Executive Director, Columbia Technology Ventures
Senior Vice President for Intellectual Property & Technology Transfer
Orin Herskowitz is a frequent speaker at technology-focused events in NYC and across the country. He has also been appointed by U.S. Secretary of Commerce Penny Pritzker to the National Advisory Council on Innovation and Entrepreneurship, serving a two-year term beginning in 2016.
Orin received his BA from Yale and his MBA from the Wharton School of Business. Prior to joining Columbia, Orin spent 7 years at the Boston Consulting Group's New York office as a strategy consultant, and was previously an entrepreneur and a consultant to start-ups.
Presented by the Columbia Translational Therapeutics Accelerator, this full-day event will feature presentations and panel discussions from academic and industry leaders on the successful development and commercialization of academic innovations using precision therapeutics across various sectors. Details and a list of speakers is included below for your reference.
Dr. James M. Wilson is a Professor in the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania where he has led an effort to develop the field of gene therapy. Dr. Wilson began his work in gene therapy during his graduate studies at the University of Michigan over 30 years ago. He created the first and largest academic-based program in gene therapy after being recruited to Penn in 1993. He initially focused on the clinical translation of existing gene transfer technologies but soon redirected his efforts to the development of second and third generation gene transfer platforms; the first of which was licensed to a biotechnology company he founded that resulted in the first, and only, commercially approved gene therapy in the western hemisphere. He is currently leading a national dialogue on the challenges of commercializing these potentially lifesaving treatments due to the disruptive nature they will have on traditional business models. Dr. Wilson was noted by the journal Nature Biotechnology to be the “second most productive bio-entrepreneur in life sciences.”
Professor of Translational Medicine; Chief Scientist, Structural Genomics Consortium at Oxford University
Dr. Chas Bountra has 30 years of experience of novel target discovery in academia and industry, and in the identification of new molecules for clinical POC and full development. He has progressed more than 20 molecules into Phase II studies. Dr. Bountra's group (130 scientists) are world leaders in membrane protein and kinase structural biology, epigenetics chemical biology and ‘open’ target discovery. He is now focused on generating novel early discovery tools, for novel high priority genes. He has been voted one of the top innovators in the industry, and has received an award from the Royal Society of Chemistry.
Dr. Mark Kester is a Professor of Pharmacology and the Director of the NanoSTAR Institute of the University of Virginia. He was previousuly the G. Thomas Passananti Professor of Pharmacology at Penn State Hershey College of Medicine and the inaugural Director of the Penn State Center for NanoMedicine and Materials. Dr. Kester’s research interests include the design, characterization and validation of nanotechnologies for targeted drug delivery. His laboratory has evaluated nanoliposomes, nanodendrimers and nanocolloids as effective drug delivery vehicles for pharmacological and molecular agents. Recent work focuses on nontoxic nanoscale systemic delivery systems for hydrophobic pro-apoptotic lipids as well as siRNAs that target mutated tumorigenic proteins. Dr. Kester has consulted with, or founded, several companies that have the license to his nano"Solutions". In addition, Dr.Kester is a co-author of Integrated Pharmacology, published by Elsevier, Ltd., which was recognized as a "highly commended textbook" by the British Medical Society.
Dr. Wafik El-Deiry is the Deputy Cancer Center Director for Translational Research, co-Leader of the Molecular Therapeutics Program, Professor of Oncology, and the William Wikoff Smith Endowed Chair in Cancer Research at Fox Chase Cancer Center in Philadelphia. Until September 2014 he was the Rose Dunlap Professor of Medicine and Chief of Hematology-Oncology at Penn State University. In 2009, El-Deiry became one of 40 active American Cancer Society Research Professors. He earned MD/PhD degrees from University of Miami School of Medicine and completed internal medicine residency and medical oncology fellowship at Johns Hopkins.
El-Deiry discovered cyclin-dependent kinase (CDK) inhibitor p21(WAF1) as a p53 target gene and cell cycle inhibitor that explained the mammalian cell stress response. This work published in 1993 is the most highly cited original work published in Cell. El-Deiry joined University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine in 1994 rising to Professor of Medicine, Pharmacology and Genetics in 2005 and was a Howard Hughes Medical Institute Investigator from 1995-2004. He served as co-Leader of the Radiobiology & Imaging Program at the Abramson Cancer Center from 2004-2010. El-Deiry made important contributions in cell death signaling including discovery of TRAIL receptor DR5 as a p53 target and mediator of extrinsic cell death after DNA damage. He discovered and brought first-in-class TRAIL-pathway activating small-molecule ONC201/TIC10 into clinical trials for patients with cancer. El-Deiry is a well-funded and productive physician-investigator who has >400 peer-reviewed publications and 5 edited books. In 2018 his H-index is 109 and he has >66,000 citations in Google Scholar. He is a member of the Interurban Clinical Club (President 2013-2014), American Society for Clinical Investigation (1999-) and Association of American Physicians (2008-). He won the Michael Brown Award from University of Pennsylvania (1998), the Elizabeth and John Cox Award from Georgetown (2005), the 2009 Kuwait Prize for "Cancer Diseases." El-Deiry is an elected member of the Johns Hopkins University Society of Scholars (2014-). He received teaching and mentoring awards from the Penn State College of Medicine. He specializes in the care of patients with colorectal cancer, patients with rare genetic drivers of other tumor types at Fox Chase where he conducts his preclinical and clinical therapeutics research.
In 2018, his activities include service as Chair of an NIH Study Section (BMCT-C; MCT2), as Chair of an NCI Cancer Moonshot Review Panel (Human Tumor Atlas), as member of ASCO’s Annual Program Committee (Tumor Biology Track; Leader, 2017), as a member of the American Cancer Society (ACS) Council for Extramural Grants and as a Member of the Conquer Cancer Foundation Review Board (ASCO). He was honored as ‘Faculty Member of the Month’ by F1000Prime in August, 2018. He was named as Associate Editor for Molecular Oncology by HemOnc Today. He is participating in the 2018 ACS Real Men Wear Pink in Philadelphia. In addition to his research and clinical activities, Dr. El-Deiry has trained many students and post-doctoral fellows, physician-scientists, and continues to mentor junior scientists and faculty in basic and translational cancer research.
Dr. Olivier Harari received his medical degree from Cambridge University and PhD from Imperial College London. After practicing as a rheumatologist, he entered the biopharmaceutical industry, working in the translational medicine space, predominantly on biologic therapies for immune diseases, at UCB Pharma, Roche and Regeneron, Inc. He has worked on a number of therapeutic projects that progressed from pre-clinical into human studies, from exploratory into confirmatory trials, and beyond into successful regulatory approvals. He has worked on personalized medicine strategies for marketed therapeutics using pharmacogenomic and biomarker approaches. He has undertaken non-interventional clinical studies aimed at molecular phenotyping of disease states.
Vice Chair for Clinical Research, Department of Pediatrics at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center
Julia Glade Bender, M.D. is the Vice Chair for Clinical Research in the Department of Pediatrics at the Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center. She spent the majority of her career at Columbia University Medical Center, where she served as Associate Division Director, Oncology Section Leader and Medical Director for the Pediatric Developmental Therapeutics and Precision Oncology programs. Nationally, she provides scientific leadership for early phase clinical trials sponsored by the National Cancer Institute (NCI) and the Children’s Oncology Group (COG) and serves as the new agent liaison to the neuroblastoma and bone tumor steering committees. She is best known for her work in the early pediatric development of vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) neutralizing agents and several multi-tyrosine kinase inhibitors. On a broader scale, she serves as a consultant to the Pediatric Oncologic Drugs Advisory Committee (ODAC) of the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and a representative to the NCI Pediatric and Adolescent Solid Tumor Steering Committee. Dr. Glade Bender currently participates on the leadership teams of two North American pediatric precision oncology trials, the NCI-COG Pediatric MATCH (Molecular Analysis for Therapy Choice) and the iCAT2 (Individualized Cancer Therapy-2). She has recently been awarded a large collaborative grant with Dr. Andrea Califano, PhD to use computational biology and master regulator analysis as a precision approach to novel therapies for osteosarcoma.
Patrick Mayes, PhD, is the Executive Director, Head of I-O Biotherapeutics at Incyte. Dr. Mayes was most recently Director of Biology and was an Early Development Leader for the Immuno-Oncology and Combinations discovery performance unit at GlaxoSmithKline. Dr. Mayes previously managed antibody discovery efforts within the Immuno-Oncology and Combinations (IOC) Unit of GlaxoSmithKline where he developed novel therapeutic antibodies which modulate innate and adaptive immune responses. He is co-inventor on more than 10 patents and patent applications and has co-authored more than 20 scientific articles, many of which were published in high-impact journals such as Nature, Nature Reviews, Cancer Cell, Science Translational Medicine and Blood. He received his PhD in pharmacology from the University of Pennsylvania, School of Medicine.
Mr. Spector was named President and Chief Executive Officer of Caelum and a member of the board of directors in January 2017. He joins Caelum from Fortress Biotech, where he leveraged more than 25 years of biotechnology experience to identify emerging and innovative technologies to launch as new biotech and specialty pharmaceutical companies. Prior to Fortress, Mr. Spector served as Senior Vice President, Global Commercial Operations at Iroko Pharmaceuticals. Earlier in his career, he spent 15 years at GlaxoSmithKline in multiple senior management positions, including Vice President and General Manager of GlaxoSmithKline South Africa, where he led the overall business strategy and was elected to run the South African Pharmaceutical Manufacturers Association. Mr. Spector is also a founding member of Windhoek Healthcare, where he launched two specialty pharmaceutical companies: Laurel Pharmaceuticals and North Creek Pharmaceuticals. Mr. Spector holds an M.B.A. from Rider University in Lawrenceville, N.J., where he serves on the Business and Scientific Advisory Boards, and a B.S. in biology from the University of Pittsburgh. He also serves on the Board of Directors of Jacaranda Health, a nonprofit organization that seeks to transform maternal and neonatal healthcare in East Africa.
Dr. Konstantin Petrukhin is a pharmacologist, geneticist, and molecular biologist with more than 20 years of relevant academic and pharmaceutical industry experience. Dr. Petrukhin currently serves as an Associate Professor of Ophthalmic Sciences (in Ophthalmology) at the Columbia University Medical Center. He completed his postdoctoral training in Human Genetics and Neuropsychiatry at the Department of Psychiatry, Columbia University where his work led to the discovery of the Wilson disease gene. Dr. Petrukhin was recruited by Merck Research Laboratories to lead the genetic research in the field of ophthalmic disorders. Dr. Petrukhin held positions of increasing importance at Merck and served as a head of the Department of Ophthalmics Research while chairing several research and licensing committees. His research work led to the seminal discovery of two disease genes responsible for Best’s macular dystrophy and Stargardt-like macular degeneration which significantly advanced the knowledge of molecular mechanisms responsible for pathogenesis of macular degeneration. After identifying 2 out of the 6 genes associated with the inherited forms of macular degeneration Dr. Petrukhin was able to successfully translate his outstanding genetic discoveries into the programs targeting the development of pharmacological treatments for the prevalent but untreatable ophthalmic conditions such as age-related macular degeneration and Stargardt disease. His current pioneering work on the novel subclass of non-retinoid RBP4 antagonists capable of inhibiting the formation of cytotoxic lipofuscin bisretinoids in the retina attests to the breadth of the drug discovery program that Dr. Petrukhin is leading.
Professor of Dermatology, Genetics & Development; Associate Director of Epicure: Skin Disease Resource Based Center at Columbia University Medical Center
Angela Christiano is a Richard and Mildred Rhodebeck Professor of Dermatology and Professor of Genetics and Development, CUMC Vice Chair of Research, Department of Dermatology, CUMC.
For the past 20 years, Dr. Christiano's research has focused on understanding the molecular processes that lead to inherited skin and hair disorders in humans. Her research career began with the discovery of genetic mutations associated with epidermolysis bullosa, a skin disease that causes severe blistering. Dr. Christiano’s recent work has focused on the investigation of the underlying genetic causes of and identification of potential therapies for alopecia areata, an autoimmune form of hair loss. She has published more than 300 papers in peer-reviewed journals and has trained more than 50 postdoctoral researchers and clinical fellows at Columbia University through the Program in Genetics & Development, the Institute of Human Nutrition, the Integrated Program in Cellular, Molecular and Biomedical Studies in the Graduate School of Arts & Sciences, the Clinical and Translational Science Award Program, the Stem Cell Training Program.
Dr. Christiano has received numerous awards, including the New York City Mayor’s Award for Excellence in Science and Technology – Young Investigator’s Award, Columbia University’s Harold and Golden Lamport Research Award for Excellence in Clinical Sciences, the CERIES Research Award, and the North American Hair Research Society’s award for Outstanding Paper of the Year, the Montagna Award from the Society for Investigative Dermatology, and the Ebling Award from the European Hair Research Society. Dr. Christiano is Immediate Past President of the Society for Investigative Dermatology, and served as Deputy Editor of the Journal of Investigative Dermatology for ten years. Dr. Christiano is a prolific inventor and serial entrepreneur, having filed numerous patents on her discoveries, and successfully moved technologies from the academic setting into the commercial sector. She has co-founded several companies in the dermatology space, including Skinetics Bioscience (RNAi-based dermatology therapeutics, acquired by Sirna Therapeutics, which was acquired by Merck & Co. in 2007), Vixen Pharmaceuticals (JAK inhibitors for treatment of hair disorders, acquired by Aclaris Therapeutics in 2016), and Rapunzel Bioscience, focused on regenerative therapies and stem cell approaches for skin and hair disorders. She earned her MS and PhD degrees in Microbiology and Molecular Genetics from Rutgers University.
professor of Neurology; Chief, Division of Neuromuscular Disorders at Columbia University Medical Center
Dr. Michio Hirano received his undergraduate degree from Harvard College and his Medical Degree from the Albert Einstein College of Medicine. After completing neurology residency at the New York-Presbyterian Hospital, he was a post-doctoral fellow in neuromuscular genetics under Drs. Salvatore (Billi) DiMauro and Eric Schon at Columbia University Irving Medical Center (CUIMC). He is now a Professor of Neurology and Chief of the Division of Neuromuscular Medicine at CUIMC. For over 25 years, Dr. Hirano’s translational research focused on mitochondrial disease and inherited myopathies. His laboratory has identified novel causative genes for more than a dozen inherited neuromuscular diseases and has focused attention on the pathogenesis and therapies for primary disorders of deoxynucleotide metabolism that cause secondary instability of mitochondrial DNA. For one of these diseases, thymidine kinase 2 (TK2) deficiency, Hirano’s team has developed a novel deoxynucleoside therapy in Tk2-deficient mouse and has delivered the treatment to patients internationally under an expanded access program. In addition, since 2009, Dr. Hirano has been the principal investigator of the NIH-funded North American Mitochondrial Disease Consortium (NAMDC).
