14
May

08:00 AM ET

Medicinal Chemistry

Name: Medicinal Chemistry Strategy Meeting East Coast 2025
Start: 2025-01-06T08:00
End: 2025-05-14T18:00
Location: Hyatt Regency Princeton

&

Drug Discovery Biology

Strategy Meeting East Coast USA 2025

Reinvigorating Productivity in Pharma and Biotech R&D Through Advanced Technologies and Innovative Techniques that Interrogate Activity and Mechanisms

Hyatt Regency Princeton

A MEETING EXPERIENCE UNLIKE ANY OTHER

Fresh Medicinal Chemistry Insights

Tired of the same conference experience? Real discussions and genuine networking are often promised, but not always delivered. Proventa International’s R&D Strategy Meetings are designed to avoid the pitfalls of a typical conference, by providing the right environment to make those important connections through interactive roundtable discussions, exclusive networking and keynote panel debates. Join Medicinal Chemistry professionals from across the East Coast, in Princeton, New Jersey, to discover new insights and take your company’s mission to the next level.

What makes our strategy meetings unique?

Roundtable Discussions

Intimate discussions led by renowned industry experts. Have your voice heard and debate alongside like-minded life science executives.

Unrivalled Networking

With senior delegation from big pharma and innovative biotech from across the East Coast, you can network with peers from different locations, all in one place.

Personalised Agenda

Choose the topics that matter to you. Reserve your place at the roundtable discussions and ensure your whole day delivers the insights you need to hear.

Solutions to your Problems

We’ve partnered with the best solution providers to solve your biggest challenges. Engage in pre-arranged, private meetings to address your specific needs and find a tangible solution.

Industry Researched Topics

We guarantee our agenda is up-to-date and mission critical because its designed by you. We speak to our extended network of senior decision makers to ensure the most important topics are discussed.

Senior Decision Makers

The entire strategy meeting is specifically tailored to the needs and challenges of senior life science professionals. Discover how your peers are dealing with the same challenges as you.

Our Facilitators

Our panel of facilitators play a key role in shaping the agenda for the day. See who will be bringing their expertise to the table at our Medicinal Chemistry strategy meeting..

Abhijat Vatsyayan

Head of AI and Innovation Taiho Oncology

Arnold Lippa

Executive Chairman, Chief Executive Officer and Chief Scientific Officer RespireRx Pharmaceuticals Inc.

Ashok Purandare

Associate Director, Discovery Chemistry Bristol Myers Squibb

Ashok received his Ph.D. from Osmania University, India. He conducted post- doctoral studies in Prof. Spencer Knapp’s group at Rutgers University, where he developed an efficient synthesis of Trehazolin, a pseudo-disaccharide trehalase inhibitor, and studied model host-guest complexes to mimic electron transport in biological systems. Ashok began his career at Bristol Myers Squibb (BMS) in October 1994 as a member of the newly established Combinatorial Drug Discovery team, where he developed novel solid-phase chemistries to enable diverse compound libraries. He subsequently led and contributed to several full-phase and early-phase programs across different therapeutic areas and modalities, including targeted protein degradation (TPD), to deliver clinical candidates and novel proof-of-concept tool molecules. Currently, Ashok is the Associate Director and a key member of the Induced Proximity Innovation group, where he guides various novel approaches to degrade therapeutically relevant proteins.

Chun-Cheih Chao

Senior Scientist Graviton Bioscience

Friso Postma

Vice President, Artificial Intelligence Drug Discovery BioXcel Therapeutics

Gunaretnam Rajagopal

Venture Partner Samsara Biocapital

Guna has experience in applying Informatics & Analytics across the entire drug discovery & development pipeline to advance the search and development of safe and effective medicines. His training and expertise encompass the fields of Data Sciences, AI/Machine Learning, Bioinformatics, Computational, Systems Biology & Pharmacology, Genetics & Genomics, High Performance Computing and Theoretical & Computational Physics. He received his PhD in Computational & Theoretical Physics from Georgia Tech in 1991. Guna was an Assistant Director of Research at the Cavendish (1996-2000) and elected a Fellow of Jesus College Cambridge (1996-2000). He moved to Singapore to be the founding Executive Director of the Bioinformatics Institute (2000-2007) that coordinated and supported biomedical computing & informatics supporting public & pharmaceutical R&D institutes at the BIOPOLIS. In 2008, he moved to Rutgers University to head the Bioinformatics & Systems Biology program at the Rutgers Cancer Institute of New Jersey (a NCI-designated comprehensive cancer center), with a joint appointment as Adjunct Professor at the Robert Wood Johnson Medical School and as a Member of the School of Natural Sciences, Institute for Advanced Studies in Princeton (2007-2012). In 2012, he was recruited to Johnson & Johnson to lead efforts to develop and deploy Computational, Informatics and Data Science infrastructure & capabilities to support global programs in basic, clinical, translational research across all therapeutic and functional areas. After ten years at J&J,

Herve Aloysius

Head of DMPK BioCryst Pharmaceuticals

Mark Tornetta

VP/Director of Biologics Discovery Tavotek Biotherapeutics

Nikolaos Tezapsidis

President & CEO Neurotez Inc.

Rick Ewing

VP, Head of Chemistry Rapafusyn Pharmaceuticals

Rick Ewing is VP, Head of Chemistry at Rapafusyn, a platform company focused on Type I molecular glues. Previous to Rapafusyn, Rick held the position of VP, Head of Drug Discovery at the Barer Institute. Prior to Barer, Rick was a senior director in Discovery Chemistry at Bristol Myers Squibb where he led medicinal chemistry teams to deliver 15 development candidates in the therapeutic areas of cardiovascular, diabetes, obesity, and heart failure. Among the development candidates is Milvexian, a first in class Factor XIa inhibitor currently in PIII 
development. Rick is coinventor on 79 patents, and co-author on 77 publications. In 2023, Rick was awarded the ACS Philadelphia Section Award for distinguished achievement in medicinal chemistry. In 2023, Rick also received the Edison Patent Award in Biotechnology Innovation with colleagues from BMS and Scripps Research. In 2021, he was awarded the ACS Fellow by the American 
Chemical Society and in 2018 received the Ondetti-Cushman award for leadership of the FXIa drug discovery team. Prior to Bristol Myers Squibb, Rick spent 12 years at RPR (now Sanofi). Rick received his Ph.D. in Organic Chemistry from U. Penn.

Rui Liao

Senior Director, AI/ML & Digital Health Johnson & Johnson Innovative Medicine

Sunil Joshi

President & CEO Protelis Bio

Tanweer Khan

Senior Director, Head of Discovery Chemistry aTai Life Sciences

Wendy Luo

Senior Director, Head of Toxicology Legend Biotech

Xuqing Zhang

Senior Director of Discovery Chemistry SK Life Science

Zhenhong Li

Senior Director, Modeling & Simulation Nimbus Therapeutics

First name	Last name	Job title	Company name	Photo URL	Bio Position
Abhijat	Vatsyayan	Head of AI and Innovation	Taiho Oncology	https://proventainternational.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/Abhijat-Vatsyayan.jpg	Trained as an aerospace engineer Abhijat has had a career spanning over 23 years most of it dedicated to helping to bring life extending medicines to patients through the use of technology in this 20 years working at pharmaceutical companies he collaborates with individuals from diverse backgrounds applying analytical design and creative problem solving skills to the complex challenge of drug development abhijat also has a foundational understanding of artificial intelligence including machine learning and has built simplified deep learning frameworks to educate and present machine learning concepts finally he is also a proud co founder of multiple failed startups.
Arnold	Lippa	Executive Chairman, Chief Executive Officer and Chief Scientific Officer	RespireRx Pharmaceuticals Inc.	https://proventainternational.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/05/Arnold-Lippa.jpg
Ashok	Purandare	Associate Director, Discovery Chemistry	Bristol Myers Squibb	https://proventainternational.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/Ashok-Purandare-1.jpg	Ashok received his Ph.D. from Osmania University, India. He conducted post- doctoral studies in Prof. Spencer Knapp’s group at Rutgers University, where he developed an efficient synthesis of Trehazolin, a pseudo-disaccharide trehalase inhibitor, and studied model host-guest complexes to mimic electron transport in biological systems. Ashok began his career at Bristol Myers Squibb (BMS) in October 1994 as a member of the newly established Combinatorial Drug Discovery team, where he developed novel solid-phase chemistries to enable diverse compound libraries. He subsequently led and contributed to several full-phase and early-phase programs across different therapeutic areas and modalities, including targeted protein degradation (TPD), to deliver clinical candidates and novel proof-of-concept tool molecules. Currently, Ashok is the Associate Director and a key member of the Induced Proximity Innovation group, where he guides various novel approaches to degrade therapeutically relevant proteins.
Chun-Cheih	Chao	Senior Scientist	Graviton Bioscience	https://proventainternational.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/Chun-Cheih-Chao.jpg	Chun-Cheih Chao is an accomplished immunology scientist with expertise in leveraging innovative approaches for understanding and addressing inflammatory bowel diseases (IBD). His work includes applying machine learning for the identification of environmental risk factors contributing to IBD pathogenesis. With a broad background in biology and experience gained at Brigham and Women’s hospital and Synlogic, Chun-Cheih has contributed to drug discovery efforts aimed at developing novel oral therapeutic strategies for IBD and other inflammatory conditions. His research integrates diverse cellular and molecular techniques to uncover mechanisms of disease and identify potential therapeutic targets.
Friso	Postma	Vice President, Artificial Intelligence Drug Discovery	BioXcel Therapeutics	https://proventainternational.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/Friso-Postma.jpg	Friso Postma, Ph.D., brings over 15 years of experience in biotech and non-profit sectors, leveraging AI to advance translational research for neurodevelopmental and neurodegenerative disorders. At BioXcel Therapeutics, he built a preclinical pipeline with an integrated AI platform for drug re-innovation. Previously, he led AI-driven initiatives combining wearable and home sensors to improve care in underserved populations and refine psychiatric trial metrics. Dr. Postma earned a neuroscience master’s from the University of Amsterdam, a Ph.D. from the Netherlands Cancer Institute, and completed postdoctoral work at Harvard Medical School.
Gunaretnam	Rajagopal	Venture Partner	Samsara Biocapital	https://proventainternational.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/Gunaretnam-Rajagopal.jpg	Guna has experience in applying Informatics & Analytics across the entire drug discovery & development pipeline to advance the search and development of safe and effective medicines. His training and expertise encompass the fields of Data Sciences, AI/Machine Learning, Bioinformatics, Computational, Systems Biology & Pharmacology, Genetics & Genomics, High Performance Computing and Theoretical & Computational Physics. He received his PhD in Computational & Theoretical Physics from Georgia Tech in 1991. Guna was an Assistant Director of Research at the Cavendish (1996-2000) and elected a Fellow of Jesus College Cambridge (1996-2000). He moved to Singapore to be the founding Executive Director of the Bioinformatics Institute (2000-2007) that coordinated and supported biomedical computing & informatics supporting public & pharmaceutical R&D institutes at the BIOPOLIS. In 2008, he moved to Rutgers University to head the Bioinformatics & Systems Biology program at the Rutgers Cancer Institute of New Jersey (a NCI-designated comprehensive cancer center), with a joint appointment as Adjunct Professor at the Robert Wood Johnson Medical School and as a Member of the School of Natural Sciences, Institute for Advanced Studies in Princeton (2007-2012). In 2012, he was recruited to Johnson & Johnson to lead efforts to develop and deploy Computational, Informatics and Data Science infrastructure & capabilities to support global programs in basic, clinical, translational research across all therapeutic and functional areas. After ten years at J&J,
Herve	Aloysius	Head of DMPK	BioCryst Pharmaceuticals	https://proventainternational.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/Herve-Aloysius.jpg	Herve Aloysius, Ph.D., has over two decades of drug development experience and led the Drug Metabolism and Pharmacokinetics (DMPK) function in mid- size biotech companies. From idea inception to clinical development, he has impacted strategy and execution for neuroscience, oncology, cardiovascular, infectious and rare disease programs. He has served as principal investigator at Merck and Takeda, and demonstrated scientific leadership as a functional liaison for Disease Area Teams. Dr. Aloysius has extensive hands-on experience in medicinal chemistry, DMPK and regulatory interactions (7 INDs, 4 NDAs). At BioCryst, he is responsible for leading DMPK and developing strategic planning and objectives for the function from discovery to development.
Mark	Tornetta	VP/Director of Biologics Discovery	Tavotek Biotherapeutics	https://proventainternational.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/Mark-Tornetta.jpg	Mark Tornetta has 30+ years of lead discovery experience in the biopharmaceutical and biotechnology sectors. The first 10+ years he performed antibody engineering and small molecule screening for de-orphanizing GPCR targets at SmithKline Beecham. The next 18+ years at Centocor/J&J he was part of an antibody engineering team that implemented 2 phage display technologies that generated thousands of candidates to hundreds of targets. His most accomplished project was discovering an antibody currently in the clinic at GSK for pulmonary inflammatory indications. The last 3 years at Tavotek he implemented a unique antibody generation platform called TAVOSelect which has generated thousands of VHOs to many IO targets.
Nikolaos	Tezapsidis	President & CEO	Neurotez Inc.	https://proventainternational.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/Nikolaos-Tezapsidis.jpg	Nikolaos Tezapsidis, PhD is the Founder, President, CEO, and Chairman of Neurotez, Inc., a pioneering biotechnology company established in 2005. With over 18 years of hands-on biomedical research experience, he has spearheaded the development of Memtin, a recombinant human Leptin product aimed at hormone replacement therapy for hypoleptinemic prodromal Alzheimer’s patients. Under his leadership, Neurotez raised $5 million through non-dilutive capital, secured private investments, and built a robust patent portfolio with over 20 issued and pending patents. A distinguished researcher, he has authored 50+ peer-reviewed publications and received accolades such as the InvestAcure Coin Award for advancements in Alzheimer’s treatment
Rick	Ewing	VP, Head of Chemistry	Rapafusyn Pharmaceuticals	https://proventainternational.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Rick-Ewing.jpg	Rick Ewing is VP, Head of Chemistry at Rapafusyn, a platform company focused on Type I molecular glues. Previous to Rapafusyn, Rick held the position of VP, Head of Drug Discovery at the Barer Institute. Prior to Barer, Rick was a senior director in Discovery Chemistry at Bristol Myers Squibb where he led medicinal chemistry teams to deliver 15 development candidates in the therapeutic areas of cardiovascular, diabetes, obesity, and heart failure. Among the development candidates is Milvexian, a first in class Factor XIa inhibitor currently in PIII development. Rick is coinventor on 79 patents, and co-author on 77 publications. In 2023, Rick was awarded the ACS Philadelphia Section Award for distinguished achievement in medicinal chemistry. In 2023, Rick also received the Edison Patent Award in Biotechnology Innovation with colleagues from BMS and Scripps Research. In 2021, he was awarded the ACS Fellow by the American Chemical Society and in 2018 received the Ondetti-Cushman award for leadership of the FXIa drug discovery team. Prior to Bristol Myers Squibb, Rick spent 12 years at RPR (now Sanofi). Rick received his Ph.D. in Organic Chemistry from U. Penn.
Rui	Liao	Senior Director, AI/ML & Digital Health	Johnson & Johnson Innovative Medicine	https://proventainternational.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/Rui-Liao.jpg	Dr. Rui Liao is a Fellow of American Institute of Medical and Biological Engineering and a Sr. Director leading the team of Imaging & Geometry Technologies for AI-powered Drug Discovery, Development, and Delivery, within Data Science and Digital Health, JnJ Innovative Medicine. Before joining Johnson & Johnson, Dr. Liao was working at the research arm of Siemens and led a global team to develop AI-based image guidance software, leading to multiple award-winning commercial products. Dr. Liao served professional societies in a number of roles, including as an associate editor or a member of the Editorial Board and authored ~180 scientific publications and patent applications.
Sunil	Joshi	President & CEO	Protelis Bio	https://proventainternational.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/05/Sunil-Joshi.jpg
Tanweer	Khan	Senior Director, Head of Discovery Chemistry	aTai Life Sciences	https://proventainternational.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/Tanweer-Khan1.jpg	Dr. Tanweer Khan, Ph.D., is the Director of Discovery Chemistry at Atai Life Sciences since 2021. As the Head of Discovery Chemistry at Early Development, he provides senior leadership for various R&D organizations across multiple therapeutic areas. Dr. Khan coordinates research direction and oversees a diverse portfolio of psychedelic inspired/GPCR drug discovery programs with a focus on mental health, neuropsychiatric disorders, and neurodegenerative diseases. He excels in building high-performance internal and external CRO teams through effective communication, cross-functional collaboration, and fostering team creativity to drive synergy.
Wendy	Luo	Senior Director, Head of Toxicology	Legend Biotech	https://proventainternational.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/05/Wendy-Luo.jpg	Wendy Luo, Ph.D; DABT has over twenty years of experience in toxicology from CRO, pharmaceutical and biotech companies. Currently, she is responsible for the safety assessment of in vivo and ex vivo cell and gene therapy of CAR T cell treatment. She has extensive experience in regulatory strategies and interactions, human risk assessment, bioanalysis, due diligence and nonclinical safety evaluation of cell and gene therapy, small molecules and biologics from discovery to marketing and post marketing support across multiple therapeutic areas including oncology, immune-oncology, immunology, neuroscience, inflammatory, and rare diseases.
Xuqing	Zhang	Senior Director of Discovery Chemistry	SK Life Science	https://proventainternational.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/Xuqing-Zhang-1.jpg	Dr. Xuqing Zhang is a trailblazing medicinal chemist and visionary leader in drug discovery. Over his 25-year career in both big pharma and startup biotech, he has spearheaded the discovery of over 10 drug candidates, including several breakthrough therapies for cardiovascular & metabolic diseases, inflammation and oncology. As an experienced “Drug Hunter,” he excels at bridging disciplines, leading diverse teams of scientists to innovate and solve complex challenges. Rising through the ranks, he serves as Senior Director at SK Life Science Labs (formerly Proteovant Therapeutics), where he leads the company’s core programs, drives strategy and fosters collaboration.
Zhenhong	Li	Senior Director, Modeling & Simulation	Nimbus Therapeutics	https://proventainternational.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/Zhenhong-Li.jpg	Dr. Zhenhong Li has a 15-year experience in model-informed drug discovery and development. Dr. Li earned her PhD from School of Medicine, Oregon Health & Science University, in 2010. She then completed a postdoctoral fellowship at the Center for Dose Response Modeling at the Hamner Institutes for Health Sciences, RTP, NC. She joined Pfizer in 2012 as a senior scientist and supported MIDD there for more than 10 years, rising through the ranks to an Associate Researcher Fellow. She currently works at Nimbus Therapeutics, Boston, MA, as a Director of Modeling & Simulation and a DMPK Project Representative since 2023.

Abhijat Vatsyayan, Arnold Lippa, Ashok Purandare, Chun-Cheih Chao, Friso Postma, Gunaretnam Rajagopal, Herve Aloysius, Mark Tornetta, Nikolaos Tezapsidis, Rick Ewing, Rui Liao, Sunil Joshi, Tanweer Khan, Wendy Luo, Xuqing Zhang, Zhenhong Li

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Drug Discovery Biology & Bioinformatics Strategy Meeting East Coast 2024

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<img class="lazy" decoding="async" src="data:image/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns='http://www.w3.org/2000/svg'%20viewBox='0%200%201%201'%3E%3C/svg%3E" data-src="https://proventainternational.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/location.png" >Hyatt Regency Princeton

Fresh Medicinal Chemistry Insights

What makes our strategy meetings unique?

Roundtable Discussions

Unrivalled Networking

Personalised Agenda

Solutions to your Problems

Industry Researched Topics

Senior Decision Makers

Our Facilitators

Abhijat Vatsyayan

Arnold Lippa

Ashok Purandare

Chun-Cheih Chao

Friso Postma

Gunaretnam Rajagopal

Herve Aloysius

Mark Tornetta

Nikolaos Tezapsidis

Rick Ewing

Rui Liao

Sunil Joshi

Tanweer Khan

Wendy Luo

Xuqing Zhang

Zhenhong Li

Our Agenda

See Which Topics Are Discussed at the Strategy Meeting

Breakfast & Registration

Opening Keynote Presentation

Drug Discovery Approaches towards Unlocking the Hard to Drug Proteome

Roundtable ( Pharma/Biotech )

Roundtable Tracks

Refreshment Break

Networking / 1-1 Meetings

Roundtable ( Solutions )

Roundtable Tracks

Networking Lunch

Networking / 1-1 Meetings

Roundtable ( Pharma/Biotech )

Roundtable Tracks

Afternoon Refreshment Break

Panel Discussion

Overcoming Investment Barriers in Biotech: R&D Costs, IP Issues, and Market Uncertainty (Topic TBC)

Drinks & Canapes Reception

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Senior Decision Makers

Personalised Agendas

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