Nilay C. Shah, MBBS (MD), is a physician–executive and global clinical operations leader with more than two decades of experience advancing therapeutic development, regulatory strategy, and commercial growth across the biotech and CRO sectors. He currently serves as Senior Vice President and Global Head of Ophthalmology at Emmes, where he leads the company’s fastest-growing therapeutic division and serves on the Executive Management Committee, reporting directly to the Chairman and CEO.

Over a 19-year tenure at Emmes, Dr. Shah has played a central role in scaling the organization from a 125-person firm to a global CRO with more than 1,400 employees. He has led complex, multi-phase clinical trials across ophthalmology, dermatology, neurology, endocrinology, rare disease, and other therapeutic areas. His leadership includes oversight of a Phase III trial supporting market authorization of a novel anti-CD6 monoclonal antibody and direction of the clinical program for the first autonomous AI system to receive FDA approval for the detection of diabetic retinopathy.

In addition to his operational leadership, Dr. Shah has built and retained high-performing global teams, created Emmes’ first pharmacovigilance department, and driven strategic alliances and commercial transformation initiatives that strengthened the organization’s position as a global partner to emerging and mid-size biotech companies.

Dr. Shah has long been active in Maryland’s innovation ecosystem. He serves as an advisor and reviewer for multiple TEDCO venture programs and is a Board Member of the Baltimore Innovation Initiative, supporting early-stage companies as they navigate regulatory pathways and commercialization strategy.

He earned his M.B.B.S. from the University of Mumbai and completed clinical training at the University of Pennsylvania, Robert Wood Johnson Hospital, and University of Mumbai Teaching Hospitals. He maintains certifications in Good Clinical Practice and NIH Clinical Research and is an active member of leading professional organizations in ophthalmology, drug development, and biotechnology.

Prashant Panchal serves as Director of Business Planning and Operations at AstraZeneca, where he oversees capacity planning, capital expenditure, contracting, portfolio management, and governance for a department of more than 1,100 employees supporting over 100 drug programs. His background combines scientific training with business strategy and operations, shaped by roles across leading biopharmaceutical organizations. Earlier in his career he held positions at Eisai Pharmaceuticals, Teva Biopharmaceuticals USA, and AGC Biologics, one of the sector’s largest contract manufacturers.

Mr. Panchal is committed to strengthening regional talent pipelines and industry-academic partnerships. He serves on the board of the Pinkney Innovation Complex for Science and Technology at Montgomery College (PIC MC), where he supports programs aimed at workforce development and early-career mentorship. He holds a Bachelor of Science in Biological Sciences with a focus in Cell Biology and Molecular Genetics from the University of Maryland, along with a Master of Science in Biotechnology Management and an MBA from the University of Maryland Global Campus.

Matthew Keesan is Vice President and GM of Quantum Platform at IonQ, where he leads the teams responsible for the APIs, integrations, and services that provide customers with continuous access to IonQ’s quantum systems across cloud and on-premise environments. His career spans engineering, cloud infrastructure, and emerging technology. He began as a founding engineer at AddThis, later acquired by Oracle, where he helped scale a suite of products to more than one billion monthly users. He went on to serve as CTO of the restaurant technology company Ando, acquired by Uber, and advised early-stage companies in manufacturing, ecommerce, video streaming, and identity services.

Mr. Keesan joined IonQ in 2017 to build IonQ’s Quantum OS, the software stack that controls the company’s quantum computers. He later oversaw the launch of IonQ’s systems on Amazon Braket, Microsoft Azure Quantum, and Google Cloud. He also established the company’s security and compliance programs spanning SOC 2, NIST, and ISO standards, and built a global operations team that manages IonQ’s growing fleet of systems across the United States and Europe. His leadership has supported teams across product management, real-time control systems, electronics, optical engineering, and distributed quantum computing.

Michael Friedlander is the vice president for health sciences and technology at Virginia Tech, where he also serves as the founding executive director of the Fralin Biomedical Research Institute at VTC and the senior dean for research at the Virginia Tech Carilion School of Medicine. He has built the institute’s research programs to over $140 million in current grant value with more than 35 research teams and over 400 investigators and students since its founding in 2010. He has served as the principal investigator on multiple research grants on brain processes that mediate vision, developmental plasticity, and traumatic brain injury. His research has been published in leading journals such as Academic Medicine, Cell, J. Neuroscience, Nature, Neuron, PNAS and Science.

Chuck Morton, repeatedly ranked as one of the top M&A lawyers in the country, is Managing Partner of the Baltimore Office of Venable, Maryland’s largest law firm. He has a national practice, solving complex problems faced by lenders, investors, and entrepreneurs as they create, build, and buy or sell businesses. He routinely advises on mergers and acquisitions and financings, including every flavor of equity investment. He regularly acts on behalf of private equity groups.  His practice focuses on life sciences and technology companies.

Anthony Lakavage is Senior Vice President, Global External Affairs and Secretary of the USP Convention and Board of Trustees. He oversees global communications, public policy, stakeholder engagement, and the USP Quality Institute. As the architect of USP’s external engagement strategy, he represents USP before the FDA, Congress, international regulators, and global health organizations. He works closely with USP’s 450 Convention member organizations and supports the Board on strategy and risk management. A veteran of GlaxoSmithKline, Gilead, and BD, he brings over 20 years of experience across pharma, vaccines, and medtech. He holds a B.A. in International Politics from Saint Joseph’s University and a J.D. from Temple University, and is admitted to the bar in Pennsylvania and New Jersey.

Jay A. Perman, MD, became the fifth chancellor of the University System of Maryland (USM) in 2020. A pediatric gastroenterologist, he previously served nearly a decade as president of the University of Maryland, Baltimore (UMB), where he strengthened community partnerships, expanded innovation-driven economic development, and advanced health equity programs. Under his leadership, UMB’s professional schools earned national and international recognition for excellence in education and research. As USM chancellor, Dr. Perman focuses on expanding affordability, research, economic development, and community engagement. He earned his MD with Distinction from Northwestern University, completed a pediatric residency at Children’s Memorial Hospital in Chicago, and a fellowship in pediatric gastroenterology at Harvard Medical School and Boston Children’s Hospital.