Dermatology Summit 2024

Biography

Frederick C. Beddingfield III is a physician-scientist and biotech entrepreneur. He is currently an Executive Partner at Apollo Health Ventures. Previously Frederick was the CEO and member of the board of directors of Kira Pharmaceuticals, a development stage complement therapeutics biotech company focused on immunology, inflammation, and rare diseases. He was founder, president, chief executive and member of the board of directors of Sienna Biopharmaceuticals Inc. and took the company public in 2017. Prior to Sienna, Frederick served as Chief Medical Officer of Kythera Biopharmaceuticals from March 2013 until it was acquired by Allergan in 2015. Frederick worked at Allergan for 10 years (2003-2013) where he served in various roles including the Therapeutic Area Head of Dermatology and Chief Medical Officer Allergan Medical. He has led the development and approvals of global leading brands in medical dermatology, aesthetics, neurology, metabolic, and other therapeutic areas. These brands include Botox (cosmetic, hyperhidrosis, spasticity, and other), Juvederm, Voluma, Kybella, Latisse, Aczone, and Tazorac. Frederick has led four successful FDA advisor committees.

Since completing his training, Frederick has maintained a clinical and teaching practice at UCLA. He is a board-certified dermatologist and emergency medicine physician and fellowship trained in dermatologic surgery and cutaneous oncology. Frederick completed his medical degree with honors at UNC Chapel Hill, his residency and fellowship training at UCLA, and his PhD in Policy Analysis Research at RAND. He serves on the board of directors of Cytrellis Biosystems, Inc. and on the medical advisory board of the Children’s Skin Disease Foundation and Camp Wonder. He is on the board and co-founder of the Dermatology Summit and Dermatology Innovation Forum conferences, part of Advancing Innovation in Dermatology, a non-profit organization.

Biography

Josep-Maria currently serves as Vice President for External Innovation and Licensing at Almirall. He has more than 20 years’ experience in Business Development and Licensing. He is responsible for defining and executing licensing strategies and building Almirall’s dermatology pipeline through collaborations with third parties. He has been instrumental in securing the European rights of tildrakizumab, an anti-IL23 monoclonal antibody for psoriasis and lebrikizumab, an anti-IL13 monoclonal antibody for atopic dermatitis.

Josep-Maria holds a PhD in Biological Sciences and a master’s degree in Immunology from the University of Barcelona.

Biography

Dr. Clauss leads the dermatology-focused programmes covering both oligonucleotides and small molecules. He also oversees the development work supporting the small molecule skin health programme. Adam has more than 10 years experience of drug discovery and development specialising in dermatology. He joins SENISCA from Bioglan AB where he was Head of Development and previously Head of Regenerative Medicine at LEO Pharma A/S.

Biography

Tom is a partner in the M&A Advisory business at PJT Partners, one of the premier independent investment banks. A member of PJT’s original partner group, Tom has built PJT’s Healthcare Advisory business into a leader within the Biopharma ecosystem. Tom has advised on many of the most significant US and cross-border Biopharma transactions including, over the last two years, six billion-dollar-plus transactions totaling in excess of fifty billion dollars. Included among these are the largest transactions announced globally in each of 2021 and 2022.

Prior to PJT Partners, Tom jointly led the global healthcare effort at Credit Suisse and was a Vice Chairman within the Investment Bank. Prior to Credit Suisse, Tom spent eleven years helping build the Healthcare Group at Merrill Lynch. He began his career in 1993 at McKinsey & Company. Tom graduated summa cum laude from Yale in 1991 and received his MBA from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania in 1993.

Biography

Dr. Duportet the founder and CEO of Eligo Bioscience. He earned his PhD in Synthetic Biology in a joint program between MIT and INRIA. His work in genetic engineering technologies led to the establishment of Eligo Bioscience, a company focused on gene-editing for microbiome-related diseases. Xavier has received several recognitions, including the 2022 Henri Termeer Fellow, French Innovator of the Year by MIT TR35, and titles from the World Economic Forum as a Young Global Leader and Technology Pioneer. He is also a member of the strategic boards of University Paris Saclay and Universcience.

Biography

Dr. Foulkes has more than 30 years of experience in leading and investing in biopharmaceutical research and development companies. These include serving as the founding CEO of Excaliard Pharmaceuticals, developing a drug for hypertrophic skin scaring, and leading to its the acquisition by Pfizer in 2011. He also served as Executive Chairman of Redwood BioSciences from 2012, helping to negotiate and guide the company through a successful staged acquisition by Catalent in 2014. From 2005 to 2010, Dr. Foulkes served as Managing Director at RiverVest Ventures, where he represented the RiverVest’s investments in Mpex (acquired by Axcan in 2011), CGI Pharmaceuticals (acquired by Gilead in 2010), Cabrellis (acquired by Pharmion in 2007 (now Celgene)), Conforma (acquired by Biogen in 2006), Excaliard (acquired by Pfizer in 2011) and MacroGenics (which completed an initial public offering in 2013). Previously, he headed R&D, and served on the boards of multiple biotechnology companies, including OSI Pharmaceuticals (Nasdaq: OSIP) founded by Dr James Watson and acquired by Astellas for $4 billion in 2010; Aurora Biosciences (Nasdaq: ABSC) acquired by Vertex in 2001 for $590M and Elitra Pharmaceuticals (acquired by Merck). At OSI, he pioneered the early development of cell-based high-throughput drug screening and oversaw multiple drug discovery and development programs, including the discovery of both TGF-β3 and the anti-cancer drug Tarceva, an EGFR kinase inhibitor. He also led the development of a joint dermatology venture with Pfizer, called Anaderm, which was acquired later by Pfizer and became the foundation of their dermatology division. In operational executive management positions, he has had a lead role in securing more than 15 corporate partnerships, resulting in over $350M in recognized revenues, as well as directly participated in raising over $250M in private financings, IPOs and follow-on public offerings. Prior to joining the biopharmaceutical industry, Dr. Foulkes held academic positions at MIT (with Dr. David Baltimore) and as a tenured member of faculty at the Medical Research Council (UK). Dr. Foulkes obtained a First-Class Honors BSc from the University of Wales and his Ph.D. with Prof Sir Philip Cohen (University of Dundee, Scotland).

Biography

Saad is a healthcare entrepreneur with a financial background. He is the founder and CEO of Legacy Healthcare, an immuno-dermatology biopharma based in Switzerland.

Biography

Dr. Howell currently serves as the Chief Scientific Officer and Head of Translational Science at Zura Bio. He is also the Founder of Mountaineer Biosciences and Co-Founder of Galileo Biosystems. Dr. Howell is an immunologist with more than 20 years of experience in the government, academic, and biopharma/biotech sectors. Prior to joining Zura Bio, Dr. Howell was a faculty member at National Jewish Health, and held roles of increasing responsibility at Boehringer Ingelheim, Immune Tolerance Network, MedImmune/AstraZeneca, Incyte Corporation, and DermTech. He has previously led research and development teams dedicated to the discovery of novel therapies and the integration of precision and personalized medicine approaches into clinical development. His efforts have led to the approval of multiple therapies, novel diagnostic approaches to patient treatment, and have been highlighted in more than 60 publications and numerous patents. Dr. Howell received his PhD in Immunology from the West Virginia University School of Medicine and completed his post-doctoral training at National Jewish Health.

Biography

Vijay Iyengar joined Incyte as Executive Vice President, Global Strategy and Corporate Development in 2016. In 2022, his role was expanded to EVP, Head of Global Medical Affairs, Product and Partnership Strategy. In this role, he leads the Global Product Strategy, Value, Access and Pricing, Business Development, Alliance Management, ROW Partnerships, and Global Medical Affairs teams. Dr. Iyengar has more than 20 years of pharmaceutical industry experience. Previously, he served as the President of Genoptix Corporation, a Novartis Company, where he led a 650-person organization that offered CAP/CLIA-certified oncology diagnostic testing and clinical trial assay development and execution services. Prior to that, Dr. Iyengar held leadership roles in both U.S. and Global functions at Novartis, as Vice President and Rare Diseases Franchise Head at Novartis Oncology and Oncology General Manager of Novartis Greece. Before joining Novartis, he was an Engagement Manager at McKinsey & Company where he served pharmaceutical and medical device clients as part of their healthcare practice. Dr. Iyengar received his Bachelor of Science in Biology from Stanford University and his M.D. from Harvard Medical School.

Biography

Dr. Jasmina Jankicevic is globally recognized as a thought leader in dermatology & medical aesthetics drug/device development. She has led clinical development in dermatology and medical aesthetics for CROs, pharma/biotech, medical device, and cosmetic companies. She has driven program strategy and implementation of 350+ clinical study protocols in 30+ indications while leading global cross-functional teams towards successful regulatory submissions, product launches, and innovative lifecycle management.

As a global expert in dermatology clinical development, Dr. Jankicevic has served as advisor to multiple companies on their way to global regulatory and commercial success of innovative therapeutic solutions for common and rare skin diseases, and aesthetic disorders.

Dr. Jankicevic holds Doctor of Medicine degree, Master of Medical Sciences degree, and Board-certification in Dermatology and Venereology from the University of Belgrade, Serbia. She is also a Certified Clinical Research Professional, and a trained journalist. Dr. Jankicevic is a sought-after speaker, and author of numerous articles in peer-reviewed and trade journals.

Biography

Nitin co-founded CAGE Bio in 2018 and currently serves as a board member and CEO of the company. A chemical engineer by training, he has spent 25 years in pharmaceutical product development including formulation/process development, scale-up and regulatory approval of various drug delivery products covering pulmonary, oral, parenteral, and transdermal routes. Prior to founding CAGE Bio Nitin led development of a transdermal drug-device combination product at The Medicines Company. He has previously been a co-founder at a biotech startup and has also been in leadership positions at mid and large pharmaceutical companies. He received a B.S. and Ph.D. in Chemical Engineering from UDCT, Mumbai and Clemson University respectively.

Biography

Doug is a science-driven, serial entrepreneur focused on translating important scientific advances into high-impact products that improve people’s lives. He previously founded and served as initial CEO for Cytrellis Biosystems, which developed and markets an FDA-cleared system for the aesthetic medicine market; T2 Biosystems (TTOO), a commercial-stage diagnostics company based on nano technology; and YourBio Health, a company that develops safe, simple-to-use devices for blood collection and diagnostics. He was also a founding team member of both TransForm Pharmaceuticals, serving on the management team until the company was acquired by J&J, and Millennium Pharmaceuticals (acquired by Takeda). Doug previously served as Partner at Flagship Pioneering (formerly Flagship Ventures). Doug holds a Ph.D. in genetics from Harvard University.

Biography

Dr. François-Thomas Michaud serves as the Chief Executive Officer at Feldan Therapeutics and is a co-founder of the company.

Dr. Michaud co-founded and became CEO of Feldan in 2007 while completing his PhD degree in chemical engineering. At the time, the company was mainly active in the production and international distribution of bioreagents. In parallel with sales activities, Dr. Michaud and Feldan’s team worked on a research project that led to the inception of proprietary cell-penetrating technology: the Feldan Shuttle. Over the years, Dr. Michaud’s value-creating vision has shaped the business model of the company, which now focuses exclusively on therapeutic development based on intracellular delivery.

Dr. Michaud is actively engaged in corporate, academic, and entrepreneurial communities of the Province of Quebec and Canada as an administrator, speaker, and mentor. He is also a board member of Bio-Québec and Ag Biocentre.

Biography

Seth Orlow, MD, PhD has over 25 years of experience in medicine, science, and finance. As a faculty member at New York University, Dr. Orlow rose to become Chair of its leading dermatology department. He serves as a Senior Advisor with Pharus Advisors, focused on strategic transactional/investment banking advisory services in the dermatology and personal care sectors. In 1995 he co-founded Anaderm, a dermatologic discovery company backed by Pfizer and OSI Pharmaceuticals. He participated in the sale of Anaderm to Pfizer in 2002. From 2001-2010, he rose from Advisor to Partner with Easton Capital Partners, a venture capital firm focused on healthcare and consumer products. At Easton, he was involved in the sourcing, diligence, funding, oversight and exit of investments in many healthcare companies such as Acorda, Conor Medsystems, Protez, Salmedix and Transave. Dr. Orlow has licensed technologies to companies ranging from Pfizer to SkinMedica. An author of over 200 medical/scientific publications, he is an internationally sought-after speaker and thought leader. A graduate of Harvard in Biochemical Sciences and with an MD-PhD in Molecular Pharmacology from Albert Einstein College of Medicine, Dr. Orlow trained in Pediatrics and Dermatology at Mt. Sinai and Yale.

Biography

Dr. Thibaud Portal is the founder and CEO of Alys Pharmaceuticals. Thibaud has over 25 years of experience in the pharmaceutical industry, all spent in the dermatological field. He has operated in the VC-backed biotech field since 2021 where he cofounded and led several dermatology-focused ventures. Previously, Thibaud has held various positions with Galderma, starting as a medicinal chemist and project leader, then in strategic and managerial roles in Prescription drugs R&D and later as the global head of Prescription Medicines.

Thibaud holds a PhD in Organic Chemistry from Wayne State University in Detroit, Michigan, and did his postdoctoral fellowship at the Institut de Chimie des Substances Naturelles (ICSN) and the Ecole Polytechnique in Paris, France.

Biography

Dr. Timothy Piser is a neuropharmacologist with more than 25 years of experience leading neuroscience drug discovery and development in large public pharmaceutical companies and private VC-funded start-up biotech. During his early career at AstraZeneca, he led drug discovery programs in psychiatry and neurology through IND enabling studies and a global drug development program in Treatment Resistant Depression through Phase 2 clinical trials. More recently, as CSO at Cadent Therapeutics, and EIR at Atlas Venture, he led discovery and clinical development of NMDA receptor modulators in Depression and Schizophrenia, and SK channel modulators for Spinocerebellar Ataxia, leading to the acquisition of Cadent by Novartis. Dr. Piser holds a PhD in Pharmacology from the University of Minnesota. 

Biography

Dr. Michael Ringel has been at BCG 25 years and is currently Managing Director and Senior Partner. He is on the Board of Hevolution US, the charitable organization focused on extending healthy aging for the benefit of all humanity, the Board of AFAR, one of the oldest organizations supporting healthy aging through biomedical research, and on the Executive Board of the Sheba Longevity Center, a clinic at one of the world’s best hospitals devoted to healthy aging. Dr. Ringel holds a B.A. summa cum laude in biology from Princeton, a Ph.D. in biology from Imperial College, and a J.D. cum laude from Harvard Law School.

Biography

Mr. Rossi is Global Topic Leader in BCG’s Medical Aesthetics and a core member of the Health Care practice with a focus on Corporate Strategy and Marketing & Sales themes. He has over 15 years of experience in growth strategy, portfolio analysis, commercial models, GTM, pricing, loyalty programs, and digital. Mr. Rossi has led over 40 projects for multiple medical aesthetics / skincare / beauty / breast implants companies.

Prior to joining BCG, Mr. Rossi worked at Pfizer Ltd. for several years as a brand manager and, previously, as a business analyst in the strategy practice of Accenture. He holds an MBA from SDA Bocconi School of Management and a M.Sc. in Aerospace Engineering from Politecnico di Torino/Princeton University.

Biography

Dr. Rubenstein currently serves as Chief Scientific Officer for Dermavant Sciences, a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company dedicated to developing and commercializing innovative therapeutics in medical dermatology. Dr. Rubenstein joined Dermavant in March 2018 from GlaxoSmithKline Dermatology where he had built an industry-leading dermatology drug development organization as Vice President, Discovery and Preclinical Development. Prior to GSK, Dr. Rubenstein held academic roles at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, most recently serving as the Louis C. Skinner Jr. Distinguished Professor of Dermatology. He is a board-certified dermatologist.

Biography

Dr. Ioannis Sapountzis heads the Therapeutic Areas division at Boehringer Ingelheim. Ioannis has over 17 years of experience in the pharmaceutical industry with specific expertise in drug discovery and business development in Oncology. He held different positions in Business Development & Licensing at Boehringer Ingelheim. Previously, he was the Global Therapeutic Head of Inflammation. Ioannis joined Boehringer Ingelheim in 2005 as a medicinal chemist and project leader in the Oncology therapeutic area, and later transitioned to strategic roles in the Corporate Department of Research Networking.

Ioannis holds a PhD in organic chemistry from the Ludwig Maximilians University in Munich, Germany, and did his postdoctoral fellowship with David Evans at Harvard University working on total synthesis of antibiotics.

Biography

Dr. Vittorio Sebastiano is an Associate Professor of OBGyN at Stanford School of Medicine. His lab has established a new technology named ERA (Epigenetic Reprogramming of Aging), which repurposes the conceptual idea of reprogramming, with the goal to promote epigenetic rejuvenation of adult cells leaving their identity untouched. This new technology was patented and is being implemented by Turn Biotechnologies, of which Dr. Sebastiano is co-founder and Head of Research.

In 2009, Dr. Sebastiano completed a postdoctoral fellowship at the laboratory of Dr. Marius Wernig at Stanford University, where he implemented the newly discovered iPSC technology and was among the first to demonstrate that iPSCs can be efficiently derived, genetically modified, and implemented for cell therapy in genetic diseases. Dr. Sebastiano completed his undergraduate and graduate studies at the University of Pavia, Italy, where he studied murine germ cells and preimplantation development and where he pioneered cellular reprogramming by Somatic Cell Nuclear Transfer. He joined the Max Planck Institute for Molecular Biomedicine as a postdoctoral fellow under the mentorship of Dr. Hans Robert Schöler, where he continued his research on cellular reprograming, germ cells biology, and embryonic development.

Biography

Cody is a bioengineer and entrepreneur that has spent all of his career bringing new health technologies to physicians and patients. Prior to joining Maurice to build DermaSensor, Cody led commercial efforts for a Silicon Valley medical device screening startup and held BD and commercial strategy roles at Genentech. His academic and research background is in business, economics and bioengineering at Brown and Stanford Universities.

Biography

Professor Thyssen serves as the Chief Scientific Officer at LEO Pharma, and strives to build a pipeline of investigational treatments that can be used to help patients with skin disease across the globe. Before joining LEO Pharma, Prof. Thyssen was with the University of Copenhagen working as a clinical dermatologist for more than 20 years and remains a Professor Emeritus and consultant. He holds a PhD and doctorate degree (DmSci) obtained through research that examined the origins of inflammatory skin diseases. He has been a research fellow/guest professor at Harvard Medical School, Boston, the University of California, San Francisco and University Spital Zürich, Switzerland.
Dr. Thyssen has received prestigious prizes and awards for his research, and published >650 articles in international peer reviewed journals.

Biography

Alan Widgerow is a plastic surgeon who ran a solo private practice in South Africa for over 20 years. He has held various positions in numerous academic and professional associations including that of President of the Association of Plastic and Reconstructive surgery of Southern Africa (APRSSA). He is author of over 180 plastic surgical related publications and 2 books. He was also the founder and medical director of 13 wound clinics in South Africa. Prof Widgerow relocated to Irvine California in Dec 2009 to pursue his interests in medical device innovations, cosmeceuticals and wound care, but he still plays an active role in academic medicine world-wide. In 2012 he was appointed to the Faculty of the University of California Irvine Plastic Surgery Dept as Full Adjunct Professor and Director of the Center for Tissue Engineering and in 2021 was appointed as its Division Chief of Research. He is involved in multiple projects related to adipose derived stem cell and adipose decellularized matrix, wound healing and transplantation. In 2018 he was awarded the Distinguished Faculty Mentor of the year Award by the Institute for Clinical and Translational Science, UCI. Dr Widgerow has developed and licensed multiple products in the US and South African markets. In 2015 he joined ALASTIN Skincare, Inc. an early start up professional skin care company as their Chief Medical Officer. Over the past 6 years he has spearheaded the scientific innovations team introducing multiple new products based on novel wound healing pathways. The resulting products have been validated with gene expression, in vitro testing, biopsies, and multiple clinical trials resulting in a range of products that have surpassed previous scientific validations in this space. He continues to pursue patented novel concepts, peptide technologies and vigorous testing thus contributing to Alastin Skincare’s position as the fastest growing professional skin care company in the US for the past 4 years. In 2021 Alastin Skincare was acquired by Galderma and in June 2022 Dr Widgerow was appointed Chief Scientific Officer Galderma where he is involved in Ax, Rx and Cx product science research and development.

Biography

Mr. Whitfill is a serial biotech entrepreneur. He is the is the cofounder and Chief Operating Officer at Azitra. His background began in molecular biology and biochemistry after receiving scientific training at the MD Anderson Cancer Center, Duke University, and Yale University. Previously, Travis was a partner at Bios Partners, a biotech-focused venture capital fund. He has sat on the board of several portfolio companies, including 410 Medical, Immusoft Corporation, IN8bio (NASDAQ: IN8bio) and SIRPant Immunotherapeutics. He also is an Assistant Professor Adjunct in the Departments of Pediatrics and Emergency Medicine at Yale University. Mr. Whitfill has led numerous grant-funded projects, holds nearly a dozen patents, and has co-authored over 60 peer-reviewed publications. He was on Forbes’ 30 under 30 list (healthcare) in 2018. Mr. Whitfill received degrees from Yale University (MPH), University College London (MPhil), Dallas Baptist University (BS), and is finishing a PhD from University College London in pharma innovation and economics.

Biography

Frederick C. Beddingfield III is a physician-scientist and biotech entrepreneur. He is currently an Executive Partner at Apollo Health Ventures. Previously Frederick was the CEO and member of the board of directors of Kira Pharmaceuticals, a development stage complement therapeutics biotech company focused on immunology, inflammation, and rare diseases. He was founder, president, chief executive and member of the board of directors of Sienna Biopharmaceuticals Inc. and took the company public in 2017. Prior to Sienna, Frederick served as Chief Medical Officer of Kythera Biopharmaceuticals from March 2013 until it was acquired by Allergan in 2015. Frederick worked at Allergan for 10 years (2003-2013) where he served in various roles including the Therapeutic Area Head of Dermatology and Chief Medical Officer Allergan Medical. He has led the development and approvals of global leading brands in medical dermatology, aesthetics, neurology, metabolic, and other therapeutic areas. These brands include Botox (cosmetic, hyperhidrosis, spasticity, and other), Juvederm, Voluma, Kybella, Latisse, Aczone, and Tazorac. Frederick has led four successful FDA advisor committees.

Since completing his training, Frederick has maintained a clinical and teaching practice at UCLA. He is a board-certified dermatologist and emergency medicine physician and fellowship trained in dermatologic surgery and cutaneous oncology. Frederick completed his medical degree with honors at UNC Chapel Hill, his residency and fellowship training at UCLA, and his PhD in Policy Analysis Research at RAND. He serves on the board of directors of Cytrellis Biosystems, Inc. and on the medical advisory board of the Children’s Skin Disease Foundation and Camp Wonder. He is on the board and co-founder of the Dermatology Summit and Dermatology Innovation Forum conferences, part of Advancing Innovation in Dermatology, a non-profit organization.

Biography

William Ju, MD, FAAD is a board-certified dermatologist and has over 20 years of biopharmaceutical experience in a wide variety of therapeutic areas, including dermatology. He is president and a co-founding trustee of Advancing Innovation in Dermatology, Inc. Dr. Ju has been president and chief executive officer of Follica, Inc. and chief operating officer at PTC Therapeutics, Inc. (PTCT). In addition, he has held executive positions at Pharmacia Corporation/Pfizer, Inc. Merck & Co., Inc., and Hoffmann La Roche, Inc. in a broad range of product development and leadership functions. Dr. Ju served as project leader for SUTENT®, introduced CANCIDAS® into humans, and was part of the product development teams for CRIXIVAN® and TRANSLARNA™.

Dr. Ju began his pharmaceutical career at Hoffmann-La Roche where he was a clinical leader for the development of dermatology compounds. Before entering industry, Dr. Ju was a senior staff fellow in basic research in the Laboratory of Cellular Oncology under Douglas Lowy, M.D. and was affiliated with the Dermatology Branch at the National Cancer Institute, National Institutes of Health. He obtained his M.D. with Alpha Omega Alpha honors at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine and his A.B. with Phi Beta Kappa honors at Princeton University.

Biography

Seth Orlow, MD, PhD has over 25 years of experience in medicine, science, and finance. As a faculty member at New York University, Dr. Orlow rose to become Chair of its leading dermatology department. He serves as a Senior Advisor with Pharus Advisors, focused on strategic transactional/investment banking advisory services in the dermatology and personal care sectors. In 1995 he co-founded Anaderm, a dermatologic discovery company backed by Pfizer and OSI Pharmaceuticals. He participated in the sale of Anaderm to Pfizer in 2002. From 2001-2010, he rose from Advisor to Partner with Easton Capital Partners, a venture capital firm focused on healthcare and consumer products. At Easton, he was involved in the sourcing, diligence, funding, oversight and exit of investments in many healthcare companies such as Acorda, Conor Medsystems, Protez, Salmedix and Transave. Dr. Orlow has licensed technologies to companies ranging from Pfizer to SkinMedica. An author of over 200 medical/scientific publications, he is an internationally sought-after speaker and thought leader. A graduate of Harvard in Biochemical Sciences and with an MD-PhD in Molecular Pharmacology from Albert Einstein College of Medicine, Dr. Orlow trained in Pediatrics and Dermatology at Mt. Sinai and Yale.

Biography

Dr. Slaoui has served as Chief Corporate Development Officer at Galderma since September 2020. Previously she spent 20 years with GSK, first in the research labs, where her work in pulmonary disease resulted in the discovery of the long acting muscarinic receptor antagonist in the approved medicines Anoro™ Ellipta™, Incruse™ Ellipta™, and Trelegy™ Ellipta™. She holds multiple patents, has authored more than 40 original peer-reviewed publications, and she has had ongoing roles as a peer reviewer for a dozen established medical journals. Since joining GSK’s Business Development teams in 2006, she has held various roles of increasing seniority and has executed more than $30 billion worth of deals and acquisitions, including the $3.6 billion acquisition of Stiefel Laboratories in 2009, participating in the $20+ billion three-part transaction with Novartis in 2015, and the $5.1 bn acquisition of Tesaro in 2018, with transactions covering the pharma R&D, commercial, emerging markets, specialty pharma and consumer spaces.

Dr. Slaoui earned Bachelor’s degrees in both Biology and Classical Studies from Gettysburg College. She earned her Ph.D. in Physiology from The Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, and completed an NIH Post-Doctoral Fellowship in Pharmacology at the University of Washington in Seattle, WA. After her term in Seattle, she accepted a position in Respiratory Drug Discovery at GSK, but continued her commitment to academic research by spending over a decade as an adjunct assistant professor at her alma mater, The Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health in Baltimore, MD.

Biography

Qing Yu Christina Weng is a physician-scientist, entrepreneur, and biotech executive. She is the Chief Medical Officer of Pelage Pharmaceuticals, a biotech company developing innovative treatments for hair loss by targeting stem cell metabolism. Prior to Pelage, Christina was the Head of Business Development & Strategy and Senior Medical Director of Kira Pharmaceuticals, a global company developing complement therapeutics. Christina co-founded Mymiel, a high-performance clean skincare line, where she served as Chief Strategy Officer. As faculty at Harvard Medical School and attending dermatologist at the Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH), she specializes in melanoma and pigmentary disorders.

Christina attended the California Institute of Technology, where she received her bachelor’s degrees in Biology and English with honors. She graduated Magna Cum Laude from Harvard Medical School, where she received her medical degree and was a medical fellow of the Howard Hughes Medical Institute. She completed dermatology residency at the Harvard Combined Dermatology Residency Training Program with advanced clinical training at the MGH Laser & Cosmetics Center. Her postdoctoral research was at the Cutaneous Biology Research Center of MGH.

Christina’s bench research has focused on melanocyte biology and mechanisms leading to pigment dysregulation, with an emphasis on clinically translatable opportunities in pigmentary disorders and melanoma. Christina’s clinical research has led to new guidelines recommended by the American Academy of Dermatology for drug monitoring. She has received research support and awards from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, American Skin Association, American Dermatological Association, and National Institutes of Health.