Speakers

Aberman, Zami
Pluristem Therapeutics Inc.

Zami Aberman serves as Executive Chairman of the Board of Pluristem, joined in 2005, and redirected the Company's strategy towards cellular therapeutics to become one of the global leaders in the industry. Mr. Aberman's vision to use the maternal portion of the placenta as a cell source for Pluristem’s products, combined with Pluristem's 3D culturing technology, led to the development of the Company's unique therapies. In 2013 the World Stem Cells Regenerative Medicine Congress ranked Mr. Aberman as one of the 50 most influential people in the stem cells space.

Baum, Christopher
Berlin Institute of Health (BIH)

Christopher Baum studied medicine in Essen, Freiburg and Hamburg. He obtained his doctorate in 1991, and qualified as a professor in the field of molecular medicine in 1999 at the University of Hamburg. In 2000, Baum joined the Hannover Medical School (MHH) as a professor for stem cell biology, and led the Institute of Experimental Hematology from 2006. He served as Dean of Research and was elected President of the MHH in 2013. In 2019, Baum moved to the University of Lübeck as its Vice President for Medicine and Member of the Board of Directors of UKSH – Germany’s second largest university hospital after Charité. Since October 2020 he serves as Chief Executive Officer of the Berlin Institute of Health (BIH) and member of the Board of Directors of the Charité-Universitätsmedizin Berlin.

Bluestone, Jeffrey
The University of California, San Francisco (UCSF)

Jeffrey Bluestone is the President and CEO of Sonoma Biotherapeutics and the A.W. and Mary Margaret Clausen Distinguished Emeritus Professor in the Diabetes Center at University of California San Francisco. His research has led to the development of multiple immunotherapies, including the first medicine approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) targeting T-cell co-stimulation to treat autoimmunity and the first FDA-approved checkpoint inhibitor for the treatment of metastatic melanoma.  He is a leading figure in the development of regulatory T cell therapies.

Brose, Katja
Chan Zuckerberg Initiative

Katja Brose, is a Science Program Officer at the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative. The goals of Chan Zuckerberg Science Initiative are to support basic science and technology that will make it possible to cure, prevent, or manage all diseases by the end of the century. At CZI, she leads CZI's efforts around neurodegenerative diseases. Before joining CZI, she was part of the editorial team at Cell Press for 17 years, where from 2004-20017 she was Editor-in-Chief of Neuron and a Publishing Director at Cell Press-Elsevier.

Büning, Hildegard
Hannover Medical School (MHH)

Hildegard Büning serves as current President of the European Society of Gene and Cell Therapy and Scientific Secretary of the German Society for Gene Therapy. She is Professor of Infection Biology and Gene Transfer and Deputy Director of the Institute of Experimental Hematology at Hannover Medical School (Hannover, Germany). She received her PhD (Dr. rer. nat.) from the Ludwig-Maximilians University Munich in 1997. Since then, she is active in the field of adeno-associated virus (AAV) vectors with a particular focus on AAV-host interactions and AAV vector development. Aiming to optimize efficacy, specificity and safety of AAV vectors for gene therapy and regenerative medicine, her research team is developing strategies to modify the vector tropism and immunogenicity using both rational design and library-based approaches.

Carr, Andrew
University of Oxford

Andrew Carr is the Nuffield Professor of Orthopaedic Surgery at the University of Oxford UK where he is Head of Department and Director of the Botnar Research Centre. His research has focussed on the development and evaluation of surgical implants and technologies. He has held senior roles with Universities, the NHS, medical charities and research councils.

Cichutek, Klaus
Paul-Ehrlich-Institute (PEI)

Klaus Cichutek is a biochemist and extra-ordinary Professor of Biochemistry at the Johann Wolfgang Goethe University of Frankfurt/Main, Germany. In 1999 Professor Cichutek took over as Deputy Director of the Paul-Ehrlich-Institut (PEI) and from 31 October 2001 to 30 November 2009 he was the Vice-President of the Paul-Ehrlich-Institut. Since 1 December 2009 he has been the President of the Paul-Ehrlich-Institut. Since February 2014, he has been member of the WHO "Product Development for Vaccines Advisory Committee (PD-VAC)". Prof. Cichutek is the author of more than 150 publications in international scientific journals.

Czajka, Caitlin
Science Translational Medicine

Caitlin Czajka, PhD, handles bioengineering, regenerative medicine, devices, and cardiovascular and musculoskeletal disease as an Associate Editor at Science Translational Medicine. She holds her Bioengineering BSE from the University of Pittsburgh, her PhD in Cardiovascular Biology from the Medical University of South Carolina and completed postdoctoral work at the University of Pittsburgh. She researched scaffolds and vascular tissue engineering, skeletal muscle injury and pulmonary disease.

Dirnagl, Ulrich
Berlin Institute of Health (BIH) | Charité – Universitätsmedizin Berlin

Ulrich Dirnagl is Professor for Clinical Neurosciences and serves as Director of the Department of Experimental Neurology. Since 2017 he is also the founding director of the QUEST Center for Transforming Biomedical Research at the Berlin Institute of Health (BIH). QUEST aims at overcoming the roadblocks in translational medicine by increasing the value and impact of biomedical research through maximizing the quality, reproducibility, generalizability, and validity of research.

Duda, Georg
Berlin Institute of Health (BIH) | Charité – Universitätsmedizin Berlin

Georg Duda studied Biomedical Engineering at the Technical University in Berlin and obtained his PhD in Biomechanics at the Technical University of Hamburg-Harburg in 1996. After research stays at Mayo Clinic and Johns-Hopkins University he became Head of the Research Department of the Center for Musculoskeletal Surgery (CMSC) at Charité in 1997. He is Director of the Julius Wolff Institute for Biomechanics and Musculoskeletal Regeneration at the Charité and since 2016 a Faculty Member of the Wyss Institute at Harvard University. In 2020, Professor Duda accepted the position as BIH Chair for Engineering Regenerative Therapies and has been elected Member of the Senate of the German Research Foundation (DFG). Since 2021 he is Speaker of the BIH Center for Regenerative Therapies (BCRT).

Fretzen, Angelika
Wyss Institute Harvard

A product development executive with over 20 years of experience in academia and biotech, Angelika Fretzen joined the Wyss Institute in 2019 with product and business development responsibilities, and she is currently transitioning into the role of the Institute’s Chief Operating Officer.

Goldsack, Jennifer
Digital Medicine Society (DiME)

Jennifer C. Goldsack co-founded and serves as the Executive Director of the Digital Medicine Society (DiMe), a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization dedicated to advancing digital medicine to optimize human health. Jen’s research focuses on applied approaches to the safe, effective, and equitable use of digital technologies to improve health, healthcare, and health research. She is a member of the Roundtable on Genomics and Precision Health at the National Academies of Science, Engineering and Medicine.

Grainger, David
University of Utah

David W. Grainger is Department Chair and University Distinguished Professor of Biomedical Engineering and of Pharmaceutics and Pharmaceutical Chemistry at the University of Utah, USA. Grainger’s research focuses on drug delivery, implanted medical device and clinical diagnostics, and nanomaterials toxicity. Grainger now has 10 patents, with most licensed and successfully commercialized in marketed biomedical products. He enjoys training students for translational careers to develop innovative products.

Guldberg, Robert
University of Oregon

Robert Guldberg is vice president and executive director of the Phil and Penny Knight Campus for Accelerating Scientific Impact at the University of Oregon. His research is focused in musculoskeletal regenerative medicine, and he has published 250+ papers and co-founded six start-ups.

Hashimoto, Setsuko
CellSeed Inc.

Setsuko Hashimoto is President and CEO of CellSeed Inc. which develops regenerative medicine products using “cell sheet engineering”. She has over 30-year commercial experience in the bio-industry before joining CellSeed. Dr. Hashimoto is well networked globally to academia, government and industry. She obtained Ph.D at Heidelberg University, Germany.

Herold, Susanne
University Hospital of Gießen and Marburg (UKGM)

Susanne Herold´s research addresses the molecular mechanisms of phagocyte-epithelial cell interactions during pathogen-induced lung injury regarding host defense, epithelial barrier function, and stem cell niche-mediated tissue regeneration, with a focus on influenza virus pneumonia. Her projects aim at defining novel therapeutic targets for treatment to attenuate lung injury and to foster organ regeneration in severe lung infection in a translational bench-to-bedside approach. Since 2013 she is an Adjunct Professor at Northwestern University, Feinberg School of Medicine, became DZL W2 Professor for Acute Lung Injury at the JLU Giessen in 2015, and W3 Professor for Pulmonary Infections in 2018.

Jones, Louise
Medical Research Council

Louise Jones has been working in translational research for over 15 years. She joined the Medical Research Council (MRC) in January 2014 as Head of Translation. Her current portfolio comprises oversight and strategic development of MRC’s translational funding portfolio and industry initiatives. Prior to this, Louise spent 7 years at Cancer Research UK (CR-UK). As Head of Translational Research at CR-UK, she had responsibility for cancer drug discovery, biomarkers and imaging research funding. Louise was also instrumental in setting up the first CR-UK Stratified Medicine Programme, conducted in partnership with AZ and Pfizer.

Kern, Steven
Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation

Steven E. Kern, PhD is Deputy Director of Quantitative Sciences at the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. The Quantitative Sciences group is focused on data analysis to support program strategies for therapeutic projects that the foundation funds. This effort extends across all therapeutic areas in which the foundation is involved including maternal & child health, family planning, malaria, tuberculosis, neglected tropical diseases, HIV, and pandemic preparedness. He and his team are strong advocates of making research data “always FAIR and sometimes OPEN” to improve the impact data can have towards the problem it was collected to address, and beyond.

Ljunggren, Hans-Gustaf
Karolinska Institute

Hans-Gustaf Ljunggren is a Professor of Infection Medicine and the Founder of the Center for Infectious Medicine at the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm, Sweden. He has authored >300 articles within the fields of immunology, infectious diseases, and cancer. He has served as Dean of Research at Karolinska Institute and is a member of the Nobel Assembly at Karolinska Institute.

Manta, Christine
Elektra Labs

Christine Manta is Head of Research Ops at Elektra Labs and leads the development of the Atlas platform, which facilitates the evaluation and deployment of connected sensor technologies for remote monitoring in research and clinical care. Prior to joining Elektra, she supported the Clinical Trials Transformation Initiative (CTTI)’s systematic review of feasibility studies using mobile technologies in clinical research. She has six years of experience working in research at academic institutions and hospital systems including Christiana Care’s Value Institute, University of Pittsburgh Medical Center (UPMC) and Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP). 

Marks, Peter
U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA)

Peter Marks received his graduate degree in cell and molecular biology and his medical degree at New York University and completed Internal Medicine residency and Hematology/Medical Oncology training at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston. He has worked in academic settings teaching and caring for patients and in industry on drug development.  He joined the Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research, FDA in 2012 as Deputy Center Director for CBER and became Center Director in January 2016.

Morris, Andrew
The University of Edinburgh

Andrew Morris CBE MD FRCP FRSE FMedSci has been the inaugural Director of Health Data Research UK since August 2017. HDR UK’s is the national Institute for health data science, with its mission is to unite the UK’s health data to enable discoveries that improve people’s lives.

Nitschke, Klaus
Berlin Institute of Health (BIH)

Klaus Nitschke is an entrepreneurial innovator in Digital Health, company builder, strategist and seed investor. A business man with science at heart. Klaus has been identifying innovations, building products and managing the innovation space for major European organizations for more than 20 years. Klaus has joined the Berlin Institute of Health (BIH) in February 2017 as Interim Director for BIH Innovations (till Oct. 19) and as Senior Advisor Digital Health. His main responsibilities have been to recognize, build and launch research based digital health innovations. In this respect, he and his team created “Digital Labs”: Two Digital Health Accelerator (DHA) Programs with the aim to build up- and commercialize a significant portfolio of Digital Health ventures coming out of Charité.

Paunov, Caroline
Organization for Economic Co-Operation and Development (OECD)

Caroline Paunov is Head of Secretariat for the OECD Working Party on Innovation and Technology Policy (TIP) at the Directorate for Science, Technology, and Innovation of the OECD. She manages the activities of the Working Party, a group of government officials and country experts of 40+ countries responsible for science, technology and innovation policy. She oversees the group’s work on STI policies in times of COVID-19, digital and open innovation, industry-science collaboration and inclusive and sustainable innovation policy among other core topics in innovation policy.

Prestwich, Glenn
Washington State University

Glenn D. Prestwich is President’s Distinguished Professor at Washington State University and Presidential Professor of Medicinal Chemistry (Emeritus) at the University of Utah, where he created and led the Entrepreneurial Faculty Scholars. His research on phospholipids and hyaluronan derivatives led to co-founding >10 companies, including Echelon Biosciences, Glycosan BioSystems, Sentrx Animal Care, and GlycoMira Therapeutics. He is a 2018 Fellow of the AAAS, a 2013 Fellow of the National Academy of Inventors, recipient of the 2006 Utah Governor’s Medal for Science and Technology, and the 2014 U of Utah Distinguished Innovation and Impact Award.

Pries, Axel Radlach
Charité – Universitätsmedizin Berlin 

Axel Radlach Pries is Dean and Member of the Board of Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin since 2015 as well as Member of the Board of Berlin Institute of Health (BIH), which he led as interim CEO until 31 October 2020. His major research fields cover Blood Rheology, Microcirculation, Organ Perfusion, Endothelial Function, Endothelial Surface, Vascular Adaptation, Angiogenesis and Tumor Microcirculation. His past and present memberships include Secretary of the European Society for Microcirculation (ESM), Chair of the International Liaison Committee for Microcirculation, Past President of the European Biomedical Alliance, and beginning in 2021 President of the World Health Summit (WHS) in Berlin.

Rauw, Brenna
12Bridge LLC, Portland

Brenna Rauw is the founder and managing director of 12Bridge, a healthcare venture foundry. She has been a pioneer in global academic commercialization, establishing KAUST’s technology transfer and innovation program in Saudi Arabia and spinning out UCLA’s startup and licensing activities into a separate entity as founding CEO. As an entrepreneur herself, she has been on the founding team of companies developing cancer therapeutics, diagnostics, and consumer healthcare products. She has also managed operations and investments for Columbia Technology Ventures and VectorPoint Ventures. Brenna holds a degree in biology and an MBA from Harvard University.

Reinke, Petra
Berlin Institute of Health (BIH) | Charité – Universitätsmedizin Berlin

Petra Reinke is the founding director of the Berlin Center for Advanced Therapies (BeCAT) that in 2017 received highly competitive funding (30 Mio €) from the German Council of Science and Humanities. She is Professor of Internal Medicine, Nephrology and Transplantation, and head of the research area “immune system” and the GMP-facility, developing new T-cell based therapeutic strategies. Her scientific interests are related to many different aspects of transplantation medicine and include the development of new diagnostic and therapeutic approaches. Additionally, she is a steering committee member of the BIH Center for Regenerative Therapies (BCRT), the DFG-sponsored Berlin-Brandenburg School for Regenerative Therapies (BSRT) and the Berlin Institute of Health (BIH) Stem Cell Center.

Roubenoff, Ronenn
Novartis Institutes for Biomedical Research

Ronenn Roubenoff is Global Head of Translational Medicine Discovery & Profiling at Novartis, Basel, CH, and Adjunct Professor of Medicine and Nutrition at Tufts University. An international authority on sarcopenia, translational medicine, and the use of biomarkers in drug development, he has published >270 papers (h-factor 83). Awards include AOA and DO honor societies; Fellow of the American Colleges of Physicians and of Rheumatology; and the Robert H. Herman Award, American Society for Nutrition.

Schreck, Stefan
DG SANTE C European Commission

Stefan Schreck is adviser for stakeholder relations in the Public Health Directorate of DG SANTE since December 2020. From February 2016 to November 2020, he was head of the DG SANTE unit 'health programme and chronic diseases', dealing with policies for all non-communicable diseases, planning and drafting annual work programmes of the EU health programme, and contributing to the implementation of the health cluster of the Horizon Europe. In January 2011, he was appointed head of the health information unit of DG SANCO, with responsibility for health information policy, and providing the secretariat for the non-food scientific committees of the European Commission.

Schulz, Jörg
RWTH Aachen

Jörg B. Schulz is Chair of Neurology at RWTH University Aachen. His research interests are neurodegenerative disorders including Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s disease and rare diseases like Friedreich Ataxia. In addition, he is Vice-Dean of the Medical Faculty and Speaker of the Center for Rare Diseases in Aachen. For the last 10 years he was Speaker of the Board of Directors of the Center for Clinical and Translational Research Aachen (CTC-A). He also is member of the permanent DFG Senate Commission on key questions of clinical research.

Smith, Orla
Science Translational Medicine

Orla Smith Ph.D. is the Editor of Science Translational Medicine, an international weekly publication of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, with an impact factor of 16.8. Previously, Orla was the Founding Editor of Cell’s Leading Edge, and before that was Biology Perspectives Editor at Science where she also edited research manuscripts on neurodegenerative diseases. She began her scientific publishing career as News and Views Editor at Nature Medicine. Orla has a Ph.D. in Biochemistry from the Royal Free Hospital School of Medicine, University of London, and did postdoctoral work at the Johns Hopkins Medical Institutions.

Terzic, Andre
Mayo Clinic

Andre Terzic is the founding Michael & Mary Sue Shannon Director, Mayo Clinic Center for Regenerative Medicine; endowed Marriott Family Professor; Director, National Institutes of Health Cardiovasology Program; and Chair, President’s Discovery-Translation Scientific Advisory Board.

Tromberg, Bruce J.
National Institutes of Health (NIH)

Bruce J. Tromberg is the Director of the National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering (NIBIB) at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) in Bethesda, MD. He leads NIH’s Rapid Acceleration of Diagnostics Technology initiative (RADx Tech) to expand SARS-COV-2 testing capacity and performance in lab, point-of-care, and home settings.

Volk, Hans-Dieter
Berlin Institute of Health (BIH) | Charité – Universitätsmedizin Berlin

Hans-Dieter Volk has been the head of the Institute of Medical Immunology at the Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin since 1994, and head of the Department of Immunology of the Labor Berlin-Charité Vivantes GmbH since 2011. Additionally, Prof. Volk was director of the Berlin-Brandenburg Center for Regenerative Therapies (BCRT) from its establishment in 2006 until its structural transformation into the BIH Center for Regenerative Therapies in 2019, and remained at the BCRT as Spokesperson until end of 2020. Prof. Volk combines basic and clinical research in immunology. This translational approach has allowed him and his team to develop new diagnostic products and therapies for immune diseases, which are partly already on the market.

von Kalle, Christof
Berlin Institute of Health (BIH) | Charité – Universitätsmedizin Berlin

Christof von Kalle has been BIH Chair for Clinical Translational Sciences at Charité Berlin and Founding Director of the common Clinical Study Center (CSC) of Charité and the Berlin Institute of Health (BIH) since June 2019. Since February 2019, he has been Member of the Council of Experts for the Assessment of the German Health Care Development, thus advising Federal Health Minister Jens Spahn. From July 2005 to May 2019, Christof von Kalle was Head of the Department of Translational Oncology at the German Cancer Research Center (DKFZ).

Wick, Wolfgang
Heidelberg University Hospital

Wolfgang Wick is chairman and professor of Neurology at Heidelberg University and Division Head for Neuro Oncology at the DKFZ. He has a translational research focus on precision medicine (clinical trials), treatment resistance (Spokesperson: SFB 1389/UNITE) and immunotherapy. He serves/-ed as chair of NOA, EORTC Brain Tumor group and EANO and is a member of Leopoldina and the German Research Council (Wissenschaftsrat).