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Flagship · Pharmaceutical Sciences & Business

SAPA-GP 2026 Annual Conference

Dates
March 20–21, 2026
Venue
Sheraton Valley Forge, King of Prussia, PA
Format
2 days · plenaries + 6 tracks + roundtables
Focus
AI & new modalities
About this event

A multinational, interdisciplinary forum for exchanging the most up-to-date knowledge in pharmaceutical sciences, technology, and business — with keynote plenaries, six parallel tracks, roundtables, lunch seminars, and the year’s best networking.

Theme: Accelerating Drug Discovery and Development with AI and New Modalities. More than 1,000 scientists and industry leaders gathered at the Sheraton Valley Forge Hotel, King of Prussia, PA, for the 24th Annual Conference (in partnership with DIA). Click any session below to expand its details.

Schedule

Agenda

Keynote Talk Panel Workshop Break
12:00 – 5:00 PM
Registration

Registration Open

2:00 – 5:00 PM
WorkshopCentennial I

Workshop: From Scientist to Entrepreneur

Host: Lixia Yao, Ph.D. · Polygon Health Analytics LLC
Details

Presenters: Andrew Tsourkas, Ph.D. (AlphaThera); Lake Paul, Ph.D. (BioAnalysis); Lixia Yao, Ph.D. (Polygon Health Analytics); Frank Li, Ph.D. (Sidocel).

8:00 – 5:00 PM
Registration

Registration Open

8:30 – 8:45 AM
MeetingGrand Ballroom

SAPA-GP Welcome & President-Elect Announcement

Host: Lu Wang, Ph.D. · SAPA-GP President
8:45 – 9:55 AM
Plenary 1Grand Ballroom

Plenary Session 1

Host: Lu Wang, Ph.D. · Genentech/Roche
Details

Discovery and Development of the First FDA Approved Drug for Diffuse Midline Gliomas — Joshua Allen, Ph.D. (Jazz Pharmaceuticals).
Development of Ligands for PET Imaging in Parkinson’s Disease — James Petersson, Ph.D. (University of Pennsylvania).

9:55 – 10:15 AM
Break

Coffee Break

10:15 – 11:45 AM
ScientificCentennial I

New Modalities and Platforms

Moderator: Sherry Gao, Ph.D. · UPenn
Details

Mass Spectrometry in Academia & Industry — Shelly Gao (UPenn). Engaging Patient Communities — Chari Cohen (Hepatitis B Foundation). Invention of MK-7602 — Manuel de Lera Ruiz (Merck).

Clinical & RegGrand Ballroom

Innovation in Action: Beyond AI in Clinical Drug Development

Moderator: Yali Liang, M.D., M.S. · Jazz
Details

Clinical Development of Zanidatamab — Kevin Bellew (Jazz). Automation & AI in Drug Safety — Mina Ebeid; Nicole Schmid David (Genmab). RANO 2.0 Volumetric AI — Gene Kim (MERIT CRO).

AI & DataCentennial III

Harnessing Data at Scale

Moderator: Lixia Yao, Ph.D.
Details

Data Science for Pharma — Zhiyong Xie (Fosun). Lung Cancer Biology — Barzin Nabet (Genentech). Clinical Trials 2.0 — Feng Liu (Immunocore).

BusinessFrazer / Centennial II

Women in Investment · & · Innovation, Access and Partnership (MFN Era)

Round tables & panel
Details

Women in Investment (Frazer): Lori Gough; Kathie Jordan; Michele Washko; Saima Farooq (Penn State Center for Medical Innovation). Innovation, Access & Partnership (Cent II, mod Jeff He): Hui Liu (Sandoz); Nehal Solanki Patel (Legend Biotech); Jack Wu (Takeda); Sam Ye (Daiichi Sankyo).

11:45 – 1:00 PM
Break

Lunch & Lunch Seminars

Details

Lunch Seminars (12:00–1:00 PM): KACTUS — Sarah Rains (Haverford). TriApex — Guodong Zhang (Malvern). Apeloa — Lilith Elmore (Paoli).

1:00 – 2:10 PM
Plenary 2Grand Ballroom

Plenary Session 2

Host: Xinjun Zhang, Ph.D. · Merck
Details

AI & Agents in the Pharma Value Chain — Ron Kim, M.B.A. Advancing Drug Discovery and Development with AI and New Modalities — Siyuan Chen, M.B.A. (BMS).

2:10 – 2:30 PM
Break

Coffee Break

2:30 – 4:00 PM
ScientificCentennial I

Advanced Drug Discovery and Process Development

Moderator: Peng Wang, Ph.D. · Lonza
Details

Cancer Metabolism Across Scales — Yihui Shen (UPenn). HBV-miR-2/HBV-SITE Axis in HCC — Wenqiang Yu (Fudan). AI/ML in Oncology Discovery — Dowdy Jackson.

Clinical & RegGrand Ballroom

Medical Evolution: Breakthroughs Reshaping Clinical Landscapes

Moderator: Lei He, M.D., Ph.D. · Exelixis
Details

Novel Therapies for Cancer — Stacie Shepherd (Fore Bio). Bench to Bedside — Nageatte Ibrahim (Arc Nouvel). Rare Disease Clinical Dev — Haichen Yang (Amicus).

AI & DataCentennial III

Evolving Biostatistics

Moderator: Sterling Wu, Ph.D. · Merck
Details

Overall Survival as Safety Endpoint — Zhiheng Xu (FDA). Dose Selection in Oncology — Fang Liu (Merck). AI/ML Modeling in Clinical Research — Helen Zhou (GSK).

CareerCentennial II

Insider Perspectives on Qualities that Employers Value

Moderator: Patricia Tsao, M.D., Ph.D. · CytoEX
Details

Earning Growth & Promotion — Michelle Ottey (CIC). The Human Edge in an AI Era — Marcia Zaruba O’Connor. Science, Startups & Serendipity — Sharon Willis (Integral Molecular).

4:00 – 4:15 PM
Break

Coffee Break

4:15 – 5:45 PM
ScientificCentennial I

Opportunities & Challenges in Drug Discovery — Panel

Moderator: Tong-yuan Yang, Ph.D. · J&J
Details

Panelists: Hao Chen (GSK); Chari Cohen (Blumberg Institute); Dowdy Jackson; Michael Kalos (Next Pillar); Baofa Yu (Immune Oncology Systems); Rui Liao (J&J Innovative Medicine).

Clinical & RegGrand Ballroom

Optimizing Efficiency: Leveraging PBPK

Moderator: Gaohua Lu, Ph.D. · BMS
Details

PBPK in Big Pharma vs Biotech — Valeriu Damian (BioCryst). PBBM Approaches — Nikunjkumar Patel (Teva). Next-Gen PBPK — Gaohua Lu (BMS).

AI & DataCentennial III

From Algorithms to Medicines

Moderator: Yunlong Wang, M.D., Ph.D. · IQVIA
Details

Agentic Clinical Development — Lucas Glass (IQVIA). AI QA/QC in Life Science — Tiaohao Wu (OpAIDA). Histology & Spatial Transcriptomics — Chao Chen (Stony Brook).

BusinessFrazer

From Data to ROI

Round-table
Details

Dominique Demolle (Cognivia); Tifani McCann (Otsuka); Haichen Yang (Amicus).

CareerHaverford

Ask an Expert — Career Panel

Panel
Details

Yufeng Li (Vivace); Haichen Nie (Teva); Helen Sun (Zambon); Patricia Tsao (CytoEX); Lu Wang (Genentech/Roche).

Health & WealthCentennial II

Fit & Financially Free

Moderator: Evelyn Guo, M.D., M.B.A. · Genmab
Details

Equity Investing — Douglas Roman (Gamma International Bank). Life Science Supply Chain — Dan Leonard (UBS).

5:45 – 6:00 PM
ClosingGrand Ballroom

Rewarding Ceremony & Closing Remarks (Raffle Drawing)

6:00 – 9:00 PM
Networking

Dinner (Invitation Only)

Tip: Use the day tabs and track filters to navigate — click any session to expand its details.
Speakers

Keynote highlights

Joshua Allen, Ph.D.
Joshua Allen, Ph.D.
Jazz Pharmaceuticals
James Petersson, Ph.D.
James Petersson, Ph.D.
University of Pennsylvania
Ron Kim, M.B.A.
Ron Kim, M.B.A.
Former Fortune 100 Pharma CTO
Siyuan Chen, M.B.A.
Siyuan Chen, M.B.A.
Bristol Myers Squibb
Thank you to our supporters

Sponsors & partners

The 2026 Annual Conference is made possible by the generous support of our sponsors.

ApeloaTriApexKACTUS BioMERIT CROMerckBristol Myers SquibbFrontageGemPharmatechICE BioscienceNovogeneOPAIDA.AIVazymeWuXi AppTecBioHippoIOS

2026 Annual Conference resources

Access the full program and brochure. Members save on registration for SAPA-GP events.

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