Masha Fridkis-Hareli, MSc, PhD, President and Chairperson of the Board

Mr. Leicher is currently in private practice advising Executives and Chief Legal Officers. He is also an Adjunct Professor teaching biotechnology law and business at UNH Law School and Suffolk Law School.  In practice for 40 years, he has served as General Counsel and in senior legal positions at Momenta Pharmaceuticals, Millennium Pharmaceuticals and Genetics Institute as well as at a number of emerging biotechnology companies and in private practice.   Mr. Leicher also served as Chair of the Biosimilars Council, a Division of the Association for Accessible Medicines In private practice, he served as the Co-Chair of the Life Sciences Practice Group at Hill and Barlow, was an attorney at Hale and Dorr and Butler & Binion, and he served as a law clerk to the Honorable Thomas F. Hogan in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia after receiving his J.D. from Georgetown University Law Center and his B.A. from the University of Rochester.

Katherine’s career has encompassed over thirty five years in the field of biotechnology.  She has extensive knowledge in all aspects of research from discovery through clinical development and the market, in a wide range of therapeutic areas including oncology, autoimmune diseases, hematopoiesis, transplantation, tissue repair and fibrosis. She played key scientific roles in early-stage companies such as Scholar Rock and held senior management positions in pioneering biotechnology companies including Genetics Institute and Biogen.  Dr. Turner served as a founding member of MassCONNECT, which mentors and provides industry expertise and guidance to academic entrepreneurs.  She is a member of the Board of Directors for NFI Massachusetts and the North American Family Institute (NAFI) and recently joined the Governing Body of IRTP in Worcester, MA (Intensive Residential Treatment Programs).  Currently, she is a writer and editor for ACIR (Accelerating Cancer Immunotherapy Research).  Katherine received her MS and PhD in Biochemistry from Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, VA and obtained post-doctoral training at the Courtauld Institute for Biochemistry in London, UK and Brandeis University, Waltham, MA.

Mr. Ciappenelli is a biopharma executive with over 30 years in industry across both early stage and mature organizations successfully identifying, developing, and commercializing therapeutics from ultra-rare diseases to primary care conditions. Most recently he was Chief Strategy Officer and Chief Commercial Officer at Dicerna Pharmaceuticals which was acquired by Novo Nordisk. Prior positions include Global Head of Commercial at Momenta Pharmaceuticals (now part of J&J), several leadership positions at Shire Pharmaceuticals (now part of Takeda), across commercial operations and business planning including global franchise operations lead for Shire’s Fabry (Replagal®) and Gaucher (Vpriv®) programs and various leadership positions at Sunovion Pharmaceuticals, across marketing, commercial operations, and new products planning. Earlier in his career he was a biopharma strategy consultant focused on commercialization, businesses planning, business development and deal integration.  Mr. Ciappenelli earned a Bachelor of Business Administration (B.B.A.) in Finance from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst and a Master of Business Administration (M.B.A.) from the Harvard Graduate School of Business Administration.

James M. Roach, MD, FACP, FCCP is currently the Principal/Manager of J Roach BioPharma Consulting LLC, founded in the Spring of 2021 following his retirement from Ipsen Pharmaceuticals, where he had served as the Senior Vice President and Global Head, Rare Diseases Therapeutic Area. Dr. Roach previously served as the Executive Vice President of Research and Development at Clementia Pharmaceuticals, which was acquired by Ipsen. Prior to joining Clementia, Dr. Roach was the Chief Medical Officer (CMO) of several biopharmaceutical companies including Pulmatrix, Inc., Veristat, Inc., and Momenta Pharmaceuticals, where he served also as the Senior Vice President, Development. Prior to joining Momenta in his first CMO role in 2008, Dr. Roach was the Senior Vice President, Medical Affairs at Sepracor, Inc. Dr. Roach has also held senior clinical research and/or medical affairs positions at Millennium Pharmaceuticals, Inc., LeukoSite, Inc., Medical and Technical Research Associates, Inc. and Astra USA. Dr. Roach held an academic appointment at Harvard Medical School for close to 25 years and has been an Associate Physician at Brigham and Women’s Hospital (BWH) and member of the BWH Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine Division since 1993. He received his B.A. in Biology and Philosophy from the College of the Holy Cross and his M.D. from Georgetown University School of Medicine. Dr. Roach completed his residency in Internal Medicine and fellowships in Pulmonary Disease and Critical Care Medicine at Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington, D.C., and served in the US Army Medical Corps for ten years. Dr. Roach is also a Fellow of the American College of Physicians (ACP) and the American College of Chest Physicians (ACCP).