Harnessing the Power of Light 

Expert in early-stage medical device and first-in-man clinical trials. Former founder and CEO of Kerberos Proximal Solutions (sold to FHT), COO for Maya Medical (sold to COV) and General Manager for Claret (sold to BSX).

PhD  CEO of Chimera Bioengineering and co-founder of Cytokind, specializing in intersectional scientific and engineering in immunology. At Chimera, Ben  is focused on controlling immune toxicity and cytokine release syndromes endemic in CAR-T therapy.

Experienced Chief Executive Officer of public and private medical device companies. Presently, CEO of Foldax, Inc., Former President & CEO of Cardiac Dimensions Inc., Access Closure Inc., Orquest, Inc., and General Surgical Innovations.

Senior operations executive focusing on technology startups with successful exits.  He is also a named inventor on  numerous foundational patents, including 2 of the first fifty on the Word Wide Web, and winner of Digital Luminary Award

MD Medical Dermatologist at New York Dermatology Group. Dr. Castilla sees the skin’s critical interplay with the systemic immune system as an important and non-invasive pathway to systemic immunomodulation.

Lori Mayer, DNP, MSN, RN, MSCN, is an expert in the strategic planning, design, execution, and management of MS clinical research programs, as well as providing MS clinical care. She holds a Doctor of Nursing Practice degree (DNP) and was previously the Chair of the IOMSN Research Committee, an Editorial Board member of the International Journal of MS Care, and a member of the editorial board for LiveWise MS. In addition, she served as Assistant Medical Director for Elligo Health Research.

John was President of TherapeuticsMD Inc (TXMD) an innovative women’s health pharmaceutical company. While at TXMD, John created vitaCare Prescription Services to address significant unmet needs in the prescription supply chain and fulfillment process. In 2020, vitaCare was spun out as a private company and John took the helm as CEO. Today. vitaCare services multiple branded pharmaceutical products from a diverse group of pharma manufacturers.

Previously, John co-founded clinical technology vendor Care Fusion, a pioneer in hospital patient safety systems, and was sold to Cardinal Health in 2006. John received his Bachelor of Science degree in Management Engineering from the U.S. Naval Academy

Iva Kaufman applies an interdisciplinary approach to business and philanthropy, social finance, funding, in both commercial and not-for-profit management.

John Parker is the Founder and Managing Partner of Springhood Ventures, which invests in life science and healthcare companies transforming the health and care of children. In parallel to this role, he established and manages CH Innovations, the impact-first venture program of the Charles H. Hood Foundation, a Boston-based private foundation that supports pediatric research, where he also serves as a trustee.

He also serves on the advisory boards of multiple nonprofit entities, largely around pediatric health and mission-driven healthcare investing, and a number of pre-launch pediatric-focused startups. He is a frequent speaker on pediatric innovation, investment in child health solutions, and mission investing.

Department of Inflammation, The Kids Research Institute Australia. Dr. Hart’s extensive research portfolio includes over 200 peer-reviewed publications and leadership of the internationally recognized PhoCIS clinical trial for narrowband UVB therapy in early multiple sclerosis. Her two decades of pioneering work in UV immunomodulation directly support Cytokind’s therapeutic approach to treating autoimmune diseases. She had the honor of delivering the Burnet Oration to the Australian Society for Immunology in 2022.

Chris is the co-founder and CEO of Augmenta Bioworks and has served as scientific advisor to multiple startups.  He has 20 years of experience spanning antibody therapeutics, molecular diagnostics, synthetic biology, and small molecule discovery, with a proven track record in founding and scaling early-stage biotechnology ventures, securing IP, fundraising, leading cross-disciplinary teams, and translating cutting-edge research into therapeutic assets.  He has over 2000 citations from his peer-reviewed publications. He received his Ph.D. in Bioengineering from Stanford University and his B.S. in Biology, as well as a B.S./M.S.Eng. in EECS from MIT.

Professor of Medical Dermatology, University of Edinburgh, PI, Centre for Inflammation Research, President of the Scottish Dermatology Society, and Dermatology Lead, NHS Research Scotland.

Practicing  dermatologist and leading global researcher in population health & UVB impact on cardiovascular & hypertension research.

U.Wisconsin & WARF, The godfather of vitamin D synthesis and expert in MS & UVB preclinical research. Twice nominated for the Nobel Prize

Adjunct Associate Professor of Medicine, attending cardiologist, and Director, Inflammatory Risk, Preventive Cardiology, Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania. Adjunct Scholar, Center for Clinical Biostatistics and Epidemiology, University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine. Inaugural Lasker Clinical Scholar and former tenured Senior Investigator, NIH.

At NIH, he was principal investigator in the Vascular Inflammation in Psoriasis Trial, a randomized controlled trial of NB-UVB and biologics for psoriasis.

Nehal is a healthcare innovator with 20+ years of academic clinical care and translational research experience. He is an experienced principal investigator of clinical trials in humans testing impact of novel therapies.

Associate professor of Dermatology at the Donald and Barbara Zucker School of Medicine at Hofstra/Northwell. Member of the Board of Directors for the American Academy of Dermatology. Dr. Bridges is widely recognized for her contributions to advancing diagnostic techniques for complex skin conditions.

Co-founder of Cytokynd Inc. A non-practicing graduate of Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine, where he received his MD degree. In his spare time, he is a writer, disruptive innovator, and hands-on advisor/investor in arenas including science, wellness, medicine, communications, and learning.

Kathy Reagan Young is a prominent patient advocate and the founder of FUMSnow.com. She has become a leading voice, driven by her personal experience with multiple sclerosis and having founded the Patients Getting Paid community to help people with chronic illness find and create work that both accommodates their health and generates an income.