Rising to the Challenge: Healthy Aging Forum 2022

Dr. Hui Cai joined WuXi AppTec in 2009 as Vice President of Business Development, and is currently Vice President and Head of Content Division.

Prior to WuXi, Dr. Cai spent 10 years at Johnson & Johnson Pharmaceutical Research and Development leading multiple drug discovery programs in the therapeutic areas of inflammation and autoimmune diseases. She is a co-author and co-inventor to over 50 scientific publications and issued or pending patents. Dr. Cai is a Councilor of the American Chemical Society (ACS), a member of BayHelix, and a member of the UCSD Alumni Board. In her past capacity, she served as a Commissioner at the City of San Diego Science and Technology Commission, Chair of SABPA, and President of SDCA. Dr. Cai received her BS and MS in Chemistry from Peking University, PhD from The Scripps Research Institute, and MBA from UCSD Rady School of Management as a DLA Piper – Athena Scholar.

Dr. Steve Yang is Co-CEO of WuXi AppTec. He is also WuXi AppTec’ s Head of WuXi Biology and Head of WuXi Testing. His responsibilities include management of multiple business units and commercial operation. WuXi AppTec provides a broad portfolio of R&D and manufacturing services that enable companies in the pharmaceutical, biotech and medical device industries worldwide to advance discoveries and deliver groundbreaking treatments to patients.

Dr. Yang is a pharmaceutical industry leader recognized for building R&D and service capabilities, delivering research and early development portfolios of drug candidates, and establishing R&D partnerships in US, Europe, China and other Asian and emerging markets. Before joining WuXi AppTec, Dr. Yang was Vice President and Head of Asia and Emerging Markets iMed at AstraZeneca, based in Shanghai. Previously, Dr. Yang served as Vice President and Head of Asia R&D at Pfizer based in Shanghai, and as Executive Director and head of Pfizer’s global R&D strategic management group based in the United States.

Dr. Yang received his PhD in Pharmaceutical Chemistry from the University of California, San Francisco. He started his undergraduate study in Fudan University, China and completed his BS Summa Cum Laude from Michigan Technological University. He co-founded the BayHelix Group, a non-profit global professional organization of Chinese life science business leaders, and served as the chairman of the board for two terms.

Mr Frederick Chew is the Chief Executive Officer of A*STAR, Singapore’s lead public sector agency spearheading research and innovation to impact Singapore, Singaporeans and Science.

Helming the science and technology agency of over 5,300 research staff, Mr Chew drives the implementation of A*STAR’s strategies and programmes, as well as the building of long-term science and technology (S&T) capabilities for Singapore.

As Chief S&T PPO, Mr Chew and his office work to strengthen Ops-Tech capabilities across the public sector, optimise public sector S&T structures, processes and systems, as well as promote development of the public sector S&T workforce.

Mr Chew was previously the Deputy Secretary (Technology) at the Ministry of Defence (MINDEF). Mr Chew also held various key positions in MINDEF and the Singapore Armed Forces (SAF), including Director of Joint Operations, Commander of Maritime Security Task Force/Maritime Security Command and Head of Naval Plans.

Mr Chew graduated with a Masters of Engineering (First Class Honours) from the Imperial College of Science, Technology and Medicine. He holds a Master of Science in Management from Stanford University. Mr Chew is an SAF Overseas Scholar. He is also a recipient of the Lee Kuan Yew Scholarship and Fulbright Award.

George is Chairman of UsAgainstAlzheimer’s which he co-founded in October 2010. He and UsAgainstAlzheimer’s co-convene both the Leaders Engaged on Alzheimer’s disease (LEAD) Coalition, and the Global CEO Initiative on Alzheimer’s disease (CEOi). He also serves as Chairman of the Davos Alzheimer’s Collaborative, an initiative convened by the CEOi and World Economic Forum. George was named by U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius to serve on the Advisory Council on Research, Care, and Services established by the National Alzheimer’s Project Act and has testified before Congress about the global Alzheimer’s pandemic. He is a member of the World Dementia Council. George served as Chairman of the Phillips Collection for 14 years and is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations and the Economic Club of Washington. He has served in senior executive and legal positions at CBS, FOX and AOL/Time Warner.

In her 30 years at SV, Kate’s biotech investments have resulted in the launch of six drugs for the treatment of patients with inflammatory and autoimmune disease and cancer.

Kate co-leads SV’s biotech franchise which has a long history of building high value, successful new companies developing transformational new medicines and bringing drugs from discovery to market. Kate’s investments, many of which are examples of SV’s company creation approach to biotech investing, include a wide range of drug discovery and development companies focused on different clinical areas in companies in the UK, EU and US. Kate played an active role in setting up the Dementia Discovery Fund (DDF) and serves on the DDF Investment Committee.

Prior to joining SV, Kate worked for Vertex Pharmaceuticals, a biotechnology company in Cambridge, MA and at Monitor Company, a strategy consulting firm.

In May 2020 Kate was appointed Chair of the UK Vaccine Taskforce reporting to the Prime Minster to lead UK efforts to find and manufacture a COVID-19 vaccine stepping down as Chair in December 2020. On December 8th 2020 the UK started COVID-19 vaccinations - the first Western country to do so. She was awarded a DBE in the Queen’s Birthday Honours in June 2021 for services to the procurement, manufacture and distribution of COVID-19 vaccines.

Outside of SV, Kate serves on the Board of the Francis Crick Institute and won the Lifetime Achievement Award, presented by the BioIndustry Association UK in January 2017. At weekends Kate spends time in Wales where she rides horses and mountain bikes, grows vegetables and competes in bog snorkelling competitions.

Academic credentials
First class degree, Biochemistry, University of Oxford; MBA, Harvard Business School (Baker Scholar)

Dr. Luigi Ferrucci is a geriatrician and an epidemiologist who conducts research on the causal pathways leading to progressive physical and cognitive decline in older persons. He has made major contributions in the design of many epidemiological studies conducted in the U.S. and in Europe, including the European Longitudinal Study on Aging, the "ICare Dicomano Study," the AKEA study of Centenarians in Sardinia and the Women's Health and Aging Study. He was also the Principal Investigator of the InCHIANTI study, a longitudinal study conducted in the Chianti Geographical area (Tuscany, Italy) looking at risk factors for mobility disability in older persons. Dr. Ferrucci received a Medical Degree and Board Certification in 1980, Board Certification in Geriatrics in 1982 and Ph.D. in Biology and Pathophysiology of Aging in 1998 at the University of Florence, Italy. He spent a 2-year internship at the Intensive Care Unit of the Florence Institute of Gerontology and Geriatrics, and was for many years Associate Professor of Biology, Human Physiology and Statistics at the University of Florence. Between 1985 and 2002 he was Chief of Geriatric Rehabilitation at the Department of Geriatric Medicine and Director of the Laboratory of Clinical Epidemiology at the Italian National Institute of Aging. In September 2002, he became the Chief of the Longitudinal Studies Section at NIA. From 2002 to 2014 he was the Director of the Baltimore Longitudinal Study on Aging. Dr. Ferrucci is currently the Scientific Director of NIA, since May 2011.

Paul Irving is chairman of the Milken Institute Center for the Future of Aging, chairman of Encore.org, and distinguished scholar-in-residence at the University of Southern California Davis School of Gerontology. He previously served as the Milken Institute’s president, an advanced leadership fellow at Harvard University, and chairman and CEO of Manatt, Phelps & Phillips, LLP, a national law and consulting firm. Irving is a member of the Global Advisory Council of the Stanford University Distinguished Careers Institute, the Board of Councilors of the USC Davis School, the Global Coalition on Aging Advisory Council, the Advisory Board of WorkingNation, and the National Academy of Medicine Commission for Healthy Longevity. He also serves as a director of East West Bancorp, Inc. and on the International Strategic Committee of the Quadrivio Group Silver Economy Fund. Irving previously served on the Bipartisan Policy Center Senior Health and Housing Task Force and as a participant in the 2015 White House Conference on Aging. Author/editor of “The Upside of Aging: How Long Life Is Changing the World of Health, Work, Innovation, Policy, and Purpose,” a Wall Street Journal expert panelist and contributor to the Harvard Business Review and Forbes, PBS NextAvenue named Irving an “Influencer” for his work, and he was recognized with the Janet L. Witkin Humanitarian Award by Affordable Living for the Aging, the Life Journey Inspiration Award by Stanford’s Distinguished Careers Institute, and the Board of Governors Award by Loyola Law School, Los Angeles.

Michal is the Regional Head of Johnson & Johnson Innovation in East North America, based at the Johnson & Johnson Innovation Center in Boston. In this role, she leads the East North America team to build, advance, and manage the External R&D portfolio of co-investments spanning across pharmaceutical, consumer health and medical devices.

Until recently, Michal served as the Executive Director of Harvard University’s Office of Technology Development (OTD) Harvard Medical School site, where she was responsible for development and commercialization of technologies emerging from research at HMS laboratories and for the strategy and execution of all industry collaborations. She negotiated agreements with major biopharma, life sciences, food and cosmetics companies to advance the translation of discoveries into products and create a revenue-generating product pipeline and worked with scientific founders and investors to create new startup companies.

Prior to joining Harvard University’s OTD in 2005, Michal held a number of business development and technology development positions at Compugen, most recently as VP of Protein Therapeutics, responsible for the business management of the company’s emerging drug discovery pipeline. Previously, she worked in the technology industry in marketing and business development roles, and co-founded a biotechnology startup.

Michal serves on the Scientific Advisory Boards FutuRx Accelerator, and was, until recently, a member of the SAB of Prize4Life and a Member of the Board of Directors of a number of companies, including Compugen and Alma Lasers.

She holds a Ph.D. in Biological Sciences from the Weizmann Institute of Science, an MBA from INSEAD, Fontainebleau, France, and a BA in Medicine from Hadassah Medical School, Hebrew University, Jerusalem.

Niranjan Bose is currently the Managing Director (Health & Life Sciences Strategy) at Gates Ventures LLC, where he serves as the Science Advisor to Mr. Bill Gates. Prior to joining Gates Ventures in August 2014, he was the Chief of Staff to the President of the Global Health Program at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.

He was with the Gates Foundation from 2007 through 2014, which included a few years with their Enterics and Diarrheal Diseases (EDD) program strategy team, where he was responsible for managing a portfolio of investments, which included clinical development of enteric vaccines (rotavirus, cholera, enterotoxigenic E coli and shigella).

Prior to joining the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, he was with Strategic Decisions Group ( and SDG Life Sciences), where he was a Senior Consultant and assisted clients in the pharmaceutical and biotechnology industries with strategy development, company valuations, portfolio management frameworks, revenue forecasting, and competitive assessments.

Niranjan holds a Ph.D. in biochemistry from Dartmouth College and an MS in biological sciences and BS in pharmaceutical sciences from Birla Institute of Technology and Science, Pilani, India. He also received the Business Bridge Diploma from the Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth.

Ivan Cheung concurrently serves as Chairman of Eisai Inc. in the U.S. and Global President of Neurology Business Group, as well as Global Alzheimer’s Disease Officer at Eisai Co., Ltd. Eisai Inc. encompasses fully-integrated commercial and medical organizations specializing in oncology and neurology as well as four research & development facilities in the U.S. The Neurology Business Group is responsible for Eisai’s global end-to-end activities from discovery research and clinical development to brand commercialization and business development across Alzheimer’s disease & related dementias, epilepsy, sleep-wake disorders, and neurodegenerative diseases. Mr. Cheung is also a Senior Corporate Officer for Eisai Co., Ltd. in Japan, the parent company of Eisai Inc.

Mr. Cheung received his MBA from Harvard Business School and earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Civil/Environmental Engineering with a double major in Economics from Duke University. He is a Board member of both the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America (PhRMA) and the Biotechnology Innovation Organization (BIO), as well as the Board chairman of KAN Research Institute in Kobe, Japan.

Stacie Weninger is the President of FBRI. Prior to this position, she was the Senior Director of Science Programs for the Fidelity Foundations. In 2005, Dr. Weninger served as the Project Manager and Senior Analyst for the Task Force on Women in Science at Harvard University. From 2001-2005, Dr. Weninger was a Senior Scientist at Cell Press for the journal Neuron. Before joining Cell Press, Dr. Weninger was a postdoctoral research fellow at Children’s Hospital Boston and Harvard Medical School with Dr. Bruce Yankner. She was a Howard Hughes Medical Institute predoctoral fellow in the Program in Neuroscience at Harvard University. While a graduate student and postdoctoral research fellow, Dr. Weninger was actively involved in undergraduate teaching, winning six teaching awards.

Dr. Weninger received a Ph.D. in neuroscience from Harvard University, and a B.S. degree in chemistry with highest honors from the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill. She currently chairs the Collaboration for Alzheimer’s Prevention; is President of Alzforum; serves as Chairman of the Board of Directors for Rugen Therapeutics; serves as a member of the Board of Directors for Aratome, Atalanta, Eikonizo, RBNC, Sironax, and Target ALS; and serves as a member of the Scientific Advisory Boards for Denali Therapeutics, the Indian Institute of Science’s Centre for Brain Research and the UK Dementia Research Institute. She previously served as a founding member of the Board of Directors for Denali Therapeutics (NASDAQ: DNLI); as well as a member of the Board of Directors for Annexon Biosciences (NASDAQ: ANNX), BRI-Alzan (acquired by MeiraGTx), Digital Cognition Technologies (acquired by Linus Health), Enspectra, Inscopix, Syllable Life Sciences (acquired by RBNC), and Q-State Biosciences.

Linda Partridge works on the biology of ageing. Her research is directed to understanding the mechanisms by which healthy lifespan can be extended in laboratory model organisms and humans. Her work has focussed in particular on the role of nutrient-sensing pathways and diet, and her primary interest is in geroprotective drugs.

She is the recipient of numerous awards, was honoured with a DBE for Services to Science in 2009 and is a Fellow of the Royal Society. She is the founding director of the Max Planck Institute for Biology of Ageing and the Biological Secretary of the Royal Society.

Dr. Eric Verdin is the President and Chief Executive Officer of the Buck Institute for Research on Aging. A native of Belgium, Dr. Verdin received his Doctorate of Medicine from the University of Liege and completed additional clinical and research training at Harvard Medical School. He has held faculty positions at the University of Brussels, the National Institutes of Health (NIH), and the Gladstone Institute at the University of California San Francisco (UCSF). Dr. Verdin is currently adjunct Professor of Medicine at UCSF and Adjunct Professor at the University of Southern California (USC).

Dr. Verdin studies how metabolism, diet, and small molecules impact epigenetic regulatory mechanisms, and thereby the aging process and its associated diseases. He is a highly cited scientist (top 1 percent) and has been recognized for his research with multiple awards including a fellowship from the American Association for the Advancement of Science, election to the American Society for Clinical Investigation, the Association of American Physicians, and Belgium’s Royal Academy of Medicine.

The Buck Institute, in the San Francisco Bay Area, is globally recognized as the pioneer and leader in the field of research on aging, the number one risk factor for chronic disease. For more information visit www.buckinstitute.org

Sebastien Thuault is the Chief Editor of Nature Aging, a peer-reviewed scientific journal that publishes research, reviews and opinion articles on aging and age-related diseases covering the life, health and social sciences. Dr Thuault holds a PhD in neuroscience and has been working in scientific publishing and communication for over 10 years. He was formerly an editor at Nature Neuroscience and Nature Communications and launched Nature Aging in 2021.

Professor Chong Yap-Seng is the Dean of the Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine since 2019 and a clinician-investigator with a special interest in fetal growth and early development. He is also the Chief Clinical Officer (COO) of the Singapore Institute for Clinical Sciences, Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*STAR) and the Lien Ying Chow Professor of Medicine in the Department of Obstetrics & Gynaecology, Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine, National University of Singapore (NUS). He led the school’s Medical Education Unit from 2004 to 2014 and his contributions to medical education have been recognised by the university and national awards.

Professor Chong is the Lead Principal Investigator of the Growing Up in Singapore Towards healthy Outcomes (GUSTO) and the Singapore Preconception Study of long-Term maternal and child Outcomes (S-PRESTO) studies. He is also a Senior Consultant in the Department of Obstetrics & Gynaecology at the National University Hospital (NUH), and a member of the Executive Group of the National University Health System (NUHS) as well as a board member of the National Medical Research Council.

His other research interests include strategies to promote breastfeeding, the genetic epidemiology of pregnancy-related disorders, and intrapartum and postpartum management issues. He has over 300 research publications, including papers in The Lancet, JAMA, and BMJ, and received more than $100 million in research grant funding. He also has numerous collaborations with industry, particularly in the area of early human development and nutrition. He was awarded the National Outstanding Clinician Scientist Award by the Ministry of Health in 2017.

Dr Daniel Fung is the CEO of the Institute of Mental Health in Singapore. He is an Adjunct Associate Professor at all 3 Singapore medical schools.

Dr Fung is the President of the International Association for Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and Allied Professions and President of the College of Psychiatrists, Academy of Medicine, Singapore. Dr Fung has co-authored over 200 peer reviewed research papers, books and book chapters.

Andrea Maier, a Fellow of the Royal Australasian College of Physicians (FRACP), graduated in Medicine (MD) 2003 from the University of Lübeck (Germany), was registered 2009 in The Netherlands as Specialist in Internal Medicine-Geriatrics and was appointed Full Professor of Gerontology at Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam (The Netherlands) in 2013. She was the head of Geriatrics at the Vrije Universiteit Medical Center from 2012 to 2016. From 2016 to early 2021 Professor Maier served as Divisional Director of Medicine and Community Care at the Royal Melbourne Hospital, Australia, and as Professor of Medicine and Aged Care at the University of Melbourne, Australia. She continued her career at the National University of Singapore as Oon Chiew Seng Professor in Medicine, Healthy Ageing and Dementia Research and Co-Director of the Centre for Healthy Longevity, National University Health System. Professor Maier’s research focuses on unraveling the mechanisms of ageing and age-related diseases. During the last 10 years she has conducted multiple international observational studies and intervention trials and has published more than 330 peer-reviewed articles, achieving an H index of 54, spearheading the significant contributions of her highly acclaimed innovative, global, multidisciplinary @Age research group. She is a frequent guest on radio and television programs to disseminate aging research and an invited member of several international academic and health policy committees, including the WHO. She currently is the President of The Australian and New Zealand Society for Sarcopenia and Frailty Research.

Prof Lee is currently the Deputy Group CEO (Regional Health System), SingHealth where he leads population health efforts to enable residents in Eastern Singapore to keep well, get well and live well. He also Chairs the Planning Committee for the upcoming Eastern General and Community Hospitals.

His past appointments include CEO of Changi General Hospital, and Deputy Director of Medical Services for Health Services and Healthcare Performance in the Ministry of Health Singapore where he led the strategic development and improvement of healthcare services.

Prof Lee is an Adjunct Professor with three institutions of higher learning ie Saw Swee Hock School of Public Health, National University of Singapore, Duke-NUS Medical School and Singapore University of Technology and Design. He was a member of several international committees under the World Health Organisation, International Hospital Federation and Joint Commission International.

Prof Lee co-edited Singapore's Health Care System: What 50 Years Have Achieved (2015) and contributed the chapter on Strategies for Health Services in the 6th edition of the Oxford Textbook of Public Health (2015). He has also published and presented in international journals and conferences respectively.

Dr. Brian Kennedy is internationally recognized for his research in the basic biology of aging and as a visionary committed to translating research discoveries into new ways of detecting, delaying, preventing and treating human aging and associated diseases. He is a Distinguished Professor in Biochemistry and Physiology at the Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine at National University Singapore and serves as Director of (1) the Centre for Healthy Longevity at the National University Health System, (2) the Healthy Longevity Translational Research Programme, and (3) the Asian Centre for Reproductive Longevity and Equality. Collectively, NUS aging research seeks to demonstrate that longevity interventions can be successfully employed in humans to extend healthspan, the disease-free and highly functional period of life.

From 2010 to 2016, Dr. Kennedy was the President and CEO of the Buck Institute for Research on Aging and he maintained a professorship there through 2020. Dr. Kennedy has an adjunct appointments at the Department of Biochemistry at the University of Washington, where he was a faculty member from 2001 to 2010. In addition, Dr. Kennedy is also actively involved with a number of Biotechnology companies. In addition, Dr. Kennedy serves as a Co-Editor-In-Chief at Aging Cell. Finally, Dr. Kennedy has a track record of interaction in China, where he was a Visiting Professor at the Aging Research Institute at Guangdong Medical College from 2009 to 2014. His Ph.D. was performed in the laboratory of Leonard Guarente at M.I.T., where he published the first paper linking Sirtuins to aging.

Scott Adam Berkowitz, MD, MBA, FACC, FAHA is Chief Population Health Officer and Vice President of Population Health for Johns Hopkins Medicine (JHM), headquartered in Baltimore, Maryland. Dr. Berkowitz leads and provides strategic direction for the population health portfolio across the JHM enterprise. Dr. Berkowitz is also Associate Professor of Cardiology at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine (JHUSOM), and a practicing cardiologist providing general cardiology services.

Since 2011, Dr. Berkowitz has held positions at JHM focused on leading health care delivery transformation efforts. Working with leaders and staff members across the enterprise, he helped launch and oversee several major initiatives and programs to improve coordination of care, innovation in clinical care and population health. He previously served as senior medical director for accountable care within the Office of Johns Hopkins Physicians and, since 2014, has served as the executive director of Johns Hopkins Medicine Alliance for Patients, the Johns Hopkins Medicine Accountable Care Organization and Care Transformation Organization through the Maryland Primary Care Program. From 2012-2016, he served as the program administrator and project director for the Johns Hopkins Community Health Partnership (J-CHiP) which was launched through a Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Innovation (CMMI) Health Care Innovation Award and led to improved outcomes for thousands of patients in East Baltimore.
Dr. Berkowitz received his bachelor’s degree in biology, master’s degree in business administration and medical degree from Yale University. He completed his residency and cardiology fellowship training as well as a geriatrics research fellowship at JHUSOM.

Henry Brodaty is a researcher, clinician, policy advisor and strong advocate for people with dementia and their carers. At UNSW Sydney, he is Scientia Professor of Ageing and Mental Health, Co-Director of the Centre for Healthy Brain Ageing, and Director, Dementia Centre for Research Collaboration. He has published extensively, is a senior psychogeriatrician at Prince of Wales Hospital, Sydney. He serves on multiple committees for the NSW and Australian governments and WHO.

He was previously President of International Psychogeriatric Association, Chairman of Alzheimer’s Disease International, and President of Alzheimer’s Australia NSW and Australia. In 2000 he became an Officer of the Order of Australia and in 2016 received the Ryman Prize for the world’s best development, advance or achievement that enhances quality of life for older people.

Rita Balice-Gordon, Ph.D., is the CEO of Muna Therapeutics, a biotech company focused on disease modifying therapies for neurodegenerative diseases. She is a Director on the Board of Collegium Pharmaceutical and Capsida BioTherapeutics. Rita was formerly the Global Head, Rare and Neurologic Diseases Research Therapeutic Area at Sanofi, and with business development colleagues inlicensed a BTK inhibitor, currently in Phase3 for Multiple Sclerosis, and partnered with Denali to develop a RIPK1 inhibitor for MS, ALS and Alzheimer’s, currently in Phase2. Before joining Sanofi, she was Vice-President and Head of Circuits, Neurotransmitters and Signaling in Pfizer’s Neuroscience and Pain Research Unit, led the psychiatry and pain portfolios, including bringing several assets to the clinic, and was Head of the Worldwide Research and Development Postdoctoral Program at Pfizer. Prior to her career in biopharma, Rita was Professor of Neuroscience and Chair of the Neuroscience Graduate Group in the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, where she currently holds an appointment as Adjunct Professor. Rita and her laboratory have studied the cell-cell signaling mechanisms underlying synapse formation and maintenance and pathophysiologic mechanisms underlying autoimmune CNS disorders affecting cognition and behavior. She was continuously funded by the NIH for more than 30 years, authored more than 100 scientific papers, has given hundreds of invited research talks around the world, has chaired or served on many national and international committees and editorial boards. Rita is an elected Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science.

Marco has a key role in the investment team with a special interest to bring his background in molecular biology, operational and business development experience from both small and large businesses to the Forbion portfolio. He is instrumental in the establishment and management of new companies as part of Forbion’s build strategy. Until recently, he was CEO of VectorY, the vectorized antibody company founded by Forbion. Marco currently serves on the boards of Inversago, Escalier Biosciences, Oxitope (Chair), EnGene, VectorY, and Rectify.

Marco was instrumental in the start-up of Dezima, and served on its board until Dezima was acquired by Amgen for up to USD1.5Bn in 2015. Marco also served on the following boards including:
• Akarna, which was sold to Allergan for up to USD 1Bn in 2016;
• Prexton Therapeutics that was sold to Lundbeck in 2018 for up to USD 1.1Bn; and Inflazome that was sold to Roche in 2020 for USD450m and contingent milestone payments.

Additionally, Marco was observer to the board of Exosome Diagnostics that was sold to Bio-Techne for up to USD 575m. He previously served on the board of Replimune ($REPL), RSPR Pharma, NorthSea Therapeutics, Milestone Pharmaceutical ($MIST), Oxyrane and Cardoz.

Marco studied molecular biology at Groningen University and hold a PhD in biotechnology from the ETH Zurich, Switzerland.

Jens has more than 20 years of biopharma venture capital and company creation experience and 10 years of operational experience in drug discovery and development. He is currently a board director at Aeovian Pharmaceuticals, Samsara Therapeutics, Haya Therapeutics, Cleara Biotech, bosWell, Chairman of Booster Therapeutics and Refoxy Pharma, and non-executive director of Imugene (ASX: IMU). Before joining Apollo Health Ventures, Jens served as President of GlaxoSmithKline’s corporate venture fund SR One for eight years. Jens is also co-founder and was Managing Director of GSK’s Action Potential Venture Capital (APVC) which invests in pioneering bioelectronic technologies. Jens is a co-founder of Decibel Therapeutics (NASDQ: DBTX) and Palleon Pharmaceuticals. Previously, Jens was a General Partner at TVM Capital leading early-stage investments. At TVM Capital he was involved in building the first modern anti-aging biotech – Sirtris Pharmaceuticals. Jens is a Kauffman Fellow, a member of the EU commission sponsored Gold Track Expert Council, and a passionate mentor for entrepreneurs and start-up teams in the area of innovative life science and healthcare IT. Before his investment career, Jens was leading drug discovery teams and pharma collaborations at Enanta Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ: ENTA) and Mitotix.

Kristen is the co-founder and CEO of BioAge, a clinical-stage biotechnology company developing a pipeline of treatments to extend healthy lifespan by targeting the molecular causes of aging. The company uses its discovery platform, which combines quantitative analysis of proprietary longitudinal human samples with detailed health records tracking individuals over the lifespan, to map out the key molecular pathways that impact healthy human aging. By targeting these pathways with a large and mechanistically diverse portfolio of drugs, BioAge will unlock opportunities to treat or even prevent these diseases in entirely new ways.
Kristen’s scientific background is in aging biology and bioinformatics. She received her PhD in Medical Biophysics from the University of Toronto, followed by postdoctoral training at Stanford University where she was a fellow of the Ellison Medical Foundation / American Federation for Aging Research.

James Peyer is the Chief Executive Officer and Co-Founder of Cambrian Biopharma. He also serves as the Chairman of the Board of Sensei Biotherapeutics and board and executive roles across Cambrian’s pipeline. He has spent his entire life dedicated to the mission of finding ways of preventing people from getting diseases like cancer and Alzheimer’s instead of waiting for people to get sick. James was previously Founder and Managing Partner at Apollo Ventures, the first global longevity-focused venture capital firm, investing across the US and Europe. Prior to Apollo, James was a biotech R&D specialist at the New York office of McKinsey & Company, serving major pharmaceutical clients. He earned his PhD in stem cell biology at University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center as a National Science Foundation Fellow and received his B.A. with special honors from the University of Chicago.

Dr. Dave Madge is Vice President of Discovery Services at WuXi AppTec. In this role Dave leads a portfolio of drug discovery initiatives across multiple therapeutic areas and modalities. Prior to joining WuXi AppTec, in 2014, Dave was VP, Research, for the ion channel drug discovery company Xention Ltd, in Cambridge, UK, developing new molecules for cardiovascular and respiratory disorders. Before Xention Dave was based at University College London, as part of an integrated biomedical research group, and was responsible for developing new therapeutic discovery projects into funded biotech companies. Dave has a PhD in Medicinal Chemistry from Imperial College, London, and started his career at The Wellcome Foundation in the medicinal chemistry team.

Dr. Joe Coughlin leads the Massachusetts Institute of Technology AgeLab. Researcher, teacher & advisor – his work explores how global demographics, technology and changing behaviors are transforming business & society. He teaches in MIT’s Department of Urban Studies & Planning. Coughlin advises major companies worldwide and has served on advisory committees for the White House, the Organization for Economic Cooperation & Development and economic development authorities worldwide. He was recognized by the Wall Street Journal as inventing the future of retirement, named as one of “100 Most Creative in Business” by Fast Company Magazine, and one of Investment News 2019 “Icons & Innovators.” Coughlin is a Senior Contributor to Forbes and writes for the Wall Street Journal as well as other leading business outlets. Author of over 100 academic publications, his recent book is The Longevity Economy: Unlocking the World’s Fastest Growing, Most Misunderstood Market – was named a CEO READS Best Seller. Follow him on Twitter @josephcoughlin.