2026 Speaker Biographies


Kundini Amin, Head, Portfolio Leadership, Analytics & Insights (PLAI), Biogen
Senior Director/Head
Biogen
Kundini is a strategy and operations leader with more than 17 years of experience applying business acumen to pharmaceutical and biotechnology product development and partnering with leadership teams and executives to develop strategies to realize corporate objectives. Her career has spanned integrated drug development planning and execution, regulatory strategy, agency engagement and submissions, project, program, and portfolio management, business and functional strategy planning and execution, and people leadership and coaching across therapeutic areas and modalities, start ups, small and large companies, and variable portfolios. She has a Bachelors in Biology, Minor in Sociology from UC Irvine and a Masters in Quality Assurance & Regulatory Affairs from Temple University. Currently, she is the Head of Portfolio Leadership Analytics and Insights at Biogen, a team that enables disciplined actions, decisions, and changes that deliver increased short and long-term value to Biogen’s development portfolio guided and informed by enterprise strategy, new technology, and distilled data, insights, and strategic options.
Christine Antis, Independent Strategic Consultant
Strategic Consultant
Antis Consulting LLC
Christine is an independent strategic leader with a strong track record of driving R&D and commercial strategy to maximize pipeline value and enable organizational transformation. She brings extensive experience from leadership roles at GSK and Organon, where she led enterprise-wide initiatives across portfolio management, decision sciences, and research strategy in oncology, cardiovascular, immunology, infectious diseases, and organizational design. She is known for building high-performing global teams, advancing governance frameworks, and applying analytics to inform enterprise-level decision-making. With a career spanning the full pharmaceutical research and commercialization spectrum, Christine offers a distinctive perspective on integrating data, strategy, and human insight to navigate complex portfolio and commercial decisions. Christine holds a BS in Industrial Engineering and Operations Research from the University of Michigan, as well as an MS in Marketing and an MBA in Economics from the Fox School of Business at Temple University.
Ghislaine Bédulho, Global Head R&D Reporting, Benchmarking and Competitive Intelligence, R&D Strategy & Portfolio Management, Sanofi
Global Head of R&D Portfolio Management
Sanofi
As the Global Head of R&D Portfolio Management for Pharma & Vaccines at Sanofi, Ghislaine leverages her extensive experience to provide a comprehensive view of the R&D portfolio and its competitive landscape, facilitating strategic decision-making. With over 25 years in the pharmaceutical industry, she brings expertise in portfolio reporting, benchmarking, risk assessment, strategic planning, and capacity management across various therapeutic areas and modalities. Ghislaine has held numerous key positions with increasing responsibility, successfully leading major strategic projects and implementing business transformations in portfolio reporting, analysis, strategic planning, and resource management.
Sheridan Carrington, PhD, Senior Director, Portfolio Strategy, Bristol Myers Squibb
Dir Portfolio Strategy & Mgmt
Bristol Myers Squibb Co
Sheridan Carrington is a Senior Director of Portfolio Strategy at Bristol Myers Squibb, where he leads strategic planning initiatives across and above therapeutic areas, shaping portfolio prioritization, investment decisions, and pipeline growth strategy. He has built decision tools that connect competitive intelligence and cross-portfolio analysis to investment decisions across all stages of development. His background spans clinical development, regulatory affairs, translational science, and business development, with prior experience at Avalo Therapeutics and the University of Pennsylvania's Orphan Disease Center. He holds a Ph.D. in Molecular Physiology & Biophysics from Vanderbilt University and a B.Sc. in Pharmacology from the University of the West Indies.
Joe Charest, Head of Portfolio Strategy and Analytics, Biogen
Head of Portfolio Strategy and Analytics
Biogen
Joseph Charest, PhD is a senior portfolio and development strategy leader who bridges science, analytics, and executive decision-making. As Director of Asset and Portfolio Analytics at Biogen, he partners with R&D and development leadership to shape portfolio strategy, optimize asset sequencing, and translate complex risk and value signals into clear, actionable insights that drive disciplined investment decisions. Prior to Biogen as part of the not-for-profit Draper, Dr. Charest led development of new drug research and development tools as well as medical devices, delivering technologies for commercial, government, and foundations to improve healthcare.
Stephen Cho, PhD, Senior Vice President, Global Portfolio & Program Management, BeOne Medicines
Senior Vice President
BeOne Medicines USA Inc
Stephen Cho is currently Senior Vice President of Global Portfolio & Program Management at BeOne Medicines. He is also on the Scientific Advisory Boards of Michigan Drug Discovery Center at the University of Michigan, and for Intelligencia ai. Prior to joining BeOne Medicines, he was the Founder and President of SSC Strategic Advisors LLC, a consulting and advisory firm focused on corporate strategy, organizational transformation, and PPM engagements with biopharma and med tech sectors. He was recently with Novartis for a thirteen-year career. Stephen most recently served as Head Portfolio Strategy & Analytics/Enterprise Portfolio Insights in Strategy & Growth. In this role, Stephen led enterprise-wide portfolio governance, analytics, long-term forecasting, executive reporting, and systems innovation spanning the breadth of the Novartis portfolio across Research, Development and Commercial, including in-market brands. During his tenure with Novartis, Stephen held roles of increasing responsibilities across Research, Development and Corporate global functions. Prior to joining Novartis, Stephen was at McKinsey & Company where he was a leader in their Pharmaceutical and Medical Products practice, advising top global pharma and med tech companies on strategic topics. Earlier in his career, he was medicinal chemistry lab head and research project leader at Pfizer and a medicinal chemist at Eli Lilly & Company, contributing to discovery and development of five clinical candidates and two marketed drugs across neuroscience, metabolic disorders, and infectious diseases. Stephen has a PhD in organic chemistry from Stanford University and a BS degree in chemistry from the University of Michigan.
Angelo Favia, PhD, MBA, Acquisition Transition Lead, Eli Lilly and Co.
Acquisition Transition Lead
Eli Lilly & Co
Angelo holds a PharmD, a BS and PhD in Medicinal Chemistry, and an Executive MBA. He is a Marie Curie Fellow and author of over 20 publications spanning drug discovery, bioinformatics, molecular modeling, and clinical research. He joined Lilly in 2012, from a small biotech company, leading the molecular modeling group at the China R&D Center in Shanghai. In 2017, he relocated to the US to join Elanco's Research and External Innovation team, where he led scientific projects and organizational initiatives. Most recently, Angelo served as Early Phase COO within Portfolio & Project Management, where he led strategy and integrated development planning for programs across Neuroscience, Diabetes, and Immunology. In his current role as Acquisition Transition Lead, Angelo is responsible for devising and executing the integration of companies acquired by Eli Lilly. He leads cross-functional efforts to plan and implement post-acquisition integration across operational, scientific, and organizational workstreams.
Michael Ferrante, Executive Director, Business Analytics, Global Regulatory Affairs & Clinical Safety, Merck
Executive Director, Business Analytics
Merck & Co
Michael Ferrante is the Executive Director, Business Analytics, Global Regulatory and Clinical Safety (GRACS) within Merck Research Labs. In this role, Mike is responsible for tracking and analyzing time reporting effort, forecasting resources for 1-5 years, prioritizing the portfolio, and aligning metrics and analytical tools for the 2500-person global organization. Mike was most recently Head, R&D Business Capabilities, at Bristol Myers Squibb in Princeton, where he led the R&D project, portfolio, clinical study management and headcount planning capabilities. Before joining BMS, he served as Managing Director of Consulting Solutions at YourEncore. Mike previously worked at Merck, where he was Senior Director, Business Operations, supporting clinical grants planning and budgeting, functional objectives development and execution, and strategic analysis for global clinical development and regulatory. He also led R&D operations for Merck’s subsidiary in Japan. Mike earned a B.S. in Chemical Engineering from the University of Michigan, an M.S. in Chemical Engineering from Carnegie Mellon University and an MBA from the Ross School of Business at the University of Michigan. He lives in Cranbury, New Jersey, with his wife Deanna and have two grown children.
Patrick Higgins, Senior Director, Head of Corporate FP&A, Biogen
Head of Corporate FP&A
Biogen
Patrick is a Biotech Finance leader with more than 15 years of experience, including the past decade at Biogen. He began his Biogen career partnering with R&D leadership to support portfolio planning, investment prioritization, and strategic decision-making across the company’s research and development pipeline. Today, Patrick serves as Head of Corporate FP&A, leading enterprise-wide financial planning and supporting capital allocation decisions. In this role, he works closely with senior leadership to align financial strategy with long-term business objectives, balancing investment in innovation, operational priorities, and growth initiatives across the organization. In his spare time, Patrick enjoys spending time with his wife and 2 young children and is an avid sports fan.
Panos Karelis, VP of Commercial, Commercial, Intelligencia AI
VP of Commercial
Intelligencia AI

Panos Karelis is VP, Head of Commercial at Intelligencia AI, where he leads the company’s global commercial organization and oversees the Center of Insights Excellence. He works closely with pharmaceutical and biotech partners to help them make more informed R&D, portfolio, and strategic investment decisions through AI-powered predictive analytics and bespoke data-driven insights. He brings more than a decade of experience in the life sciences industry, helping North American and European pharmaceutical and biotech companies develop product, therapeutic area and portfolio strategies. Prior to joining Intelligencia AI, Panos was a Principal with Strategic Decisions Group, a management consulting firm with a special focus on decision-making. Before moving into strategy consulting and the health tech industry, he began his career in the energy sector. He is an engineer by training with a background in economics, finance and decision analysis. Panos is also a business mentor who coaches technology startups in developing their business plans, and serves the Greek Alumni Association of Stanford University as a board member. In his leisure time, he enjoys reading literature, staying active with sports and spending time with friends.

Elayne Ko, Director, Portfolio Decision Sciences, GSK
Dir Portfolio Decision Sciences
GSK
Elayne Ko has over 20 years of experience in applying decision analysis processes, methodologies, and tools to facilitate investment decision-making under risks and uncertainties. Her work focuses primarily on the pharmaceutical industry; particularly, drug development investment decisions, long-term planning, and disease area/portfolio prioritization. Her experience spans both consulting and corporate roles across industries such as oil & gas, mining, and healthcare information technology.
Ivan Kugener, Vice President & Head of Global Portfolio Management, Valuation & Analytics, Merck KGaA
VP & Head Global Portfolio Mgmt
Merck KGaA
Educated as a Medical Doctor, Board certified I supplemented my education with an MBA and a Master in Mathematics. I started my career in the French Navy where I reached the rank of Captain at 25 years old. I spent over 7 years at Abbott Laboratories (90-97) and nearly 5 years at Medtronic (97-01). For 7 years I worked at a private Swiss bank (Lombard Odier Darier Hentsch) where I managed (with a team of five reporting to me) more than USD2bn invested in healthcare private and public equities. I then drove the mid-long term strategic effort for EMD Serono, the US subsidiary of Merck-Serono. I then headed the Medical Affairs at Arthrocare (sold to Smith & Nephew for 1.3 billion). I now head the pharmaceutical portfolio management and decision science function at Merck, as well as R&D Governance and resource management.
Troy Langford, Associate Director, Portfolio Analytics, Novartis
Associate Director, Portfolio Analytics
Novartis
Troy Langford holds an undergraduate degree in Chemical Engineering from Columbia University and a Ph.D. in Biomolecular Engineering from MIT. He has previously worked as a consultant in the healthcare industry, where he conducted market research studies for large pharmaceutical company clients and advised on clinical and commercial market dynamics across several different areas of therapeutic development. Troy also previously spent five years on the biotechnology equity research team at TD Cowen, where he produced research reports around several different biotechnology companies as well as thematic reports around broader trends in the biotechnology space. He currently works as an associate director on the Portfolio & Decision Analytics team at Novartis, where he leverages predictive analytics to provide prescriptive insights into the Novartis portfolio of products and make recommendations to various stakeholders across the organization.
Shawn Malloy, Director, R&D Portfolio Management, Biogen
Director, Asset & Portfolio Analytics
Biogen
I’ve spent 24 years at Biogen, navigating 13 roles in 8 different groups (manufacturing, contract/external manufacturing, Quality Control, Quality Assurance, CMC, Regulatory, Clinical Drug Supply, and R&D portfolio. My career has spanned both the production and R&D organizations, giving me a systems-level view and a deep appreciation for how strategy meets execution. That path wasn’t just about gathering expertise (though I did); it’s been about connecting with people, understanding how the whole system works, and learning how to lead with both heart and clarity. I bring a deep sense of curiosity, a process-oriented mindset, and yes—a good amount of levity. I believe serious work doesn’t require being overly serious, and that trust, humor, and genuine human connection are force multipliers in leadership. Whether I’m diving into root cause analysis, coaching a team through change, or helping shape a decision-making framework, my goal is to leave people more capable and empowered than I found them.
Kevin Matchett, Vice President Corporate Partnerships & Portfolio Innovation, Pipeline & Product Innovation, Flagship Pioneering
VP Corp Partnerships & Portfolio Innovation
Flagship Pioneering
Kevin Matchett is a strategic leader at Flagship Pioneering, where he helps shape alliance, portfolio, and platform strategy across the enterprise. He partners with platform company leadership and cross-functional stakeholders to optimize value creation through alliances, inform company-building and investment decisions, and deliver actionable insights at the intersection of science, strategy, and market opportunity. He brings extensive experience across biopharma spanning drug discovery and development, portfolio management, alliance management, business development, and operational leadership, with prior leadership roles at Pfizer, Amgen, Shire Regenerative Medicine, and Spectrum Pharmaceuticals. He holds an MBA from the University of California, Irvine and a BS in Biochemistry and Cell Biology from the University of California, San Diego.
Jon Moser, Chief Product Offier, Intelligencia AI
Chief Product Offier
Intelligencia AI

As Chief Product Officer, Jon leads product and engineering at Intelligencia AI, with a focus on translating the company’s clinical intelligence capabilities into products that pharmaceutical teams trust and rely on. Jon brings close to twenty years of experience working at the intersection of forecasting, data science and biopharma intelligence. He is deeply committed to customer co-development, and has spent his career building products that help life sciences organizations make better decisions under uncertainty. Most recently, he served as Chief Product Officer at Airfinity, scaling its biopharma intelligence platform and commercial forecasting solutions. Prior to that, he was Chief Innovation Officer at Norstella and Evaluate, where he led research and development across new product creation and existing product enhancement. Jon began his career at Evaluate in 2004, following his graduation in biochemistry from the University of Warwick. Over more than a decade there, he built expertise in pharmaceutical forecasting and financial coverage before co-founding the company’s professional services team in 2015, working closely with clients to deliver high-impact analytical engagements.

Mike Myers, Founder & President, ID4 Consulting
Associate Vice President
ID4 Consulting
Dr. Mike Myers has worked >30 years in pharma and has spent his career contributing to the discovery and development of new drugs. He is an inventor on 35 patents and has led teams in the pursuit of innovative treatments for cancer, CNS, infectious and cardiovascular disease. Mike recently retired from Ely Lilly as Associate Vice President LRL Project Management - Due Diligence and was involved in Lilly’s activities as part of the larger External Innovation team.
Carrie Nauyalis, Exec in Residence, Planview Inc
Exec in Residence
Planview Inc

Carrie Nauyalis is an Innovation and New Product Development (NPD)

Executive in Residence at Planview, where she serves as a trusted advisor

and thought leader in product development and portfolio management

(PPM). She is a frequent conference speaker, MBA guest lecturer, and

industry blogger, with deep expertise spanning Stage-Gate®, IoT, artificial

intelligence, and ROI-driven innovation. With nearly 30 years of experience in the product development and PPM

space, Carrie has held senior roles across global consulting and product

management. In her current role, she builds strategic partnerships, helps

organizations maximize the value of their Planview investments, shapes go-

to-market strategies, and translates market trends into actionable insights

for product management and roadmap innovation.

Caitlin Norris-Grey, MD, Associate, Pioneering Medicines
Associate
Pioneering Medicines
Caitlin Norris-Grey is an Associate at Flagship Pioneering’s Pioneering Medicines, where she works on early-stage therapeutic concepts at the intersection of science and strategy. She trained at UCL, earning a medical degree alongside a BSc in Infection, Immunology and Cell Pathology, with early research in autoimmune disease. She completed clinical training in London while contributing to studies spanning transplant virology, COVID-19, HIV, and health system performance. She later earned an MPH from Harvard, focusing on epidemiology and statistics, where she led geospatial analyses of measles vaccination coverage to inform public health decision-making.
Olaoluwakitan Osunkunle, Head, Portfolio Insights, AbbVie
Head
AbbVie Inc
Olaolu (Ollie) Osunkunle, MD, MBA, is the Head of Portfolio Insights at AbbVie, where he leads R&D portfolio prioritization, valuation and PTRS assessment. A former Principal at Boston Consulting Group and UK National Health Service clinician, he specializes in biopharma innovation and drug discovery strategy. He holds an MD from the University of Cambridge and an MBA from Harvard Business School.
Joel Ott, Executive Director, Portfolio and Project Management, Eli Lilly and Company
Executive Director
Eli Lilly & Company
Joel Ott is an Executive Director in Portfolio and Project Management at Eli Lilly and Company. His responsibilities include onboarding and growing capabilities of project leaders in early phase R&D and providing program management for enterprise initiatives. Prior, Joel was a project leader in late-phase development and supported early phase development in multiple roles. His experience covers several therapeutic areas, late-life cycle products, and internally developed and partnered projects, including a co-development alliance with another large pharma. Most recently he was the program leader for OMVOH’s Crohn’s Disease indication. Before venturing into his 17 years in project management, Joel spent four years with Lilly as an Organic Chemist in Process Development.
Peter Ray, Vice President, Head of Portfolio & Decision Analytics, Novartis
VP & Head
Novartis
Peter is a life sciences executive with a unique perspective on the R&D productivity and sustainability challenges facing biopharma companies at different stages of their evolution, and deep knowledge of the enterprise capabilities needed to address them. He has extensive experience in translating data and analytics into value-creating and optimizing strategies at the asset, franchise, and portfolio level, and he is an expert in characterizing and assessing risk and uncertainty. He has led process and organizational redesign efforts, integrating and collaborating across functions to improve both the speed and quality of decisions.
Joseph Robertson, Head of Data Management Operations, US Commercial, UCB Inc.
Head of Data Management Operations
UCB Inc
Joseph (Robby) Robertson is a data and analytics leader in U.S. commercial pharmaceuticals, focused on enabling high-quality decision-making through scalable data products and operational systems. He leads Data Management Operations, driving the development of commercial pharma data assets, reporting ecosystems, and workflow frameworks that support commercial teams across brands. With a multidisciplinary background in software engineering, data science, and business analysis, Robby specializes in addressing the complexity and fragmentation inherent in pharma data environments. His work challenges conventional dashboard-centric approaches, emphasizing the limitations of “complete” operational visibility. Instead, he advocates for decision-centric systems that embrace uncertainty, improve context awareness, and enable more adaptive execution across programs and portfolios.
Tilo Senger, PhD, Vice President, Head of Global R&D Program Management, EMD Serono
Global Head of R&D Program Management
EMD Serono
Tilo Senger, PhD, MBA is a senior biotech and pharmaceutical executive with over 20 years of experience in drug development and organizational leadership. He has worked across of the end-to-end R&D ecosystem, spanning early discovery through clinical development and lifecycle management. Currently serving as Vice President and Global Head of R&D Program Management at EMD Serono, Tilo has led the transformation of program management across therapeutic areas, introducing AI-driven tools and global operating models that improved efficiency, strengthened decision-making, and supported the integration of geographically and culturally diverse teams. Throughout his career, he has consistently enabled accelerated clinical development timelines and helped shape more than 50 innovation initiatives and development programs. A consistent theme in his leadership is building strong organizations: developing leaders, creating high-performing teams, and establishing ways of working that scale across geographies and cultures. He brings a disciplined, people-centered approach—combining accountability and coaching—to help teams perform in fast-changing, high-uncertainty environments. Tilo began his career as a scientist in academic research environments, building a strong scientific foundation that continues to inform his leadership in drug development. He is also co-founder of Beyond Science, where he initially focused on coaching and developing early-career scientists and has since expanded his work to support executives and senior leaders across pharma, biotech, and beyond. He holds a PhD in tumor virology from Heidelberg University and an Executive MBA from Mannheim Business School and ESSEC.
Aditya Shah, Partner, PwC
Partner
PwC

Adi Shah is a Partner in PwC’s Pharmaceutical and Life Sciences R&D Advisory practice with 20+ years of experience helping biopharma leaders transform R&D. He advises senior executives on portfolio and program management, operating models, and the use of data, digital, and AI to drive faster, better R&D decisions.

Stephen Smith, Senior Program Director, Corcept Therapeutics
Sr Program Dir Oncology
Corcept Therapeutics Inc
I have been in biopharma for over 25 years and have worked in neurology with Elan Pharmaceuticals, gene therapy for rare diseases with Audentes Therapeutics and Encoded Therapeutics, virology with Gilead Sciences, and oncology with Genentech, Medivation, Clovis Oncology, 23andme, and, currently, Corcept Therapeutics. I started my career in clinical operations where I led company-sponsored studies and oversaw investigator-initiated studies. I made the move to project/program management in 2014 to work on all phases of drug development from discovery through post-marketing activities and have assumed business development and alliance management responsibilities as needed for my programs.
Noel Sobelman, Vice President, Business Development & Innovation, TDK
VP, Business Development & Innovation
TDK USA
Noel Sobelman is a senior advisor to corporate leaders navigating the hard work of accelerating today’s business while building tomorrow’s growth. For more than 25 years, he has worked alongside executives to strengthen innovation where it actually breaks down: at the intersection of strategy, organization, investment choices, and execution. His work focuses on helping leadership teams move from ambition to results by building repeatable, practical systems for growth rather than relying on isolated initiatives or one-off successes. Known for his ability to ignite meaningful, durable business change, Noel is also a frequent guest speaker and lecturer at companies and business schools, where he shares real-world lessons drawn from front-line leadership experience. Across his career, Noel has held senior leadership roles in advisory firms and operating companies, led enterprise-wide innovation and new-venture efforts, and guided high-stakes product development and portfolio decisions across life sciences, technology, consumer products, and industrial sectors. Noel is the author of the award-winning book, Innovation Portfolio Management: Linking Strategy to Execution.
Elena Spencer, Head of Research Governance & Portfolio Management, Biogen
Head of Research Governance
Biogen
Elena Spencer is Head of Research Governance at Biogen, where she oversees research governance processes and portfolio operations to support high-quality decision-making, strategic alignment, and effective delivery across the research organization. She partners closely with senior research leaders to evolve governance frameworks and enable disciplined portfolio progression. Previously, Elena held senior leadership roles at Pfizer, including Director of Technology Platforms & Outreach and Chief of Staff to the Chief Scientific Officer of the Inflammation & Immunology Research Unit. She began her career as a preclinical research scientist primarily focused on translational neuropharmacology. Elena holds a B.S. and M.S. in Cellular & Molecular Biology from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, and an M.B.A. from the University of Massachusetts Amherst.
Joe Stalder, Vice President, Program Management, Zentalis Pharmaceuticals
Vice President
Zentalis Pharmaceuticals
Joe Stalder, PharmD, PMP, is Vice President of Project Management at Zentalis in San Diego, CA, co-founder of Groundswell Pharma Consulting, and editor of the book "Project Management for Drug Developers." Joe has over 10 years of project management experience in pharmaceutical development in large and small companies. His experience includes Project Management department head, PMO head, and Lead Project Manager on several early- and late-stage development assets in oncology, infectious disease, cardiology, metabolism, and pulmonology. Joe is also a regular speaker at biopharma PPM conferences and is involved in biopharma PPM community organizations including PIPMG and BiopharmaPM.
Siera Talbott, PhD, Vice President, Portfolio & Program Management, Cabaletta Bio
VP Portfolio & Program Mgmt
Cabaletta Bio
Siera is a project and portfolio management leader specializing in advancing biologic and CGT products from preclinical to commercial market. With 20 years of experience, she brings deep expertise to the intersection of cutting-edge science and operational execution. Siera has established five PMOs from the ground up, each built to be adaptive and customer-driven. Her experience spans preparing an autologous cell therapy commercial launch and BLA readiness at Argos Therapeutics, leading U.S. expansion and standing up a GMP facility at Erytech Pharma, and taking Elevation Oncology from seed funding beyond IPO. She currently leads Portfolio and Program Management at Cabaletta Bio, supporting CAR-T launch in the autoimmune space. Her signature strength is translating portfolio complexity into actionable insight, using scenario planning, option analysis, and scalable PM frameworks to keep development moving at every level of the organization. Siera holds a PMP, BA in Biology, and PhD in Cancer Cell Biology.
Axel Wiest, Senior Vice President, Portfolio Strategy & Operations, Dyne Therapeutics
SVP
Dyne Therapeutics
Axel serves as SVP, Portfolio & Strategy Operations and member of the Executive Committee at Dyne Therapeutics in Waltham, MA. His responsibilities include Program Leadership, Portfolio & Program Management, Clinical Operations, and Strategy & Operations. Previously, he was VP, Portfolio & Program Management at Moderna Therapeutics, VP, R&D Strategy & Planning at Bristol Myers Squibb, COO R&D and SVP, R&D Strategy and Business Operations at Merck Healthcare KGaA/EMD Serono, VP, Strategy and Project Management at Boehringer Ingelheim Biopharmaceuticals, and EVP/COO at Fresenius Biotech and President of Fresenius Biotech North America. Prior he served as a management consultant at A.T. Kearney and as a resident physician in Germany and Colombia. He holds an M.D. and Ph.D. from the University of Heidelberg and the German Cancer Research Center as well as an M.P.H. from the John Hopkins School of Public Health.
Saeid (Sam) Yazdani, Senior Director, Project, Program & Portfolio Management – Drug Development, argenx
VP Portfolio & Program Mgmt
Caribou Biosciences Inc
Saeid Yazdani is a seasoned biotech executive with over 20 years of experience driving global drug development programs from discovery through commercialization. He has played a pivotal role in securing multiple FDA approvals, leading cross-functional teams, and delivering patient-focused innovation across immuno-oncology and next-generation therapies. Known for his strategic vision and executional rigor, Saeid brings deep expertise in preclinical and clinical operations, portfolio strategy, and stage-gate governance. His leadership spans top-tier organizations, including Pfizer, Gilead, Genentech, Merck, Nestlé Health Science, Thermo Fisher, and Caribou Biosciences. Saeid holds an MBA from the University of Southern California, a BS in Chemistry, and certifications in Six Sigma Black Belt and Project Management.
Magnus Ytterstad, Product Owner, Portfolio Management, Captario
Product Owner
Captario AB
Magnus Ytterstad is Chief Product Owner at Captario, where he leads the company’s product roadmap and development priorities. He is responsible for shaping how Captario SUM evolves to support strategic decision-making in pharmaceutical R&D. Before joining Captario, Magnus worked at AstraZeneca in decision support and portfolio management, where he was responsible for one of the company’s therapeutic area portfolios. His career has focused on enabling better, data-driven decisions in drug development by combining strategic planning with advanced modeling and simulation.
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