CEO and Co-founder
Chairman

Moderator of the National Working Table for the Internationalization of Biotechnology Sector, promoted by the Foreign Ministry. Member of the Assobiotec Executive Committee, the National Association of biotech companies. Co-Founder & Board Member Altheia Science and AurorA Science, Chairman Lipogems International. Previously, Founder & CEO of Quantica SGR, Co-founder of Axòn Capital, Venture Consultant at Sofinnova Partners. $400MM+ exits; >$200MM raised as VC

Ph.D.

John is an independent advisor to the biopharma industry with over 20 years of experience. Former VP and Head of Business Development, Oncology Therapy Area at GlaxoSmithKline and VP and Head of BD, Respiratory & Immune Diseases at AstraZeneca. John has led teams accountable for assessing, valuing and transacting M&A, pipeline & commercial asset deals covering oncology, respiratory, inflammation, metabolic and rare diseases. He has a track record of closing deals (transacting >$30B in deal value) representing primary care, specialty care and rare diseases.

Ph.D.

Armon is Founder and CEO of Portal Bio and formerly the CEO and Founder of SQZ Biotechnologies (NYSE: SQZ), where he led the company from invention to post-IPO with over $300M in equity financing, a $1Bn collaboration with Roche, and three clinical trials. He graduated from Stanford University, he received his Ph.D. at Massachusetts Institute of Technology and his Post-Doctoral at Harvard Medical School.

M.D.

Todd is consultant to numerous entities in the biotechnology space Co-founder and Board Member Xanadu Bio and prior Executive Chairman Emendo Biotetherapeutics, Board Member Abeona Therapeutics, Arya Science Acquisition Corp. Todd is an active, honorary member of the medical staff of Mount Sinai Hospital in NYC. He graduated from Princeton University, M.D. from Columbia University Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons, where he was Rudin Fellow, and an AB, with high honors and Phi Beta Kappa, from Princeton University. Todd is also a principal in Wider Film Projects, a documentary film company focused on producing films with sociopolitical resonance that have won Academy, Emmy and Peabody Awards.

Gaurav Shah serves as CEO and President of Rocket Pharma (NASDAQ:RCKT), a publicly traded clinical-stage biotechnology company focused on developing first-in-class gene therapy options for rare, devastating diseases with a market cap ranging from $600Mil to $1Bil in recent months. He is co-founder of Rocket and sits on the Board of Directors. Prior to this role Gaurav was a Global Program Head in the Cell & Gene Therapies Unit at Novartis, where he had strategic oversight of 12 functions and helped spearhead pivotal trials with CART-19 for patients with Leukemia and Lymphoma – later approved by the FDA as Kymriah. Earlier roles at Novartis included lead physician for Biosimilars and for Afinitor. Gaurav started his career in the pharmaceutical industry at ImClone/Eli Lilly as a Medical Director overseeing oncology trials focused on monoclonal antibodies. This work in industry has led to multiple drug approvals for children and adults with malignancies and other devastating disorders.
Gaurav graduated from Harvard University (summa cum laude, Phi Beta Kappa) with a degree in Behavioral Neuroscience and currently serves as an interviewer for Admissions for Harvard College. He received his MD from Columbia (AOA), completed his internal medicine residency at Brigham and Women’s Hospital/Harvard Medical School and hematology/oncology fellowship training at Memorial-Sloan Kettering. After receiving board certification in medical oncology, he served as an Adjunct Assistant Professor of Oncology at Columbia.