VLAB event: DNA for Dollars featuring 23andMe, Kleiner Perkins, MDV, and more April 15, 2008

DNA for Dollars: Featuring 23andMe, Kleiner Perkins, MDV, and more

23andMe's personal genome service helps you unlock the secrets of your DNA. Come find out how this Google and Genentech-funded company is raising hopes and fears in the world of healthcare. Additional panelists include KPCB, MDV, Navigenics, and Veracyte

Info: http://www.vlab.org/article.html?aid=181

Tickets: http://www.vlab.org/store.html?event_id=181

Event Date: Tuesday, April 15th, 2008 at 6:00pm

6:00pm - 7:00pm - Networking and Hors D'oeuvres
7:00pm - 8:30pm - Panel Discussion and Q/A

Location: Stanford Business School

Moderator: Bambi Francisco, CEO & founder, Vator

Speaker: Linda Avey, Co-Founder, 23andMe

Panelists:
Bonnie Anderson, CEO, Veracyte
Rowan Chapman, Partner, Mohr Davidow Ventures
Mari Baker, CEO, Navigenics
Risa Stack, Partner, KPCB

Event Description:
With the advent of the Human Genome Project came the birth of a new term and lifestyle: personalized medicine, which promises to provide better care by analyzing the genetic basis of a disease and tailoring the treatment to the individual. As the science of genomics continues to improve, the implications could rock the medical world -- and the ethical one. But when does personal become too personal?

This event will feature 23andMe, a start-up funded by google. Does this portend to 'Googling our genes?'. Find out at the VLAB April 15th event. Co-Founded by Linda Avey and Anne Wojcicki, 23andMe is one of Wired magazine's top 10 startups worth watching in 2008. 23andMe is revolutionizing personalized medicine through a web-based service that helps you read and understand your DNA, shed new light on your distant ancestors, your close family and most of all, yourself.

Bios:
Bambi Francisco, CEO and founder, Vator

Bambi Francisco is CEO and founder of Vator, a social media company focused on emerging technology companies. She is a former syndicated columnist and correspondent for Dow Jones MarketWatch. She covered Internet trends and investments across the public and private sectors. She started her career at MarketWatch in 1999, as Internet editor and morning business anchor for KPIX, a CBS affiliate. At the time, MarketWatch was owned by CBS.

In 2001, Bambi was named to the "blue-chip" financial reporting all-star team by The Journal of Financial Reporters, the leading organization for the business news industry. Adweek named her one of the top ten most influential journalists on the Web.

Linda Avey, Co-Founder, 23andMe

Linda has over 20 years of sales and business development experience in the biopharmaceutical industry in San Francisco, Boston, San Diego, and Washington, D.C. Prior to starting 23andMe, she developed translational research collaborations with academic and pharmaceutical partners for Affymetrix and Perlegen Sciences. Linda also spent time at Spotfire helping scientists understand the power of data visualization and at Applied Biosystems during the early days of the human genome project. The advent of high density genome-wide scanning technologies brought huge potential for significant discoveries. However, the lack of sufficient funding to enable adequate studies prompted Linda to think of a new research model. These ideas led to the formation of 23andMe. Her primary interest is the acceleration of personalized medicine, using genetic profiles to target the right drug to the right person at the correct dose. Linda graduated from Augustana College with a B.A. in biology.

Bonnie Anderson, CEO, Veracyte

Bonnie Anderson, Chief Executive Officer of Veracyte, Inc. is the former Vice President, Translational Solutions Business Center, for Beckman Coulter. Previously, she served as Vice President-Director of Beckman Coulter's former Immunomics Operations and Director of Strategic Planning and Marketing at Beckman Coulter's Miami, FL site. Ms. Anderson has also been Product Manager for American Labor in Largo, FL, Technical Sales Representative for Dia Tech in Ft. Lauderdale, FL, and Supervisor of Henatology and Apheresis Laboratory for Memorial Hospital in Johnstown, PA. She earned a BS degree in medical technology with a minor in chemistry from Indiana University of Pennsylvania. She serves as a member of the Founding Board of Directors for Women in Biotechnology and as an Industry Liaison for the Federation of Clinical Immunology Societies.

Rowan Chapman, Partner, Mohr Davidow Ventures

Rowan Chapman joined MDV in 2001. Through her relationships with industry and academic leaders advancing the fields of personalized medicine, drug discovery technology and regenerative medicine she both sources new life sciences investments and works to develop and grow MDV life sciences companies including Artemis Health, Pacific Biosciences, Adamas Pharmaceuticals and ParAllele BioScience (acquired by Affymetrix). Rowan is also a member of the Personalized Medicine Coalition.
Prior to joining MDV she held the position of director of business development at Rosetta Inpharmatics (acquired by Merck) where she established collaborative partnerships with organizations in the pharmaceutical, agricultural and biotech fields as well as among various research institutions. Previously, Rowan held the position of marketing manager at Incyte Genomics.
Rowan holds a Ph.D. in cellular and molecular biology from the MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology in Cambridge University, United Kingdom, where she also earned a bachelor's degree with first class honors in Biochemistry. She served postdoctoral fellowships at the University of California, San Francisco, as well as at the MRC-Laboratory of Molecular Biology at Cambridge.


Mari Baker, President and CEO, Navigenics

Ms. Baker was most recently an executive-in-residence at Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, which she joined in 2006. Prior to that, she was president of BabyCenter, LLC, a Johnson & Johnson company. Under her leadership, BabyCenter became the world's leading Web site for new and expectant parents, winning numerous online health awards and expanding significantly offline and internationally.

Prior to her tenure with BabyCenter and Johnson & Johnson, she was a senior vice president at Intuit, Inc., which she joined in 1989 as product manager for Quicken. Ms. Baker led the growth of Quicken into the No. 1 personal finance product in the world, along with international expansion and the launch of Quicken.com. Ms. Baker also held executive or product management positions at Now Software, Migent Software and E.F. Hutton.

Ms. Baker earned degrees in economics and sociology from Stanford University. She served on the board of trustees of Stanford University from 1996 to 2003, including oversight of the Stanford Medical Center, and continues to serve as a trustee emeritus. She currently serves on the board of directors of the Cozi Group and is a member of the Young Presidents' Organization.

Risa Stack, Partner, KPCB

Risa Stack joined Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers in 2003. Risa specializes in the development of life science companies. She was the founding CEO and is currently a board member of several companies including CardioDx, Nodality, and an incubation in the personalized medicine area. She is a board observer at Codon Devices, Xdx, Orexigen (OREX), Tethys, and Pacific Biosciences.

Prior to joining KPCB, Risa was a Principal at J.P. Morgan Partners in the life science practice for 6 years. While at J.P. Morgan Partners she sponsored a series of investments including Acurian, AlgoRx (now Anesiva), Connetics, Diatide, Ilex Oncology, Illumina, Praecis Pharmaceuticals and Triangle Pharmaceuticals.

Risa received her B.S. in Genetics and Development with distinction from the University of Illinois and her Ph.D. in Immunology from the University of Chicago. She was also a member of the second class of Kauffman Fellows.

Risa was named as one of the 100 Most Influential Women in Business by the San Francisco Business Times in 2004.

Official Website: http://www.vlab.org/article.html?aid=181