Panelists

Andrew Plump, M.D., Ph.D.

President of Research & Development and Board Member, Takeda

Andrew Plump, M.D., Ph.D., is the president of Research & Development at Takeda and serves as a member of the company’s board of directors. His career spans nearly 30 years in the pharmaceutical industry and academia.

 Dr. Plump has been recognized for his contributions to the healthcare industry, education and the arts. He serves on several not-for-profit boards including the Board of Trustees for the Boston Symphony Orchestra, the Sarnoff Cardiovascular Research Foundation, the Biomedical Science Careers Program and as Chairman of the Board of Directors for the PhRMA Foundation.

 Prior to Takeda, Dr. Plump served as head of Research & Translational Medicine, deputy to the president of R&D at Sanofi, based in Paris, France. Prior to Sanofi, Dr. Plump served as worldwide cardiovascular research head at Merck.

 Dr. Plump received his M.D. from the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF), his Ph.D. in cardiovascular genetics and his B.S. from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). He completed a residency in internal medicine and a fellowship in medical genetics at UCSF.

William Olson, Ph.D.

Senior Vice President Therapeutic Proteins, Regeneron

William Olson, PhD has more than 30 years of experience in the discovery and  development of antibodies and other biologics. His efforts have resulted in the generation of dozens of novel agents that advanced into clinical testing, including several FDA-approved treatments. As Senior Vice President, Therapeutic Proteins, he currently leads a multidisciplinary team that is dedicated to supplying the Regeneron pipeline with novel, fully human antibody-based therapies generated using the VelocImmune mouse platform and related technologies. At Regeneron, Dr. Olson also spearheads initiatives on structural biology, chemistry, and antibody-based imaging. His prior industry experience includes leadership positions at Progenics Pharmaceuticals and Johnson & Johnson. He received a Bachelor’s of Science degree from the University of North Dakota and a PhD in Chemical Engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Jonathan J. Fleming

Senior Lecturer, Martin Trust Center for MIT Entrepreneurship

Mr. Fleming has co-founded multiple life science companies and was the Managing Partner of Oxford Bioscience Partners, a venture capital firm specializing in life science investments. He is currently the Chairman of the Board of 5 private companies, including QurAlis, Enclear, and MobileODT. Mr. Fleming has also co-founded early-stage healthcare venture capital funds in Israel and Korea and was on the executive board of a healthcare policy think-tank. He holds an MPA from Princeton University and a BA from the University of California, Berkeley.

Keena Patel-Moran

Partner, Kearney

Keena is a Partner within Kearney’s Healthcare & LifeSciences practice, bringing 17+ years of industry and management consulting experience with focus on pharma and biopharma commercialization strategy and operations, and initiatives aimed at unlocking ecosystem or enterprise value through applied innovation e.g., AI, genomics, digital.

Moderator

Kiran Reddy, MD, MBA

Senior Managing Director, Blackstone & Founder/President Praxis

Kiran Reddy is a Senior Managing Director at Blackstone in the Life Sciences business. At Blackstone he focuses on equity, credit, and structured royalty financings. Dr. Reddy currently serves on the board of directors of Nexstone Immunology, Neurvati, and Nucleus Networks. He also serves on the advisory board of the National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences (NCATS/NIH). 

Dr. Reddy was previously the President & CEO of Praxis Precision Medicines (NASDAQ: PRAX), which he co-founded. Previously, Dr. Reddy was at Biogen where he was part of the corporate develop and strategy leadership team. Dr. Reddy was an Associate Partner at Third Rock Ventures. He was part of the founding team and Chief Business Officer for SAGE Therapeutics, and was part of the team that launched Foundation Medicine (acquired by Roche). 

Dr. Reddy holds MD and MBA degrees from Georgetown University. He completed his internship in medicine and his neurology residency at Harvard/Massachusetts General Hospital. Dr. Reddy was previously a Howard Hughes science fellow and has authored several peer-reviewed scientific papers in the field of epilepsy, neuroimmunology and neurodegenerative diseases.