Professor Paul Workman, OBE FRS, is a world-renowned scientist and a leading figure in cancer research and drug discovery. He is currently the Harrap Professor of Pharmacology and Therapeutics at The Institute of Cancer Research (ICR) in London, where he previously served as Chief Executive and President from 2014 to 2021. For almost two decades (1997-2016) he built and directed the ICR’s CRUK Cancer Therapeutics Unit, now the Centre for Cancer Drug Discovery (CCDD) – a large and successful centre for the discovery of innovative molecular cancer therapeutics. Throughout his career, which spans academia, large Pharma (AstraZeneca) and biotech, Workman has promoted collaborative team science and been a pioneer in ‘precision medicine,’ moving away from ‘one-size-fits- all’ cytotoxic chemotherapy towards personalized, molecularly-targeted therapies. He is probably best known for the discovery of drugs inhibiting oncogenic protein and lipid kinases, the molecular chaperone HSP90 and the stress response-regulating transcription factor HSF1. He is also celebrated for originating the ‘Pharmacological Audit Trail,’ a rigorous, biomarker-driven framework used globally to provide a rational  guide to evidence-based decision-making in drug discovery and clinical development – incorporating pharmacodynamic biomarkers to ensure that drugs hit their intended targets to the required extent, and underpinning the Project Optimus regulatory initiative, promoting selection of the optimal biological dose.

Professor Workman’s impact on the pharmaceutical landscape is extensive, having overseen the discovery of numerous clinical drug candidates. Notable successes his teams played an instrumental role in include the approved AKT inhibitor capivasertib, the PI3K inhibitor pictilisib, the HSP90 inhibitor luminespib, and earlier leadership of research to discover the approved EGFR inhibitor gefitinib. Beyond his academic leadership, Workman is a successful entrepreneur, co-founding biotech companies such as Piramed Pharma (acquired by Roche) and Chroma Therapeutics (assets acquired by CTI BioPharma) to accelerate the transition of lab discoveries into life-saving treatments.

In recognition of his five decades of service to the field, Professor Workman was appointed an Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in the 2026 UK New Year Honours. Among numerous honours and awards, he was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society and of the Academy of Medical Sciences (the UK’s national academies of science and medicine, respectively) and has also been elected a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) and the American Association for Cancer Research Academy (AACR). Today, he continues to drive innovation in the CCDD and as Co-Director of the CRUK Children’s Brain Tumour Centre of Excellence hosted at ICR and Cambridge University, focusing on finding new solutions for some of the most challenging forms of the disease and hard-to-drug targets. Professor Workman also directs the Chemical Probes Portal, an open-access resource that helps scientists worldwide in the selection and best practice use of the most reliable chemical tools for biomedical research.

Dr. Chan is the President’s Chair of Engineering and Dean of Engineering at Nanyang Technological University (NTU) in Singapore   He is a Professor in the School of Chemistry, Chemical Engineering, and Biotechnology.  He received his B.S. degree from the University of Illinois in 1996, Ph.D. from Indiana University in 2001, and post-doctoral training at the University of California (San Diego).  He was faculty at the Institute of Biomedical Engineering at the University of Toronto before moving to NTU Singapore.  His lab develops nanotechnology for diagnosing and treating cancer and infectious diseases. Some of his awards include NSERC E. W. R. Memorial Steacie Fellowship, Kabiller Young Investigator Award in Nanomedicine (Northwestern University), Rank Prize Fund award in Optoelectronics (England), and Dennis Gabor Award (Hungary).  He is currently an Executive Editor of ACS Nano. 

Matt Patricelli, Ph.D., is a prominent biopharmaceutical executive currently serving as the Chief Scientific Officer (CSO) at Vividion Therapeutics, a subsidiary of Bayer. As the company's first employee and a founding scientist, Dr. Patricelli has been a central figure in evolving its proprietary chemoproteomic platform from an early-stage discovery tool into a robust engine for discovering and advancing drugs into clinical trials. In his current capacity, he oversees all research functions to discover novel therapeutics against high-value proteins previously considered "undruggable".

Prior to his tenure at Vividion, Dr. Patricelli served as the Senior Director of Biology at Wellspring Biosciences, where he led critical projects such as the KRAS-G12C covalent inhibitor program. Between 2000 and 2012, he was a foundational member of ActivX Biosciences, where he established and led the chemical proteomics platform activities and launched the successful commercial screening service, KiNativ.

Dr. Patricelli's academic foundation was established at McGill University, where he earned his B.Sc. in biochemistry, followed by a Ph.D. from The Scripps Research Institute. Notably, he was the first graduate student of Dr. Benjamin Cravatt, a renowned scientist and Vividion co-founder. Dr. Patricelli is an author or co-author of over 30 scientific publications and holds multiple patents.

Rebecca leads a team of drug designers at Isomorphic Labs. She was previously a Senior Principal Scientist at BenevolentAI, where she led drug discovery projects in neuroinflammation and oncology. Prior to Benevolent, Rebecca worked at Heptares Therapeutics, where she was part of the team who discovered SSTR5 agonist 30310, which subsequently entered the clinic for endocrine disorders.

Rebecca has a degree in Natural Sciences from Cambridge University where she received three Churchill College Prize Scholarships and the Alex Hopkins award for achievement in Chemistry.

She completed her MRes and PhD at Imperial College under Alan Armstrong and David Mann and was awarded the Sir Alan Fersht Award for Exceptional Performance and The Faculty of Natural Sciences Award for Teaching Excellence. She is a co-author of 16 publications and patents.

Dr. Lili Yang received her Ph.D. degree in Biology from the California Institute of Technology (Caltech), studying with Dr. David Baltimore. She is currently Professor of Microbiology, Immunology and Molecular Genetics at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA). Her research laboratory at UCLA studies tumor immunology and cancer immunotherapy, with a special focus on developing gene and cell-based immunotherapy for cancer (https://www.liliyanglab.com/). So far her work has resulted in over 120publications, 30 patents, 3 clinical trials, and 2 biotech startups.   

In recognition of her scientific achievements, Dr. Lili Yang has received multiple prestigious awards, including a TR35 (Innovators Under 35) Award from the MIT Technology Review Magazine, a Director’s New Innovator Award from the National Institute of Health (NIH), a Young Investigator Award from the American Association of Immunologists (AAI), and an Outstanding New Investigator Award from the American Society of Gene & Cell Therapy (ASGCT). 

Dr. Lili Yang is also widely recognized for her biotech accomplishments. She has been named Women in Biopharma by Endpoints News in 2022, and Top Women in Academic Entrepreneurship by BIOS in 2023.

Dmitriy Zamarin MD PhD is Professor of Oncology, Section Head of Gynecologic Medical Oncology, and co-director of Center of Excellence for Gynecologic Cancers at the Tisch Cancer Center at Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai. Dr. Zamarin obtained his MD and PhD degrees from the Mount Sinai School of Medicine. He completed residency in Internal Medicine at the Mount Sinai Hospital and fellowship in Hematology/Oncology at the Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center. He spent a decade as a faculty and Translational Research Director in Gynecologic Medical Oncology at the Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center before transitioning to his current role in September of 2023.

Dr. Zamarin has served as a principal investigator and a translational chair on multiple institutional and cooperative group clinical trials exploring novel immunotherapy combinations in gynecologic cancers and other solid tumors and serves as the translational research co-chair on the NRG Oncology Cervical Cancer committee. In the laboratory, his research is focused on understanding of the mechanisms by which gynecologic cancers are recognized by the immune system and on identification of biomarkers predictive of response and resistance to immunotherapy. His laboratory uses mouse models to explore the mechanisms of tumor-immune system interactions and to develop novel therapeutics, with particular focus on oncolytic viruses, vaccines, and targeted therapies. Dr. Zamarin has received awards and funding from multiple organizations including Damon Runyon Foundation, Ovarian Cancer Research Alliance, Department of Defense, and the National Cancer Institute and is an elected member of the American Society for Clinical Investigation.