Advancing the understanding of the genetic basis of human disease

Rana is an Executive Director and Partner at Pfizer Ventures. She leverages her preclinical, clinical, and business development experience to assess, invest in, and manage equity investments for Pfizer Ventures. She currently has responsibility for Pfizer’s investments in ReCode Therapeutics, Vivet Therapeutics, Mitokinin, Autifony Therapeutics, Blade Therapeutics, RefleXion Medical, Montis, Biograph55, Jnana Therapeutics, Arkuda, and the Dementia Discovery Fund. Prior to her current role, Rana was a Transactionalist in Worldwide Business Development at Pfizer where she was responsible for negotiating and transacting licenses, acquisitions, and partnerships across therapeutic areas. Rana joined Pfizer in 2015 as an Early Candidate Clinical Lead where she advised early clinical programs in CNS to ensure alignment with business strategies. Prior to joining Pfizer, she held roles at Allergan (formerly Actavis, formerly Forest Laboratories), first in Clinical Development Psychiatry as scientific and operational lead on Phase 2 and Phase 3 studies investigating novel treatments for Major Depressive Disorder and schizophrenia, and later in Business Development where she assessed and executed on a number of acquisitions and licenses across therapeutic areas. She began her training as a research fellow at the National Institutes of Health. Rana graduated Summa Cum Laude and Phi Beta Kappa with a BA in Biology from Hamilton College and holds a PhD in Neuroscience from Georgetown University Medical Center.

Bauke is a Principal in the Biotechnology team at M Ventures. He serves on the boards of Immunitas Therapeutics, iOnctura, NanoSyrinx, Pictor Labs and Synaffix,. Before joining M Ventures, he was with Jefferies International in the Healthcare Investment Banking group in London (UK). During his time at Jefferies he advised on several financings and M&A transactions across the biotechnology, pharmaceutical and medical devices sectors. Bauke has a PhD in Cancer Studies from King’s College London (UK) and an MSc in Technical Medicine from the University of Twente (The Netherlands).

Mark joins from Evelo Biosciences, where since 2016 he served as Chief Scientific Officer and President of R&D. Previously, Mark held senior pharmaceutical and biotech roles including VP of New Medicines Therapeutics at UCB S.A, Senior Vice President of Immunoinflammation at GSK, and CEO of Hexagen, Lorantis and Biotica. He has also served on the Board of Directors of the BioIndustry Association. Mark holds a PhD in Genetics from the University of Cambridge.

John C Davis, Jr, MD, MPH, MS, FACP, FACR currently serves as a member of the board of directors and chair of the science committee at Sonoma Biotherapeutics in San Francisco and Seattle and president of Norte Health Consulting, LLC in Cambridge, MA. He also was most recently the interim chief medical officer at Sonoma Bio. He continues to serve as a strategic advisor and scientific advisory board member of several companies including Human Immunology Biosciences (HiBio), Oak Hill Bio, Graphite Bio, and multiple earlier companies and biotech- focused venture capital groups. He previously served on the board of directors for Rheos Medicines and the scientific advisory board at Magenta Therapeutics.
He served as Head of Research and Development and Chief Medical Officer at Magenta Therapeutics in Cambridge, MA. In this role he was instrumental in driving the company forward as Magenta offered its IPO and becoming a clinical stage company. He has continued to build and grow the research and development organization across multiple platforms and multiple therapeutic areas including gene therapy, rare metabolic diseases, and blood cancers. Prior to joining Magenta, Dr. Davis was Senior Vice President and Head of Early Clinical Development at Pfizer Inc. where he oversaw multiple functional groups across global sites. In his role at Pfizer, he was responsible for bringing 17 groups under one organization across multiple therapeutic areas of focus on a global basis. Prior to his role at Pfizer, Dr. Davis served as Vice President and Global Therapeutic Area Head of Immunology across research and marketed products at Baxalta which was acquired by Shire. Dr. Davis held multiple leadership roles at Genentech and ultimately was Head of the Inflammation and Cardiovascular/Metabolism Group in the Early Clinical Development Group at Genentech.


Dr. Davis spent many years on faculty at The University of California San Francisco leading international clinical research programs in autoimmune disease and became Professor of Clinical Medicine. He continues to see patients, teach, and serve as volunteer faculty at the Boston VA Medical Center. He is a Fellow of The American College of Physicians and The American College of Rheumatology. He has authored over 120 publications and book chapters and has help international leadership positions in his areas of research focus in autoimmune disease.

Dr. Davis earned an MD from the University of Maryland summa cum laude. Dr. Davis trained in Internal Medicine and Rheumatology at The University of California San Francisco. He continued training in clinical research and rheumatology at The National Institutes of Health NIAMS Intramural Program. He holds a Masters of Public Health Degree in Epidemiology from the University of California Berkeley, and a Master of Science Degree in Anatomy from the University of Maryland School of Medicine.

Russell spent three decades at GSK where he held positions of increasing responsibility, including President of the International Pharmaceuticals Division, and membership of GSK’s Corporate Executive Team. He was also President of SR One, GSK’s Corporate Venture Group between 2008 and 2010. During his tenure at GSK Dr Greig developed deep experience across several functions including expertise in research and development, business development, strategic transactions and commercial operations.
In 2010 Russell formed his own company and became chair of multiple biotechnology companies. He is currently the Chair of BiomX (Israel/USA) and listed on the NYSE, eTheRNA (Belgium/USA) and Cardior (Germany). In addition, he was Chair of Sanifit (Spain; acquired by Vifor Pharma in 2021), Board Director and Chair at Ablynx (Belgium; acquired by Sanofi in 2018), board director of Tigenix (Belgium: acquired by Takeda in 2018), and Chair of Syntaxin (UK: acquired by Ipsen in 2013) and Novagalis (France: acquired by Santen in 2011).

Russell holds a BSc and PhD in Biochemistry from The University of Manchester (UK), and a Fulbright Scholarship awarded by the US Government.

Jon is a co-founder of Rosetta Capital Limited, a venture capital firm focused on life science and medical technology sectors, where he has served as a Partner since January 2009. He has more than twenty years of investment experience in the life sciences industry. He started his investment career at Rothschild Asset Management before co-founding BioScience Managers Ltd in 2001. He has also served as a partner of Seroba Life Sciences Limited. Dr Hepple has held board director and observer roles in portfolio companies such as Aprea Therapeutics, Covagen AG, Opsona Therapeutics Ltd., Catalyst Biosciences, Glycomimetics, Inc., NovImmune SA and Tranzyme Pharma. He received his PhD from Cambridge University for cancer research.

Jim is a Founder of Nucleome Therapeutics and a Professor of Gene Regulation at the University of Oxford. His research combines experimental, computational and machine learning based approaches to functionally interpret the non-coding genome and its role in human diseases. His group has developed numerous cutting-edge technologies and tools used world-wide.

Emma is a Senior Investment Manager in the British Patient Capital Direct Investments team, where she focuses on opportunities in the life sciences. Emma joined the BPC team in September 2021 at the launch of Future Fund: Breakthrough and has led investments into companies spanning novel therapeutic modalities and technologies driving efficiencies in the life sciences sector. Previously, Emma spent three years investing in a broad array of life sciences companies for the Greater Manchester and Cheshire Life Sciences Fund managed by Catapult Ventures. Emma also joined Fund Her North as a founding member with the goal of increasing access to finance for female entrepreneurs in the North of England and has a background in Neuroscience.

Fiona is a Senior Director, Venture Investments, at J&J Innovation – JJDC, Inc. and sits on the Boards of Calypso Biotech BV, Pulmocide Ltd & AviadoBio Ltd. Prior to joining JJDC, Fiona served as a Director at Inkef Capital. A qualified pharmacist, Fiona is passionate about helping early-stage companies establish a value-building trajectory by engaging and challenging management and creating optimal development plans. Fiona began her career in biotech focusing on the development of non-viral gene therapy and other novel delivery solutions. A fundamental interest in philanthropy led her to the Wellcome Trust and a focus on translational funding, including establishing a fund to support the development of affordable healthcare technologies in India. Fiona’s transition to venture investing began with a move to Advent Life Sciences, where she was involved in helping shape and build a number of early-stage companies including Arrakis Therapeutics.

Jim is a Founder of Nucleome Therapeutics and a Professor of Gene Regulation at the University of Oxford. His research combines experimental, computational and machine learning based approaches to functionally interpret the non-coding genome and its role in human diseases. His group has developed numerous cutting-edge technologies and tools used world-wide.

James is a Founder of Nucleome Therapeutics and Associated Professor at the University of Oxford. His expertise lies in developing novel sequencing-based assays and computational approaches for understanding how the genome functions. He is also a consultant haematologist with an interest in stem cell transplantation and cellular therapy and a fully qualified intensive care physician.

Danuta is biotech executive, founder, inventor and deep expert in functional genomics. She is the former CEO & Scientific Founder of Nucleome Therapeutics. She has built Nucleome, over the last 6 years, from inception into a leading biotech in functional genomics and led two successful investment rounds, including an oversubscribed Series A fundraise, bringing to date $55 million and a top-tier investor syndicate. In acknowledgement of her achievements at Nucleome, Danuta was recognised as an outstanding leader in the biotech sector by leading scientific journal Nature Biotechnology. As a thought leader in genomics, Danuta is a Vice-Chair of the BioIndustry Association’s Genomics Advisory Committee, is a Member of the Date Health Subgroup for the Life Science Council and Member of the Functional Genomics Advisory Group for the Office of Life Sciences. Prior to co-founding Nucleome, she founded Innovation Forum Oxford, for which she was recognised as one of the top Movers and Shakers in BioBusiness in 2018. Danuta has 18 years of experience in functional genomics and her scientific research at Oxford University, where she continues to hold an Honorary position, contributed into novel insights into how the dark genome functions in health and disease. Danuta is also an inventor of state-of-the-art 3D genome technique. She has a PhD in Systems Biology and a BSc in Biotechnology.