MIT Sloan BioInnovations 2014

Precision Medicine & the Impact of Innovation on Targeted Care

Friday, Feb. 28 | For 2015 conference, click here

Boston Marriott Cambridge

Organizers

Tiana Veldwisch

Co-chair

Tiana is a second year MBA student at MIT Sloan and has interned with the Technical Development organization at Biogen Idec. She co-leads the Healthcare Club and the Sloan LGBT club.

She has a BS in BioEngineering from Olin College of Engineering where she spent her summers interning at Genzyme and Mass General Hospital. Since undergrad, Tiana has been fixing the healthcare system as a Product Innovator at athenahealth, a cloud-based software/service for medical practices. She is an avid ice-cream eater and enjoys participating in endurance events such as the Tough Mudder.

Anthony Chiu

Co-chair

Anthony Chiu is a fourth year PhD student in the Sharp Lab at the Koch Institute of Cancer Research at MIT. He is very interested in the process of taking discoveries made in labs to help improve the lives of patients. He is currently investigating the functions of noncoding RNAs and how they are produced using genomic technologies. Previously, he worked on generating induced pluripotent stem cells and pancreatic beta cells at Mount Sinai Hospital in Toronto. He received his BSc from the University of Toronto, specializing in Molecular Genetics. He is an amateur songwriter on the side and enjoys cooking something fancy when he has time.

Shai Assia

Logistics, VP; Panel, Contributor

Shai is a second-year fellow at the MIT Leaders for Global Operations program (MBA + MS in Bioengineering). Prior to MIT, Shai hold several positions at IOPtima Ltd., which develops and manufactures innovative surgical treatments for glaucoma. He recently spent 6 months at Novartis' Biopharmaceutical Operations (Basel, Switzerland), developing an optimization model for tactical planning of Drug Substance production. Shai has a BS in Bio-Medical Engineering from Tel-Aviv University in Israel, his hometown. When not in the office, he is an outdoor adventures addict, showing no signs of wanting to rehabilitate.

Juan Chen

Marketing, VP

Juan is a second year MBA student at MIT Sloan School of Management. Prior to MIT, Juan obtained experiences in R&D, clinical trials, regulatory affairs, and strategy. She graduated from Indiana University with M.S. in Biochemistry and worked as a researcher at Massachusetts General Hospital. In 2011, Juan transitioned to a leadership role in a Chinese biotechnology company. She created and implemented the compan's first international expansion strategy and achieved $1M revenue within one year. At Sloan, she is actively involved in the healthcare club and organized the 2013 Sloan Healthcare Case Competition. Juan enjoys playing poker, swimming, and reading during her free time.

Patricia Chen

Poster Session, VP

Patti is a first year MBA student at MIT Sloan and completed her undergraduate degree in Economics at Wellesley College. Before coming to Sloan, Patti worked for BNP Paribas in New York City, where she supported credit and debt sales for Fortune 100 healthcare and consumer companies. Prior, she originated credit deals and assessed risk for the same healthcare and consumer clients at Bank of America Merrill Lynch. She is interested in transitioning from a career financing healthcare companies into the corporate world of biotech. She is thrilled to have the opportunity to be part of the healthcare community at MIT.

Renjie Cheng

Panel, VP

Renjie Cheng is a first-year MBA student at the MIT Sloan School of Management. Prior to Sloan, Renjie worked at ZS Associates Shanghai Office, helping pharmaceutical and medical device companies address challenges in sales force effectiveness and commercial excellence. She was involved in projects ranging from sales force sizing and structure, incentive compensation, organizational design, to pipeline product forecasting and distributor management. She is especially interested in innovative commercial model and portfolio management for emerging markets. Renjie earned a Bachelor of Science in Statistics from Fudan University.

Shirly Josef Geller

Panel, VP

Shirly is a first-year MBA student at MIT Sloan School of Management. Prior to MIT, Shirly held several positions in marketing and R&D at Procter & Gamble in the Health Care division. While focusing on Oral Care, she was improving the way we use and conceive oral hygiene. Prior to that, Shirly was working at a startup company developing a revolutionary device for treating calcified heart valves. Shirly has an MSc and BSc cum laude in Bio-Medical Engineering from Tel-Aviv University in Israel, her hometown. In her spare time, she volunteers with children in remote countries, and loves experimenting new types of extreme sport.

Anita Kalathil

Panel, Contributor

Anita is a first year MBA student at MIT Sloan and completed her undergraduate degree in Chemical Engineering at UC Berkeley with concentration in biotechnology. Before coming to Sloan, Anita worked for Procter and Gamble in Cincinnati, OH in their engineering division, designing equipment and manufacturing processes to bring new products to market, and generally making the world a cleaner, softer place. She is most interested in leveraging her initiative delivery experience and coming back to biotech. She is excited to be a part of the vibrant MIT Healthcare community and looks forward to helping on the BioInnovations conference and setting up Treks for the club.

Ruidong Kang

Sponsorship, VP

Ruidong Kang is a Master of Finance Candidate from MIT Sloan. Before coming to Sloan, Ruidong graduated with a Bachelor's degree in Economics from Nanjing University in China, and did her internship in Standard Chartered, Bank of China and Tianhe Consulting. Currently, she is collaborating with an entrepreneurship team working on a healthcare innovation product called Find My Nurse. With a background in corporate finance and passion for healthcare, Ruidong hopes to leverage her knowledge and experience in business and finance to create value for better healthcare.

Thomas Martz

Poster Session, VP

Thomas is a first year MBA student at MIT Sloan. Prior to Sloan, Thomas worked as a Senior Consultant in Deloitte's Life Sciences Strategy practice, where he assessed market opportunities in scientific and technological areas spanning research, informatics, and clinical development. Before Deloitte, Thomas worked in multiple roles across biopharmaceutical research at Biogen Idec and Novartis. Thomas earned his B.S. in Biochemistry at Boston College. He is an active member of the Entrepreneurship & Innovation and Healthcare Clubs at Sloan, and is interested in identifying new scientific opportunities to apply within the healthcare space.

Ben Merewitz

Panel, VP

Ben Merewitz is an MBA candidate at MIT Sloan with a focus on Entrepreneurship and Innovation. He currently serves as the Chief of Sales and Marketing for Agile Devices, a medical device technology venture developing an improved microcatheter. Ben worked for PHOTON Consulting covering the solar power sector and serving supply chain management teams, investors and other industry stakeholders. Prior to solar, Ben worked in product development for PureSense, an agricultural water efficiency start-up, and before that, drove equity research efforts for a metals and mining portfolio team at Wellington Management. He graduated with a B.A. in Psychology from Amherst College.

Runjhun Srivastava

Marketing, VP

Runjhun is a first year MBA student at the MIT Sloan School of Management. Prior to MIT, she obtained experience in biotechnology R&D - biotherapeutic drug development and nanomedicine engineering for vaccines and anticancer therapeutics. She graduated from Duke University with an M.S. in Biomedical Engineering and worked as a researcher at Los Angeles. At Sloan, Runjhun is actively involved with the healthcare club and is looking forward to being a member of the Marketing team for the BioInnovations conference. She hopes to continue making an impact in bringing transformational therapies to the market. She enjoys ocean kayaking and beach volleyball.

Xiaodi Sui

Sponsorship, VP; Panel, Contributor

Xiaodi Sui is a first-year fellow at the MIT Leader for Global Operations Program, where she is pursuing an MBA and Master of Science in Engineering Systems. Prior to MIT, she has 4 years work experience in high-tech industry including roles in product development, product management and manufacturing transfer from the U.S. to Singapore. She graduated from National University of Singapore with a bachelor degree in bioengineering in 2009. At Sloan, she is actively involved in healthcare and entrepreneurship.

Betsy Timbers

Marketing, VP

Betsy Timbers is a first-year MBA student at MIT Sloan School of Management. Prior to business school, she worked as a documentary film producer for clients ranging from Saturday Night Live to The Oprah Winfrey Network. Later, she ran her own production company, creating films for non-profits and startups. It was her work on a healthcare startup that sparked her passion for the industry and led her to business school where she hopes to launch a company that uses video to improve doctor-patient communication.

Jing Yang

Panel, Lead

Jing Yang is a first-year MBA student at the MIT Sloan School of Management. Prior to Sloan, Jing worked as a Finance Manager for American Express, where she focused on financial modeling and analytics for new and existing products. Jing earned a BA in Economics and a minor in Biology from University of Pennsylvania. Jing is very excited by all the changes that are taking place within the healthcare space, so she hopes to bring these exciting topics to the conference.