Site Head in Cambridge responsible for clinical programs including LDK378 and LEE011.
Twitter Handle: @Novartis
Risto Pribisich
Partner, Innovations, Information Technology and Intellectual Property (3iP)
Benesch, Friedlander, Coplan & Aronoff LLP
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Risto Pribisich | Partner, Innovations, Information Technology and Intellectual Property (3iP) ,
Mr. Pribisich is a partner in Benesch’s Innovations, Information Technology & Intellectual Property (3iP) Practice Group. His practice includes all facets of intellectual property and technology law, including intellectual property litigation, patent preparation and prosecution, rendering opinions, negotiating technology transactions and data security counseling.
Mr. Pribisich represents both plaintiffs and defendants in patent infringement and trade secret litigation. His patent preparation practice focuses on the preparation, prosecution and evaluation of patents in the mechanical, electromechanical, polymer and software arts. Mr. Pribisich counsels clients on intellectual property issues such as cease and desist letters, reexamination procedures, and opinions regarding infringement, patentability and validity. He counsels clients in negotiating intellectual property licenses and third-party software agreements. Mr. Pribisich also counsels clients in avoiding data security breaches, and complying with state and federal laws in the event of a data breach.
Daryl Pritchard, PhD | Vice President for Science Policy ,
Daryl Pritchard, PhD, is the Vice President of Science Policy at the Personalized Medicine Coalition (PMC) where he leads PMC efforts to: increase awareness and understanding of personalized medicine amongst healthcare providers, patients, policy decision-makers, and other stakeholders; identify and address barriers to the adoption of personalized medicine into the healthcare system; and develop and promote appropriate clinical, healthcare infrastructure, regulatory, and payment policies.
Before coming to PMC, Dr. Pritchard served as the Director of Policy Research at the National Pharmaceutical Council (NPC), where he led NPC’s policy research, alliance development, and government relations’ efforts in the areas of personalized medicine, the heterogeneity of treatment effects, and recognition of the value of specialty biopharmaceuticals. Prior to joining the NPC, Dr. Pritchard served as the Director of Research Programs Advocacy and Personalized Medicine at the Biotechnology Industry Organization (BIO), where he developed and expanded the organization’s diagnostics and personalized medicine policy program. He also spent three years as the Director of Government Affairs for the American Association for Dental Research (AADR), and the American Dental Education Association (ADEA).
Dr. Pritchard received his PhD and master’s degree in Genetics from the George Washington University, and completed a post-doctoral research fellowship at the Children’s National Medical Center. He was awarded the first American Society of Human Genetics (ASHG)/National Human Genome Research Institute (NHGRI) Fellowship in Genetics and Public Policy, where he worked as a health legislative assistant in the House of Representatives.
Tomas Puusepp | Executive Director of the Board ,
Tomas Puusepp has brought a wealth of knowledge to Elekta, with his 32-years record of International Management experience in the field of high-tech Medical equipment which included: successfully introducing new technologies, methodologies and financing systems in the fields of Radiation Oncology and Neurosurgery on a worldwide basis.
Mr. Puusepp has held various positions at the Research Institute for Atomic Physics, Scanditronix and Ericsson before being employed by Elekta in 1988. Since then, he has held various management positions within Elekta, including head of Elekta's neurosurgery operations, President of Elekta's subsidiary in North America, global head of Elekta's sales, marketing and service operations and CEO and President of Elekta during the years from 2005 to 2014. In September 2013 Mr. Puusepp became a Board Member of Elekta AB.
Tomas Puusepp's educational background includes a B.Sc. in Electronic Engineering and Physics from the Stockholm Institute of Technology and University of Stockholm. He also holds an International Executive Program degree from IMD in Lausanne, Switzerland.
Chris Raanes | President & CEO ,
Chris Raanes joined ViewRay Incorporated as President and CEO in February 2013.
With more than 15 years of experience as a senior executive in the medical device field, Chris Raanes brings a proven track record in commercial and operational disciplines. As executive vice president and chief operating officer at Accuray, he was instrumental in transforming the company from a start-up niche player into the number three vendor in the radiation therapy industry. He drove continuous product innovation during his tenure and co-led Accuray's acquisition and integration of TomoTherapy in 2011.
Prior to joining Accuray, Raanes served as vice president and general manager of imaging at PerkinElmer Optoelectronics, where he led a joint venture with GE Healthcare, brought new technologies to market, and executed successful partnerships with major radiation therapy vendors.
Raanes holds an MSEE from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
Twitter Handle: @viewray
Peter Rasmussen, MD | Director, Cerebrovascular Center & Neurology Surgery ,
Peter A. Rasmussen, MD, is Director of the Cerebrovascular Center, Cleveland Clinic, and Associate Professor at Cleveland Clinic Lerner College of Medicine of Case Western Reserve University.
Dr. Rasmussen received his BS in biochemistry from the University of Wisconsin, Madison, in 1987. He earned his medical degree from the University of Wisconsin Medical School in 1991.
Peter Rasmussen, MD, has recently been appointed to president of the Board of Directors for the Society of NeuroInterventional Surgery. As president of the board Dr. Rasmussen will play a leading role on the national stage in continuing society initiatives to resource, train and support veteran and new practitioners in an area of medicine that is transforming treatment approaches to neurovascular conditions.
David Reese | VP, Translational Medicine ,
Dr. David Reese is vice president of Translational Sciences and therapeutic area head for Oncology Global Development. As a member of the Research and Development senior leadership team, he is responsible for Medical Sciences (including Early Development programs across therapeutic areas and biomarker discovery and development), Comparative Biology and Safety Sciences, Pharmacokinetics and Drug Metabolism, and Oncology Global Development. Reese joined Amgen in 2005 and, prior to assuming his current positions, served in various roles in Global Development and Medical Sciences.
Reese was educated at Harvard College and the University of Cincinnati College of Medicine. He completed training in Internal Medicine and Hematology/Oncology at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) School of Medicine, and subsequently served on the faculty at UCLA and the University of California, San Francisco. He later was director of Clinical Research for the Breast Cancer International Research Group (BCIRG) and a co-founder, president and chief medical officer of Translational Research International (TORI), a not-for-profit academic clinical research organization. As an oncologist with an extensive background in clinical trial design, methodology, and translational medicine, Reese has published extensively in the fields of clinical research and translational medicine. He is a guest lecturer at the UCLA School of Medicine.
Denys Resnick | Executive VP, Strategic Programs ,
Denys Resnick is responsible for incubating and launching NineSigma’s new products and services, including NineSigma’s collaboration platform, NineSights. She leads NineSigma’s Grand Challenge Team, and has played a strategic role with key clients, including the CCEMC, GE, the NFL, UnderArmour, and Cisco.
Ms. Resnick interfaces with clients to identify their evolving innovation needs and collaborates with NineSigma’s operations, sales and marketing teams to develop the initiatives that make NineSigma the global innovation leader. Ms. Resnick previously served as NineSigma’s Director of Operations. Before joining Nine Sigma in 2008, Resnick was founder and President of TradeQuest, Inc., a consulting firm that developed and implemented international business growth strategies for global manufacturing and service companies. She brings 20 years of manufacturing and business development experience from companies like RPM, Faber Castell, and FedEx. Resnick earned an MBA in International Business and Finance from New York University, and a BA in International Relations from Tufts University.
Brian Rini, MD | Taussig Cancer Institute ,
Brian I. Rini, MD, FACP is a Professor of Medicine at the Cleveland Clinic Lerner College of Medicine of Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, Ohio. A Staff member of the Department of Solid Tumor Oncology and Co-Leader of the Genitourinary Program of the CASE Comprehensive Cancer Center, Dr. Rini’s work focuses on genitourinary malignancies.
Dr. Rini earned his medical degree at the Ohio State University College of Medicine. After completing a residency program in internal medicine at University of Chicago Hospitals, Dr. Rini was awarded a fellowship in hematology and oncology at the University of Chicago. Dr. Rini was an Assistant Professor at the University of California San Francisco before moving to Cleveland Clinic.
At Cleveland Clinic, Dr. Rini’s primary research has been in renal cell carcinoma (RCC), with special focus on antiangiogenic therapy and immunotherapy. Dr. Rini has been involved in the initial and ongoing development of targeted agents for metastatic RCC, and was an integral investigator in the clinical development of these agents which are now FDA approved. Dr. Rini was the Principal Investigator of an international phase III cooperative group trial of bevacizumab plus interferon in metastatic RCC that lead to FDA approval, the phase III AXIS trial of axitinib and is currently the PI of another ongoing global phase III trial in RCC. In addition, he is PI of several investigator-initiated and industry-sponsored phase II trials of targeted therapy in metastatic RCC.
Dr. Rini’s research has been published in peer-reviewed journals that include Journal of the National Cancer Institute, Journal of Clinical Oncology, Cancer, Lancet and JAMA. Significantly, he has published major review articles in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Cancer, Lancet, and Lancet Oncology. He is a member of the editorial boards of Journal of Clinical Oncology, Lancet Oncology, Cancer Research and British Journal of Urology.
Certified in Medical Oncology by the American Board of Internal Medicine, Dr. Rini is active in numerous professional organizations, including the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO), American Association for Cancer Research and the Kidney Cancer Association National Medical Advisory Board. He serves on the ASCO Board of Experts and on the External Review Board for the ASCO Cancer Therapy Evaluation Program.
Monica Robins | Channel 3 Evening News Anchor/Senior Health Correspondant ,
Monica Robins is an Emmy award winning reporter well known as one of Northeast Ohio’s most reliable sources for health news. As Senior Health Correspondent, she has earned the respect of the region’s medical establishments including The Academy of Medicine of Cleveland and Northern Ohio for fair, accurate and unbiased reporting.
Monica has the ability to take even the most complicated medical procedure and make it understandable to viewers. Her stories are often broadcast nationally at other NBC and Gannett stations and her more than 25 Cleveland Clinic “Medical Miracle” specials have also aired in the Middle East and Turkey.
Her dedication to providing quality health information to Northeast Ohio earned her several prestigious awards including the Community Service Award from Fairview, Lakewood, Lutheran Hospitals and the Community West Foundation, the Bronze Key award from Recovery Resources, the media award from the ADAMHS Board of Cuyahoga county for her indepth coverage of the heroin epidemic in Northeast, Ohio.
She was honored as the first media recipient of the Susan G. Komen for the Cure "Power of a Partner" Award. She’s also received several media awards from various medical organizations including the Diabetes Partnership of Cleveland, the Academy of Medicine of Cleveland and Northern Ohio, Western Reserve Area Agency on Aging and several others as well as congressional commendations from Senator Sherrod Brown and Representative Betty Sutton.
With more than 25 years of Broadcast Journalism experience, Monica has won several regional Emmy awards as well as numerous first place, Excellence in Journalism awards from the Ohio Press Club and the Associated Press. She’s also been inducted into the Ohio Broadcasters Hall of Fame.
After graduating from West Virginia University with a degree in Broadcast Journalism, Monica began her television career at WDTV in Clarksburg, W. Va. While there, she honed her reporting and anchoring skills as well as being a videographer, producer, editor and production assistant. She then moved to WOWK-TV in Charleston/Huntington, W. Va. where she became the main 6pm and 11pm anchor as well as delving into Investigative Reporting. She was a primary Investigative Reporter at WCMH-TV in Columbus, Ohio before becoming the NBC Midwest Correspondent for the News Channel affiliate service. During that time she traveled the country covering national news for America’s NBC stations. Including President Clinton’s Lewinsky scandal and subsequent impeachment proceedings and the devastating Ohio River flooding.
Monica has been active with several community organizations including Komen for the Cure, the Diabetes Partnership of Greater Cleveland, Prayer’s From Maria Foundation for pediatric brain tumor research, Kids in Flight, Rally for the Troops, Firefighter’s Memorial Ride, COPS Memorial Ride and the Gathering Place. She was instrumental in planning and executing WKYC’s first annual Health Expo that served 15,000 people and was the driving force for the City of Cleveland’s Affordable Care for a Healthy Cleveland education event that served thousands of Cuyahoga County residents who needed information about healthcare coverage.
She served on former Cleveland Mayor Jane Campbell’s think tank for “Steps to a Healthier Cleveland,” and assisted in securing funding for “Aligning Forces for Quality.” A Robert Woods Johnson Foundation initiative aimed at helping chronically ill patients achieve quality care. She is a sought after public speaker and often talks about the need to be one’s own health advocate.
Monica is a native of Pittsburgh, Penn. and enjoys running, scuba diving and riding her Harley-Davidson motorcycle. She’s also the lead singer for three rock bands including, Monica Robins and the Whiskey Kings, the Ninja Cowboys and Dr. Mo. Learn more at www.monicarobins.com . She has opened for well-known national acts such as The Temptations, Fabulous Thunderbirds, Donnie Iris and the Cruisers, Southside Johnny and the Asbury Jukes, Hall and Oates and Eddie Money. She has performed the National Anthem several times for the Cleveland Browns, Cleveland Indians, Cleveland Barons, Lake Erie Monsters, Cleveland Force, Akron Aeros and for many local law enforcement, fire and military agencies.
Whenever she can find spare time, Monica and her Great Pyrenees, Griffin, are certified by Therapy Dogs International and volunteer bringing emotional support to patients in local nursing homes.
Twitter Handle: @MonicaRobins
Matthew Robson, MD | Clinical Head, Translational Clinical Oncology ,
Dr Matthew Robson is a clinical head in Novartis Translational Clinical Oncology, with responsibility for the early clinical portfolio including FGFR and third generation EGFR inhibitors, as well as Novartis' first two antibody drug conjugates. He is also the early clinical strategic lead for immuno-oncology at Novartis. His pharmaceutical experience spans clinical development from early to late stage, and he has worked in the EU, the USA, and Japan in both operational and strategic roles. He wrote the first in human study for ceritinib, Novartis' ALK inhibitor, which was approved by the FDA three years after the first patient was dosed. He was also closely involved in the work with Cincinnati Children's Hospital resulting in everolimus being approved for tuberous sclerosis SEGA and angiomyolipoma. His clinical career was in paediatric hematology, oncology, and bone marrow transplantation in the UK and Australia. He also spent time working in medical litigation and briefly at a dot.com just as the bubble burst.
Michael Roizen, MD | Chief Wellness Officer ,
Michael F. Roizen, MD, is a Phi Beta Kappa graduate of Williams College and Alpha Omega Alpha graduate of the University of California, San Francisco, School of Medicine. He performed his residency in internal medicine at Harvard's Beth Israel Hospital and completed Public Health Service at the National Institutes of Health in the laboratory of Irv Kopin and Nobel Prize winner Julius Axelrod. He is certified by both the American Boards of Internal Medicine and of Anesthesiology. Dr. Roizen is the Cofounder and Chair of the RealAge, Inc., Scientific Advisory Board. He is 62 calendar years of age, but his RealAge is 42.8.
Dr. Roizen is a Past Chair of a Food and Drug Administration advisory committee and a former editor for six medical journals. He has published more than 165 peer-reviewed scientific papers, 100 textbook chapters, 30 editorials, and four medical books (one, a medical best-seller), and received 13 U.S. and many foreign patents. He is one of the cofounders of the website RealAge.com, recently sold to the Hearst Corp., and still chairs its Scientific Advisory Board. One of the drugs he co-invented and developed (licensed to Progenics and Wyeth Corp.) for hospice patients will have its NDA day in 2008.
After nine years on the faculty at the University of California, San Francisco, he chaired the top-10-rated Department of Anesthesia and Critical Care at the University of Chicago. He then became Dean of the School of Medicine and Vice President for Biomedical Sciences at SUNY Upstate. After serving as CEO of the Biotechnology Research Corporation of Central New York, he accepted a position as Chair of the Anesthesiology Institute at Cleveland Clinic, responsible for over 180 operatories, 124 critical care beds and 28 pain therapy intervention units. In 2007, Dr. Roizen was named Chief Wellness Officer at Cleveland Clinic, the first such position in a major healthcare institution in the United States. Dr. Roizen also serves as Chairman of the Wellness Institute at Cleveland Clinic.
His first general-audience book, RealAge: Are You as Young as You Can Be? (HarperCollins Publishers) became a #1 New York Times bestseller and was awarded the Best Wellness Book of 1999 by the Books for a Better Life Awards. RealAge has been translated into more than 20 languages and was #1 in four other countries, displacing Harry Potter for 7 days as #1 on Amazon. Other books include the New York Times bestseller The RealAge Diet: Make Yourself Younger With What You Eat (HarperCollins), written with Dr. John La Puma, Cooking the RealAge Way (Harper Collins), also with Dr. La Puma., and The RealAge Makeover (HarperCollins). His book, YOU: The Owner’s Manual (HarperCollins), written with Health Corps founder Dr. Mehmet Oz, debuted in May 2005 and became a #1 New York Times bestseller (sold more than 2.7 million hardcover copies worldwide; was the #2 best-selling book published in 2005 in 2005-- displacing Harry Potter for 35 days as #1 on Amazon and BN.com.). It was followed by the New York Times bestseller, YOU: The Smart Patient. Their next book, YOU: On A Diet, the Owner’s Manual for Waist Management, debuted at #1 on the New York Times list (11 consecutive weeks at #1 and 17 consecutive weeks in top 3 as of now) with 21 printings totaling over 2.4 million copies in the first three weeks (it was the #2 best-selling book published in 2006 in 2006). Their latest book, YOU Staying Young, the Owner’s Manual for Extending Your Warranty also debuted at #1 on the New York Times list, and is listed by People magazine as the #3 selling book in the world in 2007.
Dr. Roizen has given over 1,400 lectures to professional medical groups and has been recognized with over 20 professional lectureships. He has appeared on The Oprah Winfrey Show 13 times, Today 17 times, 20/20 (3 times), CBN (15 times), CNN, CBS, Good Morning America (24 times), Canada AM (28 times), The Montel Williams Show, Larry King Live, and has four PBS fundraising specials (his fundraising special The RealAge Makeover was one of the top two PBS special fundraisers in 2006, now with well over 5,000 showings in 100 TV markets). His most recent two PBS specials: YOU On A Diet, and Longevity Factors, have both received acclaim, and widespread distribution as well. He and Mehmet Oz write a monthly column for Reader’s Digest, and a quarterly column for the nursing magazine, Every Woman, and a daily newspaper column syndicated by King syndication. He and Mehmet also record 1 hour a day of radio for Oprah and Friends, on satellite radio and a cable network. He also has a 2-hour 26-station Terrestrial show entitled: YOU The Owner’s Manual Radio Show, live every Saturday. He has been featured in Fortune, O, Glamour, Cosmopolitan, Good Housekeeping, Ladies’ Home Journal, Biography, People, US, Men’s Health, and Prevention.
Dr. Roizen still practices anesthesiology and internal medicine, using the RealAge metric to motivate his patients. He routinely takes patients at the Cleveland Clinic Wellness Institute who are in the midst of struggling with tobacco, heart, diabetic or arthritic problems and coaches them with simple (but persistent) lifestyle changes to be able to live, feel, look and be years younger. He really enjoys getting them to throw away their medications when they no longer need them, but teaches the role of food and other simple steps in reversing disease processes. The Wellness Institute that he chairs includes Employee Health and Wellness, the Department of Preventive Medicine, Premium Access Programs, Disease Reversal and Integrative Medicine Programs, and the Wellness Public Policy and Community Support Programs of Cleveland Clinic. Cleveland Clinic Wellness institute aims to elevate preventive care and wellness as a core brand of Cleveland Clinic and a core value we teach our patients and employees.
Ginni Rometty | Chairman, President & CEO ,
Ginni Rometty is Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer of IBM. Mrs. Rometty was appointed President and CEO effective January 1, 2012. She became Chairman of the Board of Directors on October 1, 2012.
Mrs. Rometty began her career with IBM in 1981 in Detroit, Michigan. Since then she has held a series of leadership positions in IBM, most recently as Senior Vice President and Group Executive, IBM Sales, Marketing and Strategy. In this role, she was responsible for business results in the 170 global markets in which IBM operates and pioneered IBM's rapid expansion in the emerging economies of the world.
Prior to this, Mrs. Rometty served as Senior Vice President, IBM Global Business Services, where she led the successful integration of PricewaterhouseCoopers Consulting. This acquisition was the largest in professional services history, creating a global team of more than 100,000 business consultants and services experts. In recognition of her leadership in the professional services industry, Mrs. Rometty was honored with the Carl Sloane Award 2006, given by the Association of Management Consulting Firms.
In prior leadership roles, Mrs. Rometty served as general manager of IBM Global Services, Americas, as well as general manager of IBM's Global Insurance and Financial Services Sector.
Mrs. Rometty serves on the Council on Foreign Relations; the Board of Trustees of Northwestern University; and the Board of Overseers and Board of Managers of Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center.
She holds a Bachelor of Science degree with high honors in computer science and electrical engineering from Northwestern University.
Twitter Handle: @IBM
Mikkael Sekeres, MD | Taussig Cancer Institute ,
Dr Sekeres is Professor of Medicine, Director of the Leukemia Program, and Vice Chair for Clinical Research at the Cleveland Clinic Taussig Cancer Institute, in Ohio. He earned a medical degree and a master’s degree in clinical epidemiology from the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine. Dr Sekeres completed his postgraduate training at Harvard University, finishing an internal medicine residency at Massachusetts General Hospital and a fellowship in hematology-oncology at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute in Boston. He chairs the Oncologic Drugs Advisory Committee of the F.D.A and is co-chair of the medical advisory board of the Aplastic Anemia and Myelodysplastic Syndrome (MDS) International Foundation. An invited speaker at numerous meetings, grand rounds, and conferences, Dr Sekeres is a member of the American Society of Clinical Oncology, the American Society of Hematology, and the Southwest Oncology Group—Leukemia Committee. His current research focuses on patients with MDS and older adults with acute myeloid leukemia, and he is national primary study investigator on several phase I/II trials. He is the author or co-author of over 220 articles and over 250 abstracts published in leading journals such as Blood, Journal of Clinical Oncology, Nature Genetics, Journal of the National Cancer Institute, PLoS One, Cancer, Haematologica, and Leukemia; the co-author of 5 books; and he is on the Editorial Board of the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Leukemia, Oncologist, and Blood Cancer Journal, in addition to being an essayist for The New York Times and an award-winning columnist and the Clinical Advisory Editor for the Oncology Times.
Semih Sen | Associate Director Healthcare ,
Semih is Associate Director of Mubadala Development Company's Healthcare Unit, responsible for development and management of Cleveland Clinic Abu Dhabi, National Reference Lab, Tawam Molecular Imaging Centre, Capital Health Visa Screening Centre and Abu Dhabi Telemedicine Centre assets, as well as strategy formation and implementation, acquisitions, and technical and commercial development of projects. Semih also serves as a Board Member of Medical Holding Company, and Chairman of Abu Dhabi Telemedicine Centre. Semih is also a Member of Policy Advisory Committee at Health Authority Abu Dhabi and Executive Committee and other Board Committees of Cleveland Clinic Abu Dhabi.
Semih holds a Bachelor of Arts degree from Bogazici (Bosphorus) University in Business Administration and has attended International Business Strategy Program of London School of Economics, Entrepreneurial Healthcare Management at Harvard University School of Public Health, Private Equity Masterclass at London Business School and Leading High-Performance Healthcare Organizations Program at Harvard Business School.
JC Simbana | VP, Life Science & Digital Health ,
JC Simbana leads the early stage Healthcare and Digital Health practice for Silicon Valley Bank, which provides banking and lending services to early-stage startups, organizes events to connect startups and VCs, and assists startups with their fundraising process.
With over fifteen years of experience in venture banking and equity research, Mr. Simbana has worked with entrepreneurs in the biotech, medical device, diagnostics, tools, and digital health sectors and has helped several startups secure angel and VC financing.
Mr. Simbana is on the board of directors of Life Science Angels and BioPacific Investors, and is actively involved with HealthXL, Startup Health, Astia, Springboard, DC-to-VC, QB3, Thiel Foundation's 20 Under 20 Fellowship, and Breakout Labs as a mentor, speaker, judge and connector.
Twitter Handle: @jcsimbana
Robert Smith | Economic Development Reporter ,
Robert L. Smith is an award winning business writer for The Plain Dealer, Ohio’s largest newspaper, where he covers economic development and the innovation economy.
In 2013, he was named Best News Writer in Ohio by the Associated Press and one of the best business writers in America by the Society of American Business Editors and Writers.
He is co-author of the book, Immigrant Inc.: Why Immigrant Entrepreneurs are Driving the New Economy and he teaches business communications at John Carroll University.
Mark Smith, MD | Director ,
Mark Smith, M.D is Director of the MedStar Institute for Innovation (MI2) where he leads a system-wide initiative to catalyze and foster innovation at MedStar Health. He is also professor & chair of emergency medicine at the Georgetown University School of Medicine.
Prior to his appointment as director of MI2, he served as chair of the department of emergency medicine at MedStar Washington Hospital Center for 14 years and as chair of MedStar Emergency Physicians for 13 years. Prior to that, he was chair of emergency medicine at the George Washington University Medical Center for 12 years and the director of its Ronald Reagan Institute of Emergency Medicine.
He is board certified in emergency medicine and is a fellow of the American College of Emergency Physicians.
Dr. Smith's interests include digital health, data science, complex systems theory, information visualization, catalyzing sustainable and self-organizing change that is for the better, and scaling that change within and across large systems. Prior to his work at MI2, Dr. Smith was the co-founder of Project ER One, MedStar Washington Hospital Center's initiative to develop the design specifications for an all-risks ready emergency care facility for mass casualty incidents. He is the co-creator of MedStar Health's innovative Azyxxi / Amalga clinical information system, which has been in continuous use at MedStar hospitals for 18 years and is utilized in other hospitals in the United States. He has authored numerous journal articles and two textbooks in the field of emergency medicine; served on federal advisory groups in the fields of cardiac care, disaster response, and innovation; and helped to develop large programs in clinical simulation and human factors in healthcare.
Greg Sorensen, MD | CEO ,
As a trendsetter in medical imaging, therapy systems, laboratory diagnostics, and healthcare information technology, Siemens Healthcare offers optimized clinical solutions across the entire care continuum – from prevention and early detection to diagnosis, treatment and follow-up. By offering novel tools for improved diagnosis, as well as optimizing clinical workflows for the most common conditions, Siemens helps make healthcare faster, better and more cost-effective. As head of the business in the largest global market, Sorensen brings to his leadership position a deep understanding of technology, the biological basis of disease, the importance of measurable outcomes, and the environment of clinical practice. Sorensen was appointed to his current role in June 2011.
Previously, Sorensen served as Professor of Radiology and Health Sciences & Technology at Harvard Medical School; faculty member of the Harvard-MIT Division of Health Sciences and Technology; and Co-Director of the A.A. Martinos Center for Biomedical Imaging at Massachusetts General Hospital, as well as a visiting professor of neuroradiology at Oxford University.
Leading up to his appointment with Siemens, Sorensen was a practicing neuroradiologist and active researcher with significant experience in clinical care, clinical trials, and translational research. His research and techniques are utilized by scores of centers throughout the world in phase II and III trials in cancer, stroke, and other illnesses.
Sorensen holds a B.S. in Biology from California Institute of Technology, a M.S. in Computer Science from Brigham Young University, and a Medical Degree from Harvard Medical School. He is married with three children.
Twitter Handle: @SiemensHealth
Unity Stoakes | Co-Founder & President ,
Unity Stoakes is on a mission to transform healthcare by leveraging the power of innovation, technology, data, design, and community. He believes that the best way to improve care is to provide health and wellness innovators with inspiration, education, and access to customers, capital, and other critical resources so that Healthcare Transformers can innovate more quickly.
Unity is the President and co-founder of StartUp Health, a global startup platform to accelerate health and wellness innovation. StartUp Health is creating a new model for helping startups grow and scale in the health sector. The company provides health and wellness innovators (“Healthcare Transformers”) with a structured curriculum, access to customers, and peer support designed to help navigate the unique challenges of building a sustainable growth business.
Unity, and his business partner of 16 years, Steven Krein, previously co-founded OrganizedWisdom.com, an expert-driven platform for health and wellness and built Webstakes.com and Promotions.com, which went public on Nasdaq in 1999. Unity is a founding member of the Society of Participatory Medicine and a mentor at Blueprint Health, an accelerator for health and wellness startups. Unity is on the AARP Innovation @50+ Advisory Board, on the SXSW Accelerator Advisory Board and the Care Innovations Advisory Board. He received his bachelor’s degrees in Communications and Political Science from Boston University. Unity resides in New York City.
Twitter Handle: @unitystoakes
Larry Stofko | EVP ,
Larry Stofko is Executive Vice President at The Innovation Institute. The Innovation Institute is a for-profit LLC established in January 2013, and structured to respond agilely to the long and short-term needs of the healthcare industry. It is composed of three distinct elements—an innovation laboratory, an investment fund, and an enterprise development group. Larry leads the Innovation Lab, which includes ideation, prototyping, piloting, and commercialization of new products, technologies, and companies.
Mr. Stofko has nearly 25 years of experience in healthcare information technology and was previously honored with CIO Magazine’s inaugural “Ones to Watch” award as an up-and-coming IT executive. He has been recognized as one of the 2012 Top 25 Healthcare CIOs in InformationWeek Healthcare’s second annual compilation of IT executives which highlights the exceptional thinkers and doers, the visionaries and the innovators who are moving patient care forward. Larry has a true passion for technology and innovation, speaking nationally on a regular basis. He has a strong reputation for leading change and gaining support for innovative solutions and change.
Most recently, he served as Senior Vice President, Chief Information Officer for St. Joseph Health (SJH), a $6 billion integrated Catholic healthcare delivery system based in Orange County with 25,000 employees, 16 hospitals and 6,000 physicians. In this capacity, he held corporate-wide responsibility for the development of information technology strategy and the delivery of information services at SJH. SJHS ranked in the top 100 companies by Information Week 500 through Mr. Stofko’s leadership in performance improvement and adoption of innovative clinical and business technologies.
Larry’s previous experience includes fulfilling the role of Director of Healthcare Consulting for Perot Systems Corporation, a provider of IT services. While at Perot, he led a team of managers and business consultants that provided business strategy, information technology strategy, process redesign and change management for the company’s health industry clients. He also served as a Senior Systems Analyst for Charter Medical Corporation in Macon, Georgia.
Mr. Stofko received a Master of Science in Medical Informatics from Northwestern University (2010), a Graduate Certificate in Health Administration from Trinity University (1994), and an undergraduate degree in Business Information Systems from Georgia College & State University (1987). He serves on the Board of Directors for both The Wooden Floor, a non-profit organization serving low-income youth and families; and for Taller San Jose, an innovative non-profit program that walks young people out of poverty through job training, leading them to a self-reliant future.
Twitter Handle: @ljstofko
John Suh, MD | Chair, Radiation Oncology ,
John Suh, MD, is the Chairman of the Department of Radiation Oncology and Associate Director of the Gamma Knife Center at the Brain Tumor and Neuro-Oncology Center at Cleveland Clinic.
Dr. Suh received his Bachelor's and Medical degrees from the University of Miami School of Medicine in Miami, Fla. He completed his internship, residency and fellowship at Cleveland Clinic from 1990 to 1995 and joined the Staff in 1995. He was the Residency Program Director from 1996 to 2002.
Dr. Suh is a written and oral Board Examiner for the American Board of Radiology. He serves as a reviewer for various medical journals and is a member of various medical societies.
His primary research interests are brain tumors, Gamma Knife radiosurgery and innovative radiation modalities. He has participated in numerous in-house, pharmaceutical and cooperative group trials.
Sandra Swain, MD | Medical Director, Washington Cancer Institute ,
Sandra M. Swain, MD, FACP is the Medical Director of the Washington Cancer Institute, of MedStar Washington Hospital Center, in Washington, DC. She is a Professor of Medicine at Georgetown University and Adjunct Professor of Medicine at F. Edward Hebert School of Medicine. She was previously the Deputy Branch Chief of the Medicine Branch, Center for Cancer Research, National Cancer Institute (NCI), National Institutes of Health (NIH) and was a tenured Principal Investigator. She was also the Chief of the Breast Cancer Section, and Chief of the Cancer Therapeutics Branch. She obtained an undergraduate degree in Chemistry from the University of North Carolina in 1975, and a MD degree from the University of Florida in Gainesville in 1980. She completed her residency in internal medicine at Vanderbilt University in 1983 followed by a fellowship in Medical Oncology at the National Cancer Institute, National Institutes of Health in 1986.
Dr. Swain’s research interests include clinical trials and translational research in metastatic and inflammatory breast cancer, adjuvant therapy for breast cancer, cardiotoxicity, and health care disparities. Her research has been funded by the National Institutes of Health, Susan G. Komen Foundation, Breast Cancer Research Foundation, and the Avon Foundation. She has published more than 230 articles and is recognized as a leading international figure in breast cancer. For her work, she received the Susan G. Komen for the Cure Community Global Award of Distinction in 2012.
Dr. Swain was the recipient of the National Cancer Institute’s Mentor of Merit Award for two years as well as the National Institutes of Health Merit Award. She also received the Claude Jacquillat Award for Clinical Cancer Research in 2012. She was the President of the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) from 2013-14. She has served as a member of the ASCO Board and is currently a member of the Conquer Cancer Foundation Board. She is a member of the board of directors for the MedStar Washington Hospital Center and the MedStar Washington Hospital Center Foundation. She has been an active member of the National Surgical Adjuvant Breast and Bowel Project for over 25 years and is currently on the breast committee of the NRG.
Twitter Handle: @MedstarWHC
Chris Takimoto, MD, PhD | VP, Translational Medicine Early Development ,
Chris H. Takimoto, MD, PhD graduated with a B.S. degree in Chemistry from Stanford University in 1979, and he received both his Ph.D. in Pharmacology and his M.D. degree from Yale University in 1986. After finishing residency training in Internal Medicine at the University of California, San Francisco in 1989, he moved to Bethesda, Maryland to complete a fellowship in Medical Oncology at the National Cancer Institute in 1993 and a second fellowship in Clinical Pharmacology at the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences in 1996. From 1996 to 2000, he served as a Senior Investigator in the Developmental Therapeutics Department in the Medicine Branch at the National Cancer Institute and as an Assistant Professor of Medicine in the Division of Clinical Pharmacology at the Uniformed Services University. In 2000, he moved to the University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio (UTHSCSA) as an Associate Professor of Medicine in the Division of Medical Oncology. From 2004 to 2007, he held the position of Director of Pharmacology at the Institute for Drug Development (IDD) at the Cancer Therapy & Research Center (CTRC) in San Antonio, TX, where he was also the Zachry Chair for Translational Research. Dr. Takimoto was also an Adjunct Professor of Pharmacology at the UTHSCSA. In 2007, he became one of the founding members of the South Texas Accelerated Research Therapeutics (START) in San Antonio, an independent oncology clinical research center dedicated to oncology early development trials. In 2008, Dr. Takimoto was recruited to Johnson & Johnson, where he is currently Vice President and head of Experimental Medicine, Early Development in the Oncology Therapeutic Area at Janssen R&D.
Dr. Takimoto's research interests include the pharmacology of new anticancer agents in clinical development, oncology drug development, pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics, Phase I clinical trials, and novel treatments for gastrointestinal malignancies. He has published over 150 research articles, reviews, editorials, and book chapters. He has served on the editorial board of the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Clinical Cancer Research, Cancer Chemotherapy and Pharmacology, Investigational New Drugs, and several other oncology publications.
Twitter Handle: @JanssenUS
Bill Taranto | President, Global Health Innovation Fund ,
Bill Taranto is President, Merck Global Health Innovation Fund LLC (GHIF) and Vice President, Global Health Innovation Group (GHI). Mr. Taranto is the founder of GHI and is responsible for leading the GHI capability for Merck. The Merck Global Health Innovation Fund was established in late 2010 as a strategic response to the challenges surrounding Merck's core business of discovering, developing and marketing innovative drugs and vaccines.
GHI deploys its evergreen $500 million fund focused on identifying opportunities that are adjacent to Merck's core business of pharmaceuticals and vaccines. In the last three years, GHI has committed over $300 million across 28 portfolio companies. Some investments include Asuragen, eHealth Technologies, Healthsense, Humedica (acquired by United Healthcare), Liaison Technologies, PatientSafe, Physicians Interactive (acquired by Merck), and Remedy Informatics.
Julie Tebo, PhD | Associate Staff ,
Julie Tebo, PhD is an Assistant Professor of Medicine and the Director of Problem-based Learning Facilitator Development at the Cleveland Clinic Lerner College of Medicine of Case Western Reserve University. Among her interests are strategies for critical thinking in medical education, including the use of technology. In this regard she is a member of the team involved in the "IBM Watson goes to Medicine School" project, collaboration with an IBM team of researchers to enhance capabilities of Watson's Deep Question Answering technology for the area of medical education.
Halle Tecco | Founder ,
Halle Tecco is a Founder & Managing Director of Rock Health, the first seed fund devoted exclusively to digital health companies. She is also an angel investor via Techammer, with investments in over 30 technology companies including Misfit Wearables, Quora, and Kaggle.
Tecco has appeared in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, and CNBC. She was named as one of Goldman Sach’s Most Intriguing Entrepreneurs in 2013 and listed on the Forbes 30 under 30 in 2012. She has a Bachelor of Science degree from Case Western Reserve University and an MBA from Harvard Business School.
Twitter Handle: @halletecco, @rock_health
Ellen Van Oosten
Faculty Director for Executive Education; Visiting Assistant Professor, Organizational Behavior
Case Western Reserve Univrsity
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Ellen Van Oosten | Faculty Director for Executive Education; Visiting Assistant Professor, Organizational Behavior ,
Dr. Ellen B. Van Oosten is Faculty Director for Executive Education and Visiting Assistant Professor in the Department of Organizational Behavior at Case Western Reserve University. Dr. Van Oosten is also Director of the Coaching Research Lab and a Master Coach at Case. Her research interests include coaching, leadership development, emotional intelligence, and positive relationships at work. Dr. Van Oosten has published scholarly and practitioner articles which cover topics such as coaching for change, leadership vision and leadership development in organizations. She teaches at the Schools of Management, Engineering and Law at Case and regularly delivers workshops for managers and executives.
Amit Varma, MD | Managing Partner ,
Dr Varma is Founding Managing Partner of Quadria Capital, a US$300 m Asian healthcare PE fund. He also heads the Investment Committee of India Build-Out Fund focused on healthcare, education and ancillary services in India. Dr Varma has extensive M&A, strategic and operational leadership and board level experience in healthcare organizations across USA, Asia and Australia.
He is a renowned Critical Care Physician, trained from State University of New York & Pittsburgh Medical Center. Having practiced in the domain for over 20 years including a decade in the USA, he has served in various roles including managing and operating P&L's, procurement of medical supplies, strategy and quality of healthcare organizations, and recruitment of key physicians across Asia. He is currently on the editorial board and a member of various healthcare and management groups and societies.
He also continues to practice as a critical care physician on a part-time basis through which he remains connected to clinical medicine, patients, and physicians. He is Director Critical Care Medicine at Fortis & Escorts group of Hospital & is Founder & Executive Director "Critinext" which is Asia's First EICU network over 500 ICU beds in 11 cities in India.
He continues to be visiting faculty at the University of Pittsburgh, Functions, as healthcare consultant to the World Bank and the European commission with the special interest in quality. He is on the editorial board for various research organizations & is a consultant on CNN-IBN.
J. Craig Venter, PhD | Co-Founder, Executive Chairman & CEO ,
J. Craig Venter, Ph.D., is a biologist renowned for his contributions in sequencing the first draft human genome in 2001, the first complete diploid human genome in 2007 and construction of the first synthetic bacterial cell in 2010. He is a co-founder and CEO of Human Longevity Inc (HLI), a privately held genomics and cell therapy-based diagnostic and therapeutic company focused on extending the healthy, high performance human life span. He is also founder, chairman and CEO of the J. Craig Venter Institute (JCVI) and a co-founder and CEO of Synthetic Genomics Inc (SGI), a privately held company focused on developing products and solutions using synthetic genomic technologies. He and his teams are focused on a variety of projects and programs including: synthetic genomic research and the application of these advances to develop new vaccines and food and nutritional products, new biofuels and biochemicals; continued analysis of the human genome including the human microbiome, and discovering and understanding genetic diversity in the world's oceans. Dr. Venter is a recipient of the 2008 National Medal of Science and is a member of the National Academy of Sciences. He is the author of Life at the Speed of Light: From the Double Helix to the Dawn of Digital Life (Viking, 2013) and A Life Decoded: My Genome: My Life (Viking, 2007).
Kevin Vigilante, MD | Senior Vice President & Chief Medical Officer ,
Kevin Vigilante MD, a Booz Allen Hamilton Vice President and the firm’s Chief Medical Officer, leads a team of clinicians, researchers and public health professionals who provide strategic consulting services to health care clients. Prior to joining Booz Allen, Vigilante held appointments on the medical faculty at Yale and then at Brown. At Brown he was Director of Emergency and Ambulatory Services at the Miriam Hospital and held an appointment in the Department of Immunology and Infectious Diseases. A former member of the National Committee for Vital and Health Statistics (NCVHS) and former National Kellogg Fellow he has published widely. Vigilante holds a degree in philosophy from Johns Hopkins University, a medical degree from the Cornell University Medical College and a Masters in Public Health from the Harvard School of Public Health. He did his residency in internal medicine at Yale New Haven Hospital.
Julie Vose, MD | President-Elect ,
Julie M. Vose, MD is the Neumann M. and Mildred E. Harris Professor and Chief in the Division of Oncology/Hematology at the University of Nebraska Medical Center in Omaha, Nebraska. Dr Vose received her medical degree, completed her residency in Internal Medicine, served as Chief Resident, and completed a Fellowship in Hematology/Oncology at the University of Nebraska Medical Center. Dr Vose also completed a sabbatical at Stanford University. She also completed an MBA in Health Administration through the University of Colorado Business School.
Dr Vose has focused her career on translational research for improvement in the therapy of non-Hodgkin's lymphoma (NHL) and Hodgkin lymphoma (HL) by developing a focused translational research program evaluating novel therapies such as radiolabeled monoclonal antibodies, idiotype vaccine therapies, pathway directed agents and stem cell transplantation. Dr Vose has been recognized for her NHL research on a national and international level through research awards and invited lectureships worldwide. In addition, her funding record and publications in NHL therapy and transplantation research have added substantially to the research and knowledge base for the therapy of lymphoma. She is currently the Co-Chair for the National Cancer Institute Lymphoma Sub-Committee, a member of the FDA Oncologic Drug Advisory Committee, and 2014-15 President elect for the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO).
Twitter Handle: @DrJulieVose, @ASCO
Alex Wayne | Reporter ,
Alex Wayne covers U.S. health-care policy for Bloomberg News in Washington, D.C. He's written about health care for six years, and covered the Affordable Care Act from conception to implementation. Previously, he worked for Congressional Quarterly and for newspapers in North Carolina and Florida. He's from Gainesville, Florida and lives on Capitol Hill in Washington with his wife and year-old son.
Twitter Handle: @aawayne
Nicholas J. Webb | Inventor, Innovation Thought Leader ,
Nicholas J. Webb is a world-renowned healthcare futurist. Webb is the author of his best-selling books The Innovation Playbook, The Digital Innovation and The Cost of Being Sick. As a senior partner with Lassen Innovation, Webb has provided consulting services to some of the best companies and brands in the world including Gatorade, CIGNA Healthcare, Microsoft, Intel, Polaris Industries and 3M just to name a few. As an award-winning innovator, the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office has awarded Nicholas Webb over 40 patents for technologies including one of the world's smallest medical implants as well as a wide range of consumer and technology innovations.
Twitter Handle: @nickwebbcom
Samuel Wertheimer | Chief Investment Officer ,
Dr. Wertheimer has long and successful experience as an investor in the healthcare and life sciences sectors. In 2011 he co-founded Poliwogg a firm dedicated to creating capital market tools for healthcare investing. Prior to that he was a private equity partner in OrbiMed Advisors, LLC. There Dr. Wertheimer had primary responsibility for the management of biotechnology/medical technology focusing on venture capital funds and was responsible for the sourcing, due diligence, negotiation and management of investments.
Dr. Wertheimer received his Doctor of Philosophy degree from New York University, his Master of Public Health, with Honors from Yale University and his Bachelor of Arts from the Johns Hopkins University. He is a resident of New York City.
Richard Wesorick | Partner ,
Rich Wesorick is a co-managing partner at Tarolli, Sundheim, Covell & Tummino LLP, a 30-lawyer intellectual property boutique law firm in Cleveland, Ohio. Rich graduated from Purdue University with a degree in Mechanical Engineering. Before attending law school at the University of Dayton School of Law, he worked as an engineer for G.E. Aircraft Engines, during which time he was the inventor of U.S. Patent No. 5,178,003.
Rich has nearly 20 years of experience in the patent field, with the majority of that time spent practicing in the medical device space. Since 2000, Rich has represented academic medical centers and universities in patent matters related to a wide variety of technologies including orthopedic instrumentation, cardiovascular surgery and implants, neuromodulation, healthcare information technology and biotechnology. Rich's role often includes typical in-house patent counsel functions, and indeed much of his time is spent working closely with his clients to craft patent strategy appropriate for both licensing and start-up company opportunities. Rich is a frequent lecturer at academic medical centers, universities, and other organizations on intellectual property matters and, in particular, medical device protection and commercialization.
Rich is active in several professional organizations such as the American Intellectual Property Law Association, the Cleveland Intellectual Property Law Association, the Licensing Executives Society, the Association of University Technology Managers, and the International Association for the Protection of Intellectual Property.
John West | CEO ,
Mr. West was a founder and has been CEO of Personalis, Inc since 2011. He was previously CEO of the DNA sequencing company Solexa, Inc, sold it to Illumina, and stayed as Sr. VP of DNA sequencing through 2008. In late 2009, Mr. West's was the first family of four to be customers of Illumina's personal whole genome sequencing service. Experience working on the interpretation of these genomes led to the foundation of Personalis. Personalis is CLIA & CAP accredited. It works in both Mendelian disease and cancer.
Twitter Handle: @personalisinc
Dow Wilson | CEO ,
Dow R. Wilson is president and chief executive officer of Varian Medical Systems and a member of the company's Board of Directors.
Mr. Wilson has held key executive positions since joining Varian in 2005. Prior to being appointed CEO, he served as executive vice president and chief operating officer and president of Varian’s Oncology Systems business.
Mr. Wilson joined Varian following a 19-year career with General Electric, in a variety of senior management positions. Most recently, he served as CEO for GE Healthcare-Information Technologies. Prior to that, he was general manager for a number of businesses, including the X-Ray, Functional Imaging, Computed Tomography (CT), and Positron Emission Tomography businesses.
A graduate of Brigham Young University, Wilson also holds an MBA from the Amos Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth.
Twitter Handle: @VarianMedSys
Alan Wright, MD | CMO ,
Dr. Wright is the Chief Medical Officer at Roche Diagnostics Corporation in Indianapolis, Indiana. Prior to joining Roche, Dr. Wright served as Senior Vice President of Health Improvement Strategies for Miraca Life Sciences. He was the Vice President for Product Strategy and Business Development for Resolution Health, a privately held analytics and intervention company serving the managed care market place. Until 2005, Dr. Wright was chairman and CEO of Star Pharmaceuticals, a generic pharmaceutical company he founded in 2002, serving the needs of the urological community. Previously, he was Senior Vice President and Chief Science Officer of Caremark . Dr. Wright also served as Senior Vice President and Chief Medical Officer for AdvancePCS.
Dr. Wright graduated magna cum laude with a Bachelor of Science degree from Pennsylvania State University. He received his medical doctorate from the University of Pennsylvania and completed his residency in internal medicine at Temple University in Philadelphia. While at Temple he served as Chief Medical Resident from 1985 to 1986 and completed his Masters of Public Health degree at Johns Hopkins School of Hygiene and Public Health. Dr. Wright is a member of several journal editorial boards. He is a member of the American Medical Association and American College of Physicians. He is also certified as a diplomat to the American Board of Internal Medicine and the National Board of Medical Examiners.
Derek Young | CEO ,
Derek is an entrepreneur and innovator in the healthcare sector. He is a named inventor of over 30 patents with worldwide commercial success. Derek has successfully co-founded a number of European medical device startup companies including Medtech, Advanced Surgical Concepts and Haptica prior to spinning into the Royal College of Surgeons (RCSI) in Dublin. There, Derek established a Healthcare Innovation Hub to develop ideas received from European and International clinicians and inventors.
As Founder, CEO and key promoter of i360medical (i360), Derek managed the complete spin out of RCSI’s Innovation Hub into i360 converting to a for-profit commercial model. i360 is a European Healthcare Solutions and Medical Device Innovation Company that provides its services to; Hospital Systems internationally, Medical Device Industry, and clinical communities. i360 taps into the growing medical device expertise in Ireland and internationally and has created strategic alliances with some of the world leaders in healthcare innovation. This is with the intention to help generate and commercialize new world-class healthcare technology solutions.
Derek has partnered with and has the direct support of a number of significant figures in the medical device and clinical sector. This includes Enterprise Ireland, Cleveland Clinic, NS-LIJ, Cincinnati Children’s Hospital , A*Star Singapore, Synecor Inc., and a number of Hospital groups in Ireland, Central Europe and Australia.
Derek has assembled an experienced team of professionals and KOLs with intimate knowledge of the international medical device sector and key Clinical Specialities. Together, i360 intends to deliver much needed innovation to commercialization partner services to international Hospital Systems, the Medical Device Industry and Clinical Community.
Derek has a background in Mechanical Engineering, Surgical Innovation and Business Development from the Austin Waldron and Dublin Institute of Technology in Ireland. Derek also holds a number of board positions on medical device companies and medical research groups at both a national and international level. As CEO of i360medical, Derek is responsible for company operations ensuring new innovation and commercial partnerships are formed to enable the launch of new healthcare products into the Global market place.