2025 Speakers

Esther Abels, founder & CEO SolarisRTC LLC, co-founder & CEO SolarisRTC Europe challenges the status quo to accelerate bringing innovative, emerging products to patients, globally by sharing her Regulatory, Clinical, Quality, In Vitro Diagnostics (IVD) and Pharma knowledge gained over the last 27 years.

She drives efforts for clarifying regulatory paths, reimbursement in Digital Pathology (DP) by collaborating with different Pathology Associations, Health Care Providers, Government and Payers. She successfully lead the reclassification of Whole Slide

Imaging Devices in Digital Pathology from a PMA (class III) to a 510(k) (class II), and successfully lead efforts to having Digital Pathology Artificial Intelligence (AI) algorithms certified under IVDRegulations in Europe, making the company she worked for at that time being the first achieving this in digital pathology.

In 2022 she was the president for the Digital Pathology Association, and has chaired its Regulatory and Standards Taskforce and Pharma TaskForce, the AIAct working group and co-founded the Pathology Innovation Collaborative Community. She currently is a member of the steering committee of the DDx foundation.

Lourdes Barrera is Executive Director of Global Medical Affairs, Precision Medicine at Merck. She has held leadership roles at Novartis and AstraZeneca, where she built commercial and medical affairs capabilities and developed precision medicine strategies across multiple tumor types and hematological diseases.

Her early career spans over 15 years of experience as a clinical researcher in immunology, Lourdes initially focused on respiratory diseases and spent the last decade of this period specializing in lung cancer. She is also a professor of graduate and postgraduate courses, sharing her expertise with the next generation of scientists and clinicians.

Lourdes has authored more than 50 peer-reviewed publications and presented at numerous international congresses. She holds a Bachelor’s degree in Biology, Chemistry, and Pharmacy (honors), as well as dual doctorates in Immunology and Science Communication from the National Autonomous University of Mexico.

Dr. Tomasz (Tom) Beer serves as VP & Chief Medical Officer for Multi-Cancer Early Detection (MCED) at Exact Sciences Corporation. He oversees the clinical development of the company’s MCED test, to expand screening beyond the handful of cancers screened for today.

Prior to Exact Sciences, Dr. Beer was Chief Medical Officer and Deputy Cancer Center Director for the Center for Early Detection Advanced Research (CEDAR) where he led collaborations among clinicians, engineers, and cancer biologists and directed clinical trials of multi-omic blood-based cancer early detection tests.

Dr. Beer has authored or co-authored more than 290 peer reviewed articles on multi-cancer early detection, cancer survivorship, and emerging therapies. His work definitively showed overall survival gains with enzalutamide therapy, establishing a new standard of care for advanced prostate cancer.

Dr. Beer also maintains an adjunct faculty appointment at the Oregon Health & Science University (OHSU) Knight Cancer Institute, where he sees men with prostate cancer and serves on the American Cancer Society’s Discovery Council.

Doug Biehn is an accomplished leader with over 20 years of healthcare experience building and scaling growth businesses, leading and inspiring world class teams and establishing innovative new standards of care.

Prior to joining Octave, Doug held executive leadership roles in such category creating and industry leading companies as iRhythm Technologies, McKesson, AliveCor, Blue Shield of California and most recently, Cala Health. Additionally, he is a Board Advisor for a number of early-stage digital health companies and mentors graduate students in the Stanford Business School Lean Launchpad program.

Doug holds an MBA from the University of San Francisco and a BS from San Francisco State University.

Dr. Namandjé N. Bumpus serves as a strategic advisor in regulatory science and policy, formerly serving as the FDA’s Principal Deputy Commissioner until December 31, 2024. She began at the FDA in August 2022 as Chief Scientist before advancing to the agency’s no. 2 role, overseeing operations and public health initiatives. Prior to the FDA, Dr. Bumpus was the E.K. Marshall and Thomas H. Maren Professor and Director of Pharmacology and Molecular Sciences at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, following a postdoctoral fellowship at The Scripps Research Institute. She holds a PhD in pharmacology from the University of Michigan and a bachelor’s in biology from Occidental College. Dr. Bumpus is a past-president of the American Society for Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics, a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, and a member of the National Academy of Medicine

Dr. Castle has been responsible for the clinical development and performance of the Laboratory, Specialty Drug and Gene Therapy programs at EviCore by Evernorth for over 9 years. In addition to his 15 years of experience in the Specialty Drug field, Dr. Castle has been working in the genomic and molecular diagnostic field since 2007. During this time, he has been responsible for both designing initiatives that support the advancement of precision medicine and developing programs that ensure these tests are used appropriately.

Dr. Castle is board certified in Family Medicine. He completed his Sports Medicine fellowship at The Ohio State University in Columbus and practiced sports medicine for over a decade at the Baylor College of Medicine and the Baylor Sports Medicine Institute in Houston, Texas, serving as team physician for numerous professional, college, and high school sports teams.

Dr. Douglas P. Clark is a physician-scientist, pathologist, and health care executive whose career has spanned academic medicine, biomedical research, entrepreneurship, and health system executive leadership.   Doug is an expert in the fields of pathology artificial intelligence, cytopathology, and molecular diagnostics, and has authored over 80 peer-reviewed publications, several books and book chapters, is an inventor on several patents, and has given dozens of invited lectures nationally and internationally.

Dr. Clark currently serves as the Chief Pathologist for the Life Sciences and Diagnostics Markets Group at Agilent Technologies, a $6.51B company with customers in 110 countries. As Chief Pathologist, Doug is responsible for defining the vision and executing the Anatomic and Molecular Pathology strategy in this rapidly evolving field. Doug extensive expertise will play a critical role in implementing Agilent’s mission to improve the human condition by advancing precision medicine.

As CMO, Dr. Fesko is oversees medical affairs, including clinical development and health plan policy support for new services and care delivery models. He also leads scientific communications for the company’s medical team.

Board certified in oncology, hematology and internal medicine, Dr. Fesko led clinical development of innovations such as the 500-gene somatic tumor sequencing panel and decentralized clinical trials model. He also pioneered the company’s precision pathways model, helping oncologists and pathologists speed guideline-based biomarker testing for advanced cancers. In addition, he led clinical research on minimal residual disease (MRD) test technology from Haystack Oncology, informing Quest’s 2023 acquisition to establish leadership in cancer recurrence testing.

Prior to Quest, Dr. Fesko was medical director of oncology at Duke Cancer Center in Raleigh, N.C., and chief of oncology for Wake County, N.C. He completed his fellowship in hematology and oncology and earned his medical and bachelor’s degrees from Case Western Reserve University. He has authored multiple peer-reviewed publications.

Jonathan Katchmore has over 20 years of experience in the diagnostic/BioPharma industry. He currently serves as the Associate Vice President of Commercial Diagnostic Strategy at Lilly where he leads strategy and execution of all external commercial initiatives in the precision medicine space.  His focus is on working with external partners to develop innovation solutions that address the clinical practice gaps that inhibit patients from benefiting from a personalized medicine approach.  Prior to joining Lilly, Jonathan spent 6 years at Foundation Medicine where he launched Next Generation Sequencing into the market.

Eric A. Klein, M.D. is Distinguished Scientist at GRAIL. Previously he served as the Andrew C. Novick Distinguished Professor and Chair of the Glickman Urological and Kidney Institute and Lerner College of Medicine of the Cleveland Clinic, where he was also a member of the Department of Cancer Biology of the Cleveland Clinic Lerner Research Institute, the Taussig Cancer Institute, and the Genitourinary Malignancies Program in the Case Comprehensive Cancer Center. Dr. Klein was a Fellow in the Distinguished Careers Institute at Stanford University in 2022 and joined GRAIL in 2023. His recent work has focused on the clinical development of multicancer early detection tests.

David Kurtz, M.D., Ph.D., is the Chief Medical Officer, Head of Research, and a co-founder of Foresight Diagnostics. His research focuses on developing and translating methods to detect, monitor, and treat hematologic malignancies. To accomplish this, he works at the intersection of molecular biology, cancer genomics, and bioengineering to develop the next generation of cancer diagnostics. Along with Dr. Ash Alizadeh, David was one of the earliest investigators to explore the utility of tumor-derived cell-free DNA in lymphomas. He has applied multiple methodologies to the detection of cell-free DNA in lymphomas, with a focus on improving the clinical utility and analytical sensitivity of these methods. Clinically, David is a medical oncologist who specializes in the treatment of non-Hodgkin lymphoma. His research program also focuses on the clinical translation of NGS tools and computational approaches for improving care for patients with all types of cancer.

Cate Lockhart, PharmD, Ph.D. is the Chief Science Officer of the Academy of Managed Care Pharmacy (AMCP) and the Executive Director of the Biologics and Biosimilars Collective Intelligence Consortium (BBCIC) where she is responsible for all AMCP research programs, including those within the BBCIC multi-stakeholder research collaboration. She is a proven leader in health economics and outcomes research (HEOR), observational research, and managed care pharmacy through experience in the biopharmaceutical sector, experience as a consultant, and her current role at the AMCP. Cate has three undergraduate degrees: Electrical Engineering, Visual Communications, and Theatre Arts. She also has three advanced degrees: PharmD, M.S. in HEOR, and a Ph.D. in Pharmaceutical Sciences. She has one U.S. Patent.

Dr. Dawn Mattoon is the Chief Executive Officer at Mercy BioAnalytics. She brings nearly 20 years of experience in the biotechnology industry and has held leadership positions in R&D, Strategy, and General Management for a series of exceptional companies including Invitrogen, Life Technologies, Thermo Fisher, and Cell Signaling Technology. Prior to joining Mercy, Dr. Mattoon served as the Senior Vice President for Clinical Diagnostics at Quanterix, where she led the development and commercialization of the company’s first two FDA authorized diagnostic tests for COVID-19, and received Breakthrough Device designations from the FDA for diagnostic tests in Alzheimer’s Disease and Multiple Sclerosis. She has developed and commercialized products across a range of proteomic and genomic technologies and is thrilled by the opportunity to bring the highly innovative Mercy Halo diagnostic test portfolio to patients. Dr. Mattoon earned her Ph.D. in Genetics with a focus in signal transduction from Yale University, where she also completed her postdoctoral fellowship.

Dr. Montalto is an industry leader in translational and precision medicine, digital pathology and AI for biomarker discovery.

Prior to Amgen, Dr. Montalto was the Chief Scientific Officer of PathAI, and Vice President of Translational Sciences at Bristol Myers Squibb. He has led teams to invent, develop and launch digital pathology, spatial multiplexing and AI-powered software applications as well as flagship biomarker testing programs such as PharmDx 28-8 (PD-L1/Agilent) for Opdivo, Yervoy and Opdualag.

Dr. Montalto serves on the Executive Committee of FNIH Biomarker Consortium, the editorial board of the Journal of AI in Precision Oncology and is a member of the Friends of Cancer Research Digital Pathology Working Group. He is the former President and board member of the Digital Pathology Association, has served as a scientific advisor to various multinational and start-up companies, holds 10 U.S. patents and has authored over 100 publications. Dr. Montalto earned his Ph.D. in tumor biology from Albany Medical College and completed post-doctoral training at Brigham and Women’s Hospital and Harvard Medical School.

David Morrow is the Scientific Lead for Advanced Therapies at EATRIS, where he drives the scientific strategy for Advanced Therapy Medicinal Products (ATMP) and Vaccines, Inflammation and Immune Monitoring (VIIM). He plays a central role in building European networks of scientific and clinical expertise to address shared challenges in translating ATMPs to the clinic and contributes to multiple EU-funded collaborative projects.David earned a BSc in Molecular Biology from University College Dublin (2001) and a Ph.D. in Vascular Biology from Dublin City University (2006), followed by an American Heart Association Fellowship at the University of Rochester, NY, where he received the AHA Young Investigator Award (2008). From 2009–2015, he was a Principal Investigator funded by the NIH and AHA, leading translational projects in cardiovascular disease and oncology. He also holds an MBA in Health Science Management and has worked in consulting and technology transfer. David serves on several Scientific Advisory Boards and international initiatives in the ATMP field.

Andy Moye is currently the Senior Vice-President and General Manager of Real-World Data for Tempus AI, a company dedicated to improving patient outcomes through AI and data. He was previously Chief Executive Officer and board member for Paige, a spinout company from Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in New York City.  Andy has always been driven to serve others, and began his career as a Flight Officer in the US Navy, flying missions in Iraq and the Middle East from 1998 through 2006. Dr. Moye is also passionate about making a difference in the fight against cancer, and has worked across the molecular diagnostics, biotechnology, Real World Data (RWD), and life sciences industries at the forefront of precision medicine in oncology.  Notably, he served as Head of Commercial Operations in North America and Latin America for Philips Digital Pathology solutions, and in senior executive roles at leading healthcare companies including Ontada, a division of McKesson, Caris Life Sciences, and WaferGen Bio-systems, now part of Takara Bio. Andy Moye’s educational career includes a Bachelor of Science in Physiology from the University of Arizona, an M.B.A. from the University of Florida, and a Ph.D. in Health Economics from Walden University.

Lincoln Nadauld, M.D., Ph.D., is the CEO of Culmination Bio, a clinical insights company spun out of Intermountain Healthcare. Dr. Nadauld previously served as the Chief of Precision Health at Intermountain Healthcare, where he founded the Intermountain Precision Genomics program with a vision of finding solutions to improve health and disease through genomics and precision medicine without increasing costs. With this vision in mind, he oversaw the clinical implementation of precision genomics across Intermountain’s 24 hospitals and 160 physician clinics.

Mike is a General Partner of S32, a venture capital firm investing at the frontiers of technology.

Prior to joining S32 in 2017, he served as CEO of Foundation Medicine, which transformed how pharma and physicians evaluate genomic changes in cancer, later serving as Chairman through Roche’s (RHHBY) acquisition in 2018. Previously, he was President and COO of Clarient, a national leader in molecular pathology, acquired by GE Healthcare in 2010.

He currently serves on the Board of Directors for Nusano, Octave BioSciences, TwinStrand Genomics, Exai Bio, and Delve Bio. He has also served on the boards of the American Cancer Society, Thrive Earlier Detection—acquired by Exact Sciences (EXACT) in 2021, Tango Therapeutics (TNGX), Adaptive Biotechnologies (ADPT), and Singular Genomics (OMIC). Mike brings deep expertise in personalized medicine, with a passion for defeating cancer.

During the COVID pandemic, Mike served as a Senior Advisor to the Rockefeller Foundation’s efforts on COVID-19 testing.

Mike received a BA from Boston College, an MBA from Drexel University and an MD from Jefferson Medical College.

Prajit Pillai, Ph.D., is an accomplished scientist with extensive experience leading complex biotech and pharma projects from R&D through commercialization. He is the Co-Founder and Head of Business Strategy & Technology Development at Precision Medicine Diagnostic Partners, where he is developing AI-driven solutions to close cancer care gaps through custom clinical decision support tools. In addition, he serves as Director of Clinical Sciences at Cancer Commons, advancing their mission to leverage the latest research to improve patient outcomes. Passionate about harnessing technology to transform healthcare, Dr. Pillai actively partners with innovators to accelerate progress in cancer care.

Daryl Pritchard, Ph.D., is the Senior Vice President of Science Policy at the Personalized Medicine Coalition, where he leads PMC’s efforts to increase awareness and understanding of personalized medicine; identify and address barriers to the adoption of personalized medicine into the health care system; and develop and promote appropriate clinical, health care infrastructure, regulatory and payment policies.

Dan Roden grew up in Montreal and received his medical degree at McGill University before fellowships in Clinical Pharmacology and Cardiology at Vanderbilt, where he joined the faculty.

His research examines how genetic variation affects human disease susceptibility, with special interests in pharmacogenetics and genetic determinants of abnormal heart rhythms, especially drug-induced.

After serving as chief of Clinical Pharmacology for 12 years, he began leading Vanderbilt’s Personalized Medicine program (2006), building internationally recognized initiatives including the >350K-sample biobank BioVU and the EHR-based preemptive pharmacogenetic program PREDICT. He served as PI for the Vanderbilt Pharmacogenomics Research Network (2001-2021), and now co-PI for the Electronic Medical Records and Genomics (eMERGE) Network (2007-2026), the genomic Learning Healthcare System (2024-2029), and the Data and Research Center for the US NIH All of Us program.

Dr. Roden has received numerous awards from the American Society for Clinical Pharmacology and Therapeutics, Heart Rhythm Society, American Heart Association, McGill, and  Ohio State University.  He has been elected to the American Society for Clinical Investigation, the Association of American Physicians, and fellowship in the American Association for the Advancement of Science.

Dr. Ofer Sharon is a physician, biotech entrepreneur, and the CEO of OncoHost, a precision oncology company transforming cancer care through proteomics and AI. With over two decades of experience bridging medicine, science, and business, he has held leadership positions including Medical Director at AstraZeneca (Israel) and MSD (Israel), and co-founded several healthcare ventures specializing in bioinformatics and machine-learning solutions for clinical decision support. At OncoHost, Dr. Sharon leads the development and commercialization of the PROphet® platform, a groundbreaking liquid biopsy test that helps oncologists optimize treatment strategies and improve patient outcomes. Passionate about the future of personalized medicine, he is recognized for his ability to connect cutting-edge science with practical clinical applications and scalable business models. Beyond his executive role, Dr. Sharon is active in mentoring, advising, and shaping the biotech ecosystem, driven by a vision of delivering sharper insights and greater control in the fight against cancer.

Lauren Silvis serves as Senior Vice President of External Affairs at Tempus, overseeing regulatory, public policy, government affairs and strategic communications. She has held a number of senior career public health roles, serving as a Senior Advisor at the Department of Health and Human Services, Chief of Staff of the Food and Drug Administration and Deputy Center Director for Policy in FDA’s Center for Devices and Radiological Health. She currently serves as a member of the Council of Councils for the National Institutes of Health and Board Vice Chair for the Personalized Medicine Coalition. During her time in government, she advanced policies to promote innovation in precision medicine, real world evidence, clinical trials and digital health. Earlier in her career, she was a partner at the international law firm Sidley Austin LLP, focusing on regulation of pharmaceuticals and medical devices. Lauren graduated from Duke University and earned her law degree from Georgetown University Law Center.

Ayah Ziyada is the Precision Medicine Program Manager at the Center for Clinical Precision Medicine and Genomics, Hamad Medical Corporation (HMC) in Qatar, where she leads initiatives to position HMC as a model for precision medicine. She holds a BPharm from Dubai Medical University and a M.S. in Genomics and Precision Medicine from Hamad Bin Khalifa University, where her research explored innovative imputation strategies for underrepresented, low-coverage whole genomes.

Certified by the American Society of Health-System Pharmacists, Ayah is a member of the PGRN Global Committee, the CPIC Guideline Consortium, and the Consortium for Healthcare AI. Her expertise spans pharmacogenomics, AI-enabled healthcare, and deploying precision medicine innovations into clinical practice.

Ayah helped launch HMC’s first precision medicine incubation program, creating pathways for healthcare startups, business ventures, and industry partnerships to accelerate the adoption of validated technologies. She leads enterprise-wide projects that integrate precision medicine into clinical workflows, improve patient outcomes, and foster a culture of innovation.