Katy Rezvani

Biography
Dr. Katy Rezvani is a pioneering physician scientist whose work has helped define and advance the field of engineered natural killer cell therapy. She has driven the development of cord blood-derived, off-the-shelf NK cell platforms from early discovery through manufacturing and clinical translation, helping establish a new class of cellular immunotherapies and a platform with the potential to expand access, improve scalability and reduce barriers to adoption. Her group provided the first clinical evidence that CAR NK cells can induce meaningful anti-tumor responses with a favorable safety profile, a landmark advance that helped accelerate the field’s growth. She has since led efforts to enhance persistence, in vivo expansion and anti-tumor activity, advancing engineered NK cell therapies for both hematologic malignancies and solid tumors. Beyond these scientific contributions, Dr. Rezvani has built one of the leading translational programs in cellular therapy, integrating discovery science, manufacturing and clinical investigation to accelerate the development of new treatments. Her work has helped move engineered NK cell therapy from promising concept to clinical reality and has played an important role in shaping the future of scalable cell therapy. Through these contributions, Dr. Rezvani has helped broaden the impact of cellular immunotherapy and open new possibilities for patients.

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Talk
Engineered NK Cells Expanding the Reach of Cellular Immunotherapy
This keynote will highlight the development of engineered NK cell therapies from discovery through clinical translation, including first-in-human CAR NK and TCR-NK cell studies. It will focus on strategies to enhance persistence, scalability and access, and discuss how off-the-shelf platforms are expanding the reach and impact of cellular immunotherapy for cancer and beyond.

David Miklos

Biography
Dr. Miklos is the Chief of Stanford BMT and Cell Therapy Program that provides 750 cancer cell therapies annually. Our BMT-CT research fosters the development of both laboratory immunologists, and clinical translational researchers. Our allogeneic hematopoietic cell transplantation (alloHCT) research is optimizing graft content of HSC, conventional T lymphocyte, and regulatory T cell content in order to cures blood cancers via beneficial graft-v-tumor (GVT) immunity while reducing GVHD risk. Our CAR-T research provides the most direct targeting of cancer and is dramatically improving leukemia and Lymphoma with no GVHD risk. Our goal is to combine graft engineered allogeneic HCT with CAR-T benefit. The Miklos lab pioneered protein microarray technologies to discover clinically relevant allogeneic antibodies. Our clinical trials established cGVHD therapeutic benefits using anti-B cell drugs rituximab and ibrutinib. More recently, our team developed human correlative assays to optimize CAR-T therapy including ctDNA MRD, flow cytometry tumor antigen quantification, Immune phenotype CAR-T characterization (CAR-FACS), and single cell RNA characterization of CAR-T cells. Immunotherapy is revolutionizing cancer treatment and Stanford Cancer Cell Therapy Program is developing and evaluating the most promising chimeric antigen T-cell (CAR-T) therapies targeting CD19, CD20, CD22, CD79A, and BCMA.

Arie Belldegrun

Biography
Arie S. Belldegrun is a trail‑blazing urologic‑oncologist‑turned‑biotech entrepreneur whose company‑building spree—from Agensys and Cougar to Kite Pharma—helped usher in the first FDA‑approved CAR‑T therapy and led to Kite’s $11.9 billion sale to Gilead Sciences.After that landmark exit, he co‑founded Allogene Therapeutics and still serves as its Executive Chairman, steering the next wave of off‑the‑shelf (allogeneic) CAR‑T cell products toward the clinic.Beyond Allogene, Belldegrun deploys capital through Bellco Capital, Two River, Symbiotic Capital, Vida Ventures, and the real‑estate venture Breakthrough Properties, nurturing a constellation of startups that translate science into patient impact.Over three decades on UCLA’s faculty, he has authored 500‑plus scientific papers, mentored a generation of physician‑scientists, and kept patient benefit at the center of every deal—cementing his reputation as one of precision medicine’s most influential builders.

Laura Alquist,

Biography
Laura Alquist joined Kite in 2016 and currently serves as Vice President and Global Head of Technical Operations. She has more than 25 years of experience in all aspects of technical operations including manufacturing, supply chain, quality and information systems. Laura served as Vice President of Global Supply Chain at Kite before being named Global Head of Manufacturing in 2023. Under her leadership, Kite’s manufacturing team has improved its industry-leading track record for reliability and speed. Additionally, Laura successfully led the team in navigating the COVID-19 pandemic with zero supply disruptions to the patients and providers who rely on Kite’s therapies. Before joining Kite, Laura spent 20 years at Amgen in a range of global and operational roles of increasing responsibility across supply chain, manufacturing, quality and IT. Laura holds a bachelor’s degree in business management from California Lutheran University and is APICS certified in supply chain operations.