Keynote Speakers
KATHY FERNANDO, Opening Keynote
VP & Head of Global R&D Operations, Pfizer
Kathy Fernando is a Vice President and Head of Operations for Worldwide Research, Development and Medical at Pfizer. Prior to joining Pfizer, she worked in management consulting, most recently at Monitor Deloitte. Kathy has strong strategy and operations expertise across the R＆D and commercial space and has navigated complex strategic challenges across 10+ products launches. During her time in consulting, Kathy helped address diverse business needs for pharmaceutical and biotech companies in the US and EU markets in areas such as therapeutic area strategy, product launch and lifecycle management. At Pfizer, she works on strategic initiatives to increase value of the R&D portfolio and enhance R＆D productivity.
Kathy has a Ph.D. in Immunology from the University of Pennsylvania. Her Ph.D. thesis focused on mRNA vaccines and HIV vaccine development. She has a bachelor's degree in biotechnology from the Indian Institute of Technology (I.I.T) in Kharagpur, India. She lives in New York City with her husband and two young boys.
BILL SIBOLD, Midday Keynote
Executive Vice President & Head of Sanofi Genzyme, Sanofi
Bill Sibold is Executive Vice President and Head of Sanofi Genzyme, the specialty care global business unit of Sanofi. In this role, he is a member of the Sanofi Executive Committee. Previously, Bill was the Global Head of Sanofi Genzyme’s Multiple Sclerosis, Oncology and Immunology franchises, and led the preparation for the launches of two important new immunology treatments. Bill joined Sanofi Genzyme in 2011 as Senior Vice President and Head of Multiple Sclerosis and oversaw the successful launches of its two MS treatments. As Head of Sanofi Genzyme, he leads the business’s efforts to maintain its leadership in rare diseases while continuing to grow in multiple sclerosis, oncology and immunology.
Bill has more than 25 years of experience in the biopharmaceutical industry since starting his career with Eli Lilly. He held a number of leadership positions at Biogen, including driving their U.S. commercial operations in neurology, oncology and rheumatology, and general management of Biogen’s Australian and Asia-Pacific business. In addition to his time with Biogen, Bill also served as Chief Commercial Officer of Avanir Pharmaceuticals.
Bill holds an MBA from Harvard Business School and a BA in Molecular Biophysics and Biochemistry from Yale University.
DAN SKOVRONSKY, Closing Keynote
CSO, SVP Science & Technology, President of Lilly Research Labs, Eli Lilly
Dan Skovronsky is the chief scientific officer of Eli Lilly and Company and president of Lilly Research Laboratories. He also has responsibility for global business development. Dan joined Lilly in 2010 when the company acquired Avid Radiopharmaceuticals Inc., where he had been CEO since founding the company in 2004. At Lilly, Dan has held various roles, including vice president, tailored therapeutics, vice president diabetes research, and most recently, senior vice president, clinical and product development. Dan has been closely involved in progress across all of Lilly’s therapeutic areas, including leading the recent acquisitions of Loxo Oncology and Prevail Therapeutics, the development of Lilly’s anti-COVID monoclonal antibodies, and Lilly’s progress in Alzheimer’s disease.
Dan is a neuroscientist and neuropathologist, having completed his residency training in pathology and fellowship training in neuropathology at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania. He received his M.D. from the Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania in 2001 and his Ph.D. in Neuroscience from University of Pennsylvania in 2000. Dan earned a Bachelor of Science in molecular biophysics and biochemistry from Yale University in 1994.
Moderators
HARVEY LODISH
Professor of Biology and Bioengineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Moderator for Dan Skovronsky, Closing Keynote
Dr. Lodish received his A.B. degree Summa Cum Laude in Chemistry and Mathematics from Kenyon College in 1962 and his Ph.D. degree in Genetics from the Rockefeller University in 1966. Following two years of postdoctoral research at the M.R.C. Laboratory of Molecular Biology with Drs. Sydney Brenner and Francis Crick, he joined the faculty of the MIT Department of Biology. He was promoted to Professor in 1976, and in 1983 was appointed Founding Member of the new Whitehead Institute for Biomedical Research. In 1999, he also became Professor of Biological Engineering in the new MIT Department of Biological Engineering.
He was elected a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science in 1986, a Member of the National Academy of Sciences in 1987, and a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 1999. He is a member of the Board of Trustees of Boston Children's Hospital, where he chaired the Board Research Committee.
He is the lead author of the textbook Molecular Cell Biology. During the 2004 calendar year, he served as President of the American Society for Cell Biology. Dr. Lodish was a founder and scientific advisory board member of several now public biotech companies including Genzyme, Inc., Millennium Pharmaceuticals, and Rubius Therapeutics. From 2007 - 2015 he was the Founding Chair of the Scientific Advisory Board of the Massachusetts Life Sciences Center. Over 200 MD, PhD, and MD/PhD students and fellows have trained in his laboratory; two of his trainees have received the Nobel Prize and eight have been elected to the US National Academy of Sciences or the National Academy of Medicine.
GIGI HIRSCH
Executive Director, MIT Center for Biomedical Innovation
Moderator for Bill Sibold, Midday Keynote
Dr. Gigi Hirsch is the Executive Director of the MIT Center for Biomedical Innovation (CBI), which focuses on improving global health by overcoming challenges to the development, diffusion and adoption of biomedical innovations. Dr. Hirsch has held a number of leadership roles that leverage her broad clinical background (Internal Medicine, Emergency Medicine, and Psychiatry) along with her passion for innovation, entrepreneurship, and improving patient outcomes. Prior to joining CBI, she served as Director of Academic and Professional Relations at Millennium Pharmaceuticals, and was founder and CEO of a boutique entrepreneurial venture (MD IntelliNet), funded by Boston’s Beth Israel Hospital. She has held faculty appointments at the medical schools of Harvard, Brown, and Tufts after receiving her medical degree at the University of Cincinnati.
Her current efforts at CBI center on leading the New Drug Development Paradigms initiative (NEWDIGS), a “think and do tank” that is re-engineering pharmaceutical innovation to deliver new, better, affordable therapeutics to the right patients, faster. Within the broad strategic framework of “Adaptive Biomedical Innovation (ABI),” NEWDIGS’ flagship project focused on aligning stakeholders around more adaptive, patient-centered approaches to the management of risk and uncertainty across the life span of new medicines. As the Executive Director of the MIT CBI, she leads the LEAPS Project whose multi-stakeholder community includes upstream and downstream innovation partners working together in a collaborative, pre-competitive environment to develop innovative, patient-centered solutions.
