Shaheen Lakhan, MD, PhD, FAAN, is a physician scientist, biotech executive, and founder of Boricua Bio. He is board certified in neurology and pain medicine and trained at the Cleveland Clinic and Massachusetts General Hospital. Across more than two decades in academic medicine and industry, he has led the discovery, clinical development, and commercialization of innovative therapeutics spanning digital medicine, CNS disorders, immunology, and oncology.

Dr. Lakhan most recently served as Chief Medical and Scientific Officer at Click Therapeutics, where he advanced multiple digital medicines from concept through pivotal trials, regulatory interactions, FDA approvals, and commercial launch planning. He has designed multinational clinical programs, executed major strategic partnerships with global pharmaceutical companies, and built high performing medical, clinical, and regulatory organizations in high growth environments.

A prolific scholar with more than 100 peer reviewed publications, Dr. Lakhan has developed foundational frameworks in digital medicine, closed loop therapeutics, and payer adoption strategies. His work has been featured in leading scientific journals and major media outlets. He is a US Presidential and Congressional awardee and serves as professor at Morehouse School of Medicine, Western University of Health Sciences, and A.T. Still University. He also advises companies and boards on therapeutic strategy, AI enabled clinical development, and next generation neurotechnology.

Dr. Lakhan is committed to expanding therapeutic access and advancing science that meaningfully improves patient lives. At Boricua Bio, he integrates global expertise with island based innovation to accelerate the future of novel medicine.

Martha Gauthier brings over 15 years of qualitative research expertise to her role as Vice President of Patient-Centered Outcomes at Lumanity. A member of the Lumanity Patient Center of Excellence, she provides strategic leadership to ensure patient engagement remains central to the design and validation of clinical outcome assessments. Ms Gauthier work spans diverse therapeutic areas, from dermatology and women’s health to rare pediatric conditions, translating patient experiences into meaningful measures that shape trial design and healthcare decisions.

Mike Patten is Chief Strategy Officer of Harbour BioMed, a global biopharmaceutical company committed to the discovery, development and commercialization of novel antibody therapeutics focusing on immunology and oncology. Mike is responsible for formulating and overseeing the global growth and business development strategies for Harbour BioMed. He leads efforts to manage and strengthen Harbour BioMed’s global strategic partner network and ecosystem, with a particular focus on high-potential markets outside of China, further enhancing Harbour BioMed’s global presence.

Mike brings extensive experience and a strong track record in the biopharmaceutical industry. During his tenure at Bristol Myers Squibb, he held several key leadership roles. Most recently, as Head of Equity & Venture Capital, he led and managed several strategic equity investments and LP commitments across the life science ecosystem. Prior, he held roles of increasing seniority in Business Development and Alliance Leadership, successfully executing transactions and managing multiple early- and late- stage business development alliances. In addition, Mike is a board and corporate strategy advisor to several early stage biotechs globally.

Aamir Mecklai is a Managing Director within the Global Healthcare Group, based in New York. Aamir specializes in the pharmaceutical and biotech sector.

Aamir Mecklai is a healthcare investment banker covering global pharmaceutical companies and biotech companies (both public and private). His product focus is on strategic advisory (i.e. M&A and strategic partnerships) and capital issuances (i.e. equity, debt, royalty, and convertibles). Aamir previously worked at Pfizer for 10 years in the global manufacturing / operations division responsible for active pharmaceutical ingredient production.

Aamir holds a B.S. in Chemical Engineering from MIT and an MBA from Kellogg School of Management (Northwestern University).

Holger Kissel, Ph.D., serves as Senior Vice President Scientific Relations & Liaison at BioNTech. Being a part of the Company since 2013, he assumed this role in 2023. With an extensive background in business development and licensing, he is dedicated to advancing global health initiatives and fostering public-private partnerships.

In his previous roles as Vice President Business Alliances and Director Business Development at BioNTech, Holger played a pivotal role in establishing the Company’s extensive corporate and scientific network, resulting in numerous in- and out-licensing deals, including collaborations with Genentech and Pfizer. The latter resulted in the joint development of the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine. Additionally, Holger was responsible for managing key collaborations with pharmaceutical and biotech companies as well as academic partners.

Prior to joining BioNTech, Holger served as the Head of Oncology Program as part of the Global Business Development team at Taconic Biosciences GmbH, where he led strategic initiatives to position the company as a leading contract research organization in pre-clinical cancer research. Holger holds a Ph.D. in Molecular Biology from the University of Hamburg. Conducting research at the Sloan Kettering Institute in New York during his Ph.D. and working as a postdoctoral researcher at Rockefeller University in New York, he brings a wealth of scientific expertise to his role.

Gordon Harris, PhD, is Co-Founder & Chief Science Officer of Yunu. He simultaneously holds roles as a Professor of Radiology at Harvard Medical School and the Director of the 3D Imaging Service, the Radiology Computer-Aided Diagnostics Laboratory, and the Radiology Clinical Trials Program. He is also the co-Director of the Radiology Consulting Group at the Massachusetts General Hospital, and co-Director of the Tumor Imaging Metrics Core for the Dana-Farber/Harvard Cancer Center. Dr. Harris is co-founder of the open-source web-based medical imaging platform, Open Health Imaging Foundation (OHIF). He has published over 150 scientific articles and book chapters.  In addition to developing software and services applying computer analyses of medical images to aid in diagnosis, treatment planning, and clinical trials, his primary research interests include structural and functional brain imaging research in psychiatric and neurologic illnesses including alcoholism and stroke, as well as quantitative tracking of tumors for clinical care and clinical trials. 

Ka-on Li is the co-leader of Jones Day's IP Transactions team. She works closely with clients to successfully structure and execute IP, technology, and commercial transactions to achieve high-stakes business objectives.

She is an experienced IP and technology lawyer whose practice focuses on transactions for clients active in the technology, life sciences, data, food and beverage, retail, financial, apparel, consumer, telecommunications, media, and entertainment fields.

Ka-on drafts and negotiates contracts involving R&D (research and development), collaborations, outsourcing, licensing and commercialization, manufacturing and distribution transactions, software and cloud-related matters, and infrastructure projects. She also advises clients on IP compliance issues, including those arising from the use of open source, AI (artificial intelligence), and big data.

Madison Reider is a patient‑focused, innovative and results-driven leader experienced across R&D, patient insights and digital solutions. She has a proven ability to streamline processes, drive cross‑functional alignment, and deliver scalable systems that make meaningful impact on outcomes for patients. She's previously held roles across patient engagement, feasibility, enrollment planning and study operations at CSL Behring. She holds a Bachelor's degree in Biology and Anthropology from Dickinson College.

Dr. Elyse Seltzer has been Chief Medical Officer of SynOx Therapeutics since October, 2024 where she oversees the development of emactuzumab, as CSF1R inhibitor, for the treatment of Tenosynovial Giant Cell Tumors (TGCT). Her career reflects a wealth of experience and leadership in clinical development, regulatory strategy, and therapeutic expertise across a variety of therapeutic areas. Elyse’s career includes significant contributions in both the biotech industry and public health sectors. Her expertise spans clinical development from early experimental phases through to late-stage trials and commercialization, with a history of successful interactions with regulatory authorities. She most recently served as a Senior Therapeutic Subject Matter Expert at BARDA, where she supported partnerships with biotech and pharmaceutical companies focused on therapeutic development for emerging infectious diseases and acute respiratory distress syndrome. Her background also includes leadership roles as Chief Development Officer at Urogen Pharma, where she led the development and approval of Jelmyto for urologic oncology, and Chief Medical Officer at Nabriva Therapeutics, where she drove the successful approval of Xenleta for the treatment of community-acquired bacterial pneumonia. At GlaxoSmithKline, Elyse held multiple vice president roles, shaping clinical strategies and overseeing a global organization responsible for delivering a diverse R&D portfolio.

Elyse practiced clinical medicine with a specialty in Infectious Diseases prior to transitioning to the biopharmaceutical industry. She lives in Philadelphia with her partner Mark and their Havanese Howie.

Lionel Bascles, PhD, was up to very recently the Senior Vice President and Global Head of Clinical Sciences & Operations at Sanofi. In this role, he was leading a global team of experts contributing to the clinical development of Sanofi Pharma portfolio. Lionel took a new role as of Jan 1st this year as SVP, Head of eDevelopment. This move highlights both Lionel & Sanofi willingness to transform the clinical development paradigm, leveraging AI and digital at scale. The purpose is not digital technology per se. This is about enriching the company pipeline with more promising innovative therapies that can be delivered faster to the patients. It implies keeping human at the center : patients, healthcare providers and industry teams. Lionel sits at the board of TransCelerate consortium. He is also the sponsor of the Sanofi Pride+ sponsor.

Lionel holds a PhD in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, as well as a master's degree in Biochemistry from University Bordeaux II

Paris Barnes, MS, is a senior training specialist with the PATIENTS Program in the Department of Practice, Sciences, and Health Outcomes Research (P-SHOR) at the University of Maryland School of Pharmacy.

Paris holds a Bachelor of Science in Marketing from West Virginia University’s School of Business and Economics and a Master of Science in Medical Cannabis Science and Therapeutics from the University of Maryland School of Pharmacy.

Throughout her career, she has played a key role in facilitating the Affordable Care Act in Maryland, developed statewide data visualizations, and created impactful advertising campaigns. She has also presented nationally on medical cannabis research, served as the Community Liaison for The Eagle Center in Westminster, MD, and volunteered as a grant writer for multiple churches across Maryland.

As a Senior Training Specialist at UMB, Paris remains committed to amplifying the voices of underserved populations. She also plans to continue her research and advocacy efforts to advance the legitimacy and acceptance of medical cannabis.