Discussion: View Thread

Join us on August 5^th 2023, from 1:00 PM to 3:30 PM (EST) at the Boston Hynes Convention Center (Room 204) for the PDW "Maps for Search: The Impact of the Data Revolution on Innovation". 

In the first part, Abhishek Nagaraj will open the meeting by outlining the increasing role that data play in innovation, strategy, and organizational decision-making. Then, early-career scholars will share frontier research on these topics: Lynn Wu (Wharton), Matteo Tranchero (Berkeley-Haas), Hyo Kang (USC-Marshall), and Ryan Allen (UW). Shane Greenstein (HBS) and Hong Luo (HBS) will discuss their presentations. 

Then, our industry speakers will be two pioneers in the application of big data in pharmaceutical and agricultural innovation, as well as in how to build business models centered around data-driven innovation:

Jacob Oppenheim - Entrepreneur in Residence at Digitalis Ventures
Dr. Oppenheim holds an AB in Physics from Princeton and a PhD in Bioinformatics from the Rockefeller University. He has extensive experience in building and leading data science teams at companies like GNS Healthcare, Indigo, EQRx, and now Digitalis Ventures. His work is motivated by the fact that the biopharma industry has long relied on data, but without adopting the principles and practices of the technology industry. Oppenheim is leveraging his decade of experience developing data strategies for biotech and healthcare to build the "life sciences company of the future", capable of integrating data-driven innovation with biological knowledge to quickly and cheaply deliver new medicines.
Digitalis Ventures is a venture capital firm that invests in solutions to complex problems in human and animal health. Digitalis partners with entrepreneurs, scientists, and inventors across all stages of venture investing. The firm comprises technical professionals with deep industry experience and networks in diverse areas related to human and animal health. Until recently, Dr. Oppenheim was at EQRx, a pharmaceutical company focusing on oncology and immunology with the objective of expanding global access to medicines. EQRx is focused on re-engineering the process from drug discovery to patient delivery leveraging big data and analytics. Their key approach is leveraging known biological mechanisms and therapeutic pathways to develop medicines that tackle the high-cost burden to society and patients.

Sebastien Lefebvre - VP Data and ML, Inari
Mr. Lefebvre is a biopharmaceutical executive and expert in data-driven decision support, digital/business transformation, and health care insights. Over the years Sebastien accumulated unique expertise working in leading firms such as AstraZeneca (where he developed the R&D BigData strategy), BioGen, and Alexion Pharmaceuticals. Some of his accomplishments include a rare disease digital diagnostic platform, global data office, scientific cloud computing, and enterprise search & content analytics. His most recent work at Inari is focused on building newborn sequencing panels and a genetic disease treatment options platform (called GTRx).
Inari is a biotechnology and plant breeding company that aims to transform agriculture and its impact on society and the environment. Founded by Flagship Pioneering in 2016, Inari combines biological and data sciences to create approaches that significantly reduce the land, water, and other inputs required to produce food and feed. To achieve the greatest sustainable positive impact, Inari is applying its proprietary SEEDesign platform to crops with the largest footprint, such as corn, soybeans, and wheat. Their vision is unlocking the full potential of seeds to make agriculture more sustainable using a combination of knowledge-driven and data-driven approaches to accelerate discovery for gene-editing designs and improve product design and development. 

Please feel free to contact Abhishek Nagaraj (nagaraj@berkeley.edu) or Matteo Tranchero (m.tranchero@berkeley.edu) if you have any questions.

See you in Boston!