SPEAKERS
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Harvey and Kate Cushing Professor of Therapeutic Radiology,
Yale School of Medicine
Dr. Ranjit Bindra, MD, PhD, is the Harvey and Kate Cushing Professor of Therapeutic Radiology at the Yale School of Medicine and Scientific Director of the Yale Brain Tumor Center. A physician-scientist and radiation oncologist, he treats adult and pediatric patients with primary brain tumors and brain metastases using advanced radiation and radiosurgery.
His research focuses on uncovering fundamental DNA repair vulnerabilities in cancer and translating these discoveries into new therapies. His laboratory discovered that IDH1/2-mutant cancers harbor a profound defect in DNA repair that creates a powerful therapeutic vulnerability to PARP inhibition, work published in Nature, Nature Genetics, and Science Translational Medicine that has helped reshape the understanding of DNA repair targeting in cancer. More recently, his group reported a new strategy to exploit DNA repair defects through targeted DNA modification, published in Science, opening new avenues for therapeutic development.
Dr. Bindra is also an active biotech entrepreneur and has founded multiple biotechnology companies based on discoveries from his laboratory, including Cybrexa Therapeutics, Alphina Therapeutics, and Modifi Biosciences. Under his leadership as interim CEO, Modifi Biosciences was acquired by Merck in 2024.
He received his undergraduate degree from Yale University and his MD and PhD from the Yale School of Medicine and completed his residency and postdoctoral research training at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center.
President,
Sand Street Advisors, LLC
Michael Apkon, MBA, MD, PhD, is the President of Sand Street Advisors, a healthcare and life sciences management and strategy consultancy.
Dr. Apkon is a physician executive and scientist serving in leadership roles at top academic hospitals in the US and Canada as well as an advisor to healthcare and life sciences companies. Beginning as a pediatric intensivist and cellular physiologist, his career evolved to apply systems principles to the transformation of healthcare as a physician executive. He has extensive international management experience in both adult and pediatric-oriented healthcare with a unique perspective on both the US system and the single-payer systems. He most recently served as the CEO at Tufts Medical Center in Boston. Prior to that, Dr. Apkon was the President and CEO at The Hospital for Sick Children (SickKids) in Toronto, Ontario. He has also held senior executive roles at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP) as well as Yale University School of Medicine and Yale-New Haven Health System. In addition, he has held faculty positions at the University of Toronto, the University of Pennsylvania and Yale University. He is currently a lecturer at the Yale School of Epidemiology and Public Health teaching Healthcare Strategy.
Dr. Apkon has consulted widely on business development, capacity development, and management systems as well as quality and safety improvement. He has served as an advisor and director for healthcare and life sciences companies from early-stage through exit to the public markets and acquisition, including 7D Surgical and MindBeacon. He currently serves as an independent director for Coverys, a multinational medical-professional liability mutual insurer and serves as an advisor or venture partner for healthcare and life sciences investment funds.
Dr. Apkon has a BSc degree in Biomedical Engineering from Northwestern University as well as MD and PhD degrees from Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis and an MBA from the Yale School of Management.
Global Head, Oncology Development,
Servier Pharmaceuticals
Peter C. Adamson, MD, FASCO, is Global Head of Oncology Clinical Development at Servier and Professor Emeritus of Pediatrics and Pharmacology at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania. An internationally recognized physician-scientist, Dr. Adamson brings deep expertise in oncology drug development and clinical pharmacology.
Previously, he served as Global Head of Oncology Development and Pediatric Innovation at Sanofi. Prior to his industry roles, Dr. Adamson held the Alan R. Cohen Endowed Chair in Pediatrics at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia and served as Group Chair of the Children’s Oncology Group, the world’s largest organization dedicated exclusively to childhood and adolescent cancer research.
Dr. Adamson was appointed by President Barack Obama and served on the National Cancer Advisory Board. He was a member of the NCI Blue Ribbon Panel for the Cancer Moonshot Initiative. In 2023, Dr. Adamson received the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) Pediatric Award.
Chief Clinical Innovation Officer,
NEJM Group
Editor,
The New England Journal of Medicine
Raja-Elie E. Abdulnour, MD, is an Editor at the New England Journal of Medicine and NEJM Clinician, and Chief Clinical Innovation Officer at NEJM Group. He brings a physician-editor’s perspective to artificial intelligence (AI) education in medicine and to its responsible use in clinical practice. He is an Associate Physician in Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine at Brigham and Women’s Hospital and a part-time Assistant Professor at Harvard Medical School, where he focuses on clinical reasoning and medical education. An internationally renowned advocate for lifelong learning and safe AI integration in patient care, he earned his MD from the American University of Beirut, trained at Johns Hopkins and Harvard, and is a highly cited researcher in AI applications in healthcare.
Executive Vice President, Chief Scientific Officer, Platform, Schrödinger
Robert Abel, executive vice president, chief scientific officer, platform, joined Schrödinger in 2009 and is responsible for advancing Schrödinger’s computational science platform. He also leads the computational chemistry team within Schrödinger’s drug discovery group. Robert obtained his PhD from Columbia University, where he was awarded NSF and DHS research fellowships. His thesis work with Professor Richard Friesner involved developing methods to quantify the role of solvent in protein-ligand binding. Robert has co-authored multiple patent applications and continues to publish extensively on a wide variety of topics in computational chemistry.
Senior Vice President, Global Head Oncology, Research & Development, GSK
Dr. Hesham A. Abdullah is Senior Vice President, Global Head Oncology, Research & Development at GSK. Hesham is a seasoned physician-scientist who uniquely combines a clinician’s understanding of the impact cancer has on patients with deep expertise in identifying transformational opportunities to improve cancer treatment and care. With over 20 years of experience spanning AstraZeneca, Amgen, and GSK, he has led the development and registration of 13 novel precision oncology products, setting numerous drug development precedents across multiple global pharmaceutical companies. Throughout his career, he has built and led high-performing scientific and clinical teams and has played a pivotal role in establishing GSK’s oncology organization, shaping its strategic direction, therapeutic priorities, and R&D infrastructure into a competitive, science-first engine within oncology. Known for developing talent and empowering the teams around him, he continues to shape GSK’s approach to oncology drug development.
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CEO, ASCO
I am the Chief Executive Officer of the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) and also serve as the Executive Vice Chair of its Conquer Cancer Foundation. I previously served in a variety of volunteer and leadership roles at ASCO including as its President during the Society’s 50th anniversary year (2013-14). Before coming to ASCO full-time in 2016 I was the Chief of the Breast Medicine Service at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center (MSKCC) in New York City and Professor of Medicine at the Weill Medical College of Cornell University. As CEO of ASCO I am responsible for delivering on the board’s strategic goals through education, research, and support for the delivery of equitable and highest quality care by the Society’s nearly 50,000 members around the world.
