Archives: Speakers

Molly James is the Associate Director of Strategic Sourcing at Beam Therapeutics. In this role she manages all vendors and leads strategic partnerships for the development organization within Beam. She has over 10 years of experience in strategic sourcing and vendor management within the pharmaceutical industry.

Hyun has been a part of AOBiome’s clinical pipeline leadership since 2016. Hyun brings over 25 years of drug development experience in the pharma and biotech industry.  Prior to this, Hyun has led Clinical and R&D programs and departments at Pfizer, Anika Therapeutics, Transport Pharmaceuticals, and Olympus Biotech.  He started his career at Genetics Institute and Wyeth, advancing R&D programs into the clinic.  He attended Brown University where he studied Biomedical Engineering and completed a PhD in Medical Science.

AOBiome Therapeutics, Inc. is a Cambridge, MA-based life sciences company focused on transforming human health by developing microbiome-based therapies for local, nasal and systemic inflammatory conditions. Founded in 2012 by PatientsLikeMe founder Jamie Heywood and MIT-trained Chemical Engineer David Whitlock, AOBiome is advancing a pipeline of multiple, clinical-stage therapeutic candidates. The company’s portfolio includes multiple clinical-stage programs in atopic dermatitis, rosacea, and acne, as well as additional programs targeting diverse inflammatory indications.

Mr. Adams has been a founder or co-founder of life science and technology based companies in Massachusetts for the past several years. Mr. Adams has been instrumental in developing new proprietary therapeutic and medical device technologies and bringing the technologies to commercialization. The companies he has founded include, Compellis Pharmaceuticals, a developer of therapeutics to treat obesity and its co-morbidities, diabetes and hypertension and Mosaic Technologies, a venture backed MIT spin-out genomics company that developed patented technologies for genetic analysis and detection.

Chris is the holder of more than 20 issued US and international patents for medical devices and pharmaceuticals.

Dr. Missling, President and CEO of Anavex, has over 20 years of healthcare industry experience within large pharmaceutical companies, the biotech industry and investment banking. Prior to joining Anavex®, he served as the Chief Financial Officer of Curis and ImmunoGen. In addition, at Aventis (now Sanofi),  Dr. Missling worked as head of financial planning on all aspects of financial strategy and M&A. His career experience also includes working as an investment banker in the healthcare practice at Deutsche Bank, serving pharmaceutical, biotech, and diagnostic companies, as well as serving as the head of healthcare investment banking at Brimberg & Co. in New York. Dr. Missling has an MS and PhD from the University of Munich in Chemistry and an MBA from Northwestern University Kellogg School of Management.

Hollie Schmidt is the VP of Scientific Operations at Accelerated Cure Project for Multiple Sclerosis. She co-chairs the Research Committee of iConquerMS™, a research cohort established to perform and support patient-centered research in MS. She also founded and leads the MS Minority Research Engagement Partnership Network, a multi-stakeholder initiative aimed at increasing racial and ethnic diversity in MS research studies.

Brandy Porter is the Assistant Center Director for Enforcement, of CBP’s Pharmaceutical, Health, and Chemicals Center of Excellence and Expertise (PHC CEE). PHC CEE oversees imports of pharmaceuticals, healthcare, medical equipment, and chemicals into the United States. Prior to her work at PHC CEE, Ms. Porter was the Deputy Assistant Director for the Center for Intelligence, Targeting, and Enforcement, located in the New York Field Office.  She began her career with CBP in 2009, as an analyst.

Umar Hayat, Ph.D. is VP of CMC and Supply Chain at Union Therapeutics and has more than two decades of experience in pharmaceutical development, manufacturing and supply chain. He held senior level positions with Relypsa (acquired by Galenica for 1.52B US$), Anacor (acquired by Pfizer for 5.2B US$) and Transcept Pharmaceuticals (revers merger with Paratek). He played a pivotal role in the development and commercialization of Veltassa® (USA and EU), a treatment for hyperkalemia, Intermezzo® for MOTN insomnia, Kerydin® for onychomycosis, and Eucrisa® for atopic dermatitis. Dr. Hayat is managing partner of Revive Pharm USA. He is also a co-founder of U&D Pharma and working on Replyte Gel, a treatment for anogenital warts. Dr. Hayat received his Ph.D. in process engineering from INP-Toulouse, France and Post-Doctoral Fellowship from Ecole Polytechnique de Montreal, Canada. He received M.Sc. Chemistry degree from Punjab University, Institute of Chemistry