In April 2022, Mustafa Noor, MD, FACP joined Olatec’s Drug Development Team as Chief Medical Officer. At both large and small pharma companies, Dr Noor has contributed to numerous clinical drug development programs, leading and collaborating with teams in the development of novel therapeutics for inflammation, cardiometabolism, lipid and endocrine disorders as well as rare diseases. From 2001 to 2006, as medical director at Bristol-Myers Squibb, Dr Noor held positions of increasing responsibility in metabolic, cardiovascular, and antiviral programs. From 2006 to 2014 at GSK and at Pfizer he served as vice president and clinical head for GSK’s Center of Excellence in External Drug Discovery and for Pfizer’s Centers for Therapeutic Innovation focusing on open innovation, translational research and collaboration with biotech and academic partners on a portfolio of early-stage programs in indications for inflammatory diseases, including inflammatory bowel disease, rheumatoid arthritis, lupus and sarcoidosis. For the last several years Dr Noor has been a consultant CMO to emerging companies in the Boston/Cambridge area. Dr Noor completed his medical training at the University of Chicago and fellowship training in Endocrinology and Metabolism at the University of California, San Francisco. He holds a Master of Science in Clinical Investigation from Vanderbilt University and is a board-certified Internal Medicine specialist in Endocrinology and Metabolism.

Ajay Sadhwani is an Executive Life Science Professional with over 25 years of clinical research experience. He is a proven leader of cross functional teams and people management of large and small functional groups with a proven track record of successfully leading teams and motivating individuals to perform at their highest level.

Hunter Smith is the Head of Clinical Recruitment at Govig Biopharma and sits alongside a team of 18 tenured recruiters. His education in genetic biology and cellular development coupled with a passion for emerging and revolutionary therapies drive his consultative approach to partnering with the industry's leading organizations. With over 22 years of experience recruiting in the life sciences, the Govig team specializes in establishing and scaling up teams across preclinical, clinical development, clinical operations, medical affairs, pharmacovigilance, and regulatory affairs. Smith's expertise lies largely in VP through C-Suite level searches. Govig deploys organization-specific strategies through a comprehensive approach to recruitment to ensure optimal individual and organizational success.

Patrick Smith, MSc, Lean Certified, Feasibility Manager & Clinical Trial Leader at Scimega, helps to ensure the Scimega mission is fulfilled by leading his team of oncology clinical research professionals to provide 50% quicker site start-up times for these cutting-edge oncology trials in Canada. With 17 years of clinical research experience including his work with the Canadian Cancer Trials Group (CCGT) and with some large CROs, Mr Smith’s area of focus is in lung cancers, GI and brain tumor types as well as hematological malignancies. He received his Master of Science in Pathology and Molecular Medicine from Queen’s University, where he studied synthetic modifications to OC medications in osteoarthritis for the regeneration of cartilage. Mr Smith is a member of the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) and received Lean certification from the world renowned The Lean Six Sigma Company.

Dr Feldman is currently Professor of Oncology and Director of the Early Phase Clinical Trial Program at the Montefiore Einstein Cancer Center. His research centers primarily on developmental therapeutics in cancer, with a focus on antibody-based therapeutics. His clinical background is in hematology and medical oncology with specific training in stem cell transplantation and expertise in the management of patients with myeloid malignancies. In addition to 30+ years in the academic world, He has been Head of Development and Chief Medical Officer at several leading biotech companies, heading the pre-clinical and clinical development of immuno-oncology agents, including bi-specific and multi-specific antibodies in both hematologic malignancies and solid tumors.

Kartik Krishnan joined OncoNano Medicine as their first CMO in June of 2022. He has over 20 years of experience with experimental therapeutics in cancer as both an investigator and sponsor. Prior to OncoNano, Dr Krishnan was CMO of Arcus Biosciences, a discovery and clinical development company focusing on combination therapies in immuno-oncology. At Arcus, Dr Krishnan oversaw a portfolio of agents including both biologics and small molecules at multiple phases of development from first-in-human to Phase 3 and led a diverse group of functions. Prior to Arcus, Dr Krishnan had spent time in clinical development and pharmacovigilance at Astex, FivePrime Therapeutics, BioMarin, Genentech Roche and Amgen. Before joining the biotechnology industry, Dr Krishnan held a faculty position in the Department of Pediatrics at the University of Arizona, with both clinical and primary research responsibilities. Dr Krishnan received his BA in History (with Distinction) from the University of Virginia. He completed his MD and PhD in Cellular, Molecular and Biophysical Studies at Columbia University’s College of Physicians and Surgeons. His PhD studies were completed in the lab of Dr John Krolewski, focusing on JAK/STAT signaling in the interferon pathway. Dr Krishnan trained in pediatrics at UCLA and in pediatric hematology and oncology at Johns Hopkins University and the National Cancer Institute.

Dr Laura Williams is a life science executive with extensive experience as a pharmaceutical drug developer, portfolio strategist and patient advocate. She is a results-oriented, accomplished, executive leader with 25 years of pharmaceutical drug development experience, spanning all clinical phases and across numerous therapeutic areas. She has a proven track-record in drug development, as indicated by her contributions on key regulatory approvals for 8 marketed products, and has strong leadership skills, exemplified in both large and small pharma settings within matrix cross-functional organizations. Dr Williams currently serves as CMO at Ardelyx, where she provides strategic and tactical leadership for clinical development, medical affairs, and patient advocacy, while partnering to assist with regulatory, pharmacovigilance and other business-critical activities. Previously, at AMAG Pharmaceuticals, she served as SVP and Head of Clinical Development and Biostatistics, where she was responsible for two on-market compounds and four investigational-staged assets. Prior to AMAG, she served as VP, Clinical Development at Myovant Sciences, where she oversaw clinical development for an infertility treatment and co-led business development activities to expand the women’s health pipeline. Finally, in her 18-year career at Abbott/AbbVie, she held roles of increasing responsibility, leading clinical development programs across multiple therapeutic areas that spanned all phases of drug development and contributed to the regulatory approval of five investigational compounds. Dr Williams is an Independent Director on the Board of Imara Therapeutics. She also serves as Director on the Advisory Board of the National Kidney Foundation (West Coast), and is a member of Black Women on Boards, Athena Alliance, Chief and National Association of Corporate Directors. Dr Williams received a BS from Mississippi State University and an MD from the University of Iowa. She completed her Internal Medicine residency at University of Michigan, where she also served as the first Black Chief Resident in the Internal Medicine Program. She received a MPH in Epidemiology from the University of Washington, where she also completed subspecialty training in Infectious Diseases, with a focus on HIV and STIs.

As AstraZeneca and Alexion Chief Medical Officer, Cristian Massacesi, MD, is responsible for ensuring that patients, physicians and regulatory agencies are provided with information on the safe and appropriate use of our medicines. He leads patient safety and quality assurance activities for our entire portfolio – from investigational new drugs to established products.

Additionally, as Oncology Chief Development Officer, Dr Massacesi leads AstraZeneca’s late-stage Oncology portfolio of innovative medicines and immunotherapies through global clinical development and regulatory submissions. He oversees a team of clinical development and operations colleagues around the world, who are currently responsible for a broad portfolio of potential medicines, and more than 160 studies spanning multiple oncology indications.

Dr. Aaron Koenig is the Chief Medical Office of Delix Therapeutics, a neuroscience company developing novel neuroplasticity-promoting therapeutics for psychiatric and neurological conditions. Dr. Koenig received his MD from the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine and completed a residency in Adult Psychiatry at Western Psychiatric Institute & Clinic, where he also served as a Chief Resident for Research. Dr. Koenig completed a clinical fellowship in Geriatric Psychiatry at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, followed by a post-doctoral research fellowship in Psychiatric Genetics and Translational Research at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. A diplomate of the American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology (ABPN), Dr. Koenig has been involved in clinical and translational research throughout his career, with a particular focus on the development of treatments for neuropsychiatric disorders with high unmet need. Prior to joining Delix, Dr. Koenig served as Vice President of Early Medical Science at Sage Therapeutics and helped oversee clinical-stage programs targeting a range of neuropsychiatric and neurodegenerative disorders. Prior to Sage, Dr. Koenig served as a clinical investigator at the Massachusetts Alzheimer's Disease Research Center and practiced as a clinician in the MGH Memory Disorders Unit in the Department of Neurology at Massachusetts General Hospital.

Tim Sindelar, MS, has been involved in leading strategy and execution for life science companies for over 5 years. His current role at Canopy Biosciences focuses on increasing accessibility of spatial biology and raising the bar for routine and custom spatial analyses on images acquired using ChipCytometry. Apart from strategy, Mr Sindelar has deep experience in GPCR drug discovery and plant space biology.

Arvin is the Chief Medical Officer at Pheon. He was previously the CMO at Mersana in addition to spending over a decade at Bristol Myers Squibb in a variety of leadership roles focused on early and late-stage clinical development of oncology, hematology, and immuno-oncology therapies. Arvin received a B.A. from Rutgers College and M.D. and Ph.D. degrees from Rutgers Robert Wood Johnson Medical School and completed training in internal medicine at Beth Israel Deaconess, Harvard Medical School and in oncology at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center.

Dr Edwin Rock joined GlycoMimetics in 2022 as Chief Medical Officer after 16 years in biopharma roles of increasing responsibility. Most recently he was Chief Medical Officer at Partner Therapeutics. Previously, at MacroGenics he led the program culminating in FDA approval of MargenzaTM. Dr Rock has worked in biopharma on small molecules and biologics in all stages of development and marketing authorization. These agents include BusulfexTM, Dacogen®, Inqovi®, Jynarque®, Leukine®, MargenzaTM, Nucala, and Sprycel®, as well as investigational ASTX-660, GNX-8, guadecitabine, lorigerlimab, the MAGE-A3 cancer vaccine, OPB-31121, OPB-51602, OPB-111077, retifanlimab, tebotelimab, VEGF-dAB-Fc and others not disclosed. Prior to working in clinical drug development, he worked for 2 years as an FDA Medical Officer in oncology drug review, as well as for a year as a life sciences buy-side analyst at Leerink Swann and Company. Dr Rock holds a BA in Biology and Economics from Swarthmore College. He earned PhD then MD degrees at Stanford before completing Internal Medicine residency at Brigham and Women’s Hospital and Medical Oncology fellowship at the University of Pennsylvania.