Speaker Biographies
Beth Arnold
A partner in Foley Hoag LLP the firm's intellectual property practice, is a U.S. registered patent attorney with over 20 years of experience in obtaining worldwide patent protection for pharmaceutical and biotechnology products. Her clients include top-tier pharmaceutical companies, public and private biotechnology companies and medical research institutes. In addition to protecting intellectual assets, Beth prepares and negotiates agreements for developing and commercializing new products and technologies. As part of her full range of patent counseling services, Beth drafts non-infringement, invalidity and clearance opinions. She performs patent due diligence in connection with public or private financings, mergers and acquisitions and other business combinations. An experienced player in the life sciences field, Beth served as in-house patent counsel at Genzyme Corporation in the mid '90s and as Technology Transfer Officer at the Massachusetts General Hospital in the late ‘80s. Beth has received recognition as a leading IP practitioner from Chambers USA, The Best Lawyers in America, Massachusetts SuperLawyers and Global Counsel 3000.
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Steven Barrett
Mr. Barrett advises a variety of life sciences and technology companies regarding the structuring, negotiation and drafting of agreements for a broad range of technology transactions, including technology acquisition, license, strategic alliance and joint venture transactions, and related research, development, supply, marketing, distribution and services agreements. Mr. Barrett regularly represents entrepreneurs, early-stage and established life sciences and technology companies and large commercial enterprises.
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Daniel Behr, MBA
Mr. Behr is a serial entrepreneur with 25 years of experience commercializing technologies in the life and physical sciences. He is currently a founder and Senior Vice President of Access BridgeGap Ventures, the early-stage life sciences (therapeutics) venture investment arm of Access Industries. Previously Mr. Behr was Director of Technology Ventures at Allied Minds, Inc., an investment firm focused on creating and funding spinoffs around innovations stemming from U.S. research universities and national labs. Before that he was Director of Business Development at Harvard University's Office of Technology Development where he launched 7 Harvard spinouts and drove numerous tech transfer and commercialization initiatives. Before joining Harvard, Mr. Behr co-founded 3 high-tech companies and was a General Partner of Seed Partners, a seed-stage angel fund that invested in a diverse number of startups, including Zipcar. He was a founder of IN USA Inc. (industrial instruments); Compact Instruments (mass spectrometers - acquired by MKS); and Arradiance (advanced thin-film materials). Before his first startup Mr. Behr was a strategy consultant at Bain & Co. and a materials research engineer at Albany International. He earned an MBA with distinction from the Harvard Business School and an B.S. in engineering with highest honors from the Georgia Institute of Technology. Mr. Behr speaks German and is fluent in Spanish.
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Christine Bellon
Dr. Bellon brings more than 15 years of experience in intellectual property transactions and came to Blueprint Medicines from Hydra Biosciences where she was Vice President of Intellectual Property and Legal Affairs and was previously Assistant General Counsel at Infinity Pharmaceuticals and patent counsel at Wyeth. Blueprint Medicines' vision is to improve the lives of cancer patients by transforming subsets of cancer from an acute disease to a manageable condition.
Nick Boivin
Nick Boivin is currently Director, Intellectual Property Counsel at Cubist Pharmaceuticals, an innovator biopharmaceutical company in Lexington, Massachusetts. Cubist developed and currently markets the intravenous antibiotic CUBICIN for treatment of certain MRSA infections. He has written on and spoken at conferences on a variety of patent-related topics including corporate intellectual property diligence and patent portfolio management. Nick joined Cubist after ten years in law firm practice, focused primarily on intellectual property client counseling in the life sciences. His practice included patent portfolio management and prosecution for various pharmaceutical, medical device and chemical industry clients. Nick has a technical background in chemistry, including research experience as an undergraduate at Northwestern University and graduate school at Princeton University. He worked as a patent agent prior to graduating from law school at the University of Virginia and is admitted to the bar in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.
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Hemmie Chang
Ms. Chang focuses on complex collaboration and licensing transactions, recently advising on the Metamark Genetics-Janssen Biotech early state discovery collaboration deal in cancer (up to $365 million) announced in December 2011, an early stage discovery and equity investment deal with a European partner closed in December 2011, and a development and supply agreement for the U.S. subsidiary of a major Japanese conglomerate signed in November 2011. She is currently advising on research development deals with potential partners such as GSK and Sanofi.
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Mary Beth Cicero
Mary Beth Cicero is President of MarketSense Ltd., a consulting firm specializing in Healthcare Marketing & Business Development. She is also Principal of a new internet company, Drug Market Info LLC, which offers in-depth market analyses in presentation-ready reports on selected markets which include patients' perspectives.
MarketSense was founded in 1995 with a focus on the intersection of business development and marketing. This includes licensing and co-promotion arrangements, as well as marketing analyses, forecasting, opportunity assessments and due diligence. MarketSense has worked with over 60 clients assisting them with every aspect of business development. Ms. Cicero has over twenty years of experience working for pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies. Her previous positions include Vice President of Business Development at two biotechnology companies and Executive Director of Marketing at Serono where she was responsible for all U.S. marketing activities, as well as new product planning and licensing. She also spent seven years at Rhone Poulenc Rorer where she headed up marketing at Dermik Laboratories, now a subsidiary of sanofi-aventis.
In addition to her professional responsibilities, Ms. Cicero has been a part-time Professor at Northeastern University's Graduate School of Business teaching a course on Healthcare Marketing. She is a former member of the Board of Trustees of the Licensing Executives Society (LES) and Chair of the LES Health Care Committee. Ms. Cicero also teaches the LES Professional Development course. She was on the Board of Directors of the National Psoriasis Foundation and served as Treasurer. Her educational background includes a BS in Biology cum laude from Boston College and an MBA from Babson College. Ms. Cicero is a Certified Licensing Professional™ (CLP) credential and assisted LES with developing test questions for the CLP exam.
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Hal Craig
Hal Craig founded Trout Creek Consulting (TCC) on the principle that management consultants with strong problem solving and finance skills, significant operating experience, and industry knowledge will deliver superior value to clients through improved decision making and effective execution. TCC's offerings include defining Actionable Strategies, providing Deal Advisory services, and creating Life Science Supply Chains. Mr. Craig, who earned his MBA from the University of Michigan and his BSChE from the University of California at Berkeley, has provided assessments on >300 M&A, licensing, JV, internal growth, and venture investment opportunities across the CEEM and Life Sciences sectors. Mr. Craig co-authored the CEEM Royalty Rate and Deal Terms survey and is a member of the Physical Sciences Investment Advisory Committee of Ben Franklin Technology Partners of Southeastern Pennsylvania.
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Jeff Elton
Jeff Elton is Managing Director in Life Sciences in Accenture's Boston Office. Jeff has over 20 years of experience as a global executive and consultant in the biopharmaceutical and healthcare sectors.
Most recently Jeff was founding CEO, board member, and senior advisor to five early stage companies in personalized oncology management, protein therapeutics, neurodegenerative diseases, diabetes, oncology therapeutics, and oncology diagnostics. From 2004 through 2009, Jeff served as Senior Vice President of Strategy and Global Chief Operating Officer at Novartis Institutes of BioMedical Research, Inc. (NIBR) in Cambridge, MA. He led the definition of therapeutic area strategies, formed strategic partnerships, and oversaw global operations in the US, Europe, and Asia. Prior to Novartis, Jeff was a senior partner with McKinsey & Company for pharmaceutical & medical products practice where he focused on new product launches, global commercial management structures, and R&D performance.
Jeff is currently a board member of the Massachusetts Biotechnology Council, a board and executive committee member of the Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric AIDS Foundation, and faculty member of the Boston University School of Management. Jeff holds a Ph.D. in Business Economics and Marketing and an M.B.A. in Finance and Statistics from the University of Chicago Graduate School of Business.
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Douglas Fambrough
Dr. Fambrough co-founded Dicerna and joined as CEO after over a decade as a biotechnology venture capitalist with Oxford Bioscience Partners, one of Dicerna's investors. Dicerna is developing RNAi-based therapeutics against undruggable targets in oncology using their proprietary Dicer Substrate technology and EnCore drug delivery system. Based in Watertown, MA, Dicerna has alliances with Kyowa Hakko Kirin and Ipsen. Dicerna has raised $50 million in two rounds of venture financing.
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Tom Filarski
Tom Filarski has served on the Board of Trustees of LES (USA & Canada) since 2001 and is a member of the Life Science Sector. He has served as Treasurer, Secretary, Regional Vice President, and Vice President of Communications. He has led several committees, including the 2009 and 2002 Annual Meetings in San Francisco and Chicago.
Mr. Filarski is a partner in the Chicago office of Steptoe & Johnson LLP, where he is a member of the Intellectual Property group. Mr. Filarski's practice centers on litigation in patent, Hatch-Waxman, trade secret and International Trade Commission law. He represents companies in the pharmaceutical, medical device, biotech, chemical, electrochemical and mechanical industries.
He has been named in "The World's Leading Life Sciences Patent Litigators" by IAM Magazine, one of The Best Lawyers in America in 2010, an "Illinois Super Lawyer" in Intellectual Property Litigation, and was featured in the Business Edition of Leading Lawyers Network magazine in January 2009. He co-authored the chapter "Patent Defenses" in BNA Books' 2005 Patent Litigation Series Handbook, now in its second edition.
Tom holds a J.D. from DePaul University College of Law, a BA in chemistry and an MS in chemical engineering from Michigan Technological University.
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Patrick G. Gattari
Patrick G. Gattari is a partner with McDonnell Boehnen Hulbert & Berghoff LLP. His practice includes patent procurement and enforcement with emphasis in biotechnology, pharmaceuticals, diagnostics, and medical devices. His practice focuses on patent portfolio management and the development, licensing, acquisition, and sale of intellectual property. His work includes the structuring and negotiation of technology related transactions. He also counsels clients on the intellectual property aspects of mergers, acquisitions, and venture capital related transactions.
Prior to joining MBHB, Mr. Gattari was patent counsel at Dade Behring, Inc. (now Siemens Healthcare Diagnostics), where his work emphasized patent prosecution and technology transactions. He also worked for Abbott Laboratories in a variety of positions focusing on the development and production of pharmaceuticals and diagnostic products.
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Krish Gupta
Krish Gupta is Senior Vice President and Deputy General Counsel for EMC Corporation. EMC Corporation is the world's leading developer and provider of information infrastructure technology with 2011 revenues of $20B. At EMC, Krish has worldwide responsibility for IP, IP policy and technology licensing matters, including, patent and trademark prosecution, open source and standards, IP litigation, strategic OEM agreements and support for EMC's M&A activities.
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Pavan Handa
Mr. Handa has over twenty years of business development and venture management experience in the global biopharmaceutical industry with both drug delivery and specialty pharma companies. Throughout his career, he has been associated with multi-billions of dollars of value creation through strategic alliances, licensing, acquisitions, new ventures, and divestitures.
He is currently the Senior Vice President of Business Development for Antares Pharma where he is responsible for licensing, M&A, and the creation of new strategic partnerships. Over the past two years he has diversified the partnership base of Antares by closing important deals with Watson and Pfizer. Previously, Mr. Handa served as Vice President of Business Development and Alliance Management for Noven Pharmaceuticals, a leading specialty pharma and drug delivery company. Over a seven year period at Noven, his business development efforts resulted in significant contributions including a $150 million out-licensing deal, creation of a major strategic alliance with P&G Pharma, a $135 million acquisition of a specialty pharma company, and the sale of Noven for $428 million.
Prior to joining Noven, he served as Senior Vice President of Business Development and Portfolio Management at Pharmacologics, a drug development venture capital affiliate of MDS Inc., and held senior business development positions at Enzon Pharmaceuticals and Union Carbide Corporation.
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Kimberly Houston
Kim Houston is an accomplished pharmaceutical and consumer products executive with extensive experience in the strategic management of healthcare businesses. She has a successful track record in portfolio management, product launches, Rx-to-OTC switches, and acquiring new products through business development.
Kim has worked as a member of the Senior Strategic Management Teams at Warner-Lambert, Pfizer Inc, and J&J/McNeil Consumer Healthcare. She led the Zyrtec Rx to OTC Switch in the U.S. Healthcare System, working across enterprises as the molecule transferred from Pfizer Inc to McNeil Consumer Healthcare. She led the strategy development and tactical execution to downstream more than 9MM Zyrtec Rx users to the OTC.
Currently, Kim serves on the Executive Committee of everythingHEALTH LLC, a progressive consultancy providing strategic business planning and marketing services to the most prominent healthcare companies worldwide.
Kim is an advisor to the Foundation for HealthSMART Consumers. She is a graduate of the University of California, Santa Barbara with academic training in Biological Sciences, and she has attended the Kellogg School of Business and Pepperdine School of Business.
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Ariel Jasie
Ariel Jasie works in Business Development at Celgene Corporation. He is trained as an attorney and started his career at a boutique law firm in New York City practicing both litigation and transactional law. He then moved to a larger firm and focused his practice in the field of Health Law. In 2006 Ariel took an in house counsel role at Reliant Pharmaceuticals which was acquired by GlaxoSmithKline in late 2007. Following the acquisition, Ariel joined the legal department at Celgene Corporation until February 2011 when he transitioned over to his current role. Ariel is a graduate of Brooklyn Law School and the University of Maryland at College Park.
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Skip Irving
Skip has spent more than twenty years advising companies on business strategy, technology commercialization, R&D planning, and mergers and acquisitions in the medical products industry. A pharmacist by training, Skip's practice focuses on pharmaceuticals and biotechnology.
Prior to joining Health Advances, Skip helped found seven life sciences companies as Vice President for Commercial Development at the Massachusetts Biotechnology Research Institute (MBRI). Earlier in his career, Skip founded and led the pharmaceutical consulting practice for Arthur D. Little, Inc. He has also previously worked in manufacturing and product development for AstraZeneca, and he contributed to the founding of t. Breeders, Inc., which eventually became ViaCell, Inc. and was purchased by Perkin Elmer.
Leveraging his knowledge of the biopharma industry, Skip has developed a practice advising not-for-profit disease organizations on their investments and relationships with industry. He serves on the Boards of Directors for the Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson's Research and the American Medical Resources Foundation.
Skip graduated from the Massachusetts College of Pharmacy and earned his MBA at the Amos Tuck School at Dartmouth College.
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Elaine V. Jones, Ph.D.
Elaine V. Jones, Ph.D. 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, British Columbia), Flexion Therapeutics (Boston, MA), Merus B.V. (Utrecht, The Netherlands), Neuronetics Inc. (Malvern, PA), NeuroTherapeutics Pharma (Chicago, IL), and TetraLogic Pharma (Malvern, PA). Elaine brings 12 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 Ph.D. in Microbiology from the University of Pittsburgh.
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Myron J. Kassaraba
Myron Kassaraba, Partner, Strategic Advisory & Transactions, is a business development and technology licensing executive with Pluritas, LLC, an IP transactions and advisory firm. He has more than 30 years' experience structuring and closing major transactions. He was instrumental in a negotiating out-licenses for technologies integral to hundreds of millions of personal computers worldwide, including the color management system in Windows and the font rendering technology in Adobe's Flash.
Recently he has advised ISE Corp (hybrid drive systems), Roos (smart metering) and Beacon Power (flywheel energy storage). He has also been active in the emerging clean tech market and is a co-founder of the MIT Enterprise Forum's Energy SIG and Ignite Clean Energy Competition. He currently serves as the HTS liaison for the LES Cross-sector Clean Tech Committee.
Myron received a BS from Northeastern University and completed The Wharton School's Executive Development Program. He was a longtime Board Member of the Massachusetts Interactive Media Council, is a co-founder of the New England Chapter of Environmental Entrepreneurs (E2.org). Myron's background spans a broad range of businesses and technologies, including executive management at Fortune 500 Companies (Eastman Kodak, Fidelity Investments) and early-stage startups (Trellix, Edsun Labs, Project Yangtze, InfoPlus).
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Sandhya Kilaru
Sandhya Kilaru is an Associate Attorney in the Biotechnology and Life Sciences Practice Group of Wiggin and Dana LLP. With a primary focus in pharmaceutical and biotechnology licensing, she has been involved in numerous transactions for U.S., European and Asian companies, including research licenses, co-development collaborations, mergers and acquisitions, university licenses, multi-center clinical trial agreements, manufacturing, supply and distribution agreements and commercialization and co-promotion arrangements. She has assisted life sciences clients at various stages of the deal-making life cycle, from drafting and reviewing term sheets to drafting and negotiating agreements to addressing alliance management issues that arise over the course of collaborations. Wiggin and Dana LLP, a full service law firm with offices in Connecticut, New York and Philadelphia, has maintained top rankings in BioPharm Insight's league tables for biotech and pharmaceutical licensing transactions. In 2010 and 2011, Wiggin and Dana ranked 1st and 2nd, respectively, in the league tables for European biotech and pharmaceutical licensing transactions.
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Robert S. Langer
Robert S. Langer is the David H. Koch Institute Professor (there are 14 Institute Professors at MIT; being an Institute Professor is the highest honor that can be awarded to a faculty member). Dr. Langer has written more than 1,150 articles. He also has approximately 800 issued and pending patents worldwide. Dr. Langer's patents have been licensed or sublicensed to over 220 pharmaceutical, chemical, biotechnology and medical device companies. He is the most cited engineer in history.
He served as a member of the United States Food and Drug Administration's SCIENCE Board, the FDA's highest advisory board, from 1995 -- 2002 and as its Chairman from 1999-2002.
Dr. Langer has received over 200 major awards including the 2006 United States National Medal of Science; the Charles Stark Draper Prize, considered the equivalent of the Nobel Prize for engineers, the 2008 Millennium Prize, the world's largest technology prize and the 2012 Priestley Medal, the highest award of the American Chemical Society. He is the also the only engineer to receive the Gairdner Foundation International Award; 78 recipients of this award have subsequently received a Nobel Prize. Among numerous other awards Langer has received are the Dickson Prize for Science (2002), Heinz Award for Technology, Economy and Employment (2003), the Harvey Prize (2003), the John Fritz Award (2003) (given previously to inventors such as Thomas Edison and Orville Wright), the General Motors Kettering Prize for Cancer Research (2004), the Dan David Prize in Materials Science (2005), the Albany Medical Center Prize in Medicine and Biomedical Research (2005), the largest prize in the U.S. for medical research, induction into the National Inventors Hall of Fame (2006), the Max Planck Research Award (2008) and the Prince of Asturias Award for Technical and Scientific Research (2008). In 1998, he received the Lemelson-MIT prize, the world's largest prize for invention for being "one of history's most prolific inventors in medicine." In 1989 Dr. Langer was elected to the Institute of Medicine of the National Academy of Sciences, and in 1992 he was elected to both the National Academy of Engineering and to the National Academy of Sciences. He is one of very few people ever elected to all three United States National Academies and the youngest in history (at age 43) to ever receive this distinction.
Forbes Magazine (1999) and Bio World (1990) have named Dr. Langer as one of the 25 most important individuals in biotechnology in the world. Discover Magazine (2002) named him as one of the 20 most important people in this area. Forbes Magazine (2002) selected Dr. Langer as one of the 15 innovators world wide who will reinvent our future. Time Magazine and CNN (2001) named Dr. Langer as one of the 100 most important people in America and one of the 18 top people in science or medicine in America (America's Best). Parade Magazine (2004) selected Dr. Langer as one of 6 "Heroes whose research may save your life." Dr. Langer has received honorary doctorates from Harvard University, the Mt. Sinai School of Medicine, Yale University, the ETH (Switzerland), the Technion (Israel), the Hebrew University of Jerusalem (Israel), the Universite Catholique de Louvain (Belgium), Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Willamette University, the University of Liverpool (England), Bates College, the University of Nottingham (England), Albany Medical College, Pennsylvania State University, Northwestern University, Uppsala University (Sweden) and the University of California – San Francisco Medal. He received his Bachelor's Degree from Cornell University in 1970 and his Sc.D. from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1974, both in Chemical Engineering.
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Susan B. Levy
Susan has over 25 years of global, cross-functional experience in the consumer healthcare industry and has worked for industry leaders such as Merck/Schering-Plough, Pfizer/Warner-Lambert and SmithKline Beecham.
Last year Susan founded her own consulting firm providing expertise in strategic planning and business development for a variety of client types, including consumer healthcare, private equity, pharmaceutical and cosmeceutical companies. She has consulted, presented and authored articles on Rx to OTC switches.
Most recently Senior Director, Strategy Development for Merck & Co., Inc., Susan worked directly with Merck's CEO and his leadership team to develop break-though strategies that would transform Merck from a global pharmaceutical company to a global healthcare company. Previously, Susan was Senior Director, Global New Ventures and Strategic Commercial Development for Schering-Plough Consumer Healthcare. In this role she was responsible for pursuing profitable external growth opportunities, including new technologies, Rx to OTC switches, acquisitions and alliances for the $1.9B+ Consumer HealthCare division of Schering-Plough.
Susan received her BA in Chemistry from Cornell University and attended NYU's Stern School of Business for her MBA. She also holds certification in Strategic Planning from the American Management Association.
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Ellen Locker
Ellen Locker, Executive Director, Alliance Management at Merck & Co., Inc. is responsible for ensuring the smooth functioning of alliances between Merck and its partners, with programs at various stages of research, development and commercialization.
Ellen joined Merck in 1984 in the corporate finance area. Desiring to play a more active role in shaping the business, she moved into Merck's European Operations area as Director, Market Research and Strategic Planning in M.S.D. France. Upon her return to the U.S., Ellen held positions of increasing responsibility in both Marketing and Human Resources. As Director, Business and Organization Consulting, she was responsible for facilitating high level cross-functional teams tasked with developing business strategies at the therapy area level. She then took on the position of Executive Director, Integrated Health and Employee Benefits, responsible for U.S. domestic employee benefits. In her last position prior to moving into her current role, Ellen provided strategic decision support for the Cholesterol Partnership between Merck and Schering-Plough for Europe/Middle East & Africa.
Ellen has a B.A. in Biology from the University of Virginia and an M.B.A. from the College of William & Mary.
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Nagesh Mahanthappa, PhD
Dr. Mahanthappa was a founding employee of Avila and was responsible for all aspects of corporate strategy, including the formation of major alliances with the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society, Clovis Oncology, and Sanofi. The advancement of Avila's discovery platform and leading clinical assets culminated in the acquisition of the company by Celgene Corporation in early 2012. Prior to joining Avila, Dr. Mahanthappa was a founding employee and subsequently Vice President of Scientific and Strategic Development at Alnylam Pharmaceuticals. Serving as a management team member, he initially served as interim head of research, and led business development activities resulting in partnerships with Merck, Medtronic, and Novartis. Prior to joining Alnylam, Dr. Mahanthappa was Manager of Business Development at Vertex Pharmaceuticals and held a series of positions with increasing scientific and commercial responsibility at Ontogeny (now Curis). Dr. Mahanthappa earned his PhD in neurobiology from the California Institute of Technology, followed by a post-doctoral fellowship at the Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School. Dr. Mahanthappa is also an MBA graduate of the F.W. Olin Graduate School of Management at Babson College.
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Janet MacLeod, Ph.D., J.D.
Dr. MacLeod is a partner in the Intellectual Property Department at the law firm of Fox Rothschild LLP. She holds a law degree from Pace University and a Ph.D. in Molecular Pharmacology from the Albert Einstein College of Medicine. Her practice is focused on the worldwide acquisition and enforcement of patents in the pharmaceutical, biotechnology and chemical arts. She has extensive experience in all areas of patent practice, including preparation, prosecution and portfolio management. She also counsels clients on issues of patentability, infringement, validity and freedom to operate, and conducts intellectual property due diligence reviews in the context of mergers, acquisitions and financing. Fox Rothschild LLP is a full service national law firm with more than 500 attorneys practicing in 16 offices.
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Robert Mallin
Robert Mallin began his legal career at Brinks Hofer Gilson & Lione in 1990, and has been a shareholder since 1998. He has extensive litigation experience in a variety of patent, trademark and trade secret cases, including first chair jury trial matters, arbitration proceedings and ITC proceedings. He has prepared for and participated in preliminary injunction proceedings and Markman hearings. His litigation experience also includes taking and defending expert and fact depositions, preparing and arguing case-dispositive motions and conducting all discovery matters. He has successfully used the reexamination process in the PTO to invalidate patents and avoid costly litigation for his clients. He has represented and counseled clients in matters involving non-practicing entities. Robert also counsels clients on licensing, patentability, freedom to operate and validity matters in a variety of technical areas including metallurgical processing, electromechanical inventions, mechanical inventions, chemical processing, optical fiber connectors and thermoplastic adhesives, the automotive industry, biotechnology, and software. He also has significant patent prosecution experience including experience in interference proceedings. Robert holds a J.D. from Loyola University of Chicago and a BS in chemical engineering from the University of Illinois.
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John McDonald
John McDonald joined Biogen Idec in June 2011 and currently is the Co-Head of Business Development and Mergers & Acquisitions. From May 2006 through June 2011, John was a managing director at MPM Capital, one of the world's largest science-dedicated venture capital firms, focusing on company formation and supporting portfolio company business development efforts. Working with Millennium Pharmaceuticals, Inc. from April 2000 through May 2006, John was Vice President of Business Development. Prior to April 2000, John worked at both Genentech, Inc. and Genzyme Corporation where he led or participated in various business development transactions.
In his career, John has led or participated in the evaluating, structuring and negotiating numerous mergers and acquisitions, licenses and strategic alliances, including Biogen Idec's collaboration with Portola Pharmaceuticals, Inc. and its acquisition of Stromedix, Inc., Millennium's Ex-U.S. collaboration with Ortho Biotech/Johnson & Johnson for VELCADE, the restructuring of Millennium's relationship with Schering-Plough Corp. for INTEGRILIN, and the sale of Millennium's interest in its CAMPATH joint venture, Genzyme's alliance with BioMarin for ALDURAZYME, and Genentech's alliances with Xoma Corporation (RAPTIVA), and IDEC Pharmaceuticals (RITUXAN).
John holds a J.D. from the University of California, Hastings College of Law, and an M.B.A., Beta Gamma Sigma, and a B.S., Phi Beta Kappa, from the Haas School of Business, U.C. Berkeley.
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David Meeker
David Meeker was appointed President and Chief Executive Officer of Genzyme in October 2011. Genzyme is a global biotechnology company committed to discovering and delivering transformative therapies for patients with rare and special unmet medical needs. Dr. Meeker oversees and provides the vision for the company's two business units - Rare Diseases and Multiple Sclerosis - as well as its long-standing relationships with patient communities and dedicated workforce of 10,000 employees.
In his career with Genzyme, he has held key positions of increasing responsibility, most recently as Chief Operating Officer. In this role, he was responsible for Genzyme's commercial organization, overseeing its business units, country management organization, and global market access functions. As Chief Operating Officer, he played an important role in the integration with Sanofi.
Dr. Meeker joined Genzyme in 1994 as Medical Director to work on the Cystic Fibrosis Gene Therapy program. Subsequently, as Vice President, Medical Affairs, he was responsible for the development of therapeutic products, including treatments in the current rare disease portfolio. As President of the Global Rare Disease Business, he oversaw the global launches of Aldurazyme®, Fabrazyme®, and Myozyme®.
Prior to joining Genzyme, Dr. Meeker was the Director of the Pulmonary Critical Care Fellowship at the Cleveland Clinic and an assistant professor of medicine at Ohio State University. He has authored more than 40 articles and multiple book chapters.
Dr. Meeker is a Board member of BIO, the Biotechnology Industry Organization and the California Institute of Healthcare (CHI), an independent organization devoted to biomedical research and policy. He is also a Board member of three non-profit organizations: Prize4Life, dedicated to accelerating the discovery of treatments for amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, BSCP, The Biomedical Science Careers Program, provides mentoring for academically outstanding students and PIC, The Boston Private Industry Council, a public-private partnership that connects business, the Boston Public Schools, higher education, and other stakeholders to create innovative workforce and education solutions.
Dr. Meeker received his MD from the University of Vermont Medical School. He completed an Internal Medicine residency at Beth Israel Hospital in Boston and a Pulmonary/Critical Care fellowship at Boston University. He completed the Advanced Management Program at Harvard Business School in 2000.
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Patti Melick
Patti Melick is a Partner in Wiggin and Dana's Corporate Department and a lead Partner in the Firm's Biotechnology and Life Sciences Practice Group. She is also a member of Wiggin and Dana's Executive Committee. Ms. Melick's practice is focused primarily on companies in the life sciences industry, including pharmaceutical, biotechnology, chemical, diagnostic and medical device companies. She has 25 years' experience in cross-border mergers and acquisitions and complex strategic alliances, licensing and global partnering transactions. Wiggin and Dana is a full service law firm with more than 135 attorneys and offices in Connecticut, New York and Philadelphia. Wiggin and Dana has achieved top rankings in BioPharm Insight's league tables for biotech and pharmaceutical licensing transactions that track global licensing deals by biotech and pharma companies and their law firms. In 2010, Wiggin and Dana was 1st in the European league table with 14 transactions (total announced value of $1,548 million) and in 2011, Wiggin and Dana ranked 2nd in the European league table.
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Mark Nawacki
Mr. Nawacki joined Paladin in September 2003 and holds responsibility for all business, corporate and product development activities at Paladin Labs Inc., a leading Canadian specialty pharmaceutical company. Since joining Paladin, Mark has concluded over 75 business development deals and has led Paladin's international expansion and emerging markets strategy, including the investments in Pharmaplan and Litha Healthcare Group in South Africa. Other key accomplishments include the establishment of Paladin's Licensing Advisory Board (LAB) and multiple internal process improvements to improve the deal flow and efficacy of Paladin's evaluation and execution of business development transactions.
Prior to joining Paladin, Mark held progressively senior leadership positions at Pharmacia, a global top 10 pharmaceutical company that is now part of Pfizer Inc. While at Pharmacia, Mr. Nawacki was responsible for Canadian business development initiatives and was instrumental in the design and implementation of a portfolio planning process that guided strategic planning and business development activities.
Mr. Nawacki began his career as a consultant in Arthur Andersen's Canadian financial advisory services practice, and later spent time in the consumer packaged goods industry working with Pillsbury where he was responsible for financial management of the Green Giant business in Canada.
Mr. Nawacki holds a BA in International Relations and Russian and East European Studies from the University of Toronto (Trinity), MBA also from the University of Toronto, and is a Canadian-designated Chartered Accountant. He is an active speaker on the subject of licensing and business development, is a member of the Board of Trustees of the Licensing Executive Society (USA & Canada) and is a former President and Board Member of the Canadian Healthcare Licensing Association.
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Bob Nissen
Bob Nissen has had a successful career in the over the counter (OTC) drug industry for nearly 30 years, with increasing levels of responsibility in leading pharmaceutical companies. Bob has held senior level Marketing and Business Development positions with a variety of top tier OTC divisions, including Abbott Labs, GD Searle, Schering-Plough, and Novartis. He has worked on a variety of Rx-OTC switch brands pre or post launch, including Afrin®, Drixoral®, Coricidin®, Tinactin®, Lotrimin®, Ocuclear®, and Lamisil®.
Since 2006, Bob has been a full time consultant, focused primarily in the Business Development and New Technology areas. He continues to work with blue chip OTC clients and drug delivery companies to help build their businesses.
Bob has earned the status of Certified Licensing Professional (CLP) with the Licensing Executives Society (LES). He has served on the advisory board for Drug Delivery Partnerships™ for its annual conferences in 2009-2012, and has been on the speaker's faculty since 2006. He is an active member of Consumer Healthcare Products Association (CHPA).
Bob is a graduate of Northwestern University, with a BA in Mathematics. He also received an MBA in Marketing from Kellogg Graduate School of Management.
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Christopher Noble
Christopher Noble is MIT's Technology Licensing Officer for energy technology. His responsibilities include the intellectual-property terms of sponsored research, evaluation and patenting of MIT inventions, and negotiation of commercial licenses with startups and established companies. He previously worked in business development and general management in energy and technology companies ranging from the Fortune 500 to startups. Chris founded and raised financing for his own startup company, is the lead inventor on two issued patents, has raised and negotiated multiple VC financings for four early-stage companies, and has served on the Board of several private companies and non-profits. He lived and worked in South America and Europe and is fluent in French and Spanish. Chris is an active member of the Association of University Technology Managers and the Licensing Executive Society (LES), lectures internationally on technology transfer, and is a recipient of the LES Deals of Distinction award. Chris has a B.Eng. from McGill University and an M.S. in Management from MIT.
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Gerard P. Norton, Ph.D.
As Chair of the Fox Rothschild's Intellectual Property Department, Gerard P. Norton, Ph.D. has extensive experience litigating complex matters pertaining to, patents, trademarks, copyright, trade secrets and breach of contract. He counsels clients regarding validity and scope of intellectual property rights; portfolio development; strategic positioning of corporate assets, opinion work, and evaluating legal risk in the pharmaceutical and medical device industries; evaluating third-party intellectual property rights relating to chemistry and molecular biology, such as therapeutic compounds, biopharmaceuticals, formulations, manufacture, importation, methods of use, and related FDA issues; and representation of intellectual property matters and transactions relevant to corporate acquisitions and divestitures. Gerry also provides skilled knowledge to manufacturers and developers in the fields of, pharmaceutical, biotechnology, chemical and medical device arts. His clients include Fortune 100 companies, as well as universities and other not for profit organizations. Gerry was a named partner of an intellectual property law firm in New Jersey, and was an attorney for 10 years at Rogers & Wells and at Clifford Chance in New York. He held a post-doctoral fellowship with Merck, Inc.
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Rekha Paleyanda
Rekha Paleyanda is a Senior Business Strategy and Licensing Manager at the Research Ventures and Licensing Office of Partners Healthcare System. She manages a diverse IP portfolio from Massachusetts General Hospital including therapeutic, diagnostic and device IP. She is responsible for triage and management of intellectual property assets, as well as business development of technologies and licensing to commercial entities. She works actively with investigators in negotiating sponsored and collaborative research agreements with industry. Prior to Partners, Rekha worked in strategic and business development at AI Biologics and in R&D developing biologics for genetic and orphan diseases at Transkaryotic Therapies (Shire). She received a Ph.D. from the George Washington University and conducted postdoctoral research at the Holland Lab for Biomedical Sciences in MD.
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P. Branko Pejic
P. Branko Pejic is a partner with the intellectual property law firm of Greenblum & Bernstein. Mr. Pejic has been extensively involved with all aspects of patent and trade-secret litigation, including trial, appeal, and settlement. Mr. Pejic is also a member of the firm's client counseling, licensing and technology transfer practice group, and has been involved in counseling clients in infringement and validity issues, developing and supervising licensing programs, and responding to love letters.
Prior to joining the firm in 1999, Mr. Pejic served as Law Clerk to the Honorable H. Dale Cook of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Oklahoma. Mr. Pejic also completed a mini-pupilage under Roger Wyand, Q.C. of Grey's Inn, practicing intellectual property law before the Royal Courts of Justice, in London England. Mr. Pejic additionally gained industry experience in the capacity of project engineer with a major transportation firm, where his primary responsibilities included oversight and management of the company's environmental regulatory compliance in its facilities nation-wide.
Mr. Pejic has also presented on various legal issues, including licensing matters at LES and other professional organizations, and has also published on licensing issues, including as a co-author of the 2011 and 2012 editions of "Licensing U.S. Jurisdiction." Getting The Deal Through - in print and on-line, Law Business Research Ltd. (2011 and 2012). Mr. Pejic is additionally a certified patent valuation analyst faculty member, and serves as a CEEM Sector Liaison - Publications and CEEM Sector Liaison - Communications of the Licensing Executive Society.
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Jill Pierard
Jill Pierard is Global Head of Intellectual Property at Sigma-Aldrich Corporation, a leading Life Science and High Technology company operating in 40 countries. She manages all aspects of intellectual property management and strategy, including patent and trademark prosecution, litigation, and licensing for a broad range of technologies surrounding more than 200,000 products. Prior to going in-house at Sigma-Aldrich, she was primarily a trial attorney, focusing on intellectual property litigation. Prior to going in-house, Ms. Pierard focused her practice on civil litigation, including intellectual property litigation. She also externed and clerked for the Honorable Philip G. Reinhard, U.S. District Court, Northern District of Illinois.
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Ruth Plager
Ruth Plager, President, ZenithBIO Business Development consultancy, for more than a decade has been providing a range of strategic business development and marketing services designed to increase the competitive position and value of innovative products and technologies of dynamic biopharmaceutical companies.
Our track record of adding value is built on 25 years of commercial & business development experience both within and for biopharmaceutical companies with innovative discovery platforms, with novel therapies for underserved, but highly competitive markets, with new market creation, and with drug delivery technologies that can redefine therapeutic profiles.
In more than a decade of consulting, ZB has been retained to spearhead a diverse range of projects spanning most therapeutic areas and range of problems.
Prior to ZenithBIO: Ruth Plager gained valuable "in-the-trench" experience at Pfizer in product management for hospital, specialty, and office-based products, at Syntex International, Strategic Business Development & Marketing, and at Enzon Pharmaceuticals, Strategic Business Development & Marketing (biologics & drug delivery).
Education: Ruth has a B.S. from the University of Wisconsin; spent a year in cancer research at the Weizmann Institute of Science in Israel; and attended a series of Health Economics courses at Stanford's Graduate School of Business.
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Michal Preminger
Michal Preminger is currently Executive Director of the Harvard Medical School site of the Harvard Office of Technology Development, the office responsible for technology development and licensing, startup formation and industry research alliances. Prior to joining Harvard in 2005, she held a number of business development and technology development positions at Compugen, most recently as Vice President of Protein Therapeutics, responsible for the business management of the company's emerging drug discovery pipeline. Previously, Michal held several marketing and business development in the hi-tech industry, among others at Lucent Technologies. Michal has been holding board and scientific advisory board positions with multiple companies and not-for-profits, including, among other, Prize4Life, Alma Lasers and Elminda. Michal holds an undergraduate degree in Medicine from the Hebrew University School of Medicine, a PhD from the Weizmann Institute of Science, and an MBA from INSEAD in Fontainebleau, France.
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Jason P. Rhodes
Mr. Rhodes leads corporate and business development, finance, business strategy, alliance and project management and other business operations at Epizyme. Previously he was VP Business Development at Alnylam Pharmaceuticals and founder and partner with Fidelity Investments' biopharma venture capital group where he served as acting Chief Business Officer at a portfolio company, EnVivo Pharmaceuticals.
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Jeffrey S. Rothstein
Jeffrey S. Rothstein, a partner in the Chicago office of Sidley Austin LLP, is the co-head of the firm's Technology Transactions practice. His practice covers a wide range of technology and corporate transactions, with particular emphasis on pharmaceutical, biotechnology and information technology matters. His biotech experience includes both human and agricultural biotechnology.
Mr. Rothstein advises firms ranging from early-stage companies to the world's leading biotechnology and pharmaceutical companies on licensing, development, collaboration, contract manufacturing, clinical trial, contract research and other similar agreements. He also handles intellectual property issues arising in M&A and financing transactions, and represents companies entering into complex intellectual property and information technology license and development agreements, outsourcing agreements and strategic alliance agreements, where his clients include major financial institutions and professional service firms.
Mr. Rothstein was named a ‘leading lawyer' in the 2008, 2009, 2010 and 2011 editions of Chambers USA in its Technology and IT Outsourcing section. He was also selected as a ‘leading lawyer' by PLC Which Lawyer: Cross-border Outsourcing Handbook 2010 and as one of the world's leading patent and technology licensing lawyers in IAM Licensing 250: The World's Leading Patent and Technology Licensing Practitioners for 2010 and 2011. Mr. Rothstein was recently recognized in The International Who's Who of Life Sciences Lawyers 2011 directory.
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Charles S. Ryan, J.D., Ph.D.
Dr. Ryan has over 18 years experience in managing all aspects of intellectual property litigation, conducting due diligence investigations and prosecuting patent and trademark applications in the pharmaceutical and biotechnology industries. Currently he is Senior Vice President and Chief Intellectual Property Counsel for Forest Laboratories, Inc. He has successfully managed a team of attorneys in three multi-billion dollar litigations, resulting in a favorable conclusion each time. He serves as the Long Island Site Head for the 700 employees on Long Island and serves on the Board of Directors for Forest Laboratories Holdings, Ltd. Dr. Ryan has presented and published over 20 legal and scientific papers during his career.
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Michael Samardzija
Michael Samardzija's practice focuses on the prosecution of patents in biotechnology and the lifesciences, specifically physiology, molecular biology, cell biology, immunology, pharmaceuticals, biologics and diagnostics. Dr. Samardzija served as Director of Intellectual Property at The University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center's Office of Technology Commercialization. During his tenure, Dr. Samardzija reviewed over 300 invention disclosures and filed over 100 provisional patent applications. One of the high points of his tenure was being involved in policy discussions with members of Congress regarding patent law reform. For four years, Dr. Samardzija was the sole in-house attorney at NeurogesX, Inc., a specialty biopharmaceutical company in San Carlos, CA focusing on pain. At NeurogesX, he restructured the intellectual property department; prepared and prosecuted U.S. and foreign patent applications in the areas of pharmaceuticals, drug delivery and medical devices; prepared patentability, infringement and freedom to operate opinions; conducted due diligence on potential in-licensing candidates; negotiated and drafted agreements; and provided legal support to NeurogesX's regulatory affairs, clinical, biological sciences, pharmacological sciences and business development departments. Prior to this, he was an associate with Skjerven Morrill MacPherson LLP. Dr. Samardzija earned his B.S. from Brooklyn College, his M.S. and Ph.D. from Loma Linda University, and his J.D. from the San Diego School of Law. He is admitted to the bar in California and Texas. He received the National Research Service Award from the National Institutes of Health (NIH), and he is a Certified Licensing Professional (CLP).
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Stefani Shek
Stefani Shek has worked as an Industrial Contracts Associate in Stanford's Industrial Contracts Office for five years. She handles sponsored research agmts, collaboration agmts, MTAs, and other agreements for various departments in the university. She also works on agreements with industry that involves the university, Stanford Hospital and Clinics, and Lucile Packard Children's Hospital. Previously, Stefani worked as a business development analyst for Maxygen (biotech) and as a licensing liaison in Stanford's Office of Technology Licensing. Stefani has a BA from UC Berkeley in Molecular and Cell Biology and a JD from UC Hastings College of the Law.
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Ednaldo Silva
Ednaldo Silva, Ph.D., is the founder of RoyaltyStat LLC. He is an economist specializing in transfer pricing and the valuation of intangibles and has extensive experience as economic expert in cases involving transfer pricing controversy and APA submissions. While serving as senior economic advisor at the Office of Chief Counsel, Internal Revenue Service, Ednaldo Silva became a drafting member for the Section 482 (Transfer Pricing) Regulations and was the first economist in the APA Program. He was responsible for introducing the "Comparable [Operating] Profits" Method (CPM, TNMM under the OECD Guidelines), the "Best Method Rule," and the Arm's Length "Range" under the Section 482 Regulations. Ednaldo earned his Ph.D. at the University of California-Berkeley.
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Robin Sitver
Robin Sitver is Senior Director, Business Development at Johnson & Johnson Consumer Products Company. She is primarily responsible for divestiture transactions and innovative transactions related to transformational business activities. She is also responsible for the character trademark licensing program. Previously, she led licensing, acquisition, divestitures, strategic alliances and other business development transactions for the global Topical Health, Intimate Health and Personal Care businesses.
Robin joined J&J in 2006 with the acquisition of Pfizer Consumer Healthcare. She started her career at Pfizer in 1979 in the Pharmaceuticals Division and held a variety of positions in finance, systems, marketing and international operations in the Pharmaceuticals and Animal Health Divisions before joining Pfizer Consumer Healthcare in 2001. She has been involved with over thirty license, acquisition and divestiture transactions. Most recently she led the divestitures of Monistat and e.p.t. to Insight Pharmaceuticals. She also divested 5 iconic brands including Efferdent to Blacksmith Brands, LLC, secured the license to a complete portfolio of Disney properties for adhesive bandages and other topical health products and directed all aspects of a transaction to license a proprietary antimicrobial technology for wound care applications.
Robin is an active member of the Licensing Executives Society. She is a Certified Licensing Professional and has served on number LES committees including co-chair of the Consumer Products Sector.
Robin holds an MBA in Accounting and Decision Sciences from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania and a BA in Computer Science from Brandeis University.
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Catherine Angell Sohn, Pharm.D., CLP
Dr. Catherine Sohn is a long-standing member of LES, the LES Philadelphia Chapter and is a Certified Licensing Professional (C.L.P.). She is currently a member of the LES Life Science Executive Committee and previously served on the LES (USA & Canada) Board of Trustees, where she was responsible for overseeing the five Sectors.
Dr. Sohn is currently Dean's Professor at the University of the Sciences in Philadelphia. In addition, following a 28-year career at GlaxoSmithKline, most recently as Senior Vice President responsible for licensing and M&A in the Consumer Healthcare division, she founded Sohn Health Strategies, to consult to pharmaceutical, biotechnology, Rare Disease focused, and consumer healthcare companies in the areas of business strategy, business development and new product marketing strategies.
Dr. Sohn is an independent Director on the Boards of Ariel Pharmaceuticals and the Dohmen Company.
A native of California, she holds a Doctor of Pharmacy from the University of California, San Francisco, School of Pharmacy and a Certificate of Professional Development from the Wharton School.
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Kevin R. Spivak
Kevin R. Spivak is a member of the intellectual property law firm of Greenblum & Bernstein. Mr. Spivak's experience includes managing and securing intellectual property rights in a wide variety of technologies for domestic and global corporations.
Mr. Spivak represents major corporate clients in counseling, prosecuting and preparing both foreign and domestic patent applications, including filings via the Patent Cooperation Treaty. Mr. Spivak also advises in support of patent litigation and licensing negotiations, including cases before district and federal courts and the International Trade Commission (ITC), and prepares infringement, validity, freedom-to-operate and patentability opinions. He also conducts due diligence studies in all aspects of intellectual property.
The technologies involved in Mr. Spivak's daily practice include social media, networks, telecommunications, mobile devices, VoIP, Internet telephony, semiconductors, optics, display technology, DVD technology and standards, gaming, automotive, computer hardware and software and business methods.
Before completing law school, Mr. Spivak was a Patent Examiner in the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, where he examined patent applications in computer-related technologies. Mr. Spivak received a B.S. in Computer Engineering from The George Washington University and a J.D. from The American University, Washington College of Law.
Specialties
Patent prosecution, including drafting and prosecuting applications before the USPTO; Due diligence; Data Mining and Landscaping; Opinions; Portfolio Management.
Certifications and Organizations
Mr. Spivak is a certified patent valuation analyst faculty member, and chairs the membership committee for the High Technology Sector of the Licensing Executive Society.
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Lesley Stolz
Dr. Stolz has 17 years of business development experience working for companies that are both technology platform and therapeutics focused. Prior to Sutro Biopharma, Inc, she was with Sunesis Pharmaceuticals where she was Vice President Corporate & Business Development. Earlier in her career, she served as Senior Director, Business Development for Aerovance, Inc. where she led efforts to partner the company's Phase 2 asset for uncontrolled asthma. Lesley was Senior Director, Business Development for GPC Biotech AG of Germany from 2002 to 2006. She also served in senior management positions at Cell Genesys, Discovery Partners International and Axys Pharmaceuticals. Dr. Stolz received her Ph.D. in chemistry, and conducted postdoctoral research at Harvard Medical School's Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Pharmacology.
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Frances Toneguzzo
Frances Toneguzzo is currently the Executive Director of the Office of Research Ventures and Licensing at Partners Healthcare. In this position, she oversees strategic initiatives relating to technology transfer and other activities at Massachusetts General Hospital and Brigham and Women's Hospital. The Office of Research Ventures and Licensing oversees the management and licensing of intellectual property and serves as the entry point for all industrial relationships relating to research, support of research or technology transfer at Massachusetts General Hospital. Brigham and Women's Hospital and Partners Healthcare. Prior to coming to Partners, Toneguzzo served as Director of the Office for Technology and Industry Collaboration at Tufts University/New England Medical Center and as Associate Director, responsible for intellectual property relating to the life sciences at Harvard University. Toneguzzo comes from the biotech industry, having played various roles at big pharma and startup companies. She holds a Ph.D. in Biochemistry from McMaster University in Canada.
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Lyle Vander Schaaf
Lyle Vander Schaaf is the managing partner of the Washington, D.C. office of Brinks Hofer Gilson & Lione. He has an active practice in investigations before the U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC). Mr. Vander Schaaf regularly appears before the ITC in intellectual property Section 337 investigations. Mr. Vander Schaaf served in the Office of General Counsel of the ITC from 1991 to 1996 and was detailed to the Office of Chairman Watson in 1994. As an attorney with the ITC, Mr. Vander Schaaf handled a variety of patent- and trademark-based Section 337 investigations. He also handled a number of antidumping and countervailing duty investigations and a Safeguards investigation, assisted in GATT – and WTO – related projects of the ITC, and defended the ITC's determinations in appeals to the U.S. Court of International Trade and U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit. Outside of his ITC practice, Mr. Vander Schaaf has an active practice combating counterfeiting of the client's products, counsels clients on general trademark matters and handles trademark registrations and litigation for clients. Mr. Vander Schaaf holds a J.D. from American University and a BA from the University of Iowa.
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Robin A. Walker
Robin Walker is an Associate General Counsel, Corporate for Biogen Idec, where she provides legal support to the Business Development Department. Robin has over 13 years of experience advising clients in a wide variety of transactions, including license and collaboration agreements, public and private securities offerings, venture capital financings, and mergers and acquisitions. She has extensive experience in structuring and negotiating collaborative research, development and licensing arrangements, including Biogen Idec’s acquisition of a subsidiary of Neurimmune Holding AG, and its collaboration and license agreements with Isis Pharmaceuticals, Inc., Acorda Therapeutics, Inc., MAK Scientific, LLC, and NsGene A/S. In addition, she has broad experience negotiating early and late stage product agreements, platform and drug discovery deals, supply and manufacturing agreements, distribution and co-promotion agreements, university license agreements, sponsored research agreements and other commercial agreements that arise regularly in the life sciences industry.
Before joining Biogen Idec, Robin was a Senior Counsel at Staples, Inc. and a Senior Associate at Kirkpatrick & Lockhart LLP. Robin received her J.D. from Boston University School of Law and her B.A. from Vassar College.
Robin dedicates her time to serving as a member of the Board of Trustees of the Massachusetts Women’s Bar Foundation, and is Co-Vice Chair of the Women’s Initiative of the Northeast Chapter of the American Corporate Counsel Association. Robin is also the Assistant Secretary to The Biogen Idec Foundation, Inc.
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Annette Weissbach
Annette Weissbach is the Global Alliance Director, Pharma Partnering, Licensing & Alliance Management, at Hoffmann-La Roche. Annette brings over 25 years of pharmaceutical experience with increasing levels of responsibility across functional disciplines including pre-clinical research, development operations, biometrics, business development, licensing and alliance management. In her current position, as global alliance director for Roche Partnering, Annette executes and manages alliances that span early research to late stage development along with both commercial and mature product collaborations. Annette earned her bachelor's degree in biology from Douglass College, Rutgers University and her MBA from Rutgers Business School. Annette is the recipient of the TWIN (Tribute to Women in Industry) award and finalist for the SCRIPT award for the Roche -Merck collaboration in HCV.
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Scott Williams
Scott Williams is a director with Invotex Group. He is responsible for managing the sale and licensing of clients' intellectual property assets as well as providing consulting services related to both litigation and the valuation of intellectual property and technology businesses. He has more than 19 years experience in licensing and business development as well as in consulting to technology businesses. Over the past ten years, he has specialized in intellectual property assets. Mr. Williams has managed intellectual property acquisitions and commercialization campaigns. He has concluded numerous patent-based transactions encompassing both in and out licensing. Additionally, Mr. Williams has led consulting engagements in intellectual property valuation, market assessment of emerging technology, and strategy development for intellectual property commercialization. He has also prepared damage analyses relating to patent and copyright infringement and breach of contract claims. His clients have included universities, corporations and venture capital firms. Mr. Williams is an active member of the National Association of Certified Valuation Analysts and LES where he serves as co-chair of the Philadelphia chapter.
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Teri Willey
Teri joined MSSM in June 2011. Prior to MSSM Teri was Chief Executive of Cambridge Enterprise, Ltd the technology commercialization affiliate of the University of Cambridge; founder and Managing Partner of ARCH Development Partners (ADP), a seed and early stage venture fund focused on university and corporate spin-outs; University of Notre Dame Business School Adjunct Professor; and Vice President of Start-ups at ARCH Development Corporation, a subsidiary of the University of Chicago, which commercialised technology from the University and Argonne National Laboratory. Her prior experience also includes technology transfer and business development roles at Northwestern University, Purdue University and International Minerals and Chemical. Teri has been an advisor to policy makers, universities and companies and is a past President of the Association of University Technology Managers (AUTM).
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Joe W. Wyse Ph.D.
Dr. Joe Wyses 20+year career has focused on various aspects of
pharmaceutical, biotechnological and medical device industries, including intellectual asset management, business development and product development.
Currently, Wyse is the president of Wyse Innovations, a consultancy providing product development, IP strategy and project management services.
His intellectual asset management and business development experience includes patent landscape analysis, technology evaluation, invention inventories, valuation analysis, strategic options assessment and contract negotiations.
Wyse's professional experience includes 12 years with pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies including Coldstream Laboratories, Aronex Pharmaceuticals, and Lifecell, and seven years as an intellectual asset management consultant with PricewaterhouseCoopers and yet2.com.
Wyse earned his bachelors degree in chemistry from Asbury College and his masters and doctorate degrees in chemistry from the University of Kentucky.
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George Young
George Young has been involved in the management of technology transfer at the Population Council for fifteen years, garnering $100 million in royalties; managing intellectual assets and negotiating patent, licensing and royalty agreements leading to commercial manufacture, marketing and distribution of pharmaceutical products worldwide. As business & financial manager, Mr. Young contributes to all aspects of business relations with the pharmaceutical industry, working closely with the general counsel and vice presidents of the Population Council. Prior to joining the Population Council in 1995, Mr. Young pursued vision research at The Schepens Eye Research Institute, an affiliate of Harvard Medical School, and participated in physics research at the Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory. Mr. Young has an MBA from Columbia Business School and a BA from the University of Rochester.
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Ken Zinda
Ken Zinda, President of Inspherion, has worked in intellectual property, product development, and technology mining for over 20 years. He consults with companies and corporations worldwide in the use of IP as a strategic business resource and performs in-depth analyses of technology, business, and market spaces to further a client's strategic objectives. Mr. Zinda and PricewaterhouseCoopers developed the proprietary tools and processes Inspherion uses today.
Prior to starting Inspherion, Mr. Zinda worked as Director of Technology Mining for CAMP, Inc. and as Program Director for Cleveland Tomorrow's Corporate Mining project. His efforts focused on a variety of methods and practices relating to the strategic use of intellectual property across business functions and industries.
Upon leaving the U.S. Navy he worked for Westinghouse Defense Systems introducing nearly 90 products into their military systems. He received corporate recognition for his work in technology mining.
Mr. Zinda has a Bachelors Degree in Electrical Engineering and a Masters Degree in Business from Cleveland State University. He spent six years in the Navy in the intelligence area and received the Navy Commendation for his contributions.
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Daphne Zohar
Daphne Zohar is the founder and managing partner of PureTech Ventures, a Boston-based venture creation firm specializing in translating breakthrough research from top tier academic institutions into therapies that will impact human health and well-being. PureTech's senior partners include entrepreneurs and leaders from the highest echelon of pharma, biotech and academia. Ms. Zohar was recently recognized by Fierce Biotech as one of the "Top 10 Women in Biotech," by BioWorld as one of 28 leaders predicted to be the "movers and shakers" of the biotechnology industry over the next twenty years, and by the Boston Globe as one of the "Top 15 Innovators." A successful entrepreneur, Ms. Zohar created PureTech and assembled a leading team to help implement her vision for the firm. She sits on the Boards of Directors of PureTech Ventures, Enlight Biosciences (a technology development company whose backers include leading pharmaceutical companies), Follica Inc., Vedanta Bioscience, Mandara Sciences, Karuna Pharmaceuticals, Akili Interactive Labs (where she is founding CEO),Tal Medical, and Appeering Inc. She also sits on the Technology Development Fund Advisory Board at Children's Hospital Boston and is an Editorial Advisor to Xconomy, a national technology news blog.
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