2026 ARCHIVES

OVERVIEW
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PROGRAM
ADVISORY BOARD
ATTENDEES
KEYNOTES
NETWORKING

2026 Agenda

Cambridge VIP’s 4th Annual

Clinical Trial Venture, Innovation & Partnering

Accelerating Innovation, Accessibility and Scale

February 2 - 3, 2026 ALL TIMES EST

As part of the renowned 17th Annual SCOPE Summit, the 4th Annual Clinical Trial Venture, Innovation & Partnering Conference, taking place February 2-3, 2026, offers a focused, executive-level platform designed for forward-thinking investors, corporate leaders, and entrepreneurs shaping the future of clinical research. This high-impact, boutique event convenes a distinguished audience of C-suite executives from investment firms, growth-stage and mature companies, large pharma, hospitals, and corporate venture arms. With a dual focus on current market dynamics and long-term forecasting, this conference delivers actionable insights into emerging investment trends, scalable innovation strategies, and the evolving landscape of clinical trial partnerships. Attendees will benefit from candid discussions, fireside chats, and curated panels led by industry pioneers, covering capital allocation strategies, innovation pipelines, regulatory tailwinds, and risk-adjusted returns. Explore the exhibit hall featuring high-growth start-ups and established players, and gain visibility into breakthrough technologies, investment-grade opportunities, and strategic collaborations that will define the clinical trial ecosystem over the next decade. Whether you're seeking to inform your investment thesis, identify acquisition targets, or shape your corporate venture strategy, this event is engineered to support long-term value creation, portfolio growth, and strategic decision-making.

Tuesday, February 3

8:25 am
Clinical Trial Venture, Innovation & Partnering: The Official Opening

Plan your time and make the most of full access to all SCOPE Summit offerings—including the Keynote Sessions. Explore the full agenda here: https://www.scopesummit.com/


9:50 am

Chairperson's Opening Remarks

Dave Stevenson, COO & Managing Director, Merck Global Health Innovation Fund

9:55 am
Venture, Innovation & Partnering Executive Coffee Connect

Kick off the day in the Venture, Innovation & Partnering Room with a high-energy, access-driven networking session reserved exclusively for registered program participants and speakers. Meet C-suite leaders, top-tier investors, pioneering innovators, and main stage keynotes, including:

​

Eliav Barr, Head, Global Clinical Development and CMO, Global Clinical Development, Merck & Co.
Sandeep Burugupalli, Head, Data Science & Biopharmaceuticals R&D, AstraZeneca
Kenneth A. Getz, Executive Director and Professor, Tufts Center for the Study of Drug Development
Jeremy Goldberg, Operating Partner, Healthcare, Arsenal Capital Partners
Jared Saul, MD, CMO, Commercial Healthcare and Life Sciences, Amazon Web Services
Shawne Moran, Head, In-Country Study Operations-Americas, EMD Serono/Merck KGaA Darmstadt, Germany


This is an intimate environment designed for meaningful, fast-moving connection—a unique touchpoint available only within this program.

10:35 am
MARKET OVERVIEW:

Life Sciences Outlook 2026—What Does It Mean for Clinical Trials?

Andy Bolt, Leader, Life Sciences R&D Practice, Deloitte Consulting LLP

To better understand industry priorities and concerns, Deloitte conducted its fourth annual Life Sciences Outlook Survey from August to September 2025. The survey included 280 C-suite executives from biopharma and medtech companies across the United States, Europe (France, Germany, Switzerland, and the United Kingdom), and Asia (China and Japan).  This presentation will focus on Deloitte’s findings and insights from this recent survey.

10:55 am
PANEL DISCUSSION:

Investor Outlook: Corporate Venture Perspectives

PANEL MODERATOR:

Rana Lonnen, General Partner, Science Capital

Corporate venture investors are increasingly focused on innovations that accelerate and transform clinical trials operations, from digital platforms and data integration to patient engagement, automation and decentralized models. This panel will offer an inside view of how leading corporate venture funds evaluate and invest in technologies shaping the clinical development ecosystem. Discussion will explore current investment trends, partnership strategies, and the balance between strategic and financial objectives. Attendees will gain practical insight into how corporate investors identify value, assess risk, align with internal priorities and drive collaboration to advance next-generation clinical trial solutions and unlock meaningful strategic and financial returns in a rapidly evolving market.

PANELISTS:

John R. Pavletic, Executive Director, Lilly Ventures

Dave Stevenson, COO & Managing Director, Merck Global Health Innovation Fund

Megann Vaughn Watters, Vice President, New Ventures & Strategic Alliances, Labcorp

Carrie Williams, Vice President & Partner, McKesson Ventures

11:35 am
PANEL DISCUSSION:

Investing in Data-Driven Workflows

PANEL MODERATOR:

Kindra Tatarsky, Partner, Cerity Partners Ventures

As data becomes the backbone of clinical development, investors are seeking to understand where value will emerge in the next wave of digital transformation. This panel will help investors identify key opportunities and evaluate the potential of data-driven workflows to improve trial efficiency, data integrity, and patient outcomes. Discussion will focus on how automation, interoperability, and advanced analytics are reshaping clinical operations—and how strategic capital can accelerate innovation and generate meaningful returns. Attendees will gain practical insight into the evolving investment landscape at the intersection of data, technology, and life sciences.

PANELISTS:

Mike T. Franklin, Vice President, Clinical Central Services & Innovation, Eli Lilly & Co.

Mark Lee, MD, PhD, CEO & Co-Founder, N-Power Medicine

Jennifer Lum, Co-Founder & Managing Partner, Biospring

Zach Taft, CEO, IgniteData

12:15 pm
FIRESIDE CHAT:

Transforming Clinical Trials with a Patient-Derived Foundational AI Model

Yael Elish, Founder and Chief Product Officer, StuffThatWorks

Gil Bashe, Chair, Global Health & Purpose, FINN Partners

Billions of dollars are invested into pre-clinical drug discovery, yet the promise of AI falls short in clinical trials which results in a $1B dollar bottleneck and 7 + years in development. This fireside chat will address the challenge and how one company is transforming clinical trials with a proprietary patient-driven AI model.

12:30 pm

Venture, Innovation & Partnering Curated Leadership Lunch (Sponsorship Opportunities Available)

Join us for a dynamic, program-exclusive lunch designed to catalyze insight, opportunity, and collaboration. Curated discussion tables—shaped by our distinguished co-chairs—bring together select executives, investors, and innovators for focused, thematic conversations that spark new thinking and new partnerships. This elevated experience is open only to Venture, Innovation & Partnering participants and speakers.​


Table 1: What Gets Pharma to Say Yes and Investors to Pay Attention 

Denise Bronner, PhD, Founder & CEO, Empactful Ventures


Table 2: M&A Outlook for 2026—Headwinds and Tailwinds 

Tom Sabia, Managing Director, Braff Group


Table 3: Beyond Chasing Data: How Tech-Enabled Patient Engagement Drives Better Outcomes

Noga Leviner, Co-Founder & CEO, PicnicHealth


Table 4: Transforming Clinical Development with a Patient-Derived Foundational AI Model 

Julie Ross, CEO, StuffThatWorks


Table 5: Quantum Tech: Implications for Drug Development and Clinical Trials

​Celia Merzbacher, QED-C Executive Director

1:30 pm

Chairperson's Afternoon Remarks

Rana Lonnen, General Partner, Science Capital

1:35 pm
KEYNOTE FIRESIDE CHAT

Investor Fireside Chat

Carolyn Magill, Venture Partner, Define Ventures

Join us for an exclusive conversation with Carolyn Magill, Venture Partner at Define Ventures, and Sunny Kumar, MD, Partner at Informed Ventures—two visionary leaders shaping the future of healthcare investing. Carolyn brings deep expertise in evaluating transformative biotech and healthtech opportunities, coupled with a strong track record of guiding early-stage companies toward growth. Sunny draws on his extensive clinical and entrepreneurial experience to provide a unique perspective on risk, innovation, and impact in clinical trials. Together, they will explore what it takes for high-potential ventures to succeed, debate the challenges of scaling innovation in healthcare, and share insights on making mission-aligned investments—offering attendees a rare opportunity to learn from two influential voices driving the next generation of life sciences investment.

Interviewed By:

Sunny Kumar, MD, Partner, Informed Ventures

INNOVATION SHOWCASE

2:00 pm

Showcase Remarks

Lori Ellis, Chief Mischief Officer, Open Door Salon

Innovation Showcase companies are emerging and growth-stage organizations tackling critical challenges in the clinical trial ecosystem through new technologies, products, or platforms. During the Showcase, each company delivers a brief, focused overview of the specific problem they are solving, how their solution creates meaningful impact across the clinical trial lifecycle, and why it represents a compelling opportunity for strategic and financial stakeholders. The session is designed to connect these innovations with a highly engaged audience of clinical operations leaders, investors, strategics, and industry executives actively seeking scalable solutions and differentiated growth opportunities in clinical trial innovation.

AI-Powered Patient Recruitment, Engagement, and Management Platform for Clinical Trials

Tareq Hossain, CEO, Zeda Technology

Vivo: The Real-Time AI Control Tower for Clinical Trial Execution

Angela Holmes, CEO, OmniScience

An overview of OmniScience’s Vivo and its real-time AI control tower, showing how unified and AI-ready trial data and proactive intelligence improve execution, speed, and decision-making in clinical operations.

Agentic AI for End-to-End Patient Recruitment in Clinical Trials

Suman Bhaskaran, Co-Founder, Srotas Health

Beyond the Clinic: Unlocking Patient Access via AI-Native Home Infrastructure

Kyle Hebert, Chief Growth Officer, Dala Care

AI Agents for Trial Operations

Shruti Tibrewala, CEO, Double Blind Bio

Point-of-Care Research Enablement Layer

Cerdi Beltre, Co-Founder & COO, Trial IQ

Trial IQ aims to enable underutilized community practices and infusion centers to become research-ready and connect them into a support network that expands patient access. Early partners are sought to help define site readiness, partnership approaches, and integration standards.

World Models Accelerating Clinical Trials 

Ari Yacobi, Co-Founder & CEO, Athaca

Clinical trials remain slow, costly, and failure-prone due to protocol design flaws, data scarcity, and limited ability to test decisions before execution. This presentation introduces clinical world models, a new class of generative AI that learn disease dynamics and simulate how patient journeys evolve over time. Ari Yacobi will outline the core architecture, share results from disease-specific pilots generating high-fidelity synthetic patient trajectories, and discuss how this approach enables earlier decision-making, reduces risk, and accelerates clinical development.

2:40 pm
Measuring Sleep, Vital Signs, Cough—Without Needing to do or Wear Anything

Mikesh Udani, CoFounder & CEO, Albus Health

2:45 pm
PANEL DISCUSSION:

Scaling Patient Recruitment & Site Strategy: Unlocking Efficiency, Speed, and ROI in Clinical Trials

PANEL MODERATOR:

Laura Y. Hilty, Principal, Investments & Growth, HealthX Ventures and CSO, IgnteData

As patient recruitment and site performance continue to define the success of clinical trials, investors and operators alike are seeking scalable strategies that balance innovation with patient-centric execution. This panel brings together senior industry leaders with deep operational expertise to discuss how data-driven recruitment models, site optimization, and patient engagement innovations can accelerate enrollment while safeguarding investment and trial integrity. Attendees will gain actionable insights into building sustainable, efficient recruitment ecosystems that prioritize patient access, enhance trial diversity, and drive measurable returns—ensuring that capital and care move forward together in the clinical research landscape.

PANELISTS:

Skip Fleshman, Partner, Aulis Capital

Sean Lynch, Clinical Innovation Head, Innovative Trial Operations, Novartis Pharmaceuticals

Maulik D. Mehta, Managing Partner, Excelerate Health Ventures

Maya R. Said, ScD, Founder & CEO, Outcomes4Me

Sam Srivastava, CEO, WCG

3:20 pm
PANEL DISCUSSION:

Entrepreneurship Lessons & Operator Insights

PANEL MODERATOR:

Mitesh Rao, MD, Founder & CEO, OMNY

Learn directly from CEOs who have successfully scaled companies at the forefront of clinical research and trial technology. This panel will share practical lessons on building high-performing teams, scaling operations, and navigating the challenges unique to clinical trials and healthtech. Investors will gain insight into how these leaders identify growth opportunities, align innovation with market needs, and drive sustainable returns, providing a roadmap for making informed investment decisions in the rapidly evolving clinical trial and research ecosystem.

PANELISTS:

Wout Brusselaers, CEO, Deep 6 AI

Ariel B. Katz, CEO & Co-Founder, H1

Michelle Longmire, Co-Founder & CEO, Medable, Inc.

Eirini Schlosser, Founder & CEO, Dyania Health

3:55 pm
Venture Capital's Role in Propelling Clinical Trials Forward

Ross Barrett, General Partner, Cancer Focus Fund

Venture capital is playing an increasingly critical role in accelerating oncology innovation by reshaping how early-stage clinical trials are financed, designed, and executed. In this presentation, Cancer Focus Fund outlines its vision to finance, design, and administer more than 100 Phase I/II clinical trials over the next decade, leveraging the clinical trial expertise of MD Anderson Cancer Center. Attendees will gain insight into how this model bridges scientific discovery and commercialization, creating value for investors while bringing best-in-class cancer therapies to patients faster and more efficiently.

4:05 pm
PANEL DISCUSSION:

Foundational Investments in Biotech: Balancing Mission, Capital, and Clinical Impact

PANEL MODERATOR:

Jessica J. Federer, Board Member, Angelini Ventures

Foundations are increasingly leveraging investment arms to advance their mission while generating financial returns. This panel explores how foundation-backed funds identify high-potential biotech and clinical trial opportunities, balance patient impact with capital efficiency, and drive innovation in areas often underserved by traditional venture capital. Attendees will gain insights into how mission-driven investing can accelerate clinical development, de-risk early-stage innovation, and create measurable impact—highlighting strategies for investors to engage with foundation-led initiatives in the evolving clinical research ecosystem.

PANELISTS:

Ross Barrett, General Partner, Cancer Focus Fund

Stephanie Oestreich, Managing Director, Myeloma Investment Fund of the MMRF

4:35 pm

Chairperson's Closing Remarks

Sunny Kumar, MD, Partner, Informed Ventures

4:40 pm

Networking Mixer

Close the day with momentum. Our program-exclusive happy hour in the Venture Innovation & Partnering Room provides an elegant, energizing atmosphere for deepening conversations with fellow executives, investors, and innovators. This is a high-value connection space available solely to participants and speakers in the Venture Innovation & Partnering Program — the perfect setting to turn ideas into opportunities.

5:35 pm

Welcome Reception in the Exhibit Hall

Wrap up the day with colleagues, friends old and new at SCOPE’s Welcome Reception in the Exhibit Hall. Enjoy drinks, network with exhibitors, and enter to win fabulous raffle prizes (must be present to win). Keep the evening going with dinner at Rosen Shingle Creek’s restaurants—no Orlando traffic required!





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