Developing a new type of freedom from diabetes

Dan Bradbury is a Life Sciences Executive with over 35 years of experience creating and implementing strategies that transform businesses, bring novel medicines to market and maximize shareholder value. He is the Managing Member of BioBrit, LLC, a Life Sciences Consulting and Investment Firm based in La Jolla, CA. Dan is the Executive Chairman and Co-Founder of Equillium, Inc. (NASDAQ: EQ), a publicly traded biopharmaceutical company based in La Jolla, CA, focused on developing products to treat severe autoimmune and inflammatory disorders with high unmet medical need. He served as Chief Executive Officer of Equillium until January 2020.  He is the former President, Chief Executive Officer and Director of Amylin Pharmaceuticals, a biopharmaceutical company based in San Diego, CA, focused on metabolic diseases. During his 18-year tenure at Amylin, the company launched three first-in-class medicines, including the first once-a-week therapy to treat diabetes and was listed on the Nasdaq 100.  He served as Amylin’s Chief Executive Officer from March 2007 until its acquisition by Bristol-Myers Squibb Company in August 2012. Before joining Amylin, Dan worked in marketing and sales roles for ten years at SmithKline Beecham Pharmaceuticals. Dan serves on the board of directors of Biocon Limited (NSE: BIOCON), Castle Biosciences, Inc. (NASDAQ: CSTL), Equillium, Inc. (NASDAQ: EQ), Intercept Pharmaceuticals, Inc. NASDAQ: ICPT) and a number of private companies and philanthropic organizations. Dan received a Bachelor of Pharmacy from Nottingham University and a Diploma in Management Studies from Harrow and Ealing Colleges of Higher Education in the United Kingdom. LinkedIn

Mr. Moradi is a biotechnology executive and venture capital fund manager.  He has co-founded several biopharmaceutical, nanotechnology, and venture capital companies. Mike is a founder and general partner with Cortado Ventures, an early-stage VC fund with over $100m in assets under management. Mike was previously a co-founder and CEO of a pharmaceutical company targeting ocular complications of diabetes, and specialty Contract Research Organization (eyeCRO), which was #264 fastest growing private company in the 2009 Inc. 500. He co-founded Nanopolaris (now Unidym), which was acquired in 2011 by a publicly traded South Korean company for $145M USD, and NanoSource, which was acquired by DuPont in 2002, largely considered the first major nanotechnology acquisition.  Mike was a trustee for the $9B USD Oklahoma Pension Employees Retirement System (OPERS), and a member of the audit committee. He is an advisory board member for the Health Finance Institute, a regular attendee of the flagship TED conference, and the World Economic Forum in Davos.  He holds a degree in biochemistry from the University of Oklahoma, with additional coursework from Oxford University’s Saïd Business School, the Harvard Kennedy School (also known as the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University), the Judge Business School at Cambridge University, the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy at the National University of Singapore, and the University of Cape Town’s Graduate School of Business. He is a director and investment committee member with Grand Founders (formerly the Global Ukraine Foundation), and a director of the Health Finance Institute. Mike was named to the World Economic Forum’s (WEF) 2017-2022 class of Young Global Leaders (YGL). LinkedIn

Founder and CFO of multiple diabetes companies, including Welldoc, Bigfoot Biomedical (acquired by Abbott) and Luna Diabetes

Fractional CFO of multiple healthcare companies, including eMindful (acq'd by Wondr Health) and Opargo (acq'd by Allscripts)

Raised $1B+ of capital in debt/equity public/private markets

Served on the board of over 15 private companies

Founded international VC fund

Restructured entire commercial debt of the country of Bolivia

 LinkedIn

Ananth Annapragada is Professor of Radiology and Director of Basic Research in the Edward B. Singleton Department of Pediatric Radiology at Texas Children's Hospital. Previously, he was the Robert Graham Professor of Entrepreneurial Biomedical Informatics and Bioengineering at the School of Biomedical Informatics at the University of Texas, Health Sciences Center at Houston. He holds additional positions at the Keck Institute, The University of Houston, Rice University and the University of Texas at Austin. Ananth received his Ph.D. in Chemical Engineering from The University of Michigan in 1989. After postdoctoral fellowships at the University of Minnesota and MIT, he joined Abbott Laboratories as a Research Scientist in 1991. In 1996, he joined SEQUUS Pharmaceuticals, Menlo Park, CA and stayed on till it was acquired by Johnson and Johnson. In 2000, he started his first academic position at the Cleveland State University and Cleveland Clinic Foundation. In 2003, he moved to University of Texas and subsequently, joined Texas Children's Hospital in June 2011. Dr. Annapragada's research interests are in the development of nanomaterial based solutions to medical and imaging problems. Some examples of his work in the field are the development of novel nanoparticle contrast agents for both CT and MR, “Intelligent” nanostructures for glucose responsive insulin delivery, and targeted nanostructures for imaging and therapy. LinkedIn

Dr. Rhodes is a pharmaceutical technologist with experience in combination product development including formulations and devices for pulmonary inhalation aerosol, nasal spray, transdermal patch, sustained release injection, and oral and ocular delivery systems for biopharmaceutical products and small molecules. He has played a key role in the development of the commercial products, Byetta (exenatide injection, FDA 2005), Lusedra (propofol prodrug, FDA 2008), Bydureon (exenatide extended-release for injectable suspension, FDA 2012), Myalept (metreleptin for severe lypodystrophy, FDA 2014), and Afrezza (insulin inhalation powder, FDA under review 2014). Dr. Rhodes has been responsible for product development including drug delivery R&D, formulation and process development, clinical supply and manufacturing, analytical and bioanalytical chemistry in companies including SKS Ocular, Amylin Pharmaceuticals, Guilford Pharmaceuticals, and Mannkind Pharmaceuticals. In addition to leading technical functions, he has also been drug development team leader for drug delivery system and molecule development programs translating them from research through clinical proof-of-concept and readying them for commercialization. Dr. Rhodes earned his Doctorate degree in physical organic chemistry from UCLA and completed his training with a Post Doctoral position at Yale University. He has a Bachelors degree in chemistry from New York University. LinkedIn