Mid-Atlantic Bio

Mid-Atlantic Bio consistently attracts the best and the brightest keynote speakers within the biotech field. This year’s conference lived up to this tradition.

2008 Mid-Atlantic Bio plenary session speakers included:

Kary Mullis, Ph.D.

Nobel Laureate

The Honorable Timothy M. Kaine

Governor of Virginia

Andrew C. von Eschenbach, M.D.

Commissioner
U.S. Food and Drug Administration

Davd M. Mott

General Partner
New Enterprise Associates, Inc.

Jeremy Levin, D.Phil.

Senior Vice President
Bristol-Myers Squibb

Stuart Rothenberg

Editor and Publisher, The Rothenberg Political Report
Columnist, Roll Call

About the Speakers

Kary Mullis, Ph.D., received a Nobel Prize in chemistry in 1993, for his invention of the polymerase chain reaction (PCR). The process, which Dr. Mullis conceptualized in 1983, is hailed as one of the monumental scientific techniques of the 20th century. A method of amplifying DNA, PCR multiplies a single, microscopic strand of the genetic material billions of times within hours. The process has multiple applications in medicine, genetics, biotechnology and forensics. Dr. Mullis also worked as a DNA chemist for the Cetus Corp., where he conducted research on oligonucleotide synthesis and invented the polymerase chain reaction. He also served as director of molecular biology at Xytronyx, Inc. in San Diego, where his work was concentrated in DNA technology and photochemistry. In addition, he consulted on nucleic acid chemistry for more than a dozen corporations, including Angenics, Cytometrics, Eastman Kodak, Abbott Labs, Milligen/Biosearch and Specialty Laboratories.

Tim Kaine became the 70th Governor of Virginia on January 14, 2006. Governor Kaine’s career of public service began when he took a year off from law school to volunteer with missionaries in Honduras. There, he served as the principal of a small Catholic school that taught teenagers basic carpentry and welding skills. Governor Kaine practiced law in Richmond for 17 years and also taught legal ethics for six years at the University of Richmond Law School. He entered political life in 1994 and was elected to four terms on the City Council, including two terms as Richmond’s mayor, where he worked to build Richmond’s first new schools in a generation, cut taxes and slash the city’s crime rate. Richmond’s success in reducing violent crime won national recognition from Presidents Clinton and Bush and the International Association of Chiefs of Police. The improvements in Richmond’s economy during Kaine’s tenure earned the city its first-ever listing in Forbes Magazine’s annual ranking of the top 10 cities in America for doing business. Governor Kaine was elected Virginia’s Lieutenant Governor in 2001. He worked for four years with Governor Mark Warner to reform the state’s budget and invest new resources in education. Governor Kaine has been elected to become Chairman of the Southern Governors Association in the summer of 2008. He received his undergraduate degree from the University of Missouri and his law degree from Harvard.

Andrew C. von Eschenbach, M.D., was sworn in as the 20th Commissioner of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration on December 13, 2006. As Commissioner, he leads the nation’s premiere consumer protection and health agency, with regulated products that account for more than 20 percent of consumer spending. As the former Director of the National Cancer Institute (NCI), Dr. von Eschenbach is a nationally recognized urologic surgeon and oncologist. His distinguished career as a key leader in the fight against cancer spans nearly three decades. Dr. von Eschenbach served as Executive Vice President and Chief Academic Officer of the University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, leading a faculty of more than 1,000 cancer researchers and clinicians.

David M. Mott joined New Enterprise Associates, Inc.,in September 2008 as a General Partner focused on biopharmaceutical investments. Prior to joining NEA, Mr. Mott was President and Chief Executive Officer of MedImmune, subsidiary of AstraZeneca Plc, and Executive Vice President of AstraZeneca. He joined MedImmune in 1992 and served in roles of increasing responsibility including Chief Operating Officer, Chief Financial Officer, President and Chief Executive Officer. In 2002, Mr. Mott founded MedImmune Ventures and chaired its investment committee through his departure from MedImmune. Prior to joining MedImmune, Mr. Mott was a Vice President in the Health Care Investment Banking Group at Smith Barney, Harris Upham & Co. Inc. At Smith Barney, Mr. Mott’s activities included public and private equity and debt financings as well as merger and acquisition work for biotechnology, healthcare services, and medical product and device companies. Mr. Mott Mr. Mott holds a bachelor’s degree in economics and government from Dartmouth College.

Jeremy Levin, D.Phil., is senior vice president at Bristol-Myers Squibb. Prior to joining Bristol-Myers Squibb, Dr. Levin served as global head of Business Development and Strategic Alliances at the Novartis Institutes of Biomedical Research, where he and his team secured hundreds of collaborations in more than 20 countries since 2003. Prior to his tenure at Novartis, Dr. Levin held leadership positions in several biotechnology companies, including Physiome Sciences, Inc. and Cadus Pharmaceutical Corporation. He also was managing director of Perseus Capital LLC, a life sciences venture fund. He has served on the executive committees and boards of several public biosciences companies and associations.

As the editor and publisher of The Rothenberg Political Report, a biweekly newsletter that reports on and analyzes governmental developments that affect the country today, Stuart Rothenberg is the go-to authority on the U.S. House, Senate, gubernatorial, and presidential elections. He also writes a column in Capitol Hill’s Roll Call twice a week. He also often contributes op-ed pieces to the Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, The New York Times, and The Orlando Sentinel and has appeared NBC’s Meet the Press and Today, ABC’s This Week and Nightline, and The McLaughlin Group. Rothenberg served as a political analyst for CBS News in 2006. Before that, he served as a CNN political analyst for more than 10 years, which included extensive on-air election night analysis. He has also served as a political analyst for the Voice of America. Rothenberg holds a B.A. from Colby College in Waterville, Maine and a Ph.D. from the University of Connecticut. He has taught political science at Bucknell University in Lewisburg, Pennsylvania and the Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C.

Keynote speakers from 2007 Mid-Atlantic Bio included:
David Brennan, CEO and Executive Board Director, AstraZeneca
Thomas R Cech, Ph.D., President/Nobel Laureate, Howard Hughes Medical Institute
James C. Greenwood, President and Chief Executive, BIO
James Mullen, Chief Executive Officer and President, Biogen Idec