Mr. Gil-Ad brings more than 25 years of experience in management of large R&D projects. Prior to founding NovellusDx, Haim Gil-Ad was the CEO of Optigo Systems Ltd., a vertically integrated high-tech company developing technology-oriented products and a leader in electro-optical R&D that was acquired by the Elta Co. of Israel Aerospace Industries. Prior to joining Optigo, Mr. Gil-Ad pursued an extensive career with the Israeli Ministry of Defense (IMOD) as head of major international R&D and full-scale development programs. Mr. Gil-Ad earned a B.Sc. in Engineering from Tel-Aviv University and an MBA from Ben-Gurion University. He has twice been awarded the Israel National Quality Award.

From 2013, Jelena has been positioned as Acting Director of the Institute of Molecular Genetics and Genetic Engineering, at the University of Belgrade and from 2016 Head of the Laboratory for Molecular Microbiology, IMGGE.

Her research focus is on fundamental research in the field of molecular microbiology and also on the application of biotech in food and pharmaceutical industry. She has particular expertise in research related to lactic acid bacteria (LAB) and their probiotic potential and mechanisms of antibiotic resistance in different microorganisms. Jelena has published more than 50 papers in leading international journals in the field.

From 2013 she has been involved as a Lecturer in the Faculty of Pharmacy in a doctoral study program Microbiology and Immunology.

In 2016 she established the Technology Transfer Office in IMGGE and she is actively involved in all activities related to technology transfer. In addition, through intensive collaboration with industry she is focused on implementation of open innovation concepts both within the Institute and in the country. She is a coordinator and participant in numerous scientific and innovative national and international projects including those with the industry.

Domen Bole is a founder and managing director of Co-creation, providing key expertise in the start-ups, entrepreneurship and innovation ecosystem development, and he acts as advisor to top management of Business Incubator of University of Ljubljana and supports the development of teams and start-ups coming mainly from academia.

As seasoned startup coach and mentor with 10+ years of experience, Domen helps early stage startups develop and validate their business models and raise funds using running lean methodology. He has supported over 400 startups within startup competitions, acceleration programs, startup incubators, technology parks in South eastern Europe.

All together Domen has more than 20 years of international professional experience as research assistant, founder of start-ups, interim manager in SMEs and corporate entrepreneur with investment fund experience. He has extensive global network with masters focused in Entrepreneurship and certifications in Intellectual Property Valuation and Technology Transfer. He is also a co-author of SEE Startup Report 2018 and several other publications in field of startup ecosystem development.

Areas of Expertise:

• Early stage Business model development
• Running lean methodology
• Found raising & pitching
• Seed investments

Nicolas Charton is the co-founder and managing director of E-CUBE Strategy Consultants SA in Lausanne, which specialises in the energy and mobility sectors. An engineer with expertise in industrial organisation, he advises the top management of major Swiss and European energy companies, and public bodies.

David has a background in biochemistry, immunology and molecular biology with a PhD from Imperial College, London and three years of post-doctoral experience. David has worked in the pharmaceutical industry for almost 20 years. He worked in big pharma at AstraZeneca for more than 17 years in a wide variety of R&D roles both in the UK and the US. Whilst at AstraZeneca he was heavily involved in developing the use of informatics and systems biology to support the development of new medicines. David joined Blueberry Therapeutics as Chief Scientific Officer at the start of 2014. In this role, he is responsible for leading the research activities of the business which are focused on developing new treatments for serious infectious diseases. The first of these treatments has now entering clinical testing.

Julie is an Associate Director at Endless Frontier Labs, a nine-month mentorship program for highly scalable life science and technology startups. She brings 7 years of bench science, healthcare management consulting, and pharma equity research experience to her current role at EFL. Julie also has experience in seed-stage life science investing, where she developed a passion for startups and expanding opportunities for founders to grow their businesses. Julie holds a Ph.D. in Pathology from NYU School of Medicine, where she studied immunotherapy and radiation for the treatment of cancer.

Dr Lara Dobrkovic is Clinical Lead Director and Country Manager for Serbia in IQVIA, one of the leading CRO companies in the world. She is managing group of Clinical Leads around the world; and overseeing dozens of clinical studies for new medicines in Central Nervous System and Gastro-Intestinal system. Prior to taking role in management and oversight, she worked herself for few years as leader of big, multicentric and international projects in various indications, and started her carrier in clinical research as Clinical Research Associate working closely with biggest hospitals in Serbia. Overall, she has over than 15 years of Pharmaceutical industry experience, with the last 12 years in management and leadership positions of various departments within the company.
She graduated from Faculty of Medicine in Belgrade and obtained academic specialization in Pharmaceutical Medicine. She speaks fluent English and Spanish, and has medium level knowledge of German. In her free time, she is inclined to all kinds of sports activities.

Jim Doherty is passionate about helping businesses to grow.

Based at Inventya and having lead delivery on the successful Scaleup Programme Pilot, Jim is now integral to the Scaleup Programme delivery function. He coordinates the operational client service offer as well as managing a significant client portfolio.

A corporate finance specialist and experienced board- level finance professional, he has over 25 years’ experience contributing to the financial strategic direction of numerous fast growth SMEs.

Jim started a lift manufacturing company in his late twenties which grew to a £2m-turnover, 45-employee enterprise within 18 months, winning contracts with global corporations such as Thyssen, Kone, Otis, Fujitec, Mitsubishi and Schindler.

Jim has considerable experience engaging with and presenting to the VC community, leading several funding rounds for both established and growing as well as early stage and pre-revenue businesses within the telecommunications, manufacturing, service and facilities management, legal medical services, mobile data recovery and cybersecurity, biopharma and medical device sectors.

Martin Eglitis, Ph.D., has over 15 years research experience and additionally 20 years of pharmaceutical licensing experience. He has headed labs at the NIH, lead discovery and enablement research teams at a biotech startup, and conducted all aspects of the licensing process at global pharmaceutical companies. Dr. Eglitis has closed licensing deals valued into the hundreds of millions of dollars. Currently at Blazing Star Pharma Advisors, he provides strategic and business development consulting services to small and mid-size biopharmaceutical companies.

Prior to founding Blazing Star Pharma Advisors, Dr. Eglitis held Senior Business Development positions at Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd., Amgen Inc., and Eli Lilly and Company. Dr. Eglitis was also involved in one of the first gene therapy start-ups, Genetic Therapy Inc., from its inception through a successful IPO. While there he contributed to the IND filing for the first gene therapy clinical trial.

Dr. Eglitis is inventor on four patents, and author of dozens of research papers and book chapters, spanning a wide breadth of fields including mammalian developmental biology, retroviral vector molecular biology, and physiological responses to neurological disease and injury. He obtained his baccalaureate in Biology and Ph.D. in Anatomy and Developmental Biology from the University of Virginia.

Amy Fan is passionate about bringing a human-centric approach to healthcare. She is the Co-founder of Twentyeight Health, a digital women's health platform focused on increasing access to reproductive and sexual health for underserved communities. Combining telemedicine, prescription delivery, and technology, Twentyeight health improves convenience, access and adherence.

Previously, Amy was the General Manager of Onomie Beauty, a direct-to-consumer beauty venture that combines makeup impact with clinically-proven skincare efficacy. She immersed herself in learning about the needs, pain points and aspirations of different women to develop Allure Best of Beauty award winning products. Prior to Onomie, Amy was a consultant at Bain & Company. Amy holds an MBA and a Masters of Public Health from the University of California Berkeley, and a Bachelor of Commerce from Queen's University.