Meet our prestigious jury!

Awarded Business Woman of the Year 2017, Cambridge, and recipient of the Global Nanomedicine Award 2017, Su is founder of LIFNano Therapeutics. Driven by the need to “heal the brain” in a world where dementia is an emerging global epidemic, Su has brought her invention of LIFNano™ – a nanotherapeutic device able to replace stem cells – to the clinic. LIFNano™ behaves as an artificial stem cell with powerful properties for Brain Health.

Landmark Discovery: as a senior academic scientist at the University of Cambridge Clinical School, Su discovered that LIF – a stem cell growth factor – plays a core role in immunity . She showed that LIF is critical to prevent both autoimmune diseases and also pathogenic inflammatory diseases – and – remarkably – that these roles combine with LIF’s natural healing power for the brain across all ages. Su then founded LIFNano Therapeutics, with first aim to treat Multiple Sclerosis (MS), an incurable autoimmune demyelinating disease that attacks the CNS. With successful preclinical trials, the company now aims to partner to enter the clinic by 2021 .

CORONA and Viral Pneumonia: in addition to MS, Su heads up a team to treat viral pneumonia using LIF and then LIFNano™. Viral pneumonias trigger a cytokine storm in the lungs with risk of rapid irreversible lung damage and death. LIF is absolutely required to control this pneumonic inflammation. LIFNano™ provides highly potent, targeted delivery of LIF direct to the lungs for rapid suppression of inflammation. For LIFNano™, the unique power of nanotechnology is dramatically illustrated, able to meet the scale and safety of clinical need, combined with response dynamics and logistics to reach patients on global scale..

AWARDS

• Merck Serono “GMSI 2014” Global Award
• Judge Business School: “Business Woman of the Year 2017”.
• “Nanomedicine Award 2017” Global Award from ETPN
• Recipient I-UK Biomedical Catalyst award 2016 – 2018
• Member Cambridge University Biomedical Campus.
• Member Darwin College University of Cambridge.
• Co-PI EPSRC Award for targeted delivery (PI George Malliaras Engineering)

Eckhard Schwenner is one of the core experts of the HealthTech TAB. PhD in Organic Chemistry, he has over 30 years international management and business experience within the Healthcare industry. Strong track record in multidisciplinary program management, Research and Development and Business management functions in Corporate Research as well as Pharmaceuticals and Diagnostics Business Groups in Bayer AG, Siemens and Philips. Has developed and implemented corporate wide strategies as head of Bayer`s global R&D coordination function. Start up and deal making experience as CEO of pes diagnosesysteme, an immunoassay based Point of Care company. Business Management experience as VP at Bayer Diagnostics USA and as CEO Emerging Markets, Healthcare Incubator, at Philips Eindhoven. Lived and worked in Germany, the USA, Japan and Netherlands, with recent working experience in the growth markets China and India. Currently lives and works in Germany as CEO of Health-I Business Consulting. Health-I is consulting start up Businesses in the Healthcare/Lifesciences industry and providing Interim Management as for enverdis GmbH an innovative medical device company in Germany.

Domains of expertise

• Strategy and Business Development
• Internationalization in Diagnostics and Medtech
• Strategic Alliances, Partnering, Investor Acquisition
• Program and Interim Management
• Management Coaching
• Consulting start ups and providing interim management since 2013

Julie has founded LallianSe a patient-centered and innovation-driven life sciences ecosystem in 2015. LallianSe provides Experts and Entrepreneurs-in-residence to life sciences companies in Europe and offers precision-support services to ensure appropriate market fit, entry and execution.

Julie spent 10 years investing in life sciences company, such as Nanobiotix (Euronext:NANO), Eurogentec (sold to Kaneka), Stimulus (sold to Geneo), HalioDx, or BrainEver and was also a board member of other companies, such as Voluntis (Euronext:VTX). In addition, she spent two years with L3S Partnership as an executive search senior consultant recruiting CxO’s in the pharma industry and regulation authorities. CEO of the LallianSe Ecosystem, she is also an Expert-in-residence with a few companies, such as Advicenne (Euronext:ADVIC) where she is in charge of Corporate strategy and investor relations since 2015, Medsenic, as Chief corporate officer. Julie is also cofounder of  Braintale and independent board member of DTA Medical.

Dr Eric Mayes is a core expert of the HealthTech TAB. Eric is the CEO of Endomag and has over 20 years’ experience in developing and leading materials technology companies spanning data storage, display technology, printed electronics and medical devices.  Eric has led the oncology-focused Endomag through its rapid growth since marketing its first device for staging breast cancer in late 2012, which has now been used in over 70,000 procedures in over 30 countries.  Prior to joining Endomag in 2010, Eric served as Director of Commercial Development for Cambridge Display Technology (CDT) that was sold to Sumitomo Chemical in 2007 for $285m.  Prior to CDT, he served as CEO of NanoMagnetics that developed high performance materials for the data storage industry.  For that founding role, he was named the Royal Society of Chemistry’s “Entrepreneur of the Year 2003”.  With a strong interest in supporting the translation of scientific research, Eric lectures internationally on nanomaterials commercialisation and technology entrepreneurship.  He is an advisor to the University of Texas at Austin’s “Texas Health Catalyst”.  A US-UK dual national, he holds a BSc in Physics from Arkansas State University and a PhD in Chemistry from the University of Bath.  Eric is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Chemistry.

Mrs. Clara Mailin Allonge is Manager for SMEs and Economic Development at BVMed – Bundesverband Medizintechnologie, the German Medical Technology Association. BVMed represents more than 220 industry and trade companies. Among the members of the association are 20 of the largest medical device manufacturers worldwide in the consumer goods sector. Its scope comprises the entire sector of medical dressings, technical aids such as ostomy and incontinence products or bandages, plastic disposable items such as syringes, catheters and cannulae as well as the implants sector of intraocular lenses, hip, knee, shoulder and spinal implants, heart valves and defibrillators and even artificial hearts. Homecare services and biotechnology procedures, such as tissue engineering, are further fields of activity of its members.

As a trade association, BVMed promotes and represents the combined interests of the medical technology industry and trade companies. In various sectoral interest groups, focus groups, and working groups, the association off ers its members a platform for a constructive dialog and exchange of views. BVMed represents the concerns of its member companies to policy makers and the public in general. This is achieved not only by information and public relations work, but also by participation in the development of laws, guidelines and standards 

Carlos Sisternas is the Director of  Federación Española de Empresas de Tecnología Sanitaria (Fenin) – Catalunya

Founded in 1977, the Spanish Federation of Healthcare Technology Companies, FENIN, was set up as an umbrella organization for Spanish companies operating in this sector, coordinating and defending their interests and representing them in their dealings with the authorities at Autonomous Community, national and European levels. For over four decades now, the Federation has been working to advance research and technological development so that technologies, devices and services for improving the prevention, diagnosis, treatment, control and monitoring of diseases are within everyone’s reach.

FENIN is an intersectoral federation which brings together manufacturing companies and associations, importers and distributers of healthcare technologies and devices, and all of them are suppliers to healthcare institutions in Spain.