Anthony Costello is the CEO of Medidata Solutions, a Dassault Systèmes company, and one of clinical research technology's most seasoned architects. With nearly 30 years in the field, he started as a data manager at Genentech, co-founded two companies (Nextrials and Mytrus), and was acquired by Medidata before rising to lead it. Today he oversees over 8,000 active clinical studies globally each year, championing AI-driven trial innovation, decentralized models, and patient-centric design at the White House Clinical Trials Forum and beyond.
Eran Steinberg is a serial entrepreneur, prolific inventor, and IP strategist who co-founded FotoNation in 1997 - selling it, buying it back, and doing it again a third time. Best known for pioneering the automatic red-eye removal technology now standard in virtually every digital camera and smartphone on earth, he holds 300+ patents across imaging, medical devices, and drug development. A licensed USPTO patent agent with four graduate and undergraduate degrees - including both a B.F.A. in Fine Art Photography and an M.S. in Imaging Science - he bridges the worlds of deep technology and creative vision. Currently CEO and Chairman of Vaica Medical and Chairman of FotoNation following a third management buyout, he also lectures at Johns Hopkins University.
Babylist is the operating system for new parenthood — a universal baby registry that grew into an ecommerce destination, a content engine, a healthcare brand, and now a chain of experiential showrooms. Founded in 2011 by ex-Amazon engineer Natalie Gordon, the company hit $750M in 2025 revenue while staying founder-led, profitable, and unapologetically focused on the parent.
Brent Dover is the CEO of Carta Healthcare, an AI-powered clinical data management platform that serves hospitals and health systems nationwide using a 'Hybrid Intelligence' model combining AI with human expert abstractors. With over 20 years of healthcare technology leadership, Dover has presided over company-defining exits and growth events - including leading Medicity to a $500M acquisition by Aetna generating 16x investor returns, scaling Health Catalyst toward a NASDAQ IPO, and growing Commure to a $3.5B valuation. He joined Carta Healthcare in December 2023 and has since driven 2x revenue growth, 100% customer retention, and a $18.25M Series B1 round led by UPMC Enterprises.
Thistle is a plant-forward meal delivery service that ships chef-crafted, nutritionist-designed ready-to-eat meals, cold-pressed juices, and snacks to homes across much of the U.S. Founded in San Francisco in 2013 by Ashwin Cheriyan and Shiri Avnery, the company built its business on a simple wager: that the easiest way to fix both human health and the climate is to help people eat more plants.
Zennya Health is a Philippine-based on-demand home healthcare platform that dispatches nurses, doctors, and wellness professionals directly to patients' homes, offices, and hotels. Founded in 2015 and powered by AI-guided care protocols, Zennya has completed over 600,000 service visits across Metro Manila and Metro Cebu, making professional medical care as easy to book as a rideshare.
Wayee Chu is Co-Founder and General Partner at Reach Capital, a San Francisco-based venture firm with $570M+ under management and 140+ portfolio companies across learning, health, and the future of work. A daughter of Chinese immigrants who came to the US for education, Wayee spent eight years at NewSchools Venture Fund - co-founding its Seed Fund in 2006 - before building Reach Capital into one of edtech's defining early-stage firms. She is a founding member of All Raise, sits on the SFMOMA board, and was named an ASU+GSV Power of Women honoree in 2025. Her portfolio spans Replit, ClassDojo, Clayful, Gradescope, and dozens of other companies reshaping how people learn and work.
Noor Siddiqui is the founder and CEO of Orchid Health, a San Francisco-based biotech startup offering whole-genome sequencing for IVF embryos, screening for 1,200+ genetic variants. Motivated by watching her mother lose her sight to retinitis pigmentosa, she dropped out of high school at 17 to become one of the youngest Thiel Fellows, later returned to earn dual CS degrees at Stanford, and then built Orchid with $16.5M in funding from investors including 23andMe founder Anne Wojcicki and Coinbase's Brian Armstrong. She is also the host of the podcast 'Conceivable with Noor.'
Bryan Faust, PhD is an Investment Partner on the Bio + Health team at Andreessen Horowitz (a16z), where he backs seed and Series A companies at the intersection of biology and technology. A trained biophysicist with a PhD from UCSF, he published research in Nature, Science, and Cell before pivoting to venture—studying antibody-protein interactions, GPCR signaling, and COVID-19 nanobodies along the way. At a16z he has co-led investments in Stipple Bio, Tessera Labs, Gate Bioscience, and Formation Bio, and writes widely on AI in life sciences, biotech financing, and the coming era of programmable medicine. When he's not reading pitch decks, he's surfing, roasting coffee, or hunting down the perfect tacos al pastor.
Sandra Pérez Baos, Ph.D. is a Senior Associate at 2048 Ventures, a NYC- and Boston-based thesis-driven early-stage VC firm that closed an oversubscribed $82M Fund III in January 2026. A scientist turned investor, she brings a decade of hands-on experience in translational immunology and molecular biology research - first as a postdoctoral researcher at NYU Grossman School of Medicine, then as a founding leader at Nucleate New York, and later as a fellow with NYU's technology commercialization office. At 2048 Ventures she leads biotech and health investments at pre-seed and seed stages, writing checks from $500K to $3M into companies building the next generation of platform biology, drug delivery, diagnostics, and digital health.
Nitin Pachisia is the Founding Partner of Unshackled Ventures, the only early-stage VC firm in the U.S. exclusively focused on immigrant founders. Born in India and having navigated the U.S. immigration system himself, he co-founded Unshackled in 2014 with Manan Mehta to solve a problem he lived: talented immigrant entrepreneurs trapped by visa rules that punished risk-taking. Unshackled's model is unlike any other fund - it directly employs founders as their visa sponsor, enabling them to legally leave corporate jobs and build startups. Across three funds totaling $55M+, he has backed 80+ companies whose founders come from 35+ countries, helped create 1,100+ jobs, and maintained a 100% success rate on immigration filings.
Ed Yong is a Pulitzer Prize-winning British-American science journalist best known for his eight years at The Atlantic, where he wrote over 750 stories including landmark COVID-19 coverage that earned him journalism's highest honor in 2021. Author of two acclaimed bestsellers - 'I Contain Multitudes' (2016) and 'An Immense World' (2022) - he translates complex biology and animal sensory science into vivid, empathetic prose that has won him the George Polk Award, Carnegie Medal, Royal Society Science Book Prize, and a 2024 Guggenheim Fellowship. Now an independent journalist, he publishes the newsletter 'The Ed's Up' and remains one of the most distinctive voices in science communication.
Katherine J. Wu, Ph.D. is a staff science writer at The Atlantic and one of the most respected science journalists working today. A former Harvard bacteriologist turned acclaimed writer, she translates complex biology - from pandemic viruses to the sex lives of deep-sea creatures - into stories that are simultaneously rigorous and riveting. Winner of the 2024 Kovler Prize and the 2022 Schmidt Award for Science Communication, she has reported for The New York Times, National Geographic, and Smithsonian, and holds a PhD in Microbiology and Immunobiology from Harvard. She writes the newsletter The Pivot, covering science and health.
Dr. Kholod Shafi is a Karachi-based MBBS doctor, practicing Family Physician, and elite fitness trainer who built AeroFitness - a health platform that fuses medical expertise with physical training. Holding three certifications from the International Sports Sciences Association, she manages clients across the full health spectrum, from managing chronic conditions like diabetes and autoimmune diseases to supporting pregnant women and aspiring athletes recovering from injury. Her mission: bridge the gap between the clinic and the gym.