Professional Development Courses—Instructor Biographies
Advanced Business Development (June 19-June 21)
Joseph S. Dillon, PhD, MBA, President & CEO, SynerPhysics, Inc.; President, Dillon Capital Strategies
Joseph S. Dillon, PhD, MBA, is President & CEO of SynerPhysics, Inc. and President of Dillon Capital Strategies, the strategy and business analytics advisory arm of SynerPhysics. Dr. Dillon is a seasoned pharmaceutical executive with over 30 years of experience. He has extensive experience in global pharmaceutical business development, planning and analysis, corporate finance, M&A, licensing, and technology valuations. Dr. Dillon has screened thousands of opportunities, valued over 400 deals and has been involved in over 45 closed transactions over the course of his career. Since forming Dillon Capital Strategies, Dr. Dillon has consulted dozens of companies and held interim senior positions, including CEO and CFO at select clients. Dr. Dillon also provides specialized, strategic and transaction focused training for biopharma professionals. Prior to this, Dr. Dillon held senior positions in pharmaceutical management consulting firms, most significantly as Senior Vice President, Head of Corporate Development Services and Valuations for The Mattson Jack Group (now KantarHealth). Other previous positions include CEO, President, and Director of The Pharmaceutical Development Center (sold to AAI), a pharmaceutical developer and manufacturer; Executive Vice President and CFO of Vail Banks Inc., a multi-bank holding company (IPO, then sold to US Bancorp); CFO and Treasurer of Oread Inc., a contract pharmaceutical developer and manufacturer; and corporate positions with predecessor companies of Sanofi. Dr. Dillon is Past-Chairperson of the Licensing Executive Society Life Sciences Sector. He is a veteran speaker at BIO, LES, WBR, EBD, and other prominent industry organization events. Dr. Dillon holds a PhD in Theoretical Physics, an MBA in International Finance and a bachelor’s degree in Finance.
Lesley Stolz, BSc, PhD, Regional Vice President, Early Innovation Partnering, Johnson & Johnson Innovation
Lesley is Regional Vice President, Early Innovation Partnering at Johnson & Johnson Innovation, California. In this role, she leads identification, incubation, due diligence, negotiation, execution and on-boarding for high-impact partnerships and collaborations in external innovation. Lesley also oversees the regions partnership portfolio and is responsible for a wide range of dealmaking solutions including research collaborations, licensing options, venture investments, new company formations, and incubation to establish value-creating partnerships with promising early-stage innovators. Lesley’s career includes over 25 years of corporate development and organizational leadership in small and large companies in the biopharma industry.
Patrick Duxbury, JD, Of Counsel, Leader of Life Sciences (UK), Gowling WLG
Patrick leads Gowling WLG's UK Life Sciences team and brings academic distinction in the life sciences sector to his highly regarded transactional IP practice. He was originally a microbiologist and geneticist before re-qualifying as a lawyer in 1993 with first class honours. Thanks to his deep knowledge of the world in which he operates, Patrick delivers his clients a unique mix of regulatory, antitrust, IP, corporate and dispute resolution advice, helping many of the sector's key players.
Patrick is ranked as the only 'Star Individual' for Life Sciences: Transactional in Chambers UK 2024, is ranked in the Hall of Fame in Legal 500 2025 for his work in Life Sciences and is ranked as an IP Star in the 2024 edition of Managing Intellectual Property.
Patrick is also ranked in the Who's Who Thought Leader for Life Sciences publication and received 'Life Sciences - Transactional Lawyer of the Year 2022' at the prestigious, international, Who's Who Legal Awards 2022. He has since been named in Who's Who Legal: Thought Leaders Global Elite 2024 for 'Life Sciences – Transactional', recognising him among the top 2% of all Who's Who Legal-recognised legal practitioners from around the world.
Sharmela Kalmer, LLB, LLM, Partner, Gowling WLG
Sharmela is a trusted advisor to a number of emerging and established innovative technology and life sciences companies operating in a range of sectors, including biotech, medtech, foodtech and agritech. She has healthcare industry experience having worked in-house at Sanofi, Virgin Care Limited and Takeda Pharmaceuticals. Sharmela is also a member of the West London & GTAC (Gene Therapy Advisory Committee) NHS Research Ethics Committee and is involved in the ethical review of research involving cutting-edge technologies.
Clients in the technology and life sciences sectors have varied needs and face an ever-changing legal landscape. Sharmela's sector knowledge and insight has given her a solid understanding of the opportunities and issues faced by clients shaping the future and how to navigate these issues to access new market opportunities. She provides strategic and pragmatic advice across a company's lifecycle, from early development of technologies or medicines through to commercialisation of approved products or services. She has experience negotiating a variety of commercial and IP related contracts from licence, technology transfer and R&D agreements to manufacture and distribution agreements. Sharmela also provides advice on clinical trial-related agreements, interactions with regulatory authorities and compliance with ABPI Code of Conduct and industry best practices.
Kenneth Krisko, JD, Partner, Cooley, LLP
Ken Krisko's practice focuses on the representation of public and private life sciences companies in a broad range of commercial and corporate finance matters, and he is the head of Cooley’s life sciences corporate partnering and licensing practice group. He advises clients regularly with respect to complex commercial transactions designed to maximize the value of pharmaceutical products and technology assets, including technology licenses and acquisitions, research and development collaborations, distribution and manufacturing agreements, and profit-sharing and co-promotion arrangements. Ken also regularly counsels clients on a wide array of corporate and securities matters, including spin-outs, private financings, mergers and acquisitions, public offerings and corporate governance. Ken has been a guest speaker on strategic partnering and corporate issues affecting life sciences companies at various conferences. He also is an adjunct professor at the Georgetown University Law Center where he teaches a course on emerging company legal issues and venture capital finance. Prior to attending law school, Ken worked as an engineer for the Department of the Navy.
Stephanie Palmer, JD, Special Counsel, Cooley LLP
Stephanie’s practice focuses exclusively on representing public and private life sciences companies in a wide range of third-party commercial transactions, including in- and out-licenses, research and development collaborations, clinical trial agreements, material transfer agreements, sponsored research agreements, and supply agreements. She also serves as outside general counsel for a number of clients, providing guidance on day-to-day matters and coordinating support with her deeply knowledgeable colleagues in other practice areas at Cooley. Stephanie was nominated by LMG Life Sciences as a Rising Star in 2024 the Licensing & Collaboration Field. She is Chair of Cooley’s Special Counsel Committee and an enthusiastic member of her firm’s Women’s Initiative.
Business Development Fundamentals (June 19-June 21)
Patricia Sinatra, Head of Licensing and Portfolio Strategy, Atomic AI
Patricia has over 25 years of licensing and commercial strategy experience where she has been responsible for leading business development and alliance management activities in the biopharmaceutical industry and has held both full-time executive and interim management roles for a variety of companies in the U.S. and, recently, China. She is currently Head of Licensing and Portfolio Strategy for Atomic Artificial Intelligence (Atomic AI), which is focused on developing RNA therapeutics, and is Managing Director of Vector Strategic Advisors, a licensing advisory firm. Her expertise entails both in/out licensing, product acquisitions and assessments, and portfolio strategy with a focus on novel technologies and platforms.
Patricia has been the organizer and an Instructor for the BIO Business Development Fundamentals course since 2010 and has served on several educational committees. She also mentors start-up ventures through the UCSF entrepreneurship program and California Life Science Institute’s FAST program. She received her undergraduate degree in biology from SUNY and conducted post-graduate doctoral studies in microbiology at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical in Dallas, Texas.
For more information, please see www.linkedin/in/patriciasinatra and www.vstratadvisors.com.
Anjan Aralihalli, BSc, MBA, MSc, Founder, Raya Therapeutic, Inc.
Prior to starting his own company Raya Therapeutic in 2019, Anjan worked at a variety of biotechs and pharma companies and is a venture partner at CTI Life Sciences (Canada). He has 25+ years of international experience across several functions including investor relations, corporate development, venture and angel financing, in & out-licensing, sales, marketing, & clinical trial management. He continues to provide strategic advice to various biotech companies.
Based in the Princeton, New Jersey area, Anjan is also a steering committee member of a NYC-based angel investment group called Mid-Atlantic Bio Angels (MABA). He received his BSc from Concordia University, MBA from Queen's University, and MSc in Biotechnology from Johns Hopkins University.
Anjan is a corporate fundraiser for Wings Over Wall Street, a NYC based ALS charity, the Robert Packard Center for ALS Research at Johns Hopkins University, and a member of the board of directors of the Muscular Dystrophy Association (MDA) in the United States.
Mark Cooper, JD, Principal, Faber Daeufer & Itrato PC
Mark is an accomplished and versatile corporate and transactional lawyer who has advised clients in the life sciences industry for almost 30 years. Mark represents companies in structuring, drafting and negotiating strategic transactions at all stages of the product lifecycle - from research and development through commercialization, frequently involving cutting-edge technologies, including RNAi, cell therapy, gene therapy, multi-specifics antibodies and CRISPR, as well as devices, device-drug combinations and diagnostics.
Mark knows that every deal is different, often posing challenges demanding bespoke solutions across disciplines. Mark’s business acumen, deep industry knowledge and broad transactional experience enable him to translate complex scientific and IP concepts into practical business solutions for his clients.
Mark began his career as an attorney at a top-tier international law firm in New York, working in M&A and securities law, and structured finance. He then spent over 17 years in-house at Pfizer, where he handled several high-profile business transactions; advised C-suite executives and senior leadership teams for the company’s R&D organization; and for over a decade led a team of attorneys focused on sophisticated and complex life sciences transactions. Queries for Mark can be sent to: mark.cooper@faberlawgroup.com
Patrik Frei, PhD, CEO and Founder, Venture Valuation Inc.
Patrik is the founder and CEO of Venture Valuation Inc., Switzerland, the company he started in 1999, and the Novartis Venture Fund was the first client. Since then, he has been involved in over 1,000 asset and company valuations around the globe for investors, as well as for Biotech, Pharma, and Medtech companies. Valuations are provided for financing rounds, M&A, licensing deals, fairness opinions, tax, and compliance reasons. Venture Valuation runs two additional services/businesses: (1) Biotechgate, a global business development database (www.biotechgate.com) with licensing deal terms, financing rounds, investors, clinical trials, and M&A transactions; and (2) HelloPartnering (www.hellopartnering.com), a leading one2one partnering software including the Biotechgate Digital Partnering event (www.digitalpartnering.com). Patrik graduated from the Business University of St. Gallen in Finance and completed his Ph.D thesis at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology, EPFL in Lausanne. Patrik has experience as a board member of public and private companies, has published numerous articles, and provides valuation workshops around the world.
Patrik graduated from the Business University of St. Gallen with a degree in Finance and completed his PhD thesis at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology, EPFL, in Lausanne. Patrik has experience as a board member of public and private companies, published numerous articles, and provides valuation workshops around the world.
Wyatt Gotbetter, MPA, Global Head Evidence, Value and Access, Cytel Inc.
Wyatt is a seasoned life sciences executive and strategy consulting leader experienced in asset and franchise growth strategy and mergers and acquisitions/transaction advisory support. He currently leads the Evidence, Value and Access business for Cytel, and was previously Sr. VP for the Market Access and Health Economics business for global CRO Parexel, and Partner for Parexel consulting subsidiary Health Advances. Prior to this, Wyatt was with Boston Consulting Group (BCG) and the head of New Product Commercialization for Biogen. He has led domestic and global teams in marketing strategy, portfolio management, new product commercialization, and market access. He offers expertise in strategy development, life cycle management, valuation, diligence, and digital health, and has advised or supported the integration of >$40B in life sciences transactions. Wyatt also serves as independent Board member of Diceros Therapeutics. Queries for Wyatt can be sent to: wyatt.gotbetter@cytel.com
Angèle Maki, PhD, Chief Business Officer, Callio Therapeutics
Dr. Angèle Maki is a seasoned biopharmaceutical executive with over two decades of deal-making experience across both small biotech and large pharmaceutical companies. She currently serves as Chief Business Officer at Callio Therapeutics, a newly formed biotech company dedicated to unlocking the potential of multi-payload antibody-drug conjugates.
Throughout her career, Angèle has held progressively more senior business development roles, starting at Medarex followed by Bristol Myers Squibb (which acquired Medarex), Genentech, Merck & Co., Eli Lilly, ReCode, and Hummingbird Bioscience. She has successfully led due diligence and negotiations for a broad range of in- and out-licensing transactions, spanning early-stage research technologies to clinical-stage assets. Additionally, she played a key role within Lilly’s corporate venture arm, driving strategic investment decisions.
Angèle is also the board chair of the non-profit, Canadian Entrepreneurs in Life Sciences. She holds a Ph.D. in Biological Chemistry from Stanford University and a B.Sc. in Chemistry from the University of Winnipeg, Canada.
Thaminda Ramanayake, MBA, Chief Business Officer of CureVac
Thaminda Ramanayake, MBA, is the Chief Business Officer of CureVac, NV, (NASDAQ: CVAC), a pioneer in mRNA medicines. He has spent over a decade working to bring value to patients globally and has a strong track record in business development & licensing, company creation, M&A, joint ventures, corporate strategy and cross-border transactions. Previously, he served as the Chief Business Officer of Affini-T Therapeutics, a privately held T cell therapy company. Prior to that, Thaminda was the Vice President, Global Head of Business Development, Oncology at Sanofi, shaping the company’s oncology business strategy and leading various collaborations from clinical trial supply agreements to various complex multi-billion dollar deals. Prior to Sanofi, Thaminda served as Senior Director, Business Development & Strategy at BioMarin Pharmaceutical, where he led the negotiation and execution of various licensing deals, spin-outs, and financing initiatives. Early in his career, Thaminda held transaction advisory and consulting roles at Grant Thornton, Ernst & Young and Empire Valuation Consultants.
He earned his B.A. in molecular, cellular and systems biology from Berea College and his M.S. in immunology from the University of Rochester School of Medicine and Dentistry. He received his MBA in finance from the University of Rochester Simon Business School.
Robert Silverman, PhD, JD, Founder & CEO, Revere Pharmaceuticals
Dr. Silverman is the founder and CEO of Revere Pharmaceuticals, an oncology-focused biotech company based in Boston. Prior to Revere, he was the General Counsel of Concert Pharmaceuticals from 2007 to 2017, helping the company become public in 2014. He currently serves as an advisor for Concert and on the advisory board for Larmor Biosystems. Previously, Dr. Silverman was Associate General Counsel at Millennium Pharmaceuticals (now Takeda) where he led the company’s chemical patent practice. Prior to Millennium, he served in various legal roles at Vertex Pharmaceuticals and FMC Corporation.
Dr. Silverman started his career as a research chemist. He has over 20 US patents. Dr. Silverman received his BA degree from Lehigh University, his PhD from the U of New Mexico and did post-doctoral training in organic chemistry at Stanford University. He received his JD from Rutgers Law School.
Christiana X. Zhang, PhD, Partner, Intellectual Property and Information Technology Practice Group, McCarter & English LLP
Dr. Christiana Zhang is a partner in the Intellectual Property and Information Technology Practice group at McCarter & English, LLP. She has more than fifteen years of experience in patent prosecution and management. Her practice focuses in the area of pharmaceuticals and biotechnology. Prior to joining McCarter, Christiana was an in-house patent counsel at a medium-sized biotechnology company in the Boston area, where she was responsible for designing patent strategy and overseeing patent prosecution. She has extensive experience in U.S. and foreign patent preparation and prosecution, patent validity, and freedom-to-operate opinions, as well as due diligence and patent landscape analysis.
Christiana received her Ph.D. in Chemistry at the Johns Hopkins University. She then went on to post-doctoral research at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where she studied the mechanism of cisplatin and other platinum-based anti-cancer drugs. After post-doctoral research, Christiana conducted independent research as an Assistant Professor of Chemistry at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. She has published a number of scientific articles in journals such as the Journal of the American Chemical Society.
Product & Company Valuation (June 21)
Patrik Frei, PhD, CEO and Founder, Venture Valuation Inc.
Patrik is the founder and CEO of Venture Valuation Inc., Switzerland, the company he started in 1999, and the Novartis Venture Fund was the first client. Since then, he has been involved in over 1,000 asset and company valuations around the globe for investors, as well as for Biotech, Pharma, and Medtech companies. Valuations are provided for financing rounds, M&A, licensing deals, fairness opinions, tax, and compliance reasons. Venture Valuation runs two additional services/businesses: (1) Biotechgate, a global business development database (www.biotechgate.com) with licensing deal terms, financing rounds, investors, clinical trials, and M&A transactions; and (2) HelloPartnering (www.hellopartnering.com), a leading one2one partnering software including the Biotechgate Digital Partnering event (www.digitalpartnering.com). Patrik graduated from the Business University of St. Gallen in Finance and completed his Ph.D thesis at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology, EPFL in Lausanne. Patrik has experience as a board member of public and private companies, has published numerous articles, and provides valuation workshops around the world.
Patrik graduated from the Business University of St. Gallen with a degree in Finance and completed his PhD thesis at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology, EPFL, in Lausanne. Patrik has experience as a board member of public and private companies, published numerous articles, and provides valuation workshops around the world.
Gergely Ivanyi, PharmD, Senior Consultant, Venture Valuation Inc.
Gergely is a Senior Consultant at Venture Valuation, specializing in biotech valuation for fundraising, licensing, and M&A. He has led over 100 valuation projects for Fortune 500 companies, established biotech firms, and startups, providing strategic insights into value creation. He holds a PharmD from Semmelweis University (Budapest) and an MSc in Bioentrepreneurship from Karolinska Institutet (Stockholm), combining scientific expertise with a business perspective to support investors and innovators.