Speakers
The 2026 List of Faculty by Alphabetical Order
Work in Progress
Jan De Backer
Jan De Backer, PhD, MBA, is Chief Science and Innovation Officer and General Manager North America at Banook, and founder of FLUIDDA and Medimprove. Jan has spent more than 20 years developing and translating advanced technologies for respiratory and cardiopulmonary medicine. His work focuses on quantitative medical imaging, artificial intelligence, in-silico modeling, and biomarker.
Sonalee Barthakur
Sonalee Barthakur, MA, Associate Director, External Innovation, Servier Pharmaceuticals, focused on supporting and growing Servier’s presence in the North American ecosystem by building and strengthening relationships with key players across biotech and academia. Additionally, she will be working on identifying partnership and licensing opportunities for Servier in the fields of neurology and rare diseases across North America
Ariel Berger
Ariel Berger, MPH, is an Executive Director, Integrated Solutions, U.S. Database Analytics with PPD™ Evidera™ Real-World Data & Scientific Solutions (RWD&SS) at Thermo Fisher Scientific in Massachusetts. He helps lead the Database Analytics Business Unit, contributing to internal processes, staff development and training, and development of new customer offerings; he also designs and leads/advises on various RWE and health economics studies, often involving complex methodologies and hybrid designs and disciplines, and strategic initiatives, such as data landscaping and evidence generation planning, and the company’s AI- and technology-enabled offerings in this space.
Leslie Cousens
Senior Director, GI Search & Evaluation Lead, R&D BD Center for External Innovation at Takeda. Leslie is a translational scientist with a passion for catalyzing cutting edge science and technology into clinical application. Experience spans academic, biotech, and large pharma sectors, uniquely equipping me with deep technical expertise and strategic insight to drive drug development from preclinical proof of concept into the clinic.
Sarah Edrie
Sarah Edrie is Executive Director, Applied AI within the Clinical Research Group at Thermo Fisher Scientific, where she focuses on translating emerging AI capabilities into secure, compliant, and scalable solutions for clinical research. An engineering and technology executive with more than 25 years of experience, Sarah has led complex systems and teams across genomics, cybersecurity, education, workforce technology, and enterprise operations.
Vanessa Elharrar
Vanessa Elharrar, MD, MPH. Vice President, Global Medical Officer, Vaccines and Government Services , PPD, part of Thermo Fisher Scientific. She has 18+ years of experience in vaccines and HIV prevention clinical research. Dr. Elharrar joined PPD in 2016 with more than eleven years of experience at the National Institutes of Health where she served as a medical officer, deputy branch chief and director of HIV therapeutics research at the Office of AIDS Research.
Eric J. Evans
Eric J. Evans is an active member of the early-stage investor community in Boston. He sits on the Executive Committee of Mass Medical Angels. Eric is a Senior Fellow at the Harvard Kennedy School and an experienced life sciences senior executive. He has served as CEO for several biomedical companies, including Targeted Cell Therapies, Abazyme, Lumos Catheter Systems, Mulleris Therapeutics and Follica Biosciences.
Shahin Gharakhanian
Shahin Gharakhanian, MD, DPH, specializes in Drug & Vaccine Clinical Development & Medical Affairs, based in the Cambridge Innovation Center. He has extensive track record in Pharmaceutical Medicine, Executive Leadership & Management. Dr Gharakhanian has led or managed projects for 12 different companies, ten brands in different geographies (Asia, Europe, USA) including four NDA/MAA/launches, most recently a 2011 “blockbuster” in the US.
Jeff Goldberg
Jeff Goldberg, BS, S.M, is a biopharma executive and entrepeneur with more than 25 years of experience building and leading life sciences companies from early science through global commercialization. He is a strategic advisor to life sciences companies supporting business development, corporate strategy, product strategy, and financing. He is a member of Launchpad Venture Group, where he evaluates early-stage investment opportunities. Previously President and CEO of Aeglea Biotherapeutics, a public rare disease company, and CEO of Immunitas Therapeutics, where he raised an oversubscribed $58M Series B. Before that, he was the founding COO of Akcea Therapeutics, where he helped build the company to more than 250 people, take it public at a peak market cap of nearly $3B, and launch two rare disease drugs globally.
Jed Gordon
Jed Gordon leads JAB Law’s IP Practice. Jed provides transactional counseling in relation to intellectual property issues that arise in a wide range of corporate and commercial transactions as well as strategic patent counseling. He advises clients on stand-alone licensing arrangements, technology development agreements, the acquisition and sale of privately and publicly owned companies, and the formation of joint ventures and technology collaborations within the United States and across borders.
Silvia Helou
Silvia Helou, MD, Executive Consultant at Helou Consulting LLC. She has extensive drug development experience in major therapeutic areas including anti-infectives, dermatology, oncology/hematology, and immunology/biologics. She previously held various senior positions at Novartis, Schering-Plough and Scynexis in clinical development.
Veronica Miller
Veronica Miller, PhD, is Director of the Forum for Collaborative Research and Adjunct Professor at the University of California, Berkeley School of Public Health. Dr. Miller is a Committee on Teaching Excellence (CoTE) recognized educator and mentor, has authored more than 185 publications, and is internationally recognized for advancing collaborative approaches to biomedical innovation and public health. She received the Distinguished Advocacy Service Awards from the American Association for the Study of Liver Diseases in November 2024.
Mikael Petrosyan
Mikael Petrosyan, PhD, MIT, MBA , Strategic Initiatives Lead, Global Medical, TAKEDA Pharmaceuticals, Vice-President, Society for Decision Professionals, Boston Chapter. A seasoned leader in the pharmaceutical and biotech industry with over 15 years of experience in management consulting and corporate leadership.
Peter K. Ray
Peter K. Ray, MBA, VP, Head of Portfolio Analytics at Novartis AG, Peter leads the team responsible for strategic portfolio analytics, prioritization frameworks, and project/asset business case valuations covering 60+ assets and 120+ clinical projects. He provides the strategic and financial context for R&D projects approaching tollgates to inform portfolio governance decisions and leverages predictive analytics to provide actionable insights on pipeline evolution and sustainability. Former C-Suite Executive at Alnylam, Celgene Corp. & BMS. Education: Harvard University and Stanford University.
Anthony Renodon
Anthony Renodon joined Flagship Pioneering in 2026 as Associate Director of Business Development, where he focuses on advancing strategic partnerships across Flagship’s portfolio of NewCos. He brings a deep passion for early-stage platform technologies and the strategic dealmaking that turns them into medicines. Prior to Flagship, Anthony spent five years at TreeFrog Therapeutics, where he joined as the company’s first U.S. employee and built the business development function from the ground up.
Jérôme Revole
Jérôme REVOLE, Managing Director, Healthcare Division
Business France North America. He leads a 12-person team across six offices- Boston, New York,
San Francisco, Houston, Montreal and Toronto – supporting French companies’ growth in these markets and promoting France as an investment destination for North American
businesses.
Rachele Ryan
Rachele Ryan, BA, is Senior Director of Partnerships & Programming at LabCentral, Cambridge MA, where she leads strategic partnerships, founder development, and programming that connects life sciences entrepreneurs with the resources, expertise, and relationships they need to grow.
Samuel Scarpino
Samuel V. Scarpino, PhD, is the Director of AI + Life Sciences at Northeastern University and a Professor of the Practice in Health and Computer Sciences. He holds appointments in the Institute for Experiential AI and the Network Science, Global Resilience, and Roux Institutes. In recognition for his contributions to complex systems science, he was named a fellow of the ISI Foundation in 2017, an external Professor at the Santa Fe Institute in 2020, and an external faculty member at the Vermont Complex System Center in 2021.
Joël Schaerer, PhD
Joël Schaerer, PhD is Senior Director of Imaging AI at Clario, where he leads initiatives at the intersection of medical imaging, artificial intelligence, and clinical research. He has extensive experience in the design, development, and validation of image analysis and AI-based solutions used in clinical trials, with a particular focus on quantitative imaging and neuroimaging applications. Dr. Schaerer holds a PhD in Medical Image Processing from the National Institute of Applied Sciences (INSA) in Lyon, France.
David Sharrow
David Sharrow, Partner at Orrick, is a skilled advisor on intellectual property (IP) strategy, protection, and commercialization matters. With over 25 years of experience, he specializes in guiding premier life sciences and tech companies, shaping intellectual property strategies, protection and commercialization and facilitating crucial collaboration, partnering and licensing agreements for strategic success
Marie-Astrid Sevilla
Marie-Astrid, PharmD, representing Springboard Health Angels (Berlin, Germany) & Chief of Staff at Tissium (Paris FR & Cambridge MA). Passionate about healthcare innovation and particularly biotechnology, has developed a rich and diverse expertise through various experiences in the healthcare sector. Early on, she focused on business development and fundraising.
Kamran Tavangar
Kamran Tavangar, PhD, MBA, AB, is the Head of Science and Partnerships at the biotech launchpad, LabCentral. He has over thirty years of industry experience in both multinational pharmaceutical companies and biotech startups. Kamran held numerous leadership positions at Novartis, including Head of Strategic Planning for Novartis Pharma, Head of Novartis Oncology Australia, and Head of Global Marketing at Novartis Vaccines. Prior to joining LabCentral, he was co-founder and COO of Affinivax (vaccines), and CEO of Atias Pharma (therapeutics). Kamran holds an MBA from MIT Sloan School of Management, a PhD in Physiology from Stanford University, and an AB in Molecular Biology from the University of California, Berkeley.
Jerome Windsor
Jerome Windsor, Pharm D, MBA, is Senior Vice President of Business Development & Strategic Alliances at AITIA, a Cambridge-based AI-enabled biotechnology company that leverages causal AI and digital simulation of human multi-omic data to discover and develop the next generation of breakthrough therapeutics. He specializes in building and scaling biotechnology and digital health companies globally, operating at the intersection of computer science, biology, pharmacology, and business strategy.
PITCH JURY MEMBERS:
Sonalee BARTHAKUR, MA, Associate Director, External Innovation, Servier Pharmaceuticals, Boston MA.
[CHAIR] Leslie COUSSENS, PhD, GI Search & Evaluation Lead, R&D Business Development Center for External Innovation, TAKEDA Pharmaceuticals.
Eric EVANS, BS (Physics), Executive Committee of M2A: Mass Medical Angels; Senior Fellow, Harvard Kennedy School, Boston MA
Jeff Goldberg, BS, SM, (MIT), Representing Launchpad Ventures, LLC, Boston MA.
Anthony RENODON, Associate Director BD, Flagship Pioneering, Boston MA.
Rachele RYAN, MA, Senior Director, Partnering & Programs, LabCentral, Cambridge MA.
Marie-Astrid SEVILLA, Pharm D, Representing Springboard Health Angels (Berlin, Germany) & Chief of Staff at Tissium (Paris FR & Cambridge MA).
