Dr. Schiller is Deputy Chief and Head of the Neoplastic Disease Section, Laboratory of Cellular Oncology at the National Cancer Institute, NIH, and an NIH Distinguished Investigator. He has received numerous awards for his contributions to papillomavirus virus molecular biology and HPV vaccine development, including the Lasker DeBakey Award in 2017, the American Society for Microbiology’s Joseph Public Health Award in 2014, and National Medal of Technology and Innovation in 2014. Dr. Schiller graduated from the University of Wisconsin-Madison with a B.S. in molecular biology and received a Ph.D. from the Department of Microbiology of the University of Washington in Seattle.

Neal Shore graduated from Duke University and Duke University Medical School. He completed his general surgery/urology residency at New York Hospital-Cornell Medical Center/Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center. He serves as the Medical Director for the Carolina Urologic Research Center and is the Chief Medical Officer, Urology and Surgical Oncology, for GenesisCare, US. Dr. Shore has conducted more than 400 clinical trials, focusing mainly on genitourinary oncology, and has authored or coauthored more than 300 peer-reviewed publications and numerous book chapters. He serves on the Society for Immunotherapy of Cancer (SITC) Guidelines Committee for Bladder Cancer, as well as the boards of the Bladder Cancer Advocacy Network and the Duke Global Health Institute. He is the Chair of both the Prostate Cancer Academy and the Bladder/Kidney Cancer Academy for LUGPA/Specialty Network. He also chairs the annual AUA International Prostate Forum. He serves on the editorial boards of Reviews in Urology, Urology Times, Chemotherapy Advisor, OncLive, PLOS ONE, Urology Practice, JUOP and World Journal of Urology, and he also serves as an Editor of Everyday Urology-Oncology. He is a Fellow of the American College of Surgeons.

Dr. Gary Steinberg is Professor, Department of Urology at Rush University in Chicago. Dr. Steinberg is a national authority in the surgical treatment of bladder cancer and continent urinary tract reconstruction and is a recognized expert in translational bladder cancer research as well as innovative clinical trials.  A prolific researcher, Steinberg has made significant contributions to our understanding of both non-muscle invasive and invasive bladder cancer and serves as the principal investigator on numerous clinical trials, working to identify new novel therapies as well as molecular biomarkers to detect the disease. Dr. Steinberg has authored or coauthored more than 200 articles as well as nearly two dozen chapters for medical textbooks. Currently, he serves on the editorial board of multiple urologic oncology journals and is the immediate past chairperson of the scientific advisory board of the Bladder Cancer Advocacy Network.

Dr. Steinberg received his medical degree from the University of Chicago Pritzker School of Medicine and completed Urology Residency and Clinical Oncology Fellowship at The Brady Urological Institute-Johns Hopkins University.”

Mr. David Johnson is a biopharmaceutical business leader with more than 25 years of experience in drug development. He is currently Chief Executive Officer and founder of Solve Therapeutics, a venture-backed start-up focusing on developing next-generation mAb-based oncology therapeutics. In late 2021, the company closed a $126 million Series A financing.

Prior to founding Solve Therapeutics, Mr. Johnson served as Chief Executive Officer at VelosBio, which Merck acquired for $2.75 billion in late 2020. Before VelosBio, Mr. Johnson was Chief Executive Officer at Acerta Pharma, where he led the company through a critical phase of growth from early to late-stage clinical development. Mr. Johnson and his leadership team ultimately led the acquisition of Acerta by AstraZeneca in a deal valued at $7 billion.

Prior to Acerta, Mr. Johnson held roles of increasing responsibility with Calistoga (acquired by GILD), Gloucester (acquired by CELG), MLMN (acquired by TAK), Immunex (acquired by AMGN), and Roche. He has raised over $700 million in biopharma capital and delivered transactions valued at over $10 billion.

In addition to Aura’s Board, Mr. Johnson serves on the Board of Directors of Palleon Pharmaceuticals and Lengo Therapeutics (recently acquired by BPMC). He also serves as the Chairman of the Board of Directors of Zentalis Pharmaceuticals­, a publicly traded clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company focused on discovering and developing small molecule therapeutics targeting fundamental biological pathways of cancer.

Eli de los Pinos is the founding CEO of Aura, which she has created from the ground up: She developed the company concept and has spearheaded fundraising efforts, and today, she continues to lead Aura’s strategy and operations. Prior to founding Aura, she worked in Eli Lilly & Co.’s oncology business unit, where she was part of the leadership team responsible for the market launch in Europe of Alimta, a drug for the treatment of lung cancer. Earlier in her career, Eli worked as a post-doctoral fellow at the Institute of Cancer Research in London. She previously completed fellowships at the Mount Sinai School of Medicine Institute of Molecular Medicine and at the Georgetown School of Medicine. Eli holds a Ph.D., magna cum laude, in Molecular Biology from the University of Barcelona and an MBA from IE Business School.

She is a member of the board of overseers at the Museum of Science, Boston. Eli has also been named to Boston Business Journal’s 2009 “Top 40 under 40” list; as a Mass High Tech “Woman to Watch” in 2010; as a “Technology Pioneer” by the World Economic Forum in 2010; and as one of Goldman Sachs’ “100 Most Intriguing Entrepreneurs” in 2014.

Giovanni is a Partner at Medicxi and a member of the co-founding team. Prior to Medicxi, Giovanni was a Principal at Index Ventures for four years, having joined in 2012. He led Medicxi’s investment in Obseva and currently serves on the boards of a number of portfolio companies, including Gadeta, Aura Biosciences, Pearl River and Janpix.

Prior to joining Index, Giovanni was at Cancer Research UK’s London Research Institute (now the Crick Institute) where he conducted research on vascular biology and angiogenesis, whilst also delivering competitive intelligence projects in oncology as an independent consultant to various biopharma.

Giovanni received a BSc in Biochemistry from Imperial College London and a PhD in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology from University College London.

Mr. Antony Mattessich is currently the Chief Executive Officer at Ocular Therapeutix. Prior to Ocular Therapeutix, he was Managing Director of Mundipharma International based in Cambridge, England. Previous to his time at Mundipharma, Mr. Mattessich ran the U.S. respiratory, dermatology and pediatrics group at Novartis. He also held several positions at Bristol-Myers Squibb, among them, Managing Director roles in Malaysia/Singapore and The Netherlands, and Head of Operations for the International Medicines Group. Mr. Mattessich holds a BA from the University of California at Berkeley and a master’s in international affairs from Columbia University.

 

 

Raj joined Advent in 2005 bringing over 20 years of experience in biomedical research and as an entrepreneur and investor. After gaining an MA and DPhil from Oxford University, he pursued a successful academic career in molecular medicine before co-founding Oxford GlycoSciences (IPO on LSE and NASDAQ). Following its sale to UCB-Celltech, he became Chairman of Galapagos nv, a member of the Supervisory Board of the Novartis Venture Fund and a founding Director of Celldex Therapeutics.

Since joining Advent, he has been involved with those portfolio Companies primarily engaged in the discovery of new medicines, including Avila, EUSA and Thiakis. Raj currently serves on the Board of several portfolio Companies including Arrakis, Aura Biosciences and Levicept.

Dr. Sapna Srivastava is currently the Chief Financial and Strategy Officer at eGenesis. Prior to eGenesis, she held similar roles as the Chief Financial and Strategy Officer at Abide Therapeutics (acquired by Lundbeck) and at Intellia Therapeutics. In these positions, she has played a key role in equity financings including a successful initial public offering, strategic alliances, mergers and acquisitions, and shaping the strategic direction of the company. Before Intellia, Dr. Srivastava spent more than a decade on Wall Street as a senior biotechnology analyst for Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley and ThinkEquity Partners. She began her career as a research associate at J.P. Morgan. Dr. Srivastava received her Ph.D. in neuroscience from the New York University School of Medicine and her B.S. in biology from St. Xavier’s College at the University of Mumbai

Karan Takhar is a Senior Managing Director and the head of Life Sciences investing at Matrix Capital Management, an investment fund focused on technology and life sciences. Mr. Takhar received a Bachelor of Sciences in Economics and Mathematics from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.