Health & Life Sciences Fireside Chat Series – Innovation and Future of Medicine

Join us for the inaugural session of our Health & Life Sciences (H&LS) fireside chat series, an interactive forum to bring together bay area alumni working or interested in health & life sciences to hear from industry leaders their perspectives on various topics as well as discuss and network with their peers.

We are delighted to host two esteemed Oxford alumni: Dr. Andrew Allen (CEO, Gritstone Bio) and Dr. Sean McCarthy (CEO, CytomX) at this inaugural session.

Join us to hear how their companies are leading development of innovative therapeutic modalities for cancer, infectious, and rare diseases, their perspectives on the evolving industry trends, implementation of AI in drug discovery, venture & investing, technical & regulatory challenges impacting future of medicine and patient care. They will also share their pivotal experiences that shaped their journey and their fond Oxford memories.

We would like to thank the British Consulate San Francisco for their generous support for this event.

**Speaker Bios**

*Dr. Andrew Allen*

Andrew Allen, M.D., Ph.D. co-founded Gritstone bio, Inc. and has served as President, CEO and a board member since 2015. In 2009, Dr. Allen co-founded Clovis Oncology and served as Chief Medical Officer until 2015, driving development of Rucaparib, a PARP inhibitor. Prior he was Chief Medical Officer at Pharmion Corporation, developing Vidaza, the first approved DNA methylation inhibitor, until acquisition by Celgene in 2008. Dr. Allen also served in clinical development leadership roles at Chiron Corporation and Abbott Laboratories, and worked at McKinsey & Company. He currently serves on the board of directors of TCR2 Therapeutics and Sierra Oncology (both public biopharma companies) and Revitope Oncology and Verge Genomics (both private biopharma companies). He previously served on the board of directors of Epizyme (developers of the first approved histone methylation transferase inhibitor) and Cell Design Labs (acquired by Gilead Sciences in 2017). Dr. Allen qualified in medicine at Oxford University and received a Ph.D. in immunology from Imperial College of Science, Technology and Medicine in London.

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*Dr. Sean McCarthy*

Dr. McCarthy joined CytomX in 2010 as the chief business officer, served as the chief executive officer (CEO) since 2011, and has been the CEO and chairman since 2019. Previously, Dr. McCarthy was a transactional partner at Pappas Ventures. Prior to Pappas, Sean headed business development and strategy at SGX Pharmaceuticals, a structure-based drug discovery company focused on oncology. Earlier in his career he served in various research and development roles at Millennium Pharmaceuticals. Dr. McCarthy is an author on multiple peer-reviewed scientific publications and issued patents. He is a member of the board of directors of Oncoresponse, Inc. and a member of the board of directors and executive committee of California Life Sciences. Dr. McCarthy received his B.S. degree in biochemistry and pharmacology at King’s College, University of London. He also received an M.B.A. from the Rady School of Management at UCSD and a DPhil in cancer biology from St. John’s College, University of Oxford.

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**Event Details: **

4:30 – 4:55 pm Reception & Networking

4:55 – 5:05 pm Event Kick-off

5:05 – 6:00 pm Fireside Chat followed by Q&A

6:00 – 6:30 pm After-event Networking

**Location:** British Consulate, 1 Sansome StreetSan Francisco, CA, 94104United States

This is a limited-seats event. For security reasons, you and your guest names must be on our guest list to attend the event. We are unable to accommodate any at door sales. Tickets include drinks and hors d’oeuvres.