2020 SPEAKERS
November 5th, 2020 at the following time:
1:00PM - 4:00PM Eastern Time
Sharon Bakalash, MD, PhD, CBA
SB Strategic Development Consultants
Dr. Bakalash is a seasoned Ophthalmic surgeon with more than two decades of demonstrated clinical and scientific leadership in ophthalmic sciences and medicine. She heads the SB Strategic Development Consultants Group, providing clinical development, strategic planning, search and evaluation, and business development guidance.
Dr. Bakalash had served in various roles of exceeding responsibilities within the pharmaceutical and device industry. In her last role within Novartis, she was responsible for the US early development portfolio in both Ophthalmology and ENT—forming development strategies, enabling pipeline enrichment stemming from both external and internal innovation. Prior to that, she headed the Search and Evaluation organization within business development at Alcon, where she was tasked with evaluating, negotiating and overseeing numerous licensing transactions- spanning acquisitions, joint ventures and a wide variety of co- development frameworks.
Prior to Novartis, Dr. Bakalash was a part of the Office of Technology Development (http://otd.harvard.edu/) at the Harvard Medical School, where she was charged with identifying, commercializing and out-licensing innovations. Through the years, as an active scientist and a physician, Sharon had consulted to biotech device and Pharma companies, and conducted pre-clinical and clinical research.
Dr. Bakalash holds an MD from Ben Gurion University, a PhD in Neuroimmunology from the Weizmann Institute of Science and a Business degree from Northeastern University. Dr. Bakalash has also completed a post-doctoral fellowship at the Harvard Eye research institute at Harvard University, where the focus of her research was on stem cell involvement in neuronal degeneration.
Jim Cunningham
Allergan
James Cunningham, PhD is Director of Ocular Drug Delivery at Allergan, where he is responsible for early development of drug delivery-enabled dosage forms for both small and large molecules. Prior to joining Allergan in 2014, Dr Cunningham held a number of increasingly senior roles at Elan Drug Technologies and Merck Research Laboratories, spanning formulation of poorly soluble drugs, small molecule parenteral formulation development, siRNA therapeutics delivery, formulation-based lifecycle management, and development of products for low-resource settings. He earned his PhD from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, and his BS from Cornell University, both in Chemical Engineering.
Reza Haque, MD, PhD
Santen
Reza Haque, MD, PhD, is currently the Senior Vice President and Global Head of Ophthalmic Innovation Center (OIC), Global R&D at Santen, Inc., where he leads the Strategic innovation Group and develops Santen’s global science strategy. In his position, Dr. Haque shapes the operational direction of certain disease area portfolios to align with short-term goals and long-term strategy. Dr. Haque also partners with internal and external stakeholders to develop and implement Santen’s global R&D strategy to meet worldwide goals, while fostering a culture of innovation for new clinical technologies and new modalities.
Before joining Santen, Dr. Haque oversaw multiple global ophthalmic research areas at several other leading healthcare companies, including Novartis Ophthalmics, Bausch + Lomb, Johnson & Johnson and Shire Ophthalmics. He has years of experience as an ophthalmic pharmaceutical executive with proven success in R&D, Clinical Development, Project Management, and Medical Affairs. In addition to a deep knowledge of ophthalmology treatment, technology, and research, Dr. Haque has cultivated a significant expertise in global strategy. He regularly speaks at conferences featuring thought leaders in ophthalmology from around the globe.
Joshua Horvath, PhD
Genentech
Josh Horvath is a Director with Genentech Device Development in South San Francisco, California. He joined Genentech in 2013 and manages a team of engineers and scientists responsible for early stage device development and human factors engineering. Prior to joining Genentech, Josh spent seven years with Becton Dickinson in variety of R&D and product development roles, including continuous blood glucose monitoring, pen injection devices, and insulin infusion. He is listed as an inventor on 30 issued patents and is the author or co-author of 13 peer-reviewed journal articles. Josh holds a B.S. in Chemical Engineering from the University of Florida and a Ph.D. in Chemical Engineering from Carnegie Mellon University.
Casey C. Kopczynski, PhD
Aerie Pharmaceuticals
Casey C. Kopczynski, Ph.D. has served as our Chief Scientific Officer since co-founding our company in 2005. From 2002 to 2005, he was the Managing Partner at Biotech Initiative, LLC, a consulting practice dedicated to emerging biotech companies. He was also previously the Vice President of Research at Ercole Biotech, Inc. from 2003 to 2004, a company developing drugs for the treatment of cancer, inflammation, and orphan genetic diseases. Prior to Ercole Biotech, Inc., Dr. Kopczynski was Director of Research and a founding member of the scientific staff at Exelixis, Inc. from 1996 to 2002. Dr. Kopczynski received his Ph.D. in Molecular, Cellular, and Developmental Biology from Indiana University and was a Jane Coffin Childs Research Fellow at the University of California, Berkeley.