Veronica Sandoval is a Principal in the Patient Inclusion and Health Equity team in the Chief Diversity Office (CDO) at Genentech. Veronica’s policy and medical background, along with the personal and professional intersection of her Latino roots and health equity efforts, bring a rich perspective to Genentech’s ongoing work in health equity and inclusive research.
Veronica joined Roche-Genentech in 2018 as a Global Medical Collaboration Lead supporting the early clinical development program for autism. Prior to her role as Principal in the CDO, she supported the respiratory portfolio as a Medical Science Liaison. She has experience in health equity, medical affairs, thought leader development, patient engagement, and external partnerships. Therapeutic areas of expertise include ophthalmology, oncology, multiple sclerosis, immunology, asthma, inflammatory bowel disease, women’s health, autism spectrum disorder, idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis, and influenza. Veronica also practiced as an intellectual property litigation attorney focusing on complex patent litigation in the life sciences and pharmaceutical fields.
Veronica holds a Ph.D. in neuropharmacology from the University of Utah, a J.D. from Seattle University School of Law, and a B.A. in molecular and cell biology from the University of California, Berkeley.
Patty is currently the Head of Clinical Affairs for the Diagnostic Solutions Division at Hologic. Previous work experience includes serving as a Program Director for multiple CROs and as a Research Physiologist for the Naval Health Research Center.
Brandi Roberts has more than 25 years of public accounting and finance experience, including 22 years at publicly traded pharmaceutical, medical technology, and life science companies. Ms. Roberts is Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer at Longboard Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (Nasdaq: LBPH). Ms. Roberts begun her tenure at Longboard in January 2021 and helped the company go public in March 2021. Ms. Roberts served as Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer of Lineage Cell Therapeutics, Inc. (NYSE: LCTX) from January 2019 to January 2021. Ms. Roberts is a certified public accountant with the State of California and received her B.S. degree in business administration from the University of Arizona and her M.B.A. from the University of San Diego.
Experienced drug developer and executive with deep expertise across early and late development, multiple indications (including solid tumors and hematological malignancies), and drugs with many different mechanisms of action. Led highly successful global teams in US and AP regional teams while based in Japan. Moves easily between tactical/executional work at study team level and overall portfolio-level strategy and prioritization work at senior leadership level.”
Jiao is a clinical development leader with proven track record in leading trials from Phase 0 to III. She has over 12 years of working experience in pharmaceutical industry across discovery and development. Currently, she is a director in early clinical science and operations, responsible for the development and execution of multiple infectious disease and vaccines trials, with various roles as global program lead and/or study responsible scientist. Previously, she was an innovation leader with Janssen Clinical Innovation (JCI), a team whose mission is to develop and deliver innovative solutions to trials to enhance operational efficiencies of clinical research. In this role, Jiao led the development of novel trial models and platforms/processes leveraging real world data and digital technologies to address the pressing needs of patients, as well as to improve patient engagement and recruitment. Prior to joining JCI, Jiao worked as an research scientist in Immunology Discovery Research at Janssen and later transitioned to the Discovery Sciences team, where she focused on personalized medicine programs in various therapeutic areas using proteomic and metabolic profiling approaches. Jiao obtained her PhD in Molecular Pharmacology and MS in Statistics from Purdue University, Indiana.
Experienced IT leader specializing in clinical technology, adept at launching programs that safeguard data, streamline operations, drive innovation, and advance business strategy within the healthcare industry. Well-versed in clinical systems, electronic health records, medical device integration, data analytics, and regulatory compliance, ensuring efficient and effective patient care delivery.
Sormeh is currently Program Director at local biotech start-up in cancer imaging, Imagion Biosystems. She has previous experience in Program Management, Clinical Operations, and Regulatory Affairs and has worked in the biopharma/medical device industries for over 12 years (Arena Pharmaceuticals – recently acquired by Pfizer, Gilead, Medtronic).
Dr. Amish Patel has over 18 years of leadership experience in global biopharma and biotech industry, providing strategic guidance throughout the entire biologic product life-cycle. Dr. Patel is responsible for critical oversight of Global Manufacturing, Quality Control, Quality Assurance and Supply Chain to produce Clinical and Commercial cancer therapies utilizing Calidi’s innovative oncolytic viral therapies with stem cell-based delivery platforms to treat a wide range of cancers with significant unmet needs.
Over the course of his career, he has led the development of over fifteen INDs, two commercial product approvals, and numerous PAS submissions. He was most recently, the Senior Director of Product Development at Emergent BioSolutions (formerly PaxVax, Inc., prior to acquisition), where he successfully built and directed cross-functional teams working on numerous biologic Clinical products.
Saeid Yazdani serves as the Vice President of Program Management for Caribou Biosciences. He brings over 30 years of Program & Portfolio leadership experience from therapeutic discovery to commercialization, working with cross-functional leaders in research, development, operations, CMC, clinical, regulatory, quality, commercial, and executive team. Previously, he was Vice President of Therapeutics Program Management at Huyabio International, during which time he led two IND approval and oversaw six therapeutics development programs. He is an entrepreneur and inventor with U.S. patents. Saeid has held a variety of leadership, business, and program & portfolio positions of increasing responsibility at Thermo Fisher, Nestle Health Science, Merck (EMD), Genentech, Gilead, and Synergic Analytics, and adjunct professor at the University of California, San Diego extended studies. Saeid holds a B.S. in Chemistry from Western Michigan University & MBA from the University of Southern California.
