Leena has been a 20+ year executive in the pharma and biotechnology industry, is a partner at Emerald Bioventures, and a biotech investor. Prior industry roles include leadership of early cancer detection at Guardant Health and Head of Late Phase Oncology development at Pfizer. She served in multiple leadership roles in commercial & product development at both Pfizer & Bayer. She holds BS & PharmD degrees from Purdue University.

Jake Becraft is a Synthetic Biologist & Entrepreneur on a mission to advance the pace of innovation & accessibility of medicine. He is Co-Founder & CEO @ Strand Therapeutics, and serves on its Board of Directors. Together with colleagues at MIT’s renowned Synthetic Biology Center, he led the development of the world’s first synthetic biology programming language for mRNA. Jake has been featured in Endpoints News, Fierce Biotech, Bloomberg, Forbes, and Business Insider, among others, for his vision and mission at Strand of applying this unique platform for real world disease applications. He has also been the recipient of prestigious national and international awards for his scientific and entrepreneurial achievements, including the Barry Goldwater Scholarship and Excellence in Education Award, the Andrew Viterbi Fellowship of MIT, Amgen Fellowship, and the Bristol-Myers Squibb 2018 Golden Ticket for recognition of Strand as an innovative startup. Jake is a 2021 Termeer Fellow and has been named to MIT Tech Review's 35 Innovators under 35, as well as Endpoint News 20 under 40 list. Jake is an outspoken advocate amongst the life science ecosystem for supporting young founders in entrepreneurship. Beyond Jake’s work at Strand, his broader interests span synthetic biology, biologically engineered organism-machine interfaces, and the intersection of tech / bio methodologies. Currently, he serves on the Executive Board of Public Health United, a non-profit focused on helping scientists better communicate their research for maximum impact. Previously, he served as a Science and Technology advisor to legislators in the Massachusetts State Legislature. Outside of work, you can find Jake training in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu or heading to the mountains for some backcountry snowboarding. Jake received his Ph.D. in Biological Engineering and Synthetic Biology from MIT and his B.S. in Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, graduating Magna cum Laude with distinction.

Viswa Colluru, Ph.D., founded Enveda Biosciences, which uses metabolomics and machine learning to unearth new medicines from its first-of-a-kind chemical map of the natural world. Before founding Enveda, Viswa led multiple drug development efforts at Recursion. He earned his Ph.D. in immuno-oncology at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, where he developed candidate therapeutics for prostate cancer.

Samuel F. Bakhoum is a physician-scientist and group leader in the Human Oncology and Pathogenesis Program and an attending physician in the Department of Radiation Oncology at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center. His laboratory focuses on understanding the causes and consequences of chromosomal instability in cancer. Samuel is also a scientific cofounder and a member of the board of directors of Volastra Therapeutics, a biotech startup company aiming to target chromosomal instability in advanced and metastatic cancers.

Martin (Marty) Silverstein, M.D., is currently an Executive Partner at Ardan Equity Partners, a private equity firm focused on health care software and digital technologies. Until May, 2022 he had been the President and Chief Executive Officer for MANA Therapeutics since its founding in November 2018. Prior to joining Mana, Dr. Silverstein was Executive Vice President, Strategy for Gilead Sciences, a leading biotechnology company, where his responsibilities included corporate strategy and planning, commercial planning, corporate development, and alliance management. He was an integral part of Gilead’s acquisition of Kite Pharma. Immediately prior to Gilead, Dr. Silverstein was Executive Vice President and Chief Strategy Officer at Anthem, the second - largest U.S. health insurer. His responsibilities at Anthem included corporate strategy and innovation, corporate development, and enterprise marketing. Dr. Silverstein had also been a Senior Partner and Managing Director at The Boston Consulting Group (BCG), where he was a founding member of its health care practice and recognized for his role in establishing its pharmaceutical practice. While at BCG, he held role s of increasing responsibility including Global Leader of the health care practice. Dr. Silverstein received his medical degree from Yale University, and his MBA from the Harvard Business School. He graduated summa cum laude from the University of Pennsylvania with a degree in economics. Dr. Silverstein completed his internal medicine residency at Boston's Beth Israel Hospital, a major teaching hospital of Harvard Medical School, and is board certified in internal medicine.