Imagine...cancer, Alzheimer’s, genetic diseases, and unnecessary invasive testing all a thing of the past

On the Shoulders of Giants | Biotech Edition

Friday, February 21st, 8:00am to 9:30am at the Columbia Tower Club

“If I have seen further than others, it is by standing on the shoulders of giants." ~ Isaac Newton

Every opportunity available to us today is there because of great thinkers, builders and creators who have formed our communities as we know them. It is standing on the shoulders of these giants that gives us the ability to see and create what’s next.Here’s a rare opportunity to meet the biotech giants of our region and some of the world’s brightest scientific minds in a small intimate setting. Hear how they are changing the way we will we experience life in the next five years.

Imagine...cancer, Alzheimer’s, genetic diseases, and unnecessary invasive testing all a thing of the past…

We call the series of breakfast interviews at the Columbia Tower Club “On The Shoulders of Giants” because the interviewees have come to be dominating figures in the business, political and social landscape of the community. Their interview answers provide keys to how they got there and guidance for those would follow them.

Our Feb. 21 program brings a slightly different perspective, including a panel interview with three women CEOs from the biotech and life science sectors and a presentation by Matt Scholz, a two-time biotech entrepreneur and another to-be giant who now guides Oisin Bio.

Panelists Leen Kawas and Adina Mangubat are in their early 30s and thus at early stages of becoming giants of their field. The third female CEO, Rhonda Rhyne, has already built and exited a successful biotech company in San Diego that she took public and is now growing a second biotech-biomedical firm, Prevencio.

Mangubat, at 34, is youngest but has been CEO longest of the three, co-founding her innovative genomic sequencing firm in 2009 as she graduated from the University of Washington. She was a Forbes Magazine 30 Under 30 honoree at 23 and four years later an All-Star 30 Under 30 Alumna. In the space of two years she guided her company into a merger with a Bay Area bioinformatics company, then did what she described as an “un-acquisition that paved the way to putting together a partnership with Microsoft that will dramatically expand her company’s impact.

Rhyne’s decade of leadership of CardioDynamics, an innovative cardiovascular medical device company in San Diego, made her one of the most honored biotech CEOs in that region, including a 2003 Entrepreneur of the Year award and a Deloitte Fast 50 for nine consecutive years. Her Kirkland-based company’s focus has been on demonstrating improved cardio diagnostic accuracy and helping keep patients from undergoing unnecessary, expensive, and invasive tests.

Kawas, born and raised in Jordan and a graduate of Washington State University, is president and CEO of Athira Pharma. The company was founded in 2011 as M3 while still in the labs at WSU and has raised more than $25 million from an array of public and private entities as its human trials seek to prove its drug can reverse of halt progress of neurodegenerative diseases like Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s Disease. Kawas was the beneficiary of believers who came to her aid as investors, mentors, and supporters because they were convinced that she had the ability to bring to market a drug that would alter the course of neurodegenerative diseases like Alzheimer's and Parkinson's and perhaps reverse them.

Scholz is serial entrepreneur with a background in computer security and immunology, In addition to founding Oisin, Matt is also the founder and CEO of Immusoft, a biotech firm developing a breakthrough technology that will turn a patient's B cells into miniature drug factories. Matthew speaks and presents regularly to university, association and scientific audiences, including those at his alma mater, the University of Washington. He served for several years as a mentor to recipients of the Thiel Fellowship, a program that awarded grants to some of the world’s brightest scientific minds under age 20.

Please enjoy a light breakfast selection provided by Columbia Tower Club while taking in the views from the 76th floor for this exclusive invite only event.