Speaker Profile
M.D., Co-Founder, Executive Chair, ReIGNITE
Biography
David Kirn, MD, is Founder and Executive Chair ReIGNITE, co-founder and CEO of 4DMT, Professor of Bioengineering at UC Berkeley, and board director and co-Founder of the UC Berkeley Life Sciences Entrepreneurship Center.
He was co-founder and CEO of four viral vector-based genetic medicines companies, and senior R&D executive at Onyx and Celgene, and strategic advisor to Novartis, Bayer, Pfizer, Biogen.
He received a BA (Departmental Citation; Phi Beta Kappa) from UC Berkeley, an MD (Alpha Omega Alpha) from UCSF and completed internal medicine residency at Harvard Medical School, Brigham & Women’s Hospital (including term as Chief Medical Resident at affiliated WRVA hospital). He completed medical oncology and clinical research fellowships at UC San Francisco. He was awarded the Johnson & Johnson Entrepreneur Innovator award from the J&J Innovation Center, was named to The Medicine Maker Power List, Advanced Medicine in 2022, and was a 2024 PharmaVoice 100 honoree in the Standout Leaders category.
Talk
Will discuss the history of oncolytic virus therapeutics, identifying the limitations for the field, and focusing on next-generation solutions to unlock the full potential of this immunotherapeutic modality for cancer patients.
Session Abstract – PMWC 2026 Silicon Valley
Track Chair:
Ira Mellman, Medici Therapeutics
PMWC Award Ceremony
• Jedd D. Wolchok, Weill Cornell Medicine
• Suzanne Topalian, Johns Hopkins
• Levi Garraway, Roche
Keynote: Future Breakthroughs in Immuno-Oncology: New Targets, Modalities & Combinations
• Levi Garraway, Roche
Targeting the Tumor Microenvironment (TME) in Practice: Biomarkers & Combos
• Chair: Ira Mellman, Medici Therapeutics
• Dmitry Gabrilovich, AstraZeneca
• Jennifer Mataraza, Novartis
Immunotherapy with Personalized Cancer Vaccines: Who, When, How Fast?
• Chair: Suzanne Topalian, Johns Hopkins
• Tal Zaks, Orbimed
• Lelia Delamarre, Genentech
The Next Era: Neutralizing On-Target, Off-Tumor Effects by Turning Cancer Against Itself
• Cyriac Roeding, Earli
Fireside Chat: Immune Tolerance to Cure, A Conversation With...
• Lee Hood, Institute for Systems Biology
• Mary E. Brunkow, Institute for Systems Biology
ADCs in the Checkpoint Era: Who Benefits, What to Combine, What to Avoid
• Chair: Shreya Badhrinarayanan, Pfizer
• Gerold Meinhardt, Daiichi Sankyo
• Vadim Koshkin, UCSF
Strategic IP Management in Cell and Gene Therapy: Navigating Legal and Practical Challenges
• Janet Xiao, Morrison & Foerster LLP
Checkpoint 2.0 in Practice: PD-1+VEGF Wins, Resistance Salvage & Biomarker Gates
• Chair: Anne Kasmar, Parexel
• Jedd D. Wolchok, Weill Cornell Medicine
• Roy S. Herbst, Yale
Future Breakthroughs in TME Reprogramming: New Modalities, Smarter Delivery & Overcoming Resistance
• David Kirn, ReIGNITE
Radiopharmaceutical Therapy: New Targets, Isotopes, and Challenges
• Chair: William Oh, Yale
• Munir Ghesani, United Theranostics
• Sandy Srinivas, Stanford
• Anna Karmann, AdvanCell
