Meet with Panacea Venture

Speakers

Speaker's Profile:

James is an industry veteran with over 30 years of biotech experience. He founded Panacea Venture to focus on investments in global innovative early and growth stage healthcare and life sciences companies. James was previously Managing Partner of Kleiner Perkins (KPCB) China and Managing Partner at Vivo Ventures. Before joining Vivo in 2007, James was president of Anesiva, a biopharmaceutical company focused on pain-management treatments. He also held senior roles in business development, sales, marketing and R&D with Tularik Inc. (acquired by Amgen), GlaxoSmithKline LLC, Bristol-Meyers Squibb and ALZA Corp. (acquired by Johnson & Johnson). James is currently a director at Kindstar Globalgene Technology Inc. (9960.HK), Connect Biopharma Holdings Limited (Nasdaq: CNTB) and several private companies. James received an M.B.A. from the Stanford Graduate School of Business and a B.S. degree in chemical engineering from the University of California, Berkeley.

Speaker's Profile:

Shelby has more than 10 years of industry experience in life science innovation and commercialization. She joined Vertex Growth in July 2022. Prior to joining Vertex, Shelby was Deputy Director at the Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*STAR), she managed and commercialized biomedical technologies with a full lifecycle including IP management, license, funding & managing translation projects, and incubating biomedical spinoffs. Before A*STAR, Shelby was Investment Manager at Invest in Denmark, based in Royal Danish Consulate General in Shanghai. She covered China Biotech, MedTech and Agri-Tech sectors, identified and facilitated investment and partnership alliance from China to Denmark, through cross-border business development. Shelby graduated from Columbia University with a Ph.D. degree in Biomedical Engineering and holds a Master of Science in Bioengineering from National University of Singapore and Bachelor of Science in Life Sciences from Wuhan University.

Speaker's Profile:

David M. Epstein is a biopharmaceutical leader and executive who has successfully led R&D teams in academic, start-up, mid-size, and global large-pharmaceutical settings. Prior to his role with PairX Bio, David was President and Chief Executive Officer of Black Diamond Therapeutics, serving from its scientific inception in 2016 and taking the company public in 2020. He was also Chief Scientific Officer of OSI Pharmaceuticals, acquired by Astellas Pharma, and co-founded Archemix Corporation. He is Founding Vice Dean, Innovation & Entrepreneurship at Duke-NUS Medical School, Singapore, where he established the Centre for Technology & Development. David remains an Associate Professor within the school’s Cancer & Stem Cell Biology Program, where he built a research program that resulted in the discovery of shared cancer variant antigens. David earned a Ph.D. in Biochemistry at Brandeis University and completed a joint post-doctoral fellowship at The Scripps Research Institute.

Speaker's Profile:

Assoc. Prof. Yen Choo is ​Executive Director of co11ab and Associate Professor of Stem Cell Science and Regenerative Medicine at Lee Kong Chian School of Medicine (LKC Medicine), a joint medical school of Nanyang Technological University (NTU) and Imperial College London. A serial bioentrepreneur with over 20 years of C-level and Board experience in establishing early-stage biotechnology ventures, he was founder and CSO of Gendaq (acquired by Sangamo Therapeutics). He was founder and CEO of Plasticell and Progenitor Therapeutics - one of the UK’s pioneering advanced therapy companies based on combinatorial stem cell screening technologies, and a small molecule therapeutics company established jointly with GSK to discover drugs that regenerate tissues of the human body, respectively. Assoc. Prof. Choo obtained a PhD in Molecular Biology from the University of Cambridge and the MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology under the supervision of Nobel laureate Sir Aaron Klug.

Moderator's Profile:

As Head of JLABS Singapore, Alessandro is responsible for charting the strategic direction and overseeing all portfolio and business operational activities. Before assuming this role, Alessandro held the position of Executive Director in Oncology R&D at AstraZeneca, concentrating on the clinical development of the breast cancer portfolio. Prior to that, he occupied senior R&D and commercial positions at GSK and Novartis, respectively, over the past decade. At Novartis, he spearheaded European strategy and operations, while at GSK, he led technology and partnerships for all R&D endeavors. Alessandro's career also encompasses significant experience at top life science strategy consultancies such as LEK and IQVIA, with a particular focus on international investments in the life science sector.

Moderator's Profile:

As Head of Venture Relations, Ronne manages JLABS’ community of investors in life sciences and healthcare to support the success of JLABS residents. His role is to connect high potential companies and their founders with the right funding partner by establishing and strengthening JLABS’ relationship with investors as well as mentoring and coaching its residents. Ronne was formerly a biotech investor with a track record of creating and growing biotech companies. He joined EVX Ventures in 2016 and was promoted to Managing Director, where he evaluated investment opportunities and oversaw its biotech portfolio. During his tenure, Ronne co-founded two biotech companies in the cell and gene therapy space where he took on roles such as fund raising, R&D, business development and strategy. Both companies collectively raised over USD40 million to date.