Contact Information: Contact: Kaushik Chaudhuri Cambridge Healthtech Institute (781) 972-5419
Bio-IT World Expo Announces 2008 Keynote Speakers
| Source: Bio-IT World
NEEDHAM, MA--(Marketwire - October 10, 2007) - Bio-IT World has announced the three keynote
speakers for its sixth annual Conference & Expo, to be held in Boston next
Spring (April 28-30).
The keynoters will be Linda Avey, co-founder of 23andMe; Joshua Boger,
president & CEO of Vertex Pharmaceuticals; and John Reynders, CIO, Johnson
& Johnson Life Sciences Division.
Linda Avey is the co-founder of 23andMe, the Bay Area consumer genomics
start-up. She previously worked in sales and business development for
Affymetrix and Perlegen Sciences. Prior to that, Linda had stints at
Spotfire and Applied Biosystems. Avey founded 23andMe with Anne Wojcicki,
wife of Google co-founder Sergey Brin (Google is also an investor in
23andMe). Partnering with Illumina, 23andMe will shortly unveil a consumer
genotyping service offering individuals whole-genome analysis to learn
about genealogy, ancestry, and medical issues. Avey will speak on Wednesday
morning, April 30, 2008.
Joshua Boger, PhD, is founder, president and CEO of Vertex Pharmaceuticals.
Boger has served as CEO since 1992, and has also served as Chairman and
president, and chief scientific officer. Prior to founding Vertex in 1989,
Boger was senior director of basic chemistry at Merck Sharp & Dohme
Research Laboratories, where he headed research groups in medicinal and
biophysical chemistry. Boger holds a B.A. in chemistry and philosophy from
Wesleyan University and M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in chemistry from Harvard
University. Boger's early years at Vertex were feature in Barry Werth's
classic biotechnology book, The Billion Dollar Molecule. Boger's talk will
be on Tuesday morning, April 29, 2008.
John Reynders, PhD, is the newly appointed CIO for Johnson & Johnson's Life
Sciences Division. He was previously the Information Officer for Lilly
Research Laboratories - discovery and development informatics. Reynders
joined Lilly from Celera, where he was VP for Informatics and Information
Systems, where he was responsible for all supercomputing capabilities,
discovery software engineering, and enterprise system infrastructure.
Reynders joined the Los Alamos National Laboratory in 1992, where he served
as the Director of the Advanced Computing Laboratory. Reynders received his
PhD in applied and computational mathematics from Princeton University.
Reynders will deliver the opening keynote on Monday afternoon, April 28,
2008.
Commented Bio-IT World Editor-in-Chief Kevin Davies: "We are absolutely
thrilled to have three such outstanding scientists and visionaries accept
our keynote invitations. John Reynders has been a frequent speaker at
Bio-IT World events, but his new appointment as CIO for J&J's life sciences
division will lend his expertise and talents in building informatics
workflows for drug discovery even greater weight.
"Josh Boger has led Vertex for almost two decades since its inception, and
thus brings unparalleled perspective and experience to the evolving
challenges and opportunities facing drug development organizations both
large and small.
"Finally, we are really delighted that 23andMe's Linda Avey has agreed to
present at Bio-IT World. Her new company is one of the most exciting
stories in genetics and medicine, and I expect a huge audience on hand to
hear how she and her colleagues plan to read, interpret, and disseminate
individual genome data."
For more information on Bio-IT World Conference & Expo, visit the event Web
site at www.bio-itworldexpo.com.
About Bio-IT World www.bio-itworld.com
Bio-IT World -- the flagship publication of CHI -- is the leading source of
news on technology and strategic innovation in drug discovery, development,
and clinical trials. Bio-IT World's focus is increasingly one that explores
the tools and results of "predictive biology" as the industry adapts to the
new world of "personalized medicine." Bio-IT World has won 34 national and
regional awards, more than any other magazine covering the life sciences
industry. Bio-IT World was acquired by CHI in 2006 and is part of the
Cambridge Healthtech Media Group -- a new group introduced by CHI in August
2007 -- that offers a suite of published resources that include Bio-IT
World magazine, numerous topic-specific eNewsletters, and comprehensive,
continually updated web sites.
About CHI www.healthtech.com
Founded in 1992, Cambridge Healthtech Institute (CHI) is the industry
leader offering the preeminent source of information to the leading
researchers and business experts from top pharmaceutical, biotech, and
academic organizations. Delivering an assortment of resources such as
events, reports, publications and eNewsletters, CHI's portfolio of products
include Cambridge Healthtech Institute Events, Pharmaceutical Strategy
Series, Insight Pharma Reports, Marketing Services, and Cambridge
Healthtech Media Group.