Dr Gideon Blumenthal is a hematologist oncologist who is currently Vice President, Global Clinical Development in the Asset Development Therapeutic Area of Oncology at Merck. In this role he is the Asset Development Section Head MK-2870 (Sac-TMT) a novel TROP2 ADC as well as MK-1084 (KRAS G12Ci) and MK-1022 (HER3-DxD ADC). Prior to this role Gideon was the Oncology Regulatory Affairs TA Head at Merck, overseeing regulatory strategy for pembrolizumab, belzutifan, olaparib and several other key pipeline assets across Genitourinary, Gastrointestinal, Head and Neck Cancer, and Hematologic Malignancies.

Prior to joining Merck in 2020, Dr Blumenthal spent over a decade at the US Food and Drug Administration Oncology office, taking on increasing leadership responsibilities. He initially served as a medical reviewer, then clinical team leader, followed by Acting Deputy Director in the Office of Hematology Oncology Products, and most recently as Deputy Center Director of the Oncology Center for Excellence. Dr Blumenthal trained in internal medicine at the University of Maryland School of Medicine, followed by a hematology oncology fellowship at the National Cancer Institute. He was an attending physician in the NCI thoracic oncology clinic. He received numerous awards, including the 2018 American Society for Clinical Oncology Public Service Award. He has co-authored over 100 articles in the Oncology and Drug Development peer-reviewed literature and has authored numerous book chapters.

Lee A Fleisher, MD, ML (Masters in Law) is the Founding Principal and CEO at Rubrum Advising, LLC, a consulting firm dedicated to identifying strategic pathways, including regulatory counsel, to ensure the highest quality care is adopted and diffused across the healthcare sector. From July 2020-July 2023, he was the Chief Medical Officer and Director of the Center for Clinical Standards and Quality for the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. In this capacity, he was responsible for executing all national clinical, quality, and safety standards for healthcare facilities and providers, as well as establishing coverage determinations for items and services that improve health outcomes for Medicare beneficiaries. He serves as a Senior Advisor of the Bipartisan Policy Center and FasterCures of the Milken Institute, Senior Fellow of the Leonard Davis Institute of Health Economics and Visiting Fellow of the Duke-Margolis Center. He is a member of the Steering Committee of CHAI (Coalition of Health AI), consultant to the FDA Digital Health Advisory Committee and a member of the HITAC of the ONC. From 2004 through July 2020, he was the Robert D. Dripps Professor and Chair of Anesthesiology and Critical Care and Professor of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania and is currently Emeritus Professor and continues to practice clinically. In 2007, he was elected to membership of the National Academy of Medicine.

Raul Lima is a proven leader in Clinical Operations with over twenty (20) years of experience utilizing strategic, tactical, and hands-on experience in the management of global multi-center clinical trials. He has extensive experience with timeline management, clinical trial budget management, and people management and has successfully led cross-functional teams, including the management of CROs. He has repeatedly demonstrated an ability to execute strategies ensuring that clinical operations activities supporting clinical trial management are conducted effectively and efficiently, are quality driven, and comply with all applicable regulations. He possesses an uncanny vision, expertise in communicating that vision to help influence strategies to progress cross-functional projects, and an unwavering passion for championing development.

Dr. Daniella Patton earned her master's and PhD in Biomedical Engineering from the University of Michigan. Her thesis focused on bone biomechanics and the application of machine learning and deep learning to better understand and predict variation in bone strength associated with aging. Following her doctorate, she undertook a postdoctoral position at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, collaborating with radiologists to develop deep-learning applications for pre-screening fractures in radiographs and automating clinical measurements for diagnosing foot malalignment. Since 2021, Dr. Patton has been with Genedata, where she currently serves as a principal scientific consultant. In this role, she is involved in a variety of scientific consulting projects for the pharmaceutical industry and provides scientific support to end users.

Sylvia received her PhD in 2006 at the University of Barcelona, Spain for her work at the Hospital Clinic in the laboratory of Prof. Jorge Ferrer, where she conducted functional genetic analysis to understand the transcriptional role of MODY genes in pancreatic beta cells. With a long term EMBO fellowship, she subsequently joined the Hubrecht Institute (Utrecht, the Netherlands) as a postdoctoral fellow. In the laboratory of Prof. Hans Clevers she first studied the role of TCF7L2 in regulating metabolism. Then, she established human pancreas organoids from tumor resections in collaboration with the Surgery and Pathology departments from the UMC and the laboratory of Prof. D.A. Tuveson.

In 2014, she joined HUB as one of the founding scientists and worked as a Group Leader for the cystic fibrosis and pancreatic cancer organoid programs. In 2016, she was appointed Scientific Director at HUB and in her new role she was responsible for leading both the contract service and research programs. Under Sylvia's leadership the Organoid Technology evolved from a highly innovative basic research tool to an industry-leading drug development platform. Since 2020, she holds the position of Chief Scientific Officer.

Dr Tad George has over 15 years of startup experience dedicated to creating scientific markets for novel instrumentation platforms that span basic research, drug discovery and clinical applications. Prior to joining RareCyte, Dr George has held similar positions at Biodesy, Inc. and DVS Sciences, and was Director of Biology at Amnis Corporation. Dr George completed his B.A. in Biochemistry from the Univ. of Texas at Austin, PhD in Immunology from UT Southwestern Medical Center at Dallas, and post-doctoral training at Immunex Corp. in Seattle.

Jay Destino is the Vice President, Functional Service Provider (FSP) Solutions at BioPoint, Inc., where he drives strategic growth and innovation for the pharmaceutical, biotechnology, and medical device industries. With over a decade of experience at BioPoint, Jay has excelled in roles ranging from recruitment to leadership, leveraging his expertise to deliver tailored solutions in Clinical Development, Drug Safety, Regulatory Affairs, and beyond.

He is dedicated to addressing complex challenges with scalable, flexible approaches, partnering with sponsor organizations to optimize resource allocation, reduce risk and enhance drug development processes. Jay's extensive skills include Business Development, RFP management, and consulting, supported by his technical background from Purdue University, where he earned a Bachelor of Science in Aerospace Engineering.

Based in the Greater Boston Area, Jay combines analytical rigor with a passion for empowering innovation, fostering long-term partnerships with clients. His work exemplifies a hands-on approach to problem-solving, delivering measurable impact across life science organizations.

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Maureen Kashuba has over 20 years of Pharma experience. She leads the Plain Language Summary (PLS) program at Merck Sharp & Dohme LLC, United States.

She led the development of the company’s > 1250 term Health Literate Glossary which has been reviewed, tested for cultural competency and approved for use internally. She’s led Patient Panel and Cultural Competency reviews to engage diverse insights on terms and concepts. Maureen co-chairs the DIA PLS Working Group is a member of the MRCT Center Glossary Development Review Team and the EFPIA CREG joint subteam on patient friendly language. She is passionate about clear communication of research information to empower patients to make informed health choices for themselves and their