2021 Speakers

Biography available soon!

Biography available soon!

Biography available soon!

Chris is a Partner and Head of Life Sciences at UK law firm Penningtons Manches Cooper, based in Oxford.  He is a commercial and IP lawyer specialising in licensing transactions, with many years’ experience of acting for companies and institutions working in life sciences, engineering, environmental sciences and publishing.  He has particular expertise in technology transfer, acting both for research institutions and their spin-out companies. Chris is top-ranked in Chambers, in the Legal 500 Hall of Fame, a Transactional IP Star and Highly Recommended for transactions by IAM Patent 1000.

Claire has worked in the development of scientific networks and associations for over 20 years. She started her career as part of the Cambridge biotech cluster in the UK, within the cluster business network, and was part of the founding team behind the Council of European BioRegions (CEBR), a network of biotech clusters across Europe.

Following the launch of CEBR in 2003, Claire became Network Manager and moved to Brussels in 2009.  She additionally took on the role of Secretary General for the European Biotechnology Network, working across sectors, organisations and countries. In 2017, Claire moved sector into nanotechnology, as Director General of the Nanotechnology Industries Association, a global organisation with the mission to support the development of nanomaterials and technologies to market.

She joined EuropaBio in November 2020 and is working with Members and the EuropaBio team to position biotechnology as a key technology across sectors to deliver European economic development and global competitiveness.

Claire holds a degree in agriculture and a PhD in biochemistry from the University of Lancaster.

Biography available soon!

Gerald has a background in Management Consultancy and academia. A London Business School alumnus with a Doctorate from Oxford University, he has experience of several start-ups and their exits, with considerable experience in building company executive boards, which has led him now to sit on VC investment committees, among other roles.

In 2010, he founded Innovation DB. Developed under contract from the UK MOD, IDB has now created an AI-enhanced data gathering system, that identifies, captures and describes emerging technologies, drawn from around 20,000 academic institutions. This provides an unparalleled dataset of research with real-world applications, that includes all biotech and pharma-related tech transfer activity to be found globally.

Biography available soon!

 Jamie Kemler is currently the VP, Intellectual Property Business Strategy for Stryker Corporation with responsibility for the development and execution of Stryker’s enterprise-wide IP business strategy to include monetization activities and relationships with technology transfer and licensing/venture offices of global universities and hospitals. He spent 2019 on temporary assignment in Hong Kong leading business development across Stryker’s Asia Pacific region. Earlier in his career at Stryker Jamie was Group President for the Biotech, Spine, Trauma, and Development divisions, with multiple manufacturing and research operations in Europe and the U.S.

Jamie Kemler received a B.S.E. in Biomedical Engineering from Duke University in 1979 and an M.B.A. from Harvard Business School in 1983.  In 2012 he became a USPTO registered Patent Agent. He is also a Certified Licensing Professional and a Registered Technology Transfer Professional. From 2017 through 2020 he was named to the IAM Strategy 300 – The World’s Leading IP Strategists.

Biography available soon!

Dr. Van Biervliet has 20 yrs cross-disciplinary experience in the medical, business and biotech environments. Prior to his position as Managing Director in the general management of VIB:

• he trained as a veterinary internal medicine specialist at Cornell University,
• was accredited by the American College of Veterinary Internal medicine and
• continued with a PhD at VIB finishing with a land-mark paper in Science.
• After his clinical and research training, Dr. Van Biervliet started as a consultant at Bain & Company, advising especially in private equity transactions.

Over the last 10 years, he has been in various roles in the VIB Innovation and Business office of VIB.

• As the Head of Business Development, Dr. Van Biervliet is responsible for the BD team driving all industry collaborations, licensing of VIB assets and strategic collaborations.
• He was the founder and Head of VIB Discovery Sciences, an internal drug discovery unit at VIB with a team of industry-trained scientists creating a portfolio of innovative projects.

Dr. Van Biervliet is currently Managing Director for VIB as an institute in a tandem with his colleague Jo Bury and holds end-responsibility for all of the Innovation & Business activities.

Biography available soon!

Jürgen studied biology/molecular biology in Osnabrück and Aberdeen (UK). After his diploma thesis at the EMBL in Heidelberg, he worked at Genentech, Inc. (USA). He undertook his PhD-thesis at the Max-Planck-Institute for Developmental Biology in Tübingen. He joined Cellzome AG (Heidelberg, now part of GSK) as the first employee where he was instrumental in setting up the company and was later responsible for IP-issues. After a stint in the patent department of Baxter AG in Vienna, he changed to technology transfer. At Austria Wirtschaftsservice GmbH, Vienna, he was managing life science inventions developed at Austrian universities.

In 2007, he moved to PROvendis, the central technology transfer agency of the universities of the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia, where during most of his time at PROvendis, he served as a head of the Life sciences team. Except for another stay for one and a half years in Vienna, as head of technology transfer at the University of Vienna, he stayed with PROvendis until May 2022. In June 2022 he became the Managing Director of Life Science Nord, the regional industry network for medical technology, biotechnology and pharma for the German states of Hamburg and Schleswig-Holstein.

He also holds a Master´s degree in Pharmaceutical Business Development and Licensing from the University of Manchester.

Biography available soon!

Will be available soon !

Laetitia has over 18 years’ experience in multiple sectors, including 14 in the pharmaceuticals and medical device industry. She joined AM-Pharma in April 2020 as General Counsel and VP Business Development.

Before joining AM-Pharma, Laetitia was at UCB as global Associate General Counsel BD, M&A and Antitrust. Prior to that, she was Legal Director, Emerging Markets EMEA, Central European Region and Benelux at Zoetis (Pfizer former animal health division) and has also led the EMEA legal department for the Abbott Vascular division at Abbott. She also held global positions at the Carlson Rezidor Hotel Group and at the automotive division (Wabco) at American Standard.

Laetitia holds a Master’s degree in International and Comparative Law from the Vrije Universiteit Brussel and is a qualified lawyer in both the UK and Belgium, with extensive international experience, regularly speaking at various legal conferences.

Laurent leads Cukierman & Co. Life Sciences since 2008 and has been involved in more than 100 medtech, biotech and digital health corporate finance transactions and advisory assignments for the Cukierman group. His team works worldwide with venture-backed and middle market companies for fund raising, licensing deals and M&A transactions as well as strategic projects for key life sciences industry players.

After a veterinary practice and an entrepreneurial experience, he worked 10 years in Schering-Plough (acquired by Merck & Co.) in marketing positions in dermatology, allergy, respiratory and animal health in France, General Manager in Israel and Vice President, Virology, Oncology and Cardiology in Canada. He then served 4 years as General Manager at Bellus Health/Neurochem (NASDAQ & TSE) a biotech startup dedicated to Alzheimer’s disease.

Dr. Choppe is a Doctor of Veterinary Medicine of the University Paris XII, laureate of the École Nationale Vétérinaire d’Alfort, CES of Veterinary Ophthalmology and earned a MBA from INSEAD (Fontainebleau, France). He is married, father of three, grandfather of one and lives in Lausanne (Switzerland) and Tel Aviv (Israel).

Dr. Laurent Nguyen, a French national, graduated as Doctor of Medicine and holds a Master’s Degree in Public Health. Following a 4-year residency at the Paris Hospital Group, he built a solid international 20-year experience in marketing & sales and business Development & Licensing in the pharmaceutical industry at Hoechst-Roussel, Merck KGaA, F. Hoffmann-La Roche Ltd and Pierre Fabre. He then moved to the biotech sector in 2012 where he started as CEO of Sensorion, a French private academic spin-off in neurotology that he developed into a publicly traded clinical biotech company on Euronext Growth (ALSEN). He then moved to Bionure, a Spanish academic spin-off that he merged as co-founder with iProteos to form in 2020 Accure Therapeutics, a translational R&D engine specialized in CNS. Based on his experience as seasoned C-level executive, he also acted as advisor in corporate development for several biotech and medtech companies.

Marion Paolini is Head of Global Search and Evaluation at Servier BioInnovation (SBI). SBI is the external innovation entity of Servier, a joint venture between R&D and Global Business Development. SBI has offices in Paris, Beijing and Boston. A Biologist by training, Marion graduated from Ecole Polytechnique and HEC Paris before completing her PhD at Université Paris Saclay, and her postdoctoral training at the Langer lab at MIT.

Michael joined Novo Ventures in November 2020.

From 2006-2020, Michael was employed at Genmab in various positions with increasing responsibility; starting in Project Management taking daratumumab / DARZALEX^® into the clinic. Between 2010-2018 he led Clinical Development and was part of the senior leadership team that repositioned and rebuilt the company into a global cancer and antibody powerhouse. From 2018 he led R&D Operations preparing the company for filing of its first own product. Prior to Genmab, Michael worked as Associate at BankInvest Biomedical Venture and as Licensing Associate in Scientific Licensing at Novo Nordisk A/S, after having spent 7 years as Research Scientist at Novo Nordisk A/S covering areas such as endocrinology, metabolic disease, cancer and inflammation.

Before joining industry, Michael worked for 6 years at the Research Centre for Developmental Medicine & Biology at University of Auckland, New Zealand, investigating causes and possible treatment modalities of intra-uterine growth restriction.

Michael earned a Masters (Dipl. Ing. agr.) in Agricultural Science from the University of Stuttgart-Hohenheim, Germany and a Ph.D. in Agricultural Science – summa cum laude- from the University of Göttingen, Germany.

Naheed is the Co-founder, President and CEO of Cyclica, a leading AI in drug discovery company who advance molecules to medicines by embracing the complexity of disease. In addition to his role at Cyclica, Naheed is also a Co-founder and Director of EntheogeniX Biosciences, a psychedelic inspired biotech company for mental health, a Co-founder, Board Member and Executive Officer of the Alliance for Artificial Intelligence in Healthcare (AAIH), and serves as a Member of the Life Sciences Advisory Group for Global Affairs Canada. Naheed is passionate about how people interact with technology to inform effective decision making, while dedicated to advancing the responsible application of AI to healthcare and the impact on patients. Naheed holds an MBA from Rotman School of Business, an undergraduate degree from the University of Ottawa, and a certificate in AI from MIT.

Biography available soon!

In 2008, Nick established Commutateur Advocacy Communications and recently forged an alliance with Chase-Partners LLC bridging his patient knowledge across Europe to American based companies interested in furthering their patient focus across geographic boundaries. He is responsible for all EU assignments.  Previously, Nick has gained over 12 years of international experience including Biogen and Sanofi as well as 15 years experience in agencies. Throughout his career, he has demonstrated his advocacy and strategic communications ability and gained deep knowledge in diabetes, lupus, MS, pain, plasma products, renal and wound care.

He has dual  British and Irish  citizenship and currently resides in Paris, France. He received a MS in Neurochemistry at Kings College, London and later earned a Diploma from the European Market Access University (EMAUD), a unique and innovative program addressing key elements throughout each step of the drug life cycle. Since 2012, he continues to lecture on the European Market Access University Diploma bringing patient insight across the life cycle.  Nick is Producer of If Medicine Could Talk, a biweekly flog on best-practice in patient engagement across the the life cycle. More recently, Nick and Jennifer produced, “When Leaders Talk Medicines”, a biweekly video newsletter from C-suite Life Sciences executives who are pushing to break-up the traditional R&D cycle for more efficient drug development in diseases with significant unmet patient need.

He is a trained business coach and specialises in innovation and creativity.

Biography available soon!

Biography available soon!

Biography available soon!

Biography available soon!

Sharon Cunningham is CEO, Co-Founder and board member of Shorla Pharma (‘Shorla’), a speciality pharmaceutical company headquartered in Ireland. The company has developed an innovative pipeline of oncology drugs for global markets focussing on women’s and children’s cancers, solving unmet needs and delivering a significant contribution to patient care.

After half a decade with PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) and seven years at EirGen Pharma in Waterford, Ireland, Sharon led the raising of an early-stage equity investment of €19m with Waterford and was the internal lead for a $135m sale to US multinational OPKO Health Inc. Following those successful ventures, Sharon co-founded Shorla Pharma with her EirGen Pharma colleague, Orlaith Ryan, in January, 2018. Since its inception, the company has raised over €10m by attracting world-renowned investors, board members, and advisors. Shorla’s advanced portfolio of speciality oncology products are in submission with the US Food and Drug Administration (the regulatory authority approval imminent), and has an exclusive launch planned for 2021.

Sharon was awarded the title of Ireland’s Best Young Entrepreneur 2019, and was included on a list of 50 people to look out for in 2020 by the Irish Times. She also won the prestigious Worldwide Association of MBA’s Best Entrepreneurial Venture Award in 2020 and was recognised as one of the 100 most influential CEO’s in Ireland by the Business & Finance Media Group 2020.

Passionate about the promotion of equality and in particular, gender balance, Sharon is a current board member of Irish Rule of Law International. With her track record in financial gains, corporate leadership, and strategic board initiatives, Sharon brings key operational, administrative, and governance leadership experience.

Stefano Marzario is a Senior Investment Officer at the European Investment Bank. Since 2017, Stefano manages Growth Capital/ Venture Debt investments in Europe, with a focus on Biotech and Medtech.
Before joining the EIB, Stefano worked for several years at Intesa Sanpaolo in the Investment Banking division in the Milan and London office. Stefano lead and executed several international M&A and Leveraged Finance transactions.
He started his career in Deutsche Bank where he worked as a Credit Risk Officer in the Frankfurt and Milan office.

Stefano holds an MSc in Business Administration from Bocconi University in Milan.

Theo Kanellos qualified as a veterinarian from the Aristotle University of Thessalonica in Greece and has been awarded an MSc in microbiology and PhD in molecular medicine from the University of London. He also has a business diploma from the Ecole Supérieur de Commerce de Paris (ESCP). During his career he worked as a clinician, an academic, a governmental official and for the last seventeen years as part of the management within the Pharmaceutical Industry where he has held several strategic roles. He has managed research laboratories, business development and M&A transactions, scientific and multi-functional alliances teams and programmes in several organisations that have led to the spinoff of biotechnology companies, the award of significant scientific grants, the founding of major strategic partnerships and the registration and licensing of successful commercial products and services. In his current role in Zoetis he establishes business transactions and entrepreneurial partnerships with companies, venture capitalist groups, universities, and governmental institutions, internationally and also is leading the Intergovernmental Tender and Grant Business. He holds a visiting professorship at the School of Health and Medicine at the University of Surrey and he is a board member in several organisations including the Global Alliance for Livestock Veterinary Medicines in Africa, The Global Antimicrobial Research Innovation Fund, Action Group of the One Health Platform etc. He is ad hoc advisor in several EU and national scientific and veterinary organisations. He is the author of over 40 peered reviewed papers and his articles, presentations and interviews have also featured in many trade and public media.

Tobias Silberzahn is a trained biochemist and immunologist and works as a Partner in McKinsey’s Berlin office where he is a member of the Pharma & MedTech Practice and the Innovation Practice. Over the last 12 years with McKinsey, Tobias has served mainly pharmaceutical, medical device, digital health companies and ministries of health across Europe. The focus area of his work is the interface between Research & Development and Commercial, where he support his clients on strategic, digital/analytics and organizational topics. Areas of particular interest for Tobias are precision medicine, genomics programs, (national) health data spaces and disease prediction.
Tobias leads the global Health Tech Network, a community of >500 startups in the healthcare space, where he hosts the Health Tech CEO Roundtable. As part of his R&D work, Tobias also hosts the MedTech R&D Industry Roundtable and the Pharma Technical Development Forum.

Biography available soon!

Vjera is the Director of Industrial Partnerships and Commercialisation (IPC) for the Faculty of Medicine at Imperial College London. The IPC team is part Imperial Enterprise division, dedicated to building and developing the entrepreneurial ecosystem of Imperial supporting both staff and students. Vjera and her team drive the translation of academic research from basic research, through proof of concept to IP protection and commercialisation through a variety of routes.

A key aspect of the team’s work is the development and management of strategic research collaborations with the healthcare industry with a particular emphasis on building multidisciplinary programmes. The team have College-wide relationship management responsibilities for a number of major healthcare companies including Pfizer, AstraZeneca, GSK, Nestle, BMS, MSD and many others.

Vjera has led the establishment of a number of strategic partnerships with these and continues to work with these Corporate Partners to expand their research and educational engagement with Imperial. Internally, Vjera continues to grow the IPC team engagement and departmental in-reach with the particular focus on assisting early career researchers in their industrial engagements as well as both curricular and extracurricular entrepreneurship training.

Vjera, a dual citizen of both Croatia and UK, holds a BEng in Molecular Biology from University of Zagreb and PhD in Immunology from University of Edinburgh.