NCLifeSci Annual Meeting 2025

Juliana Blum, Ph.D., chief executive officer, BioAesthetics

Blum spent over 20 yrs as the co-founder of Humacyte, leading the development, management and execution of a commercial scale bioengineering platform, eventually transitioning the start up to a public company in 2021. Currently, she is the CEO of BioAesthetics, an early stage company developing novel tissue grafts that are transformed with various drug eluting polymers to treat and repair multiple types of wounds, surgical injuries and soft tissue reconstructions. Blum is also an executive in residence at the North Carolina Biotechnology Center where she provides entrepreneurial mentoring and coaching for the early stage companies in the Center’s loan portfolio. She sits on the board of directors of inSoma Bio. Blum received her B.S. from Carthage College and Ph.D. in molecular biology and cardiovascular gene therapy from Loyola University. 

Jason Brett, M.D., acting principal medical head, clinical development, medical and regulatory affairs, Novo Nordisk

Dr. Brett provides strategic medical leadership and functions as the medical spokesperson for the U.S. organization. Prior to his current role, he was the executive director leading a team of medical directors for Novo Nordisk’s in-line and pipeline products for obesity. During his time at Novo Nordisk, he has served as a leader of medical director teams working in the cardiometabolic disease space, including in obesity, diabetes, cardiovascular diseases, metabolic dysfunction-associated steatohepatitis and neurodegenerative diseases. Prior to joining Novo Nordisk in 2003, Dr. Brett was in full-time clinical practice at Mount Sinai Medical Associates. In addition, he was a clinical assistant professor in the department of Medicine at Mount Sinai School of Medicine and was also an attending physician at The Mount Sinai Hospital.

Tom Croce, vice president, global patient advocacy and engagement, Jazz Pharmaceuticals

Croce and his team are responsible for the identification and integration of patient perspectives across the entire development and commercial continuum, while ensuring meaningful representation to patient, caregiver and advocate partners around the world. He is also responsible for building and implementing the company’s social impact strategy. Prior to joining Jazz, Croce was vice president for global patient advocacy at bluebird bio and delivered actionable patient and caregiver insights across the organization that contributed to the development and approval of two gene therapies.  He also saw the company’s efforts to educate and activate the advocacy community on the transformative nature of regenerative medicine. Earlier, Croce held senior roles at Amgen, Shire Pharmaceuticals, Boehringer Ingelheim, Pfizer and Wyeth. He is a graduate of the Philadelphia College of Pharmacy, University of Sciences.

Laura DiMichele, Ph.D., director, clinical development sciences, BioCryst

DiMichele brings almost two decades of clinical and regulatory development experience to her role BioCryst. She and her team lead the design, execution and oversight of global clinical programs across all phases. Prior to joining BioCryst, DiMichele held various leadership roles at a contract research organization, advancing programs from preclinical through registration across a range of therapeutic areas. She brings deep expertise across a broad range of therapeutic areas, including infectious disease, oncology, nephrology and ophthalmology. DiMichele's product experience spans small molecules, immunotherapies and biologics, and she possesses a thorough command of regulations and protocols governing drug development from early-phase coordination through marketing approval. DiMichele holds a Ph.D. in biomedical sciences and is certified in both regulatory affairs and clinical research.

Marcel Frenkel, Ph.D., co-founder and chief executive officer, Ten63 Therapeutics 

Frenkel is a biophysicist with over ten years of expertise in computational drug design. He founded Ten63 in 2018 after losing his mother to pancreatic cancer, with the goal of transforming cancer treatment. Ten63 is a venture-backed company at the forefront of AI-driven generative chemistry and quantum simulations and leverages its unique platform to pursue some of the most challenging targets in oncology. Frenkel earned his Ph.D. in biochemistry from Duke University, where he developed novel computational approaches to target undruggable proteins such as KRas and to combat drug resistance in cancer. His research also contributed to the design of a novel HIV vaccine currently in clinical trials, the discovery of new drug-resistance mechanisms and the engineering of potent, broadly neutralizing antibodies in collaboration with the NIH.

Laura Gunter, president, NCLifeSci

Gunter directs the work of the life sciences advocacy association in conjunction with its executive committee and board of directors. NCLifeSci promotes policy initiatives that encourage the growth and success of life science companies doing business in the state by advocating for the industry before the NC General Assembly and the NC Congressional delegation. She works closely with state and federal partners on the advocacy and policy front. Before becoming president, Gunter served as NCLifeSci’s membership development and government affairs director. Previously, she served as business development director for NCBiotech and as a technical sales representative for Fisher Scientific. She received a bachelor’s degree in chemistry from the University of Virginia and earned a Master’s in Business Administration from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. 

Rebecca Haynie, Ph.D., director, science policy and regulatory affairs, CropLife America

Haynie joined the Crop Life America’s science and regulatory team in July 2023, bringing years of experience in pesticide regulation and knowledge of current pesticide issues affecting pesticide retailers and end-users. Previously, she acted as senior federal regulatory manager at Syngenta Crop Protection focused on EPA’s implementation of ESA across all formulations. Prior to joining Syngenta in 2020, Haynie gained experience in pesticide regulations on the compliance team at Walmart, and she began her career with the SePRO Corporation in Indianapolis. Haynie earned both her B.S. in wildlife biology and Ph.D. in environmental toxicology from Clemson University and completed a post-doc at the University of Georgia.

Tengfang Huang, Ph.D., vice president and head of research, The Traits Company

Huang joined The Traits Company in 2023, when it was founded as Traitology. He has held a range of positions in agricultural biotechnology at institutions and companies including the Boyce Thompson Institute, KeyGene, Precision BioSciences and Elo Life Systems. Dr. Huang's expertise spans plant genomics, gene discovery, genome editing and metabolic engineering. He has a Ph.D. in plant molecular biology and biological sciences from Cornell University and B.S. in biological sciences from Fudan University.

Michael Hunter, senior vice president of manufacturing operations, Liquidia

Hunter joined Liquidia in 2007 and brings more than 20 years of experience across all phases of drug and drug-device combination product development. He manages all aspects of the company’s manufacturing operations, which, in part, led to the filing of  their first NDA. Prior to joining Liquidia, Hunter worked as a quality engineer and manufacturing engineer with Boston Scientific in the company’s Stent Manufacturing Division where he was responsible for the transfer and validation of new products from process development to manufacturing. Here, he also served on the site FDA compliance counsel for the company’s Interventional Cardiology Division. Prior to his role at Boston Scientific, he worked for seven years in process development and scale-up in the telecommunications industry with Sony Ericsson and the semiconductor industry with Cree, Inc. Hunter holds a M.S. in materials engineering from North Carolina State University and a B.S. in applied science-biomaterials from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Joe Lanier, principal, Milestone Strategies 

Lanier represents clients in state and federal government relations issues, with a particular focus on matters coming before the North Carolina state government. He has more than 25 years of federal and state government affairs experience in both the public and private sectors. Prior to founding Milestone Strategies, Lanier served as chief legal and legislative counsel for two U.S. Senators and worked in the Washington government relations practices of two leading national law firms. His practice focus added state work in 2008 when he joined a local Raleigh law firm and began to also represent clients before North Carolina’s General Assembly and state agencies. Lanier holds undergraduate and law degrees from the University of North Carolina.

Susan Lenderts, global head of life sciences, SAS (moderator)

Lenderts provides executive leadership and partners with customers to enable meaningful impact in the life sciences industry through analytics, innovation and digital transformation. Lenderts’ mission is to bring the full power of SAS to the life sciences industry to unlock business value and drive business strategy and decision making, ultimately helping organizations to develop, market and distribute safe and effective therapeutics to the patients who need them. She has spent nearly two decades in the life sciences industry with roles spanning clinical research through to commercial and strategic operations leadership at Quintiles (now IQVIA), Innoviva, ViiV Healthcare (GSK) and her own advisory firm. She holds a bachelor’s degree in economics and political science from the University of Notre Dame and a master’s degree in business administration from the University of North Carolina Chapel Hill's Kenan-Flagler Business School.

Sophia McLeod, advocacy adviser, ACRO

McLeod leads ACRO’s legislative strategy and regularly meets with Congressional offices on Capitol Hill to advance ACRO's profile and policy priorities. Prior to joining ACRO, she was on the government affairs team at the Medical Group Management Association, a membership association for medical practice administrators. Her first experience in legislative affairs was at the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs’ Office of Congressional and Legislative Affairs as a graduate fellow. McLeod earned her B.A. in political science and history from Dalhouise University, and she received her M.A. in American Government from Georgetown University. 

Kristin Murphy, vice president, federal government relations, BIO

Murphy brings nearly 20 years of experience in legislative activities to BIO. She joined BIO in 2021 as senior director of federal government affairs and became vice president this year. Previously, she served as director and senior director of federal affairs at the Association for Accessible Medicines for four years. Prior to joining AAM, Murphy was the assistant director for legislative affairs for four years at the Ambulatory Surgery Center Association. She earned her B.A. in political science from the University of South Dakota and her MBA with a concentration in health care management from Johns Hopkins University.

Frannie Nilsen, Ph.D., environmental toxicologist, North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality

Nilsen is involved with a variety of projects related to environmental contamination and exposure including military, industrial, and drinking water facilities. She is the technical liaison to the NC Secretaries’ Science Advisory Board and is responsible for coordinating the contaminant review activities to support reference dose development for PFAS and other non-regulated chemicals that are specific to industrial facilities. Nilsen was appointed by the Governor of NC to the NC Advisory Committee on Cancer Coordination and Control to serve as an expert on PFAS toxicity. She has worked at several federal agencies throughout her career in toxicology. Nilsen a B.S., M.S. and certificate in environmental policy from Hawaii Pacific University. She earned her Ph.D. in marine biomedicine and environmental Ttoxicology from the Medical University of South Carolina.                   

Bobby Patrick, senior vice president, government affairs, AdvaMed 

Patrick oversees AdvaMed’s state affairs work and partnerships with external stakeholders, including patient advocacy organizations and physician groups. Previously, Patrick served as the vice president of strategic growth and policy at the Medical Alley Association where he led the state and federal advocacy efforts. He also oversaw the membership work at the Association, where they experienced growth in membership revenue, engagement and retention under his leadership. Prior to that, Patrick served as a staff member in the Minnesota House of Representatives. He holds a J.D. from William Mitchell College of Law and an undergraduate degree from Syracuse University.

Ron Phillips, senior vice president, policy, Animal Health Institute

Phillips is a distinguished public affairs and policy executive with more than 35 years of leadership experience across government, trade associations and strategic communications. In his current role, he serves as the chief policy strategist and spokesperson, leading federal and state legislative strategies, media relations and coalition-building efforts for the nation's foremost association representing animal medicine innovators. Prior to joining AHI, Phillips served as vice president of public affairs at The Fertilizer Institute. Earlier roles include communications manager at the U.S. Grains Council and public and government relations representative at Arter & Hadden. His career began in the U.S. Congress as press secretary and professional staff member for the U.S. Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition and Forestry. He has a B.A. in communications from Cedarville University and a M.A. in journalism from Ohio State University.

Marlene Sanders-Seye, director, state government affairs and policy, Merck

Sanders-Seye's passion for public policy, patient health access and health education has guided her career. She worked for several health care entities as a lobbyist in Tennessee and a patient advocacy liaison for Eli Lilly and Co. prior to joining Merck in 2007. She is recognized as a leader at Merck winning several awards, including being named a Richard T. Clark Global Health Fellow in 2017.  Sanders-Seye currently serves on the Board of the North Carolina Aids Action Network and the North Carolina Life Sciences Organization. She holds a bachelor’s degree in political science from Middle Tennessee State University and a MPA from Tennessee State University. 

Northe Saunders, president, American Families for Vaccines

Saunders brings 19 years of political leadership, grassroots organizing and fundraising experience to the organization. He has worked on the local, state and national levels for numerous political campaigns, candidates, and advocacy organizations. In 2019, he testified in support of strengthening vaccine laws for students in Maine and joined the volunteer organization, Maine Families for Vaccines, to support the effort. Saunders led the grassroots citizen lobbying effort that saw the bill's successful passage. When the opposition attempted a referendum to use a “People’s Veto” and overturn the legislation, he served as volunteer political director for Maine Families. Maine Families celebrated a resounding 72.4 percent victory at the polls, and the legislation was upheld. Saunders loves bringing his passion for grassroots organizing, fundraising, and pro-science advocacy to other states nationwide.

Zach Sentementes, senior director, federal advocacy, PhRMA

Sentementes is a seasoned public affairs and government relations professional who has represented a variety of major trade associations, civil rights organizations, and Fortune 500 companies at the federal level on key healthcare, intellectual property, trade and social justice issues. He joined PhRMA in Aug. 2022 as director of federal advocacy. Prior to PhRMA, his most recent role was with Advanced Advocacy as their vice president. Sentementes also held positions at the Washington International Trade Association, Concordia University and Montreal Institute for Genocide and Human Rights Studies. He earned a B.A. in political science and government from Concordia University with a certificate in Mandarin language and culture from Communication University of China.