Being a Life Sciences Leader

Send us Fan Mail Stream the second episode of Season 9 - featuring the 2026 Award Honorees. This week’s episode is with Dr. Stanley Plotkin, renowned virologist and developer of the rubella vaccine, as he reflects on his career, key vaccine breakthroughs and the impact of receiving the Scientific Achievement Award. 

Send us Fan Mail Stream the first episode of Season 9 - featuring the 2026 Award Honorees. We kick off Season 9 with Dr. Paul Friedman, recipient of the Hubert J.P. Schoemaker Award, as he discusses his career journey from academic medicine at Harvard Medical School to leadership roles in the biotechnology industry. He will also reflect on Pennsylvania’s life sciences industry and what the Hubert...

Send us Fan Mail Tune in to the Season 8 finale of Being a Life Sciences Leader featuring Will Kane. In this episode, Will reflects on his leadership experiences that span startups and global organizations. Learn about his role leading organizations through clinical trials, funding, acquisitions and commercialization, the evolution of his leadership style and advice for aspiring leaders in the lif...

Send us Fan Mail Tune in to this episode featuring David Fajgenbaum, MD, MBA, MSc, as he shares his remarkable journey from being diagnosed with Castleman disease to identifying a repurposed drug that ultimately saved his life. Learn how his experience led to the founding of Every Cure and how drug repurposing is creating new hope for patients living with rare diseases.

Send us Fan Mail Tune in to this episode featuring Kris, Vaddi, PhD, as he shares his insights on leadership, vision and resilience. From founding successful biotech and therapeutic companies to pioneering a product that generates nearly $5 billion in worldwide sales, Kris reflects on the lessons that shaped his career and offers advice for leaders entering the biotech and pharmaceutical space. 

Send us Fan Mail Tune in to this episode to hear from Jeanne Cunicelli as she discusses her role as the President of UPMC Enterprises. Learn about her experience as a venture capitalist, leadership advice for emerging leaders in the industry, the opportunities coming out of UPMC Enterprises and what the future holds for the city of Pittsburgh.

Send us Fan Mail Tune in to this episode to hear from Ger Brophy as he discusses his global leadership success. Learn about his career spanning the UK, Sweden, Ireland and the United States, his role in the completion of a $3.33 billion IPO and advice for aspiring leaders on what it takes to be a successful leader in the life sciences.

Send us Fan Mail In this episode, Nick shares his career journey spanning almost 30 years of clinical and industry experience in the life sciences, including orthopedic surgery, med tech and biotech. Learn about Nick's career path and his advice to aspiring leaders in the industry shaped by his experience as an operator, board member, advisor and investor.

Send us Fan Mail Episode 3 features Jonathan Steckbeck, PhD, MBA, CEO & Founder, Peptilogics. Tune in as Jonathan shares his career journey, the inspiration behind starting Peptilogics - a company that revolutionizes the discovery process for novel peptide therapeutics and his advice for emerging leaders in the industry.

Send us Fan Mail This episode features Teresa Whalen, CEO, CytoAgents. Learn about Teresa's motivation to keeping patients at the forefront of her work, her experience as a leader in the life sciences industry, advice on how to fundraise in a difficult environment and how CytoAgents was able to secure NIH funding to advance the research on cytokine release syndrome (CRS).

Send us Fan Mail This episode features Caroll Neubauer, Executive Advisor, Water Street Healthcare Advisors. Learn about Caroll's career spanning over 3 decades in the med tech industry, his leadership role as the Chairman and CEO at B. Braun USA and advice for aspiring leaders in the industry.

Send us Fan Mail Tune in and learn about the $660 million public offering Madrigal Pharmaceuticals received to deliver novel therapeutics for nonalcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH). Hear from Bill Sibold as he shares his experience leading one of the year's most significant biotech fundraisings, the preparations and strategies behind the raise and how this milestone positions Madrigal to bring i...

Send us Fan Mail Join us as Senator Robinson discusses his key role in passing SB954 - which provides Pennsylvanians better access to personalized treatments following a diagnosis of cancer and other specific diseases through biomarker testing and precision medicine. Learn about Senator Robinson's journey as the bill's prime sponsor, the collaborative efforts to get it unanimously passed...

Send us Fan Mail Tune in to this episode with Representative Mullins, recipient of the 2024 State Official of the Year Award, and learn about his pivotal role in passing HB 1754 - which requires all state-regulated health plans to cover comprehensive biomarker testing. Hear about the personal motivation Representative Mullins had to be the prime sponsor of this bill, the collaborative efforts lead...

Send us Fan Mail Ben Doranz, recipient of the 2024 Frank Baldino Bioscience CEO of the Year Award, joins Chris and Rachael this episode to discuss how he led his team through a transformative year in 2024. Under Ben's leadership, Integral Molecular secured an $8 million contract from NIAID to combat emerging viruses, as well as $2.7 million award to advance the Membrane Proteome Array for FDA...

Send us Fan Mail This episode features Adrian (Ad) Rawcliffe, CEO, Adaptimmune, recipient of the Life Sciences PA 2024 Patient Impact Award. Ad shares the story behind TECELRA - the first FDA approved engineered cell therapy for a solid tumor. Learn about the journey leading up to this groundbreaking approval, the challenges of bringing a cell therapy to market and the next steps for Adaptimmune i...

Send us Fan Mail This episode features Fred Vogt, Interim CEO at Iovance Biotherapeutics, recipient of the 2024 Patient Impact Award.  In this episode, Fred shares the journey behind AMTAGVI - the first FDA approved tumor infiltrating lymphocyte (TIL) therapy. Learn about the clinical trial process, how they brought this groundbreaking treatment to market, the impact the Iovance team has on the li...

Send us Fan Mail This episode features Rob Albert, CEO of B. Braun of America, the organization receiving the 2024 Patient Impact Award.  Hear from Rob and discover how B. Braun took decisive action during Hurricanes Helene and Milton to secure the supply of critical I.V. fluids to hospitals affected by these disasters. Learn how they collaborated with government agencies like the Administration f...

Send us Fan Mail Adele Oliva, recipient of the 2025 Hubert J.P. Schoemaker Leadership Award joins Chris and Rachael to discuss her impact on the life sciences industry in PA supporting the growth of commercial stage healthcare companies.  In this episode, hear how her career path ultimately led to finding a gap in the ecosystem and later found 1315 Capital. Learn about the best way to build a stro...

Send us Fan Mail This episode features Jeffrey O'Donnell Sr., the recipient of the 2025 John Nash MedTech Leadership Award. This award recognizes an outstanding leader in the PA MedTech community who best exemplifies the spirit of innovation.  Learn how Jeff's passion for medicine and curiosity led him to take leaps throughout his career that altered his life and the work of the med tech...

Send us Fan Mail Season 7 of Being a Life Sciences Leader launches with interviews with our 2025 Annual Award Honorees. Paul Frankhouser will be honored with the 2025 Scientific Achievement Award for his decades of experience bringing innovative technology to patients. Hear how Paul's 42 year career at Arrow International led to his participation in hundreds of patents and how he continues to...

Send us Fan Mail The season finale of Being a Life Sciences Leader features a LIVE recording from our Patient Summit held in November 2024. Suzanna Masartis, CEO of the Community Liver Alliance, joins Chris and Allison Nicklin of Goodwin to discuss her journey from volunteering at a young age to advocacy and collaboration with other non-profit leaders to enact change. Hear best practices on workin...

Send us Fan Mail Episode 6 features Kyle Bryant, Senior Director, rideATAXIA & Spokesperson, Friedreich's Ataxia Research Alliance (FARA). Hear Kyle's inspiring story of living with a rare disease, Friedreich's Ataxia, and how he incorporates his passion of cycling to empower those living with Friedreich's Ataxia and raise funds for research. Kyle is also co-host of the Two...

Send us Fan Mail Episode 5 features Rob Long, Executive Director, Uplifting Athletes. Rob tells his inspiring story of being a D1 athlete and NFL draft prospect to persevering through a rare form of brain cancer. Tune in to learn more about Rob's experience and how Uplifting Athletes is leveraging the platform of sports to build a community that invests in the lives of people living with rare...

Send us Fan Mail In this episode, Lesa shares how her daughter's diagnosis of Krabbe disease and tragic passing launched her into a career of advocacy, ultimately leading to legislative action in Pennsylvania around newborn screening panels and access for patients.