Philippe Douste-Blazy is a United Nations official and former French politician. He has been Under-Secretary-General, Special Adviser on Innovative Financing for Development in the United Nations since 2008 and chairman of UNITAID since 2006. He previously served as French Minister for Health (1993–1995 and 2004–2005), Minister of Culture (1995–1997) and as Foreign Minister in the cabinet of Dominique de Villepin (2005–2007). He was mayor of Lourdes 1989–2000 and mayor of Toulouse 2001–2004. Originally a member of the Centre of Social Democrats (CDS), the Christian Democrat component of the Union for French Democracy (UDF) party, he later joined the Union for a Popular Movement. A cardiologist by training, he became Professor at Toulouse Sciences University in 1988. He is also a Lecturer at the University Paris VII and has been Professor at Harvard Medical School.

Andrew C. von Eschenbach, M.D. currently serves as President of Samaritan Health Initiatives, Inc. and as an Adjunct Professor at University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center. From September of 2005 to January 2009 he served as Commissioner of Food and Drugs where he championed an agenda to modernize the FDA by process improvement of the regulatory pathway for drugs and medical devices and by fostering creative projects, including FDA’s Critical Path Initiative (designed to bring modern tools of science to the product development process); work plans like the FDA’s Food Protection Plan; and most especially the nurturing of the workforce through initiatives, such as an Agency-wide fellowship program and development of a new integrated campus for the Agency in White Oak, Maryland. Under his leadership, the FDA experienced dramatic increases in resources enabling implementation of many new programs designed to strengthen the FDA in its mission to protect and promote public health. He has emphasized FDA’s role in working with external partners to assure quality throughout the entire life cycle of the products it regulates.

Dr. von Eschenbach joined FDA after serving for four years as Director of the National Cancer Institute (NCI) at the National Institutes of Health where he set an ambitious goal to eliminate the suffering and death due to cancer by rapid acceleration and integration of the discovery-development-delivery continuum. While at NCI, he committed resources to ensure the application to oncology of nanotechnology, genomics, proteomics, bioinformatics, and other emerging technologies. At the time of his appointment by President Bush to serve as Director of NCI, he was President-Elect of the American Cancer Society. Dr. von Eschenbach entered government service after an outstanding career over three decades as a physician, surgeon, oncologist and executive that included numerous leadership roles from Chairman of the Department of Urologic Oncology to Executive Vice President and Chief Academic at the University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, an institution world renowned for the magnitude and excellence of its clinical and research cancer programs. An internationally renowned cancer specialist and author of more than 300 scientific articles and studies, Dr. von Eschenbach has served in numerous leadership roles, including serving as one of the founding members of the National Dialogue on Cancer. He has received numerous professional awards and honors. In 2006, Dr. von Eschenbach was named one of Time magazine’s “100 most influential people to shape the world,” and in both 2007 and 2008, he was selected as one of the Modern Healthcare/Modern Physician’s “50 Most Powerful Physician Executives in Healthcare.”

Dr. von Eschenbach earned a B.S. from St. Joseph’s University in his native Philadelphia and his medical degree from Georgetown University School of Medicine in Washington, D.C. He served as a Lt. Commander in the U.S. Navy Medical Corps. After completing a residency in urologic surgery at Pennsylvania Hospital in Philadelphia, he was an instructor in urology at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine. He completed a Fellowship in Urologic Oncology at the University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center.

He has been married to his childhood sweetheart, Madelyn, for over 40 years, and they are proud parents of four children and elated grandparents of seven.

Professor Frydman is a member of the Faculty of Medicine at University Paris XI and Head of the Department of Gynecology and Obstetrics of Antoine Beclere Hospital. He has been Member of the National Committee of Human Rights, Member of the National Committee of Ethics for the Sciences of Life and Health, and Counselor of the Minister of Research. He received the honor of Chevalier of the French Order Of Merit and is an Officer of the French Legion d’Honneur. His special areas of interest in Gynecology and Obstetrics include infertility and high-risk pregnancy. His work in infertility led the first baby born as a result of in vitro fertilization In France, in 1982. His other area of interest has been biomedical ethics. His work in this realm led to many invitations by religious authorities of the Vatican, Jerusalem, and of the Reform Church to debate the moral issues created by the use of the techniques of artificial procreation. He was active in the preparation of the law on bioethics and actively worked with the Medecins du Monde and Medecins sans Frontieres.

Gilles Gade is Founder, President and CEO of Cross River, having served as Chairman for the company since its inception in 2008. He graduated from the MBA Institute IMIP (Groupe IPESUP) in Paris, with a Masters of Science in International Management. In 1990 he began his career at Citicorp Venture Capital in La Défense, Paris. Later, he immigrated to the Unived States and served as CFO of First Meridian Mortgage, and was Co-Founder and Managing Director of Chela Technology Partners. In addition, he was Technology Investment Banker at Barclays Capital, and FIG Investment Banker at Bear Stearns.

Arnold Munnich is Professor of Genetics at University Paris-Descartes since 1989 and the acting president of the Imagine Foundation. He studied medicine in Paris and received his MD degree in 1979 and his PhD in Biochemistry in 1988. He is board certified in Paediatrics and in Medical Genetics in 1983. His main research interests are Genetics and Epigenetics of Neurometabolic Diseases and Birth Defects. He is the author or co-author of more than 900 publications in peer-reviewed journals since 1980. He has been a member of several international editorial review boards, including the Journal of Medical Genetics, European Journal of Human Genetics, Human Genetics, Human Mutation and Clinical Genetics. He served as scientific and medical advisor of the President of the French Republic, Nicolas Sarkozy between 2007 and 2012. He is a member of the American Society of Human Genetics, European Society of Human Genetics and the French National Academy of Science. He was awarded the Grand Prix Inserm in 2000, the European Society of Human Genetics award in 2008 and the Claude Bernard award of the Ville de Paris in 2013.