Developing Internal and External Communication Strategies

Dr Austin Chiang is the first Chief Medical Officer for the gastrointestinal business of Medtronic, the global leader in health technology. He is also currently an Assistant Professor of Medicine at Jefferson Health (Thomas Jefferson University Hospitals) in Philadelphia, PA, and serves as the Director of the Endoscopic Weight Loss Program and Chief Medical Social Media Officer for the health system. He completed his undergraduate studies at Duke University before earning his MD at Columbia University. He stayed for Internal Medicine residency at New York Presbyterian Hospital and completed his GI and bariatric endoscopy fellowships at Brigham and Women’s Hospital. He obtained his MPH from the Harvard TH Chan School of Public Health before completing an advanced endoscopy fellowship at Jefferson. He is founding president of the Association for Healthcare Social Media (AHSM) and has been featured by The New York Times, CNBC, Insider, and BBC News.

Daniel Gold joined Fairway Consulting Group in 2002. In 2012, Mr Gold was named President – Head Global R&D Search Practice after serving as VP R&D Search Practice for the previous 4 years. Mr Gold graduated from the State University of New York at Buffalo with a Bachelor of Arts Degree from the School of Informatics. He leads a team recruiting top research and development talent for clients in North America and Europe. Since joining Fairway Consulting Group, Mr Gold has placed over three hundred life science executives in positions related to R&D / clinical research / medical affairs, regulatory affairs / quality assurance, drug safety / epidemiology, pathology / toxicology, tech ops / manufacturing / analytical development, corporate officer / board and many others.

Stephen Kanes is a Neuropsychiatrist with a career in basic neuroscience, clinical psychiatry and neuroscience drug development spanning more than 30 years. Prior to joining EmbarkNeuro he was Chief Medical Officer of Sage Therapeutics, where he led the successful clinical development of ZULRESSO® (brexanolone), the first-ever treatment approved for Postpartum Depression (PPD), along with the buildout of the development organization and Sage Therapeutics’ broad neuroscience portfolio. Earlier in his career, Dr Kanes was Executive Director in Clinical Development in the Inflammation, Neuroscience and Respiratory therapeutic areas at AstraZeneca, and a faculty member of the University of Pennsylvania Department of Psychiatry. In addition to his role at EmbarkNeuro, Dr Kanes is currently a member of the Board of Directors of Verge Genomics. Dr Kanes received both his PhD in Molecular and Cellular Pharmacology and his MD from the Stony Brook University Renaissance School of Medicine and completed his residency training in the Yale University School of Medicine Department of Psychiatry.

Karla MacDonald is Chief Corporate Affairs Officer of Entrada Therapeutics with responsibilities for building and amplifying the company’s brand through corporate communications, investor relations, government affairs, and employee engagement. Ms MacDonald joined Entrada in 2021 from Ipsen where she established and led corporate communications and patient advocacy for the company’s expansion into North America. Prior to Ipsen, she was at Merck & Co, Inc where for over 11 years she led a broad spectrum of global brand and corporate responsibility communications and supported the R&D division as a member of the executive leadership team. Ms MacDonald was previously in the healthcare practice at Ogilvy and MacDougall Biomedical and led investor relations for Creative BioMolecules. Ms MacDonald holds a bachelor’s degree in Education and a diploma in Communications from McGill University. Ms MacDonald is President and a Board Member of the Canadian Entrepreneurs in New England and a Lead Mentor with the Canadian Technology Accelerator.