Day 1 Agenda
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2026 Day 1 Agenda
8:00am - 9:00am Breakfast
Sponsored by: Cytiva
8:45am - 9:45am Welcome Remarks & State of the Industry
Kick off Life Sciences Future with our signature State of the Industry panel. Industry leaders will explore the current state of the life sciences industry, including the state of fundraising, market insight and what experts think the future will bring. Whether you’re with a startup, global life sciences company or a service provider supporting innovation, there’s a topic of discussion for you.
Speakers:
Subin Baral, Partner, Global Deals Leader – Life Sciences Transactions, EY
Ginger Constantine, MD, CEO, Pleo Pharma
Ketan Patel, MD, Managing Partner, F-Prime Capital
Moderator: Stephen Simpson, Retired Partner, EY
Location: Grand Ballroom
Panel Sponsored by: EY
Reverse Pitch Presentations
10:00am - 10:20am GSK
Jeannie Rojas, PhD, Senior Director, Worldwide Business Development
10:20am - 10:40am University of Pennsylvania
Katie Reuther, PhD, Executive Director, Penn Health-Tech, Practice Professor in Bioengineering, University of Pennsylvania
Melissa Kelly, PhD, Deputy Managing Director, Penn Center for Innovation
10:40am - 11:00am NeXeption Capital
Alex Tullman, Partner
11:00am - 11:20am Drexel University
Sue Rhoades, Assistant Vice Provost, Applied Innovation
11:20am - 11:40am Merck
John Sanders, Director, Enabling Technologies Search and Evaluation, Business Development & Licensing
11:40am - 12:00pm Pfizer
Ketan Mehta, Senior Director, Search & Evaluation (Internal Medicine), Worldwide Business Development
Startup Stadium
10:00am - 10:30am Earable Intelligence
Benjamin Ferleger, Co-founder & CEO
All Stars:
David Rappaport, Senior Vice President, Corporate Development, Strategy and Integration, OraSure Technologies
Maureen Mulvihill, CEO, Actuated Medical
10:30am - 11:00am Medmiro
Tyler Mironuck, Founder & CEO
All Stars:
David Rappaport, Senior Vice President, Corporate Development, Strategy and Integration, OraSure Technologies
Maureen Mulvihill, CEO, Actuated Medical
11:00am - 11:30am Shifa Biomedical Corporation
Nabil Elshourbagy, PhD, Vice President
All Stars:
Lori Gough, Partner, Epidarex Capital
Philip Jones, PhD, Vice President, Science & Discovery, UPMC Enterprises
11:30am - 12:00pm Mandeville Therapeutics
Isaac Fisher, Co-founder & CEO
All Stars:
Lori Gough, Partner, Epidarex Capital
Philip Jones, PhD, Vice President, Science & Discovery, UPMC Enterprises
Entrepreneur Arena
10:00am - 10:20am Syndeavor Therapeutics
Rahul R Jasuja, Co-founder & CEO
10:20am - 10:40am Phio Pharmaceuticals
Robert Bitterman, President & CEO
10:40am - 11:00am Airalux Medical
Joshua Freedman, Co-founder & CEO
11:00am - 11:20am Thread Bioscience
Craig Serio, Founder & CEO
11:20am - 11:40am OcularDx
Alan Wright, MD, CEO
11:40am - 12:00pm SOLUtion Medical
Todd Wallach, CEO
12:00pm - Lunch
12:15pm - 12:55pm AI And Domain of Knowledge
You can’t have a conference today without AI on the agenda. The difference here? We will discuss the future.
Hear from the founders of Arca (arca.inc), an AI-for-life-sciences company out of OpenAI — their thoughts about the current discourse on AI, and how they believe all domain-of-knowledge work will ultimately be utilizing AI. Whether you embrace AI or not, it’s here.
Speakers:
– Shivam Patel, Co-founder & CEO, Arca
– Roland Shen, Co-founder & CTO, Arca
Location: Grand Ballroom
Sponsored by: Johnson&Johnson
Reverse Pitch Presentations
1:00pm - 1:20pm Harmony Biosciences
Alyssa Johnson, Senior Director, Business Development
1:20pm - 1:40pm Teleflex
Sean Hobson, Senior Manager, Corporate Development
Startup Stadium
1:30pm - 2:00pm Saatient Therapeutics
Christine Baker, Co-founder & CEO
All Stars:
Marian Nakada, Life Science Advisor and Past JJDC Investor, BD Professional and R&D Executive
Entrepreneur Arena
1:25pm - 1:45pm Revobo
Mike Vindler, CEO
1:45pm - 2:05pm Zafera Biotherapeutics
Art Fratamico, CEO
2:00pm - 2:40pm Industry–Academic Partnerships: Innovative, Evolving, Creative Models
Traditional licensing is no longer the only pathway to collaboration. This panel will examine emerging models for industry-academic partnerships, from sponsored research and data-sharing agreements to strategic, long-term collaborations that drive innovation, commercialization, and growth.
Speakers:
Suzanne Kijewski, PhD, Assistant Director, Life Sciences, Penn State University
Robert McGrath, PhD, Executive Director of Business Development, Yale Ventures
Zev Sunleaf, Vice President, Technology Transfer, Commercialization & Research Contracts, Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia
Moderator: James Bauersmith, Vice President, Translational Science, UPMC Enterprises
Location: Grand Ballroom
Panel Sponsored by: UPMC Enterprises
Reverse Pitch Presentations
2:45pm - 3:05pm Johnson & Johnson
Bryan Hansen, Senior Director of External Innovation
3:05pm - 3:25pm B. Braun
Jonathan Andrews, Director, Business Development
Startup Stadium
2:00pm - 2:30pm Cimbra Therapeutics
Felix Kim, Founder
All Stars:
Marian Nakada, Life Science Advisor and Past JJDC Investor, BD Professional and R&D Executive
2:30pm - 3:00pm Pierogi Therapeutics
Ben Koby, CEO
All Stars:
Chris Burns, Principal, BBC Pharma Advisory
Steve Tullman, Founder & Managing Partner, NeXeption Capital
Entrepreneur Arena
2:05pm - 2:25pm Signature Diagnostics
Dave Colaizzi, CEO & Co-founder
2:25pm - 2:45pm ImmuNovX Biotech
Dalfoni Banerjee, Founder & CEO
2:45pm - 3:05pm Prolifagen
Kiernan Seth, Chief Development Officer
3:05pm - 3:25pm Merlin Biotech
Randall N. Hyer, MD, PhD, CEO
3:45pm - 4:30pm Patient Spotlight
Wrap up day one of Life Sciences Future with the Patient Spotlight panel. Through the personal story and experience of a patient, we’ll gain a deeper understanding of the impact that life sciences innovation can have on individuals, families and communities. This is an opportunity to pause and reflect on the life changing work being done across the life sciences ecosystem, serves as a reminder of why we do what we do, and highlights the importance of keeping patients at the forefront of innovation.
Speaker: Marissa Perman, MD, Pediatric Dermatologist, Section Chief of Dermatology and Director of the Epidermolysis Bullosa Multidisciplinary Clinic, Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia
Patient Perspective: Annie, Matt and Charlotte Devine
Moderator: Joanne Soslow, Partner, Morgan Lewis
Location: Grand Ballroom
Sponsored by: Morgan Lewis
4:30pm - 6:00pm Cocktail Reception
Sponsored by: Design Science
4:30pm - 6:00pm funding meetup
Sponsored by: KPMG
Thank you to our 2026 event sponsors
Interested in sponsoring Life Sciences Future? Please contact Gabi Forgione (gforgione@lifesciencespa.org) for sponsorship inquiries.
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Life Sciences Pennsylvania was founded in 1989 by a biotech scientist at Penn State University. Today it has grown to represent the entire life sciences industry – biotechnology and diagnostic companies, medical device companies, pharmaceutical companies, investment organizations, research institutions, and myriad service industries that support the life sciences in Pennsylvania.