Jamie Goldfarb was diagnosed with Stage IV melanoma in January 2011, when her son was just 11 weeks old. Upon diagnosis, her oncologist told her that he would do everything in his power to buy her 6 more months. Ms Goldfarb joined a clinical trial at the National Cancer Institute (NCI) and is now completely disease-free. Having worked in patient recruitment for 8 years and having her own life saved by a clinical trial, Ms Goldfarb's personal mission is to spread information about the importance of medical research as far and wide as possible. To this end, she is involved with the Melanoma Research Alliance, the Melanoma Research Foundation, the Melanoma International Foundation, CISCRP, the Alliance for Regenerative Medicine, the Association of Clinical Research Professionals, and Imerman Angels. She also serves as a research advocate for NCI, and works one-on-one with people with cancer to help them navigate their treatment options, including clinical trials.

Ylenia Paleari, PhD, is a rare disease expert with almost a decade of experience in the industry. She has worked at Chiesi Farmaceutici SpA for five years, leading the Global Rare Diseases R&D Patient Engagement team. Her team is responsible for incorporating the patient perspective into every aspect of the drug development process. With her deep knowledge of the rare disease space and experience in academia and industry, Dr Paleari is committed to translating basic scientific research into effective therapeutic interventions. She has held various positions in academia and industry and moved from pre-clinical to clinical research. In addition to her work at Chiesi, Dr Paleari serves as a local patient association board member dedicated to raising awareness about rare cancers. Dr Paleari is passionate about making a positive impact in patients' lives, and her work reflects that dedication.

Accomplished professional with over 20 years of experience in clinical research in various roles (Clinical Operations, GCP Compliance, Transparency and Disclosure and Digital Innovation). Ms Minetti is currently working at Chiesi Farmaceutici in the R&D Global Clinical Development department, where she most recently started in her new position as Patient Research Partner, responsible for building and integrating a more patient-informed approach in clinical development

Mythili Koneru, MD, is Chief Medical Officer of Legend Biotech, charged with overseeing all clinical development and medical affairs activities.

Michael E. Meyers, is Vice Chairman, Head of M&A and Strategic Advisory Services at H.C. Wainwright & Co. Mr. Meyers has ~30 years of public health, investment banking, venture capital, asset management and operating experience in healthcare, with an emphasis on the life sciences and health care delivery. Over the course of his career, Mr. Meyers has advised on ~ $150 billion of strategic and financial transactions, the latter spanning the capital structure, including royalty financings. Previously, Mr. Meyers was Head of Investment Banking with T.R. Winston & Company; CEO and CIO of Arcoda Capital Management; Managing Director, Partner and Member of the Board of Global Biomedical Partners AG, a life sciences venture capital firm; Director of healthcare investment banking with Merrill Lynch & Co.; Vice President of Health Care Investment Banking with Cowen & Company; and a research associate with Hambrecht & Quist. Mr. Meyers serves on the Board of Trustees of the Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center, and the University of Southern California’s Board of Councilors for the Stevens Center for Innovation and School of Dramatic Arts. Mr. Meyers holds an M.P.H. in Health Policy and Management from Columbia University, and an A.B. in Biology from Brandeis University.

Dr William Jia got his PhD from University of British Columbia (UBC) in Canada in 1991. He later held a tenured professorship at UBC, leading a molecular virology and gene therapy laboratory till 2019.

Dr Jia was among the first group of scientists to use tumor specifically replicable oncolytic viruses to treat cancers. Dr Jia and his team later developed a transcription and translation dual regulation mechanism for oncolytic HSV to enhance the safety without attenuation of oncolytic activity. He is the Co-founder and Chief Scientific Officer of Virogin to develop oncolytic virotherapy and novel mRNA vaccines. Three oncolytic virus products have been in clinical trials in both the USA and China.

Dr Pete DeMuth is a founding scientist at Elicio and currently serves as Chief Scientific Officer, leading the development of technology platforms for cancer immunotherapeutics from early research to clinical development. To this role, he brings over 15 years of experience in oncology, immunology and materials science.

Prior to joining Elicio, Dr DeMuth oversaw efforts to develop novel technologies for immunotherapy and vaccine development at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s Koch Institute for Integrative Cancer Research in affiliation with the Ragon Institute of Massachusetts General Hospital, MIT and Harvard University, where he received recognition from the National Institutes of Health and the American Chemical Society. In 2015, Dr DeMuth received the Quadrant Award from Quadrant AG, a global manufacturer and innovator in polymer materials science, for research he completed while at the Koch Institute at MIT. Dr DeMuth has also been an NIH Fellow at the Whitehead Institute for Biomedical Research and a research fellow at Novartis Vaccines and Diagnostics. As a Howard Hughes Research Fellow at the University of Maryland, he was awarded the University Medal for his development of advanced technologies for oncology therapeutics.

Livija Deban, PhD, leads the strategic and operational development of Prokarium's immuno-oncology portfolio, focused on bioengineering Living Cures for solid tumors. Before joining Prokarium in 2018, she led the lead selection and immuno-oncology R&D at Oxford BioTherapeutics, focusing on target discovery and the development of immunomodulatory antibodies for cancer treatment. Dr Deban conducted her academic research at Cancer Research UK and holds a PhD in Basic and Applied Immunology.

Ron Korn, MD, PhD, is one of our most recognized board-certified and fellowship-trained radiologists. A scientist at the core, he completed a Doctor of Philosophy degree in Molecular Biology at Albert Einstein College of Medicine, which provided a solid foundation for his Medical training at Stanford School of Medicine followed by postgraduate training at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania. Dr Korn specializes in Nuclear Medicine and Cancer Biology with extensive involvement in clinical research as both a study investigator and clinical publication author that has afforded him in-depth knowledge of the common pitfalls and complex challenges associated with clinical trials. Dr Korn has received public recognition and awards from the American Society of Clinical Oncology, American College of Radiology Imaging Network, Ibis Foundation of Arizona, and received the Top Doctor Award for Radiology and Nuclear Medicine. Though his professional accolades accurately reflect his clinical excellence, his current professional associations, education-based activities, and commitment to clinical research quality make up the core of this professional. As Imaging Endpoints’ Chief Medical Officer, Dr Korn provides the medical perspective, oversight, and leadership that is critical to the services we provide.

Wendy Slavit is a Senior Health Scientist in FDA’s Patient Affairs within the Office of the Commissioner. In her role, she collaborates with patient communities and the FDA medical product Centers to incorporate patient and caregiver perspectives into FDA’s work. Ms Slavit leads and manages FDA’s Patient Engagement Collaborative (PEC). She has over 20 years of experience translating science, health research, and policy into easy to comprehend information for patients, caregivers, and the public. Ms Slavit has a Master of Public Health (MPH) from Emory University and a BA from Tufts University. She is also a Certified Health Education Specialist (CHES).

Co-founder and CEO of Cytovation, Lars Prestegarden is a medical doctor with a PhD in cancer biology from the University of Bergen, in Norway. His academic career includes work at University of California, San Francisco, and Harvard/Brigham and Womens’ Hospital, where he was a Fullbright Fellow. He has also been an Associate Professor at the University of Bergen, from where Cytovation was spun off building on the peptide discovery platform developed in his group. He is the author of several peer-reviewed publications and patents in the field of cancer research.