Scott was diagnosed with ulcerative colitis in 2009. He struggled with the related dietary issues and food intolerances from IBD, which drove him to found Nima. Nima is the world’s first portable gluten sensor, allowing people to test their food for gluten and determine if is contaminated. Designed to give everyone the ability to understand and control their health through diet and to provide peace of mind at mealtime, Nima has been recognized as one of Time Magazine’s Best Inventions. It will launch a peanut sensor in 2018, and will expand to other contaminants and allergens, ike pesticides and dairy in the future. Scott was awarded Forbes Magazine’s 30 Under 30 award for his work with Nima.

Brett Tripp is the owner of Tripp Design, a design and 3D printing company in Ann Arbor, Michigan. Brett was diagnosed with Crohn’s disease at a young age and has been a patient advocate ever since. Frustrated with the lack of customizable options when it came to wearable medical devices to manage IBD, Brett created his own medical device using his design expertise. Using the small space in his garage, he started 3D printing custom ostomy wafers. He took this initial prototype to his physician and the idea launched from there. Brett now makes custom 3D printed wearable medical products for patients at the University of Michigan Hospital.

Dan is a health care entrepreneur whose passion is using new technologies to improve people’s health. He is personally committed to improving the lives of people with IBD because his mother suffers from the disease. Dan started his career commercializing new technologies at Stanford University’s Office of Technology Licensing. Later, Dan helped launch two early-stage technology startups and served as Business Development Director for Mount Sinai Medical Center securing partnerships in the digital health space. In 2014, Dan co-founded and served as COO of Cohero Health, Inc., which brought to market one of the world’s first connected digital health solutions for people with asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). Dan now is the CEO of Oshi Health, a digital platform revolutionizing the management and treatment of IBD.

Samuel Wagner is a founder of Batu Biologics and has served as its President and Chief Executive Officer since January of 2014. Mr. Wagner studied engineering at an honors level at the University of California at San Diego, but pursued an entrepreneurial path. Following a successful series of investments in various ventures, Mr. Wagner took a strong interest in biotechnology, where he is self-taught. He has since connected with leading biotechnology minds in San Diego and spearheaded their collaboration while garnering significant private investment. Mr. Wagner hopes to improve the lives of patients with devastating diseases by organizing and leading teams of highly qualified individuals to develop innovative therapeutics. He further seeks to utilize the success of Batu Biologics and future endeavors to drive his thirst for scientific entrepreneurship, and to give back to the communities that inspire him.

Massimo is CEO and Co-founder at Cellply. After 10 years of research experience on microelectronics and microsystems for life science applications, in 2013 he co-founded Cellply with the aim to improve cancer patient survival by developing innovative in-vitro diagnostics solutions. Massimo is a Fulbright scholar. In 2009, he obtained a grant from the Fulbright Commission for a period of study and work in Silicon Valley, where he worked at Nodality Inc., one of the most promising startup companies in the field of personalized medicine. Previously, he served as the CTO at Mindseeds Laboratories, a startup accelerator, and as a consultant at STMicroelectronics. In 2011, he co- founded the Italian Institute for Entrepreneurship, a non-profit organization promoting initiatives for the growth of an entrepreneurship-based ecosystem in Italy. Massimo holds a Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering from the University of Bologna and a Technology Entrepreneurship Certificate from the Leavey School of Business, Santa Clara University, CA. He is inventor of 6 patents and patent families and author of 30 publications appeared on international scientific journals and conference proceedings.

Walid Al-Akkad is an entrepreneur scientist with a background in genetics and tissue engineering and a co-founder of two biotechnology companies. He is the CEO of Orgadel Ltd, whose innovations include topically applied insulin and vaccines. He is also the head of bioengineering and program lead for 3D platforms for oncology and immunotherapy at Engitix Ltd, a company specializing in tissue engineering for disease modelling and regenerative medicine.

Walid kick-started his career at Manchester University, where he obtained his Bachelor’s degree with honours in Genetics. He came into his own as an innovator when he moved to London, where during his Master’s degree in nanotechnology and regenerative medicine at University College London (UCL), he pioneered a now patented technique for rapid and effective decellularisation of human tissue. Having developed a taste for translational medicine, he decided to continue further in his academic career and is currently finalizing his Ph.D. in Regenerative Medicine at UCL.

Gitte is a scientist/CEO with a mission to cure cancer. Gitte started Genomic Expression together with her brother, Morten, after her parents were diagnosed with cancer. The company got off the ground as the diagnostic partner of a $32M “Genome Denmark” project, and she then raised money to establish an independent lab in Boston. Gitte’s dream team to cure cancer has tons of start-up experience ranging from genomics to commercial launch of drugs. The unpleasant truth is that only one out of four cancer treatments prolong life. To help rectify this, Genomic Expression finds the best drug for the patient and the best patient for the drug by sequencing RNA, which is like the software of the cell, instead of focusing on DNA, which is like the hard disk. RNA analysis can show if a tumor will respond to new immune therapies, which are the only kind of therapies that offer a potential cure. Genomic Expression reinvented the business model to generate revenue while clinically validating its OneRNA™ platform, and has established four funded clinical programs aiming to introduce OneRNA™ into the standard of care. The concept is“test before you treat,” which will disrupt the current standard of care paradigm that treats 75% of patients without providing them with any benefits. Gitte has a degree in chemical engineering and previously worked for Novo Nordisk, which she left to start her own consulting company which advised the Danish government and a number of biotech companies. In this position, she has structured several deals with an aggregate value of +$1B. Gitte has raised +$6.5M in grants for Genomic Expression, closed +$1M in collaboration deals, and put the company into the top 10 of the XTC competition in 2016, at which Gitte was invited to pitch Richard Branson at Necker Island. She has also risen to the top of a number of other pitch competitions, including MedTech Top 50 Innovator 2017, #2in the Women’s Founders Pitch 2016, Top 5 diagnostic companies at the Molecular Tri-Conference 2016, and the Red Herring Top 100 2016.

Lorenzo is the Co-Founder & CEO of GreenBone Ortho srl, a startup founded in 2014 to develop a highly innovative wood-derived, biomimetic and re-absorbable bone implants to repair critical defects in load load bearing and non-loaded bones. Lorenzo has a background in Pharmacology and Business in Innovation, with more than 25 years experiences in R&D, Business Development and Venture Capital. He held various senior positions in multinational companies such as Zambon Group SpA and Cardinal Health Inc. General Manager of Zcube srl (Research Venture of Zambon Group) from 2008, Lorenzo established collaborations and investments with major universities hubs in Europe, United States and Israel, as well as with Mission Bay Capital and the California Institute for Quantitative Biosciences (QB3), headquartered on the UCSF Mission Bay campus. Board member of biotech start-ups, including SuppreMol GmbH acquired by Baxter International Inc. in 2015. President of Italy HealthCare Licensing Group (Italy HLG) 2010-2014.

Brianna Wolin is a passionate entrepreneur, biomedical engineer and food blogger. Find Your Ditto, FYD, began as a student project during her time at the University of Michigan, has earned Brianna several awards at the University as well as recognition by SPARK Ann Arbor, including a fully-funded entrepreneurial bootcamp experience and a commitment to continued guidance. Brianna has lived with Type 1 Diabetes and Celiac Disease the majority of her life. Her food blog, A Different Survival Guide, grew out of her need to cook all of her own low carb, gluten free meals unavailable in campus dining halls. Brianna is the Chief Executive officer of Find Your Ditto, responsible for engagement with universities and healthcare systems, marketing, legal matters, and company finances. Find Your Ditto is the only mobile platform that connects individuals living with the same chronic illness locally for on-demand, in-person peer support to mitigate feelings of loneliness and depression. Users can find their “dittos” and begin to feel like “it’s not just me.”

Charles O’Connell recognized the lack of guidance and support related to exercise and diabetes, and therefore founded FITSCRIPT.COM to help others with diabetes reach their fitness and diabetes goals.  In the fall of 2013, Charlie opened the FITSCRIPT Diabetes Fitness and Technology Center, a unique facility dedicated to developing multi-media content related to exercise, diabetes metrics, and integrated data from bio-metric devices. Through August of 2016, over 200,000 people living with diabetes around the world have utilized Fitscript’s GLUCOSEZONE program for exercise guidance and support, and thousands of exercise sessions have been performed in-person at the Fitscript Diabetes Fitness and Technology center. Diagnosed with Type 1 Diabetes at Yale New Haven Hospital in the fall of 1996, Charlie is a graduate of the University of Pennsylvania (’02) where he was a two-sport varsity athlete (Football and Track and Field), as well as high school All-American in Track and Field.