Dr. Michael Salgaller leads the Invention Development and Marketing Unit within the National Cancer Institute’s Technology Transfer Center, where he leverages over 20 years of business, scientific, and investment experience in various life science sectors to support technology development and commercialization. Previously, he provided technical and strategic expertise to The Conafay Group, a DC-based government affairs firm – leading efforts on non-dilutive funding and alliance development. Previously, he was a key member of the business development team for the healthcare practice at SAIC, a Fortune-500 government contractor. He helped lead and deepen relationships with the Department of Health and Human Services – especially NIH and FDA – as well as foundations and patient advocacy groups. Before SAIC, he was a long-time industry executive who has held various positions in early-stage biotechnology and boutique professional service firms. In addition, Dr. Salgaller was on the investment team of Toucan Capital, a $120M early-stage venture firm dedicated to the life sciences, where he guided company formation and helped raise follow-on financing. He began his career as a Senior Staff Scientist with Dr. Steve Rosenberg at the National Cancer Institute, where he oversaw a lab developing immunotherapies for patients with terminal cancer.

Dr. Salgaller serves on the Life Sciences Advisory Board of the Maryland-Israel Development Center, as well as NCI liaison to the Maryland Technology Council. He is an advisor to DC ArchAngels and the Cooperative Angel Alumni Group. He is the author of “Biotechnology Entrepreneurship,” which is used as a reference text for courses at NIH and Catholic University, among others. He is the author of over 100 articles, presentations, and book chapters, and is on the editorial boards of several journals. Dr. Salgaller received his PhD in Pathology from The Ohio State University.

Tina Reed is the Executive Healthcare & Hospitals Editor who oversees FierceHealthcare, FierceHospitals and FiercePracticeManagement. She has been reporting on health for about a decade, previously writing on the business of healthcare, the explosion of precision medicine, the evolution of cancer care and innovation in the delivery in the healthcare.

Dr. Steve Projan is the Head of Infectious Diseases & Vaccines Innovative Medicines unit (iMED) at MedImmune, leading a cross-functional team dedicated to the therapeutic area strategy, prioritization and advancement of the company’s infectious disease and vaccine portfolio.

Dr. Projan joined MedImmune in 2010. Prior to joining MedImmune, Dr. Projan served as vice president and global head of Infectious Diseases at the Novartis Institutes for Biomedical Research in Cambridge, MA. He previously spent 15 years at Wyeth in roles of increasing responsibility with his last post as vice president and head of Biological Technologies. During his time at Wyeth, Dr. Projan started the Biologics Discovery Group (covering all therapeutic areas) and initiated multiple collaborations and partnerships, most notably with Cambridge Antibody Technology (now a part of MedImmune/AZ). Prior to Dr. Projan’s work in the industry, he spent 14 years at the Public Health Research Institute and presently has over 110 publications to his credit.

Dr. Projan received a bachelor of science from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and masters of arts and philosophy in biological sciences and a doctorate in molecular genetics from Columbia University.

Dr. Present began his career over 35 years ago as a university-based orthopedic oncological surgeon, later becoming Chief of Orthopedic Surgical Oncology and Assistant Professor of Orthopedic Surgery at NYU School of Medicine. During this time, he founded Osteotech Inc., a medical device company which pioneered the industrialization and commercialization of bone and tissue transplantation and was eventually sold to Medtronic Inc. In the mid 1990’s, Dr. Present left his everyday practice of medicine to become a full-time investment portfolio manager at Kingdon Capital and then Managing General Partner of Weiss Peck & Greer- Farber Present Fund, a 600-million dollar equity hedge fund, which was eventually sold to Robeco/Rabo Bank N.V. Since 2003, Dr. Present has led his team in the discovery, creation and financing of companies in the healthcare and technology space. He was the Founder, CEO and Chairman of Palyon Medical Corporation, a medical device company with a unique and patented drug delivery system. In 2014 he co-founded Pansend Life Sciences LLC, a subsidiary of HC2 Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:HCHC) dedicated to investing broadly in life sciences and healthcare.

Cherine E. Plumaker began her career at Weiss Peck & Greer-Farber Present Fund as an equity analyst focusing on the healthcare and consumer industries. In rapid succession, she became portfolio manager and ultimately Head of Trading and Senior Portfolio Manager of the Fund. Upon the sale of Weiss Peck &Greer- Farber Present Fund to Robeco/Rabobank N.V., Ms. Plumaker partnered with Dr. Present and became Co-founder and Chief Operating Officer of Palyon Medical Corporation. In 2014 she co-founded Pansend Life Sciences LLC, a subsidiary of HC2 Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:HCHC) dedicated to investing broadly in life sciences and healthcare. Ms. Plumaker received a B.S in Economics from Rutgers University.

Jim serves as chairman and CEO of HemoShear Therapeutics. Prior to joining HemoShear in 2009, he spent 18 years with PRA Health Sciences where he was a member of the executive team that grew the company into a leading global clinical trials management organization and took the company public. After retiring from PRA, he was an advisor to the Coulter Translational Research Partnership in the Biomedical Engineering Department at the University of Virginia where he met HemoShear’s co-founders. In 2014, Mr. Powers was selected to join PharmaVoice’s Top 100 Most Inspiring leaders in healthcare. He currently serves on the board of Virginia BIO and is chairman of the Virginia BIO Foundation. Mr. Powers received a B.S. in administration and management science from Carnegie-Mellon University.

Dr. Emanuel F Petricoin is the Chief Science Officer and Co-Founder of Perthera, Inc., Perthera is a leading precision medicine company that empowers all cancer patients and oncologists globally with the most comprehensive molecular profiling and data analytics process. Dr. Petricoin has been the Co-Director of the Center for Applied Proteomics and Molecular Medicine at George Mason University since 2005, where he is a University Professor. Prior to this position, he served as Co-Director of the FDA-NCI Clinical Proteomics Program and a Senior Investigator within the Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research at the FDA from 1993-2005. He has authored over 360 peer-reviewed publications and invited reviews with an H Factor of 92, and is on the editorial board of over 10 high impact journals. He has received numerous awards including the University Professorship at George Mason University, the NIH Director’s Award, FDA Distinguished Scientist Award, 2015 Innovator of the Year Award, GAP50 Top Virginia Entrepreneurs, Nifty 50 Award, American Society of Cytopathology Basic Research Award, the Roche Diagnostics/CLAS Distinguished Scientist Award and the Harvard University Leading Edge Award and is a Kentucky Colonel.

Jay A. Perman, MD, is president of the University of Maryland, Baltimore (UMB)—Maryland’s only public health, law, and human services university.

A pediatric gastroenterologist, Dr. Perman continues to practice medicine through his weekly President’s Clinic, where he teaches team-based health care to students of medicine, nursing, dentistry, pharmacy, social work, and law.

Focused on invigorating UMB’s commercialization enterprise, Dr. Perman has overseen significant growth in UMB’s tech transfer metrics: In five years, the number of university startups launched each year has tripled, and the number of technologies licensed to commercial partners has doubled.  

Dr. Perman first came to UMB in 1999 as chair of the School of Medicine’s Department of Pediatrics. He left Baltimore in 2004 for the University of Kentucky College of Medicine, where he was dean and vice president for clinical affairs. In addition, he has served on faculty and in leadership positions at the University of California, San Francisco, Johns Hopkins University, and Virginia Commonwealth University.

Dr. Perman received a Doctor of Medicine Degree with Distinction from Northwestern University. He completed a fellowship in pediatric gastroenterology at Harvard Medical School and at the Children’s Hospital Medical Center in Boston.

As Chief Medical Officer for Pediatrics and Special Populations at the U.S. FDA CDRH, Vasum provides executive and clinical leadership on Center policies and initiatives associated with medical devices intended for use in pediatric and special populations. He is the Center’s senior clinical expert on pediatrics and pediatric medical device issues. He leads systems development to facilitate internal and external innovation and synergy that enhances the ability of the Center and the Agency to optimally meet the medical device needs of historically underserved populations.

Prior to joining the FDA, Vasum was the Joon Park MD Endowed Chair in Medical Excellence and Chief of Pediatric and Adult Congenital Cardiology at Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center (TTUHSC). With appointments in both the Departments of Pediatrics and (adjunct) Internal Medicine, he provided full spectrum cardiovascular critical care and outpatient services. He helped develop the TTUHSC Clinical Research Institute, promoting patient-oriented translational and outcomes research, and was inaugural faculty of the Department of Public Health, assisting in development of the curricula offering unique training in rural health.

Vasum is triple-board certified in Pediatrics, Pediatric Cardiology and Adult Congenital Cardiovascular Disease. He completed his undergraduate and graduate degrees at Yale University and the Yale School of Medicine Department of Epidemiology and Public Health, his MD at the University of Vermont College of Medicine, Residency at Yale-New Haven Hospital/Yale School of Medicine and Fellowship and Senior Fellowship at Children’s Hospital Boston/Harvard Medical School.

Kurt Newman, MD, is President and CEO of Children’s National Health System. Located in Washington, D.C., Children’s National is ranked one of the nation’s best pediatric hospitals by U.S. News & World Report and is a leader in NIH pediatric medical research funding. Dr. Newman has been a surgeon at Children’s National for over 30 years and also is professor of surgery and pediatrics at George Washington University School of Medicine & Health Science. He guided the creation of the Sheikh Zayed Institute for Pediatric Surgical Innovation, with the goal of making children’s surgery less invasive and pain free. As CEO, he is a champion of innovation in research, operations, and clinical care. He is a strong advocate for expanding mental health access for kids and has led two national forums on this issue.  Dr. Newman also plays a critical role in improving pediatric health and well-being nationally through his work on the Boards of the Children’s Hospital Association and Safe Kids Worldwide and as the author of numerous scientific publications. His medical memoir, “Healing Children: A Surgeon’s Stories from the Frontiers of Pediatric Medicine,” debuted as an Amazon bestseller in Pediatrics and earned national attention and critical praise in The New York Times Book Review, The Washington Post and Harvard Business Review.

Dr. Newman is a graduate of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and of Duke Medical School. He completed his surgical residency at Brigham and Women’s Hospital and Harvard Medical School before joining Children’s National.