Dr. Bob Kocher is a Partner at Venrock and focuses on healthcare IT and services investments. Additionally, he is a Consulting Professor at Stanford University School of Medicine, Senior Fellow and Advisory Board Member at the Leonard D. Schaeffer Center for Health Policy and Economics at USC, and Guest Scholar at the Brookings Institution Engleberg Center for Health Reform. Prior to Venrock, Bob served in the Obama Administration as Special Assistant to the President for Healthcare and Economic Policy on the National Economic Council. He also co-founded the Health Data Initiative with Todd Park, a joint effort of HHS and the Institute of Medicine, to release healthcare data to spur private sector innovation to improve healthcare cost and quality. Bob received undergraduate degrees from the University of Washington and a medical degree from George Washington University.

Julie Sunderland is a Managing Director of Biomatics Capital, a new $200mm venture capital fund investing in breakthrough science and technology that will transform the practice of medicine and delivery of healthcare, especially in the genomics and digital health sectors. Until recently, Ms. Sunderland was the Director of Program Related Investments for the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, where she was responsible for managing the foundation’s $1.5 billion program-related investment (PRI) pool which focuses on strategic investments in global health, global development, and US education. Ms. Sunderland founded the PRI program in 2009 as a $400 million pilot and grew the portfolio to 50 investments comprising a range of investment structures (equity, loans, guaranties, funds), sectors (biotech, health commodities, health delivery, agriculture, digital payments, charter schools, education technology), and geographies (US, Europe, Africa, India, China). She built and led a team of 10 investment professionals and chaired the foundation’s investment committee that reviews all program-related investments undertaken by the foundation. Ms. Sunderland holds a BA from Harvard University, an MBA from Wharton Business School and an MA from Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies.

Dr. Bijan Salehizadeh is the co-founder of NaviMed Capital, where he serves on the firm’s Investment Committee, leading investments with a particular focus on health care providers and pharmaceutical services. He has served on multiple private and public company boards. Dr. Salehizadeh is a physician by background, with more than a decade and a half in health care operations and investment experience. Before he co-founded NaviMed, Dr. Salehizadeh was a general partner at Highland Capital Partners and held management and operational roles at MedTronic and HealthCentral. He holds an AB in Molecular Biology from Princeton University, an MD and Master’s in Science in Health Policy from Columbia University, and an MBA from Harvard Business School. He is also a graduate of the Kauffman Fellows Program.

Phyllis Yale is an Advisory Partner in Bain & Company’s Boston office.  She joined the firm in 1982 and was elected to the partnership in 1987.  Ms. Yale has been a leader in building Bain’s health care practice for more than 35 years.  Over her career she has worked with health care payers and with providers across the continuum of care, and she frequently advises the world’s leading private equity firms on their investments in the health care sector.

Ms. Yale was awarded a Lifetime Achievement Pinnacle Award by the Boston Chamber of Commerce, a Lifetime Achievement award by Consulting Magazine, and was named by Working Mother magazine as one of the top 25 working mothers.  She has published articles in the Harvard Business Review and in Vivo, among other publications, and is a frequent speaker at industry conferences, including several times at The World Economic Forum’s annual meeting in Davos.

Michelle Ryan is a financial executive with significant experience in healthcare.  She retired at the end of 2021 as the Treasurer of Johnson & Johnson, where she worked for almost 30 years.  As Treasurer, she had responsibility for providing financial oversight and insights to J&J’s M&A activities.  Additionally, she had responsibility for managing J&J’s global retirement assets, capital market transactions, and risk management activities.

Prior to this role, she worked in various financial leadership roles across J&J’s businesses, including as CFO of the Global Consumer Business and CFO for the Pharmaceutical Business of the Americas.  She has a proven track record of delivering competitive results while also focusing on growing and developing the organization.  She began her career with Deloitte & Touche and was certified as both a CPA and CMA.