Maria Valeria Canto-Soler, PhD, is an associate professor of ophthalmology at University of Colorado Anschutz Medical School. Additionally, she is the Doni Solich Family Chair in Ocular Stem Cell Research and Director of CellSight at University of Colorado School of Medicine. Dr. Canto-Soler completed her PhD in Biomedical Sciences at Austral University in Buenos Aires, Argentina and a postdoctoral fellowship at the Wilmer Eye Institute, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore.
 
Her research focuses on two main, highly complementary areas: the mechanisms that control retinal progenitor cell differentiation and the use of human induced pluripotent stem cell (iPSC) technology to model normal and diseased conditions of the retina. Within this framework, her lab has recently established a strategy to direct hiPSC to differentiate into three-dimensional light-sensitive retinal tissue in vitro; she and her team are now using these retinal organoids to study the mechanisms underlying retinal degenerative diseases such as age-related macular degeneration (AMD), and to develop therapeutic treatments for these conditions. 
 
Her work has been supported by the National Institutes of Health, the Maryland Stem Cell Research Fund, Research to Prevent Blindness, and the Falk Medical Research Trust, among others. She has received several national and international awards including the Alcon Research Institute Young Investigator Award, and the William & Mary Greve Special Scholar Award from Research to Prevent Blindness. She has also recently been named Outstanding Personality by the Council of the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires, Argentina, in recognition to her scientific contributions. 

Transforming healthcare in Colorado and around the world for children as an executive healthcare administrator, serial entrepreneur and internationally recognized pediatric pulmonologist is Dr. Robin Deterding's vision. As an entrepreneur who has founded three startups, EvoEndo, Earables & Now Vitals, she has advised organizations and evaluated over a 100 companies for success, she knows it is an incredible time to be in healthcare. Dr. Deterding see such potential for transformational disruption as a physician who treats children and family from around the world and as an executive administrator of the largest breathing program in the country at Children's Colorado. Her goal is to lead and inspire teams of talented diverse people to create a better future through innovation, research, advocacy, education and exceptional clinical care.

C. Neill Epperson, MD, is the Robert Freedman Endowed Professor and Chair of the Department of Psychiatry in the School of Medicine at the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus. Dr. Epperson is internationally known for her unique lifespan approach to women's reproductive and psychiatric health in both the clinical and research realms. Her research has been continuously funded for 25 years and by 5 of the NIH institute. Her body of work has led to a greater appreciation of the impact of childhood adversity on physiologic responses during times of hormonal fluctuation as well as gonadal steroid effects on brain and behavior. 

In addition to her role as Chair of Psychiatry, Dr. Epperson is the Executive Director of the Helen and Arthur E. Johnson Depression Center and Senior Scientific Advisor for the new center for innovations in psychiatry within the Department of Psychiatry. She has been the principal investigator on numerous academic-industry collaborations and is currently a key scientific leader in the collaboration between industry partner, HealthRhythms and CU Innovations and UCHealth CARES Innovation Center. Dr. Epperson is at the forefront of digital technology integration into clinical practice across the Department of Psychiatry. 

Dr. Maria Nagel is a physician-scientist specializing in viral infections of the nervous system. Her lab at the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Center examines how the chicken pox and shingles virus (varicella zoster virus) causes stroke, heart attacks and dementia. Her lab also examines the role of the cold sore virus (HSV-1) in migraines, facial pain and cognitive impairment. In her Neurology Clinic, she evaluates and manages patients with neuroinfectious diseases.

She has over 96 publications and given invited lectureships in multiple international conferences. Her articles on Burning Mouth Syndrome has led to interviews posted on livescience.com and huffingtonpost.com. Exciting new work in her lab demonstrates that zoster (shingles) confers an amyloid-promoting environment, potentially accelerating amyloid-associated diseases of aging including Alzheimer's dementia, diabetes mellitus, and macular degeneration. She recently started Pharmavir, Inc. with her colleague, Dr. Andrew Bubak, to develop a repurposed drug for virus infections and dementia. 
 
Dr. Nagel actively mentors students that are underrepresented in health sciences from local Denver high schools and colleges. She has successfully obtained grants for her students from their respective schools and from the National Institute of Health supplements to promote diversity, as well as established educational visits for Odyssey Elementary School children to the Anschutz Medical Center in collaboration with the University of Colorado Office of Inclusion and Outreach.

Dr. Heather Underwood is a medical device and health technology entrepreneur with a highly interdisciplinary background at the intersection of computer science, global health, human-centered design, education, and international development. Heather is passionate about the healthcare space and innovative ideas that lower costs, empower patients and physicians, improve health outcomes, and make a meaningful impact on people’s lives.  

Heather’s experience spans more than a decade, founding and leading medical device startups, nonprofit life science organizations, and innovative academic initiatives, including co-founding Inworks – an interdisciplinary initiative offering courses and certificate programs in innovation, prototyping and design as a professor at the University of Colorado Denver. Dr. Underwood was selected for the 2018-2019 Stanford Biodesign Fellowship Class and left academia to pursue a career in medical device innovation. 

Heather completed her Ph.D. at the University of Colorado Boulder's ATLAS program where she authored numerous published papers. She developed and implemented clinical decision support systems for midwives and nurses in Kenya, receiving the NSF Graduate Research Fellowship Grant and a Gates Grand Challenges Grant to support her research. Heather received a Bachelor of Science, cum laude, in computer science and engineering from the University of Washington, where her undergraduate research focused on developing multiplayer educational game platforms for primary schools in India. 

Based in Colorado, Dr. Underwood oversees all efforts across EvoEndo® as the Chief Executive Officer. She is currently one of Colorado’s Titan 100 members, a program to recognize a premier group of 100 CEOs and C-level executives in a region, and a member of the Colorado Blackstone Entrepreneurs Network. 

Shelia Violette, co-founder, Chief Scientific Officer and President of Research of Q32 Bio, is a scientific and industry leader in the field of inflammation, autoimmunity and fibrosis. She advanced Q32 Bio from a seed stage company and through Series B funding to become a clinical stage company with two programs in clinical development. In her more than 30 years of industry experience, she has provided strategic and operational leadership to multi-disciplinary teams of scientists, led several research and early clinical programs, and authored more than 100 manuscripts and patents.

Prior to co-founding Q32 Bio, she was an Entrepreneur in Residence at Atlas Venture evaluating new company opportunities. Preceding her role at Atlas, Shelia served in leadership roles in the Immunology Research group at Biogen, joining Stromedix as Vice President of Research and returning to Biogen as Vice President of Research, spearheading the tissue injury and fibrosis therapeutic area. She also has directed research and led therapeutic programs at several biotechnology companies including Repligen and Ariad. She received her Ph.D. in Pharmacology from Yale University. 

Rhonda Wallen is an Independent Board Director and Advisor to life science companies, leveraging her 25 years of experience to help founders and CEOs develop strategy, complete financings and plan for execution and growth. She was most recently Chief Strategy Officer / EVP of Caresyntax, providers of an end-to-end digital analytics platform for the surgical suite and prior to this, Head of global Corporate Development at Terumo BCT, the $1 billion biomedical division of Terumo Corporation. In this role, as a member of the Global Commercial Leadership Team and its working group on marketing excellence, she led the cross-functional evaluation and negotiation of strategic transactions for blood and cell therapy technologies including a landmark deal that created a significant new line of business in plasma collection. From 2012-16, Ms. Wallen served as the Chief Operating Officer of Andarix Pharmaceuticals, a clinical stage oncology therapeutics company. Also during this time, in consulting roles with Cygnet Venture Management, she served as interim management for senior level business development and marketing functions, working with life science CEOs and founders to validate the strategic direction of emerging growth companies, define key milestones/use of proceeds, and complete corporate financings, helping clients raise over $30 million. As founding CEO of Caveo Therapeutics, a CU spin out company, she raised seed capital and launched a reagent product line, supporting the company’s development of its lead oncology candidates.  Prior to this she was a venture capital investor with Sequel Venture Partners.  Ms. Wallen holds a Bachelor of Science from Stanford University, a Master of Science in Microbiology and a Master of Business Administration from the University of Rochester. She currently serves on the Board of Directors of Ekso Bionics (NASDAQ: EKSO - medical technology for stroke recovery and mobility enhancement); Boulder Community Health ($500M hospital and ambulatory care system); and strategic Advisor to A28 Therapeutics (oncology), Aromyx (industrial biotechnology), and ViuHealth (healthcare data science).