Jan. 27-28

Mountain View, CA

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Luminary Committee

Brian Druker

Brian Druker, M.D., Co-inventor, Gleevec

Brian Druker, M.D., Co-inventor, Gleevec

Brian Druker M.D., Director of the Oregon Health & Science University (OHSU) Knight Cancer Institute, JELD-WEN Chair of Leukemia Research, OHSU, and an Investigator of the Howard Hughes Medical Institute. After having trained in oncology at Harvard's Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Dr. Druker then returned to the lab to begin his research career studying the regulation of the growth of cancer cells and the practical application to cancer therapies. His work was instrumental in the development of Gleevec, a drug that targets the molecular defect in chronic myeloid leukemia. After completing a series of preclinical studies, Dr. Druker spearheaded the highly successful clinical trials of imatinib for CML. Imatinib is currently FDA approved for CML and gastrointestinal stromal tumors. His role in the development of imatinib and its application in the clinic have resulted in numerous awards for Dr. Druker, including the John J. Kenney Award from The Leukemia and Lymphoma Society, the AACR-Richard, and many others.

George Church

George Church, Ph.D., Co-developer, Human Genome Project

George Church, Ph.D., Co-developer, Human Genome Project

George Church, Ph.D. Professor of Genetics, Harvard Medical School and Professor of Health Sciences & Technology, Harvard and MIT with Walter Gilbert. He developed the first direct genomic sequencing method in 1984 and helped initiate the Human Genome Project in 1984 while he was a Research Scientist at newly-formed Biogen Inc. He invented the broadly-applied concepts of molecular multiplexing and tags,homologous recombination methods,and DNA array synthesizers. Technology transfer of automated sequencing & software to Genome Therapeutics Corp. resulted in the first commercial genome sequence, (the human pathogen, Helicobacter pylori) in 1994. He initiated the Personal Genome Project (PGP) in 2005 and research on synthetic biology. He is director of the U.S. Department of Energy Center on Bioenergy at Harvard & MIT and director of the National Institutes of Health (NHGRI) Center of Excellence in Genomic Science at Harvard, MIT & Washington University. He has been advisor to 22 companies, most recently co-founding (with Joseph Jacobson, Jay Keasling, and Drew Endy) Codon Devices, a biotech startup dedicated to synthetic biology and (with Chris Somerville) founding LS9, which is focused on biofuels. He is a senior editor for Nature EMBO Molecular Systems Biology.

Janet Woodcock

Janet Woodcock, M.D., Director, Center for Drug Evaluation & Research, FDA

Janet Woodcock, M.D., Director, Center for Drug Evaluation & Research, FDA

Janet Woodcock is the director of the Center for Drug Evaluation and Research (CDER) at the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). Dr. Woodcock has shown dedication to personalized medicine by fast-tracking individualized treatments through the FDA approval process and by encouraging collaboration between the regulatory and industry arenas. During her tenure, both of the individualized treatments Xalkori and Zelboraf received FDA approval paired with companion diagnostics. Dr. Woodcock has led many of FDA’s drug initiatives. She introduced the concept of risk management in 2000 as a new approach to drug safety. Since 2002, she has led the “Pharmaceutical Quality for the 21st Century Initiative,” FDA’s highly successful effort to modernize drug manufacturing and its regulation. In 2004, she introduced FDA’s “Critical Path” Initiative, which is designed to move medical discoveries from the laboratory to consumers more efficiently. Most recently, Dr. Woodcock launched the “Safety First” and “Safe Use” initiatives designed to improve drug safety management within and outside FDA, respectively. Dr. Woodcock previously served as FDA’s deputy commissioner and chief medical officer. She also led CDER as director from 1994–2005. Prior to joining CDER, Dr. Woodcock oversaw approval of the first biotechnology-based treatments for multiple sclerosis and cystic fibrosis in her position as director of the Office of Therapeutics Research and Review in FDA’s Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research. Dr. Woodcock received her medical degree from Northwestern University Medical School, and her undergraduate degree from Bucknell University. She has held teaching appointments at Pennsylvania State University and the University of California at San Francisco. She joined FDA in 1986.

Program Committee

Alexis Borisy

Alexis Borisy, Partner, Third Rock Ventures

Alexis Borisy, Partner, Third Rock Ventures

Alexis Borisy is a successful biotechnology entrepreneur with 20 years of experience building and operating innovative science based organizations such as Foundation Medicine, Blueprint Medicines, and CombinatoRx. Alexis is a Partner at Third Rock Ventures, where he focuses on the formation, development and strategy of new companies. He has raised $750 million in financing and business development deals, and has authored numerous scientific papers and patents. Trained in chemistry and chemical biology at Harvard where he was a Howard Hughes Predoctoral Fellow, Alexis was honored as the MIT Technology Review Innovator of the Year.

Brook Byers

Brook Byers, Investment Partner, Kleiner Perkins Caufield Byers

Brook Byers, Investment Partner, Kleiner Perkins Caufield Byers

Brook Byers has been a partner with Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers since 1977. A venture capital investor since 1972, Brook has been closely involved with more than 60 new technology-based ventures, many of which have become public companies. He formed the first life sciences practice group in the venture capital profession in 1984 and led KPCB to become a premier venture capital firm in the medical, healthcare and biotechnology sectors. KPCB has invested in and helped build more than 110 life sciences companies that have developed hundreds of products to treat underserved medical needs for many millions of patients. Brook was the founding president and then chairman of four biotechnology companies that were incubated in KPCB's offices and went on to become public companies with an aggregate market value of more than US$8 billion. He serves on the board of directors of CardioDX, Crescendo, Five Prime Therapeutics, Foundation Medicine, OptiMedica, Pacific Biosciences, Inc., Tethys, Veracyte and XDx, Inc.

Edward Abrahams

Edward Abrahams, President, PMC

Edward Abrahams, President, PMC

Edward Abrahams, Ph.D., is president of the Personalized Medicine Coalition (PMC). Representing scientists, patients, providers and payers, PMC promotes the understanding and adoption of personalized medicine concepts, services and products for the benefit of patients and the health system. It has grown from its original 18 founding members in 2004 to over 200 today. Previously Dr. Abrahams was Executive Director of the Pennsylvania Biotechnology Association, where he spearheaded the successful effort that led to the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania’s investment of $200 million to commercialize biotechnology in the state. Earlier he had been Assistant Vice President for Federal Relations at the University of Pennsylvania and held a senior administrative position at Brown University. Dr. Abrahams worked for seven years for the U.S. Congress, including as a legislative assistant to Senator Lloyd Bentsen, an economist for the Joint Economic Committee under the chairmanship of Representative Lee Hamilton, and as a AAAS Congressional Fellow for the House Committee on the Interior.

George Lundberg

George Lundberg, Editor in Chief, CollabRx

George Lundberg, Editor in Chief, CollabRx

In addition to serving as Editor-In-Chief for CollabRx, Dr. Lundberg is President and Chair of the Board of Directors of The Lundberg Institute, a Consulting Professor, Stanford University, and Editor at Large for MedPage Today from Everyday Health. Dr. Lundberg has had thirty years combined experience as Editor in Chief of JAMA (The Journal of the American Medical Association), 10 AMA specialty journals, AMA News, Medscape, The Medscape Journal and e-Medicine from Web MD. A 1995 "pioneer" of the medical internet, Dr. Lundberg was born in Florida, grew up in rural southern Alabama and holds earned and honorary degrees from North Park College, Baylor University, the University of Alabama (Birmingham and Tuscaloosa), the State University of New York, Syracuse, Thomas Jefferson University and the Medical College of Ohio. He completed a clinical internship in Hawaii and a pathology residency in San Antonio. He served in the US Army during the Vietnam War in San Francisco and El Paso, leaving as a lieutenant colonel after 11 years. Dr. Lundberg was then Professor of Pathology and Associate Director of Laboratories at the Los Angeles County/USC Medical Center for 10 years, and for five years was Professor and Chair of Pathology at the University of California, Davis. Dr. Lundberg has worked in tropical medicine in Central America and Forensic Medicine in New York, Sweden and England. His major professional interests are toxicology, violence, communication, physician behavior, patient safety, and health system reform. He is also a past President of the American Society of Clinical Pathologists. He is a frequent lecturer, radio and television guest, and a member of the Institute of Medicine of the National Academy of Sciences, In 2000, the Industry Standard dubbed Dr. Lundberg "Online Health Care's Medicine Man".

Laurence Marton

Laurence Marton, Program Committee Chairman, PMWC

Laurence Marton, Program Committee Chairman, PMWC

Dr. Marton serves as a consultant to industry and to governmental and academic institutions. In recent years he has been a founder, director, CEO, CSO, and CMO of the SLIL Biomedical Corporation, and CSO of both Cellgate and Progen Pharmaceuticals. These companies were, or are, focused on the discovery and development of novel compounds for the treatment of cancer and other serious diseases. Before moving from academia to industry, Dr. Marton was Dean of the University of Wisconsin-Madison Medical School and previously Chaired the Department of Laboratory Medicine at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF), where he was a Professor in the Departments of Laboratory Medicine and Neurological Surgery. He remains an Emeritus Professor in the Department of Laboratory Medicine at UCSF. He is a leading expert with extensive experience in the fields of cell growth and drug development. His work is focused on the use of polyamine analogs in treating human diseases related to aberrant cell growth and epigenetics, including cancer and other diseases. Dr. Marton serves as a director on the Boards of the California Heart Center Foundation and Cancer Commons, and as a trustee of the American Association for Cancer Research Foundation. He is on the Board of Directors of TOMA Biosciences, is Chair of the Scientific Advisory Board of PharmaJet, and is on the Advisory Boards of Ruga Corp and Contrast Therapeutics. Dr. Marton received his MD from the Albert Einstein College of Medicine and his BA from Yeshiva University.

Leroy Hood

Leroy Hood, M.D., Ph.D., President, Institute for Systems Biology

Leroy Hood, M.D., Ph.D., President, Institute for Systems Biology

Dr. Hood’s research has focused on fundamental biology (immunity, evolution, genomics) and on bringing engineering to biology through the development of five instruments; the DNA and protein sequencers and synthesizers and the ink-jet oligonucleotide synthesizer (making DNA arrays) for deciphering the various types of biological information (DNA, RNA, proteins and systems). These instruments constitute the technological foundation for modern molecular biology and genomics. He has applied these technologies to diverse fields including immunology, neurobiology, cancer biology, molecular evolution and systems medicine. Dr. Hood is a member of the National Academy of Sciences, the American Philosophical Society, the American Association of Arts and Sciences, the Institute of Medicine and the National Academy of Engineering. Dr. Hood is one of only 7 (of more than 6000 members) scientists elected to all three academies (NAS, NAE and IOM). Dr. Hood has also played a role in founding more than 14 biotechnology companies, including Amgen, Applied Biosystems, Systemix, Darwin and Rosetta. He is currently pioneering systems medicine and the systems approach to disease and has recently cofounded the company Integrated Diagnostics—that hopefully will become a platform company for P4 medicine.

Peter Yu

Peter Yu, Director of Cancer Research, Palo Alto Medical Foundation

Peter Yu, Director of Cancer Research, Palo Alto Medical Foundation

Dr. Peter Paul Yu is in clinical practice and is also Director of Cancer Research at the Palo Alto Medical Foundation (PAMF), a multi specialty medical group serving the San Francisco Bay area. Dr. Yu graduated from the combined undergraduate and medical school Program in Medicine at Brown University. Dr. Yu has served as co-chair of the Commission for Certification of Health Information Technology (CCHIT) Oncology work group, co-chair of the AMA-RAND Clinical Decision Support Oncology work group under contract to the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology and as co-chair of the ASCO-NCI CORE project.

Ralph Snyderman

Ralph Snyderman, Chancellor Emeritus, Duke University

Ralph Snyderman, Chancellor Emeritus, Duke University

Dr. Snyderman is Chancellor Emeritus, Duke University and James B. Duke Professor of Medicine in the Duke University School of Medicine. He is currently a visiting professor in the Global Health Science Center of the University of California at San Francisco. From 1989 to July 2004, he served as Chancellor for Health Affairs and Dean of the School of Medicine. During this period, he oversaw the development of the Duke University Health System, one of the few fully integrated academic health systems in the country, and served as its Chief Executive Officer. The health system provides not only leading edge care, but is also developing tomorrow's models of health care delivery. Dr. Snyderman has been a leading proponent of a new approach to health called "Prospective Care." This model envisions each individual receiving a personalized health plan based on their own risks and needs. This will give people far more control of and responsibility for their own health as well as opportunities to improve it. Prospective Care combines the best in science and technology with humanistic medical practice and relies on integrative medicine to do this. Dr. Snyderman is the recipient of numerous honors, including the highest awards in the field of inflammation research, the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Arthritis Foundation and the first Bravewell Leadership Award for outstanding achievements in the field of integrative medicine. He is a member of the Institute of Medicine and American Academy of Arts & Sciences, past chair of the Association of American Medical Colleges and immediate past president of the American Association of Physicians.

Stephen Eck

Stephen Eck, M.D., Ph.D., Astellas Pharma Global Development

Stephen Eck, M.D., Ph.D., Astellas Pharma Global Development

Stephen is directly responsible for the oversight of oncology drug development plans. Much of this work is focused on special cancer populations for which unique biology enables the development of personalized cancer therapies. Dr. Eck previously served as Vice President, Translational Medicine & Pharmacogenomics at Eli Lilly and Company (2007-2011) where he was responsible for the clinical pharmacology components of drug development, including both early phase clinical studies and late-stage drug development studies. His group also developed the biomarkers and companion diagnostics needed for effective decision-making and for tailoring therapeutics to the right patient population. An essential part of this work was conducted in the Diagnostic and Experimental Medicine Group and the Laboratory for Experimental Medicine. Prior to Joining Lilly, Dr. Eck served in a variety of drug development leadership roles at Pfizer, Inc (2002-2007). Dr. Eck is a board certified Hematologist/Oncologist with broad drug development experience in Oncology and Neuroscience. He is a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. He serves on the Scientific Advisory Board of the ACGT Foundation, which supports academic cancer research, and is a member of the Scientific Advisory Committee of the Fairbanks Institute, an institution dedicated to developing data banks to enable personalized medicine. He also serves on the Advisory Board of the Keck Graduate School (Claremont, CA), and is a Board member of the Personalized Medicine Coalition.

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