2024 Biotechnology Conference

Samuel F. Bakhoum, M.D., Ph.D., Radiation Oncologist at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center

Babak Beheshti, Ph.D., Dean, New York Tech College of Engineering and Computing Sciences

Babak’s experience in higher education spans over 35 years, where he has served as a full-time faculty member, President of the Senate, Associate Dean, and Dean. As dean of the engineering college, Babak led the college to the introduction of its first two Ph.D. programs in computer science and engineering, two new Bachelor’s and one new Master's degree programs, in addition to leading the college through its fastest climb in national rankings: #33 Best Undergraduate Engineering Programs (National - no doctorate) – a climb of 13 places since 2020, and #191 Best Computer Science Undergraduate Programs (National - no doctorate), a new ranking in 2021– a climb of 40 places since 2020.

Hina W. Chaudhry, M.D, is the Director of Cardiovascular Regenerative Medicine and is also a developmental geneticist with expertise in cell cycle biology, stem cell biology, and regenerative biology. She received her M.D. from Harvard Medical School.

In her presentation, "Human Heart Regeneration is an Imminent Reality," "Chaudhry will speak about her team's efforts at regenerating the human heart utilizing both cell cycle manipulation to enhance cardiomyocyte proliferation and a novel source of multipotent stem cells her lab has discovered that they are isolating from human term placentas.

Wendy Chung, M.D., Ph.D., Chief of the Department of Pediatrics at Boston Children’s Hospital and Harvard Medical School

Dr. Chung is a clinical and molecular geneticist and the Chief of the Department of Pediatrics at Boston Children’s Hospital and Harvard Medical School. She directs NIH funded research programs in human genetics of pulmonary hypertension, breast cancer, obesity, diabetes, autism, birth defects including congenital diaphragmatic hernia and congenital heart disease. She is a national leader in the ethical, legal, and social implications of genomics. She was the recipient of the Rare Impact Award from the National Organization of Rare Disorders, and is a member of the National Academy of Medicine and the American Academy of Physicians. Dr. Chung received her B.A. in biochemistry from Cornell University, her M.D. from Cornell University Medical College, and her Ph.D. from The Rockefeller University in genetics.

Malgorzata Jaremko, Ph.D., M.B.A., FACMG, FACB, Founder & CEO, Gosia Genomics Inc.

Malgorzata is an accomplished expert in precision medicine, with a remarkable career that spans senior executive roles, entrepreneurship, and pioneering research in personalized medicine. With over 16 years of clinical diagnostic experience, product commercialization, and an unwavering commitment to precision medicine for over two decades, she has showcased remarkable proficiency across diverse healthcare domains. Her extensive skill set encompasses strategic leadership, product development, clinical operations, regulatory compliance, team leadership, and management, all within the dynamic landscapes of startup ventures and established corporations.

Hans Keil, Co-founder and CEO, Nurture Genomics

Hans Keil is a passionate and results-driven executive who has dedicated his career to building high-performing teams that leverage technology to deliver transformational value.

From 2020 to 2022, Hans served as the Senior Vice President & Chief Information Officer of Beaumont Health, a $4 billion healthcare system with 8 hospitals, 167 outpatient locations, 5,000 physicians, and 35,000 employees. Hans was responsible for digital innovation, core IT operations, applications, data analytics, and cyber security.

Chad Krilow, Sr. Genomics Solutions Architect at TileDB

Chad Krilow serves as the Sr. Genomics Solutions Architect at TileDB, driving progress in data management for genomic insights, big data, and precision medicine. With an extensive background, Chad has made substantial contributions in key roles at the NIH/NHGRI, Quest Diagnostics, and the Department of Agriculture, Government of Canada. His expertise is underscored by a notable record of publications, showcasing his adeptness in developing innovative solutions for intricate challenges in the field.

Meifeng Lin, Computational Scientist/Group Leader, High Performance Computing, Computational Science Initiative, Brookhaven National Laboratory

Dr. Meifeng Lin is currently the High Performance Computing group lead at BNL's Computational Science Initiative. She holds a PhD in theoretical particle physics from Columbia University, and has worked in the field of computational physics and high performance computing for more than 10 years. Prior to joining BNL in 2013, she had held several research positions in Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Yale University, Boston University and Argonne National Laboratory. Her research interests include lattice QCD, nuclear and high energy physics, high performance computing and applications of machine learning and quantum computing.

George Llado (B.S. '88), Former CIO, Alexion Pharmaceuticals; Board of Directors, Charles River Labs

George is the former Senior Vice President and Chief Information Officer of Alexion Pharmaceuticals, where he was responsible for building the company’s Global Information Technology function that enables Alexion to serve patients and their families with rare diseases.

A bio-pharma industry veteran with over 35 years of business, information technology and cyber-security experience, George and his team developed and implemented innovative technology and data-driven insights across Alexion’s R&D, Commercial and Supply Chain functions.

Tobore Edema Olorunnipa, (M.S. '20), Project Manager - All of Us Research Program, Office of the Director at The National Institutes of Health

Tobore Edema Olorunnipa is an entrepreneur and social impact leader with over a decade of experience with designing and championing projects and conferences focused on leadership training and skills development for women. She has received notable international recognition for her work including campaigns to help women in West Africa to gain technological skills and achieve digital literacy.

John Pennett, Partner, Eisner Advisory Group LLC

Pennett is the Partner-in-Charge of the National Technology and Life Sciences Group. He has 35 years of public accounting experience, with a strong emphasis on public and private life science and technology companies. John is a frequent writer and speaker on industry topics. He is the publisher of Catalyst, a newsletter focused on delivering informative content on both business and technical issues affecting entrepreneurs in the technology and life sciences space.

Leonidas Salichos, Ph.D.

Salichos is a computational biologist. His research focuses on studying evolving systems, such as the spread of infectious diseases and cancer evolution. To address these questions, he works on developing and implementing novel tools and methods based on phylogenetics, machine learning, statistics, and deep learning.

While earning his M.S. in Agricultural Engineering at the Agricultural University of Athens, he developed a method that maps viral outbreaks. For his M.S. in Bioinformatics at Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, he continued working on viruses by genotyping HIV strains. He earned his Ph.D. from Vanderbilt University in 2014, where he developed computational tools, including machine learning metrics to measure the internode and phylogenetic tree certainty based on conflicting phylogenetic signals. As a postdoctoral and associate researcher at Yale University, he worked on developing algorithms that calculate the impact of driver mutations in cancer. He also worked on the identification of mutational patterns and signatures, tumor subclonal architecture, and expressional profiles in 2800 cancer tumors. Meanwhile, he is collaborating on the analysis and characterization of Hepatitis C and D in Italy. Additionally, as an assistant professor at NYIT, Dr. Salichos has been developing targeted strategies for mitigating the spread of infectious diseases in USA.

Bryan Silverman (M.S. '89), Chairman & CEO, Laina Enterprises, Inc.

Bryan has over three decades of experience in healthcare and start-ups. From Innovation teams at both Unilever and Johnson & Johnson to multiple start-ups that he successfully exited, Bryan has used emerging technologies to create key market differentiation, a multi-level value prop to all stakeholders whether corporate or consumer, as well as, software applications and technology-driven businesses, products, and services at the edge of futuristic including, Mobile, Virtual Reality, Machine Learning and AI.

Bryan feels he is empowered always by the teams he is privileged to work alongside of; they are his mentors for continued business & personal growth.

Nikolaos Tezapsidis, Founder and CEO, Neurotez Inc.

Dr. Tezapsidis founded Neurotez in 2004. He is President and Chief Executive Officer and Chairman of the Board of Directors and has held these positions since the company was incorporated in 2005. Nikolaos has successfully raised funds primarily through non-dilutive grant sources, but also through equity-based deals.

While building the company, he recruited top talent, maintaining top notch research and development programs and establishing a strong patent portfolio (more than 20 patents globally are either pending or issued). Having held several positions at a number of prominent academic institutions, Dr. Tezapsidis has more than 18 years of international biomedical research experience. Prior to forming Neurotez, Dr. Tezapsidis served as a scientific consultant to biotechnology investors, providing highly regarded expertise.

Michael Walsh, Associate Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering at New York Institute of Technology

Dr Walsh is an Associate Professor in the Electrical and Computer Engineering department with a focus in the area of Bioengineering. Dr. Walsh completed his undergraduate and graduate degrees at Lancaster University in the UK. In 2008, Dr. Walsh was the Carle Foundation Hospital - Beckman Institute postdoctoral fellow at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

Carlo Yuvienco, Director for the Ford Center Incubator at The Rockefeller University

Dr. Carlo Yuvienco is the recently appointed inaugural Director for the Ford Center Incubator at The Rockefeller University, which serves as a new site of convergence for biomedical scientific talent and early-stage life science companies. Before his time at the Rockefeller, Dr. Yuvienco was the Senior Director of Strategic Partnerships at Envisagenics, a venture-backed drug discovery company based on RNA splicing science from Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory.

Tarek Ali Zaki, Co-Founder & CEO of OncoPrecision

Tarek received his B.S. in Business Administration with a concentration in Entrepreneurship from Babson College in Wellesley, Massachusetts. While at Babson, he co-founded Ando, one of the pioneering startups enabling same-day/next-day eCommerce package delivery leveraging technology in Latin America, which was acquired by Moova two years later.

After graduating from Babson in 2018, Tarek joined a private equity firm in New York City called Gatewood Capital Partners, driven to better understand the dynamics of mergers and acquisitions, with the goal of being prepared for future opportunities. Upon his return to Argentina while searching for a new venture which could lead to a positive impact on human health, Tarek met Drs. Gastón Soria, Candelaria Llorens, and Gerardo Gatti in March 2020 and became Co-Founder & CEO of OncoPrecision.

Theo Zanos, Artificial Intelligence in Bioelectronic Medicine and Point-of-Care Clinical Applications

Dr. Theo Zanos is an Associate Professor and the head of the Neural and Data Science Lab at the Institute of Health System Science and Institute of Bioelectronic Medicine, at the Feinstein Institutes for Medical Research and the Zucker School of Medicine, Hofstra Northwell.

He received his Engineering diploma in Electrical and Computer Engineering from the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki in Greece, his MSc and PhD in Biomedical Engineering from the University of Southern California and postdoctoral training at the Montreal Neurological Institute at McGill. His current research focuses on developing and applying machine learning methods on multimodal healthcare, neural and physiological data to enable early diagnosis, disease severity assessment, and personalization and adaptability of therapies.

Dong Zhang, Assistant Professor at NYIT College of Osteopathic Medicine

Dr. Zhang is an associate professor of Cancer Biology at the College of Osteopathic Medicine, New York Institute of Technology. Dr. Zhang also serves as the director of the Center for Cancer Research at the New York Institute of Technology. Dr. Zhang obtained his Ph.D. degree in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology from Brandeis University in the laboratory of Nobel Laureate, Dr. Michael Rosbash. Dr. Zhang then did his postdoctoral training at the Biochemistry Department of Baylor College of Medicine and the Genetics Department of Harvard Medical School. In addition to running a cancer research lab, Dr. Zhang also teaches medical biochemistry to medical students and is a faculty adviser for the First Aid for the USMLE Step 1 since 2020.