Evan McCulloch
Portfolio Manager, Franklin Templeton Investments

Evan McCulloch is a vice president, portfolio manager and analyst for Franklin Equity Group. Mr. McCulloch is the lead portfolio manager of Franklin Biotechnology Discovery Fund. He is also the health care sector team leader. Mr. McCulloch specializes in research analysis of biotechnology and emerging pharmaceutical companies, with a therapeutic focus on infectious diseases, ophthalmology, pulmonology, cardiovascular disease, gastroenterology and the central nervous system. Prior research coverage includes the pharmaceutical, medical technology and healthcare service sectors.

Mr. McCulloch joined Franklin Templeton Investments in 1992. He earned his BA in economics from the University of California at Berkeley. He is a Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) Charterholder, and a member of the CFA Institute and the Security Analysts of San Francisco (SASF).

Bryan Roberts, PhD
Partner, Venrock

Bryan Roberts, Ph.D. joined Venrock as a Kauffman Fellow in 1997. He is based in Venrock's Palo Alto office and focuses on a broad range of healthcare investments. Bryan is currently Chairman of the Board of Directors of Achaogen, Castlight Health, and Ironwood Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ: IRWD) and also serves on the Board of several other private companies, including Ariosa Diagnostics, Ikaria, Intarcia, and Kyruus. Past investments include athenahealth (NASDAQ: ATHN), CodeRyte (acquired by 3M), Illumina (NASDAQ: ILMN), Sirna Therapeutics (acquired by Merck) and Xenoport (NASDAQ: XNPT). Bryan was named a Henry Crown Fellow by the Aspen Institute in 2006 and has been the highest-ranking healthcare investor on Forbes’ Midas List since 2008.

Immediately prior to joining Venrock, Bryan received his Ph.D. in Chemistry & Chemical Biology from Harvard University. He previously held positions in corporate finance at Kidder, Peabody & Co and received his B.A. from Dartmouth College.

Joel Sendek
Managing Director, Head Healthcare Equity Research, Stifel Nicolaus

Joel Sendek is a Managing Director and Biotechnology Analyst at Stifel, Nicolaus & Company. He is also Group Head of the Healthcare Equity Research at Stifel. He has been a senior biotechnology analyst for 15 years with coverage that spans both large-cap and small-cap companies. Prior to joining Stifel, Joel was a Managing Director and biotechnology analyst for 11 years at Lazard Capital Markets, where he established Lazard's healthcare equity research effort in 2000. Prior to Lazard he was a Senior Vice President and biotechnology research analyst at Gerard Klauer Mattison. He has been recognized by the Wall Street Journal as an All-Star Analyst with a #1 ranking for stock picking in biotechnology as well as first place in the "Home Run Hitter" category among all sectors. From 1992 to 1997, Joel served as Senior Director of Corporate Development at Progenics Pharmaceuticals, where he negotiated corporate partnerships, raised private equity capital and prepared the company for an IPO. Prior to Progenics, he worked in the corporate finance department at Goldman, Sachs & Co., focused on healthcare, from 1989 to 1992. Joel received a Bachelor of Arts in Biochemistry from Rice University.

Asish Xavier
Vice President, Venture Investments, Johnson & Johnson Development Corporation

Asish Xavier, Vice President, Venture Investments, joined Johnson & Johnson Development Corporation in 2004.  Asish previously worked in business development at BioRexis Pharmaceutical Corporation which was acquired by Pfizer in 2007.  While at BioRexis, he assisted the company in raising a $30 million second round of financing.  Asish has worked in business development at Structural GenomiX, Inc., acquired by Eli Lilly in 2008, and was a project leader at Message Pharmaceuticals, Inc.

Asish received a PhD from the University of Houston and a MBA from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, where he graduated with honors.  He received a Bachelor of Technology in Chemical Engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur, India.  Asish was a postdoctoral research Fellow in the Department of Chemistry at Johns Hopkins University.