2026 Judges | Finals
Anna Barry, CEO Anvia Therapeutics
Anna Barry is a life sciences executive with over two decades of experience in the biotechnology industry with expertise in strategy, company building, corporate development, operations, financing, business development, and intellectual property. She has been a member of senior management teams that successfully led companies through organizational growth and transformation, including a company’s evolution from a privately held, discovery stage start-up to a publicly traded, development stage biotechnology company. Dr. Barry currently serves as the Co-founder, President and CEO of Anvia Therapeutics. Previously, she was a Venture Partner at Deerfield Management, Chief Operating Officer at Korro Bio, General Counsel at Jounce Therapeutics, Head of IP at Five Prime Therapeutics, and Senior Patent Counsel at Genentech. Dr. Barry received her BS in Chemistry from the Georgia Institute of Technology, PhD in Biophysical Chemistry from Yale University, and a JD from Vanderbilt University.
Robert Ross, CEO, Clasp Therapeutics
Rob Ross is an oncology executive, serving as the CEO of Clasp Therapeutics. Previously, he served as the CEO and member of the Board of Directors of Surface Oncology, before its acquisition by Coherus Biosciences. Earlier in his career, Rob held leadership positions at bluebird bio, Genentech, and Infinity Pharmaceuticals. Rob received a BS in Biological Sciences and a BA in Philosophy from Stanford University, an MS in Medical Science from Harvard Medical School, and an MD from Columbia University. He completed his residency training in Internal Medicine at UCSF, following which he was a Fellow in Medical Oncology and faculty member at the Dana Farber Cancer Institute. Rob is also an independent director on the boards of Obsidian Therapeutics and Xilio Therapeutics.
Sooah Cho, Partner, SignalFire
Sooah Cho joined SignalFire in 2023 as a Partner focused on investments in early-stage health and life sciences tech. Prior to SignalFire, she was a Principal at Underscore VC, where she invested in fast-growing B2B software startups, including life sciences tech products. She was also previously a product leader at CVS Health, where she launched nationwide prescription delivery and virtual care products, and Devoted Health, currently valued at over $12 billion. Sooah has a joint-degree MBA/MPP from Harvard Business School and Harvard Kennedy School.
Andy Ellner, CEO, Quilt Health
Andy Ellner is a primary care physician and the co-founder and CEO of Quilt Health. Andy is a serial entrepreneur, having previously founded Firefly Health and Fourier Health, and served on the management teams. He was previously the founding co-director of the Harvard Medical School Center for Primary Care and worked with the Clinton HIV/AIDS Initiative and World Health Organization. Andy is a graduate of Harvard College and Harvard Medical School and completed his internship and residency in the Division of General Medicine and Primary Care at Brigham and Women’s Hospital.
Meera Mani, Partner, Town Hall Ventures
Meera Mani is a physician and General Partner at Town Hall Ventures. She was previously a Senior Partner in McKinsey’s healthcare practice and leader of their Medicaid practice. Meera has worked extensively across the healthcare value chain, including with regional and national health insurers, health systems, state and local health agencies, pharmacy benefit managers, and institutional investors, with a particular focus on health equity for underserved communities. Meera holds an MD and PhD from Cornell University.
Dan Karlin, CMO, Definium Therapeutics
Dr. Daniel Rollings Karlin, MD, MA is the Chief Medical Officer at Definium Therapeutics (previously, Mind Medicine Inc). He is board-certified in Psychiatry, Addiction Medicine, and Clinical Informatics. Previously, he was the Co-founder and the CEO of HealthMode, a company that developed digital measurement technology for medicine and clinical trials, which was acquired by MindMed. During this time, he also served as the Chief Medical Officer for NightWare, where he led development through FDA clearance.
He was previously the Head of Clinical, Informatics, and Regulatory Strategy for Digital Medicine at Pfizer, having passed through several roles on the way to this position including Senior Director, Quantitative Medicine, Group Lead for Human Biology and Medical Informatics with Pfizer's Neuroscience Research Unit in Cambridge, MA.
He is an Assistant Professor at Tufts University School of Medicine in Boston and had been the Director of Psychiatry Informatics, and the Associate Training Director for Psychiatry. He was the Co-Founder and former Chief Medical Officer of Column Health, an addiction treatment startup.
Dr. Karlin trained in Psychiatry at Tufts Medical Center, attended medical school at the University of Colorado School of Medicine, and graduate school for Clinical Informatics and Cognitive Science as well as undergraduate studies in Neuroscience and Behavior at Columbia University.
