WHIS 2023 ADVISORY BOARD
WHY ATTEND
The Reproductive Health sector is due to have an estimated global value of $171 billion by 2027, propelling it as a market leading category in the women’s health industry.
Essential, disruptive solutions are emerging from the driving forces of start-ups, Femtech, and technology innovators, all with the overarching aim of aiding unmet needs within reproductive health journeys.
The 3rd annual Reproductive Health Innovation Summit (15th -16th February 2023) is the destination for sourcing and accelerating opportunity in fertility, contraception, and maternal health, from AI and big data to non-hormonal devices and solutions, new care delivery models and consumer wearables.
Join us in 2023 to:
- Tackle the challenges straddling the reproductive health sector, including funding, insurance coverage, access, and ongoing stigmas.
- Dive deeper into our 3 leading innovation topics: contraception, fertility, and maternal health, to gain insights into the latest research, innovations, challenges, and opportunities, for bringing better care and access to both men and women.
- Network with 350+ industry leaders and changemakers within our numerous 1-2-1 opportunities, interactive roundtables, and breakout sessions throughout the 2 days.
2023 Innovation Showcase
2023 Selection Committee
Showcasing the most Innovative and Disruptive companies in Reproductive Health.
- An opportunity for 12 start-up finalists from the reproductive health sphere to present their innovation in front of our audience of 300+ attendees.
- An expanded Selection Committee of leading investors who will provide their expertise and feedback in person.
- An all-new prize bundle including personalised, top-level prizes to set your business up for scale.
2023 Prize Bundle includes:
- VIP Pass to a future 2023 Women’s Health Innovation Series event of your choice.
- Showcase Finalist Breakfast on Day 2.
- More prizes to be announced.
Applications Close 23rd of December
APPLY HERE
2023 Speakers
Alice Zheng, MD, MBA, MPH
Barbara Collura
Dana Northcraft
David Sable
David Stern
David Stern has over 28 years of women’s health experience and has devoted the majority of his career to the fertility industry. He has held executive leadership positions and built successful teams while launching numerous products in pharmaceutical and biotech markets world-wide. Currently, David serves as the CEO of Boston IVF, one the largest IVF center networks in the United States with 11 full service IVF centers and over 30 satellite centers nationwide.
David served as CEO of Symbiomix Therapeutics a venture backed biotech company. He led the transition of the company from development stage to commercial launch in the US, prior to its acquisition by Lupin Pharmaceuticals in 2017. He served on the board of California Cryobank and has held executive positions in startup companies in the women’s healthcare market, building commercial teams, developing strategy and expanding scientific partnerships for Celmatix, Ohana and OvaScience.
David was the Senior Vice President and Head of the Global Business Franchise for Fertility at Merck Serono, responsible for the strategic development and growth of the portfolio world-wide. Prior to his global role, he was responsible for the US commercial operations in the Fertility, HIV and Growth Hormone markets. David started his career in women’s health with Organon Pharmaceutics. He has an MBA with a concentration in International Marketing and Management from the F.W. Olin School of Business at Babson College and holds a Bachelors’ degree in Biology from Brandeis University.
Heather Vahdat
Jackie Rotman
Jannine Versi
Kevin Eisenfrats
Megan Murphy
Meg Murphy is the Associate Director of Events and Engagement at PCOS Challenge: The National Polycystic Ovary Syndrome Association. Serving 57,000 members, PCOS Challenge is the leading nonprofit support organization globally that is advancing the cause for people affected by PCOS. PCOS Challenge hosts the largest and most influential PCOS educational events in the nation, which serve both patients and healthcare providers. They are the leading organization advocating for and shaping public policy with regard to women and girls impacted by polycystic ovary syndrome.
Meg attended her first PCOS Challenge symposium in 2014 and learned more in that one afternoon than she had in years as a patient. She immediately signed on as a volunteer and went on to become a Patient Advisory Board member. In January 2022, Meg joined the PCOS Challenge team full-time. Meg is passionate about empowering other people with PCOS to advocate for their health.
Prior to joining PCOS Challenge, Meg worked in the Office of Research Affairs at UC San Diego. She is a runner and recently launched the PCOS Challenge Race Team at the Los Angeles Marathon. Meg received her B.A. from Boston University and resides in San Diego, California with her husband.
Mylene Yao
Ru-fong Joanne Cheng
Sabrina Martucci Johnson
Sabrina Martucci Johnson is a life sciences executive with a record of achievement in building successful companies, launching innovative products into specialty markets, delivering returns on shareholder investments, and implementing complex directional change.
Sabrina is committed to advancing innovation in women’s health. She is the Founder and CEO of DARÉ Bioscience (NASDAQ:DARE), a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company driven by a mission to identify, develop and bring to market a diverse portfolio of novel therapies that expand treatment options, improve outcomes and facilitate convenience for women. Prior to founding DARÉ, Sabrina was President of WomanCare Global Trading, a global provider of women’s health products, CFO/CAO of the California Institute for Biomedical Research, CFO/COO of Cypress Bioscience, Inc. (NASDAQ:CYPB), held marketing and sales positions with Advanced Tissue Sciences, and began her career in the biotechnology industry as a research scientist with Baxter Healthcare, Hyland Division, working on the recombinant factor VIII program.
Sabrina has a Master of International Management with honors from the American Graduate School of International Management (Thunderbird); a MSc. in Biochemical Engineering from the University of London, University College London; and a BSc. in Biomedical Engineering from Tulane University, magna cum laude.
Sabrina currently serves on the boards of ATAI Life Sciences, a publicly-traded clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company aiming to transform the treatment of mental health disorders, and Aethlon Medical, Inc., a publicly-traded company developing immunotherapeutic technologies to combat infectious disease and cancer, BIOCOM, as Vice President of Industry, the Clearity Foundation as Chair, and the YWCA of San Diego County as Past President. Additionally, Sabrina serves on the Board of Advisors of Tulane University School of Science & Engineering and on the Audit Committee of Project Concern International.
Ms. Johnson was honored by Athena, a San Diego-based business organization championing women executives and rising managers in science, technology, engineering and mathematics, with the Individual in Life Science award in 2017 and the same year received the “Moxie” for her grit and determination and positive impact in the community from the award-winning MOXIE Theatre, a Southern California theatre dedicated to producing diverse and honest images of women using the art of theatre. She was an E&Y Entrepreneur of the Year San Diego finalist in 2018 and in 2019 was recognized as an entrepreneur in the PharmaVoice 100 and honored as 2019 Director of the Year in the Emerging Board Leader category by the San Diego Corporate Directors Forum.
Abigail Sirus
Abigail Sirus is a member of the life sciences investment team at AWM Investments, Inc. which evaluates investments in reproductive medicine venture capital and life sciences public equities.
After graduating from Boston College, Abigail joined IBM as a technology consultant focused on blockchain implementations for healthcare and life sciences clients. Abigail was IBM lead for the FDA DSCSA Blockchain Interoperability Pilot collaboration with KPMG, Merck, and Walmart, and for the New York State Excelsior Pass Project (COVID-19 HealthPass) which used blockchain for digital identity validation, then joined. IBM’s Alternative Monetization team which monetizes IP assets across IBM's business units and was part of a core team that provided strategy and M&A activities for emerging technologies like blockchain and quantum computing.
Beth Zoneraich
Casey Santiago
Casey Albert Santiago has 20 years of global operating experience building, scaling and investing in women’s health companies. Casey is a Managing Partner at SteelSky Ventures, a female-led venture capital fund investing in early-stage companies that improve access, care, and outcomes in women's health. Prior to joining SteelSky, Casey invested in early-stage digital health & consumer health start-ups in partnership with Johnson & Johnson. She was CEO/Founder of Kangu, a maternal health tech platform that was acquired in 2018, and was an early product leader at Kiva, which has facilitated billions of dollars in microloans to female entrepreneurs in the US and globally. Casey serves as an advisor to a number of venture-backed women’s health start-ups and speaks frequently on entrepreneurship and women’s health. She holds a BA from Wellesley College, an MBA from Columbia Business School.
Danika Severino Wynn
Elizabeth Garner
Kristin Brogaard
Lauren Berson Sugarman
Marsha Henderson
Maya Hardigan
Dr. Neel Shah
Noelle Acosta
Noelle Acosta is the Co-Founder & CEO of Noula Health, a digital health company that provides personalized reproductive health care for women and birthing people via at-home precision health testing and 1-on-1 virtual support from experts. Noelle is one of less than 100 Latina female founders to have ever raised over $1M for her startup. Prior to Noula, Noelle has helped lead and scale sales and business development teams at startups in the Bay Area and New York City. Noelle is also a certified birth doula and passionate about accessible, equitable healthcare for all.
Pam Pure
Pam Pure, CEO and Co-Founder of Posterity Health, is on a mission to give every couple who is trying to conceive access to inclusive male fertility care. She is an experienced digital healthcare executive and inspirational leader who has built, run and scaled market leading healthcare companies. She served as the CEO of HealthMEDX, EVP of McKesson Technologies and has extensive board experience with small venture backed start-up companies, including NurseGrid and Bivarus, and large public and private companies including MModal and ChangeHealthcare.
Roopan Gill
Roopan is co-founder and executive director of Vitala Global Foundation - a Canadian not-for-profit that commits to developing digital solutions that support and facilitate access to safe abortion care in challenging contexts globally. She is an obstetrician gynecologist and provides abortion care in Toronto. She works with Medecins Sans Frontieres as an emergency OBGYN and previously with the World Health Organization (WHO). Most recently, she was featured in Forbes as 1 of 7 female leaders committed to inclusivity and accessibility.
Stasia Obremskey
Stasia Obremskey is the Managing Director of RH Capital Funds an impact venture capital fund of Rhia Ventures where she is responsible for investing in innovations in women’s reproductive health. She joined Rhia Ventures at its founding in 2018 after more than twenty-five years of experience as an interim CFO for non-profit organizations and start-up companies and an impact investor and philanthropist in women’s reproductive health. She holds a bachelor’s degree in Business Administration with a concentration in Finance from the University of Notre Dame and an MBA from the Harvard Graduate School of Business. She has extensive experience as a member of several nonprofit boards where she has held a number of leadership positions. Stasia is a founding member of The Maverick Collective, an initiative of PSI. As the proud mother of three young adults, she is working with scientists and entrepreneurs to find the next generation of hormone-free contraceptives to meet their sexual health needs.
Traci Baird
Traci L. Baird is President & CEO of EngenderHealth, a global organization committed to advancing sexual and reproductive health and rights and gender equality. Traci has worked across Africa, Asia, Eastern Europe, and in the Americas on topics related to women’s health. Prior to leading EngenderHealth Traci was CEO of SHIFT NC, a non-profit adolescent and young adult sexual health organization working across North Carolina. Traci started her global health career at Ipas, where she worked for more than 20 years including as Executive Vice President of Programs. Traci earned a master of public health degree from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and a bachelor of arts degree in human biology with a concentration in women’s health from Stanford University.
Vidhi Data
Evan Sussman
Evan is the Chief Executive Officer and a Co-Founder of Granata Bio, a US based biopharma company focused on women’s health and fertility. In his role, Evan is responsible for Granata Bio’s corporate, customer, and commercial strategies.
Before founding Granata Bio, Evan spent nine years at EMD Serono/Merck KgAA. Most recently, he served as the Marketing and Business Unit Head for the US Fertility/Fertility Technologies businesses. During this time, Evan spearheaded the creation of innovative programs aimed at expanding access to care for under-recognized patient groups. He has previously served on the corporate council of RESOLVE: The National Infertility Association and the American Society of Reproductive Medicine.
Evan is a graduate of Brown University and received an MBA in Healthcare Leadership from Yale University. He lives in the Boston area with his wife and daughter.
Angeline N. Beltsos
Asima Ahmad
Serena H Chen
Rachel Braun Scherl
Angeline N. Beltsos
Brian Levine
AUDIENCE BREAKDOWN
Start Ups
We are committed to increasing exposure of emerging companies in reproductive health, at all stages of growth and development who are seeking partnership opportunities and are at the forefront of shaping the
future of this space.
Big Pharma/Medical Device/Biotech
At the forefront of women’s health innovation, Big Pharma, Medical Device, and Biotech companies play a key role in shaping the investments and innovation happening in the reproductive health sphere.
Investor, Funding Groups
We look to bring together leading investors with a particular focus in reproductive health, ranging from seed, to angel, venture capital firms, private equity, funds, and advisors.
Payers, Providers, Employers
Payors, insurance companies, and benefit providers provide an important bridge between stakeholders within the reproductive health industry, and we are delighted to have more joining us at this years’ summit.
Service Providers
Industry support and service providers include advocacy groups, researchers, knowledge leaders and accelerators such as consultants, lawyers, CROs, non-profits and regulatory experts
FMCGs
Fast moving consumer goods companies play an important role in the reproductive health landscape, and the women’s health landscape more broadly, and include companies such as Johnson & Johnson and Holland & Barrett.
2023 Partners
Gold Partner
GranataBio
Website: www.granata.bio
Granata Bio is a biopharma company focused on women's health and infertility. Founded in 2018, Granata Bio’s model is to identify and in-license strategic products for development and commercialization in North America. The company recently announced a partnership with IBSA Group (Lugano, CH) to co-develop a novel subcutaneous progesterone solution in the United States.
Media Partners
Femtech Insider
Website: https://femtechinsider.com/
Femtech Insider is the go-to platform for all things femtech. We’re the fastest growing portal for innovation in women’s health and address the information needs of founders, investors, researchers and consumers alike.
Fempower health
Website: http://fempower-health.com/
Fempower Health focused on empowering women to be the CEO of their health. Women are often "trained" to grin and bear it, rather than being offered research-backed solutions (mostly because the research is incredibly limited). Women deserve better: better insight and better solutions. Over 80 women’s health experts on women’s health issues have been interviewed on the Fempower Health Podcast covering how to navigate the complex healthcare system, reproductive health, menopause, the pelvic floor, pregnancy, sexual health and general women’s health.
SPARK Solutions For Growth
Website: www.sparksolutionsforgrowth.com
SPARK Solutions for Growth, under the leadership of Managing Partner Rachel Braun Scherl, is a provider of choice for business leaders, C-Suite executives and entrepreneurs alike, who are looking to catalyze topline growth. With decades of experience, the team has successfully launched, built and turned around Fortune 500 brands and businesses as well as startups. By designing customized processes and solutions, SPARK works to accelerate revenue and arm entrepreneurs with the wisdom, insight and knowledge to succeed in competitive spaces.
Drawing on a proven expertise and thought leadership in women’s sexual and reproductive health, SPARK works with businesses “from menstruation through menopause.” The strategy work focuses on driving innovation through products, ideas, messaging and business models, while finding funding and creating strategic partnerships. SPARK’s international client base includes multiple divisions of Johnson & Johnson, Allergan, Pfizer, Merck, Bayer and Church & Dwight and funded start-ups, including companies in menstruation, fertility, infertility, disease prevention, incontinence and menopause.
Partnering Opportunities for 2023
The Reproductive Health Innovation Summit is an opportunity to strengthen and elevate your position in a growing market, which is ripe for partnerships and investment.
Based on your objective, we can create bespoke packages tailored specifically to you. From presenting your expertise, hosting a panel discussion, virtual networking booths, exclusive pitching sessions or webinars. We’re dedicated to helping you showcase your brand and make valuable new connections. Opportunities predominantly lie in 3 main categories:
THOUGHT LEADERSHIP BRANDING NETWORKING
For any Partnering Opportunities enquiries, please contact Sam Grimsley.
+44 (0)20 3897 9536 [email protected]
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Sending Your Team? Group Discounts Available!
Applicable for Primary Market, Service Provider and Industry Rates Only. Not available for Academic or ‘Start-Up’ rates
Book a Team of 3+ - Save an Additional 10% Off
Book a Team of 5+ - Save an Additional 15% Off
If you would like to register a team of 3 or more, please email [email protected] for your discount coupon code before registering. PLEASE NOTE: Discounts cannot be combined with Early Bird Pricing or any other discount or offer. If you have any questions about your registration, please call us on +44 (0)20 3696 2920
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Download our 2023 Agenda
View our 2023 Reproductive Health Innovation Summit agenda!
Sessions include:
Implications of Roe vs Wade; Navigating the 2022 Repercussions
The Journey to Health Equity through Increasing Access to Care
- The Unknown Factor within Clinical Trials: The FDA’s PRGLAC Report
- Private Equity x Fertility Clinics: Challenges vs Opportunities
Our agenda provides all the information you need to book your place at Reproductive Health Innovation Summit USA, access your copy today!
Download the Reproductive Health Innovation Summit Agenda
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