Speaker Profile
M.D., Ph.D., President, Chief Executive Officer and Co-Founder, Allogene Tx
Biography
David is a scientist at heart and a respected leader in cell therapy, with a singular focus on advancing the next breakthrough: allogeneic CAR T products. Before joining Allogene, he was Executive Vice President of RD and Chief Medical Officer at Kite, a Gilead Company. He has an industry-leading track record in oncology drug development, including Yescarta (axicabtagene ciloleucel), the first CAR T therapy approved for non-Hodgkin lymphoma, Blincyto (blinatumomab), a bispecific T cell engager antibody in acute lymphocytic leukemia, IMLYGIC (talimogene laherparepvec), a first-of-its-kind oncolytic immunotherapy in melanoma, among others. From 2002 to 2014, he held senior leadership roles at Amgen, and earlier, served on the faculty at the David Geffen School of Medicine at the University of California, Los Angeles.
Session Abstract – PMWC 2026 Silicon Valley
Track Chair:
Cindy Perettie, EVP Kite Pharma
PMWC Award Ceremony
• Michel Sadelain, Columbia
• Arie S. Belldegrun, Allogene Therapeutics
Keynote: Engineering the Future: Innovations in CAR-T Therapy Design
• Michel Sadelain, Columbia
CAR-T Cell Therapies: Strategies in Mitigating Challenges in Solid Tumor Delivery
• Chair: David Barrett, Kite
• Carl June, University of Pennsylvania
• Michel Sadelain, Columbia
Tumor-Infiltrating Lymphocytes (TILs): Advances and Challenges in Solid Tumors
• Chair: Allison Betof Warner, Stanford
• George Coukos, Ludwig Institute for Cancer Research
• Max Julve, Royal Marsden
• Stephanie Goff, NIH/NCI
Allogeneic & In Vivo Cell Therapies: Manufacturing & Clinical Progress
• Chair: Arie S. Belldegrun, Allogene Therapeutics
• David Chang, Allogene Therapeutics
• Adrian Bot, Capstan Therapeutics
• Aliya Omer, AstraZeneca
• Priti Hegde, Kite Pharma
Designing Automated Platforms for Scalable Cell Therapy Manufacturing
Fabian Gerlinghaus (Cellares)
TCR-Based Cell Therapies: New Targets and Clinical Advances
• Chair: Diwakar Davar, UPMC
• Lauren Harshman, Clasp Therapeutics
• Cassian Yee, MD Anderson
Gene Editing & Synthetic Biology for Therapy
• Chair: Matthew Porteus, Stanford
• Rachel Haurwitz, Caribou Biosciences
• Kole T. Roybal, Parker Institute
• Ken Drazan, ArsenalBio
Synthetic Circuits for Smarter Cell Therapies: Enhancing NK Precision and Persistence
Gudrun Stengel, Alida BioSciences
