Dr. Flambard specialises in heading the innovation and development of commercial strategies within the animal and human healthcare sectors. She is currently Global Head of Plant Health Business at chemical manufacturing company FMC Corporation.

Dr. Flambard has previously served as a Global Head of Live BioTherapeutics & Nutraceuticals at Boehringer Ingelheim, where she led the creation of a new business unit, combining novel microbial based bio-therapeutic and diagnostic approaches. She has also worked for Merial and Chr. Hansen, the world leader in microbial solutions. Dr. Flambard holds several vice president positions in the health and agriculture industries, as well as trustee positions and advisory roles for organisations in the consumer goods, pharmaceuticals and technology sectors. While growing core businesses, she has experience of seeding and developing growth opportunities into start-up businesses, focusing exclusively on the microbiome.

Dr. Flambard has a Master of Administration from the University of Bath in the UK, a PhD in Molecular Genetics and Microbial Physiology from the National Institute of Agronomic in France, and a Master in Corporate Entrepreneurial Leadership from the Centre for Technology Economics & Management in Denmark.

Caroline Popper MD MPH is an internist and pathologist and is the former CEO of Diversigen, a microbiome-focused pharma-services company, recently acquired by Orasure Technologies.

Dr. Popper has more than 25 years of hands-on life science operating experience. She combines her medical and scientific perspective with knowledge gained from managing a wide spectrum of life sciences businesses in both Fortune 500 and start-up settings in the US and globally. She maintains a large venture and private equity network, sits on several company boards, and speaks internationally on healthcare innovation and value analysis.

Dr. Popper received her medical degree from the University of the Witwatersrand (South Africa) and her M.P.H. from Johns Hopkins University (Baltimore). She completed her residencies in internal medicine and in pathology at Johns Hopkins.

Leading the revitalization of commercialization at Baylor College of Medicine under the newly formed BCM Ventures.

Shawn R. Davis, VP of Research, is responsible for advancing BCM’s strategic vision for research and commercialization. She oversees the operational and business aspects of the Research Mission, including all commercialization activities. She provides proactive leadership and direction for all aspects of the Research Mission operations and administration, including annual planning, capital and operating budget management, research space management, research technology strategy, philanthropy, and affiliate relationships. She oversees BCM’s strategic relationships with external commercial partners, ensuring an integrated approach to commercialization aligned to institutional vision.

Partner at Stonehaven Consulting AG with executive leadership experience in the Animal Health industry.

Mr. Matthias Hofer is a Partner at Stonehaven Consulting AG. He has over 13 years of experience in Animal Health. He served on the executive committees of two major Animal Health companies for a total of 7 years. Between 2009 and 2013 he led the global Aqua Health business at Novartis Animal Health (NAH). Later, he was Global Leader Emerging Business at Elanco and a member of Elanco’s global executive committee. During 2014 and with Elanco’s intention to buy NAH, Matthias served as overall pre-merger integration leader on the Novartis side. In that role, Matthias led a large team and efforts to prepare integration pre-closing overall including carve-out preparations of operations linked to Novartis. Matthias is a business leader with broad international experience and strength in sales, strategy, and execution.

A primary investigator for the Human Microbiome Project and author of numerous published studies on microbiome science.

Dr. Petrosino has been actively driving a better understanding of human and animal microbiomes since the introduction of Next Generation Sequencing technologies for the purpose of microbiome studies. He has been involved in key research projects and made a number of ground-breaking advances in our understanding of microbiomes.

Dr. Petrosino was awarded a degree in microbiology and immunology with a distinction in research from the University of Rochester, before completing a PhD in the same subjects at Baylor College of Medicine. He continued at Baylor where he completed a postdoctoral fellowship in genetics, and then worked as a research associate in the Human Genome Sequencing Centre.

As a principal investigator for the Human Microbiome Project, he helped develop standardised clinical sample preparation protocols for sequencing and analysis. This allowed microbial communities from diverse body sites to be compared with minimal technical bias and has led to study design standards that are being implemented internationally.

Dr. Petrosino is currently Professor and interim Chairman of Molecular Virology and Microbiology at Baylor College of Medicine and Director of the Alkek Centre for Metagenomics and Microbiome Research. The Centre is involved in more than 400 metagenomics projects in humans which aim to improve human health through a better understanding of microbiomes and the development of new diagnostics and therapeutics. Dr. Petrosino is a popular speaker at national and international meetings and was named Distinguished Lecturer for 2012-2014 by the American Society for Microbiology.

Animal health and pathology research scientist with expertise in microbiome and diseases.

Dr. Gao has more than 10 years’ experience in microbiology research in academia and industry, including bacterial culture and identification, study design and methodology. He joined the ANIZOME team from Janssen, a division of Johnson and Johnson, where he had been Postdoctoral Research Fellow.

Dr. Gao was awarded a PhD from Baylor College of Medicine with a thesis that focused on the use of probiotics to treat animal diseases – specifically the impact of Lactobacillus reuteri on colonic inflammation and cancer. He has subsequently focused on the application of microbiome studies to enhance animal health and conducted postdoctoral research in immunology and pathology at Baylor College of Medicine and immunopharmacology at Janssen.

Dr. Gao has published several papers and abstracts and acts as a reviewer for a few scientific journals. He also speaks regularly at technical meetings.
At ANIZOME, Dr. Gao uses his experience in microbiology to lead our in-house microbiological culturing and screening programmes.

Practising veterinary dermatologist with a special interest in innovative solutions in companion animal dermatology.

Dr. Rossi has a driving passion for finding innovative solutions to therapeutic challenges and has been actively involved in veterinary research. He has a particular interest and expertise in the diagnosis and treatment of skin, coat and nail diseases in animals.

Dr. Rossi obtained his Bachelor of Science degree from Southeastern Louisiana University before completing a master’s degree and becoming a Doctor of Veterinary Medicine at Louisiana State University. After several veterinary research projects and internships, he developed his skills in dermatology during a two-year residency with North Carolina State University and while working with the Veterinary Referral Center of Colorado. During this time, he taught veterinary students about clinical and scientific aspects of dermatology.

Dr. Rossi is board certified by the American College of Veterinary Dermatology (ACVD) and currently works for a veterinary specialty clinic based in Houston. As well as small animals, Dr. Rossi enjoys working with horses and zoo animals.