Life Science Innovation Northwest 2026

Dr. Milad Alucozai, recognised by Business Insider as “one of the top 100 early-stage investors”, is a neuroscientist, founder, and active investor dedicated to translating exceptional science and technology into scalable commercial ventures. He currently serves as a Co-founder and General Partner at Pamir Ventures, an early-stage venture fund that invests in technical pioneers developing B2B companies utilising AI in antiquated industries. He is also a co-founder of Revalia Bio, a leading AI company enabling “Human Data Trials” to accelerate drug development with real human data before the first clinical trial begins. Throughout his operating and investing career, Milad has played a crucial role in helping founders secure hundreds of millions in capital and facilitating billions in startup-pharma partnerships.

Xirui Antaris is a Senior Vice President in the Global Healthcare Investment Banking Group at Jefferies based in Palo Alto. She joined Jefferies in 2020 and covers innovative Biotechnology companies in the Biopharmaceutical sector. Prior to investment banking, Xirui held roles at Arcus Biosciences in business development and commercial strategy. She began her industry career as a scientist and earned her PhD in Chemistry from Stanford University.

Allison Bianchi, PhD, is Vice President of Cell Therapy Development at Bristol Myers Squibb and serves as Site Head for its Seattle hub. She leads cross-functional teams driving next-generation cell therapy programs, including both autologous and allogeneic approaches, while overseeing integration across research, development, and manufacturing. Bianchi began her career in cell therapy at Juno Therapeutics, where she led molecular assays and built a 75-person team to develop CAR-T manufacturing processes and analytics, including the NEX-T platform still used by BMS today. She also helped design BMS’ Seattle Dexter facility. Passionate about improving patient outcomes, Bianchi focuses on making cell therapies faster, more accessible, and broadly applicable beyond oncology.

Nick Brown is Washington State’s 19^th Attorney General. A graduate of Harvard Law and a former Army JAG lawyer and Bronze Star recipient, Nick served as lead counsel for Governor Jay Inslee and then as U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Washington under President Biden. As the state’s chief legal and law enforcement officer, Nick is committed to protecting public safety, advancing environmental and worker protections, standing up for civil rights, and holding the powerful to account when they violate our laws and harm the people of our state.

As President & CEO of Life Science Washington (LSW), Marc sets the strategic direction, guides policy priorities, and directs business operations to ensure our members have the talent, investment, and partnerships needed to sustain the industry’s robust growth and solidify Washington state’s reputation as one of the top life science clusters in the nation. Marc also serves as the Chair of the Life Science Washington Institute, which is an affiliated non-profit focused on supporting life science entrepreneurs and growing start-up companies in Washington.

Before taking the helm as President & CEO, Marc served as Vice President, Public Policy & External Affairs for LSW. Prior to joining Life Science Washington, he served as Director of Policy & External Affairs for Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL), where he was actively involved in creating and advocating for several statewide bioscience initiatives including the Life Sciences Discovery Fund. He was also deeply involved in a range of PNNL’s philanthropic science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) education partnerships and science education initiatives. Prior to moving to Washington state, Marc held a variety of policy and consulting positions in Washington, D.C.

Dr. Christiana DelloRusso is a startup company advisor, founder mentor, investor and Board Director. She has 20+ years of experience in product, business, leadership and funding strategy of early-to-mid-stage for-profit and non-profit ventures in healthcare and life sciences. She spent eight years as a Partner in strategic healthcare venture capital with Boston-based LRVHealth, and Providence Ventures – formerly the strategic venture capital arm of the Providence health system (now Allumia Ventures). Prior to Providence, she was VP of Commercialization at state trade association Life Science Washington, and Managing Director of WINGS, a medical technology angel investor network. Locally Christiana serves on the boards of Ryther, a behavioral healthcare agency supporting children, youth and young adults, and the Seattle Public Library Foundation.

Eric is a biotechnology executive with more than 25 years of leadership experience across the life sciences industry. He is currently a Venture Partner at Samsara BioCapital, where he also supports portfolio companies through board and advisory roles. Over the course of his career, he has raised more than $2 billion in equity financing and secured over $500 million through strategic partnering deals, supporting the development of novel therapeutics in oncology, autoimmune, and kidney diseases.

Previously, Eric served as President and CEO of Chinook Therapeutics and, prior to that, as President and CEO of Silverback Therapeutics. He spent more than 15 years at Seattle Genetics, most recently as Chief Operating Officer, where he led business development, corporate strategy, manufacturing, and alliance management, and played a key role in raising more than $1.2 billion in equity capital and executing multiple strategic collaborations.

As President and Chief Executive Officer, Rich leads all aspects of Sonosite and VSI’s global businesses. He has over 20 years of progressive healthcare leadership experience and is proud to lead the FUJFIFILM SonoSite team -a true Washington State success story. Sonosite launched in 1998 as a startup in Bothell and has evolved into the worldwide industry leader in one of the fastest growing sectors of healthcare: Point-of-Care Ultrasound (POCUS).

Rich is a passionate advocate of life science industry, and he currently serves on the Board of Directors of AdvaMed, the Medical Imaging and Technology Association (MITA) is the Vice-Chair for Life Science Washington. When asked why the Life Science sector is growing so quickly in the State of Washington, he answers that we are fortunate to have access to leading hospitals, academics, research capabilities and the pioneer spirit in search of innovation and growth. Rich strongly believes in the enormous potential of startup companies as well as established life science companies.

Rich earned his MBA from the University of Pittsburgh’s Katz Graduate School of Business and a BA in Economics from the University of Michigan. He has been a resident of Washington since 2000 and makes his home in Downtown Kirkland. In his spare time, Rich swims with Lake Washington Masters and bikes on his Peloton.

Michal Galdzicki is the Vice President of Data & Information at Arzeda, where he leads efforts to organize, integrate, and scale the company’s scientific and operational data. His work focuses on building robust data systems that enable teams to turn complex biological and experimental information into actionable insights.

Michal has spent his career at the intersection of biology, data, and technology. He is particularly passionate about designing data architectures and knowledge frameworks that help scientists collaborate more effectively and accelerate discovery. At Arzeda, he works closely with computational scientists, biologists, and engineers to ensure that data flows seamlessly from experiment to analysis to decision-making. Known for his hands-on approach to data organization, Michal enjoys tackling the practical challenges of structuring information in rapidly evolving scientific environments. His work helps transform data from a byproduct of research into a strategic asset for innovation.

Jacob Garcia serves as Vice President of Clinical Development and Operations at Umoja, responsible for the development and execution of the clinical strategy across its cell and gene therapy portfolio. Jacob earned his B.S. in Chemistry from Harvey Mudd College and M.D. from the University of California at San Diego. He is a board-certified pediatric oncologist and has over 20 years of clinical oncology experience. He did his medical training at the University of Washington/Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center and spent 8 years as a pediatric hematologist/oncologist/stem cell transplant physician at UCSF Oakland Children’s Hospital before transitioning to pharma/biotech full time in 2014.

Jacob started his clinical development career at Amgen in the Medical Affairs organization for 3 years before leading the 3rd line LBCL/MCL clinical trial of BREYANZI® at Juno Therapeutics.

Allison Gaw is a Principal at Amplitude, having joined after helping to grow, mature, and set up multiple biotech startups for exit. An experienced life science and drug development business professional with 20 years of experience managing strategy at the interface of science and business, Allison supports Amplitude’s funds in driving investments in precision medicine technologies from Canada and the US and advising strategic planning and business development for portfolio companies.

Allison’s previous roles include VP of Business Development at Chinook Therapeutics (acquired by Novartis) and Senior Director of Business Development, IP, and Corporate Strategy at Sierra Oncology (acquired by GSK). Allison was also a consultant at Boston Consulting Group and LEK Consulting. She holds a BS and an MS in biological sciences from Stanford University, and an MBA in health care management from the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School of Business.

LaDale George guides traditional and innovative healthcare businesses through complex regulatory frameworks, regulated clinical research and development, and post-approval marketing compliance. He also advises on telehealth and telemedicine and multistate provider licensing compliance; Stark Law and Anti-Kickback Statute compliance; Federal Trade Commission and Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services regulated clinical integration; and federal research grant management compliance.  

LaDale represents healthcare and nonhealthcare businesses in corporate formations and governance, M&A, private equity investments, licensing arrangements, and joint ventures such as strategic affiliations and clinical integrations. His clients range from startups to Fortune 100 companies and include single hospital and multistate health systems; large physician practices; technology-enabled healthcare companies; small to midsize nonhealthcare businesses; as well as pharmaceutical, medical device, and in vitro diagnostic companies. 

Dr. M. Ragan Hart is the senior associate for strategic investments at Washington Research Foundation, where she leverages over a decade of experience in health economics, diagnostics, artificial intelligence and tech-enabled services to guide WRF’s venture investments in Washington-based startups. Prior to joining WRF, Dr. Hart was a senior associate at MultiCare Capital Partners, leading investments in healthtech and AI-driven healthcare solutions.

Dr. Hart co-founded MDisrupt, a platform connecting life-sciences experts with companies to accelerate healthcare product development, and previously co-led venture creation efforts at F-Prime Capital focused on health data sciences.

Dr. Hart holds a Ph.D. in public health genetics with a concentration in health economics from the University of Washington and completed  postdoctoral research in biomedical data science at Stanford University. She earned a master’s in genetic epidemiology and a certificate in biomedical regulatory affairs from the University of Washington following a bachelor’s in exercise science from Auburn University.

In addition to her role with WRF, Dr. Hart is a member of the board of directors for OUTbio Seattle and serves as a scholarship and community grants application reviewer for Pride Foundation in Seattle.

Andrew Hickl is the Chief Technology Officer of the Allen Institute, where he leads efforts to integrate cutting-edge computational techniques into bioscience research. Prior to joining the Allen Institute, he was Managing Director at Accenture, serving as Global Chief Innovation Officer and Data Science Lead for North America. His leadership roles in AI extend to Microsoft, Intel, Rewired Ventures, and Vulcan Inc., where he acted as Executive Technical Advisor to Paul G. Allen and was part of the founding team of the Allen Institute for Artificial Intelligence.

Jeff Holder, PhD, is a Managing Director and Partner in L.E.K. Consulting’s Life Sciences practice, based in San Francisco. He advises biopharma, life science tools and pharma services companies on growth strategy, innovation, portfolio planning, and organization & performance with a particular focus on advanced therapeutic modalities including cell and gene therapies.

Jeff brings deep expertise across the discovery, development, and manufacturing value chain, helping organizations navigate the scientific, operational and commercial complexities required to scale breakthrough therapies. He has extensive experience supporting strategic transactions and business development initiatives across the life science tools and pharma services sectors. Jeff joined L.E.K. in 2016. He holds a PhD in organic chemistry from the California Institute of Technology, a BA in chemistry from Harvard University and was an NIH postdoctoral fellow at the University of California, Berkeley.

Joe joined Madrona in 2022. He focuses on sourcing and evaluating new investment opportunities across Madrona’s investment themes with a focus on the intersection of life and computer sciences. He also supports the growth and strategy of current portfolio companies. Joe is a scientist at heart and is particularly interested in working with founders combining AI/ML and high-plex multi-omics to uncover unique biology.

Before joining Madrona, Joe worked in business development at Roche, focusing on accelerating DNA sequencing. Joe came to Roche through the acquisition of Stratos Genomics, where he led business development, wearing many hats to advance Stratos’s single molecule, nanopore sequencing technology. Earlier in his career, Joe worked at NanoString commercializing multi-omic technologies and was an associate at the W Fund, investing in early-stage startups in Washington.

Dr. Taha Kass-Hout, MD, MS, is the Global Chief Science and Technology Officer of GE HealthCare and an acclaimed innovator at the intersection of healthcare and technology. Merging his background in interventional cardiology with AI and machine learning, he is driving advancements in AI-based medical imaging, diagnostics, and health system operational efficiency at GE HealthCare. In this role, he is also responsible for prioritizing the company’s research and development efforts. From 2023–2025, he was the inaugural Chair of AdvaMed’s Digital Health Tech Division Board.

Dr. Kil is the Co-Founder, CEO, and Chief Medical Officer of Sound Pharma and has led their hearing loss and tinnitus R&D since its inception in 2002. He has served on the Board of Trustees at Harborview Medical Center/University of Washington since 2014, and the Board of Trustees for the Woodland Park Zoo since 2022. In addition, Jonathan has served on the Boards of several independent K-12 schools in Seattle. He is an advisor to the DoD Hearing Center of Excellence, the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, and Seattle Children’s Hospital. 

Jimmy is a recognized leader in Generative AI and data-driven innovation, with more than 20 years of experience shaping transformative strategies for global enterprises. At Quisitive, he spearheads AI adoption and advanced analytics, helping clients harness technology for competitive advantage. His background includes leadership roles at 3Cloud, UKG, and Jack Henry & Associates, and he holds a master’s in data science from the University of Missouri-Columbia. Jimmy is a sought-after speaker and thought leader, committed to redefining how organizations leverage AI for meaningful business outcomes.

Alice serves as a Principal on Alexandria’s Venture Investments and Science & Tech teams where she engages the company’s investment and tenant portfolios based in the Pacific Northwest, respectively. Additionally, as the Head of Alexandria LaunchLabs – Seattle, Alice collaborates with entrepreneurs and supports early-stage companies in the Seattle region. Ultimately, these roles contribute to Alexandria Real Estate Equities’ efforts in fueling the growth and development of each of Alexandria’s regional life science innovation clusters located around the United States.

Jose is the Purchasing Manager for the University of Washington Medicine system, with over a decade of experience in healthcare supply chain management. He leads strategic sourcing and supplier partnership efforts, with a focus on procurement optimization and operational resilience. Jose is a frequent presenter at GHX webinars, sharing practical insights from large‑scale academic medical center supply chain operations.

Kelly is a VP at Curie.Bio where she works alongside founders to advance the development of innovative therapeutics companies. She has a mix of operational and investing experience. Previously, at Third Rock Ventures, Kelly was involved in the formation and launch of multiple companies in the immunology space, including Celsius Therapeutics, Abata Therapeutics, and Asher Biotherapeutics. After the launch of Asher, she joined full time and operated for 4 years as Program Team Lead for AB248, the first CD8 cis-targeted IL-2 to enter clinical development, leading the project from initiation through 18 months of clinical development. Her scientific background is in immunology, and she holds a Ph.D. from MIT, where she trained with Darrell Irvine and Dane Wittrup.

Bobby Patrick, VI is Senior Vice President of Government Affairs at AdvaMed, the MedTech Association. He leads AdvaMed’s state affairs work and partnerships with external stakeholders, including state biotech trade associations and patient advocacy groups. Previously, Bobby served as the vice president of strategic growth and policy at the Medical Alley Association, a Minnesota-based state healthcare trade association, where he led the state and federal advocacy efforts, as well as membership growth and retention.

Juan Pinelli is an R&D Strategist on Pfizer's Digital Innovation and Alliances team, where he evaluates disruptive technologies across the R&D value chain from drug discovery to clinical development. He has contributed as a clinical SME on AI and data initiatives, including Enterprise Knowledge Unification, Post-acquisition Agentic Knowledge Mining, and pilots for AI-enabled Clinical Trial Emulation. Juan has taught AI applications in biopharma R&D at UCSF and Stanford's CERSI and ACDRS programs.

Previously, he spent nearly a decade in oncology clinical development at Pfizer, Seagen, and consulting, serving as Global Development Lead and Medical Monitor on ADC and CAR-T programs. He is a named author in journals including Journal of Clinical Oncology, Blood, and Annals of Oncology, with fifteen years of clinical experience at Fred Hutch Cancer Center and the University of Washington Medical Center specializing in bone marrow transplant and cellular immunotherapy.

Kate Rochlin, PhD, serves as President and Chief Operating Officer, bringing more than 15 years of leadership experience across early-stage biotechnology, company building, and strategic operations. Since joining the company in 2020, she has played a central role in shaping corporate strategy, strengthening operational execution, advancing intellectual property strategy, and building high-performing cross-functional teams. She was appointed Chief Operating Officer in December 2021 and elevated to President in recognition of her broad leadership impact.

Prior to joining, Dr. Rochlin held senior leadership roles at Curadigm, a Cambridge, MA–based biotechnology company spun out of Nanobiotix, where she most recently served as Chief Business Officer. There, she helped lead the company’s spin-out and built strategic collaborations around a novel platform designed to enhance therapeutic bioavailability. Dr. Rochlin has been recognized for her leadership and impact in biotechnology, including being named one of Crain’s New York Business’ Top Women in Tech.

Zane Starkewolfe is an experienced life sciences executive with a background spanning strategy, finance, investing, corporate development, and company building across the biopharmaceutical industry. He currently serves as Director of Corporate Development at WuXi Biologics Ventures, where he leads U.S. investments. Previously, at the University of California, Davis, he helped launch biopharma startup companies, raise investment capital, and structure a range of corporate partnering and licensing transactions. Earlier in his career, he was an investment banker at EVOLUTION Life Science Partners, where he led M&A transactions, negotiated licensing agreements, and supported public and private equity financings. In addition, he has founded, co-founded, and led therapeutic and diagnostic companies from formation through strategic and financing milestones. Zane earned his Ph.D. in Chemistry, with a Designated Emphasis in Biotechnology and Clinical Translational Research, from the University of California, Davis, where he was a Howard Hughes Medical Institute Scholar.

Jordan Summerside is the Associate Vice President of Innovation & New Ventures at Seattle Children’s, where he leads commercialization strategy and the research innovation ecosystem. He oversees industry partnerships and spinouts to translate scientific discoveries into patient-focused solutions. Jordan previously directed complex institutional integrations and strategic ventures, notably the formation of BrainChild Bio and the restructuring the pediatric partnership with the Fred Hutch Cancer Center.

As Head of Discovery and Preclinical Research, Karen guides BioCentury’s coverage of emerging biology and technologies. She has written extensively about immunology, synthetic biology, and data science, covering innovative breakthroughs in industry and academia, and dissecting trends in company formation and investments around new science. She oversees BioCentury's Distillery feature, and coordinates activities and interactions with BioCentury’s Scientific Advisory Board. She is a frequent guest on the BioCentury This Week, guiding the podcast’s monthly “What’s on Tap in the Distillery” feature.

Karen joined BioCentury in 2015 after a postdoctoral research fellowship in Stanford University’s Department of Chemical and Systems Biology. She holds a Ph.D. in Immunology from Weill Cornell Medicine and a B.A. in Molecular and Cell Biology from the University of California Berkeley. Outside of BioCentury, she is passionate about youth leadership development and land use policy.

Steve has been BioCentury’s Washington Editor since 1993, covering political and policy issues affecting the life sciences sector. He is BioCentury’s Senior Editor responsible for coverage of social issues involving biotechnology, and a key driver of BioCentury’s annual Back to School project. Steve is also co-host of The BioCentury Show, BioCentury’s twice monthly in-depth conversation with global leaders who are determining the future of medicine, and a regular contributor on the BioCentury This Week podcast. He was also BioCentury’s public affairs television program broadcast in 2010-14. Steve writes extensively about regulatory affairs and innovation, and is one of the most respected providers of biopharma intelligence on FDA. In 2012, the FDA Alumni Association named Steve the Harvey W. Wiley Lecturer, making him the first journalist to receive the Wiley Award.

Steve’s reporting about biotechnology and biomedical policy has been cited in The Economist, The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, New Scientist and other publications. Steve is also a widely recognized scholar on espionage and the Cold War. He is the author of Bureau of Spies: The Secret Connections between Espionage and Journalism in Washington and Engineering Communism: How Two Americans Spied for Stalin and Founded the Soviet Silicon Valley.