2012 Alumnae Committee

2012 Alumnae Committee:

Christine Adamow	Danguole Altman	Rajni Aneja	Sonia Ben-Yehuda	Pamela Bunes	Kathleen Callender	Nadine Carozzi
Sheila DeWitt	France Dixon Helfer	Debra Ellies	Joan Fallon	Bonnie Fendrock	Barbara Fox	Dimitra Georganopoulou
Irene Hrusovsky	Tanya Kanigan	Iya Khalil	Cynthia Lander	Roberta Lee	Rebecca Mackinnon	Christine Meda
Carol Nacy	Julia O'Conner	Nancy Parenteau	Gitte Pederson	Joanne Rohde	Mira Sahney	Ginette Serrero
Heather Strohl-Keith	Audra Stinchcomb	Laura Strong	Liat Tsoref	Kay Wagoner	Galit Zuckerman

Christine Adamow
CEO, EurphorbUS, LLC

Christine has over 20 years of experience founding, managing, and operating start-up and early-stage companies. In 2006, she was the principle consultant for the start-up of three software companies in East Africa. She is a trained Biochemist and Finance Professional. Her US experience includes the design and strategy plan for the Miami Center for Innovation and Commercialization (Miami University, Ohio). She founded eCent Technology Inc in 1998 and served as its president through 2003. Ms. Adamow was Founder, President & CEO of National Corporate Health Services, a privately held software company that developed and marketed a decision support risk management solution. Ms. Adamow is a seasoned executive, holding the office of President for three start-up firms and one service firm. During these tenures, she attracted start-up and early-stage funding through private placement offerings. She held executive management positions at Alexander & Alexander, an international insurance brokerage firm, and US Trust, where she was an institutional banking officer. Christine has lived and worked in East Africa since 2006 and is considered an expert in the Biofuel Industry in Sub Saharan Africa. Ms. Adamow completed a Bachelor’s degree from Simmons College and Masters degrees from Columbia University, Boston University, and Framingham State College in Corporate Finance, Strategic Planning and Biochemistry, respectively.

Danguole Altman
President & CEO, Vapogenix Inc.

Ms. Altman currently serves as the President, CEO and Director of Vapogenix Inc., a company which she founded with Drs. Burton and Phan. Ms. Altman has more than 20 years of health care experience, most recently as an entrepreneur working with early stage companies. She was previously the President and CEO of FemPartners, a venture-backed women’s health care firm that she cofounded and grew to more than $70 million in practice revenues. Before that, Ms. Altman was employed as a consultant with McKinsey & Co. She obtained her B.A. in Economics from Harvard University, followed by an MBA from the Yale School of Management. She currently serves on the Board of FemPartners, the Advisory Board of the Women Business Leaders of the U.S. Health Care Industry Foundation and the boards of several not-for-profit organizations. In 2008, she was honored as one of Houston’s Women on the Move by Texas Executive Women.

Rajni Aneja
Vice President, zuChem Inc.

Ms. Aneja is currently the Vice President at ZuChem, Inc. Before joining ZuChem, she was the Vice President of Corporate Development at MediChem Life Sciences. While there, she had an instrumental role in the merger between MediChem and ThermoGen and negotiated MediChem's strategic alliance with Degussa AG, a global fine chemicals manufacturer. She has more than twenty years of experience in commercializing early stage life sciences products and previously held positions with Onyx Pharmaceuticals, Ligand Pharmaceuticals, Abbott Laboratories and ARCH Development Corporation. She was a recipient of I-Street's 2003 "Women in Black" award, which recognizes outstanding contributions to the Chicago entrepreneurial community. She holds a M.B.A. in Business Economics and Finance from the University of Chicago's Graduate School of Business.

Sonia Ben-Yehuda
President, MedCPU Inc.

Ms. Ben-Yehuda is a successful entrepreneur with more than 13 years of experience in health information technology and more than 20 years of experience as a business manager, having founded, managed and successfully sold several companies. Ms. Ben-Yehuda coordinated an investment in E&C Medical Intelligence, joining its board of directors in 2001. She was elected president of E&C in 2002, where she worked closely with Dr. Eyal Ephrat. Ms. Ben-Yehuda was responsible for growing the company’s client base from two hospitals to 40 over her four-year tenure. She is currently the President of MedCPU Inc.

Pamela Bunes
CEO, President & Director, EpiEP Inc.

Ms. Bunes is the CEO, President and Director of EpiEP, Inc. She also served as CEO and President of Signalife Inc. from 2005 until 2007. Before that, Ms. Bunes held various positions at Ethicon Endo-Surgery, Inc., Biosense Webster and the First Union Bank. Ms. Bunes' 15-year career with Johnson & Johnson included senior positions in various business units of the Dow Component Company. Ms. Bunes also served as Chairman of Recom Managed Systems Inc. until August 17, 2007 and its Director since March 22, 2005. Ms. Bunes has Bachelors of Arts degree with double majors in Economics and Business Administration (Finance) from Converse College in Spartanburg, South Carolina.

Kathleen Callender
Founder & President at Large, PharmaJet

Ms. Callender has 35 years of experience in clinical health care, patient care and international medical social work. She teaches and trains nurses and health care workers and champions our mission around the world. She received her BS from the University of Missouri.

Nadine Carozzi
VP Product Development, Athenix Corp.

Ms. Carozzi currently serves as the Vice President of Product Development at Athenix Corp., a company that she founded in 2001. Ms. Carozzi was an integral part of the team that developed the world's first commercial transgenic corn for Novartis, and she also served as a worldwide group leader for the introgression of transgene traits across multiple crops for global commercialization, a position where she was responsible for both research and product development. Ms. Carozzi has 19 years experience in biotechnology. She received her B.S. in microbiology from the University of Illinois and her M.S. in molecular biology from the University of Florida.

Sheila DeWitt
President, Founder & Acting CEO, Deuteria Pharmaceuticals Inc.

Dr. DeWitt, President & Acting CEO of Deuteria Pharmaceuticals, Inc., is leading the advancement of deuterium-enriched drugs to improve the efficacy or side effect profile of marketed drugs or clinical candidates. With over 20 years of business development and R&D experience in both pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies, including FMC, Parke-Davis, Diversomer Technologies, Orchid Biosciences, ArQule, and EPIX Pharmaceuticals, Dr. DeWitt has successfully lead and managed organizations through start-up, M&A, restructuring, and alliances. Most recently, in her role as VP of Business Development, Discovery and Manufacturing at EPIX, Dr. DeWitt successfully managed a $125M merger between EPIX and Predix Pharmaceuticals and provided global leadership for programs from discovery through Phase 2. Prior to EPIX, Dr. DeWitt led operations for Business Units at both Orchid and ArQule, resulting in achievement of milestones, profitability, and multiple mutually beneficial M&A initiatives. In addition to having appeared in numerous publications, patents, and presentations, Dr. DeWitt is internationally recognized as a scientific pioneer in combinatorial chemistry from the scientific contributions she made while at Parke-Davis and Diversomer Technologies. Dr. DeWitt received her Ph.D. in Synthetic Chemistry from Duke University and her B.A. in Chemistry from Cornell University.

France Dixon Helfer
President & CEO, Neomatrix HALO

Ms. Helfer is a 30 year veteran of the medical device industry, with 20 years experience in executive management roles. She has worked for industry leaders like Medtronic, J&J, Sorin and Pfizer-Shiley, as well as a number of smaller companies where she held management roles including founder, CEO & President, COO in departments like International Sales & Marketing, Business & Corporate Development, M&A, R&D and Engineering. As a serial entrepreneur, Ms. Helfer has raised over $50M in angel and VC financing and has served on various boards as both a member and an observer. She is Founder & CEO of Epicardial Technologies, a start-up company in cardiac electrophysiology and is a frequent presenter at management conferences in the life sciences. Her education in biological sciences is from CSU Fullerton, with graduate school in business management from University of Redlands. She has had advanced R&D training at USC and UCI.

Debra Ellies
Founder, OsteoGeneX

In 2006 Dr. Ellies founded OsteoGeneX Inc (OGX), and has worked with advisors to develop a unique business strategy for the company. Prior to launching OGX, Dr Ellies was part of Stowers Medical Research Institute in Kansas City, MO, where she was a key scientist in the epochal discovery of Sclerostin as a modulator of the WNT pathway. Dr. Ellies was also part of the scientific team which discovered that the CCN family also functioned via WNT signaling. Furthermore, Ellies & Krumlauf were the first to report that Sclerostin blocking antibodies function by blocking Sclerostin action on the WNT pathway. Prior to her work at Stowers, Dr. Ellies conducted basic research on the developmental significance of programmed cell death and managed a laboratory at Ottawa Civic Hospital in Ottawa, Canada. In addition to her remarkable successes in the laboratory, Dr. Ellies co-founded the Brian Ellies Esophageal Cancer Prevention Fund, which works to educate the public and promote awareness of esophageal cancer prevention. Dr. Ellies is the author of several international key scientific manuscripts in the area of signal transduction, and holds of a number of patents. Dr. Ellies is the Chair of the Executive Committee and Industrial Co-Director of the Kansas Center for Biomaterials Innovation and Design (KCBID). She received her Ph.D. from Guy’s Hospital London, UK.

Joan Fallon
CEO, Curemark LLC

Dr. Fallon is currently the CEO of Curemark LLC, a position where she applies her expertise in visionary science and its application to multiple disease targets. Throughout her career, Dr. Fallon has worked to research autism and related disorders as well as to bring her findings to a platform for commercialization, and she filed her first patent application in 1999. Dr. Fallon has both clinical and academic experience. As a seasoned clincian, she worked as a pediatric chiropractor for 25 years, specializing in pediatric development. She taught anatomy, physiology and developmental biology as an assistant professor of natural science and mathematics at Yeshiva University, in addition to lecturing about pedictaric development around the world. Dr. Fallon served on the advisory board for Oxford health plans, as well as on the boards of numerous not for profits.Dr. Fallon’s discovery of the biomarker for autism and ADHD and her vast array of the intellectual property in the area of gastrointestinal secretory deficiencies, forms the basis of Curemark. As a pediatric specialist she was one of the first physicians of any type to enter Romania and to help determine the condition of the Romanian orphanages. She served as an advisor to the NewYork Yankees regarding disability services for the new Yankee Stadium. She has a BA from Franklin and Marshall College, a DC degree from Palmer University, and has completed her work for the MSC in clinical investigation from Harvard University’s joint program with Massachusetts General Hospital.

Bonnie Fendrock
President & CEO, Hepregen Corporation

Ms. Fendrock is the Co-founder, President and CEO of Hepregen Corporation. Ms. Fendrock comes to Hepregen with more than twenty years of commercial experience in the life sciences industry. As Vice President at Genzyme Corporation, Ms. Fendrock was responsible for the commercial planning and market launch of biosurgical products to treat post operative adhesions. Prior to Genzyme, Ms. Fendrock held positions as Director of Business Development at Somatix, Inc., and Project Manager at the Genetics Institute (now Wyeth). Ms. Fendrock also has been a business consultant for the Harvard-MIT Division of Health Sciences and Technology, the Biomedical Enterprise Program (a collaboration with The Sloan School at MIT) and Acusphere, Inc. Ms. Fendrock holds a B.A. in molecular biology from Wellesley College, a S.M. degree from MIT in interdisciplinary science and an M.B.A. from The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania.

Barbara Fox
CEO, Avaxia Biologics

Dr. Fox is an experienced entrepreneur and scientist. Prior to her position at Avaxia Biologics, she was the founder, President and Chief Scientific Officer of Recovery Pharmaceuticals, a company developing and marketing medications for the treatment of addiction. Before founding Recovery Pharmaceuticals in 1998, she was Vice President, Immunology at ImmuLogic Pharmaceutical Corp. She joined ImmuLogic in 1993, having served on the faculty of the University Maryland School of Medicine, Baltimore, as Associate Professor of Medicine with tenure in the Division of Rheumatology and Clinical Immunology, Dept. of Medicine. Dr. Fox received her B.A. in Chemistry from Bryn Mawr College and her Ph.D. in Chemistry from MIT. Dr. Fox trained as a post-doc in cellular immunology at the NIH.

Dimitra Georganopoulou
VP of R&D, Ohmx Corporation

Ms. Georganopoulou joined Ohmx in 2005 and has over 13 years of experience in sensors, biosensors and electrochemical biosensors. Specifically, she has background and experience with ion sensors, gas sensors, solvent sensors, glucose sensors for diabetics and head trauma patients, as well as nanoparticle based DNA and protein sensors for the detection of HIV, prostate cancer and Alzheimer's disease. Ms. Georganopoulou has also worked as a consultant for Inverness Medical Technology and Nanosphere, and she is currently heading the Ohmx R&D development of integrated sensors for point-of-care diagnostics and home monitoring. Ms. Georganopoulou was also recently appointed an Adjunct Professor of Chemical and Biological Engineering at Northwestern University. She is the author of numerous peer-reviewed publications and is an expert in the field of analytical electrochemistry, nanotechnology and biotechnology.

Irene Hrusovsky
President & CEO, EraGen Biosciences Inc.

Dr. Hrusovsky is the Chairman, President, and CEO of EraGen Biosciences Inc. When she joined EraGen in 2002, Dr. Hrusovsky brought over 25 years of diverse experience in general business management and medical leadership. She has extensive business experience in both diagnostics and pharmaceuticals and has won numerous awards acknowledging her leadership and entrepreneurial skills. In her most recent position prior to joining EraGen, she served as Vice President of general medicine/medical marketing strategy/clinical operations at GlaxoSmithKline. Before her position at Glaxo, Dr. Hrusovsky spent over 20 years at Abbott Laboratories, where she held various executive management positions in pharmaceuticals, clinical diagnostics, licensing and business development and in various internal business venture groups. Dr. Hrusovsky is a board certified pediatrician who received both her B.S. in Biochemistry and Genetics and her M.D. from the University of British Columbia in Vancouver. She serves on the Technology Council and Investment Committee for Phenomenelle Angels Fund.

Tanya Kanigan
Chief Operating Officer, Genomic Expression Inc.
Principal and Founder, Proof of Market

Tanya is a cross-disciplinary scientist/entrepreneur/business professional with significant business development experience in the areas of molecular diagnostics, genomics and pharmaceutical drug discovery. As cofounder of a successful MIT spinout, she played a key role in inventing, developing and commercializing novel technology for life science research. Tanya has been recognized for having broad scientific expertise, excellent communication, presentation and organizational skills. She was also an inventor on six issued U.S. patents and additional pending applications.

Iya Khalil
EVP & Co-Founder, Gene Network Sciences, Inc.

A frequent speaker at industry events and conferences, Iya has extensive experience in reverse engineering and forward simulations of large-scale genetic and biochemical networks. She is an inventor on a number of pending patents and has published multiple articles on in silico technologies applied to drug discovery and development. Prior to joining GNS Healthcare, she worked at Cornell University, University of Washington, and Abbott Labs. Iya holds a B.S. in physics from the University of Washington and a Ph.D. in physics from Cornell University.

Cynthia Lander
Founder, Chairman & CEO, Moerae Matrix Inc.

Dr. Lander, Founder, Chairman and CEO of Moerae Matrix, has overseen the development of the comany since its inception. She was a Partner in Nascent Enterprises, LLC, a venture catalyst partnership commercializing medical device inventions, with 21 companies created to date. Via Cynapse Consulting, LLC, Dr. Lander served as interim management and/or strategic consultant to numerous venture capital and development-stage biotechnology, device and diagnostics company clients, focusing on commercial opportunity assessment, corporate, product and market development strategy and operations. Dr. Lander was Senior Vice President, Group Account Director at Saatchi & Saatchi/Publicis Groupe, where her responsibilities included business development and brand and marketing strategy for pharmaceutical and biotechnology clients. She received her PhD in Neuroscience from Yale University and conducted post-doctoral research at Rockefeller University as a Revson Fellow.

Roberta Lee
President & CEO, Acueity Healthcare Inc.

Ms. Lee is the CEO and Founder of Manoa Medical and is a serial entrepreneur/M.D.specializing in breast surgery. Manoa Medical is a medical device company created to improve the accuracy of surgical procedures in the breast. Manoa has developed proprietary devices and methods for the minimally invasive excision of lesions and associated diseased ducts. In addition, Manoa has developed a proprietary method of cutting tissue that will not have the problems associated with radiofrequency energized cutting.

Rebecca Mackinnon
Partner, 5th Dimension Strategies LLC

Ms. MacKinnon holds an Executive M.B.A. from the University of Missouri and a B.S. in Agriculture from Kansas State University. Prior to her position at 5th Dimension Strategies, she was the Founder/CEO of a high-growth, venture-backed healthcare technology business called BeyondNow Technologies, Inc. Over a period of 10 years, Ms. MacKinnon successfully led BeyondNow Technologies, Inc. through multiple financings, new product releases and aggressive expansions in market share until the company was acquired in 2003 by a large public company serving the broader healthcare information technology market. Ms. MacKinnon is a serial entrepreneur, having co-founded three businesses since her successful exit from BeyondNow Technologies, Inc. Most recently, she has worked as a business consultant with numerous entrepreneurial emerging ventures, each in search of a voice in the market, operational competency and a sustainable business model.

Christine Meda
President, Response Genetics

Ms. Meda has been President of Response Genetics, Inc. since February 7, 2011. Ms. Meda also founded RxDxLink and serves as its President. She has 30 years of experience in strategic partnering, operations and marketing. She served as the Chief Executive Officer and President of Arcxis Biotechnologies, Inc. since August 2008. Prior to that, Ms. Meda served as the President of Diamics, Inc., since January, 2007 and also served as its COO, providing strategic product commercialization and financing guidance to a number of diagnostic-focused companies. Ms. Meda also served as Vice President of Business Development and Vice President of the Women's Health portfolio of Roche Molecular Systems, a division of Hoffman-LaRoche. She directed the launches of real-time PCR diagnostic products for Chlamydia, Human Papillomavirus (HPV), Herpes Simplex virus and Strep B. Ms. Meda served as Senior Director of the CNS portfolio of Schering AG pharmaceuticals, where she oversaw life cycle and marketing activities for Betaseron, a multiple sclerosis treatment and as Medical Affairs Director, responsible for clinical trials for their hematological oncology drugs: Fludara, CamPath and Leukine. She held executive positions with Bio-Rad Laboratories, Meridian Diagnostics and Diagnostic Products Corporation (now Siemens). Ms. Meda earned a B.S. from State University of New York, Potsdam Campus and has completed numerous executive development programs at Diagnostic Products, Schering AG and Roche.

Carol Nacy
CEO, Sequella Inc.

Dr. Nacy co-founded Sequella in 1997 and has served as the CEO and Chairman of it's Board since 1999. Prior to devoting herself full-time to Sequella, Dr. Nacy served during 1997 and 1998 as part-time Chief Scientific Officer (CSO) for Anergen, Inc., a California company focused on autoimmune diseases, where she reorganized the scientific staff and positioned the company for acquisition by Corixa Corporation in December 1998. From 1993 through 1997, Dr. Nacy was Executive Vice President and CSO at EntreMed, Inc., serving that company through its successful public offering in June 1996. Prior to that, Dr. Nacy was Career Scientist (GS-15) and Science Manager at the Walter Reed Army Institute of Research, Washington, DC. In addition to her service to Sequella, Dr. Nacy currently serves as a member of the board of directors of several companies and non-profit agencies. She maintains strong ties to the scientific research community, serving as President of the 43,000 member American Society for Microbiology in 1996 and on the Board of the National Academy of Science, National Research Council from 1996-2003.

Julia O'Conner
CEO, Accelalox Inc.

Julie brings to Accelalox the business development skills to build our relationships with pharmaceutical and orthopaedic device companies. She is a seasoned executive with senior management experience in four previous early stage companies where she completed numerous equity financings, strategic partnerships and acquisitions. She also has experience as a consultant to early stage companies, as a venture capitalist and as an investment banker. She has an MBA from Stanford University.

Nancy Parenteau
Co-Founder/Managing Member, Parenteau BioConsultants LLC

Dr. Parenteau is a biotechnology pioneer and award-winning biologist with over 20 years of experience as a senior industry executive, including the advance of first-in-class bioscience from concept to the market. She is the former Senior Vice President ad CSO of Organogenesis and was co-founder and CEO of a biotech start-up, Amaranth Bio, Inc. Dr. Parenteau has operated at technology's cutting edge throughout her career, from her academic beginnings in monoclonal antibody research in its earliest days while at Georgetown where she developed a novel ELISA assay commercialized while a Harvard postdoc, to pioneering the first living product to achieve clinical trial success and US FDA approval. Dr. Parenteau's technological innovation and product achievements were recognized with the prestigious "R&D 100" award in 1990 for a sophisticated in vitro test system and a "Best of Biotech" award in 2000 for a tissue engineered cell therapy that remains the leading cell therapy today after blood transfusion. Dr. Parenteau is listed in Who's Who in America and has served on the Chemical Sciences Roundtable of the National Research Council. She is an internationally recognized thought leader in cell therapy. Drawing from her successful experience as a scientific innovator, Dr. Parenteau co-founded Parenteau BioConsultants in September of 2005 to focus on analyzing, communicating, developing and supporting industry practices that can reduce the development risk of novel technology and increase the efficiency and effectiveness of bioscience R&D.

Gitte Pederson
CEO and Founder, Genomic Expression

Ms. Pedersen has more than 20 years of management level experience in the biotech/pharma industry. Prior to founding Genomic Expression, she spent ten years at Novo Nordisk in a number of executive positions, successfully developing and launching new products, developing and implementing new marketing strategies. She ahas worked in Europe, the USA and India, and advised a number of biotech and governmental institutions resulting in numerous licensing and equity deals with companies such as GSK, JnJ, Merck, P&G, Wyeth, Takeda, SR-One and Phoenix IP Venture. Her aggregated deal resume is north of $1 billion. GEx is Ms. Pedersen’s 3rd start-up experience. Ms. Pedersen holds a Master in Chemical Engineering & Business Degree.

Joanne Rohde
Founder & CEO, Axial Exchange

Joanne brings 30 years of relevant experience growing companies using disruptive business models as CEO of Axial. Former COO and Director of Health IT Strategy of Red Hat, she supervised revenue growth from $100 to $500 million. As CIO of UBS Investment Banking IT, she managed a $1 billion annual budget and 1,500 mission-critical systems. Joanne is a seasoned Global Executive in the fields of Finance, Open Source and Information Technology. She also specializes in high growth companies, disruptive business models, and solving major industry issues.

Mira Sahney
General Manager, Gynecology Business at Smith & Nephew Endoscopy

As General Manager, Ms. Sahney leads the women's health business within Smith & Nephew Endoscopy. Previously, Ms. Sahney served as President at Myomo, Inc., a privately held NeuroRobotics medical device startup. Ms. Sahney analyzed a $1.5B vertical supply chain across multiple organizations to identify system-wide improvement opportunities in her role as Global Supply Chain Engineer at Agilent Technologies. Mira is a graduate of MIT Sloan MBA student and Fellow in the Leaders for Manufacturing (LFM) program at MIT. Mira also has an MS in Mechanical Engineering Design from Stanford University.

Ginette Serrero
CEO, A&G Pharmaceutical

Dr. Serrero is the CEO of A&G Pharmaceutical, which she co-founded in 2000 based on her discovery of the GP88/PGRN growth factor protein and her pioneering research demonstrating its importance in the tumorigenesis of many cancers. Under her leadership, A&G has advanced seven new therapeutic and diagnostic product candidates into preclinical and clinical development, including two breast cancer diagnostics nearing FDA approval. With more than 25 years of research and development experience in the fields of cell biology and biochemistry, Dr. Serrero is a recognized leader in the field of cancer biology research and development, with particular expertise in cell differentiation, growth factors, adipocyte differentiation, and breast cancer. She is an Adjunct Professor at the University Of Maryland School Of Pharmacy and at the University Of Maryland School Of Medicine. Prior to founding A&G, Dr. Serrero was a Professor at the University Of Maryland School Of Pharmacy and a Professor in the Program in Oncology at the University of Maryland Greenebaum Cancer Center. Before that, she was Senior Scientist at the W. Alton Jones Cell Science Center in Lake Placid. She has published more than 80 papers, invited chapters, and reviews and is the inventor on 40 issued patents and more than 100 pending applications related to obesity and cancer molecular targets. Dr. Serrero is the Associate Editor of In Vitro Cell and Developmental Biology. She is the 2006 recipient of the Greater Baltimore Life Sciences Entrepreneurial Spirit Award and is an advisory board member of the Maryland Industrial Partnerships Program and of the Greater Baltimore Technology Council. Dr. Serrero received a PhD in Biochemistry from the University of Marseille and a DSc in Cell Biology from the University of Nice.

Audra Stinchcomb
Chief Scientific Officer & Founder, AllTranz Inc.

Dr. Stinchcomb is the founder of AllTranz Inc. and the Chief Scientific Officer of the company. She is also an Associate Professor in the Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences at the University Of Kentucky College Of Pharmacy. Dr. Stinchcomb obtained her Ph.D. in Pharmaceutics in 1995 from The University of Michigan College of Pharmacy. She gained postdoctoral experience at the University of California, San Francisco in the Department of Biopharmaceutical Sciences and Pharmaceutical Chemistry. She was an Assistant Professor at the Albany College of Pharmacy in Albany, NY from 1996-2001. At the University Of Kentucky College Of Pharmacy, Dr. Stinchcomb was an Assistant Professor (2001-2005) and is now an Associate Professor (2005- ) in the Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences.

Heather Strohl-Keith
Founder & CEO, Strohl Medical Technologies Inc.

Ms. Keith, founder and CEO of Strohl Medical, has 16 years of medical device marketing and sales experience. She has worked at both large and small companies in the areas of manufacturing, QA/QC, and product management, marketing management and sales management. She built the sales team and grew revenues at a medical device start-up from launch to > $13MM in 2.5 years. Heather received Bachelor of Science degrees in Biology and Business Administration from Gordon College, and received her M.B.A. from Boston University.

Laura Strong
President & COO, Quintessence Biosciences Inc.

Laura E. Strong, Ph.D., serves the Quintessence Biosciences as President and Chief Operating Officer. In this position, Dr. Strong is responsible for developing and executing the product development plan and overseeing the development of the human clinical plans for the Company’s drug products. Dr. Strong is also responsible for developing relationships with current and future customers and collaborators. She writes about cancer drug development, equity investing and other relevant topics at The Next Element blog. As a National Institutes of Health pre-doctoral fellow, Dr. Strong earned a Ph.D. in organic chemistry at the University of Wisconsin–Madison. While at the University of Wisconsin, Dr. Strong was responsible for leading a team in developing multivalent drugs using synthetic polymers to address the impact of multimerization (aggregation) of cell-surface receptors in biological processes related to disease states including cancer. Dr. Strong is co-author of fourteen publications and co-inventor on four patents. She has completed Executive Education coursework at the University of Wisconsin–Madison Business School in Financial and Project Management.

Liat Tsoref
CEO & Co-Founder, Slender Medical Ltd.

Dr. Liat Tsoref is a Co-Founder and the CEO of Slender Medical Ltd., a developer of ultrasonic devices for aesthetic and dermatologic conditions. Dr. Tsoref is a veteran Med-Tech executive. She served in several senior management positions including Vice President of Research and Development at Sunlight Medical, a leading provider of ultrasonic devices for bone assessment. She also worked as Director of Business Development at EarlySense a provider of EverOn™ an innovative, contact-free, continuous patient monitoring system transforming the healthcare in the general wards of hospitals worldwide.

Kay Wagoner
Co-founder, President, Director & CEO, Icagen Inc.

Dr. Wagoner is a co-founder of Icagen Inc. and serves as presiden, director, and chief executive officer. Prior to founding Icagen, Dr. Wagoner served in research management positions at Glaxo Inc. where she initiated and led Glaxo’s U.S. ion channel discovery efforts in central nervous system, cardiovascular and metabolic disease. In 2001, Dr. Wagoner received the distinguished alumna award for science and business from the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill. Dr. Wagoner also serves or has served on a variety of boards of directors, including the University of North Carolina’s Graduate School Advisory Board and the Governing Body of the Biotechnology Industry Organization’s (BIO) Emerging Companies Section. In 2004, Dr. Wagoner was awarded the Entrepreneurial Excellence Award by the Research Triangle-based Council for Entrepreneurial Development, the largest entrepreneurial support organization in the United States, and the Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year Regional Award for Life Sciences and Healthcare. In 2007, Dr. Wagoner received the Women in Bio outstanding achievement award for excellence in capital raising. Dr. Wagoner received her Ph.D. in physiology from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Galit Zuckerman
Founder & CEO, Medasense Biometrics Ltd.

Ms. Zuckerman brings Medasense over 10 years of engineering and management experience in the Israeli high-tech industry. Previously she led a team of algorithms engineers at Applied Materials, worked at Nokia-Siemens, Nice Systems, and as a consultant for several start-up companies in the field of signal and image processing. Ms. Zuckerman holds an M.Sc. degree in Electrical Engineering (cum laude) from Tel-Aviv University.