Global Summit 2022 Speakers

Lance Kawaguchi

Mr. Lance Kawaguchi is an internationally recognized executive leader and board member, with over 25 years of global finance and banking experience, including living and working throughout North America, Europe, Asia Pacific, and the Middle East. Lance has experienced first-hand the impacts of cancer, losing his mother to the disease in 2016. In her memory, he has committed to utilizing his skills and talents to positively impact and drive change in the cancer research sector. Learn More

Sujuan Ba

Dr. Sujuan Ba has served as the President & CEO of the National Foundation for Cancer Research since 2019 and the founder & CEO of the Asian Fund for Cancer Research since 2005. Dr. Ba is a co-founder and a founding board member of the Global Coalition for Adaptive Research (GCAR), a non-profit organization pioneering the groundbreaking adaptive clinical trial platforms to deliver innovative therapies to patients faster. Dr. Sujuan Ba is also CEO & Co-founder of the AIM-HI Accelerator Fund, a non-profit organization focused on advancing oncology start-ups through venture and impact investments. She serves as a scientific advisor and a board member for more than half a dozen oncology start-ups. Learn More

Web Cavenee

Dr. Webster Cavenee is the Director of Strategic Alliances, Ludwig Institute for Cancer Research and a Distinguished Professor of Medicine, University of California San Diego. His research has evolved over the years to the interplay between oncogenic and suppressive mutations in the genesis and progression of human tumors, particularly those of the central nervous system, and their influence on therapeutic response. This work involves cellular genetics, engineered mouse models, protein biochemistry and tumor biology. He has served on many NIH review and advisory panels including the Boards of Scientific Counselors of the National Cancer Institute and the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences and advisory boards for several NIH Cancer Center Support, SPORE and PO1 grants, as well those of several private foundations and international institutions. He has been President of the American Association for Cancer Research. Learn More

Jennifer Grandis

Dr. Jennifer Grandis is an otolaryngologist and associate vice chancellor for clinical and translational research at UCSF. She directs the Clinical and Translational Science Institute, which provides resources and builds partnerships to facilitate more efficient and effective research, with the goal of improving individual and community health. Learn More

Rose Wang

Ms. Rose Wang serves as Executive Advisor of the AIM-HI Accelerator Fund. She is a serial technology entrepreneur and founder of Binary Group, an IT consulting firm providing enterprise solutions. She spearheaded the company growth in a highly competitive market and built a multi-disciplined team of seasoned industry and former government leaders. Fortune recognized Ms. Wang in 2013 as one of the “Most Powerful Woman Entrepreneurs” that year. In its 18-year history, the firm was recognized many times for the exceptional results they deliver to their customers. In 2015 and 2016, Ms. Wang sold the firm in successive transactions. Learn More

Pam Garzone

Pamela Garzone currently serves as Chief Development Officer of Anixa Biosciences, Inc. (NASDAQ: ANIX), a biotechnology company focused on the treatment and prevention of cancer and infectious diseases, where she oversees Anixa’s vaccine and therapeutic development programs. Prior to that, Pamela was most recently the Chief Medical Officer of Calibr, a division of Scripps Research. Learn More

Raju Kucherlapati

Dr. Kucherlapati is the Paul C. Cabot Professor of Genetics and Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School and was the first Scientific Director of the Harvard Medical School-Partners HealthCare Center for Genetics and Genomics (HPCGG). Dr. Kucherlapati contributed to several different areas of research.  These include gene targeting and homologous recombination, human gene mapping, and generation of physical maps of the human genome with special emphasis on human chromosome 12, development of techniques to modify genes in mammalian cells and in cloning many human disease genes.  Learn More

Lou Lieto

Dr. Louis D. Lieto is the leader of the patents and innovations department at Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati and is a partner in the firm’s Boston office. Lou advises biotechnology and pharmaceutical companies on strategic patent counseling, global patent portfolio development and management, and IP counseling for M&A and capital markets in complex life science fields. Lou has decades of experience advising biotechnology, pharmaceutical, and life science clients on all aspects of patent law and related business matters. Learn More

John Stanford

John Stanford is leader of venture capital advocacy group, Incubate, with expertise particularly in the areas of healthcare, workforce and entrepreneurship, innovation and Intellectual Property, cybersecurity, bilateral/multilateral trade policy, and government contracts/grants. He is a government relations and public affairs professional with experience leading multi-year advocacy and awareness campaigns. He specializes in communicating client objectives to government stakeholders to drive policy formation.

As a partner at Prism Group, John leads Democratic lobbying and engagement and the federal level, specializing in identifying champions for pro-growth and innovation agendas. His relationships on Capitol Hill build on nearly a decade of experience leveraging entrepreneurship to close wealth gap in low-income communities. He also leads the firm’s advocacy practice, which is responsible for developing and executing a broad array of strategies including third-party activation and coalition development. Finally, John provides regular commentary on key issues around innovation and the economy, including in the Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, CNBC and has been featured on cable television.

Prior to taking the helm at Prism Group, John advocated for critical changes to policy in the areas of entrepreneurship, innovation, and the workforce. In that work, he has been recognized in the Congressional Record, in state legislatures, and by chambers of commerce for his advocacy and communication efforts.

John is the co-founder of Small Business Roundtable. More recently, he is on the board of directors of Pass USMCA, the organization dedicated to ratification of the U.S. – Mexico -Canada Agreement. As a part of the trilateral negotiating round in Montreal, Canada and in testimony before the International Trade Commission, John encouraged the inclusion of entrepreneurship priorities in all trade deals and the need for strong intellectual property protections.

His previous efforts included work for a Democratic House Member on Capitol Hill, the British Houses of Parliament, a Presidential and Senate campaign, and with non-profit organizations. A Denver, CO native, he is a graduate of the College of William & Mary and has a B.A. in Government as well as an M. Ed. in Secondary Education. Prior to returning to Washington, John committed to Teach For America in Phoenix, Arizona. He currently sits on the DC board of his alma mater.

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Cohava Gelber

Cohava Gelber, PhD, MBA, is an executive with over 25 years of experience in discovery and development of immune therapeutics and diagnostics for cancer, autoimmune disease, allergies and infectious diseases. She is the Co-Founder of AIM-HI Portfolio Company Stromatis Pharma. Dr. Gelber held various executive positions in academia (Duke University) and biopharmaceutical companies (ImmuLogic Pharmaceutical Corporation, Molecular Discoveries and MannKind Corporation).

She recently launched Caerus Discovery, LLC (CDL) with support from Biowa/ Kyowa Hakko Kirin.  CDL ‘s mission is to discover and develop new antibody-based therapeutics and diagnostics.  Prior to founding CDL, Cohava Gelber served as the Chief Scientific & Technology Officer of ATCC, VP of R&D for MannKind Corp- a public company developing therapeutics for diabetes, cancer and autoimmune diseases and was responsible for non-clinical development and clinical immune safety of drugs from pre IND through phase III clinical trials. She received her PhD from the Weizmann Institute, her MBA degree from Cornell University and post doctorate training at Stanford University.

She published numerous scientific manuscripts and textbook chapters and she is the inventor of 16 granted patents and 57 patent applications.

Manijeh Goldberg

Manijeh is the Founder and CEO of Privo. She has over 20 years of experience in the biomedical industry, in large companies and five startups (one was acquired for $475M).  She has developed US Key Opinion Leader (KOL) relationships, successfully lobbied to get PRV111 into a large, NIH-funded clinical study, planned and executed training, and helped drive on-time trial enrollment. Additionally, Manijeh is driving the execution of a second-generation Privo’s products. Her current focus is to conduct clinical trials, get PRV111’s second-generation products through the FDA, and explore initiating a second US clinical trial. Additional responsibilities include business development, general management, and driving the overall success of Privo’s research and products. Manijeh holds a Ph.D. in Biomedical Engineering, an MS in Health Sciences and Technology from Harvard Medical School, an MBA from MIT Sloan School of Management, and an MS in Computer Science and Mathematics.

Vlad Hogenhuis

Dr. Vlad Hogenhuis, MD, is President and CEO of Chimera Bio, a biotech company based in San Francisco developing novel cell therapies for cancer. He recently served as Chief Operating Officer of Ultragenyx with responsibilities for global commercial operations, business development, and manufacturing. Before that, Dr. Hogenhuis served as Senior Vice President and Global Franchise Head, Specialty Pharmaceuticals of GlaxoSmithKline Plc. from 2012 to 2018, overseeing Oncology and Immunology. From 1994 to 2012, he served in leadership positions at Merck & Co in the US, China, and Europe, where he was responsible for managing the P&L of specialty and cardiovascular care medicines. He also served as an NIH Fellow at New England Medical Centre in Boston, and as a Naval Lieutenant Surgeon in the Royal Dutch Navy.

Dr. Hogenhuis currently serves on the boards of Rezolute Bio, a public biotech company (RZLT- Nasdaq) specializing in metabolic diseases, and GATT Technologies B.V., a private company in the Netherlands developing novel surgical hemostats. He previously served as a member of the Board of Directors of Vision 2020, a program of the World Health Organization for the prevention of blindness. Dr. Hogenhuis received an M.D. degree in Medicine Cum Laude from the University of Leiden in the Netherlands. He received an M.B.A. from the Wharton School of Business at The University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia.

Chih-Kao Hu

Chih-Kao is an experienced management consultant working with top 100 pharmaceutical and biotech companies across more than 50 countries. His consulting approach concentrates in providing evidence-based commercialization strategies to healthcare clients by integrating scientific, clinical knowledge into commercialization. Chih-Kao has assisted companies with their commercial design, operation, business expansion and licensing deals. He also has managed several major pharmaceutical merger and acquisitions.

Prior his consulting career, Chih-Kao did a significant amount of scientific research for EGF-like peptides with Nycomed Pharma AS. Its fundamental concept led to the discovery of the anticoagulant Angiomax (bivalirudin). In addition, Chih-Kao worked on a key development project with Boehringer Mannheim and evaluated pharmacokinetic properties of the anti-fibrinolytic protein, Retavase (BM06.022, recombinant tissue plasminogen activator). He has published more than ten scientific articles based on his pharmaceutical research work. Learn More

Ken Malone

Dr. Ken Malone is the CEO of AIM-HI Portfolio Company Rasio Therapeutics. Ken has extensive leadership and business operations expertise & has engaged in the commercialization of hundreds of products in advanced materials and life sciences.

Ken co-founded and serves as Managing Director of Early Charm Ventures, a venture studio founded in 2012 in Baltimore (Charm City) that converts science to business. Early Charm specializes in taking brilliant scientific discoveries made at universities and turning them into companies focused on growth. They don’t chase quick exits but build companies that create sustainable value.

Ken received his Bachelor Degree in biochemistry and chemistry from the University of Miami. He earned his Ph.D. in Polymer Science in 1991 from the University of Southern Mississippi.

John Luk

Dr. John Luk is currently Founder & CEO of Arbele, a biotech and biopharmaceutical company that has created proprietary discovery platforms to accelerate the development of multifunctional “first-in-class” immunotherapeutics. Dr. Luk received his education and training at the University of Hong Kong, Karolinska (Stockholm) and Harvard (Boston). He taught as an academic professor for 18 years in the US, HK and Singapore, and published >200 papers including NEJM, Cell, Nature Medicine, Nature Genetics. He identified and patented CDH17 at HKU (Global License Arbele).

In 2011, Dr. Luk moved to drug industry at senior leader position in Roche China and senior director in Johnson & Johnson Medical China to lead drug discovery and development programs in oncology, immunology and hepatitis. His former honorary professorship included those at leading institutions in HK, China and Asia. He was visiting associate professor at Harvard. Dr. Luk established strong scientific, clinical and industrial networks globally.

Alfred Slanetz

Dr. Alfred Slanetz is the founder, president, and chief executive officer of Geneius and has been since its incorporation. He also has served as a director on Geneius’s board since its incorporation in 2012. Geneius, an immuno-oncology start-up, is researching ways to help cancer patients’ immune systems detect and attack cancer cells. This new therapy is dubbed Targeted DiversiTy and when combined with surgery, it promises to change the difficult process or surgery, drugs and radiation that is the current standard. Learn More

Mark Davis

Mark M. Davis, Ph.D.,  is a professor of microbiology and immunology at the Stanford University School of Medicine. In 2021, Davis was awarded the Szent-Györgyi Prize for Progress in Cancer Research alongside his collaborator, Tak W. Mak.

Dr. Mark M. Davis is the Director of the Stanford Institute for Immunology, Transplantation and Infection (ITI), a Professor of Microbiology and Immunology, and a Howard Hughes Medical Institute Investigator. He received a B.A. from Johns Hopkins University and a Ph.D. from the California Institute of Technology. He later was a postdoctoral fellow and staff fellow at the Laboratory of Immunology at NIH and later became a faculty member in the Department of Microbiology and Immunology at Stanford University School of Medicine, where he remains today. 

Dr. Davis is well known for identifying many of the T-cell receptor genes, which are responsible for the ability of these cells to recognize a diverse repertoire of antigens. Other work in his laboratory pioneered studies of the biochemistry, genetics and cell biology of these molecules and T lymphocytes generally, which play a key role in orchestrating immune responses. His current research focuses on obtaining a “systems level” understanding of the human immune system. This has involved the steady state and vaccine responses of old and young subjects, as well as a recent study of twins, which concluded the variation in most immune system parameters is not driven by inherited variation, but rather by environmental factors.

Tak W. Mak

Tak W. Mak, Ph.D., is a senior scientist at the Princess Margaret Cancer Centre and university professor at the University of Toronto. In 2021, Mak was awarded the Szent-Györgyi Prize for Progress in Cancer Research alongside his collaborator, Mark M. Davis.

Dr. Tak Mak is a medical researcher best known for his discovery of the T-cell receptor in 1984 — a major advance in the field of immunology. He also pioneered the use of genetically altered mice in scientific studies, leading to further important breakthroughs in immunology and an improved understanding of cancer at the cellular level.

His later research has sought ways of targeting cancer metabolism — the relationship between cancer and metabolism. Co-founding a biopharmaceutical company to develop medicines to tackle this area, Tak and his colleagues made a number of discoveries concerning relevant enzymes — including a type of pyruvate kinase that plays a role in producing ATP, the cell’s chemical energy source — and their involvement in cancer.

Dr. Mak has received a huge number of awards and honours in recognition of his work, including the Canada Gairdner International Award in 1989 and the King Faisal Prize for Medicine in 1995. He was made an Officer of the Order of Canada in 2000 and inducted into the Canadian Medical Hall of Fame in 2008.

Dr. Mak studied biochemistry and biophysics at the University of Wisconsin. After finishing his degree, he moved to Canada to begin his doctoral studies at the University of Alberta, Edmonton and earned his PhD in biochemistry. He then moved to Toronto and became a Canadian citizen.