Free Event! Overcoming Challenges starting a Life Sciences Company

FREE EVENT! Join us as we listen to our fellow inhabitants of this life science ecosystem, as they share their own experiences as entrepreneurs and investors. Our panelists will shed light on strategies about capital raising, strategic licensing, creating strategic alliances and the many commercial considerations.

Panel:

Dr. Chaturvedi currently maintains multiple roles as the Chief Executive Officer of Boston-based IndUS Pharmaceuticals and Florida-based Oceanyx Pharmaceuticals. He is also the Chief Scientific Officer of San Francisco-based Napo Pharmaceuticals. He is a serial entrepreneur and has been the founder or co-founder of Oceanyx, IndUS and Scion Pharmaceuticals. Dr. Chaturvedi has served or currently remains on the boards of Scion, TiE Boston, IndUS, Sindu, Oceanyx, FuelEd and Cellanyx. He also serves as an advisory board member to TFC Biosciences and is the Chair of the Research Advisory Council for the Health Sciences Center of West Virginia University. He is also serves as an adjunct faculty member at Georgetown Medical School.

Over his 25+ year career, Dr. Chaturvedi has participated or led the discovery and/or development activities for several new chemical entities (NCEs), culminating in the successful development and commercialization of seven new drugs that are currently marketed by various companies. Prior to founding Oceanyx, IndUS and Scion Pharmaceuticals, Dr. Chaturvedi, spent several years at Vertex Pharmaceuticals as the Head of Lead Evaluation. Prior to Vertex, he was in the preclinical group at Alkermes and he started his R&D career in the Product Development group at Parke-Davis/Warner-Lambert Company (now Pfizer). Dr. Chaturvedi holds a Ph.D. in Pharmaceutical Sciences from West Virginia University and a Bachelor’s in Pharmacy from the University of Bombay.

Imran is the Head of Strategic Alliances for T1D Exchange where he leads business development and strategic alliances. Imran brings over 20 years of business development, IP and licensing experience crossing both corporate and academic spheres. Imran brings a rich synthesis of life sciences corporate development (emerging and early stage), intellectual property and licensing, and policy experience. Prior to joining T1D Exchange, Imran was the Chief Business Officer for the Massachusetts Biotechnology Council, where he was responsible for building MassBio's business development and investor outreach programs to enable members companies raise capital and identify strategic partnering and licensing opportunities. Prior to MassBio, Imran worked for Genzyme Genetics, a wholly owned subsidiary of Genzyme Corporation focused on molecular diagnostics. Imran served as a Director of Business Development and Licensing for oncology and women’s health. Previous to working at Genzyme, Imran worked for Millennium Pharmaceuticals as a Director of BD&L within Millennium Corporate Development. While there, Imran focused on Millennium’s R&D platform, Inflammation and Oncology franchises, and Velcade. Earlier in Imran’s career, he served as a director of licensing for the Dana Farber Cancer Institute and the Mayo Clinic.

Lisa Sasso is the Founder and President of Medical Development Partners, LLC (MDP) and is a founder of the Medical Development Group. Prior to MDP, Lisa was the co-founder of Radi Medical Systems, Inc., a high tech medical device distributor specializing in innovative cardiology products. During her six-year tenure as President/CEO, she grew the company from inception to revenues of $28M with profitability. Lisa’s vision and strategic direction were responsible for the company’s explosive annual triple digit growth. Lisa built a seasoned Medical Device sales force with more than 550 years of combined sales experience. Motivated by excitement for new technologies, she built strong physician advisory boards and a seasoned clinical/sales team. Lisa and her team ultimately helped healthcare professionals make more informed treatment decisions resulting in better patient care. Lisa was recognized for her efforts and ranked #28 out of 100 Women Led Businesses in Massachusetts in 2004.

As the founder of Medical Development Partners, she is passionate about helping entrepreneurial medical “start-ups start up”. With a focus on business planning and execution, she brings strategic thinking to both clients and their companies. Her vision and values have been instrumental in helping international companies successfully commercialize products in the United States.

Lisa is the past President of Medical Development Group of Boston and currently serves on the Board Of Directors. Lisa served on the Board of Scitent, a medical education and training company. She is a member of the International Coach Federation (ICF) where she received her Associate Certified Coach (ACC) certification. She was recently elected to the ICF New England Board where she will also continue to serve as an active marketing committee member. Lisa has been invited to join the Strategic Board of the North Shore Technology Council. Finally, Lisa also speaks professionally to motivate and inspire individuals in organizations and companies.

Moderator:

Praveen Bansal is the Founder and CEO of TFC BioSciences, Inc., a Worcester-based life sciences company with a mission to develop and commercialize smart tools for Drug Discovery. Prior to founding TFC BioSciences, she served as the Program Manager for the ADME/Tox market segment at Tecan, Inc., responsible for the development and global commercialization of fully validated, automated ADME/Tox platform solutions to market. She also held multiple positions at Millennium Pharmaceuticals in drug discovery and development. Prior to Millennium, she was involved with oncology target research at ImmunoGen.

She received her M.S. in Immunology and Preventive Medicine from Iowa State University, an M.S. in Pharmaceutical Chemistry and a Bachelors in Pharmacy from College of Pharmacy, Indore, India.