Pete joined Epidarex Capital as a Venture Partner in 2014. He has more than twenty years of experience in drug discovery within the pharmaceutical industry. Prior to joining Epidarex, he was Global Head of the Respiratory Disease Area and Site Head for the Novartis Institute of BioMedical Research in the United Kingdom. In this role, Peter had strategic and operational oversight for the respiratory portfolio from target discovery through to proof-of-concept trials in the clinic. He is a former Executive Director of the Novartis Developmental and Molecular Pathways Platform based in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Peter holds a BSc and Ph.D. in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology from the University of Leeds.

Marianne Uteng PhD is a Managing Director at NVF in Basel, Switzerland. Prior to that, she worked in Novartis Global Drug Development, and in the Pre-Clinical Safety Department where she led teams delivering health authority-required and non-routine safety assessments for early and late-stage programs. She also supported the Novartis BD&L Search & Evaluation, and spearheaded collaborations with biotech companies and academia. Marianne received her MSc in Biochemistry from the University of Oslo and her PhD in Molecular Biology, Cell Biology & Biophysics in a joint program between EMBL and the University of Oslo.

Marianne is a Partner at 3B Future Health Ventures, advisor to a venture capital fund investing in early-stage companies developing novel technologies and new treatments in oncology and rare diseases. Prior to joining 3B Future Health Ventures, she worked as a researcher for the French National Centre for Scientific Research (CNRS) studying cellular and molecular mechanisms in the brain integrating nutritional cues and regulating neuroendocrine signaling to control organismal growth and metabolism. She is a former Marie Curie Early-Stage Researcher and was awarded the AXA Prize from the French Academy of Science in 2014. Marianne received an M.Sc. in Molecular Biology from the University of Bergen in Norway, a Ph.D. in Molecular and Cellular Biology from the University of Nice in France and an MBA from the IAE Nice Graduate School of Management, France.

Alek Safarian is the CEO of venture investment firm, ALSA Holdings Ltd. Alek has a diverse background in drug development spanning some 30 years. Trained as a pharmacist, he worked in regulatory affairs and clinical research roles for European and US based multinational pharmaceutical companies in Australia, with responsibility across the Asia-Pacific. He subsequently founded Novotech, a Sydney based contract research organisation working with hundreds of clinical stage biotech companies over a 21 year period. Alek holds a B. Pharm and MBA from the University of Sydney.

Sonia Gulati, PhD is a Principal at the Global BioAccess Fund. She has a broad background in life sciences venture capital, biotechnology strategy consulting and basic science research. Prior to joining the Fund, Sonia served as an Executive in Residence (EIR) at Kairos Ventures, where she focused on venture creation. As an EIR,
she was responsible for both driving the investment process and acting as interim CEO for her newly formed portfolio companies.

Before joining Kairos Ventures, Sonia was Assistant Director at New York Ventures, where she managed the life sciences portfolio. Prior to her move to investing, Sonia worked at a boutique healthcare consultancy where she helped shape product launch and life cycle management strategies for biopharma.

Sonia completed her post-doctoral studies and received her PhD from the Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons, Columbia University. She has a B.A. from Barnard College, Columbia University.