Date: Monday, September 21, 2026
Time: 9:00 AM – 4:30 PM
Location: Cambridge Innovation Center (CIC), 1 Broadway, 5th Floor, Havana Room | Cambridge, MA
Prepare your strategy. Strengthen your story. Maximize your impact at RESI 2026 & JPM Healthcare 2027.
As you prepare for RESI 2026 & JPM 2027, the question isn’t just who you’ll meet, it’s whether your data, your strategy, and your story will stand up to investor scrutiny.
Certara’s Biotech Forum is a strategic workshop designed for biotech executives, founders, and investors who want to sharpen their development plan, de-risk their program, and enter RESI & JPM 2027 meetings with clarity and confidence. This forum is held in partnership with Life Science Nation (LSN), the organizers of RESI, giving you a direct line into how investors at RESI actually evaluate opportunities, straight from the source.
In a single focused day, we’ll address the early-stage decisions that most often derail promising programs and show you how to avoid them before you step into critical partnering and investor conversations, including a dedicated session on how to prepare for, run, and follow up on your RESI and JPM meetings themselves.
Submit your request to register
Agenda
What it takes to walk into RESI & JPM with a program that holds up to investor scrutiny, from science to story.
Learn what investors really look for in a pitch: a well-defined medical need, genuine differentiation, and the regulatory and commercial foresight to back it up.
Get a clear-eyed view of today’s regulatory landscape and how to build a realistic path from IND to first-in-human that also satisfies investors and partners.
Understand what “investor-ready” evidence looks like, from translational relevance to study design to manufacturability and how it translates into value-driving milestones.
Secure your spot for one-on-one sessions with Certara experts and connect with peers over lunch.
Moderated panel featuring LSN’s perspective, as organizers of RESI on the factor’s investors weigh beyond the science.
A forward-looking conversation on how recent regulatory shifts are changing the way companies need to think and plan earlier in development, with a look at where the real opportunities are right now.
The practical, tactical piece – how to prepare before the conference, run productive meetings during it, and convert conversations into real momentum after it ends.
Hear from biotech leaders, investors, pharma, and Certara experts on how early strategic decisions shape risk, speed, and fundability.
Recap key insights and learn how to continue the conversation with Certara’s experts.
Join interactive breakout tables with Certara and LSN experts covering every theme from the day – from regulatory strategy to RESI/JPM prep – to explore solutions for your specific challenges
President & Chief Operating Officer
Life Science Nation
Sougato leads the RESI Conferences and the Investor and Licensing Partner Database at LSN, driving the company’s expansion from early-stage funding into a full seed-to-exit partnering platform. He brings deep experience across partnering conferences, data platforms, and biopharma, previously General Manager of the events and data business at Inpart, following two successful exits from biopharma data startups. He has held senior partnering and marketing roles at BIO and Clarivate, and has consulted for J&J, Merck, GSK, Sanofi, and Siemens Medical.
CEO & Founder, SynaptImmune Therapeutics
Tony is CEO /Founder Synaptimmune Therapeutics, Developing the next generation “Conditionally active and Costimulatory T cell engagers (TCE)” for Autoimmune and Solid tumor indications. He is also the Co-Founder of NextPoint therapeutics, an MPM capital-funded novel IO checkpoint inhibitor, TCE and ADC clinical stage company. Previously Senior Vice President and Head of R&D at Cytovia Therapeutics and held senior management positions at PTC, Alexion, Regeneron, Biogen, Dyax and Ares-Serono developing immunotherapys for autoimmunity and cancer. He is an immunologist with 20+ years of research and development experience developing multiple immunotherapies for autoimmune/inflammatory diseases and cancer including 3 BLAs (TysabriTM, KevzaraTM, DupixentTM ) and multiple INDs.
Vice President, Head of DMPK and Toxicology, Pioneering Medicines
Wojciech Dworakowski joined Flagship Pioneering in 2022 as Vice President, Head of DMPK and Toxicology for Pioneering Medicines. Wojciech and his team drive the evaluation of drug metabolism, safety, and pharmacokinetic/pharmacodynamic properties of therapeutic agents developed by the portfolio of Pioneering Medicines programs.
CEO, Akttyva Therapeutics
Dr. Katya Tsaioun is a translational scientist and biotechnology entrepreneur specializing in preclinical research, early safety assessment, and drug development. Through her consulting practice she serves as a fractional Chief Scientific Officer, board member, and advisor to biotechnology companies and venture capital firms, focusing on scientific due diligence, development strategy, and risk mitigation in drug-development programs. She founded Apredica, a pioneer in in vitro ADME and toxicology technologies acquired by Cyprotex PLC, where she became Chief Scientific Officer, and later co-founded Akttyva Therapeutics. From 2015 to 2025 she led the Evidence-Based Toxicology Collaboration at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health.
Founder & President, Parasail LLC
Dustin is the Founder and President of Parasail LLC. A serial entrepreneur, Dr. Armstrong has founded more than 4 companies and raised over $60M amongst corporate venture groups, traditional VCs, and family-offices. As owner of Parasail, he has expanded clinical development of VAL-1221, an antibody-enzyme fusion, across a basket of polyglucosan disorders; including, Lafora disease the most severe form of genetic epilepsy and childhood dementia. Parasail’s pipeline also includes a best-in-class oligonucleotide-delivery platform, a stealth nutraceutical and a clinic-ready antibody immunotherapy (DemandFc; hu3E10 IgG1). DemandFc is the first and only anti-DNA antibody designed to neutralize circulating cell free DNA (cfDNA) in patients with autoimmune pathology. Dustin invented DemandFc following a personal family illness and Parasail is now preparing for First-In-Human (FIH) clinical testing in 2027.
Fran Brown, PhD
Senior Vice President, Global Head, Drug Development ScienceFran has over 25 years of experience with strategic and operational global drug development from early discovery to filing and post-marketing. She possesses a broad knowledge of strategic drug discovery and development, with a special focus on development strategy and the application of model-informed drug development (MIDD).
Maximilian Vargas, PhD, MBA
Vice President, Evidence & Access StrategyMax brings both scientific training and experience in healthcare product development that are important for evidence-based value and access strategies for pipeline and marketed products. Leading a team of analysts and focusing on projects involving late stage, launch, and due diligence efforts, Max’ experience cuts across all major therapeutic areas and care settings with special emphasis on CV / metabolic, oncology, gene therapies, ophthalmology, GI, and dermatology. Max and team have designed successful pricing and contracting strategies for products at launch and throughout the life cycle. He also leads projects focusing on managed markets communications strategies.
Colin Callaghan, RPh, MBA
Senior Director, Program LeadershipColin has 33 years in the pharmaceutical industry primarily in multi-disciplinary drug development leadership roles, including 25 years with early development/early-stage programs.
At Certara, Colin leads numerous programs in Oncology, CNS, Infectious Disease and Global Health therapeutic areas and supports biotech companies with their funding initiatives. Prior to Certara, Colin worked for very large (Pfizer, Wyeth-Ayerst), mid-size (Celldex), and start-up (Kolltan, Iterum, Maxwell BioSciences) pharmaceutical companies as well as consultant firms (Deloitte and Lachman Consultants) in drug development, business operations and process improvement roles. He earned an undergraduate degree in Pharmacy from Rutgers University and an MBA degree from the University of North Carolina – Wilmington.
Kevin Hershberger, BPharm, MBA
Vice President Nonclinical Development Sciences, CertaraKevin brings 25 years of experience in the pharmaceutical industry primarily in project leadership roles and provides integrated program management (integrated plans, Target Product Profiles, and financial planning clients, including fund raising, business development, client presentations, and vendor selection. He has held leadership and management roles at Brighton Biotech, deCODE Genetics, Parke-Davis, Pfizer and Takeda.
Geoff Fatzinger
Vice President, Regulatory Strategy, CertaraGeoff brings 20+ years of expertise and a demonstrated record of regulatory and business accomplishments covering the United States, Europe, Asia Pacific (with in depth experience in Japan, China, and Korea), and Middle East having lived and worked in many countries championing regulatory affairs.
Tong Zhu, PhD, FCP
VP, Global Head, Clinical Pharmacology & Translational Medicine Certara Drug Development SolutionsDr. Tong Zhu has over 25 years of experience specializing in translational medicine, early development, and clinical pharmacology. She has a wealth of knowledge in pharmaceutical research and development. She was responsible for leading Astellas’ Primary Focus strategy in Mitochondria Biology by working globally to help identify and develop innovative drugs targeting mitochondrial biology. In almost 14 years at the company, she held various leadership positions in its Clinical Pharmacology & Exploratory Development division. Before her time at Astellas, Dr. Zhu held positions with increasing responsibilities at Abbott Global Pharmaceutical Research and Development (now AbbVie) on Clinical Pharmacology and Pharmacometrics teams.
Submit your request to register
You May Also Like
From first-in-human trials to global regulatory approvals and post-launch, Certara solutions can help you move your science forward faster, with confidence.
