Speakers

Lineup of Speakers

Industry Participants  

Gary Ezekian
Radicle Development Center

The Radicle Development Center is a new approach to building out and scaling up solutions in the ClimateTech & HardTech space. Leveraging our modern facility in the greater Philadelphia area with the latest in fabrication equipment and an experienced team of engineers & technicians, Radicle engages in flexible partnerships with early-stage startups and lab researchers to collaboratively mature their technologies. Stay tuned as we expand our offerings to fill a critical gap in the innovation ecosystem.

Rubén Flores-Saaib
Academic Innovations and Partnerships Lead
​General Inception

Flores-Saaib is a native of Nayarit, México and is the Academic Innovations and Partnerships Lead at General Inception. Throughout his career, he has led and developed academic and corporate teams working on commercialization and partnering programs in life sciences, diagnostics, therapeutics, artificial intelligence, materials, and software. He is also a co-founder, and past President, of the San Diego Innovation Council, a coalition of academic research institutes working together to elevate the profile of the San Diego innovation ecosystem to the world.
 
Flores-Saaib received his Ph.D. from UCLA’s Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry. He began his career as a Scientist at BD Biosciences Pharmigen, later moved to Biosite (now Abbott) as a Clinical Scientist and Agreements Manager, and then joined Chemicon (acquired by Serologicals) to lead the Luminex Multiplex and Diagnostics teams. Flores-Saaib was a founding Director of the Scientific Collaborations and Business Development group started by Millipore following the acquisition of Serologicals and continued in that role when Merck KGaA acquired Millipore. He capped his career in the corporate world as Vice President of Marketing and Product Development at Genway Biotech.

Flores-Saaib's 10-year career in academic technology transfer began as Vice President for Business Development at LA BioMed (now the Lundquist Institute), continued as Director at UC San Diego and most recently as Associate Director of Licensing at the University of Southern California.

James Hoberg
Head of External Innovation & Licensing
MilliporeSigma

James Hoberg is currently Head of External innovation & Licensing at MilliporeSigma, responsible for identifying and licensing new technologies in the life sciences area.   

Previously, he was a Business Development Associate at the Harvard Office of Technology Development. In this role he worked with university faculty in commercializing their inventions. Hoberg also had a brief stint at Quest Diagnostics in their Athena Division as a Business Development Director. Hoberg has a PhD in Biochemistry from the University of Virginia. 

David Lough 
Director of Academic Partnerships, Global Strategy & Corporate Development
Chiesi Group

In his role at Chiesi, David Lough focused on building and developing academic relationships with researchers from leading universities, academic medical centers and research institutes to develop breakthrough therapies and technologies for respiratory diseases, neonatal care and rare diseases. David is responsible for search and evaluation for new therapeutic candidates, and the negotiation of academic transactions such as sponsored research agreements and license agreements. 

Prior to joining Chiesi, Lough was Director of Life Sciences Business Development in the Office of Technology Development at Boston University. 

Lough earned both his Bachelor of Science in Evironmental Chemistry and Ph.D. in Bioorganic Chemistry from Edinburgh University. He also earned a Graduate Certificate in Intellectual Property from Northeastern University. 

Nelson Medeiros

Associate Director, External Research Collaborations 
Novartis Biomedical Research

 

Nelson Medeiros is a member of the External Research Collaborations group at Novartis, which interfaces with universities and academic medical centers in support of Novartis's external innovation goals.  In this role, Nelson provides business guidance and transactional support to enable scientific partnerships globally.  These partnerships complement and enhance Biomedical Research discovery programs to bring innovative therapeutics to patients.

Prior to joining Novartis, Nelson spent over 10 years in technology licensing roles at Mass General Brigham and Boston University.  Nelson earned a PhD in Neuroscience from Yale University, MBA in Finance from Boston University, and Bachelor of Arts in Biology from Brown University.

Zara Nemati
Specie Bio

Specie Bio is a team of serial entrepreneurs, scientists and experienced leaders in the life science industry, who experienced pain points in scientific and translational research first-hand.

The difficulty in finding and getting access to high-quality bio-specimen and data often causes delays in important scientific discoveries and critical diagnostics and translational development. We wish to collaborate with the scientific communities to empower science and accelerate clinical development.

Christopher Paschall
Bayer

Christopher Paschall is an academic liaison at Bayer. Prior to joining, Paschall was the executive director of licensing at The Ohio State University’s Technology Commercialization Office, a licensing manager for the University of Virginia Licensing & Ventures Group, a licensing associate in the Emory Office of Technology Transfer, and a licensing associate at the UVA Patent Foundation. In 2008, he became a registered patent agent with the US Patent and Trademark Office, in 2010, he became a certified licensing professional, and in 2018 he became a registered technology transfer professional. Paschall has over 15 years of experience commercializing technologies in pharmaceuticals, biotech, medical devices, and engineering, and has negotiated almost 200 licensing deals, including four of the five largest licensing transactions ever executed at The Ohio State University. 

Paschall received his Ph.D. in biomedical engineering from the University of Virginia, where his research focused on leukocyte adhesion in inflammatory responses and its application to targeted drug delivery. He also holds a B.S. in chemical engineering from the University of Virginia. 

Stefan Schweizer
Thermo Fisher

With a PhD in Chemistry from Georg-August University in Germany, Stefan worked for several years in biotech/pharma R&D on medical devices and cancer/infectious diseases drug development. Shifting gears, Stefan entered academic technology transfer, which launched him into an exciting career at the intersection of business and science/technology. The exposure to out-licensing of life science technologies and supporting start up companies for UTRF and USC provided the solid foundation for his current scope of work at Thermo Fisher on sourcing innovative technologies for future products, coordinating and driving due diligence and negotiating the respective financial terms and agreements.

Tari Suprapto, Ph.D., RTTP
Director of Search & Evaluation
Novo Nordisk

Tari Suprapto, Ph.D., RTTP is a seasoned technology commercialization professional in the life sciences. She is currently the Director for Search & Evaluation for Western US and Canada for Novo Nordisk, and previously was part of the External Innovation team at Elanco. Tari spent over 15 years commercializing innovations from world-class research institutions such as the Salk Institute, The Rockefeller University, and Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center. Tari has extensive experience in licensing, building and managing strategic alliances, and a strong scientific background in a variety of therapeutic areas evidenced by her Ph.D. in cell biology from The Rockefeller University and an Honors B.A. from Swarthmore College. Tari is also a member of BIOCOM’s Capital Development Committee and serves on the boards of the Association for University Technology Managers, the San Diego Innovation Council, and official advisor to Founders Corner Venture Capital in San Diego.