Oct. 15, 2026
9 a.m. – 12 p.m.
Alex Gorsky is the former Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Johnson & Johnson. He began his Johnson & Johnson career as a sales representative in 1988, advancing through positions of increasing responsibility across business units, geographies, and divisions. In 2012, he became the seventh leader to serve in the dual role of Chairman and CEO. He became Executive Chairman at the end of 2021, which he held until his retirement in January 2023.
As part of the company’s commitment to serving more than a billion people each day, Alex oversaw significant breakthroughs in their Pharmaceutical, Medical Device, and Consumer portfolios. Additionally, throughout Alex’s tenure, Johnson & Johnson consistently earned recognition for its innovation, effective management, and strong global reputation.
Through his work as a member of the Business Roundtable and the Business Council Executive Committees, Alex’s influence has shaped both the healthcare landscape and the greater business community. He currently sits on the Board of Directors of Apple, IBM, JPMorgan Chase, the Cleveland Clinic, and the Travis Manion Foundation, and serves on the Board of Advisors, Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania. He is also the April and Jay Graham Fellow at the George W. Bush Institute.
He also works with companies across the healthcare and technology landscape as a General Partner with Iconiq Capital and as the Co-Founder of the Alderline Group. Alex completed his undergraduate education at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point and earned his MBA from Wharton in 1996.
Neil C. Sheppard, DPhil (Oxon) is a cell therapy leader focused on translating engineered immune cell platforms into early clinical development. His work centers on NK and T cell CAR-based therapies, with an emphasis on improving efficacy, persistence, and manufacturability. His expertise spans translational strategy, cell engineering, and GMP-aligned process development in complex clinical and regulatory settings. At the University of Pennsylvania Center for Cellular Immunotherapies, he leads programs at the interface of academic innovation and clinical translation within a leading cell therapy ecosystem. He previously held Executive Director-level roles in biotech, leading cross-functional teams and programs internationally. He is a member of several Scientific Advisory Boards, and co-founder of a UPenn spinout focused on cell therapy manufacturing.
Ren is an accomplished executive with over 25 years of experience in the life sciences industry. He started as a bench scientist, holding roles in QC and Discovery at Medarex, Centocor, and Janssen where he established the polychromatic flow cytometry and cell sorting Core facility. He is an expert in cellular analysis and validation of flow-based immunoassays for safety and efficacy assessment of biologics and cell therapies. He has co-authored over 30 peer-reviewed manuscripts and a book chapter on the “Application of Flow Cytometry in Drug Development”. He is co-inventor of several patents.
Ren founded and was chief executive officer of FlowMetric Inc., the first contract research organization dedicated to flow cytometry-based services for translational and clinical trial drug development. He oversaw the formation of FlowMetric Life Sciences with the addition and growth of a European subsidiary, FlowMetric Europe, and FlowMetric Diagnostics, a CLIA-certified, CAP-accredited high-complexity clinical lab. In 2022, after twelve years of solid organic growth, led the acquisition of FlowMetric and FlowMetric Europe to KCAS/ Vitruvian Partners.
Ren now leads the team at Incite Health Inc, where addressing unmet needs in clinical services, LDT development and support and data transfer are prioritized.
Ren earned his undergraduate degree in Biology from Villanova University. He currently is Chairman of the Board of FlowMetric Life Sciences and sits on the Board of Neumann University. He has also held Board positions for Atrin Therapeutics and iPraxis, a not-for-profit organization dedicated to providing exposure of STEM education to minority students.
Lillian is President and CEO of Evrys Bio, an innovator biotech started at the Bucks County Biotech Center in 2013. The Company is developing broad-spectrum antiviral therapeutics that engage the infected host-cell’s immunity to defend against viral infection without the emergence of drug resistance; the same cellular immunity is important for the control of tumor cells and Evrys is extending its pipeline to the treatment of cancer. Dr. Chiang’s career experience has been focused on translating state-of-the-art bench science to benefit patients in need. She has an extensive track record to discover and successfully de-risk the scientific, technical, clinical, and business aspects of early-stage small molecule drugs across the fields of neurobiology, cancer, and infectious disease. As a serial entrepreneur, she has on multiple occasions developed therapeutic assets in a small business environment, obtaining government grants and contracts from multiple different disease institutes at the National Institute of Health (NIH) and the War Department; at a previous company, she progressed a neuropathic pain analgesic to successful completion of clinical phase 2 proof of concept using government funding. With her stewardship, Evrys Bio has obtained and executed on over $50 M in non-dilutive government grants and contracts to bring forth first-in-class broad-spectrum host-targeted antivirals. Indeed, E-V-R-Y-S stands for the company’s mission…not just one virus…but ultimately every virus. Lillian has served as scientific advisor to the NIH AViDD program to develop direct-acting antivirals for pandemic preparedness; she currently serves as board director for the Hepatitis B Foundation. B.S., MIT; PhD, U. Wisconsin; Postdoc, Stanford; MBA, Wharton.
Oren Gilad, PhD, has served as Chief Executive Officer of Aprea Therapeutics since July 2022 and as President and a member of its Board of Directors since May 2022. He brings extensive biotechnology experience, with demonstrated leadership in building, financing, and advancing drug development programs across multiple stages. Prior to joining Aprea, Dr. Gilad was the founding President and CEO of Atrin Pharmaceuticals, guiding the company from initial concept through the successful development of its pipeline of anti-cancer therapies, ultimately leading to its acquisition by Aprea Therapeutics.
Under his leadership, multiple development programs progressed from discovery through IND-enabling studies and into clinical trials, particularly focusing on targeted therapy and precision medicine in oncology. Previously, Dr. Gilad spent 13 years in academia, publishing numerous high-impact scientific articles, including seminal research highlighting the ATR pathway as a critical target in cancer therapy. He holds a Ph.D. from the University of California, Davis, and conducted postdoctoral research at the University of Pennsylvania.
Allen B. Reitz, PhD, is Chairman of Fox Chase Therapeutics Discovery, Inc. (FCTDI), a PABC Doylestown, Pennsylvania-based small-molecule drug discovery company he founded in 2008. Under his direction, FCTDI has synthesized nearly 20,000 new chemical entities and advanced three into human clinical trials, including troriluzole (licensed to Biohaven Pharmaceuticals). Dr. Reitz holds a Ph.D. in Chemistry from UC San Diego and an M.S. in Management of Technology from the University of Pennsylvania (Wharton). He built his early career at Johnson & Johnson Pharmaceutical Research & Development, the R.W. Johnson Pharmaceutical Research Institute, and Janssen Research Foundation. He is the author of more than 180 peer-reviewed publications (H-index 50, over 13,300 citations) and the inventor of 92 issued U.S. patents spanning CNS therapeutics, oncology, virology, and antibacterials, with research spanning target validation, hit-to-lead and lead optimization chemistry, structure-based and AI/ML-driven drug design, and PROTAC/molecular-glue degrader approaches. He is the Founding Editor-in-Chief of Current Topics in Medicinal Chemistry, President and Co-Founder of the Pennsylvania Drug Discovery Institute, and has served as Principal Investigator on numerous NIH awards, including current grants targeting Alzheimer’s disease and TDP-43 biology, alongside honors such as the Timothy M. Block Biotech Impact Award (2024) and the Ned D. Heindel Award and Lectureship (2024).
Grant Castor is a biopharmaceutical executive, entrepreneur, and company builder with nearly two decades of leadership experience spanning business development, commercialization, strategy, finance, and operations across the biopharmaceutical and medical device industries. He currently serves as Executive Vice President and Chief Business & Commercial Officer at Sentynl Therapeutics, where he helps shape corporate and portfolio strategy, business development, and commercialization, with a focus on bringing therapies to patients with rare diseases and significant unmet needs.
Since joining Sentynl in 2015, Grant has been a member of the core leadership team responsible for scaling the organization through its successful acquisition by Zydus Lifesciences. He has helped build Sentynl into a global rare-disease business, expanding access to its therapies in more than 40 countries. His experience spans corporate and business development, portfolio strategy, commercialization, strategic transactions, licensing, and partnerships, with a focus on expanding the company’s rare-disease portfolio and driving long-term growth.
Prior to joining Sentynl, Grant led marketing operations for Amedra Pharmaceuticals and Lineage Therapeutics, which was successfully acquired by Impax Laboratories in 2015. Earlier in his career, he held a variety of commercial and operational leadership roles in the medical device industry, most notably leading U.S. operations and global marketing for an Israel-based medical technology company, where he helped commercialize a novel orthopedic device in more than 30 countries.
Beyond his corporate responsibilities, Grant is active in the broader life sciences ecosystem as an advisor, speaker, investor, entrepreneur, and advocate for patients with rare diseases. He is also a longtime volunteer firefighter with the Doylestown Fire Company and is actively involved in supporting his local community.
Grant holds a Bachelor of Science in International Business from Johnson & Wales University.