Dr. Daniel is president, research and early development at Celgene Corporation. Previously, he joined Ambrx as chief scientific officer, was senior vice president, research at Immunex, and vice president and inflammation area leader for Amgen. Prior to these positions, he was Hakim Professor of Medicine and Cell Biology at Vanderbilt University, where he practiced nephrology, built translational research organizations in the Vanderbilt Ingram Cancer Center, and led an investigative research effort that defined molecular determinants of endothelial function in health and disease. He earned an M.D. from University of Texas, Southwestern.

Dr. Ezekowitz is currently an entrepreneur-in-residence for Cardinal Partners and president and CEO of Abide Therapeutics, which he co-founded with Drs. Dale Boger and Ben Cravatt from The Scripps Research Institute. He is a pioneer in the field of innate immunity, and, along with Drs. Charles Janeway, Fotis Kafatos and Nobel laureate Jules Hoffman, helped define the role of pattern recognition molecules in first line host defense. He was previously senior vice president and franchise head of bone, respiratory, immunology, and endocrine at Merck Research Laboratories, where he led the overall scientific direction of the drug discovery and development process for these key therapeutic areas. Previous to Merck, Dr. Ezekowitz served as chief of Pediatric Services and chaired the Executive Committee on Research at Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH). He also served as chief of Pediatric Services for Partners HealthCare in Boston and the Charles Wilder Professor of Pediatrics at Harvard Medical School. Prior to joining MGH, he served on the staff of Children’s Hospital in Boston for 11 years. In 2008, Dr. Ezekowitz was honored with the establishment of the R. Alan Ezekowitz Professorship in Pediatrics at Harvard Medical School. He has served on the board of directors of Partners HealthCare, Massachusetts General Physicians Organization, Anika Therapeutics and NatImmune, a biotech company that he founded. Dr. Ezekowitz completed two postdoctoral fellowships at Children’s Hospital Boston in the Division of Hematology and Oncology and Oxford University. He was awarded a Doctor of Philosophy degree from Oxford University and received his medical training at the University of Cape Town in South Africa..

Dr. Gage is chairman of the board of directors at Cytokinetics and executive chairman at Virdante Pharmaceuticals. Previously, he was president of research and senior vice president, science and technology at Wyeth, president of Genetics Institute, and vice president responsible for U.S. drug discovery at Hoffmann-La Roche, Inc. In addition, he has served as director or chairman for a number of biotechnology companies including Serono (now a subsidiary of Merck KGaA), Adnexus (acquired by BMS), Neose Technologies and PDL BioPharma. He has been involved in the development of more than 10 first- or best-in-class products. He earned a S.B. in physics from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and a Ph.D. in biophysics from the University of Chicago.

Dr. Heyman is chief executive officer and co-founder of Aragon Pharmaceuticals. Previously, he was chief scientific officer at Kalypsys and X-Ceptor Therapeutics (acquired by Exelixis). Prior to these positions, he was vice president of research at Ligand Pharmaceuticals, where he led the identification and development of Panretin® and Targretin® for the treatment of cancer, and trained at the Salk Institute. He earned a B.S. in chemistry from the University of Connecticut and a Ph.D. in pharmacology from the University of Minnesota.

Dr. Keith James joined Ferring in January 2012 as the Vice President of Therapeutic Innovation. He was promoted to President of Ferring Research Institute and Senior Vice President R&D of Ferring Pharmaceuticals in December 2012. Before joining Ferring, Dr James spent 29 years working at Pfizer. Throughout his tenure at Pfizer, Dr. James’ appointments included positions as Vice President for Discovery Research at the Pfizer Sandwich site; Senior Vice President of the Pfizer Strategic Management Group in New London, CT; Vice President of Discovery Research, at the Pfizer site in Ann Arbor, MI; and Research Site Head at the Pfizer La Jolla site.

Dr. James is a graduate of Imperial College, London and received his Ph.D. in Chemistry from Cambridge University. He spent two years as a NATO Research Fellow at Stanford University, CA and Columbia University, NY before beginning his drug discovery career.

Dr. Negulescu is vice president, research, at Vertex Pharmaceuticals. He is responsible for leading the Vertex San Diego research site. Previously, he was director of cell biology at Aurora Biosciences (acquired by Vertex). Under his leadership, Vertex San Diego has produced several novel drug candidates, including VX-770, a CFTR potentiator in Phase 3 clinical studies for the treatment of cystic fibrosis. He earned both a B.S. and Ph.D. in physiology from the University of California, Berkeley.

Dr. Rink is director of Kymab Ltd., Santhera Pharmaceuticals and Stevenage Bioscience Catalyst. Previously, he was chairman of the Wellcome Trust Technology Transfer Strategy Panel, chairman and chief executive officer of Aurora Biosciences, president and chief technical officer of Amylin Pharmaceuticals and vice president for research at SmithKline. In addition, he has served as a director of several biotechnology companies, including Adnexus, Akubio Limited, Alanex Inc, Astex, BioVex Inc, Ciphergen, CoCensys, Gryphon Sciences, Lorantis Ltd, NPS Pharmaceuticals Inc., Sepracor Inc. and Solexa Ltd. (as chairman; acquired by Illumina), and served on the scientific advisory board at Serono SA. Dr. Rink has been involved in the development of numerous therapeutics, including Requip®, Protonix®, Symlin®, Byetta®, Sensipar®, and Catena®. He earned a Sc.D., M.A., and M.D. from the University of Cambridge.

Dr. Wierenga is executive vice president, R&D at Santarus, Inc. He currently serves on boards for several biotechnology companies, including as a director for Cytokinetics, Onyx, and Xenoport and on the scientific advisory board for Ferring Pharmaceuticals Research Institute. Previously, he was executive vice president of R&D at Neurocrine Biosciences, chief executive officer at Syrrx, Inc. (acquired by Takeda), senior vice president of worldwide pharmaceutical sciences, technologies and development at Parke-Davis/Warner Lambert, and held multiple positions at Upjohn Pharmaceuticals. He has led or participated in the research and development of more than 60 INDs, 10 NDAs and 10 marketed products, including Lipitor®, Neurontin®, Lyrica®, Cognex®, and Cerebyx®. He earned a B.A. from Hope College and a Ph.D. in chemistry from Stanford University.

Dr. Williams is executive vice president, R&D at Biogen Idec. Previously, he was chief executive officer at ZymoGenetics Inc (acquired by BMS), chief scientific officer at Seattle Genetics, and senior vice president and Washington site leader at Amgen. Prior to these roles, he served on the faculty of the Indiana University School of Medicine and the Department of Laboratory Medicine at the Roswell Park Memorial Institute in Buffalo, New York. Dr. Williams led the development efforts for Leukine®, Enbrel®, and RECOTHROM®. He earned a B.S. in biological sciences from the University of Massachusetts, Lowell and a Ph.D. in physiology from the State University of New York at Buffalo, Roswell Park Cancer Institute Division.