Ashley Jefferson is the Director of Early Talent and Inclusion, Diversity and Belonging at Beam Therapeutics, where he leads the company’s strategy to build a strong, diverse, and future-ready workforce. With more than thirteen years of experience in human resources, Ashley oversees Beam’s intern, co-op, and fellowship programs and partners across the organization to cultivate an inclusive culture where people from all backgrounds can thrive. His work spans early career development, organizational culture, strategic partnerships, and programs that broaden access to careers in the life sciences. Before joining Beam, Ashley worked at Vertex Pharmaceuticals, where he managed early talent programs including the intern, co-op, MBA, fellowship, and extern programs and collaborated closely with diversity-focused organizations to expand Vertex’s engagement with underrepresented communities. Across his career, he has championed equitable access to scientific and corporate career pathways, serving as a connector between industry, academia, and community-based workforce initiatives. Ashley holds a Bachelor of Arts and a Master of Science from Boston College and is committed to mentoring emerging professionals and advancing initiatives that strengthen representation and belonging across the biotechnology ecosystem.

Peng Meng Kou, Ph.D. is Director of Business Development at Hengrui Pharmaceuticals, where she focuses on non-oncology transactions. She brings over a decade of experience across biotech, pharma, and consulting, with a focus on business development and corporate strategy. 

Prior to joining Hengrui, Peng Meng held business development roles at Arbor Biotechnologies, where she advanced licensing and collaboration initiatives and supported the company’s $215 million Series B financing. Earlier in her career, she contributed to commercial development at an early-stage start-up and advised global clients on drug-device and consumer product strategy at Exponent. 

Peng Meng earned her Ph.D. in Bioengineering from the Georgia Institute of Technology and a B.S. in Biological and Environmental Engineering from Cornell University. 

 

Anna Li is the Director of Business Operations at Versatope Therapeutics, where she leads strategic partnerships, investor relations, and drives operational efficiency and cross-functional collaboration. With 20+ years of experience spanning academia and the biotech industry, she brings a rare combination of scientific depth and business development instinct to the life sciences sector.

 A molecular microbiologist by training, Anna has built deep expertise  in drug discovery and a natural fluency across science, strategy, and business development. She played a key role in developing the genome mining platform at Warp Drive Bio — later acquired by Ginkgo Bioworks — used in collaboration with Roche Pharmaceuticals to develop new classes of antibiotics to combat antibiotic-resistant diseases. She previously conducted research on mutational pathways of bacterial drug resistance as a Visiting Scholar at Harvard University, and held a position as Associate Professor at Shandong Agricultural University in China, where she supervised graduate students and taught courses in plant pathology, plant protection, and fungal classification before moving to the US.

Anna is passionate about advocating for women and underrepresented groups in science. She is a co-founder of Asians in Biotech, an Advisory Board member of WEST–Women in the Enterprise of Science and Technology, and a longtime WEST volunteer. She was the recipient of the WEST Giving Back Award in 2017.

Nanguneri Nirmala is co-Founder and CEO of Vindhya Data Science since May 2021. Nirmala has had a career in the pharma industry at the Novartis Institutes for Biomedical Research for over 20 years. She has held several leadership roles at Novartis in structural biology and computational biology, where she was involved in data analysis and data engineering projects. Nirmala holds a Master's degree in Chemistry from the Indian Institute of Technology, Chennai, India and a PhD in Chemistry from Michigan State University, East Lansing, Michigan. At West, she is very engaged in its mission to help advance the careers of women in STEM.

  

Tatiana Novobrantseva is the Chief Scientific Officer of NextPoint Therapeutics. Before this, she co-founded Verseau, consulted for multiple companies on immunological aspects of drug development across different stages and therapeutic modalities in a variety of autoimmune, cancer and rare disease indications. At her prior position as Director of Tumor Immunology at Jounce Therapeutics, Tatiana defined research plans for several programs at the company’s inception, as well as led a portfolio of programs on (re)activating the immune system against cancer. Previously, Tatiana served as Associate Director at Alnylam Pharmaceuticals and Scientist II at Biogen. Tatiana’s scientific accomplishments include discovering the critical role for B cells in liver fibrosis, developing mechanistic insights for multiple therapeutic programs, pushing the envelope on siRNA delivery and championing a dendritic cell cancer vaccine clinical program. Tatiana completed her Ph.D. with Dr. Klaus Rajewsky at the University of Cologne in Germany, focusing on B cell development and function. She holds a diploma of engineer-physicist and an M.S. in molecular biology from Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology.

 

Jennifer Shire has extensive experience building talent acquisition and development programs and processes for a variety of industries and individuals as well as coaching individuals at all experience levels through their job search journey.  She is currently consulting at Khoury College of Computer Sciences as a member of the cooperative education faculty where she advises and teaches students.  She was previously Director Strategic Partnerships where she managed a team of individuals responsible for engaging corporate partners in recruitment, research and philanthropic endeavors. Before joining Northeastern University Jennifer spent over 30 years in industry as an HR professional at companies such as Mathworks, Cisco, Charles River Development and Fidelity Investments. Jennifer received her B.A. in English Literature from Mount Holyoke College and an MBA in Finance from Columbia University.  She is married to Dale Lemke, retired CFO/COO of an educational non-profit, and has four children (depending upon how you count).

 

Brendan St. Amant is General Counsel & Corporate Secretary at Seismic Therapeutic, aclinical-stage biotechnology company making a major shift in how immunology therapies are discovered and developed, enabled by machine learning. Prior to joining Seismic, Brendan was General Counsel and Corporate Secretary for Synlogic, Inc., a publicly-traded synthetic biology company. Previously, he was Vice President, Legal, and member of the leadership team at Ohana Biosciences and was senior counsel at Vertex Pharmaceuticals. Brendan was a partner at the law firm of Donnelly, Conroy & Gelhaar, LLP, in Boston where he focused on complex commercial controversies and government enforcement. Earlier in his legal career, Brendan served as a clerk for the Hon. Alvin W. Thompson, Chief, U.S. District Court for the District of Connecticut and was an associate at the law firm of Goodwin Procter. Brendan is co-chair of the MassBio General Counsel Roundtable, a member of the Board of Advisors of Life Science Cares, and has served on several practice-related bar committees and on the executive committee of the Board of Trustees of the Massachusetts Continuing Legal Education corporation. He received his BA from Cornell University, JD from Harvard Law School, and his MPP from the Harvard Kennedy School.

Naomi Vishnupad Ph.D. is an entrepreneur with over 25 years of experience in the life sciences.  She currently is the founder of NV Life Sciences, an independent consulting business focused on program leadership and helping companies advance their therapeutic programs through the pipeline.  Prior to starting NV Life Sciences, she was a co-founder and the CSO at Romeg Therapeutics, a specialty pharma company, where she was responsible for executing the company’s pipeline programs.  At Romeg Therapeutics, she executed the vision for the company and managed key milestones for establishing a successful pharmaceutical startup.  Naomi was also a former executive at Imaginative Research Associates, a private company focused on dermatology, where she successfully developed novel pharmaceutical and consumer products for the market.  Prior to her entrepreneur business experience she worked extensively in pharma and biotech in multiple therapeutic areas focusing on research and other drug development activities.  Naomi is the inventor on several patents resulting in over fifteen marketed products in dermatology and inflammation, and has a doctorate in immunology from Drexel University School of Medicine. She is passionate about mentoring and encouraging young people to pursue STEM careers.  She is a member of the board of directors of the North Shore Technology Council.  Naomi is a recreational distance runner and fitness enthusiast, who enjoys Pilates, cycling, and strength training

 

Dr. Aliyah Weinstein is the Marketing Programs Manager at Fortis Life Sciences. Prior to that, she was Marketing and Communications Manager at Addgene, the nonprofit plasmid repository. In her 6+ years of experience in science communications, Aliyah has honed her experience in a variety of areas including science writing, digital advertising, marketing analytics, and web accessibility. At Addgene, Aliyah leads Addgene's data-driven marketing strategy, paid digital advertising, and surveys. Previously, she led branding and social media at the science education nonprofit, Letters to a Pre-Scientist, where she is currently a member of the Advisory Board. Aliyah is also a volunteer with WEST, co-chairing the Marketing and Membership Committee and serving on the Diversity, Inclusion, and Outreach Committee this year. Aliyah has a PhD in immunology from the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine and a B.A. in molecular biology, biochemistry, and French literature from Rutgers University.