Chaitanya Divgi joined Novartis as Senior Strategic Expert Therapeutic Innovations in May 2024, concentrating on enhancing expertise, strategy and advancing the RLT/RLI portfolio.

Prior to joining Novartis, Mr Divgi held senior medical positions at several innovative companies specialized in nuclear and radiation medical applications.

Before that, he was Professor of Radiology and Research Vice-Chair in the Radiology Department at Columbia University and Director Nuclear Medicine and Molecular Imaging at NY Presbyterian Hospital, New York, USA (2011-16); Professor of Radiology and Radiation Oncology at the University of Pennsylvania and the Hospital of UPenn (2006-2011), and a member of the Radiology and Medicine Departments, Director of the Nuclear Medicine Targeted Therapy Program at Memorial Sloan- Kettering Cancer Centre, and Professor of Medicine and Radiology at Weill Cornell Medical College, Cornell University, New York (1985-2006).

Before coming to the US, he was Chief Nuclear Medicine at AI-Jazeira Hospital in Abu Dhabi (1982-1985) and at Choithram Hospital in Indore, India (1981-82).

Mr Divgi has been a peer reviewer for several scientific journals (NEJM, Lancet Oncology, Nature Medicine, Cancer Research, J Nuclear Medicine, to name a few) and a member of peer review committees at the International Atomic Energy Agency, the US NCI and NIH, and the Canadian Institutes for Health Research. He has published over 150 articles on radiopharmaceutical imaging and therapy in bespoke medical journals.

Mr Divgi gained his medical degree from Bangalore University, India, and a graduate degree in Nuclear and Radiation Medicine from Bombay University, India. He has a master's degree in health management from New York University, USA and is board certified in Nuclear Medicine. He holds a New York state medical license.

Jonah Golder, MS, serves as a Project Manager in the Science of Patient Input (SPI) Program at the Medical Device Innovation Consortium (MDIC). At MDIC, he leads multiple work streams to develop innovative tools and resources for medical device developers, the FDA, and patient advocacy organizations. Mr Golder is passionate about designing patient-centric solutions within the industry and is dedicated to ensuring that patient experiences are thoroughly integrated across MedTech development processes. Mr Golder holds a master’s degree in Biotechnology from Georgetown University and a BS in Neuroscience from Tulane University.

Matthew Maxwell serves as the Chief Growth Officer at Centricity Research, leading initiatives in patient engagement and growth strategy. With nearly two decades of experience in clinical research, he has focused on developing patient-centric strategies and fostering strategic partnerships to advance healthcare outcomes. His expertise encompasses patient barriers and motivators, recruitment methodology, technology integration with an emphasis on AI, and study simulations, with a particular focus on enhancing clinical trial efficiency through decentralized, patient-centered models. Matt holds a Doctor of Business Administration (DBA) and a Master of Science (MS) in interactive technology.

Erin Grath has over 20 years of experience in the pharmaceutical industry. This experience spans analytical chemistry to chemistry manufacturing and controls to regulatory affairs. Ms Grath joined Merck as part of Regulatory Affairs International in 2012 and beginning in 2015 began focusing much of her time in the unique and developing area of companion diagnostics (CDx). Ms Grath holds a BS in Chemistry (Lafayette College) and a MS in Quality Assurance/Regulatory Affairs (Temple University).

JD Alvarez, MD, PhD is a medical pathologist with over 17 years of experience in oncology drug development. He is currently the Global Head of Companion Diagnostics at Daiichi Sankyo. His team delivers companion diagnostics for all R&D projects. Dr Alvarez previously held leadership roles at GSK and Janssen where his teams developed multiple companion diagnostics critical for oncology drug approvals. Dr Alvarez has also led biomarker laboratories supporting all phases of pharmaceutical discovery and clinical development and driven innovative approaches like digital pathology and liquid biopsy technologies to advance biomarker science. Dr Alvarez obtained an MD and a PhD from the Washington University School of Medicine and completed pathology training at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania.

Sarah Warren, PhD is a Senior Director in Corporate Development at Gilead Science where she leads Search & Evaluation for the Kite cell therapy pipeline. Prior to joining Kite in 2022, she built and led the Translational Sciences team at NanoString technologies working on multiplexed RNA and spatial biology platforms for diagnostic and research applications, and she collaborated with investigators across academia, biopharma, nonprofit, and government. She got her start in industry and a founder and Director of Research at Oncofactor Corp, developing therapeutics targeting novel immune checkpoints. Dr. Warren received her PhD in immunology from the University of Washington. She serves as a director-at-large for the Society of Immunotherapy of Cancer, is a mentor for the Creative Destruction Labs computational health stream, and is a section editor for Molecular Pathology at the Journal of Translational Science.

As Chief Medical Officer of Signant Health, Dawie’s deep expertise across multiple therapeutic areas, multinational development leadership, and experience in associated commercial growth support the expanding impact of the Signant Science and Medical team. With over twenty years of experience combining medicine and business, Dawie oversees Signant's scientific and operational strategies.

Kali is a board-certified fellowship-trained ophthalmologist/cornea surgeon, physician scientist and pharmaceutical industry (CMO/clinical development) executive with a career spanning >30 years in Ophthalmology. She has a decade of clinical practice (7 years in academia and 3 years in private practice). Also, a decade in academia and lab research (PhD /post doc in glaucoma/faculty set up own stem cell therapy lab) in Ophtha & CNS neurodegenerative diseases (inherited retinal dystrophies, glaucoma, Parkinson’s disease, cerebellar ataxia) & ocular surface stem cells; assistant professor of ophthalmology at Univ of Pennsylvania for 4 years. The last >11 years, she has been leading as Chief Medical Officer or Clinical development expert multiple clinical trials for gene therapy, cell therapy & LMW programs in inherited retinal dystrophies, age related macular degeneration, ocular surface diseases & glaucoma, strategy, pipeline building and evaluations of companies (DD) in Pharma at Novartis for >8 years and Biotech (Tenpoint, Adverum Biotechnologies,  Diorasis Therapeutics) for >3 years. Currently, she is the principal of Innoviama consulting company, working as fractional CMO for Diorasis Therapeutics, evaluating companies for Venture Capital companies and in relevant projects. She has also completed a business post-bac degree at Wharton U Penn with MBA courses. Kali lives in the Boston area with her husband and is passionate about traveling, swimming, sailing, and dancing.

Victor Goldmacher, CSO of ImmuVia Inc., was a faculty member at Harvard Medical School/DFCI before joining ImmunoGen as a founding scientist. During his 30-year tenure at ImmunoGen, he spearheaded the discovery of three FDA-approved anti-cancer biologics—Kadcyla, Sarclisa, and Elahere—revolutionizing the ADC field and discovered the two major cell death suppressors encoded by Cytomegalovirus. After leaving ImmunoGen and recognizing the central limitations of ADCs, he co-founded ImmuVia, where he has led the development of the next generation of anti-cancer therapeutics beyond ADCs, Cancerlysins TM . ImmuVia’s first drug candidate, IMV-M, demonstrated that selective induction of apoptosis without cytotoxic compounds is possible, paving the way for a groundbreaking new class of therapeutics.

Andrew K Joe, MD joined Mestag Therapeutics as the Chief Medical Officer and current Advisor responsible for the oversight of clinical and regulatory strategy and execution. Prior to Mestag, Dr Joe was the CMO of Meris NV, where he led the development of BIZENGRI® for the treatment of NRG1+ lung cancer and pancreatic cancer, resulting in Merus’ first Biologics License Application approval by the FDA and two Breakthrough Therapy Designations. He also led the development of petosemtamab in head and neck cancer and opened two registrational randomized Phase 3 trials, after completing Phase 1/2 trials and receiving Breakthrough Therapy Designation. Prior to Merus, Dr Joe led the Immuno-Oncology program at Sanofi which included co-development of LIBTAYO® with Regeneron in skin, lung and other cancers. Dr Joe was an Executive Director at Merck, Sharp & Dohme Corp where he led the KEYTRUDA® New Indications Development Team in obtaining the first tumor histology-agnostic drug approval, in Microsatellite Instability-High (MSI-H) cancer, and the first immuno-oncology drug approval in a gynecological malignancy (cervical cancer). Prior to Merck, he was a Senior Medical Director on the ZYKADIA® in ALK+ lung cancer development team at Novartis Pharmaceuticals, as well as an Associate Medical Director and Medical Director on the ZELBORAF® in BRAF-mutant melanoma development team at Hoffman-La Roche. Prior to industry, he was an Assistant Professor of Medicine at Columbia University Irving Medical Center, where he maintains a faculty appointment. Dr Joe earned his MD from Mount Sinai School of Medicine in New York, and he received his BS from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Elizabeth George is Head of Patient Diversity at Labcorp and leads a team focused on advancing health equity leveraging Labcorp’s expertise with diagnostics, clinical trial recruitment and data. Ms George is passionate about enabling equitable outcomes for underserved populations by increasing access to clinical trials, therapeutics, diagnostics, and screening. She has led strategies and solutions to ensure science guides the selection of clinical trial participants at Labcorp and GSK.

Ms George is a strategic leader with proven experience leading large cross functional digital transformational initiatives to transform clinical trials. She has a deep knowledge of pharmaceutical R&D processes and her expertise spans leading and developing transformative business strategies and managing all phases of project lifecycle from conception through product launch. Ms George is a thought leader and has been invited to speak at numerous conferences.

Matt Reaney has spent much of his life in and around the healthcare system. He is a son, spouse and parent of remarkably resilient people who live with chronic diseases that involve significant self-management, and he is passionate about helping them use their voices to inform healthcare decisions. It was with this in mind that he embarked on his first role in Patient-Centered care and Patient-focused research more than 20 years ago. He has held positions in pharmaceutical companies, universities, charities, consultancies and hospitals since – sometimes simultaneously – advocating for the patient voice to be heard in intervention design and testing, and in clinical care decision-making.

In his role at IQVIA, Matt sets scientific direction for the Patient Centered Solutions team and oversees a variety of qualitative and quantitative research projects and patient-focused communication activities. Alongside this role, Matt maintains a variety of other positions including Expert in Residence at the University of Oxford, Scientific Advisory Council member at Breakthrough T1D, Co-chair of the Study Endpoints Committee at the DIA and Guest Lecturer at the Royal Holloway University of London. He is a Chartered and Practitioner Health Psychologist and a Chartered Scientist. He has a PhD and MSc in Health Psychology and a BSc in Psychology and has been awarded a Fellowship by the Royal Society of Medicine, a Fellowship by the Royal Society of Public Health, and an Associate Fellowship by the British Psychological Society.