From The War on Cancer to Cancer Moon Shots and  21st Century Cures, life science innovators are in the game and playing to win.  The stakes are high and the winning pot includes the most important prize of all ... Game Changing Innovations that improve the quality of life for people around the world.

ANNA D. BARKER, PH.D.

Co-Director, Complex Adaptive Systems (CAS)

Director, National Biomarker Development Alliance (NBDA)

Professor, School of Life Sciences

Arizona State University (ASU)

CAS at ASU creates knowledge networks to solve complex systems problems in biomedicine. These networks leverage transdisciplinary knowledge, innovative teams, and novel funding approaches to prevent and treat acute and chronic diseases Examples of current programs include the NBDA, a non-profit think tank that addresses major barriers in biomarker discovery and development, and the first global adaptive clinical trial for glioblastoma (GBM AGILE). Prior to ASU, Dr. Barker served as the deputy director of the National Cancer Institute(NCI) where she developed and led the: Nanotechnology Alliance for Cancer; The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA); Clinical Proteomics Technologies Initiative for Cancer; Physical Sciences-Oncology Centers; and national programs in biospecimens and bioinformatics. She oversaw the NCI’s international cancer research programs, including pilot programs in Latin America and China, founding co-chair of the NCI-FDA Interagency Task Force, founding co-chair of the Cancer Steering Committee of the FNIH Biomarker Consortium, and founding director of the NBDA. Prior to NCI, Dr. Barker served as a research scientist and senior executive at Battelle Memorial Institute and as the CEO of a public biotechnology company. Her research interests include CAS, biomarker discovery and development, innovative clinical trials and free-radical biochemistry in disease. Dr. Barker has received a number of wards for her work and service. She completed her Ph.D. degree at The Ohio State University.

 

• Healthcare from the Patient Perspective (Panel)
  • Moderated by Dr. Randy Vogenberg, National Institute of Collaborative Healthcare (NICH) 

Dr. Randy Vogenberg, Principal, Institute for Integrated Healthcare; Co-Founder, National Institute of Collaborative Healthcare (NICH); and Access Market Intelligence, is a U.S.health care expert on health-system delivery & economics, and health innovation research.  His broad hospital and managed care expertise includes current or future trends around financing, market excellence, and benefit management or design. Through NICH, he drives disruption for health innovation, incubation and implementation.

 

Patient Advocacy Panelists:  Cooper Groppenbacher, Greg Garcia, Sebastien Millon, and Bonnie O'Day, RN 

• Innovator Rapid Fires:  Arizona Innovators Present How They Are Changing The Game

Veterinary Translational Research and One Health - Craig Woods, DVM, Director Institute for Healthcare Innovation, Midwestern University

Biomimetic Skin Substitutes Created from Tropoelastin Help to Promote Wound Healing - Robert S. Kellar, Ph.D,  Chief Science Officer,  Axolotl Biologix  

 Newborn Possibilities - Sarah Iden, Senior Cord Blood Clinical Specialist, Cord Blood Registry 

Disruptive Innovation: Is it time to re-think the doctor-patient relationship? - Neel Mehta, Chief Strategy Officer and Co-founder,  EpiFinder, Inc.

 

• Getting Innovation to the Finish Line:   Regulatory Perspective in the era of 21st Century Cures (panel)

The Passage of 21st Century Cures will be a game changer.  Combine that with a new administration and the next generation of MDUFA and PDUFA and you get a changing landscape and new opportunities.

Gain insights from our panel of Arizona based regulatory experts including Michelle Lott of Lean RA/QA Systens, Joni Creal of Bard and Beth Sheppard of Ventana. 

Moderated by Joan Koerber-Walker, president & CEO of AZBio. Joan works closely with BIO, PhRMA, and AdvaMed  on behalf of Arizona's life science innovators and is the past chair of the AdvaMed State Medical Technology Alliance (SMTA) in Washington, D.C.

 

• Innovator Rapid Fires:  Arizona Innovators Present How They Are Changing The Game 

Advancing Tissue Engineered Therapies for Heart Failure - Jen Koevary, PhD, Chief Operating Officer, Avery Therapeutics, Inc.

 Improving Lives One Allograft at a Time - Gabriel Hyams, President/Executive Director, Pinnacle Transplant Technologies, Inc.  

Making life better for children with Epilepsy - Patrick McFarland, CEO and Founder, Korwave

Pioneering A New Way to Treat The Brain - Gary Arendash, PhD,  President and CEO,  NeuroEM Therapeutics