Industry Advisors

Volastra Therapeutics

Dr. Bettigole is an immunologist and senior scientist at Volastra Therapeutics, a biotech company based in New York City that is focused on developing novel cancer therapies targeting chromosomal instability and metastasis. Prior to joining Volastra, she was a co-founder and director of biology at Quentis Therapeutics, a biotech company focused on developing first-in-class cancer immunotherapies to modulate endoplasmic reticulum stress responses in the tumor microenvironment. Her research has focused on immune cell development and tumor immunology, and she has authored multiple peer-reviewed publications on cancer and immunobiology in the journals Cell, Nature, and Nature Immunology. She holds a Ph.D. in immunology from Harvard Medical School and a B.S. in biology from Tufts University. While at Harvard, she was awarded the Jeffrey Modell Award in recognition of her thesis work describing how cellular stress responses regulate hematopoietic cell differentiation.

Fortress Biotech

Dr. Buchen is vice president of business development at Fortress Biotech, a New York-based venture fund, where he leads acquisitions of novel clinical and preclinical therapeutics for Fortress’ portfolio, with the ultimate goal of advancing these promising technologies toward improved patient care and treatment. He also has experience analyzing new drug development opportunities across various therapeutic indications for licensing and new company formation. He is also a director at Cyprium Therapeutics, a Fortress Biotech company. He conducted research at Columbia University Medical Center where he published numerous articles in scientific and medical journals. He holds an M.D., with a distinction in research, from Albert Einstein College of Medicine and a B.A. from Brooklyn College.

Kadmon Corporation

Dr. Faical Miyara has over 13 years of experience in the pharmaceutical industry, including five years of extensive experience in U.S. corporate and business development, with a proven record in negotiating, generating term sheets and finalizing business deals for in-licensing and out-licensing programs. He is senior vice president of external research and business development at Kadmon Corporation where he manages and directs global scouting, evaluation and negotiation of licensing deals, from the early research stage to late clinical development and marketed product opportunities, both in biologics and small molecules. Prior to Kadmon, he spent five years at Pfizer where he co-developed one of its therapeutic innovation centers in New York, holding a series of senior R&D roles of increasing responsibility. Prior to joining Pfizer, he spent five years at ImClone Systems/Eli Lilly where he contributed to the research, optimization and development of numerous FDA-approved biologics to treat cancer, including Cetuximab [Erbitux®], Ramucirumab [CYRAMZA®], Necitumumab [Portrazza™] and Olaratumab [Lartruvo®]. He holds a Ph.D. in reproductive, molecular and cell biology from the University Pierre et Marie Currie (Paris VI, France), a master's/engineer degree of medical biology from the Faculty of Medicine Joseph Fourier, Grenoble, France, and a bachelor of science degree from University Jean Monnet, Saint-Etienne, France.

New York University School of Professional Studies

Brendan Parent is director of applied bioethics at New York University’s School of Professional Studies, a faculty affiliate in the Division of Medical Ethics in the New York University School of Medicine, and director of N Program on Sports & Society. He also serves as chair of the ethical issues in health care committee of the health law section and as editor for the Health Law Journal of the New York State Bar Association. Parent is a fellow of the Center for Genetics and Society, and his current research areas include ethics of genetic engineering, organ donation and transplant policies, and social responsibility in sports. He has published academic articles in peer-reviewed journals spanning law, medicine, science, sports and ethics, and his work has been featured in the Washington Post and Chicago Tribune, and on NPR. Previously, he was the first Rudin Postdoctoral Fellow in the Division of Medical Ethics at N School of Medicine, then special legal adviser for the New York Task Force on Life and the Law, a government agency that assists the state with policy in medicine, law and ethics. He holds a a J.D. from the Georgetown University Law Center, where he was presented with the ABA Award for Excellence in Health Law, and a bachelor’s degree in bioethics from University of California, Santa Cruz.