THE REPRODUCTIVE HEALTH INNOVATION SUMMIT 2024
RHIS provides a platform that enables the industry to collectively improve reproductive health outcomes across both male and female sectors. Through uplifting partners, facilitating connections, and providing access to senior leaders, RHIS enables businesses to thrive. As we look forward to the 4th RHIS, we continue to uphold its commitment to meeting the essential demands of the reproductive health landscape.
ARE YOU INTERESTED IN ANY OF THESE 3 REPRODUCTIVE HEALTH TOPICS?
This year, RHIS will continue to address the most pressing industry topics and champion the most disruptive innovation. Broadly split between the three main pillars of reproductive health, this year, we’re covering covering male and female reproductive health, within the broader framework of three pillars:
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Family Planning and FertilityDeep dive into: Infertility (male and female), IVF (male and female role), Egg freezing ,Abortion Care, Contraception (male and female), Embryo transfer -
Pregnancy and Maternal healthDiscussing: Prenatal disease, Pre-eclampsia, Maternal Mortality, Post-partum care, Mental Health, Childbirth, OBGYN services -
Reproductive Health Issues/ChangesBreaking down: PCOS, Endometriosis, BV, Low sperm count, Erectile dysfunction, Vaginal Microbiome, Heavy menstrual bleeding and PMS, STI/Sexual Health, Uterine Fibroids, Cancer, Hormonal Health
2024 SPEAKERS
Margaret Malone
Vrunda Desai
Bethany Corbin
Fahimeh Sasan
Liza Kunz
Ru-fong Joanne Cheng
Sasha Ottey, MHA, MT, (ASCP)
Leigh Allen
Everett Hanford
Daniel Johnston
David Sable
Carmen Messerlian
Diana Contreras
Jessica Bell van der Wal
Nada Hanafi MSc, MPH
Kevin Eisenfrats
Anne Morrisey
Yaron Silberman
Mary Frank
Michelle Perugini
Anita Garg
Christy Prada
Heather Bowerman
Naseem Sayani
Donna Russell
Stasia Obremskey
Before joining, Stasia served in 2018 as the first Fellow of the Tara Health Foundation. She has more than twenty-five years of experience providing financial and strategic planning consulting to organizations in the U.S. and Asia. She has joined management teams as the interim Chief Financial Officer on a short term and extended term basis to provide finance, accounting and strategic planning expertise to startups, fast growing companies and non-profit organizations. Current and past clients include 18Birdies, Posit Science, Circlepoint, West Shore Technologies and We Care Solar. She has lived for over 8 years in Bangkok, Thailand and Hong Kong, China. She began her consulting career as a management consultant with Bain & Company. Previously, she worked in investment banking for Morgan Stanley & Co. She holds a bachelor’s degree in Business Administration with a concentration in finance from the University of Notre Dame and an MBA from the Harvard Graduate School of Business. In addition to her consulting work, she has extensive experience as a member of several nonprofit boards where she has held a number of leadership positions.
Natalie Birnbaum
Kristin Brogaard
Valerie Palmieri
Nader AlSalim
Samantha Miller
Nigina Nuntean
Monica Cepak
Mark Connell
Asima Ahmad
Andrea Olariu
David Stern
David Stern has over 28 years of women’s health experience and has devoted the majority of his career to the fertility industry. He has held executive leadership positions and built successful teams while launching numerous products in pharmaceutical and biotech markets world-wide. Currently, David serves as the CEO of Boston IVF, one the largest IVF center networks in the United States with 11 full service IVF centers and over 30 satellite centers nationwide.
David served as CEO of Symbiomix Therapeutics a venture backed biotech company. He led the transition of the company from development stage to commercial launch in the US, prior to its acquisition by Lupin Pharmaceuticals in 2017. He served on the board of California Cryobank and has held executive positions in startup companies in the women’s healthcare market, building commercial teams, developing strategy and expanding scientific partnerships for Celmatix, Ohana and OvaScience.
David was the Senior Vice President and Head of the Global Business Franchise for Fertility at Merck Serono, responsible for the strategic development and growth of the portfolio world-wide. Prior to his global role, he was responsible for the US commercial operations in the Fertility, HIV and Growth Hormone markets. David started his career in women’s health with Organon Pharmaceutics. He has an MBA with a concentration in International Marketing and Management from the F.W. Olin School of Business at Babson College and holds a Bachelors’ degree in Biology from Brandeis University.
April Schweitzer
April Schweitzer is a partner in Nixon Peabody’s Healthcare practice group and is based of Chicago. She partners with provider clients to address corporate and regulatory issues affecting hospitals, health systems, and physician groups. She also provides counsel regarding value-based contracting, clinical integration networks, and accountable care organizations. Specifically, April works with clients on transactional matters including mergers, acquisitions, and joint ventures, as well as corporate governance, licensure, tax exemption, and formation issues. She also provides counsel to clients regarding EMTALA, the federal Anti-Kickback Statute, the federal Stark law, and state law equivalents, and Medicare and Medicaid regulatory compliance, including voluntary self-disclosures.
Juan Camilo Arjona Ferreira
Alexandra Busto
Alex Busto is a senior associate in Nixon Peabody’s Healthcare practice group and is based out of Los Angeles. She works with academic medical centers, hospitals, surgery centers, foundations and clinics, medical groups/IPAs, in-vitro fertilization and reproductive service providers, telehealth companies, MSOs, and other entities affiliated with the healthcare industry. Alex works closely with clients on transactional matters, and advises on multi-state expansion and growth, hospital/physician alignment, joint ventures, acquisitions, and other strategic transactions. In connection with these transactions, her practice also includes providing regulatory counsel with respect to federal and state compliance with physician self-referral, anti-kickback, licensing and certification, and other healthcare compliance matters.
Charlotte Owens
Dr Lyndsey Harper MD, FACOG IF
Maia Gokhale
Thomas F. McElrath
Thomas F. McElrath, MD, PhD: Dr McElrath is a Professor of Obstetrics, Gynecology and Reproductive Biology at Harvard Medical School and a Professor of Epidemiology at the Harvard TH Chan School of Public Health. For 25 years he has served as an attending physician in Maternal-Fetal Medicine at The Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston where he is the Director of the Preterm Birth Clinic and Principal Investigator of the LIFECODES birth cohort. He has a PhD in Mathematical Demography with ongoing research interests in two areas: the effects of environmental toxicant exposures in pregnancy and the utilization of biomarkers for the prediction of preterm birth and associated pregnancy complications.
Dr. Sophia Yen
INNOVATION SHOWCASE
Now in its 4th iteration, we’ve decided to shake things up! This year, across two days, 10 reproductive health startups will be picked by our prestigious selection committee of investors to take to the stage in front of strategic partners and potential collaborators. Each startup will have 5 minutes to demonstrate their vision of the future of reproductive health and how their product, technology, or service fits into it. This will be followed by 5 minutes of live Q&A led by a panel of expert investor judges. At the end of each showcase, the winner will be selected based on a combined audience and judges vote and receive a prize bundle.
Applications closed.
Thank you to our investors:
Academic Poster Session
Apply to showcase your innovative research within reproductive health. Up to 10 academic posters will be displayed to our audience of potential partners, funders, and accelerators.
2023 ADVISORY BOARD
Alice Zheng
Dr. Neel Shah
Elizabeth Garner
Kalahn Taylor-Clark
Jamie White
Raymon uit de Bulten
Lucy Perez
Lucy is a Senior Partner in McKinsey’s Boston office. Lucy has 15+ years of experience advising CEOs and top teams at leading pharma, biotech and life sciences companies globally on growth strategy, innovation, sustainability, and organizational transformation.
Lucy co-leads McKinsey’s ESG domain and McKinsey’s All-In DEI efforts in North America. She also sponsors the Hispanic Latino Network at McKinsey and leads our research efforts on health equity.
Sandy Milligan
Valerie Palmieri
Rachel Braun Scherl
Anula Jayasuriya
AUDIENCE BREAKDOWN
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Kisaco Audience Breakdown ChartStart Ups30%
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Kisaco Audience Breakdown ChartBig Pharma/Medical Device/Biotech25%
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Kisaco Audience Breakdown ChartInvestor, Funding Groups20%
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Kisaco Audience Breakdown ChartPayers, Providers, Employers5%
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Kisaco Audience Breakdown ChartService Providers15%
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Kisaco Audience Breakdown ChartFMCGs5%
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Start Ups
We are committed to increasing exposure of emerging companies in reproductive health, at all stages of growth and development who are seeking partnership opportunities and are at the forefront of shaping the
future of this space.30% -
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Investor, Funding Groups
We look to bring together leading investors with a particular focus in reproductive health, ranging from seed, to angel, venture capital firms, private equity, funds, and advisors.
20% -
Payers, Providers, Employers
Payors, insurance companies, and benefit providers provide an important bridge between stakeholders within the reproductive health industry, and we are delighted to have more joining us at this years’ summit.
5% -
Service Providers
Industry support and service providers include advocacy groups, researchers, knowledge leaders and accelerators such as consultants, lawyers, CROs, non-profits and regulatory experts
15% -
FMCGs
Fast moving consumer goods companies play an important role in the reproductive health landscape, and the women’s health landscape more broadly, and include companies such as Johnson & Johnson and Holland & Barrett.
5%
2024 PARTNERS
HEADLINE PARTNER
Ferring Pharmaceuticals
Website: www.ferringusa.com
Ferring Pharmaceuticals is a privately-owned, research-driven, specialty biopharmaceutical group committed to building families and helping people live better lives. In the United States, Ferring is a leader in reproductive medicine and maternal health, and in areas of gastroenterology and orthopaedics. We are at the forefront of innovation in microbiome-based therapeutics and uro-oncology intravesical gene therapy. Our company was founded in 1950 and is headquartered in Saint-Prex, Switzerland. Ferring employs more than 7,000 people worldwide and markets its medicines in over 100 countries. Ferring USA is based in Parsippany, New Jersey, and employs more than 900 employees.
For more information, please visit www.ferringusa.com, call 1-888-FERRING (1-888-337-7464), or connect with us on LinkedIn, and X (Twitter).
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PLATINUM PARTNER
EMD Serono
Website: https://www.emdserono.com/us-en
At EMD Serono, we’re committed to connecting important details within the fertility cycle. Thanks to our long-standing expertise, support programs, and partnerships, we aim to provide patients with solutions that can help ART treatment success.
To Learn more about our commitment to financial affordability and access for our fertility medications, please visit www.fertilitysavings.com.
To learn more about our fertility medication portfolio, please visit www.emdseronofertility.com.
GOLD PARTNER
Organon
Website: https://www.organon.com/
Organon (NYSE: OGN) is a global healthcare company formed through a spinoff from Merck, known as MSD outside of the United States and Canada, to focus on improving the health of women throughout their lives. Here for her health, the company has a portfolio of more than 60 medicines and products across a range of therapeutic areas. Led by the reproductive health portfolio coupled with an expanding biosimilars business and stable franchise of established medicines, Organon’s products produce strong cash flows that will support investments in future growth opportunities in women’s health, including business development. In addition, Organon is pursuing opportunities to collaborate with biopharmaceutical innovators looking to commercialize their products by leveraging its scale and presence in fast growing international markets. Organon has a global footprint with significant scale and geographic reach, world-class commercial capabilities, and approximately 9,000 employees with headquarters located in Jersey City, N.J.
Premier Research
Website: https://premier-research.com/womenshealth
Premier Research is a clinical research, product development, and consulting company dedicated to helping biotech, specialty pharma, and device innovators transform life-changing ideas and breakthrough science into new medical treatments. With more than 100 women’s health projects conducted in the last five years, Premier Research understands the complexities of developing novel therapeutics and diagnostics for conditions that exclusively or disproportionately affect women. We are supported by a network of thousands of highly experienced women’s health sites and offer end-to-end solutions for wherever you may be in your product development journey, from concept to commercialization.
Nixon Peabody LLP
Website: https://www.nixonpeabody.com/en
Nixon Peabody LLP is a full-service law firm with 600 attorneys across 16 locations throughout the United States as well as in China and London. Our diverse platform offers clients the right combination of local resources and international experience. We deliver sophisticated legal services to our clients and our communities by combining high performance, entrepreneurial spirit, deep engagement, and an unwavering commitment to a culture of collaboration, diversity, and humanity. Specifically, our Healthcare Group is viewed as a top legal competitor across the industry, serving as a trusted advisor as we guide clients strategies for health care delivery, corporate organization, government programs, emerging payment programs, managed care models, and more. We partner with organizations across all sectors of the healthcare industry, on a range of services, including ancillary and specialty services, corporate transactions, digital health, financing, government investigations, health care litigation, health information management and privacy, network formation, regulatory compliance, and reimbursement and value-based contracting.
EVENT PARTNERS
Future Fertility
Website: https://futurefertility.com/en/
Future Fertility is harnessing the power of artificial intelligence to unlock the future of personalized fertility care around the world, starting with the oocyte (human egg).
In today’s standard of care, there is no objective, standardized oocyte scoring system. Embryologists are unable to assess oocyte quality through visual assessment of oocytes under a microscope. As a result, clinicians must rely on generalized population health statistics to predict oocyte “quality”, likelihood of success and fertility diagnoses.
Future Fertility is the first company to develop objective, AI-based oocyte quality assessment tools. These non-invasive, clinically validated solutions use deep learning to analyze 2-dimensional oocyte images to predict the likelihood of an oocyte becoming a blastocyst. This enables healthcare providers, embryologists, and patients to have access to improved, personalized information to guide their fertility journey decisions and future cycle planning. These individualized insights also empower patients to better understand their own likelihood of success versus generalized predictions.
As precision medicine solutions continue to arise across the fertility journey, Future Fertility is focused on developing tools that are addressing outstanding gaps to elevate clinics to a new standard of care.
Presagen
Website: https://www.presagen.com/
Presagen is an AI healthcare company focused on improving Women's health outcomes globally. Presagen's Social Network for Healthcare that is changing the way clinics, patients, and medical data from around the world are connected through AI. Our online data-sharing and collaboration network enables clinics and patients to connect, safely share data, use AI healthcare services, and get rewarded. With an initial focus in Women’s Health, Presagen’s first product, Life Whisperer, is being used by IVF clinics globally to improve pregnancy outcomes for patients.
VIP NETWORKING PARTNER
Hello Helio
Website: https://www.hellohelio.com
Hello Helio is a full-service, global healthcare marketing and communications consultancy, led by a team of CMOs, CCOs, strategists, and creatives who leverage decades of combined industry experience spanning from health services and systems to digital health and life sciences, to drive growth and maximize impact for the brands they serve. With industry expertise in reproductive, fertility and women’s health, they share a passion for elevating the patient experience and standards of care in this category through their partnerships and the clients they work with.
MEDIA PARTNERS
FemTech Lab
Website: https://femtechlab.com/
FemTech Lab is an impact venture on a mission to improve the lives of 1 billion women globally. The FemTech Lab Accelerator program has supported 70+ inspiring startups in women's health. A global ecosystem of 20k founders, investors, corporate partners, biotech & research, hospitals, pharmaceuticals, government, and retail leaders innovating across all subsectors of women's health and wellness.
Fempower health
Website: http://fempower-health.com/
Fempower Health focused on empowering women to be the CEO of their health. Women are often "trained" to grin and bear it, rather than being offered research-backed solutions (mostly because the research is incredibly limited). Women deserve better: better insight and better solutions. Over 80 women’s health experts on women’s health issues have been interviewed on the Fempower Health Podcast covering how to navigate the complex healthcare system, reproductive health, menopause, the pelvic floor, pregnancy, sexual health and general women’s health.
SPARK Solutions For Growth
Website: www.sparksolutionsforgrowth.com
SPARK Solutions for Growth, under the leadership of Managing Partner Rachel Braun Scherl, is a provider of choice for business leaders, C-Suite executives and entrepreneurs alike, who are looking to catalyze topline growth. With decades of experience, the team has successfully launched, built and turned around Fortune 500 brands and businesses as well as startups. By designing customized processes and solutions, SPARK works to accelerate revenue and arm entrepreneurs with the wisdom, insight and knowledge to succeed in competitive spaces.
Drawing on a proven expertise and thought leadership in women’s sexual and reproductive health, SPARK works with businesses “from menstruation through menopause.” The strategy work focuses on driving innovation through products, ideas, messaging and business models, while finding funding and creating strategic partnerships. SPARK’s international client base includes multiple divisions of Johnson & Johnson, Allergan, Pfizer, Merck, Bayer and Church & Dwight and funded start-ups, including companies in menstruation, fertility, infertility, disease prevention, incontinence and menopause.
MassMEDIC
Website: http://www.massmedic.com/
Founded in 1996, the Massachusetts Medical Device Industry Council (MassMEDIC) is the largest regional medtech association in the United States, with over 300 members representing manufacturers, product developers, suppliers, research institutions and academic health centers.
For more than a quarter of a century, MassMEDIC has been the voice of the groundbreaking medical technology industry in New England, advocating for sound public policy that supports innovation and fostering a community built on a shared purpose.
As a MassMEDIC member, you are part of a community of innovators that believe in collaboration and collective success. Our network and resources help you navigate today’s evolving healthcare ecosystem and strengthen your goals through connection, education, awareness, and advocacy.
Women of Wearables
Website: https://www.womenofwearables.com/
Please visit our website for more information.Femtech World
Website: https://www.femtechworld.co.uk/
We are a global media platform, run by award winning journalists, on a mission to contribute to closing the gender health gap by providing valuable news, insights and analysis on the exciting femtech sector. Produced by specialist health media group Aspect Publishing, Femtech World aims to give the femtech community a voice, breaking down professional borders, spreading opportunities and destigmatising women’s health issues.
PARTNERING OPPORTUNITIES
The Reproductive Health Innovation Summit is an opportunity to strengthen and elevate your position in a growing market, which is ripe for partnerships and investment.
Based on your objective, we can create bespoke packages tailored specifically to you. From presenting your expertise, hosting a panel discussion, virtual networking booths, exclusive pitching sessions or webinars. We’re dedicated to helping you showcase your brand and make valuable new connections. Opportunities predominantly lie in 3 main categories:
THOUGHT LEADERSHIP BRANDING NETWORKING
For any Partnering Opportunities enquiries, please contact Sam Grimsley.
+44 (0)20 3897 9536 [email protected]
DOWNLOAD OUR 2024 AGENDA
Download agenda
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