Program Overview:
The challenges of neuroscience R&D have been vexing pharmas and investors for years, with little to show for it. Is now the time to walk away from neuroscience research and wait on the sidelines for advancements to come? Or should investors and companies capitalize now, while the science is rapidly advancing, with fewer players and more potential for opportunity?

Johnson & Johnson Innovation, JLABS (JLABS) is bringing in the experts from all areas of neuroscience to discuss the challenges, opportunities, arrivals and departures in our field. Hear from folks who are heavily invested in neuroscience, as well as folks who have decided to back away.

Agenda:
2:00pm | Registration
2:30pm | Presentations
3:15pm | Panel discussion
3:45pm | Reception
4:30pm | Close

Speakers: (list in formation)
Michael Ehlers M.D., Ph.D. | Neuroscience Chief Scientific Officer, Pfizer read bio»
Elliot Ehrich, M.D. | Executive Vice President, Research and Development, and Chief Medical Officer, Alkermes read bio»
Michal Preminger, Ph.D., MBA | Executive Director, Harvard University Office of Technology Development read bio»
[moderator] Jeffrey Nye, M.D., Ph.D. | Vice President Neuroscience Innovation and Scientific Partnership Strategy, Johnson & Johnson Innovation read bio»

Fees:
$25 | General Public
$15 | Student/Academic
$35 | At the door

Location:
JLABS @LabCentral
700 Main St
Cambridge, MA 02139

About the Science First series:
The purpose of the Science First series, sponsored by Johnson & Johnson Innovation, JLABS, is to bring together top experts to explore a pressing topic in their scientific field. It is a chance for local scientists, researchers, and entrepreneurs to present and dialogue on new discoveries, advancing techniques, and other cutting-edge science themes.

Speakers\’ Biographies:
Michael Ehlers M.D., Ph.D. | Neuroscience Chief Scientific Officer, Pfizer
Michael Ehlers is Senior Vice President and Chief Scientific Officer for Neuroscience & Pain at Pfizer, Inc. Dr. Ehlers grew up rural Nebraska and earned his bachelor\’s degree in chemistry from Caltech. He holds M.D. and Ph.D. degrees from the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. Prior to joining Pfizer in 2010, Dr. Ehlers was the George Barth Geller Professor of Neurobiology and an Investigator of the Howard Hughes Medical Institute at Duke University Medical Center, where he pioneered studies on neuronal organelles and the trafficking of neurotransmitter receptors. Dr. Ehlers\’ current research focuses on the interface between neuronal cell biology, the plasticity of neural circuits, and neuropsychiatric disease. At Pfizer, Dr. Ehlers has brought 15 compounds into phase 1 and phase 2 clinical development in Alzheimer\’s disease, Parkinson\’s disease, Huntington\’s disease, cerebral amyloid angiopathy, anxiety, and other neuroscience disorders. He is the recipient of numerous awards including the 2003 Eppendorf & Science Prize in Neurobiology, the 2007 John J. Abel Award in Pharmacology, the 2007 Society for Neuroscience Young Investigator Award, an NIMH MERIT Award, and the 2009 National Alliance for Schizophrenia and Depression Distinguished Investigator Award. He received the 2008 Breakthrough Research Award of the North Carolina Biotechnology Center given to a single scientist in North Carolina. In 2013 he became the 11th recipient of the Thudichum Medal of the Biochemical Society of the United Kingdom an award inaugurated in 1974 to honour eminent scientists who have made outstanding contributions to neurochemistry and related subjects, whose recipients include two Nobel laureates. Dr. Ehlers has authored over 90 scientific papers, has served on the Editorial Boards of Annual Reviews in Medicine, Annual Reviews in Pharmacology and Toxicology, the Journal of Neuroscience, the Journal of Biological Chemistry, and Molecular and Cellular Neuroscience, and sat on advisory committees of the National Institutes of Health. He is a member of the PhRMA Foundation Basic Pharmacology Advisory committee, the Janelia Farm Research Institute Advisory Committee, the McKnight Endowment Fund for Neuroscience Board, the Institute of Medicine\’s Board on Health Science Policy, and the World Economic Forum Global Agenda Council on Brain Research. He serves on the scientific advisory boards of several private foundations, and has advised major pharmaceutical, venture, and biotech companies.
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Elliot Ehrich, M.D. | Executive Vice President, Research and Development, and Chief Medical Officer, Alkermes
Elliot Ehrich, M.D., leads the discovery, delivery science, research and development, project management and medical affairs functions at Alkermes. Prior to joining Alkermes in 2000, Dr. Ehrich spent seven years at Merck & Co., overseeing the successful clinical development and registration of novel pharmaceuticals. Dr. Ehrich is a Fellow of the American College of Rheumatology and has had numerous publications in peer-reviewed journals. He also serves on the Scientific Advisory Board of Aileron Therapeutics and Heptares Therapeutics, both privately held biopharmaceutical companies.
Dr. Ehrich was a Phi Beta Kappa graduate of Princeton University, where he received a Bachelor of Arts degree in biochemistry. He worked as a research associate at the European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL) in Heidelberg, Germany and later earned his medical degree from Columbia University, College of Physicians and Surgeons. At Stanford University, Dr. Ehrich completed a residency in internal medicine and a clinical fellowship in the Department of Immunology and Rheumatology. He was subsequently a postdoctoral research fellow at the Howard Hughes Medical Institute at Stanford University School of Medicine, in the Department of Microbiology and Immunology.
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Michal Preminger, Ph.D., MBA | Executive Director, Harvard University Office of Technology Development
Dr. Michal Preminger is currently Executive Director at Harvard University\’s Office of Technology Development, overseeing industry partnerships, startup formation and development of scientific programs and discoveries emerging from research at Harvard Medical School. Prior to joining Harvard in 2005, she held a number of business development and technology development positions in the biotech and hi-tech industries, most recently as Vice President of Protein Therapeutics at Compugen, responsible for the business management of the company\’s emerging drug discovery pipeline and, previously, as Director of Marketing and Business Development at Lucent Technologies. Dr. Preminger also co-founded a startup company and has been serving on the boards and scientific advisory boards of several not-for-profit, biotech, and medical device companies. Dr. Preminger holds an undergraduate degree in Medicine from the Hebrew University School of Medicine, M.Sc. and Ph.D. from the Weizmann Institute of Science, and an MBA from INSEAD in Fontainebleau, France.
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Jeffrey Nye, M.D., Ph.D. | Vice President Neuroscience Innovation and Scientific Partnership Strategy, Johnson & Johnson Innovation
Jeff is Vice President of Neuroscience Innovation and Scientific Partnership Strategy at the Johnson & Johnson Innovation, Boston. Jeff is responsible for external R&D in neuroscience, focusing on novel business relationships, venture, academic, public-private partnerships and risk-shared outsourcing.
Previously, Jeff was Chief Medical Officer of the East Coast Research and Early Development unit and was responsible for early programs across all therapeutic areas. Prior roles include VP of Experimental Medicine, and leader of programs for Galantamine for Alzheimer\’s disease, and Topamax for epilepsy and migraine. He previously served as a Director of CNS Discovery Genomics and Biotechnology at Pharmacia.
Prior to joining industry, Jeff was a tenured associate professor of Molecular Pharmacology, Biological Chemistry and Pediatrics (Neurology) at Northwestern University. He has a BA and MA from Harvard, and a MD and PhD (with Solomon Snyder) from the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. He served as resident, postdoctoral fellow (with Richard Axel) and assistant professor of Pediatrics in Neurology at the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Columbia University.
Jeff has published over 60 papers on basic and clinical research, and has led pharma programs in discovery through clinical development. He has served on study sections and advisory panels, and currently serves as a Councilor of the British Association of Psychopharmacology, Advisory panel for the Allen Institute, and the co-chair of the New York Academy Alzheimer\’s Leadership council.
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