Keynote Speakers

Michael Baran, PhD, MBA, Opening Keynote

Partner, Pfizer Ventures, Executive Director, External Science & Innovation, Worldwide R&D, Pfizer, Inc.

Mike has responsibility for growing venture investment transactions and managing equity investments aligned with future directions of Pfizer. He currently has responsibility for Pfizer’s investments in Anjarium Biosciences, Autobahn Therapeutics, Capstan Therapeutics, ImCheck Therapeutics, ImmunOs Therapeutics, Interius Biotherapeutics, Mediar Therapeutics, Parthenon Therapeutics, TRex Bio, and VitaDAO.

From 2017-2018 Mike served as Senior Director of Portfolio Strategy, critically assessing the R&D portfolio from a volume, value, quality, risk and productivity perspective with the ultimate objective of maximizing R&D productivity and value generation.  From 2011-2017 Mike was Senior Director, Scientific Affairs for the R&D President’s Office, enabling and communicating the R&D strategic agenda as well as leading colleague development capabilities. Mike joined Pfizer in 2008 in the market access space providing strategic and analytical support around marketing and managed care contracting with commercial and government payers.  

 Previously, Mike worked within the NIH Protein Structure Initiative’s Northeast Structural Genomics Consortium coordinating protein structure production efforts, including bioinformatics, protein expression/purification and 3D structure determination.  Mike is also a co-founder of Nexomics Biosciences, a NJ-based biotechnology company focused on providing gene-2-structure services as well as early-stage drug target validation.  

 Mike earned his PhD from Robert Wood Johnson Medical School/Rutgers, the State University of New Jersey in biochemistry. He holds a MBA from Rutgers Business School and received his BS in Biochemistry/Information Technology from Syracuse University.

David Altshuler, MD, Ph.D., Closing Keynote

Executive Vice President, Global Research and Chief Scientific Officer, Vertex Pharmaceuticals

David Altshuler, M.D, Ph.D., is Executive Vice President, Global Research and Chief Scientific Officer at Vertex Pharmaceuticals. In this role, Dr. Altshuler leads Vertex internal and external innovation, inclusive of research, preclinical and pharmaceutical sciences, as well as corporate data strategy, technology, and engineering. He was founding chair of the Vertex Foundation, and serves as executive sponsor for Vertex University and STEAM Education.

 Prior to Vertex, Dr. Altshuler was a Founding Core Member, Deputy Director and Chief Academic Officer at the Broad Institute of Harvard and MIT, a professor at Harvard Medical School and a physician at Massachusetts General Hospital. His academic laboratory led the three major projects that characterized and catalogued human genetic variation — the SNP Consortium, HapMap and 1,000 Genome Projects — and pioneered the methods and practice of genetic analysis of common human diseases. The Obama White House named Dr. Altshuler a Champion of Change for his leadership in creating and leading the Global Alliance for Genomic and Health.