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Jonathan Aberman
Jonathan is a highly respected and valued thought leader on entrepreneurship and innovation.
His work as a venture investor, innovation consultant, university professor and media
commentator allows him to experience and connect the many threads of entrepreneurship
and technology innovation. He is currently a Partner in Ruxton Ventures a seed stage
venture capital investment company located in the Washington, DC region. Jonathan is also an
academic expert on innovation and entrepreneurship, and he is currently a Visting Executive
In Residence at John Cabot University in Rome, and was most recently the founding Dean of
Marymount University’s College of Business Innovation, Leadership and Technology. He has
been a policy advisor on innovation and economic development at the federal, state and local
level, and his activities in this area include advising the Obama Administration on Innovation
policy, assisting the Department of Defense and DARPA in reaching non traditional sources of
innovation, and authoring many research papers and reports on economic development for well-known
national interest groups. His life science experiences include service as a Board member of the
Virginia Biotechnology Association, advising Governor Mark Warner on the development of a biotechnology
industry in the Commonwealth of Virginia and serving as an advisor to many medical device,
biotechnology and healthcare startups. When not working Jonathan is the host of a national
radio show/podcast “What’s Working in Washington” and the lead guitarist of Two Car Living Room.
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Maria Balestriero
Maria is an IP lawyer. She focuses on patents and trade secrets, in particular in the Life Sciences sector.
She has more than 20 years’ experience in dispute resolution both in Italy and in complex transnational
cases in various sectors, including the chemical-pharmaceutical and biotechnology fields,
as well as telecommunications, design, fashion, and luxury goods. She has successfully
worked on numerous cases before the Court of Justice of the European Union, as well as
administrative procedures before the European Union Intellectual Property Office (EUIPO),
the European Patent Office (EPO), and the Italian Patent and Trademark Office (UIBM). She is.
Unified Patent Court (UPC) Representative. Maria also assists clients with licensing, technology and knowhow transfers,
privative transfers, distribution, coexistence, confidentiality, and protection of trade secrets.
Her experience also includes trademarks, design, unfair competition, and copyright. She currently serves
as secretary of the IP and Antitrust Commission of the Milan Bar Association. She is also a member of
the Licensing Executives Society (LES) Italy, the European Patent Litigation Association (EPLIT), and
the Chiefs in Intellectual Property (ChIPs) network. She is ranked in the IAM Patent 1000 2024 in the
“Individuals: Litigation” category. She has co-authored numerous publications, and she has written
widely and incisively on the Unified Patent Court.
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Silvia Carnini Pulino
Silvia received her MA in Modern Languages and Literature from Oxford University,
and her MBA from the Harvard Business School. Grounded in her international
experience in investment banking, in Europe and in South America, she then explored
entrepreneurship for over 20 years in multiple geographies, contexts, and roles,
including founding and running her own telecommunications company, being an
intrapreneur at ThermoElectron in the US, and a consultant for entrepreneurs
getting ready to internationalize their operations. She then put her experience
to the service of education, becoming associate professor of business administration
at John Cabot University, where she developed and taught multiple courses at the
cross-roads of entrepreneurship and finance. She also founded and directed the
university's Institute for Entrepreneurship, and is currently the director of
the Frank J. Guarini School of Business. Silvia lives in Rome and enjoys helping others
shape and then realize their ambitions.
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Antonella De Gregori
Antonella is a partner of Bird&Bird with a broad experience in Italian and
European intellectual property law as European and Italian patent attorney.
She has assisted clients in contentious and non-contentious patent and design-related
matters and provides specialist knowledge of the chemicals and pharma sectors,
drawing from her wide-ranging experience of Italian and European intellectual
property law. With an in depth knowledge of patent proceedings, she has expertise in
obtaining patents, defending and opposing patents in opposition procedures before the
European Patent Office and in nullity suits before the Italian Courts. Over the years
she has built substantial experience in Opposition and Appeal procedures before the
European Patent Office, attending and successfully conducting an amazing number of
hearings. She has considerable experience in handling patent and design portfolios,
providing advice and opinions on design infringement and on patent infringement or
patent validity in the chemicals sector, most notably in the area of organic and
pharmaceutical chemistry, as well as in other fields including surfactants, food,
oils and polymers. After working as an Italian and European patent attorney for 20
years and in the last five years as patent department manager in her previous firm,
she joined Bird & Bird in Italy in 2011 as Italian and European patent attorney.
In 2015, she obtained the qualification of European Patent Litigator in view of future
practice before UPC Court.
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Ilaria Curti
Ilaria leads the Investigations and White Collar Crime Group of Portolano Cavallo.
She focuses on criminal investigations assisting clients on white collar crime,
corporate criminal liability, compliance, and whistleblowing, especially for
clients in the Life Sciences sector. She also advises on crisis management and ESG matters,
focusing on the control of the supply chain. She also has specific expertise in the area
of trade compliance, assisting leading multinational groups on complex export control
issues. Ilaria is ranked by Chambers Europe 2024 for the Compliance and the White
Collar Crime areas. She is the author and co-author of numerous publications in her
areas of expertise and is a regular speaker or lecturer at seminars, conferences and
specialist courses on corporate criminal law. She is a member of the Women’s White Collar
Defense Association (WWCDA) and the International Bar Association (IBA).
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Michael Labriola
Michael Labriola is a partner based in Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati's London office,
where he counsels public and private technology, life sciences, and emerging growth companies
through all stages of their growth. Michael has a particular focus on supporting
companies that undertake transformative events, such as growth financings, IPOs, acquisitions,
and exit sales. He counsels clients in matters ranging from formation and early-stage venture
financing to listings of publicly traded securities on U.S. and foreign exchanges to seasoned
public offerings and private and public company acquisitions. He also has considerable experience
in counseling publicly held companies on disclosure matters, SEC compliance, NASDAQ and NYSE
listing matters, and other securities laws issues. In addition, Michael frequently represents
investment banks, venture capital funds, and private equity firms in a broad range of investment
transactions. Prior to joining the London office, Michael was resident in the Washington, D.C.,
office, where he supported Wilson Sonsini's clients across the U.S. East Coast and Europe. Prior
to his legal career, Michael was a certified public accounting in the assurance practices of Arthur
Andersen and Ernst & Young, where he audited public, private, and not-for-profit entities in several
sectors, including telecommunications and technology.
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Lotta Parviainen
Dr. Lotta Parviainen received her MSc in Clinical Biochemistry from
Kuopio University, Finland, and her PhD in neuroscience from the Kings
College London, UK. Lotta started her career in drug discovery, research
and development focusing on the CNS and rare lysosomal storage disorders.
Subsequently, she moved to market access, pricing & reimbursement, and
commercial leadership by working in various international consulting companies
(Paraxel, Evidera and Creativ-Ceuticals) and specialty pharmaceutical companies
(Diurnal and Neurocrine Biosciences company). Currently, she works as the Head
of Global Market Access at Zambon. She has experience in new drug launches in a
range of therapy fields, rare and orphan disease, as well as medicines developed
exclusively for use in the paediatric population. Lotta loves working within
market access and being part of cross-functional collaboration ensuring that
life-changing health products and medicines reach the people who need them most.
She is also a passionate snowboarder and cross-country skier.
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Alice Ravizza
Alice has a background in biomedical engineering. Alice is
an expert in the certification of innovative medical devices
and a seasoned business angel, she has actively contributed
to projects focusing on the development and certification of medical
devices across various medical domains, with a particular emphasis
on digital medicine.
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Elizabeth Shea
Elizabeth became the Division President of REQ in May of 2024
after it was acquired in July of 2023 by private-equity backed
Agital. Elizabeth came to REQ through the strategic acquisition
of her public relations and content firm, SpeakerBox Communications,
in 2019. Over five years, she led growth initiatives and doubled
her team size. With 30+ years of active involvement in the technology
and entrepreneurial ecosystem, Elizabeth supports the company's
clients with strategic communications direction and counsel.
Elizabeth co-founded the Technology Marketing Alliance in 2006
and serves as its board chair, bringing together technology CMOs
to share, advocate, and inform on industry best practices.
She also serves on the board of MindShare, an invitation-only,
member-based organization of CEOs as they partake in their first
startup entrepreneurial journey, and is the chair of The Leadership
Foundry, a nonprofit organization dedicated to support women’s
ascension to a role of corporate board service. Elizabeth is also a
member of the Forbes Communications Council where she contributes
insights on public relations and strategic communications trends.
Elizabeth holds a BS in marketing from Santa Clara University. She
resides in Northern VA and is a foster parent to Labrador Retrievers,
with now two "foster-fails" that are a part of her family.
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Laura Sonzogni
Laura works at Bird&Bird as an Italian and European Patent Attorney for
several Italian and foreign companies in the biotechnological and
pharmaceutical fields. Her long experience in research, both in academic
laboratories and in biotechnological companies leaders in the sector,
together with the knowledge of Italian and European patent laws, has allowed
her to better understand the details of the research and the inventions
proposed by the researchers, helping them to transform their inventions into
strong patents all over the world. She has extensive experience in the
management of patent portfolios in Italy and abroad, working both within
private companies and as an external consultant. She also provided assistance
to clients for due diligences and in drafting opinions on patents validity
and interference, mainly in the biotechnological, nutraceutical and
pharmaceutical fields. During her work experience she assisted clients
as a technical consultant in various judicial proceedings before the
most representative Italian courts and she participated as assistant
in drafting various expert witness reports (CTU) in the biotechnology sector.
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Carly Speranza
Dr. Carly Speranza is a Global Leadership Consultant, Speaker, Coach
and Principal Owner of her company Speranza Leadership Solutions.
She also serves as an Adjunct Faculty member at Creighton University
where she instructs in their Leadership Ed.D. Program, and an Adjunct
Faculty Member at Indiana Tech University where she instructs in their
Global Leadership Ph.D. Program. Previously she was the Associate Dean of
the College of Strategic Intelligence and Associate Professor of National
Security and Leadership Studies at the National Intelligence University, an
accredited federal university, in Washington DC. She is a retired Lieutenant
Colonel from the U.S. Air Force where she served on active-duty as an Intelligence
Officer for over 20 years. Over the course of her career, she has served in an
academic capacity at five universities and deployed across the globe eight
times with the military, to include South America, the Middle East, Europe,
and Korea in support of multiple war and crisis operations. She has published
over 15 works and has been invited to speak at multiple universities, corporate
events, and academic conferences across the globe on a range of leadership topics
to include cross-cultural collaboration, expatriate leadership, and organizational
behavior and trust.
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Alberta Spreafico
Alberta is a global health strategist, policy expert and advisor and digital health thought leader with 10+ years of experience working at the intersection of industry and academia.
She co-founded and directed multiple health innovation programs worldwide, effectively integrating digital health technologies across healthcare systems.
As SVP of Health Innovation at Eversana-Intouch, Alberta leads health innovation advisory programs enabling co-ideation, scouting and development, commercialization and system readiness.
She is also Knowledge Partner of the Digital Therapeutics Alliance on DTx Policies in Europe; member of the External Advisory board of the HealthData@EU Project and
a TedX speaker on enhancing access to quality care worldwide. Alberta is also Adjuct Professor of Development Economics and Social Policies at the University of Pavia (Italy).
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Jovan Stevovic
Jovan Stevovic, CEO and co-founder of Chino.io, a company offering a unique
combination of legal and tech expertise, and tech solutions to help digital
health companies solve data protection challenges. Jovan has over a decade of
experience in the health IT industry, including his PhD work in healthcare,
innovation and data protection, which led to setting up Chino.io. He holds a
PhD in Computer Science at the International Doctoral School of the University
of Trento in collaboration with GPI Spa, a large company working in the healthcare
sector in Italy. His research activity covered design and development of
services in the healthcare and welfare domain considering privacy, security
and regulatory compliance requirements. He has different research publications
on topics such as privacy and healthcare data management, business process design
and management, IT systems architectures and interoperability. He has a patent
application together with researchers from HPLabs, Palo Alto, California, USA, on
compliance-aware medical record sharing in cloud environments. As a founder of
Chino.io he helps health tech companies and entrepreneurs to understand and solve
the data protection challenges that are on their roadmap to success.
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Angela Suthrave
Angela received her B.S. in Dietetics and worked as a Registered Dietitian (RD) and Certified Diabetes Educator (CDE). She transitioned into product management after getting her MBA from University of Maryland.
Angela contributed to the growth of companies like Evolent Health (series B to IPO) and Somatus (series B to series E), specializing in tools for healthcare service organizations and population health.
Now serving as VP of Product Management at Accolade, a personalized healthcare company for employers, health plans, government agencies, and consumers, she oversees products for the front-line care team,
including primary care providers, specialists, nurses, dietitians, pharmacists, and care advocates. She also advises seed stage and series A startups in product management and go-to-market strategy.
Finally, Angela co-hosts Concept to Care, a podcast to foster a community of innovators and entrepreneurs in health tech, sharing insights to enhance healthcare delivery. Angela lives in Washington DC and enjoys reading, gardening, and spending time with her husband and two boys.
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Lisa Throckmorton
As REQ’s Executive Vice President, Lisa Throckmorton oversees
day-to-day operations, marketing, and business development
for the Public Relations team. Lisa brings creativity and strategy
to her work giving voice to innovative organizations and companies,
helping them stand out from their competitors. She brings a keen
understanding of clients’ markets, growth mechanisms, and measures
of success to help them own their stories and realize their visions.
She serves on Radford University’s Board of Visitors, the Advisory Board
for Radford University’s College of Humanities and Behavioral Science,
Board of Directors for the Bethesda-Chevy Chase High School Educational
Foundation, the Advisory Council for the Vinetta Project DC, and the
Organizing Board of MindShare. In 2017, Lisa was named to Washingtonian
Magazine's “Top 100 Tech Titans” as well as the Techweek 100 for DC.
Lisa holds a BA in English from Radford University. Currently, she resides
in Northern VA with her husband Josh and their English Bulldog Scherzer.
Outside of work, she loves live music, DC sports, cooking, and running
vacations with her friends.
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Marie Helene
Marie Helene brings 20 years of experience in the MedTech and Consulting industries most recently with Livanova,
a medical device company headquartered in London. She was the VP of Global Strategic Marketing for the Cardiopulmonary business unit,
overseeing the business's product and service strategy as well as its branding and communications strategy.
In the role, she enabled the transformation of the business from a hardware organization to one driven by software and service solutions.
Prior to Livanova, Marie Helene worked at Danaher in its Dental platform, in positions of increasing responsibility in marketing and general management.
In her last assignment, she was General Manager of the Endodontic business unit overseeing its business strategy, R&D teams and marketing initiatives.
Marie Helene has earned a BA in International Relations from Brown University and an MBA in Marketing and Finance from the Kellogg School of Management.
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Edoardo Lucini
Edoardo is a Consultant operating in the field of the corporate finance, coaching and mentoring
for the private companies (especially Healthcare SMEs). My role is to follow the clients,
especially Italian and European SMEs (Small and Medium Entreprises). I help in finding the right
strategy, developing a specific business plan.This can help them in the development of the business.
During these years, I specialized myself in innovation for SMEs - innovative projects. I worked in
innovative projects and consortia of European SMEs. In these projects, I have collaborated also
with important research centers and universities in Europe. I helped the companies in the development
of their company’s vision and strategy. I helped the SMEs in all the activities of mentoring and partners
search for innovative projects.
I followed many companies in different innovative projects in the last years, mainly in these areas: medical;
ICT; Blue Economy; Renewable Energy; Transport; Advanced materials.
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Ángel González
Bachelor's degree in Biochemistry, MSc in Nutrition and Metabolism and PhD in Biotechnology from
Universitat Rovira i Virgili (URV), with 18 years of work experience in the field of biotechnology
research and technology transfer. He has been a professor in the Department of Chemical Engineering
at URV, and was in charge of launching a Technology-Based Company focused on diagnostic platform
development (ProteusDx), and was co-founder of 2 other start-ups TGNSmart UP and WOW School.
Since 2018, he has worked in various areas of Inspiralia, specifically in start-up funding access,
primarily in the SME Instrument and EIC Accelerator programs, where he currently serves as the Health Manager.
Testimonials
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Rachel Bartholomew
Rachel Bartholomew has been involved in the start up community for the
past 15 years working in various roles in small businesses, venture capital,
innovation labs and ecosystem partnerships. She is currently working on her
second business, Hyivy Health, focused on creating a medical device for
women with pelvic floor conditions after her own cervical cancer battle
in 2019. Her last start up, an automotive ecommerce software, worked with
large corporate clients, such as eBay and Canadian Tire. She is a graduate
of the Masters of Business, Entrepreneurship and Technology program at the
University of Waterloo and after graduation, she became an entrepreneurial
advisor to over 250 formation stage businesses. She has worked as a professor
in entrepreneurship for quantum computing, an Analyst for a venture capital
firm, an Innovation Manager at a large Canadian Financial Institution and helped
restart Laurier University’s incubator program. She is the Founder of Femtech
Canada and a Professor at Toronto Metropolitan University in Biotech Innovation.
![](/static/images/faculty/Daniel_Fero.jpg)
Daniel Fero
Dan is a co-founder and Managing Director at OMX Ventures, a U.S.
based early stage venture capital fund. Dan has over 18 years of
experience in venture capital investing, life science strategy
consulting, and biomedical research to the team, including deep expertise
in early-stage company building and investing. Prior to co-founding OMX
Ventures in 2020, Dan was a Principal on the venture capital team with
Merieux Equity Partners. He also spent 5 years with L.E.K. Consulting in
their life sciences strategy consulting team. Dan holds a PhD in Biomedical
Sciences from U.C. San Diego, and a Bachelor’s degree in biology from Rhode Island College.
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Anula Jayasuriya
Anula is a private equity executive and venture capitalist. She co-founded Kidron Capital,
an early-stage venture fund focused on catalyzing innovation, entrepreneurship and investment
in Women’s Health. Prior to that, she founded EXXclaim Capital, also focused on the
theme of closing the gap and accelerating the health of women. Previously, Anula
co-founded the “Evolvence India Life Science Fund”, the first fund in India to
focus on health care and invest in Indian pharmaceutical, biotechnology, medical device
and contract services companies. She was a partner with Skyline Ventures in Palo Alto,
and with the German/US venture capital firm TVM, in San Francisco. Her prior positions
include VP Business Development at Genomics Collaborative Inc., and Vice President, Global
Drug Development at Hoffman-La Roche for opportunistic infections in AIDS and Transplantation.
Anula received a BA from Harvard, and an MD and PhD in Microbiology and Molecular Genetics from
Harvard Medical School and an MBA from Harvard Business School, as well as a M. Phil. in
pharmacology from the University of Cambridge, in England.
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Dominnique Karetsos
Dominnique Karetsos is CEO and Co-Founder of Healthy Pleasure Group,
the first and only global professional services company dedicated to the sexual health &
technology industry. Dominnique leverages over 20 years’ experience spanning 40+ markets,
collaborating with major brands (Intimina, L’Oréal Maybelline, MysteryVibe and O’Boticario)
reshaping and reengineering brand strategy for profitability. Coupled with a career-long nurtured
talent for pinpointing trends and predicting market change, she has become an established
authority in the sexual health and technology industry acting as an investor, advisor and
global brand expert to guide startups, market leaders and challenger brands in increasing
market share, expanding distribution channels and maximising investment opportunities.
Dominnique has served as a UN Delegate for CSW65 and the Future of Innovation, a humbling
experience understanding the fabric of global pain points echoed in each country’s socio-political system.
As a born leader, she foresaw the need for investment as a key driver of business growth in the industry.
This led her to co-establish the first investment fund dedicated to investing in sexual health and women’s
health technology businesses, Amboy Street Ventures, where she also holds a seat as General Partner.
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Inbal Zafir-Lavie
Dr. Zafir-Lavie completed her PhD in 2010 at the Technion, in antibody engineering
and cancer immunology. Upon completing her PhD, Dr. Zafir-Lavie worked at Bio-Rad
R&D site. Next, Dr. Zafir-Lavie joined Aevi Genomic Medicine as a team leader for
the development of the antibody gene-therapy platform and later as Head of Israel
R&D Site. Later, she relocated to Philadelphia, PA USA to work as a Senior Scientist
collaborating with the Center of Applied Genomics (CAG) at Children’s Hospital of
Philadelphia (CHOP). In her work in the USA, Dr. Zafir-Lavie developed innovative
diagnostic assays and cutting-edge therapeutics for autoimmune diseases. Upon returning
from the USA, Dr. Zafir-Lavie worked for Merck group as a senior scientist where she
was responsible for transferring innovative projects from the academy to the industry
towards IND. In 2020 Inbal joined Nevia Bio as CEO and co-founder. Inbal is leading
Nevia Bio to develop a Machine-Learning enabled home-use platform for early detection
of ovarian cancer and additional women related diseases. Inbal is an Advisory Board
member at the Arizona State University program for Clinical Research Management and
Regulatory Science, a member of the 8400-health network, and a Mass Challenge winner.
Throughout her career, Dr. Zafir-Lavie is seeking to use deep science and out-of-the-box
thinking to promote translational work, which will prolong patients’ lives.
Dr. Zafir-Lavie is keen to promote technologies for improving women’s health.