Past Biotech/Biomedical Webinars

Dr. James Hayward
Chairman, President and CEO of Applied DNA Sciences

Dr. Hayward received his bachelor’s degree in Biology and Chemistry from the State University of New York at Oneonta 1976, his Ph.D. in Molecular Biology from the State University of New York at Stony Brook in 1983, and an honorary Doctor of Science from that same institution in 2000.

James was one of the founding principals and research director of Europe's first liposome company, Biocompatibles Ltd. From 1984 to 1989, he was responsible for product development at Esteé Lauder Companies, where he served as director of research worldwide.

Between 1990 and July 2004, Dr. Hayward was the Chairman, President and CEO of The Collaborative Group, Ltd., a provider of products and services to the biotechnology, pharmaceutical and consumer-product industries based in Stony Brook, New York.

He also served or serves on the Boards of the Stony Brook Foundation, the Research Foundation of the State of New York, Long Island Life Sciences Initiative, the Regents Advisory Council and several corporate boards.

Among his honors, he is the 2015 Long Island Innovator of the Year Award.  He received the David Award by Networking Magazine in 2014.  Dr. Hayward has been twice named “Entrepreneur of the Year;” in 2002 by Inc. Magazine and in 2009 by the Long Island Technology Hall of Fame.  He is the recipient of the first “Helix Award” from the International Biotechnology Organization.

Judy Murrah
Chief Operating Officer
judy.murrah@adnas.com

Judy Murrah is Chief Operating Officer, responsible for operations management, information technology, QA oversight, and key customer and partner relationships.

Prior to joining the company, she was senior director of information technology at Motorola Solutions, and vice president for roles within global account sales, corporate and marketing communications, and information technology at Symbol Technologies before its acquisition by Motorola Solutions. Ms. Murrah holds an M.B.A. from Harvard Business School and a B.S. in Industrial Engineering from the University of Rhode Island. She is an inventor on 14 U.S. patents.

Dr. Ila Lansky
Director of Forensics
ila.kansky@adnas.com

Dr. Ila Lansky is director of Applied DNA's forensic science laboratory and diagnostic product production organization. She provides testing services in the company's molecular tagging business for evidence of traceability and authenticity of customer goods, including the provision of expert witness services. Most recently, she has developed the organization and associated processes and automation to enable commercialization and ongoing fulfillment of the company's Linea(TM) COVID-19 Assay Kit. Prior to Applied DNA, Ila worked within the Nassau County and New York City Medical Examiner's Offices. She holds a Bachelor of Science from Northern Illinois University and a Ph.D. in Molecular and Cell Biology from the University of Maryland in Baltimore.

Dr. Finly Philip
Lead Scientist
finly.philip@adnas.com

Dr. Finly Philip is a lead scientist in Applied DNA's R&D organization, supporting the development of molecular diagnostic assays and the associated automation and robotics required to transfer the technology to a production environment, both within the company and at customer sites. Most recently, she has supported development of procedures for COVID-19 testing services. Prior to joining the company, Finly was an R&D scientist at Enzo Life Sciences. She is an adjunct professor at Suffolk Community College and has been a research assistant professor at Stony Brook University. Finly holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Physics and a Ph.D. in Physiology and Biophysics from Stony Brook University, with many publications in these areas.

New York Tech Faculty Liaison
Aydin Farajidavar, Ph.D.
Associate Professor & Chair of the Department of Electrical & Computer Engineering
College of Engineering & Computing Sciences

Aydin Farajidavar, is the director of Integrated Medical Systems (IMS) Laboratory and an Associate Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering at New York Institute of Technology. Before joining New York Tech, he was a Post-doctoral fellow in the School of Electrical and Computer Engineering at the Georgia Institute of Technology. He received the Ph.D. degree in Biomedical Engineering from the joint program of the University of Texas at Arlington and the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas in 2011. His research experience and interest include a broad range from modeling of biological systems, to development of wireless platforms to acquire and process biological signals.

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Kara Cannon
Chief Commercial Officer
kcannon@anzolifesciences.com

Kara Cannon has been employed with Enzo since 2011 and is responsible for strategic and tactical marketing, sales, manufacturing, and general management of operations. Ms. Cannon previously held executive positions at Pall Corporation, where she focused on commercial operations within the areas of diagnostics, biotechnology, and biosciences. She has also held marketing and technical positions at Dynal Biotech (now ThermoFisher Scientific). She has had extensive experience in the marketing and selling of innovative platforms for the diagnostics markets, as well as the development and execution of strategic plans for the growth and sustainability of diagnostic-related businesses. Ms. Cannon holds a B.A. from Franklin and Marshall College.

Miriam Cortes-Caminero
Director of Marketing
mcortes-caminero@enzolifesciences.com

Miriam Cortes-Caminero has been employed with Enzo since 2014 and is responsible for marketing communications, product management, and sales. Ms. Cortes-Caminero previously held leadership positions at AIChE, where she was the executive director of their Society for Biological Engineering. Ms. Cortes-Caminero has had extensive global experience in sales, marketing, and product management in the biopharmaceutical field. She served as the director of marketing with Sartorius and earlier in her career as product manager and regional sales manager with Pall Corporation. Ms. Cortes-Caminero holds a B.S. from SUNY Stony Brook in Biochemistry and Hispanic Literature and an M.S. in Pharmacology from St. John’s University.

New York Tech Faculty Liaison
Navin Pokala, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor of Biological and Chemical Sciences
College of Arts and Sciences

Navin Pokala’s interests are at the intersections of experiment and computation, and science and engineering. As a graduate student at the University of California, Berkeley, he developed and experimentally tested algorithms for designing protein molecules. As a postdoctoral researcher at The Rockefeller University, he developed several computational and experimental tools for better understanding how nervous systems generate behaviors.

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Benjamin Adams
Staff Engineer
benjamin.adams@regeneron.com

Prior to starting at Regeneron in 2010, Benjamin Adams earned his B.S. in Chemical Engineering from Penn State. During his time at Regeneron, Ben has worked in process development, focusing on downstream purification of various biologics, and as a staff engineer, currently oversees a group responsible for the purification process development of gene therapy programs.

Brandy Bennett
Associate Director, Research Program Management
brandy.bennett@regeneron.com

Brandy Bennett, Ph.D., joined Regeneron in 2012 and now serves as co-head of the Research Program Management team. The RPM team is responsible for managing cross-functional teams and activities to align and drive research from discovery to therapeutics, delivering multiple drug candidates for first-in-human trials per year. Along with research senior management, Dr. Bennett is responsible for guiding the Regeneron research portfolio, aligning execution of research priorities, and facilitating forward-looking strategic planning activities. Prior to her current responsibilities, Dr. Bennett held roles working across all therapeutic areas in both research and development functions, including scientific writing & regulatory liaisons, and strategic program direction. Dr. Bennett received her Ph.D. in Microbiology from NYU School of Medicine, where she studied the molecular biology and host-pathogen interactions of the malaria parasite.

Jordan Leao
Lead Science Educator, Post Doc Program
jordan.leao@regeneron.com

Jordan Leao started at Regeneron in 2010 after earning a Masters in Public Administration from NYU Wagner. Since then, she has served in a number of roles within R&D, where she has helped establish several programs to foster scientific exchange and community service. Jordan is currently serving as lead science education coordinator, responsible for oversight of science education programming and outreach, including the high school mentorship program and coordination of the postdoctoral program, the annual Regeneron Prize for Creative Innovation, and the “Regeneron Science to Medicine Forum,” the annual regional graduate student conference. Jordan is passionate about creating mentorship opportunities within the organization and through STEM outreach initiatives.

Carolyn Myers
University Relations, Sr. Talent Acquisition Specialist
Regeneron

New York Tech Faculty Liaison:
Bryan Gibb, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor of Biological and Chemical Sciences
College of Arts and Sciences

Bryan Gibb completed his Ph.D. at the University of Pennsylvania in the laboratory of Gregory D. Van Duyne and studied the molecular mechanisms of DNA recombination enzymes using biophysical, structural, and biochemical methods. His dissertation project focused on the site-specific DNA recombinase Cre, which is widely used as a tool in genome engineering.

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Marie Abbondondolo
Executive Director
Americas Accounting
mabbondondolo@cusa.canon.com

Marie Abbondondolo is a CPA with over 30 years of experience in finance and accounting leadership roles and has been at Canon U.S.A. for 14 years. Marie started her career at KPMG on Long Island, followed by over 15 years in the financial services industry in New York. In 2006, Marie came back to Long Island when she joined Canon. She leads the Canon Americas Financial Reporting team, as well as the Financial Systems Group. As part of the promotion to executive director in April of 2020, the finance and risk teams are now included as part of her responsibilities. Additional roles have included vice president of finance for Canon’s BioMedical subsidiaries. Currently, Marie is chair of the Networking Committee of the Women in Leadership Levels at Canon U.S.A.

Tatiana Rachel Cruz
Senior Specialist
University Relations
tcruz@cusa.canon.com

Tatiana Cruz is a graduate of Berkeley College in New York, where she received her bachelor’s in business administration and management. She has been working in human resources for over 15 years, focusing on the consumer electronics, corporate law, and real estate industries. For the past six years, she is been employed at Canon U.S.A as a university relations senior specialist. In this role, she represents Canon at university campuses at both recruiting events such as career fairs and information sessions and non-recruiting events such as resume workshops and advisory panel meetings. She also manages student programs such as internships and job shadowing and mentorship opportunities for the U.S. headquarters in Melville, N.Y. Her duties have also expanded to include diversity & inclusion initiatives.

Andrew Verikokos
Senior Specialist
Talent Acquisition
a.verikokos@cusa.canon.com

Andrew Verikokos is a New York Tech alumnus and has been working in human resources and the recruiting industry now for over 15 years. He has worked in both staffing agencies and in corporate recruiting. Currently employed with Canon U.S.A. for five years as a senior talent acquisition specialist. His practice focuses on positions in areas including finance, accounting, legal, corporate audit, general affairs, procurement, IT, logistics, and communications for the U.S. headquarters in Melville, N.Y. His duties have expanded to include working on roles for Canon’s Healthcare Optics Research Laboratory located in Cambridge, MA, and Canon Financial Services located in Mount Laurel, N.J.

Sarika Verma, Ph.D.
Sr. Manager, Research & Clinical Translation
Healthcare Optics Research Lab Division
Canon U.S.A.

New York Tech Faculty Liaison:
Kurt Amsler, Ph.D.
Associate Dean & Professor of Research
College of Osteopathic Medicine

The focus of Kurt Amsler’s research throughout his career has been to understand the functioning and regulation of epithelial tissues in health and disease. In one avenue of investigation, Amsler demonstrated that epidermal growth factor receptor mislocalized to the apical membrane of renal epithelial cells, as occurs in polycystic kidney disease (PKD), exhibits abnormal and prolonged signaling. Inhibition of signaling by this and the related HER2 receptor, which is overexpressed in PKD, inhibits disease progression in multiple mouse PKD models. This finding suggests a potential therapeutic approach to this disease.

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