Speaker Profile
Ph.D., Co-Founder & CEO, Nia Tx
Biography
Dr. Michael Kahana is CEO and co-founder of Nia Therapeutics, which is developing an AI-guided closed-loop neurostimulation therapy for memory loss. During his 30-year academic career, Kahana published more than 200 scientific articles and won numerous awards for his pioneering research on the neural basis of human memory and for his contributions ot memory theory.
Session Abstract – PMWC 2026 Silicon Valley
Track Co-Chairs:
Gad Getz, Broad Institute
Alex Morgan, Khosla Ventures
PMWC Award Ceremony Honoree
• Greg Brockman, President & Co-Founder, OpenAI
• Steve Wozniak, Co-Founder, Apple
Keynote
• Vinod Khosla, Khosla Ventures
Target Discovery: Beyond Genomics – Revealing Hidden Layers of Biology with AI
• Keynote: Stephen Quake, CZ Biohub
• Aritro Nath, City of Hope
• Massa Shoura, Phinomics
• Omar Serang, DNAnexus
Illuminating Drug Discovery: AI Models That Learn From Biology
• Erwin Estigarribia, HEADLAMP Health
Harmonizing the Data Economy: Enabling AI Across Institutions and Therapeutic Areas
• Noah Nasser, Datma
Can AI Really Create the Next Blockbuster Drug?
• James Zou, Stanford
Interpretable AI for Biomarker Discovery: Accelerating Drug Development
• Chair: Rajat Roy, PATHOMIQ INC
Closing the Loop: AI in the Messy Middle of Drug Development
• Ari Caroline, Weave Bio
• Dina Katabi, Emerald / MIT
Is AI the New Drug?
• Michael J. Kahana, Nia Therapeutics
