Dr. William Hearl is the founder & CEO of Immunomic Therapeutics, Inc. and is an experienced and successful life science businessman and entrepreneur. Dr. Hearl is adept at brokering mutually beneficial partnerships and identifying non-traditional collaborations and investment opportunities, highlighted by his groundbreaking $300 million deal with Astellas Pharma in 2015.   Dr. Hearl has been active in the Maryland biotech community for over 30 years. In 2000, he founded of Capital Genomix, Inc., a Maryland-based biomarker and drug discovery Company. Prior to CGI he served in various roles at other Maryland – based companies including Kirkegaard & Perry Laboratories (KPL), Life Technologies, IGEN and Pharmacia – Electro-Nucleonics.   Dr. Hearl earned his Ph.D. in biochemistry from the University of Tennessee and B.S. from East Tennessee State University.

Dan Gura, PharmD, MPH is Director of Business Development at AlgometRx, Inc., a medical device start-up based in Washington, DC. AlgometRx, Inc. is a platform technology founded by a pediatric anesthesiologist to objectively measure pain in real time, both its type and intensity, as well as determine drug effect to refine interventions used for pain management in both adult and pediatric patient populations. Dan was formerly Director of Business Development at CommGenix , a medical education company, where he oversaw the pain and healthcare technology platforms. Dan served as Associate Scientific Director at the Geriatric Oncology Consortium (GOC), a non-profit agency dedicated to improving care of elderly patients with cancer through clinical research and education. Prior to the GOC, Dan worked at M. D. Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, TX, in the Department of Pain and Symptom Management. His research focused on the natural history of phantom limb/stump pain in pediatric and adult cancer amputees. Dan earned his Bachelor of Arts degree from Swarthmore College, his Master of Public Health degree from the UT Houston Health Science Center, and his Doctor of Pharmacy degree from the University of Texas at Austin College of Pharmacy/UT San Antonio Health Science Center. He received post-doctoral fellowship training in health economics/epidemiology from Yale University College of Medicine, School of Public Health.

Dr. Guay-Woodford is the Hudson Professor of Pediatrics and Associate Vice President for Clinical and Translational Research at The George Washington University. She is a pediatric nephrologist and an internationally recognized investigator whose research focuses on identifying clinical and genetic factors in the pathogenesis of inherited renal disorders, notably autosomal recessive polycystic kidney disease. In 2009, Dr. Guay-Woodford was awarded the Lillian Jean Kaplan International Prize for Advancement in the Understanding of Polycystic Kidney Disease, given by the PKD Foundation and the International Society of Nephrology. She has published over 120 peer-reviewed reports and more than 50 reviews and book chapters.

Over the past 12 years, Dr. Guay-Woodford has played multiple leadership roles in promoting clinical and translational research, including establishing and directing (2005-2012) the NIDDK-funded University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) Hepato-Renal Fibrocystic Disease Research and Translational Core Center, and serving as the founding Director of the UAB CTSA program (2008-2012). In 2012, Dr. Guay-Woodford was recruited to direct the CTSA-funded Clinical and Translational Science Institute at Children’s National (CTSI-CN), as well as to lead the Center for Translational Science in the Children’s Research Institute. She has mentored numerous residents, fellows, and junior faculty. In addition, she serves on the External Advisory Committees for multiple CTSA programs, as well as several NICHD-funded K12 programs.

Quality Biological, Inc. (QBI), is a woman-owned and operated Contract Development Manufacturing Organization with a 30-year history of serving the needs of the BioHealth Capital region.  QBI delivers high-performance, high-quality custom products to support consistent and reproducible results in research, method and process validation, preclinical drug discovery and large-scale production of custom formulations for commercialization.  As President and CEO, Angela Graham, provides the leadership and strategic direction for what has become an award-winning multi-million-dollar business. Her integrity and customer satisfaction philosophy are guiding principles of the organization; ensuring QBI is seen, first, as a trusted business partner.  Angela’s expertise is in marketing, organizational development, and change management. She is a graduate of the University of Virginia and has completed executive studies at the Tuck School of Business, Dartmouth College and the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University.

Shaun Grady has global responsibility for Business Development Operations at AstraZeneca, leading the company’s transaction execution, due diligence and Alliance and Integration Management function including externalisation, licensing and partnering, M&A, and divestments.

Shaun was appointed to his current role in 2013 with the creation of the Global Product and Portfolio Strategy (GPPS) unit. Prior to this, he was Vice President, Strategic Partnering & Business Development (2010-13) and Vice President, Corporate Business Development (2006-10).

Shaun originally joined ICI as an attorney and held positions in the pharmaceuticals, petrochemicals, and legal departments. Following the demerger from ICI, he was appointed Assistant General Counsel, Corporate for Zeneca.

Shaun worked on the merger of Astra and Zeneca, the merger of Zeneca Agrochemicals with Novartis Agribusiness to form Syngenta, and the creation of Avecia. Shaun also worked on the acquisition of Cambridge Antibody Technology (CAT), led the acquisition of Amylin, and subsequent buy-out of Bristol-Myers’ Squibb’s interest in the Diabetes Alliance. In addition, he has spent time in the US business managing the legal function and also completed a two year secondment to HR, leading a global People Strategy change project.

Shaun is a Fellow in Entrepreneurship at Cambridge Judge Business School and is a member of the Board of Cambridge United Football Club.

Based in Cambridge, Shaun enjoys rugby and soccer, and occasionally turns his hand to sports writing.

Douglas is a leader in accelerating growth of digital and biohealth companies through innovative business development that delivers value and results. As an entrepreneur and intrapreneur he has crafted innovative solutions using technology, process improvement and human ingenuity. He is a thought leader in digital therapeutics, population health and precision health. He is the author of 11 books health and technology and delivered over 300 talks and workshops for leading health and life sciences organizations. Recently, Doug served as the AVP and Innovation Officer for the Inova Center for Personalized Health where he led the development of new value and outcome based clinical and business relationships with global life sciences and medical device companies. The Inova Center for Personalized Health is 117 acre campus on the Washington DC beltway that is being transformed into a translational research, drug discovery and innovation center.

Jeffrey A. Galvin is the CEO and Co-founder of American Gene Technologies™ (AGT). He earned his BA degree in Economics from Harvard in 1981. He has more than 30 years of business and entrepreneurial experience including founder or executive positions at a variety of Silicon Valley startups.  Several of his companies were taken public and/or sold to public companies, including one in the medical-technology arena that was sold to Varian, the leading maker of linear accelerators used in cancer therapy. Following his startup experience, he retired to become an Angel Investor in real estate and high tech. He came out of retirement to found and fund AGT after meeting Roscoe Brady at NIH.

Jeffrey M. Gallagher, CEO of Virginia Bio, is responsible for leading the premier statewide trade group that promotes the considerable scientific and economic impact of the life sciences industry in the Commonwealth of Virginia. Prior to taking on the leadership of Virginia Bio in May 2012, Jeff was a co-founder and served as VP & General Counsel for Lyotropic Therapeutics. This small specialty pharma company used its proprietary formulation technology to create new drug products based on both NCIs and already approved API for license, further development and commercialization by mid and large pharma. Previously he practiced corporate law in Richmond, focusing on new technology company formation, international business and intellectual property transactions. He was a co-founder and longtime Chairman of the Richmond based nonprofit World Pediatric Project. He holds an A.B. in Government from Harvard, a J.D. from the University of Wisconsin Law School, and an LL.M in Public International Law from the University of Virginia School of Law. He resides with his family in the Ginter Park area of Richmond, VA.

Brian K. Fitzgerald has served since 2005 as BHEF’s chief executive officer and developed long-term strategy for the membership organization. He is an internationally recognized leader in strategic business-higher education partnerships and innovative talent solutions. Under Dr. Fitzgerald’s leadership, BHEF’s National Higher Education and Workforce Initiative (HEWI) has emerged as the organization’s strategic enterprise. Through BHEF member collaboration, HEWI creates strategic partnerships between business and academic institutions to create new talent development models in high-skill emerging fields. BHEF presents insights from its partnerships in case studies, identifies workforce trends through its market intelligence publications and influences thought-leaders and policy makers through its public events.

Dr. Fitzgerald is widely published in domestic and international publications and while CEO has served on a number of commissions and working groups, most recently including the STEM working group for the President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology, which produced the widely cited 2012 report to President Obama: Engage to Excel, and recently served on a National Academies of Science study group of undergraduate computer science enrollment.

Aled Edwards is the founding and current CEO of the Structural Genomics Consortium (SGC), a charity that generates research tools to support basic science and drug discovery.

The SGC has been sharing its science freely since 2003 and is widely acknowledged as a pioneer in open science.  In 2007 became the first research organization to adopt a policy not to file patents on any of its own research, or its collaborative research. More than 30 clinical trials have been launched based on SGC discoveries, and more than
10 companies have been formed based on SGC science.

Aled is a Professor at Toronto, Oxford and McGill Universities.  He studied biochemistry at McGill and did his post-doctoral work at Stanford with Roger Kornberg. In 2015, he was elected a Senior Ashoka Fellow for social entrepreneurship.