Ajan Reginald, Global Head Emerging Technologies, Roche Group Research
F. Hoffmann-La Roche, Switzerland

Dr. Ajan Reginald leads the Roche Emerging Technologies Group accessing the next generation of key BioPharma and Diagnostics technologies. Recent Emerging Technology deals include the RNAi collaboration with Alnylam, THP acquisition and Transgene alliance. Ajan joined Roche in 2005 as M&A Business Development Director for Roche Pharma and led the acquisitions of Borean & Receptron and the Halozyme portfolio alliance deal. Prior to Roche, he served Pharma clients for the Boston Consulting Group in Chicago and Zurich   

After graduating London University medical college (UK) in 1996, Ajan founded Cosmetic Healthcare Group (CHG). He completed Head & Neck Surgery specialization in 2002 and sold CHG. Ajan was then awarded a Fulbright Scholarship for the MBA at Kellogg, Northwestern University. Since 2004, Ajan has been Adjunct Professor of BioPharma at WHU / Kellogg school, where he completed his Ph.D. in 2006 developing predictive real option valuation models for Biotech patent portfolios.  

Alex  H.C. Yu, Director, Innovation & Technology Transfer Office (ITTO)
Nanyang Technological University & Singapore & Immediate Past President
Licensing Executives Society (Singapore)

Dr. Yu is the Director of the Innovation & Technology Transfer Office at Nanyang Technological University (NTU), where he has responsibility for intellectual property management, sponsored and collaboration research agreements, licensing and commercialisation of NTU technologies. In addition, he also manages the Innovation Centre, a technology incubator, at NTU. Dr. Yu is on the Board of Directors of  NTU Venture Pte Ltd and its subsidary holding companies, and is the Chairman of the Board of a NTU wholly-owned R&D company.

Prior to joining NTU, he was the Associate Director, Corporate Development at a drug discovery company in Singapore. He also spent 5 years as the Director of Research and Business Development at a Canadian start-up biotechnology company. Dr. Yu also worked in Japan and the UK.  In the area of IP management, technology transfer and commercialisation, Dr. Yu has managed large patent portfolios of diverse technologies, and negotiated numerous research collaboration agreements and licenses on behalf of univeristies as well as commercial companies.  He has given lectures and talks on IP management, technology licensing and technology valuation at NTU, NUS, World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) programs, and  Licensing Executive Society (LES) seminars.

He is the immediate past President of LES (Singapore). Dr. Yu has also served in the past 3 years as an expert for WIPO in their programs on assisting developing countries in the development of national strategies and policies for innovation, technology transfer, and IP management. Dr. Yu was educated in Canada with a Bachelor degree in Chemical Engineering from McMaster University, and a Ph.D. degree in Medical Biophysics from the Ontario Cancer Institute, University of Toronto.

Alex Fowkes, Executive Director, Head of Strategic Alliances, Asia
Pfizer Global Research & Development, China

Alex Fowkes obtained undergraduate degrees in science and law in Australia before joining a private practice law firm in 1994. In 1998 Alex joined Pfizer’s operations in the United Kingdom to provide legal support to its European research and development activities. In 2003 Alex moved to the Pfizer Research and Development Division (PGRD) headquarters in New London, Connecticut to lead the global legal support for PGRD’s world-wide technology transfer activities. At the end of 2006 Alex was appointed to lead PGRD’s Strategic Alliance operations in Asia and relocated to Pfizer’s Research Office in Shanghai.

Anant G. Wadkar, Associate Director, Corporate Development & Strategic Planning
Dr. Reddy's Laboratories Limited , India 

Dr Anant G Wadkar is Associate Director, Corporate Development with Indian pharmaceutical major Dr. Reddy's Laboratories Ltd., where he is responsible for specific Corporate Development Projects and Global Strategic Initiatives, which have substantial strategic and operational impact across businesses and geographies.

A Doctor of Veterinary Science & Animal Husbandry and a Master’s Degree holder in Business Administration, Dr. Wadkar's list of academic achievements span the fields of Supply Chain, Intellectual Property and Patent Law, and Business Development. Dr. Wadkar has over 12 years of experience in Business Development, Strategic Planning, Portfolio Management, Marketing, Sales and Entrepreneurship experience in building Brands & Businesses across the Pharmaceutical, Manufacturing and Information Technology industries, including four years as an entrepreneur and founding member of the first Indian job site for IT professionals (Winjobs.com).

Dr Wadkar is with Dr. Reddy’s since November 2002, where he started as a Business Analyst with the Business Process Re-engineering team, digitizing large systems including patent management, laboratory data management, inventory management, etc. 

Ansbert Gadicke, Founder & General Partner
MPM Group, USA

Dr Gadicke originally trained as a physician and subsequently held post-doctoral research positions at Harvard University and MIT. To gain business experience, Dr Gadicke then spent three years as a consultant with the Boston Consulting Group (BCG), where he worked with top management from pharmaceutical, diagnostic, biotechnology and health insurance companies, in the areas of business strategy, pharmaceutical product development, marketing, company valuation and acquisitions.

In 1992, Dr Gadicke left BCG & founded MPM. For some time, MPM continued part of the work Gadicke had done at BCG, ultimately recruiting one of its clients, Dr. Michael Steinmetz, the global head of Biotechnology at Hoffmann-LaRoche, to join the firm and to help raise the first venture fund, BioVentures I, in 1997. Nobel laureate, Dr. David Baltimore, was then recruited as the chair of the medical and scientific advisory board.

MPM capital is now one of the world's largest dedicated investors in life sciences with committed capital of more than $2.5 billion. MPM is uniquely structured to invest globally in healthcare innovation. In addition to its BioVentures family of venture capital funds, MPM invests in the public markets through its BioEquities hedge fund.

Boon Swan Foo, Executive Chairman, Exploit Technologies Pte Ltd
A*STAR, Singapore

Mr Boon is the Executive Chairman of Exploit Technologies Pte Ltd (ETPL) and the Chairman of the Technology Transfer Network (TTN), an alliance of Technology Transfer Offices in Singapore.

ETPL is the strategic marketing and commercialisation arm of Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*STAR). He is also a board member of the Science and Engineering Research Council and the Biomedical Research Council of A*STAR. He served as the Managing Director of A*STAR from October 2001 and relinquished this position on 31 December 2006.

Mr Boon is currently the Chairman of the Executive Committee of Singapore Computer System and Chairman of Nothacker Pte Ltd, a spin-off company under ETPL. He is also the Deputy Chairman of Orangestar Investment Holdings Pte Ltd and Merlion Pharmaceuticals Pte Ltd. He serves on the Boards of the Infocomm Development Authority of Singapore, Singapore Utilities International Pte Ltd and a member of the National University of Singapore Dean's Advisory Board and the INSEAD Singapore National Council. Mr Boon is a Fellow at the Singapore Institute of Directors and the Institute of Certified Public Accountants of Singapore and a Registered Professional Engineer.

Prior to joining A*STAR, Mr Boon was CEO and Deputy Chairman of ST Engineering Pte Ltd, and concurrently the Chief Financial Officer of Singapore Technologies. He was awarded the Singapore Business Award for Outstanding CEO, one of Singapore’s prestigious business awards in 2000. Mr Boon continues to serve as an Advisor to ST Engineering Pte Ltd and ST Asset Management Ltd.

Brian Leedman, Vice President
pSivida Limited, Australia

Mr Leedman is a marketing and communications specialist with more than 10 years experience at Westpac Banking Corporation and Ernst & Young. As the former Group Marketing Manager of Ernst & Young in Western Australia, Mr Leedman was responsible for building industry relationships, public relations and brand management. Mr Leedman is a Board Member of the Australia Israel Chamber of Commerce and The Perth City Heritage Appeal where he is also Chair of the Fundraising Committee. Mr Leedman holds a Bachelor of Economics and a Master of Business Administration from the University of Western Australia  

Chris Molloy, Chief Operating Officer
Merlion Pharmaceuticals, Singapore

Mr. Chris Molloy is Chief Operating Officer of MerLion Pharmaceuticals, a private anti-infectives drug discovery and development organisation headquartered in Singapore. Chris joined MerLion in early 2005 to manage business development, since when the company has demonstrated award winning market penetration and expansion in its global partnering. In 2006 Chris played a major role in the dual acquisition of two European biotechnology companies and the raising of a landmark round of international venture finance for drug discovery and development in Asia. MerLion has been recognised in 2007 by Fierce Biotech, as one of the top fifteen emerging biotech’s worldwide: the first ever Asian company to make this list; and has been twice shortlisted by the industry journal, Scrip, as best company in the world’s emerging markets. Chris retains his responsibility for business development and licensing in addition to those of group COO and is involved in a wide range of global target, compound and discovery technology licensing activities. Before joining MerLion, Chris had a fourteen year career at GlaxoSmithKline in a variety of scientific and international management roles within preclinical drug discovery, informatics and discovery automation. He was closely associated with a number of significant global process improvement projects: applying industrial manufacturing theory to the scientific disciplines of lead optimisation and high throughput discovery. He is a graduate in Biomedical Sciences from the University of Bradford, UK.

Prof. Uziel Sandler, Founder, Vice-Chairman and CEO 
ISK LTD

Professor Uziel Sandler is one of the founders of the advanced discipline called “Fuzzy Dynamics”, which describes evolution of complex systems with uncertainty in their dynamics laws. Together with Prof. M.M.Lehman (Imperial College, London, UK), Prof. Sandler has applied Fuzzy Dynamics to management of Long-Term Trends in the Software Projects. Further, Fuzzy Dynamics has been applied to modeling of the immune system cells’ maturation. Prof. Sandler is, also, expert in DNA Dynamics and Evolutionary Computations. He has published more than 70 academic articles in prestigious scientific journals and 3 books. Prof. Sandler is serving as chair in international conferences and as a member in several worldwide committees in the above-mentioned fields.

At 2005 Prof. Sandler and Dr. Yoram Devary have found Immune System Key Ltd. (ISK LTD), the biotechnology company engaged in drug development. Prof. Sandler  is, also, serving as Professor at the Department of Applied Mathematics of Jerusalem College of Technology.

Prof. Sandler holds Ph.D. in Theoretical Physics from L.V. Kirensky Institute of Physics, Academy of Science of former USSR.

Daewoong Jo, Founder, CEO
ProCell Therapeutics, Inc, Korea

Dr. Daewoong Jo, graduated in Microbiology & Immunology, Vanderbilt University in 2002. He is Founder, CEO, ProCell Therapeutics, Inc. (2005 – present) and Assistant Professor, Chunnam National Univ. Medical School (2006 – present), Gwangju, Korea.

Fintan Walton, Chairman, Chief Executive Officer and Founder
PharmaVentures, UK

Dr Walton gained broad commercial experience whilst holding management positions at Bass and Celltech. In particular he was involved in contract research and licensing agreements with European, Japanese and US corporations. As an entrepreneur, Dr Walton co-founded CONNECT Pharma, where he was CEO from 1993 – 1997.

Dr Walton established PharmaVentures in 1997 in order to assist pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies worldwide in all aspects of deal making including strategic alliances, Mergers & Acquisitions and equity financing. Since then his company has worked with clients on a global basis, delivering more than 450 projects. PharmaVentures is comprised of over 35 individuals with a wealth of experience in the pharmaceutical, biotechnology and associated industries and scientists from both industry and charitable organisations. Together the team’s experience offer an in-depth knowledge providing second-to-none support to our clients who are based 50% in the USA, 40% in the EU and 10% in Australia/New Zealand/Japan.

Dr Walton has spoken at many leading industry events detailing how organisations can drive greater value from their deals, these include; Drug Delivery Partnerships, Strategic Alliances, Business Development and Outsourcing.

Fred M. Schwarzer, Managing Partner
Charter Life Sciences, USA

Fred has extensive operational and fundraising experience, including the development of corporate partnerships and the structuring of venture capital investments and acquisitions. Prior to founding CLS, Fred was the chief executive officer and then chairman of Heska (HSKA). During his tenure at Heska, Fred completed corporate partnerships with Bayer and Novartis, completed seven acquisitions and Heska’s initial public offering and follow-on public offering. During this time, Heska also obtained its first FDA approval, launched its first products, created its sales and marketing effort and grew its revenue to approximately $40 million. Fred has also been the president and chief executive officer of Mingly Capital Corporation, which was focused on developing cross-border opportunities in life sciences and information technology. He was also executive director of the Mingly Corporation Limited (listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange) and prior to that he was a senior vice president of C.M. Capital, a diversified asset management company.

Fred began his professional career as an attorney representing technology companies and venture capitalists. In 1985, he was made a partner with Pillsbury, Madison & Sutro (now Pillsbury, Winthrop) and in 1988 he founded the firm of General Counsel Associates (now GCA Law Partners).
Fred holds a JD from the University of California, Berkeley, Boalt Hall School of Law and a BA from the University of Michigan.

Gordon Binder, Managing Director, Coastview Capital, USA & Founder & former CEO, Amgen Inc, USA

Gordon Binder, founder and former CEO of California-based Amgen, is among biotech’s most respected business minds, owing to his shepherding of Amgen to the world’s largest biotech today. Under his leadership, the breakthrough recombinant human erythropoietin (Epogen), treatment for anemia in kidney disease patients, became the biotech industry’s blockbuster product with sales surpassing $2 billion in 2001.

Mr Binder has been chairman of both BIO and Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America (PhRMA), and he is currently on the boards of Massachusetts Institute of Technology, the California Institute of Technology and the American Enterprise Institute. In 2000, Mr Binder retired from Amgen but his clear biotech vision combined with his sharp financial mind led him to another new chapter in his career as he founded Coastview Capital, a venture capital firm that invests in biotech companies, where is he is currently Managing Director. In recognition of his outstanding achievements in the biotech business, he won the 2005 Global Leadership Award by Biotechnology Roundtable. 

Guy Heathers, Chief Business Officer
Cancer Therapeutics CRC, Australia

Guy obtained his PhD in cardiovascular research from the University of Bath, UK and completed post-doctoral research at Washington University Medical School, St. Louis, USA. Guy moved into the commercial sector by joining Hoffmann-La Roche as a Senior Scientist in the cardiovascular drug discovery department in New Jersey, USA. After almost seven years and progression through drug discovery departments of Metabolic Diseases, Bronchopulmonary Research, and Inflammation & Autoimmune Diseases, Guy moved into the business development arena with a move to Cancer Research Campaign Technology Ltd in London in 1995.

After being instrumental in the completion of a number of successful business development projects, including the licensing of the BRCA2 gene and the establishment of the biotech start-ups Cyclacel Ltd in 1996 and KuDOS Pharmaceuticals Ltd in 1997, Guy was promoted to Head of Business Development. Subsequently Guy successfully expanded the business of Cancer Research Campaign Technology Ltd (CRV), initially in the UK and latterly in Europe, by establishing the subsidiary company, Cancer Research Ventures Ltd in 1998. Transferring to CRV as Chief Operating Officer, Guy completed the establishment of two more biotech start-ups, Crusade Labs Ltd in 1999 and Qugen Therapeutics Pte Ltd in 2000.

In 2001, CRV joined forces with the National Cancer Centre of Singapore and Temasek Holdings Ltd of Singapore to form Biotech Research Ventures Pte Ltd (BRV) in order to bring biotechnology business development expertise and services to Singapore and the Asian region. In July 2001, Guy transferred from CRV to become BRV’s Chief Executive Officer where he was instrumental in the establishment and development of three more companies, Agenica Research Pte Ltd, Systome Therapeutics Pte Ltd and pSiOncology Pte Ltd.

After a three-year stint at BRV, Guy moved to head Australian-based Gateway Capital Ltd, a biotechnology business development and investment company, as Chief Executive Officer. Gateway managed the business and corporate development of a number of early stage biotech companies in Australia with a view to listing these on the Australian Stock Exchange.

Hajimu Sakamoto, Vice President, Business Development
Artisan Pharma, USA

Mr. Sakamoto joined Artisan Pharma in 2006 when the company was established and has served as Vice President, Business Development. Prior to Artisan Pharma, he worked for Asahi Kasei Pharma (“AKP”, formerly Asahi Chemical Industry Co., Ltd.), Japan for nearly 30 years (from 1978 to 2006). In AKP he first was a researcher in Asahi’s research laboratories. During this period, he developed biotechnology-derived products such as tissue plasminogen activator, tumor necrosis factor, and thrombomodulin (ART-123). Mr. Sakamoto was also a member of an Expert Working Group of the ICH (International Conference on Harmonization) representing the Japan Pharmaceutical Manufacturers Association and worked for establishing ICH guidelines relating to biotechnology quality issues. He then moved to Licensing and Business Development of AKP in 1994 where he was responsible for many deals with pharmaceutical companies, including those with GSK, Shering A.G., and Novartis. Most recently, he was the general manager of Licensing and Business Development and responsible for the formation of Artisan in AKP. Mr. Sakamoto has a master degree in biochemistry and biophysics from Osaka University. 

Heidi Meisenkothen, Assistant Vice President, Exploit Technologies Pte Ltd
A*STAR, Singapore

Heidi recently joined Exploit Technologies with 18 years of global business development, sales and marketing experience in the biotech and pharma industries.  She has worked in large global organizations as well as start-ups including:  Roche, Boehringer Mannheim, Celera, deCODE genetics, Sidec Technologies, Compendia Bioscience, and BIOS Corporation. Heidi has been involved in licensing and partnerships across disease areas from research to market in reagents, devices/instrumentation, bioinformatics/databases with software, medicinal chemistry services, diagnostics, protein tomography (nano)imaging, and emerging technologies spanning basic research through drug discovery and development.  Heidi earned her MSc (ALM) from Harvard University in Biology, with a concentration in Molecular Cell Biology and Genetics, and completed her research thesis at Children’s Hospital Boston. She earned her BS from the University of Connecticut, USA, in Psycho(Neuro)biology.  Additionally, Heidi has earned certifications in Negotiation and Technology Transfer and has been active in the MIT Cambridge Enterprise Forum; Women Entrepreneurs in Science & Technology ‘WEST’; Licensing Executives Society – USA & Canada; BioMatrix MIT Mentoring Program, American Association for the Advancement of Science, and is a member of the Harvard Faculty Club.

Isato Ohmine, Leader,  Licensing Group- Japan /East Asia
Nippon Boehringer Ingelheim Co. Ltd., Japan

Mr Ohmine was at Nikken Chemicals Co. Ltd. (Japanese pharma company) from 1980 until 2002, in charge of marketing and sales promotional activities for the major pharmaceutical products of Nikken in the area of respiratory, liver and GI for the first eleven years (1980-1991). He then transferred to the pharmaceutical development department in charge of strategic planning & licensing activities for R&D (1991-2002) to plan and facilitate numerous in-house R&D projects intended for the international development as well as engaging in local/international in- and out-licensing activities.

In 2002, he joined Nippon Boehringer Ingelheim as a group manager of licensing in charge of global in-licensing to scout and evaluate potential compounds in Japan for the world wide development. Licensing territory was recently expanded to include East Asian countries e.g. China, Korea, India, Taiwan, and Singapore, where proactive and extensive licensing activities have been ongoing.

Jean-Pierre Paccaud, Director, Business Development
Drugs for Neglected Diseases Initiative (DNDi), Switzerland

Dr. Paccaud, the new Director of Business Development, founded Athelas SA, an antibacterial drug discovery company which recently merged with MerLion Pharmaceuticals Pte Ltd of Singapore. Prior to joining DNDi, Dr Paccaud served as Business Development Manager for OM Pharma; consulted for a number of biotechnology investment funds; and was an assistant professor at the University of Geneva Medical School, where he established a medical research group. Dr. Paccaud performed his post-doctoral studies at the University of California at Berkeley, after earning his PhD in clinical immunology at the University of Geneva School of Medicine.

Joe McCracken, Vice President, Business Development
Genentech Inc., USA

Joseph S. McCracken joined Genentech, Inc. as Vice President, Business Development in July of 2000. In this capacity, Dr. McCracken is responsible for identifying opportunities to advance Genentech’s corporate and functional objectives through partnerships with academic institutions, biotechnology companies and pharmaceutical companies throughout the world.

Dr. McCracken was previously Vice President, Technology Licensing & Alliances at Aventis Pharmaceuticals, and prior to the HMR-RPR merger was Vice President of Worldwide Business and Technology Development and Vice President, Technology Development and Licensing at Rhone-Poulenc Rorer. From 1983 until 1994 Dr. McCracken held a number of positions at Genentech, Inc., including the positions of Director of Business Development and Representative Director of Genentech Ltd., Genentech’s wholly owned subsidiary in Japan.  Dr. McCracken received a BS in Microbiology, MS in Pharmacology, and Doctor of Veterinary Medicine from The Ohio State University.

Judith Hills, Vice President Licensing (Europe, Japan & Asia Pacific)
Bristol-Myers Squibb Company, UK

Judith is Vice President, External Science, Technology and Licensing Europe and Asia/Pacific for Corporate and Business Development, Bristol-Myers Squibb.  Based at the UK headquarters in Uxbridge, United Kingdom, Judith is responsible for the acquisition and licensing of R&D technologies and development stage compounds to support the company's drug discovery and development efforts, with a focus on Europe and Asia Pacific. Recent deals with European companies include those with Solvay Pharmaceuticals of Belgium and Domantis UK.

Prior to joining Bristol-Myers Squibb, Judith was Senior Director, Scientific Licensing, Worldwide Business Development at GlaxoSmithKline, where she was responsible for in-licensing for the Respiratory franchise.  She also served in the Scientific Licensing Group of SmithKline Beecham, where she was instrumental in completing a number of high-profile deals in the metabolic, respiratory, inflammation, and gastrointestinal therapeutic areas.  Judith initially joined SmithKline & French to undertake research in neuroscience and gastrointestinal disease, gaining ten years of research and development experience.

Her background also includes academic posts at the School of Pharmacy, University of London; and the Department of Anatomy, University College, London, where the focus of her research was autonomic neurotransmission. Judith holds a BSc Honours. in Pharmacology from the University of Aberdeen, awarded in 1980, and a Ph.D. in Neurobiology from University College, London, awarded in 1984.

Kimio Nishimura, General Manager, Business Development
Chugai Pharmaceutical Co, Japan

Kimio Nishimura is General Manager of Business Development for Chugai Pharmaceutical Co. Ltd.  He leads a group responsible for worldwide licensing activities, including strategic partnerships and product licensing. Mr. Nishimura has been instrumental in establishing Chugai strategies for interactions with Roche, including addressing product deals moving between the companies.  Prior to his current role, Mr. Nishimura had responsibilities as Strategy Group Manager in the Corporate Planning Office and Marketing Research & Business Related Information Group Manager in Product Planning.  He was involved in the analysis, planning, and implementation of the merger between Chugai and Nippon Roche, initiated in 2002, as part of the M&A team.

Mr. Nishimura has held positions in London for Chugai Pharma Europe Ltd., as Deputy Managing Director, Marketing Director, and Marketing Manager.  His professional career also has included roles in planning, human resources, and sales management. Mr. Nishimura completed his undergraduate studies in economics at Waseda University (Tokyo), and received his MBA from the College of William and Mary.  

Liz Jazwinska,  Executive Director, New Business & Strategic Alliances
Johnson & Johnson Research Pty Limited, Australia

Liz Jazwinska joined Johnson & Johnson Research Pty Limited (JJR) in 2002. Her primary responsibilities in JJR are to identify and evaluate new business opportunities in the Asia Pacific Region for partnering and licencing into Johnson & Johnson (J&J) global companies. The main focus of partnering is support for the J&J global pharmaceutical sector, this includes partnering and licencing of new chemical entities, chemical libraries and biotechnology platform technologies, research collaborations and outsourcing.  In addition, Liz can facilitate links with the medical devices and consumer sectors of J&J to enable companies in the Asia Pacifc region to take their products to the global market place.  Prior to joining JJR, Liz held a number of positions in the academic sector and pharmaceutical industry, including Business Development Manager in the Technology Transfer Office of the University of Sydney, Assistant Director in Human Genetics and Pharmacogenetics in SmithKline Beecham in the UK and Senior Research Fellow in Human Genetics at the Queensland Institute of Medical Research. During her academic career Liz authored 62 publications in peer-reviewed journals and continues to act as an expert reviewer for international molecular and medical journals and science funding agencies and is Chair of the Australian Research Council (ARC) College of Experts in Biological Sciences and Biotechnology (the ARC is the major science funding agency in Australia). 

Lorraine Hahn, Journalist & TV presenter, Former TV Talk show host & Anchor
CNN and CNBC, Hong Kong

Ms. Hahn is based in Hong Kong having spent her journalist career focused on Asian business issues. Her reputation developed over 20 years as a prominent journalist, presenter and talk-show host, most recently with CNN. Ms Hahn is an experienced moderator, interviewing business leaders, heads of state and other personalities. She was named "highly commended news presenter/anchor" at the Asian TV Awards in December 1999

Ms. Hahn was host of CNN International's regional chat show, Talk Asia until November 2006. She previously anchored CNN’s long-running Asia TV programme, CNN's Biz Asia (1998 -2000). Ms Hahn also spent 3 years at CNBC hosting its flagship program, Business Tonight, as well as The Winners, Talk of Asia and NBC Asia Evening News. She also covered the historic Hong Kong 1997 handover.
Before CNBC, she was a senior producer and anchor in Hong Kong for Television Broadcasts Ltd. (TVB).  Ms. Hahn entered television broadcasting as a senior reporter and anchor for TVB's general and financial news units in 1988 before moving on to the English-language, daily program, The Financial Report. Her career in broadcasting began with Hong Kong's Commercial Broadcasting Corporation. She has lectured at Hong Kong University and gives talks on journalism and media. Ms Hahn also holds a degree in Business and English Literature from the University of British Columbia, Vancouver. She was born in Singapore & subsequently emigrated to Canada.

Mark Noguchi, Japan Representative and General Manager
Roche Pharma, Japan

Mark Noguchi is the Japan Representative and General Manager for Roche Pharma Japan, based in Tokyo. Mr. Noguchi’s responsibilities include directing Roche’s pharmaceutical activities in Japan, with a focus on partnering. He drives Roche’s pursuit for innovation originating from Japan’s pharmaceutical, biotechnology, and academic institutions.  Mr. Noguchi also leads interactions with the Roche Group company, Chugai Pharmaceuticals. He serves as a member on the global Pharma Partnering management team, and as a member on the Chugai-Roche joint research committee, joint development committee, joint commercialization committee, and portfolio review team. He actively participates with pharma industry organizations, and currently serves as Chairman of Pharma Delegates, a leading industry association in Japan.

Prior to overseeing operations in Japan, Mr. Noguchi served as Roche Pharmaceuticals’ Vice President, Strategic Portfolio Management where he headed global research portfolio management activities. His recent commercial experience includes a position as Vice President, Strategic Marketing and Business Development, and management positions in the pharmaceutical marketing, regulatory affairs, and information systems areas. Educated as a zoologist at the University of California, Davis, Mr. Noguchi received his MBA from UCLA’s Graduate School of Management

Marvin Ng, Director
DN Venture Partners, Singapore

Marvin is a microbiologist by training. He obtained his First Class Honours Degree in Microbiology under a scholarship from the University of British Columbia (Canada) and subsequently, his Masters in Business Administration under a graduate fellowship from Simon Fraser University (Canada).

Marvin started his career in the petroleum industry with Exxon-Mobil before joining Hewlett-Packard as a senior financial analyst overseeing financial control for new product development. In 1999, he became a pioneer member of a local biotech-IT start-up where he was instrumental in raising the company’s first round of funds from investors. Marvin also secured the company’s first major contract from a prominent cancer research organisation in Singapore. He then joined Singapore’s leading government agency – the Economic Development Board, where he was responsible for investment promotion of European technology companies and in the development of strategic policies to promote Singapore’s Biomedical Sciences industry. 

Marvin is Principal Consultant and Director of DN Venture Partners, a Singapore/Germany-based business development consultancy. At DN Venture Partners, Marvin applies his training and experience to advise and help companies establish themselves in Asia and Europe. He has consulted for prominent international organisations including pharmaceutical companies, medical technology companies and scientific organisations. Marvin is also a director of Greener Grass Communications, a Singapore-based public relations company that focuses on the biomedical sciences industry. Marvin balances his consulting activities with research work and is currently supporting research projects on intellectual property, technology management and innovation at the IP Academy. 

Michael Schroter, Chief Operating Officer and Director of Business Development and Alliance Management, Lilly Singapore Centre for Drug Discovery, Singapore

Michael Schroter is the Chief Operating Officer and Director of Business Development and Alliance Management of Lilly Singapore Centre for Drug Discovery (LSCDD), a wholly owned subsidiary of Eli Lilly and Company. LSCDD focuses on drug discovery based on epigenetic and adult stem cell research in the areas of cancer and metabolic disorders. The Centre also conducts biomarker discovery in these areas, and scientific computational research and development in support of therapeutic areas of interest to Lilly. Prior to his current position Dr. Schroter was a member of the Eli Lilly business development team in the US, responsible for negotiating late stage in- and outlicensing deals. Dr. Schroter was a co-founder and director of Apotech in Switzerland (today TopoTarget and Apotech Research) a biotech company specializing in drug discovery related to apopotic signaling pathways.

Muhammad Tani Tabiin, Vice President, Biomedical Sciences Division, Exploit Technologies Pte Ltd, A*STAR, Singapore

Dr Tabiin is the Vice President of the Biomedical Sciences Division at Exploit Technologies Pte Ltd (ETPL), the commercialization arm of the Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*STAR) in Singapore. ETPL is a technology transfer office that facilitates the transfer of leading-edge technologies from the 14 national research institutes under A*STAR to industry.   Dr Tabiin leads the team that is responsible for the commercialization of the Biomedical technologies. ETPL also provides other technology management services such as intellectual property filing and management, technology and competitive intelligence, managing incubation and spin-off companies, and providing legal advice to A*STAR research institutes.

Prior to joining ETPL, Dr Tabiin had a balanced career spanning 15 years in academia as well as in the industry. He held research and development positions at Harvard Medical School and Johns Hopkins Singapore as well as product development positions at Genelabs and Merck.

Murali K. Prahalad, Vice President, Molecular Biology Essentials
Invitrogen Corporation, USA

Dr. Prahalad currently holds the title of Vice President, Molecular Biology Essentials at Invitrogen Corporation (Nasdaq: IVGN), a global leader in reagents and tools for life science and biomedical research.  In this role, he is responsible for the general management of Invitrogen’s Transfection and Selection, Nucleic Acid Separations, Cloning and Competent Cells, Custom Primers and Bioinformatics businesses.  Dr. Prahalad joined Invitrogen in April of 2005 as a Director in the Corporate Development Group where his primary responsibilities focused on mergers and acquisitions.  Prior to assuming his current role in July of 2007, Dr. Prahalad coordinated all of Invitrogen's in-licensing activities for nearly two years.

Prior to joining Invitrogen, Dr. Prahalad was the Vice President of Business Development for Sequenom Inc., a San Diego, CA-based biotechnology company.  His professional experience also spans management consulting and information technology.  He was a consultant with The Advisory Board Company in Washington, D.C. and later was a Co-Founder of zGraffiti, Inc., a McLean, Virginia based software firm specializing in CRM solutions for online retailers.  Dr. Prahalad completed his B.Sc. with Honors from the University of Michigan in1992. He went on to complete his Masters in Medical Sciences and Doctorate in Biochemistry & Molecular Pharmacology from Harvard University in 1995 and 1998, respectively. 

Philippe Kourilsky, Chair of Molecular Immunology, College de France Former Director General, Pasteur Institute, France

An eminent scientist and expert in molecular immunology and tumor immunity, Professor Kourilsky had a rapid scientific career both in the academic and corporate setting. He is the Chair of Molecular Immunology at the College de France and was formerly Director General of the prestigious Pasteur Institute. Professor Kourilsky was also a co-founder of Transgene, a gene therapy company based in France and was the President of Research of Pasteur Merieux Connaught (today Sanofi Pasteur) from 1993 to 1996. A winner of several scientific awards, he has published over 300 publications, including two reports for the French government and two scientific reference books. He is a member of the Academy of Sciences and l'Academia Europea.

R. Christopher Seaton, Senior Vice President Global Transactions
Bayer HealthCare Pharmaceuticals, USA

Mr. Seaton is responsible for leading all significant Business Development transactions in Bayer HealthCare Pharmaceuticals and providing BD support to the Regional organizations of Bayer Schering Pharmaceuticals AG. This includes licensing and product acquisition, divestitures and out-licensing. Mr. Seaton is based in the United States with direct reports in the USA, Germany, Japan/Asia and Latin America.

Mr. Seaton has had experience in multiple countries and businesses. Immediately prior to his current role he was responsible for Business Development and Licensing for Bayer Pharmaceuticals (a predecessor of  Bayer Schering Pharmaceuticals AG) and prior to that, for Business Planning and Administration for Bayer Pharmaceuticals in North America, a function which covered Finance, Information Systems, Strategic Planning and North American Licensing.

Robert Armstrong, VP, Global External Research and Development
Lilly Research Laboratories, USA

Armstrong, Ph.D., became vice president of global external research and development for Eli Lilly and Company in November 2006. He previously was vice president of discovery chemistry research.  Armstrong's new position will serve to accelerate LRL's ability to  access external innovation, including scientific and medical capabilities and capacity, as well as new drug candidates. He is also a member of the senior management council. Prior to joining Lilly in November 1999, Armstrong had been director  and head of small molecule drug discovery at Amgen, Inc. He received bachelor of science degrees in chemistry and biochemistry from the University of California at San Diego in 1979 and a doctorate degree in chemistry from Colorado State University in 1984. Upon  completion of an NIH postdoctoral fellowship at Harvard University in 1986, was a faculty member in the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry at the University of California at Los Angeles, where he remains an adjunt faculty member.

Sandeep Rao, General Manager, Business Development
Biocon Ltd, India

Shyam Bishen, Vice President, Corporate Development
Ranbaxy Inc., USA

Dr. Shyam Bishen is Vice President of Corporate Development at Ranbaxy based in Princeton, New Jersey, USA where he has been responsible for corporate strategy, business development, licensing, and alliance activities. Dr. Bishen has a very broad international background and has studied and conducted pharmaceutical business in over 25 countries across the globe. He has lived in the U.S. for about 20 years now. Before moving to US he lived in Australia, New Zealand, and India.

Dr. Bishen joined Ranbaxy in early 2005 after pursuing a very successful career in the branded side of the pharmaceutical business. Prior to working with Ranbaxy, Dr. Bishen worked with Pharmacia/Pfizer in New Jersey, Henry Schein in New York, Procept Inc. in Boston, and earlier with the Medical University of South Carolina in Charleston.

Dr. Bishen worked at Henry Schein Inc., as Vice President of Business Development where he was responsible for leading the pharmaceutical business & strategy development initiatives. At Pharmacia/Pfizer, he took on the mantle of Director of Corporate Strategy, wherein he led strategic planning and business development programs. He also worked to establish and manage various strategic alliances at Pharmacia. At Procept, Dr. Bishen worked as Principal Investigator and managed various programs in the immunosuppressive drug discovery area that were partnered with Sandoz in Switzerland. Before joining Procept, Dr. Bishen was in academia for several years and worked on anticancer research as an Assistant Professor at the Medical University of South Carolina in Charleston. He has published over 20 research papers and received several US patents in drug discovery and development.

Dr. Bishen possesses a distinguished academic background and is qualified with Doctorate from the University of Newcastle in Chemistry. He also holds a Masters in Business Administration from the Olin School of Business, Washington University in St. Louis.

Stephen Ip, Senior Vice President,  Global Business Development 
TaiGen Biotechnology Co. Ltd., Taiwan

Dr. Ip has over 25 years of experience in the biotech industry. Prior to joining TaiGen Biotechnology, Dr Ip held various management positions including, Vice President of Business Development & the Head of Far East at Matritech, President & COO of American Biogenetic Sciences, President of CytoMed. He held the position of Vice President, Technology of T Cell Sciences where he was a co-founding scientist. He was also a founding member of Cambridge Research Lab, a company of Johnson & Johnson. Dr. Ip has extensive experience in business development including negotiate successful agreement with SmithKline Beecham, Yamanouchi, Mitsubishi, Sysmex, Astra, Chiron, Pfizer, Syntex, Purdue Pharma and others.  Dr. Ip received his Ph.D. in 1976 from the University of Virginia Medical School and was a staff fellow at the hematology and oncology department of the University of Pennsylvania Medical School. He was appointed as adj. Associate Professor at Columbia U. Medical School between 1980-1982.

Steve Tan, Director, Scientific Collaborations and Business Development
GlaxoSmithKline R&D, China

Dr. Steve Tan is currently Director, Scientific Collaboration & Business Development at GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) in China.  Prior to joining GSK, Dr. Tan was Senior Licensing Manager at Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, Ohio. At Case Western Reserve University, Dr. Tan was overseeing intellectual property management and commercialization program for Case Medical Center.  From 2000 to 2005, Dr. Tan worked at the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, Texas where he was Licensing Associate.  Prior to joining MD Anderson Cancer Center, Dr. Tan was at several academic institutions and companies where he held several positions including Scientist and Business Development Manager. Dr. Tan did his postdoctoral training in Medical Physiology Department, Texas A&M University. Dr. Tan obtained his Ph.D. degree in Physiology and Pharmacology from the University of Nebraska Medical Center in 1992 and M. D. degree from Shanghai Second Medical University, Shanghai, China in 1985. Dr. Tan also held a MBA degree from the University of Houston Clear Lake from 1998.". 

Suresh Sachi, General Counsel
A*STAR, Singapore & Past President, LES (Singapore) 

Suresh Sachi is the head of A*STAR’s Legal Department overseeing all legal and intellectual property affairs of the Agency and its subsidiaries, including Exploit Technologies, ETPL Investments and the A*STAR Research Institutes, centers, consortiums and networks.

His work involves corporate commercial matters, complex technology transfer arrangements, research agreements, licensing contracts, structuring investment and financing transactions and managing public sector research grants and scholarship programmes. He is responsible for establishing and maintaining the group’s IP Policies, risk management, compliance, and advising on new legislation affecting the Agency.  He serves on the Board of Directors of Exploit Technologies and concurrently serves on its Executive Committee. He is also a board member for a number of other companies, including A*STAR spin-off companies.

Prior to joining A*STAR, he was the lead partner in the Technology and Intellectual Property Department of a leading law firm in Singapore and practiced mainly in the areas of corporate law, technology transfer, licensing, electronic commerce and internet law and intellectual property protection. He also has extensive experience in investment and financing transactions, in particular for high technology corporations, technology and IP related matters and has acted not only for a significant number of the A*STAR Research Institutes, but also local and foreign universities, research organizations, start-up companies and multi-national and small and medium enterprises.  

Varavani Dwarki, Vice President, Alliance Management, Global Business Development
Wyeth Pharmaceuticals, USA  

Dr Varavani Dwarki (Dwarki) is currently working as Vice President, Alliance Management at Wyeth Pharma, Collegeville, PA.  His responsibilities include coaching and supporting alliance managers and providing leadership to perform proactive conflict resolution and relationship audits on existing alliances. Prior to joining Wyeth, Dwarki was Senior Director of Technology Licensing and Alliances at sanofi-aventis in Bridgewater, NJ. In addition, Dwarki has a broad spectrum of diverse operational experience across big biotech (Chiron), medium size biotech (Hyseq) and small biotech (Somatix and Vical) companies.

Walter Lee, Senior Vice President and Fellow
Exploit Technologies Pte Ltd, A*STAR, Singapore

Walter is the Head, Secretariat of the Technology Transfer Network (TTN) and the Senior Vice President and Fellow at Exploit-Technologies Pte Ltd (ETPL). At ETPL, he leads a team of market researchers and technical consultants in providing market assessment and advisory services to the A*STAR research institutions on the commercialization potential of technologies. 

Walter has more than 20 years of international experience in the global high-tech industry and has held senior management positions at IBM, Singapore Airlines and IDC.

He was a member of the IDC Worldwide Consulting Management Board as the Vice President and Head of Consulting and Custom Research for the Asia/Pacific Region. At Singapore Airlines, Walter was the Vice President and Head of the E-Commerce Center. Walter is a guest lecturer at NUS and NTU on strategic alliances and partnerships and pioneered the formation of the Technology Transfer Network and the global Wireless Broadband Alliance. He has a MBA, Bachelor of Engineering and Graduate Diploma in Marketing from corporate scholarships. Walter is on the Management Committees of the HP Alumni Club and the NTU Alumni Club.