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n e w h a v e n b i z . c o m | J u n e 2 0 2 1 | n e w h a v e n B I Z 21 P O W E R 2 5 : H e a l t h c a r e 2 0 2 1 Vlad Coric, CEO, Biohaven Pharmaceuticals Under Vlad Coric's leadership, Biohaven Pharmaceuticals is experiencing growth. e company, which develops drugs for neurological conditions, launched its first commercial product in 2020 aer winning Food and Drug Administration approval for its migraine pill Nurtec ODT. e drug is also gaining traction overseas, and recently got the greenlight for commercial sales in Israel. Biohaven is working on treatments for neurological and psychiatric diseases including Alzheimer's, obsessive compulsive disorder and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). Biohaven recently opened an office outside Philadelphia to expand its commercial operations, and it acquired fellow Elm City biotech Kleo Pharmaceuticals, an immuno-oncology startup, and its Munson Street lab, in a $20 million stock deal. e company is not only developing life-changing pharmaceuticals, it is attracting big names for marketing. Reality TV celebrity Khloé Kardashian of "Keeping up With the Kardashians" fame, has suffered from migraines, and has become a spokesperson for Nurtec ODT. More recently, the company hired former Beverly Hills 90210 star Tori Spelling and actor Whoopi Goldberg to serve as Biohaven's celebrity pitchwomen. Coric's drug discovery and clinical development experience also includes work with Yale School of Medicine and Bristol Myers Squibb. John Houston, President & CEO, Arvinas John Houston, president and CEO of Arvinas, is leading the company as it works to advance treatments for cancer and neurological disorders such as Alzheimer's disease. Houston, whose background is in microbiology and biochemistry, has said his role means taking responsibility for the company's vision. In recent months, that vision has meant the company's expansion and progress toward making treatments a reality. e New Haven-based biotech's two leading drug candidates are showing early signs of working in patients suffering from stubborn forms of prostate and breast cancer. According to Houston, the company has experienced significant growth in recent years. It expects to hire 75 people this year, and he anticipates the company's total headcount will be at 250 by the end of 2021. Yale University scientist Craig Crews founded the company in 2013. It went public in 2018 and has a market capitalization of $3.3 billion. Arvinas, which has been working out of Science Park, recently announced plans to lease three floors, or 160,000 square feet of lab and office space, in developer Carter Winstanley's soon- to-be-built 101 College St. bioscience tower, slated to open in 2024. e move will more than double Arvinas' current 63,500-square-foot space at 4 and 5 Science Park. Jonathan Rothberg, Life Sciences Entrepreneur Scientist, innovator, entrepreneur: Jonathan Rothberg imagines the future and makes it happen. When he sees a problem that needs fixing, or a medical issue to solve, he works to find a solution. President Barack Obama awarded Rothberg the National Medal of Technology and Innovation for his work pioneering next-generation DNA sequencing. Rothberg is behind several healthcare technology companies that are based in Guilford but are having a global impact. His Butterfly Network Inc. makes a portable, pocket-sized ultrasound device, which can make life-saving scans both accessible and affordable. Butterfly, valued at roughly $1.5 billion, went public early this year. Rothberg also founded Hyperfine Research Inc., which developed a portable MRI machine called "Swoop," which can roll up to a patient's bedside for a fast diagnosis. Rothberg's AI erapeutics uses artificial intelligence to identify drug candidates that have already been demonstrated to be safe for patient use. e company's technology matches existing drugs with diseases they might be effective in treating, such as lymphoma and COVID-19. His company Quantum-Si says it has developed a next-generation protein sequencing platform that is on track to launch commercially in 2022 for research use. Tesseract Health Inc. recently raised $80 million in an oversubscribed Series B financing round to advance the development of its Tesseract iC eye- imaging diagnostic technology platform. It will use retinal imaging to diagnose disease. Sonja LaBarbera, President & CEO, Gaylord Specialty Healthcare Sonja LaBarbera in early 2019 became the first woman to serve as president and CEO of Gaylord Specialty Healthcare in its history. The 137-bed Wallingford- based nonprofit hospital provides rehabilitation services, such as for people who have been injured in traumatic accidents or suffered a stroke. LaBarbera oversees a staff of approximately 1,000 employees at the organization, which has annual revenue of roughly $90 million. LaBarbera, whose motto is, "It is all about the patients," started at Gaylord in 2005, with her first role as director of inpatient therapy. Her background is as a speech language pathologist, and she rose through the hospital ranks, serving as chief operating officer prior to her promotion to the hospital's top spot. Never satisfied with sitting in her office, LaBarbera enjoys being around people and regularly interacts with patients. During the COVID-19 pandemic, hundreds of patients who were discharged from other hospitals have gone to Gaylord to recuperate. LaBarbera is also overseeing an ongoing $10-million hospital renovation project, one of the largest in Gaylord's history. More than 100 inpatient rooms along with family and staff areas are being renovated to give the hospital a more home-like atmosphere. Bohdan Pomahac, Yale School of Medicine Dr. Bohdan Pomahac, known around the world for his involvement in face transplant surgeries, is bringing his expertise to a leadership role at the Yale School of Medicine. Its Department of Surgery recently recruited Pomahac to serve as its new division chief of plastic and reconstructive surgery. He replaces Dr. John Persing, who is retiring in late June. Pomahac is known as a pioneer in the field, as his team performed the first three full face transplant procedures in the United States. He led the team that performed a full face transplant on Charla Nash, the Connecticut woman who was mauled by a chimpanzee in 2009. His team also performed the first successful bilateral (double) upper extremity transplantation in the Northeast. Pomahac has helped a variety of transplant patients, from a man severely burned in a car accident to a woman doused with lye by her estranged husband. His ongoing research efforts aim to expand transplantation capabilities in the future. Pomahac joins the Yale Surgery community via Brigham and Women's Hospital at Harvard Medical School, where he has been the Roberta and Stephen R. Weiner Distinguished Chair in Surgery, Director of Vascular Composite Allograft Transplantation program. Erika Smith, CEO, ReNetX Erika Smith is working to help people suffering from paralysis. She is CEO of ReNetX Bio, a New Haven-based company working to reverse the damage from spinal cord injuries. Last October, the company was awarded a $3 million grant from the National Institutes of Health's National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke. e company is using the award, combined with an earlier $7 million commitment from the Wings for Life Foundation, to advance its lead drug candidate, fusion protein AXER-204, to a clinical trial for preliminary efficacy. According to the company, the drug is one of the only therapies in development for chronic spinal cord injury to receive this federal funding. Smith said there are limited treatment options for the roughly 300,000 people in the United States with chronic spinal cord injuries. Smith also serves on the board of directors at BioCT, the state's bioscience advocacy organization. During her career, Smith has had leadership roles at other leading life-science companies, including Respironics (Philips Healthcare), Hyperion and IVAX. Smith has also launched and led the advancement of three successful investment funds, including the $25 million Blavatnik Fund for Innovation at Yale, the Yale Entrepreneurial Institute Innovation Fund and the Bio-Life Fund at the Center for Innovative Technology in partnership with Johnson & Johnson. Stephen Strittmatter, Yale School of Medicine Dr. Stephen Strittmatter, a Yale School of Medicine neurology professor and scientist, is making strides toward treatments for paralysis and Alzheimer's disease. Strittmatter developed ReNetX Bio's drug candidate for helping patients suffering from paralysis, AXER-204, which works by removing proteins that impede the regrowth of nerve fibers. Strittmatter is ReNetX's founder and currently serves as its scientific advisor. Strittmatter is also a co-founder of a two-year-old New Haven biotech, Allyx erapeutics, which is heading into human trials this year with an experimental Alzheimer's drug it has licensed from Bristol Myers Squibb. According to Allyx, research suggests that synapse loss, or damage to the connection between brain cells, is a Continued on next page

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