Dr Mendelsohn has served as a member of the Vivani Medical Board and the Chief Executive Officer since the company’s merger with Nano Precision Medical was completed in August 2022. Prior to the merger, Dr Mendelsohn was a co-founder of Nano Precision Medical and its Chairman of the Board and Chief Executive Officer, setting the strategic vision for the company since 2011.

Dr Mendelsohn received his Ph.D. in bioengineering at the UC San Francisco/UC Berkeley Joint Graduate Group in Bioengineering, Class of 2011, during which he was awarded an NSF fellowship to perform research at Kyoto University and published multiple peer-reviewed articles describing new treatment options for Type 1 diabetes through the immuno-isolated transplantation of insulin-producing cells under the direction of Professor Tejal A. Desai. While in graduate school, Dr. Mendelsohn served as the director for the Venture Innovation Program in Life Sciences and completed his certificate in Management of Technology with the Haas School of Business.

Dr Mendelsohn has served as a Technical Advisor to the Alfred E. Mann Institute for Biomedical Engineering at USC, a fellow of the Startup Leadership Program, the President of UCSF’s Graduate Division Alumni Association, and is currently a board member of the Maestro Foundation.

TBA

Dr. Robert Amezquita is a leading computational immunologist in translational sciences. At Sanofi's mRNA Center of Excellence, he leads initiatives to enhance mRNA vaccine platforms using advanced AI/ML technologies and novel model systems. Previously at Pfizer, he spearheaded computational biology in immuno-oncology research, advancing candidates to first-in-human trials. His earlier work at Resolution Bioscience involved developing ML-based callers for microsatellite instability detection in liquid biopsies. Dr. Amezquita's academic background includes postdoctoral research at Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, where he led the publication of "Orchestrating Single Cell Analysis with Bioconductor," and doctoral work at Yale University, focusing on computational approaches to deciphering CD8 T cell differentiation. He currently maintains an adjunct faculty position in immunology at Brandeis University. His unique expertise spanning computational immunology, data science, and translational research places Dr. Amezquita at the forefront of mRNA vaccine development and immuno-oncology in both industry and academia.

David Johnston is a career leader in injectable drug and drug delivery product development at Abbott, Baxter and Medtronic. In his various roles in industry, David's teams have delivered IV, epidural, intrathecal and sub-q devices, along with specialized systems for inactivating pathogens in blood products. As a consultant, David has contributed to product development in delivering insulin, monoclonal antibodies, continuous glucose monitoring, and others, along with regulatory process optimizations and design transfer strategies. David is a graduate of the University of Michigan in Biochemical Engineering.

Dr. Joanne Smith-Farrell is a mission-driven executive whose career has been dedicated to leading teams in conquering cancer, genetic diseases, and other life-limiting conditions. As CEO and Director of Be Biopharma since February 2021, she guides a diverse team of scientists, drug developers, clinicians, and manufacturing specialists in pioneering a new class of in vivo biologics—engineered B cell medicines—to deliver previously impossible solutions for patients with both rare and prevalent diseases.

Before joining Be Biopharma, Dr. Smith-Farrell served as Chief Operating Officer and Business Unit Head, Oncology at bluebird bio. In that role, she and her team built a robust oncology business, marked by breakthroughs such as Abecma—the first-in-class CAR-T therapy for multiple myeloma. She has also held executive positions at Merck, Pfizer, and Gene Logic, and began her career as a consultant with The Boston Consulting Group.

Dr. Smith-Farrell completed her post-doctoral research in biomedical engineering in Professor Robert Langer’s lab at the Harvard-MIT Division for Health Science and Technology, supported by the NIH National Service in Research Award Fellowship. She earned her Ph.D. in physics from The Catholic University of America—where she was recognized as a Herzfeld Scholar and Hubbard Fellow—and holds a B.S. in physics and mathematics from Vanderbilt University.

Steven Russell, MD, PhD is Chief Medical Officer of Beta Bionics, Associate Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School, and attending physician at Massachusetts General Hospital. He received a BS in Biochemistry from Trinity University, and a PhD in Biological Chemistry and an MD from the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center. He completed a residency in Internal Medicine and fellowship in Endocrinology, Diabetes, & Metabolism at the MGH, and a postdoctoral fellowship at the Joslin Diabetes Center. He is an adult endocrinologist and diabetologist with more than 20 years of experience and currently maintains a clinical practice managing diabetes in the outpatient and inpatient settings at MGH on a part-time basis. Dr. Russell collaborated with Dr. Edward Damiano’s group at Boston University to develop a wearable bionic pancreas for automated blood glucose control, testing and refining it over 20 pre-pivotal clinical trials he directed, including in type 1 and type 2 diabetes and cystic fibrosis-related diabetes. He was the Clinical Director for the Insulin-Only Bionic Pancreas Pivotal Trial published in the NEJM in September, 2022. Dr. Russell joined Beta Bionics as CMO in November, 2022. The bionic pancreas, now the iLet Bionic Pancreas system, was cleared for use by the FDA on May 19, 2023. Beta Bionics announced the 10,000th iLet patient start on the August 15, 2024.

Anthony Coston, PhD, MBA, PMP drives the development of ASO combination devices and gene therapy delivery devices at Biogen. Dr Coston has over 25 years of medical device experience in the areas of product development, project management, marketing, new business development, and technology scouting. Prior to his time with Biogen, Dr Coston was consulting with GSK and other Biotech companies in the Oral Solid Dosage CMC area pertaining to depression, oncology, and other therapeutic drugs. Dr Coston was also the Director of CMC Project Management at Alkermes. In addition, Dr Coston was the Head of Medical Devices at Draper where he was responsible for New Business Development through leveraging the technical capabilities and expertise within Draper to provide technical solutions for unmet needs within the medical device and biotech communities. Dr Coston was responsible for obtaining a $16M neurological device development contract within the first year in this role which was the largest device contract obtained at Draper during that time. Prior to Draper, Dr Coston worked for several medical device companies including Johnson and Johnson, Becton Dickinson, and Bard where he helped develop the leading fecal containment system, a portable urodynamic measurement system, a continuous glucose monitor and advanced the development of a thermal ablation technology to treat menorrhagia. Dr Coston has four issued patents, several pending patents, and six publications. He has a PhD and a Master’s in Biomedical Engineering from Rutgers University and Penn State University respectively. His undergraduate degree is in Electrical Engineering from the University of Delaware, and he has an MBA from MIT.

Keri McDonough, MA, principal of KMCD Consulting, has spent her career weaving patient perspectives into the fabric of biopharmaceutical innovation. A patient and caregiver herself, she’s worked with hundreds of patients and caregivers and dozens of patient advocacy organizations.

At Syneos Health, she served as Global Head of Patient-Powered Medicine and Vice President of Medical and Scientific Strategy, and created the Patient Voice Consortium, a hub for sourcing and embedding patient perspectives across customer R&D and commercialization efforts. She’s held senior roles within the WPP communications network where she created and led global communications and advocacy efforts across therapeutic areas, sub-populations, and geographies. She holds a BA in Sociology from Tulane University and an MA in journalism from the University of Oregon.

Keri’s approach is simple: to make healthcare more inclusive, equitable and patient-centered, insights from lived experience must be integrated into all aspects of healthcare.  Keri volunteers as a Clinical Research Glossary Workgroup Member with the MRCT Center, serves on the board of the Emotional PPE Project—a nonprofit dedicated to breaking down barriers to mental health for healthcare professionals—and is on the Steering Committee for Lungevity’s Equitable Access to Clinical Trials initiative.

Tommaso is a Director of Product Development of Drug Delivery Systems at Stevanato group. In his 15+ years long career he matured a comprehensive experience in the medical device and pharma industry, specializing in the development of in vitro diagnostic and drug delivery products with proven track record of creating and leading teams through the full product lifecycle from concept generation to commercialization.

He created partnerships with Italian universities and led programs with European research centers to bring cutting edge technologies into the market. He holds several patents and published research papers on international peer-reviewed journals.

Tommaso holds a PhD in Electrical Engineering from Politecnico di Milano.

Clayton T. Larsen is President and CEO of Vesselon and leads the development and translation of novel co-formulations of lipid microspheres and various drugs to dramatically increase biodistribution and viral transduction in target tissues. Prior to his pharma experience, Clay worked for 20 years as a Senior Executive in ultrasound for Acuson (acquired by Siemens), and Fujifilm Medical, currently the world leader in point-of-care ultrasound. Clay led the development and commercialization of Fujifilm’s SYNAPSE, the industry’s leading image-enablement solution, now managing 80 billion objects for 1,800 facilities across six continents. His degree in Molecular Biophysics & Biochemistry from Yale has given him the motivation and insight to synthesize these fundamental areas of science into a revolutionary therapeutic opportunity.