Panelists

MARK BUSSARD

Founding Partner and Managing Director, Rock Springs Capital

Mark Bussard, M.D., is a Founding Partner and Managing Member at Rock Springs Capital, a healthcare investment firm in Baltimore, MD. Prior to founding Rock Springs in 2013, Mark was most recently a vice president of T. Rowe Price Group, Inc., and T. Rowe Price Associates, Inc. He was a research analyst in the U.S. Equity Division following medical device, biotechnology, and other healthcare companies.

Mark earned his medical degree at the University of Virginia, where he was also a resident in general surgery and was elected into the Alpha Omega Alpha medical honor society. Mark also earned a B.A. in chemistry and biology from Williams College, and an M.B.A from the Darden Graduate School of Business Administration, where he was designated a William Michael Shermet Scholar.

BIJAN SALEHIZADEH

Managing Director, NaviMed

Dr. Salehizadeh has 20 years of healthcare operating and investment experience. At NaviMed, he is responsible for leading investments and overseeing portfolio companies with a particular focus on healthcare providers and pharmaceutical services. Prior to co-founding NaviMed Capital, he was a General Partner at Highland Capital Partners, where he focused on growth stage healthcare investments. Prior to joining Highland Capital Partners in 2004, Dr. Salehizadeh spent several years in a variety of healthcare operational roles at publicly traded and emerging growth companies.

Dr. Salehizadeh led NaviMed’s investments in and currently serves on the Board of Directors of CenterPointe Behavioral Health System, The CM Group, Scientific Commercialization, and Velocity Clinical Research. He also serves on the Board of Directors of OPN Healthcare and Lux Health Tech Acquisition Corp.

Dr. Salehizadeh holds an AB in Molecular Biology from Princeton University, an MD and Master’s in Science in Health Policy from Columbia University, and an MBA from Harvard Business School. He is also a graduate of the Kauffman Fellows Program.

ANN DEWITT

General Partner, MIT Engine

Ann is a General Partner of the investment team at The Engine. Ann is a Board Member at Cambridge Crops, Cellino, E25Bio, Kytopen, Lucy Therapeutics, Syzygy & Vaxess. Ann was most recently at Sanofi where she held senior roles in business development and strategic venture investment. Prior to Sanofi, she was at Flagship Ventures. Ann started her career in R&D at 3M Company, working across fields of materials, biology, engineering. Ann holds an MBA from Harvard and a PhD in Chemical Engineering from MIT. She serves on the Board of Women in the Enterprise of Science and Technology and on the Life Science Council of Springboard Enterprises.

ANDREW LO

Professor of Finance, MIT

Andrew W. Lo is the Charles E. and Susan T. Harris Professor at the MIT Sloan School of Management, director of MIT’s Laboratory for Financial Engineering, and principal investigator at MIT's Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory. His healthcare-related research interests include new financial engineering tools and business models for drug and device development and healthcare delivery, statistical methods for incorporating patient preferences into the drug approval process, and predicting clinical trial outcomes via machine learning techniques.

He is a co-founder and director of BridgeBio Pharma, a co-founder and chairman QLS Advisors, a director of Roivant Sciences, and a member of the NIH/NCATS advisory board. His awards include Guggenheim and Sloan Fellowships; the Paul A. Samuelson Award; the Eugene Fama Prize; the IAFE-SunGard Financial Engineer of the Year; the Global Association of Risk Professionals Risk Manager of the Year; one of TIME’s “100 most influential people in the world”; and awards for teaching excellence from both Wharton and MIT. Dr. Lo received his B.A. in economics from Yale University and his A.M. and Ph.D. in economics from Harvard University.