Hideki Mitani

Senior Advisor, Institute of Industrial Science, Senior Dean, The Institute of Medical Science, The University of Tokyo

Hideki Mitani is a not-for-profit investment banker, currently acting as Senior Advisor to both the Director General of the Institute of Industrial Science and Dean of the Institute of Medical Science of the University of Tokyo. He was the founder and managing director of Roberts Mitani, LLC, an investment banking firm he established in 1992 and which he ran until 2014 that invested in life sciences, consumer products and services/retail, agriculture and industrial biotechnology.

Hiroyuki Kawabata

Director, Health and Welfare Department, JETRO New York

Hiroyuki Kawabata is the 10th director of JETRO’s Health & Welfare Department (The first director founded the NYPF). He has held a wide variety of positions at the Japanese Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare in areas such as disability welfare policy, job creation policy, and child-rearing support policy. He also served the Parliamentary Vice-minister of Health, Labor and Welfare (A member of the House of Councilors) as secretary and handled the deliberation of numerous bills in the Department.

Kenjiro Watanabe

Director, Business Development, JETRO New York

Kenjiro Watanabe has been at JETRO, Japan’s Governmental Agency that promotes mutual trade and investment between Japan and the rest of the world for over 10 years and has supported small startups and large corporations in a variety of industries. He is currently focused on promoting Foreign Direct Investment from the U.S. into Japan and works closely with the Bio-Industry division of the Ministry of Economy, Trade, and Industry to promote Japan's growing regenerative medicine industry.

James M Pusey, MD

MBA Bio, SVP Clinical Operations, Medpace Inc.

James M Pusey is working with Medpace as Senior Vice-President, Clinical Operations, based in Cincinnati. He has more than 25 years of experience in medicine, international clinical trial management Clinical Research Organization (CRO) services and global pharmaceutical sales, marketing and operations roles. As one of PharmaVOICE magazine’s Top 100 Most Inspirational Leaders, James is focused on raising investment funds, orchestrating strategic change, and driving growth.

Saeho Chong, PhD

VP Business Development, Enzychem Lifesciences

Saeho Chong recently joined Enzychem Lifesciences USA Corporation as Senior VP. Currently, he is developing new drug candidate (EC-18) for the prevention and treatment of chemotherapy-induced neutropenia. He is a world-renowned pharmaceutical scientist, and he has published more than 70 book chapters and publications in the peer-review journals. Saeho is also an inventor of three patents.

Moderator: Kimberly Ha

Senior Director, FTI Consulting

Kimberly Ha is currently Senior Director at FTI Consulting, Strategic Communications. Her focus area is Capital Markets and Healthcare. She was previously Global Editor for BioPharm Insight, an independent business intelligence product launched by the Financial Times Group. Kimberly has been a panelist and moderator at major healthcare conferences and events.

Kathryn Gregory, MBA

Executive Director, Licensing and Business Development, Perdue Pharma L.P

Kathryn Gregory, MBA, leads the identification, evaluation, and negotiation of new business development opportunities including alliances, collaborations, M&A at Purdue Pharma.  She has more than 20 years of biotechnology and pharmaceutical industry experience at PhaseBio Pharma, Teva Pharma, Neose Technologies, Cytel Corporation, and Gensia Sicor Pharma.

Daniel Chain, PhD

President & CEO, CereSpir, Inc.

Daniel Chain is a seasoned biotechnology entrepreneur dedicated to the development of therapeutics for the treatment of Alzheimer’s and other neurodegenerative diseases. For 16 years, he has established and managed companies in the neurodegeneration field. He licensed the rights to his patented invention regarding antibodies for the treatment of Alzheimer’s disease to global pharmaceutical companies developing bapineuzumab, ponezumab, and other drug candidates.

Shoshana Shendelman, PhD

Partner and Managing Director at Clearpoint Strategy Group

Clearpoint Strategy Group is a boutique strategic advisory firm based out of  NYC. At Clearpoint, Shoshana Shendelman leads the  Neurology/CNS team, developing product and franchise strategies, evaluating novel product candidates for partnering/acquisition, and shaping client focus within the neurology space. Her tenure in consulting has spanned a wide range of clients, including top 10  pharmaceutical companies, biotech start-ups, and VC firms.  

Tony Chen

CEO, PrimeVax Immuno-Oncology, Inc.

Tony Chen is responsible for setting PrimeVax’s strategic direction. He works closely with the PrimeVax Scientific Board of Advisors to ensure that all strategies are supported by robust science. His experience spans management and strategy consulting, clinical research services, and the US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). Prior to leading PrimeVax, Tony built and managed various strategy and management consulting teams in the healthcare space.