Speaker Profile
M.D., Chairman and CEO, ArsenalBio
Biography
Ken Drazan, MD, is the Chairman, CEO, and Co-Founder of Arsenal Bio, apioneering company in the field of cell therapy and gene editing. Prior tohis role at Arsenal Bio, Dr. Drazan served as President and Chief Business Officer of GRAIL, a company focused on early cancer detection which wasacquired by Illumina. He also founded and was a Board Director at Verb Surgical, which was later acquired by Johnson Johnson. Additionally, Dr. Drazan co-founded Bertram Capital, a private equity firm managing $1.9billion in assets. He earned his medical degree from Yale University. Throughout his career, Dr. Drazan has been instrumental in advancingtechnologies that leverage AI and high-performance computing in precisionmedicine, significantly impacting the fields of gene editing and celltherapy.
Session Abstract – PMWC 2026 Silicon Valley
Track Chair:
Priti Hegde, Kite Pharma
PMWC Award Ceremony
• Michel Sadelain, Columbia University
• Arie S. Belldegrun, Allogene Therapeutics
Keynote: Engineering the Future: Innovations in CAR-T Therapy Design
• Michel Sadelain, Columbia University
Keynote: The Industrialization of Cell Therapy:From Autologous Pioneers to Allogeneic Frontiers
• Arie S. Belldegrun, Allogene Therapeutics
Next Generation CAR-T Cell Therapies: Expanding Targets and Enhancing Designs
• Chair: David Barrett, Kite Pharma
• Carl June, University of Pennsylvania
• Michel Sadelain, Columbia University
Tumor-Infiltrating Lymphocytes (TILs): Advances and Challenges in Solid Tumors
• Chair: Allison Betof Warner, Stanford University
• George Coukos, Ludwig Institute for Cancer Research
• Max Julve, Stanford
• Stephanie Goff, NIH/NCI
Allogeneic & In Vivo Cell Therapies: Manufacturing & Clinical Progress
• Chair: Arie S. Belldegrun, Allogene Therapeutics
• Zach Roberts, Allogene Therapeutics
• Adrian Bot, Capstan Therapeutics
• Aliya Omer, AstraZeneca
• Priti Hegde, Kite Pharma
Smart Scaling: Leverating AI & Automation to De-Risk Advanced Therapy Manufacturing
• Chair: Stacie Calad-Thomson
• Samuel Rodriques, FutureHouse
• Manuel Leonetti, Biohub
• Fabian Gerlinghaus, Cellares
Designing Automated Platforms for Scalable Cell Therapy Manufacturing
• Fabian Gerlinghaus, Cellares
In Vivo CAR Therapy: Immune Reprogramming Directly in Patients
• Daniel Getts, Myloid Therapeutics
Operationalizing Cell & Gene Therapy Trials in a Large Health System
•Snehit Prabhu, Stanford
Gene Editing & Synthetic Biology for Therapy
• Chair: Trevor Martin, Mammoth Biosciences
• Ken Drazan, ArsenalBio
• Lynn Seely, Lyell
• Kole T. Roybal, Parker Institute
• David Kirn, 4DMT
