Valerie Palmieri

Per Falk

Marsha Henderson

Lucy Perez, PhD

Lucy is a Senior Partner in McKinsey’s Boston office. Lucy has 15+ years of experience advising CEOs and top teams at leading pharma, biotech and life sciences companies globally on growth strategy, innovation, sustainability, and organizational transformation.

Lucy co-leads McKinsey’s ESG domain and McKinsey’s All-In DEI efforts in North America.  She also sponsors the Hispanic Latino Network at McKinsey and leads our research efforts on health equity.

Lucy works extensively with number of biopharma and life science clients on broad range of topics, with recent focus on ESG/ sustainability, evidence generation, and digital/analytics programs to improve patient outcomes and support sustainable, inclusive growth.

Led efforts for a leading biopharma to define their ESG strategy, partnership strategy, and stakeholder engagement approach

Led efforts for a leading biopharma to embed health equity as a core principle in their R&D priorities and ways of working across the value chain

Led efforts to assess internal and external portfolio productivity and pricing models to optimize the R&D strategy and redesign the organization for a top pharmaceutical company

Led efforts for a leading biopharma to transform how it engages with customers through digital transformation, applying advanced analytics and embedding agile ways of working across their six largest markets that delivered $300M+ of near-term growth

Sponsor of McKinsey’s Early Stage Investor Conference, an annual event convening 200+ entrepreneurs and 1000+ investors interested in bio/med/health tech and sustainability innovation

Before joining McKinsey, Lucy was a research fellow at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, where she was involved in the development of novel treatments for solid tumors. She was also a Howard Hughes Medical Institute research fellow at Harvard University while completing her doctoral studies. She is co-inventor on multiple patents and has published in peer-reviewed journals.

Jill Angelo

Jill is the co-founder and CEO of Gennev whose mission is to empower every woman to improve her quality of life through menopause by creating a higher standard of care for post-reproductive healthcare.

Jill has 20 years’ experience in the tech industry, primarily at Microsoft in executive roles such as Chief of Staff to the CMO, Director of Global Media, and Product Management for Emerging Markets. Jill is also a member of the Board of Directors for Special Olympics of Washington.

Named as one of Inc. Magazine’s 2020 Top 100 Female Founders, Jill is a driving force for bringing effective health solutions to women in the most vibrant years of their lives.

Alyssa Jaffee

Jamie White

Rachel Braun Scherl

Casey Santiago Albert

Elizabeth Garner

Elizabeth Garner is Chief Medical Officer at ObsEva, a Swiss women’s health specialty pharmaceutical company headquartered in Geneva. With over a decade of experience in the pharmaceutical industry, Dr. Garner has wide expertise in drug development, including clinical trial design and conduct, regulatory and FDA Advisory Committee strategy, support of commercial launch planning, medical affairs, and pharmacovigilance. As a member of ObsEva’s Executive Committee, she provides strategic leadership on the Company’s overall development strategy and frequently represents ObsEva to investor, Key Opinion Leader (KOL), and other key stakeholders.
From 2014 to 2019, Dr. Garner was Chief Medical Officer of Agile Therapeutics, located in Princeton, NJ. She played a crucial role during Agile’s 2014 Initial Public Offering and was instrumental in the Company’s Investor Relations, Communications, and Business Development strategies. Dr. Garner led the clinical development of Twirla®, Agile’s low-dose contraceptive patch, took the Company through an FDA dispute resolution process, and was the presenter and moderator for Agile’s successful FDA Advisory Committee meeting in October 2019, which led to FDA approval of Twirla® in February, 2020. She also led pre-launch activities, including commercial support, medical affairs, KOL development, and the pharmacovigilance and Medical Information programs.
Prior to her position at Agile, Dr. Garner was Vice President of Medical Affairs, Preventive Care at Myriad Genetics, where she managed the women’s health research, publication, and KOL development programs, provided medical and scientific input on Myriad’s marketing and new product strategies, served as its media spokesperson, and directed an experienced team of Field Medical Specialists. Before that, she was Senior Director at Abbott Laboratories, where she oversaw all clinical aspects of the global Phase 3 endometriosis development program for elagolix, which was FDA-approved in 2018.
From 2007 to 2011, Dr. Garner was Associate Director then Director of Clinical Research at Merck Research Laboratories. As a leader on the human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine program she was instrumental in achieving successful outcomes on important regulatory submissions. Dr. Garner also served as chair of the Gardasil®9 HPV vaccine program Product Development Team, leading scientific, regulatory, global access and medical affairs strategies. Dr. Garner was the presenter and moderator for the successful 2010 FDA Gardasil® Advisory Committee Meeting. She also had substantial involvement in commercialization strategy and KOL development, and participated in due diligence on infectious disease and women’s health products.
Dr. Garner received joint M.D. and M.P.H degrees from Harvard Medical School and Harvard School of Public Health. She was trained in obstetrics and gynecology at Brigham and Women’s/Massachusetts General Hospitals and completed a fellowship in gynecologic oncology at Brigham and Women’s/Dana Farber Cancer Institute. Prior to entering the pharmaceutical industry, Dr. Garner focused on academic clinical practice, basic science research in ovarian cancer, and teaching and mentorship of fellows, residents, and medical students at Harvard Medical School. She is an author on numerous peer-reviewed scientific papers.
Dr. Garner is a member of the Board of Directors of Kezar Life Sciences, a publicly traded company focused on the development of new therapies targeting protein homeostasis for the treatment of autoimmune diseases and cancer. She serves on the board’s audit and clinical strategy & execution committees. She is also on the Board of Directors of the Drug Information Association (DIA), a member-driven volunteer organization for global healthcare product development; she serves on the audit committee. She is on the Board of Directors and is Chair of the finance committee of the American Medical Women’s Association, a professional organization which functions at the local, national, and international level to advance women in medicine. Dr. Garner also serves on the Board of the Executive Women of New Jersey and was a 2018 honoree at its Salute to the Policy Makers gala, which recognizes executive women leaders across all industries. She is also on the Board of CorStone, a global non-profit organization focused on resilience in youth. Dr. Garner was a 2019 awardee of the PharmaVoice 100 Most Inspiring Individuals in the life sciences industry.

Kelle Moley, MD

Dr. Kelle Moley is a career physician-scientist obstetrician/gynecologist who currently leads the Reproductive Health Technologies Domain within the Discovery & Translational Sciences, Global Health Division at the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.  Kelle joined BMGF in July 2020, with a 30-year history of basic and translational research on reproductive health issues in females throughout the life course-- from organismal to cellular and molecular levels of metabolic, developmental biology, embryo implantation and decidualization, and infectious diseases of the female reproductive tract.

Kelle earned her BA from Wellesley College, and her MD from Yale Medical School. Thereafter, she pursued an Obstetrics & Gynecology Residency and a Fellowship in Reproductive Endocrinology & Fertility at Washington University in St. Louis School of Medicine. Kelle then spent the next 3 decades of a thriving research career at Washington University—rising to become the James P. Crane Professor of Obstetrics & Gynecology, Vice Chair of Obstetrics & Gynecology, Chief of the Division of Basic & Translational Research for the Department of Obstetrics & Gynecology, Co-Director of the Institute of Clinical & Translational Science for the School of Medicine, and Director of the Center for Reproductive Health Sciences at the School of Medicine. Her research (published in some 150 peer-reviewed primary articles) led to an international reputation along with numerous honors, including election to the National Academy of Medicine in 2014. She also earned a reputation as a superb mentor to trainees, leading the reproductive endocrinology fellowship program at Washington University until she left academia in 2018. After a 2-year stint as Chief Scientific Officer and Senior Vice President of the March of Dimes she left to pursue her new position at BMGF.

Donna Parr

Todd Albin

Todd Albin is a founding member of Cedar Health Research and an expert in the areas of clinical research site operations and patient engagement with more than two decades of experience as an accomplished leader in the clinical research industry. His past experience includes management roles with Synexus, PPD/Acurian, and Ora where he led global teams supporting operations, investigator site relations, and patient recruitment and retention.

Delphine O'Rouke

Elizabeth Cherot

Dr. Elizabeth Cherot is Chief Medical Officer with Axia Women’s Health, a rapidly growing network of progressive, connected, and caring women’s health professionals with more 400 providers and nearly 200 locations across five states. She is an established and highly skilled physician with over 20 years of experience in obstetrics and gynecology.  In addition to her expert clinical skills, she is committed to improving OB/GYN care, reducing morbidity and mortality while implementing cost reduction and providing an efficient business model for today’s OB/GYN practice.

Dr. Cherot has been awarded numerous honors throughout her career including several National Excellence in Teaching Awards. She has also helped to pioneer the Enhanced Recovery after Surgery program in the United States, contributing to a significant reduction of opioid using in post-partum women.

In addition to being an accomplished clinician, Dr. Cherot holds an Executive MBA from Johns Hopkins University Carey School of Business. She resides in Central New Jersey with her husband and two children. 

Allison Watkins-Conti

Linda Greub

Mylene Yao

Wei Escala

Wei Escala is the founder and CEO of Eggschain, a healthcare technology company built at the intersection of reproductive medicine, technology innovation, scientific research and humanity. A thought leader in the health tech, family building and cryogenic preservation industries, Ms. Escala holds the patent for the first blockchain-integrated inventory management and chain of custody technology for tracking bio specimens, including sperm, eggs, embryos, DNA, RNA, genome, stem cell, tissues and organs, and other genetic material. As Eggschain CEO, she has built an all-star team of collaborators comprising technologists, business leaders, physicians and scientists, with a focus on continuing to develop game-changing innovation for patients, doctors, clinics and labs through the Eggschain platform.

A software engineer by training, Ms. Escala has built a career across the organizational spectrum, from Marketing and Brand Management to Software Leadership. Prior to Eggschain, Ms. Escala held executive roles at such Fortune 500 companies as Procter & Gamble, Frito Lay, Valvoline and Kraft Foods, where she managed P&Ls of up to 300 million USD. She is passionate about women’s health and the opportunity to enable security, transparency and peace of mind for people and families, enabling better decision making and helping advance humanity.

Carolee Lee

Carolee Lee is an innovator, entrepreneur and thought leader dedicated to improving women’s health and wellbeing, and their opportunities to succeed. She was founder and CEO of Carolee Designs, one of the world’s leading accessories brands. Carolee launched WHAM (Women’s Health Access Matters), a nonprofit organization working to bring awareness and funding to women’s health research to transform women’s lives. Carolee forged a research partnership with the RAND Corporation to create The WHAM Report, the first study to analyze the economic costs, benefits and social impacts of health research that focuses specifically on women. The WHAM Report is changing the conversation around women’s health research, proving women’s health research is an economic issue we cannot afford to ignore. Through partnerships with leading advocacy groups, business leaders, researchers and economists, WHAM is using this data drive change.

Carolee is also a mentor and leader in business, philanthropic and educational organizations. She is a past Chair and Foundation Board Chair of the Committee of 200, a community of the most successful women in business, and has served as director on the board of DSW, Inc. Carolee is a founding board member of The Breast Cancer Research Foundation, where she has served since 1986. She currently sits on the Women’s Leadership Board at The John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University.

Kiki Freedman

Rem Koning

Kate Marchio

David Sable

Patrick Heiser

Aliëtte van der Wal

Vrunda B Desai, MD

Danika Severino Wynn

Cheryl Kerr

Georgie Kovaks