Speaker Profile
M.D., Ph.D., EVP of Research & Development and Chief Medical Officer, Allogene
Biography
Zachary (Zach) Roberts, M.D., Ph.D., is the Executive Vice President, Research Development, and Chief Medical Officer of Allogene. Zach is a trained immunologist and board-certified oncologist with extensive experience in clinical oncology, including the development of cell therapies. Before joining Allogene, Zach was Chief Medical Officer of Instil Bio, where he led development of both clinical and pre-clinical programs. Prior to that, Dr. Roberts held various roles of increasing responsibility at Kite Pharma (acquired by Gilead in 2017), where he was instrumental in the development and execution of the ZUMA trials across multiple indications for YESCARTA, the first autologous CAR T therapy approved for non-Hodgkin lymphoma. Before joining Kite, Zach led several solid tumor studies at Amgen. He holds an M.D. and Ph.D. in immunology from the University of Maryland, Baltimore and completed clinical and post-graduate training at Massachusetts General Hospital and the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute.
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
CAR-T Cell Therapies: Strategies in Mitigating Challenges in Solid Tumor Delivery
• 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, 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 Cancer Center
Gene Editing & Synthetic Biology for Therapy
• Chair: Matthew Porteus, Stanford University
• Rachel Haurwitz, Caribou Biosciences
• Kole T. Roybal, Parker Institute
• Ken Drazan, ArsenalBio
In-Vivo Myeloid Programming: Engineering the Innate Immune System for Solid Tumor Therapy
• Daniel Getts, Create Medicines
Synthetic Circuits for Smarter Cell Therapies: Enhancing NK Precision and Persistence
• Gudrun Stengel, Alida Biosciences
