Browsing: INTERVIEWS (Under Construction)

Thought leaders engaged in pursuing cures for infectious disease.

Emily currently manages a variety of investments, as well as being committed to philanthropy. Gold Mears was born and raised in Los Angeles and received her B.A. at U.C. Berkeley. She practiced Real Estate Law for a number of years and has now transitioned to research analysis in the area of science. She is a Board member of the UCLA Longevity Center; a Board member of KCRW Foundation; serves on the Society of Fellows Advisory Committee for the Aspen Institute, a Board member of the Aspen Brain Institute and on the advisory board of the Franca Fund/Genomes to People. She is currently writing her first book, a compilation of over two years of research in the field of functional medicine.

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Clifford Reid is the founding CEO of Travera. Previously, Dr. Reid was the founding Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer of Complete Genomics (NASDAQ:GNOM), a leading developer of whole human genome DNA sequencing technologies and services. Dr. Reid is on the Visiting Committee of the Biological Engineering Department at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), a member of the MIT Corporation Development Committee, and an advisor to Warburg Pincus.  He earned a S.B. in Physics from MIT, an MBA from the Harvard Business School, and a Ph.D. in Management Science and Engineering from Stanford University. Brett Johnson: So tell us…

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Dr. Christopher Schaber, President and CEO of Soligenix, a company developing drug therapies in rare diseases and areas of unmet medical need, including a treatment for oral mucositis in head and neck cancer patients. Chris, your drug, Dusquetide or SGX942, sounds like a tremendous development. Can you tell us more about it? Christopher Schaber: We believe Dusquetide is an important development, and we will be announcing any day that we will be initiating the Phase 3 pivotal study and opening it up for enrollment. We will now have two pivotal Phase 3 clinical trials actively enrolling patients. The other I…

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Greg Simon is the president of the Biden Cancer Initiative, formerly called The Cancer Moonshot, the goal was to try to make ten years of progress in five years. It was kicked off by President Obama and led by Joe Biden. Greg has been involved since the outset. Brett Johnson: So, Greg, what is the mission of the Biden Cancer Initiative? Greg Simon: Our mission is very similar to what we did in The Cancer Moonshot in the White House, which is to double our rate of progress in the prevention, detection, diagnosis, treatment and survivorship of cancer. We are…

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Immunotherapy is the future of cancer treatment and TapImmune has been leading the charge. CEO Glynn Wilson discusses the advances made in the ovarian and breast cancer. The company is taking a vaccine approach to reduce recurrence of cancer and to improve progression free survival and in some cases to treat cancers that couldn’t otherwise be treated.  Brett Johnson: What does TapImmune do? What is your mission? Glynn Wilson: TapImmune is an immuno-oncology company focusing on women’s cancers. The aim of the company is to broadly activate T-cells to recognize and kill specific cancer targets in addition to improving antigen…

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Dr. Christopher Schaber is the President and CEO of Soligenix, a late stage biopharmaceutical company with a pipeline of pharmaceutical products to treat a variety of rare diseases with an unmet need. Brett Johnson speaks with Dr. Schaber to discuss Soligenix’s mature pipeline of products, their business in biodefense, and investment opportunities in the company. Brett Johnson: Dr. Christopher Schaber, President and CEO of the biopharmaceutical company, Soligenix. First off, can you just tell those who aren’t familiar with Soligenix, what is your business? Christopher Schaber: Our business, we think, is quite unique. It’s a two-segment business. We have…

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Dr. Amit Vohra is the founder & CEO of Promaxo, a company tackling prostate disease management through the development of an office-based MRI. Brett Johnson interviewed Dr. Vohra to find out in part, what distinguishes Promaxo’s technology from the conventional MRI, its benefits and future applications, and the current state of prostate diagnosis today. Brett Johnson: Can you first tell us, what does Promaxo do?   Amit Vohra: Promaxo is focusing currently on changing the paradigm of prostate disease management. Our platform technology is a cost effective, office-based, high-resolution MRI, through which we can enable targeted biopsy and potentially focal treatment.   BJ: When…

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