Building up a Company Through to Commercialization and Beyond

Ron Cohen, MD is President, CEO and founder of Acorda Therapeutics, Inc, a public biotechnology company developing therapies for disorders of the nervous system, including Parkinson’s disease and migraine. Dr Cohen previously was a principal in the startup and an officer of Advanced Tissue Sciences, Inc, a biotechnology company engaged in the growth of human organ tissues for transplantation uses. He served as Chair of the Board of the Biotechnology Innovation Organization (BIO) and continues to serve as a board member. He is also a Director on the Board of VBL Therapeutics, and was a Director on the Board of Dyax Corp. until its acquisition in 2016. He also previously served as Chair of the Emerging Companies Section of the BIO Board and as Director and Chair of the New York Biotechnology Association (NYBA). Dr Cohen is a recipient of the NY CEO Lifetime Achievement Award and the Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year Award for the New York Metropolitan Region. He was named Neuroinvestment’s CEO of the Year, is an inductee of the National Spinal Cord Injury Association’s “Spinal Cord Injury Hall of Fame,” and was awarded Columbia University’s Alumni Medal for Distinguished Service.Dr Cohen received the Burke Award from Burke Rehabilitation Hospital for his contributions to helping people with disabilities gain independence. He has been recognized by the New York Biotechnology Association as the NYBA “The Cures Start Here” Business Leader of the Year, by the Westchester County Association as its Leadership Award recipient, and by PharmaVOICE Magazine as one of the 100 Most Inspirational People in the Biopharmaceutical Industry. Dr. Cohen received his B.A. degree with honors in Psychology from Princeton University, and his M.D. from the Columbia College of Physicians & Surgeons. He completed a residency in Internal Medicine at the University of Virginia Medical Center, and is Board Certified in Internal Medicine.

Kenneth A. Getz, MBA, is the Executive Director and Professor at the Tufts Center for the Study of Drug Development, Tufts University School of Medicine, where he conducts research focusing on drug development management and operating strategies and tactics; protocol design practices; and global outsourcing, investigative site and patient recruitment practices and policies. He is also the chairman of CISCRP – a nonprofit organization that he founded to educate and raise public and patient awareness of the clinical research enterprise. A well-known speaker at conferences, symposia, universities, investor meetings and corporations, Mr Getz has published extensively in peer-review journals, books and in the trade press and writes a bi-monthly column nominated for a Neal Award in Applied Clinical Trials. He holds a number of board appointments in the private and public sectors including WCG and ORA and serves on the editorial boards of Pharmaceutical Medicine and Therapeutic Innovation and Regulatory Science.  Mr Getz received an MBA from the J.L. Kellogg Graduate School of Management at Northwestern University and a bachelor’s degree, Phi Beta Kappa, from Brandeis University. Mr Getz is the founder of CenterWatch, a leading publisher in the clinical trials industry.