Igor Jurisica, PhD, DrSc is a Senior Scientist at Osteoarthritis Research Program, Division of Orthopedic Surgery, Schroeder Arthritis Institute and Krembil Research Institute, Professor at University of Toronto and Visiting Scientist at IBM CAS. He is also an Adjunct Professor at the Department of Pathology and Molecular Medicine at Queen’s University, and an adjunct scientist at the Institute of Neuroimmunology, Slovak Academy of Sciences. He also serves as Chief Scientist at the Creative Destruction Lab, Rotman School of Management, and is a scientific director of the World Community Grid.

His research focuses on integrative informatics and the representation, analysis and visualization of high-dimensional data to identify prognostic/predictive signatures, determine clinically relevant combination therapies, and develop accurate models of drug mechanism of
action and disease-altered signaling cascades. He has published extensively on data mining, visualization and integrative computational biology, including multiple papers in Science, Nature, Nature Medicine, Nature Methods, J Clinical Oncology, J Clinical Investigations. He has been included in Thomson Reuters 2014, 2015 & 2016 lists of Highly Cited Researchers, and The World's Most Influential Scientific Minds: 2015 & 2014 Reports. In 2019, he was included in the Top 100 AI Leaders in Drug Discovery and Advanced Healthcare list (Deep Knowledge Analytics).

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Dr. Curley is a board-certified surgical oncologist specializing in the care of patients with hepatobiliary and gastrointestinal cancers. He is actively involved in his clinical roles and is deeply committed to developing multidisciplinary care programs for patients with all types of cancer. Throughout his 25+ years of surgical oncology experience he has held a variety of notable appointments, published over 350 clinical scientific publications, and spent countless hours on clinical and laboratory research projects. Currently, he is the Oncology Institute Director and Chief of Surgical Oncology at CHRISTUS Trinity Mother Frances Hospital. He also holds faculty positions as Professor of Surgery at the Baylor College of Medicine and Professor in Nanomaterials science at Rice University in Houston, Texas.

In addition to his clinical and faculty duties, Dr. Curley leads an academic basic and translational research laboratory. His lab has been involved in design, bench testing, preclinical testing, and clinical testing of several new medical devices. The laboratory combines physics, chemistry, molecular biology, and bioengineering to produce a state-of-the-art approach to novel cancer treatment. Dr. Curley and his team have performed in vivo preclinical studies with several novel devices and immunotherapy systems to obtain data adequate to petition the FDA for human clinical trials. The goal of his research is to find better, more effective, and less toxic treatments for cancer patients.

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Dr.Foster is an Emeritus Senior Partner of McKinsey & Company, Inc.  where he founded and led several practices including the private equity practice, the healthcare practice, the Technology and Innovation practice, and McKinsey’s worldwide knowledge development.

Dr.Foster is

Chairman of Ancera Diagnostics,

Chairman of Panakeia.ai,  

Lead Director at Zocdoc,

a Director at Advantia Health.

Dr.Foster has been a member of the boards of the Council on Foreign Relations, the Trust Company of the West (acquired by Société Générale), the Santa Fe Institute, and the Oak Ridge National Laboratories, athenahealth and LeanTaaS. 

Dr.Foster is Chairman of the Medical Research Committee of the W. M. Keck Foundation ($1.7 B foundation in Los Angeles) and a member of the Board of Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, where he a member of the Technology, Patient Care, Finance, Audit and Conflict of Interest Committees.  

Heis also a member of the University of Illinois Venture Lab and the Carl R Woese Center for Genomic Biology.  

Heis the past Chair of the Presidents’ Circle of the National Academies of Science, Engineering and Medicine, where he is currently a member of the Policy& Global Affairs Committee, A Member of the US – China Science Cooperation task force, and a member of the editorial board of NAE Perspectives, a publication of the US National Academy of Engineering.  

Fosteris a Fellow at the Creative Destruction Laboratory, a venture incubator, in Canada, the United States and the UK and Europe.  He is a Chief Mentor at the Endless FrontiersLab, a venture incubator headquartered in New York City.  

Dr.Foster is a member of the China Speakers Bureau, and a former member of the International Advisory Committee of the Tsinghua University.

Dr.Foster has written two best-selling books: Innovation: The Attacker’s Advantage(1986) and Creative Destruction (2001). Dr. Foster received his BS, MS, and PhD from Yale University in Engineering and Applied Science. He was elected a fellow of the American Academy of Arts & Sciences in 2008.

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Dr. Ravi Kiron is an experienced pharma/biotech/ventureexecutive with decades of experience in discovery R&D, early to late stage clinicaldev, IP, technology, BD, M&A, strategy, product commercialization,negotiating/executing key partnerships between academia, pharma &biotech, leveraging his extensive global networks in Cardiovascular,Oncology, Neuroscience, Wound Healing, AI, Microbiome, Drug Delivery, Diagnostics.

 
He was faculty, Cornell Univ Med College, Universityof Rhode Island, with operational, executive management roles at pharma: Pfizer- Cardiovascular R&D (Hypertension, CHF, Ischemia), Oncology clin dev(TarcevaÒ NSCLC), Strategic BD, M&A (WLA, PHA,biotech acquisitions); J&J/ALZA – Drug Delivery Innovation/Licensing; MerckKGaA/EMD Serono Silicon Valley Innovation Hub/Strategic Innovation investing ingame changing technologies (AI, Microbiome, Organoids, Fertility,Electroceuticals, Longevity/Aging).

Dr. Kiron’s biotech tenure spans BD, IPO, pharma/universitycollaborations, fund raising (Aduro, KineMed, Amarantus, Arrien), consultingseveral dozen global biotech, pharma companies; cofounded 4 startups (C2N Dx,Navya, PKBio, iRetainRx); Corporate & Private Venture teams - SRI Ventures,Shang Pharma Innovation, Celtic Pharma, with biotech Board Advisory (Cytovia,Spanios, DataJoint, ARIZBio), University/Industry non-profit boards (UCSD, UCD,NCI, Pantheon, BIO, BTS, MIF).

​Dr. Kiron earned BS Chemistry, MS Microbiologyfrom University of Mumbai, India; PhD Biochemistry from IndianInstitute of Science, India; MBA from Rensselaer PolytechnicInstitute, New York, USA.

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Damieanus Ochola is an innovative leader at theintersection of biotechnology, project management, and social impact. Currentlya Project Manager at Spanios Biotechnology, he spearheads pioneering work in cancer research, leadinga team in the development of advanced 3D organoid models that replicate tumor environments,an innovation accelerating drug discovery and therapeutic development. Damieanuspresented his current research work at SITC, AACR and ASCO. The work was verywell received in the field by industry and academics alike.  

With a robust academic foundation, Damieanus ispursuing an MBA with a STEM focus from Rice University, scheduled to becompleted in Spring 2025. Recognized for his leadership, he earned First Prizein the John Lewis Case Competition for Racial Justice, underlining hiscommitment to actionable change in healthcare access and equality. He holds aMaster of Science in Biotechnology from Texas Tech University Health ScienceCentre, where he was a President’s Ambassador and Senator of the Semester, andhe has a Bachelor of Science in Biology from EasternNew Mexico University, where he was honored as Student Leaderof the Year.

Damieanus’s leadership currently extends into communityand organizational roles. He has held prominent positions such as Director ofAfrican American Affairs at Eastern New Mexico University and served as aSenator in the Texas Tech Student Government Association. Damieanus also serveson the Board of the Houston Health Foundation, advocating for health equity andcommunity wellness in the region. These roles reflect his dedication todiversity, mentorship, and representation, the values he brings to hisprofessional work, and board involvement.

Through his diverse experience and steadfastcommitment to progress, Damieanus Ochola bridges the worlds of scientific innovation, business strategy, and social advocacy,making a meaningful impact onboth his industry and community.

HuckieDel Mundo, MD, MBE, aims to help address the limitations of current medicine.With his clinical experience, he has witnessed firsthand the need for novelbiomedical solutions. Combining his bioengineering and entrepreneurialtraining, Dr. Del Mundo is committed to creating medically sound restorativeand regenerative therapies—developed in a way that facilitates successfulapproval and commercialization, thus ensuring efficient translation from benchto bedside.

Huckieearned his medical degree from the University of the Philippines – Manila andpracticed as a general physician, primarily serving underserved patientpopulations. While practicing, he pursued additional studies in MolecularMedicine to deepen his understanding of core pathologies and identify keytherapeutic leverage points for medical innovation. To create translationaltreatments, Dr. Del Mundo went on to train in biomedical engineering at boththe University of Texas at Dallas and Rice University, ultimately earning amaster’s degree in bioengineering. His research spans tissue engineering andgenetic engineering, which allows him to create pathologic model platforms fornovel therapeutic investigation. Moreover, through advancing image-guidance protocols,Dr. Del Mundo also aims to focus his efforts towards non-invasive, targetedtherapies.

Withhis business acumen—gained through an MBA and industry experience—Dr. Del Mundois also adept at designing and executing product and business developmentstrategies, particularly in the exciting and challenging field of biotechnologystartups.

Whilehis current role allows him to innovate in various bioengineering projects,Huckie also expresses his creativity through sports and the arts. Heunderstands that medical research and development is a process and appreciatesthe fascinating journey within a collaboratively creative environment.

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"Dr. Harrison Seidner is a Biomedical Engineer by training from New York and is currently Senior Vice President of WaterSeid Partners.

Prior to WaterSeid Partners he was Director of Business Development at Fortress Biotech (NASDAQ: FBIO).

He also worked in Investor Relations at Russo Partners and in the Tech Transfer Office at Stony Brook University following his Post-Doctoral Fellow at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory (CSHL) in the laboratory of Dr. Mikala Egeblad, who is currently Bloomberg Distinguished Professor at Johns Hopkins School of Medicine.

He earned his PhD in Biomedical Engineering at Stony Brook University in the laboratory of Dr. Mary D. Frame (his PhD advisor).

In addition to his academic research contributions, he has maintained a presence in several industries. Through collaborations with companies in the medical and tech fields, Dr. Seidner participated in several companies (public and private) that successfully led to the development of commercialized therapeutics, as well as interventional and diagnostic medical devices.

Dr. Seidner’s academic expertise in Medical Physics, Radiopharma, Medical Imaging, Biotechnology, Physiology, and interest in medical devices fueled his research that was mostly related to physical factors that affect blood flow, and cell-drug and cell-cell interactions. He became known for his work in the fields of intravital microscopy, biological microfluidics and biophysics after his publications from Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, and Stony Brook University on topics relating to oncology and hemorheology."

Dean Remy is a skilled executive with a proven track record of developing and leading high-performance teams. Dean embraces complex early-stage company challenges having forged great scientific and corporate leadership relationships over 30+ years in the industry. He has built sales and business develop teams from the bottom-up, deployed the necessary infrastructure for supporting such, right-sized companies for commercial fit and for acquisition, and met fiscal milestones throughout. Eager to expand his knowledge and learn from subject matter experts, he is driven to help young companies quickly find their unique differentiators in new markets.

Dr. Dave is the Co-Founder and CEO of Spanios.The company has developed an innovative platform, Custom Organoid ModelingPlatform for Accurate and Speedy Solutions (COMPASS) to enable testing drugs inpre-clinical setting utilizing patient derived tumoroids which encompass the tumormicroenvironment (TME) of the patient, helping drive relevant results fordevelopment of targeted drug therapeutics. The wide-ranging, modality-agnosticbio-banked COMPASS models accelerate drug discovery with an efficacy-drivenapproach and functional immunity and physiological oxygenation in the contextof cancer. By replicating the intricate diversity and structure of the tumormicroenvironment (TME) the COMPASS models aim to reduce failures in predictingthe efficacy of cancer treatment, especially in immunotherapies. Spanios operatesas a hub and spoke model which include its fee for revenue services, multipleco-development partnerships and in-house pipeline, to bring new therapies tothe patients.

Dr. Dave hasover two decades of experience in building preclinical models for oncologicalresearch and has identified novel genes and proteins critical to tumordevelopment and treatment resistance in breast cancer. Dr. Dave has worked onidentifying a novel STAT3 inhibitor thatshowed ability to target cancer stem cell both in vitro and in vivo humanbreast cancer xenograft model systems; understanding the role of PTEN inbreast, endometrial and prostate cancers; and the role of mTOR in neuroendocrine tumors.

Dr. Dave is very committed and passionateabout providing model solutions for accelerating the discovery and validation processof the drug development pipeline particularly for rare and difficult to treatcancers. Dr. Dave believes pre-clinical testing on relevant and efficient modelsystems like COMPASS reduces the high failure rates at clinical and approvalstage thereby reducing the cost burden and loss of valuable time in thebringing novel therapeutic options to patients.

Dr. Samuel Co-foundedSpanios to harness the powerful capabilities of the tumor microenvironment(TME) to accelerate the drug development process by building tumoroids (tumororganoids) on a platform COMPASS (Custom Organoid Model Platform for Accurateand Speedy Solutions). As the Chief Operations Officer of Spanios, Dr. Samuelis bringing model platform for drug discovery and validation to ensure relevantpre-clinical data is possible, lack of which is contributing to over 93%failure rates of drugs at approval stages.

Dr. Samuel’s scientific training and long-term goal ofbringing scientific solutions to the most pressing problems found purposethrough entrepreneurship. The process of building and growing the company, itsscope and promise, has called for many different forms of training ranging frombenchwork research work to marketing and business development. Dr. Samuel’s extensiveexperience as a scientific writer, educator, authorship, and advocate forcreative science education has played a role in her success in advancing thecompany.

Dr. Samuel received her PhD in AppliedBiosciences from the University of Arkansas. For her Postdoctoral research workat the University of Houston, she investigated the role and therapeuticpotential of angiotensin type II receptor (AT2) in obesity and metabolismrelated disorders. Following her Postdoctoral training Dr. Samuel built ascientific writing business for writing manuscripts and grants in the field ofimmunology, immune-oncology, translational cancer research, renal physiologyand cardiac diseases. She also heavily invested in building initiatives in hercommunity to promote scientific learning and communication across all ages andfor people from all walks of life. It was this time that Dr. Samuel’s next-doorneighbor got diagnosed with a rare cancer. Through that neighbor’s journey fromdiagnosis and passing within a short time Dr. Samuel became aware of thedesperate state of targeted treatment for rare and difficult to treat cancers.Once reliable and efficient model systems were identified as the key that wouldunlock the flow of solutions in the field of cancer, Spanios was launched toaccelerate pace and scope of cancer research.

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