Archives: Speakers

Meghan McKenzie is a Director of Health Equity and Clinical Research at Genentech, Inclusion and Belonging Office. She develops strategies to drive greater inclusion of underrepresented patient populations in clinical research and to advance health equity by working directly with sites in our Advancing Inclusive Research (AIR) Site Alliance and by gaining patient insights to change behavior and protocols.

Gaining patient, clinician and community insights early in program development is integral to developing what is important to patients and improving access to medicines and treatments for all patients, regardless of race, ethnicity, sexual orientation, gender identity, age, disability and socioeconomic status.

She has over 25 years of clinical development research experience working at the site, CRO and biotech level, and spanning multiple diseases, including oncology, ophthalmology, immunology, neurology, infectious and rare diseases.

Meghan received her Master’s Degree in Human Biology at San Francisco State University and her Bachelor’s Degree in Economics at University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill and has earned the Cornell University ‘Advanced D&I Certificate’ and the Columbia Business School ‘Certificate in Business Excellence

Dr Morimoto has over 25 years of industry experience leading project teams in the development of innovative medicines for neurodegenerative diseases including Parkinson’s, Alzheimer’s, ALS and frontotemporal dementias.  Previously, Bruce held leadership roles at Alkahest, Celerion, Cerecin and Allon Therapeutics, and works closely with the Michael J Fox Foundation, chairing one of their scientific review panels.  He is an advisor to several biotech companies.  Bruce started his career on the faculty in the Chemistry Department at Purdue University.  Bruce earned his doctorate in biochemistry from UCLA and completed a postdoctoral fellowship at the University of California Berkeley.

Experienced Professional with a demonstrated history of working in the biotechnology industry. Skilled in Medical Devices, Biotechnology, Management, Cell Culture, and U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA). Strong healthcare services professional with a Masters of Science focused in Biological Science with an emphasis in Therapeutic Science and Pharmaceutical Business from Dominican University of California.

I was a corporate attorney with a marketing and sales background in highly-regulated industries (pharma/biotech). Regardless of industry or function, focus on client needs and delivering superlative business results are the hallmarks of my work. As an attorney in the Financial Services and Investment Management practice at Dechert LLP, I helped the boards and managers of various investment vehicles navigate complex compliance and business matters arising from operating in a dynamic regulatory environment. In my sales and marketing career in pharma/biotech, I developed business tools for reaching customers, built enduring and high-value customer relationships and delivered record-beating business results in a competitive market.

Innovative and Collaborative Compliance Leader with expertise and proven success in developing business strategy and establishing quality management framework for start-up compliance departments in large established pharmaceutical companies. -Healthcare Compliance, Rx&D Code of Ethical Practices and HCP value transfer -GCP compliance, auditing, regulatory inspection support, CAPA -Training (facillitation, instructional design, LMS management, curricula development) -Procedural Document Management (SOP creation, Documentum, Process Mapping)

• Passionate about advancing biomedical innovation to improve human health.
• VP Executive and Senior Leader within the biopharmaceutical industry.
• Driving global regulatory and development strategies for drug development (clinical products), marketing applications, and lifecycle management (marketed products).
• Proven success in bringing breakthrough therapies from development to approval:
• Rubraca® (rucaparib), for ovarian cancer with germline or somatic BRCA mutations diagnosed by a companion diagnostic.
• Voxzogo® (vosoritide), the first and only therapy approved for achondroplasia (rare disease), the most common form of dwarfism.
• Scientific foundation: Key inventor of two FDA approved drugs:
• Zelboraf® (Vemurafenib, the first personalized/precision medicine targeting melanoma).
• Prezista® (Darunavir, targeting HIV infection).
• Committed to making a difference through teamwork and science.