Ben Deverman

Biography
Ben Deverman is the senior director of the vector engineering research group at the Stanley Center for Psychiatric Research at the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, where he is also an institute scientist. The vector engineering team develops innovative gene delivery solutions for studying the central nervous system (CNS), with the aim of uncovering new avenues for treating psychiatric disorders. His group applies a variety of approaches including protein engineering, high-throughput in vivo selection and screening methods, and machine learning to develop novel AAV vectors that overcome pressing gene delivery challenges. In recent work, the Deverman team and collaborators found that the AAV-PHP.B family of capsids, which efficiently deliver genes throughout the mouse CNS, cross the blood-brain barrier by engaging a novel receptor on the vasculature, providing mechanistic insights that can be leveraged to engineer the next generation of AAV capsids for human CNS gene therapy. In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Deverman lab built and maintains COVID-19 CG, an interactive, open access browser to help vaccine, therapeutics, and diagnostics developers and public health officials track SARS-CoV-2 mutations and lineages by location and time. Deverman joined the Broad in March 2018. Before this, he was the director of the CLARITY, Optogenetics and Vector Engineering Research (CLOVER) Center within the Beckman Institute at the California Institute of Technology. At Caltech, Deverman and colleagues identified numerous capsids, including AAV-PHP.B and an enhanced variant, AAV-PHP.eB, that made efficient brain-wide gene delivery in the adult possible for the first time. AAV-PHP.B and AAV-PHP.eB are now in use in laboratories around the world and are enabling a wide range of translational and basic neuroscience experiments. Deverman led the generation of the panel of AAV-PHP capsids by developing a novel AAV selection method, called Cre Recombinase-based Targeted Evolution (CREATE), that uses Cre transgenics to select for AAVs that transduce defined target cell types. Deverman has nearly 14 years of experience as a molecular biologist studying neuroscience and AAV engineering. As a postdoctoral fellow and research scientist at the California Institute of Technology, Deverman’s research focused on viral vector development and the roles of cytokines during neurodevelopment and in the context of demyelinating disease. He received a Ph.D. in molecular and cellular biology from Washington University School of Medicine and a B.S. in biochemistry from the University of Detroit Mercy. In 2019 he received the Broad Institute Excellence Award in Mentorship, Teaching, and Training and is a recipient of a Merkin Institute Fellowship at the Broad.

Gerold Meinhardt

Biography
Gerold is Medical Oncologist and Hematologist with 17 years of academic background, including 3 years as a Research Fellow at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, and 20 years in oncology drug development in the pharmaceutical industry. He currently serves as Head of Early-Stage Oncology Team Leads at DSI. Prior to that, he was VP, Global Team Lead, responsible for the development of trastuzumab deruxtecan (DS-8201, ENHERTU). Prior to Daiichi Sankyo, Dr. Meinhardt served in different roles at Bayer Pharmaceuticals for more than 15 years, most notably as Vice President in Clinical Development leading the development of multikinase inhibitors sorafenib and regorafenib. Dr. Meinhardt has authored more than 60 PubMed-listed publications.

Elad Sharon

Biography
Elad Sharon, MD, MPH, is a medical oncologist at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, where he is the Clinical and Translational Director of the Immunotherapy Toxicity Program and a Member of the Faculty of Medicine at Harvard Medical School. From 2011 through August 2023, Dr. Sharon served as a senior investigator in the Investigational Drug Branch of the NCI Cancer Therapy Evaluation Program (CTEP). In that role, he worked with academic and industry colleagues to develop promising new cancer therapies. His portfolio included antibody-drug conjugates, immune checkpoint inhibitors and other agents. He also served as an attending physician in NCI Developmental Therapeutics Clinic. As part of his work in immunotherapy drug development, he has made a major effort to advance the understanding of immune-related adverse events, including the establishment of the Alliance-NIH irAE Biorepository, for which he continues to be the Medical Oncology Chair. In addition, Dr. Sharon is the Co-Principal Investigator of the AIM-NIVO trial, evaluating the use of nivolumab for patients with pre-existing autoimmune disease. From 2017 through 2023, Dr. Sharon served as the Co-Chair of the NCI Cancer Moonshot’s Adult Immunotherapy Implementation Team, through which oversaw the Immuno-Oncology Translational Network to help the NCI accelerate cancer care innovation. While working for the NCI CTEP, Dr. Sharon assisted in the review, approval, management, and analysis of hundreds of clinical trials conducted within the NCI’s academic and community oncology networks, including trials within the ETCTN, SWOG, the Alliance for Clinical Trials in Oncology, NRG, the Children’s Oncology Group, and ECOG-ACRIN. In addition, Dr. Sharon oversaw several trials leading to FDA approvals, including two rare cancer trials whose results led to the approval of atezolizumab for advanced Alveolar Soft Part Sarcoma and pembrolizumab for Merkel Cell Cancer. Dr. Sharon has had interactions with dozens of pharmaceutical companies, hundreds of academic sites, as well as years of formal interactions with the FDA on behalf of the NCI. Further, he has worked with several providers of data to evaluate real world evidence for use in drug development and patient safety analyses, through collaborations with the FDA, Friends of Cancer Research, and other stakeholders in the field. In his new role, Dr. Sharon is seeking to develop innovative clinical trials to better understand the side effects associated with immune checkpoint inhibitors and other immunotherapy agents. He has been a national leader in this emerging field, conducting clinical and translational research for the NCI and DFCI, with impactful papers elucidating a mechanistic understanding of immune-related Adverse Events (irAEs) and their effect on overall patient well-being. To this end, he is now the Medical Oncology Co-Chair of the Alliance Immuno-Oncology Toxicity (IOTOX) Working Group. His efforts in immunotherapy drug development are also continuing, both at DFCI and nationally through the NCI-funded National Clinical Trials Network. Dr. Sharon received his M.D. from Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, Texas in 2003. He completed his internal medicine residency at Emory University in 2006 and his Hematology/Oncology Fellowship at the NIH in 2011. He obtained a Master of Public Health degree at the Harvard School of Public Health in 2009.

Daphne Koller

Biography
Daphne Koller is CEO and Founder of insitro, a machine learning driven drug discovery and development company. Daphne is also cofounder of Engageli, was the Rajeev Motwani Professor of Computer Science at Stanford University, where she served on the faculty for 18 years, co-CEO and President of Coursera, and Chief Computing Officer of Calico Labs. She is the author of over 300 refereed publications, with an hindex of over 145. Daphne was named one of TIME Magazines 100 most influential people in 2012. She received the MacArthur Foundation Fellowship (2004), ACM Prize in Computing (2008), ACM AAAI Allen Newell Award (2019), and AnitaB.org Technical Leadership Abie Award Winner (2022). Daphne was inducted into the National Academy of Science (2023), the National Academy of Engineering (2011) and elected a fellow of the American Association for Artificial Intelligence (2004), the American Academy of Arts and Sciences (2014), and the International Society of Computational Biology (2017).

Okan Ekinci

Biography
Okan Ekinci, MD, MBA, is the Head of Digital Technology and Chief Medical Information Officer at Roche Information Solutions. He joined Roche in 2018 and served as Chief Medical Officer and Senior Vice President of Marketing & Innovation for the digital health business. Before that, Okan held various positions at Siemens Healthineers, including Chief Medical Officer and Head of Healthcare Consulting. Drawing on extensive experience across imaging, diagnostics, and pharma, he has advised healthcare institutions and governments on strategies for digital transformation, personalized healthcare, and artificial intelligence. Okan is a cardiologist by training and an adjunct professor of medicine at the University College Dublin.