Gang Liu, Ph.D.
Senior Program Officer at Gates Foundation
Gang Liu is a Senior Program Officer at the Gates Foundation, where he shapes and executes drug discovery programs addressing global health needs. He manages the foundation's investment in the Global Health Drug Discovery Institute (GHDDI) in Beijing and directs the Malaria Drug Accelerator (MalDA), a collaborative platform across 15 labs delivering novel antimalarial lead compounds. As Executive Director at Kelun Pharmaceutical Research Institute, he delivered three pre-clinical development candidates and one IND filing in China within two years. At Ambit Biosciences, he developed kinase inhibitor drugs for cancer and autoimmune diseases, fulfilling the promise of their KinomeScan technology platform. During his twelve years at Abbott Laboratories, he was directly responsible for the identification of three clinical development candidates, including ABT-546 for prostate cancer and IC-747 for psoriasis. Gang was inducted to the Volwiler Society as an Associate Research Fellow in 2003 for scientific excellence. He holds a PhD in Organic Synthetic Chemistry from Rice University and a Bachelor of Science from Peking University.
Brice Campo, Ph.D.
Head of Biology and Innovative Technologies at Medicines for Malaria Venture
Brice Campo is the Head of Biology and Innovative Technologies at Medicines for Malaria Venture, with over 13 years of experience at MMV where he has progressed from Associate Director to Senior Director of Drug Discovery prior to his current role. He has extensive research experience in neuroscience with particular expertise in GPCRs and ion channels targets. His malaria drug discovery work spans hit-to-lead, lead optimization, and candidate selection phases, with specialties in CNS and parasitology. At Addex Pharmaceuticals, he participated in the company's growth from early development through IPO, where he served as Group Leader in In Vitro Pharmacology. Earlier in his career, he was a Research Scientist at the Genomics Institute of the Novartis Research Foundation. Brice holds a PhD in Neuroscience and Immunology from the University of Sheffield and an MPhil in Neuroscience from the University of Montpellier. He brings strong technical expertise in radioligand binding and electrophysiology, along with proven scientific leadership and project management skills, including coordination of interdisciplinary teams across major pharmaceutical collaborations.
James Duffy, Ph.D.
Senior Director of Drug Discovery at Medicines for Malaria Venture
James Duffy is a Senior Director of Drug Discovery at Medicines for Malaria Venture (MMV), where he provides strategic scientific leadership to multidisciplinary antimalarial drug discovery projects. He contributes medicinal chemistry expertise to global efforts aimed at discovering and developing novel antimalarial compounds for vulnerable populations in disease-endemic regions. At MMV, he advises project teams on all aspects of drug discovery, particularly compound design for biological evaluation and analysis of efficacy and safety data. Prior to joining MMV, he spent 16 years at BioFocus, progressing from Senior Scientist to Team Leader in Medicinal Chemistry, where he designed and implemented work plans ensuring programmatic objectives were met. His earlier work applied structure-activity relationship-based design toward small molecule optimization. James holds a PhD in Organic Chemistry from the University of Sussex, where he investigated stereochemical features in fungal lysine biosynthesis through stereospecific synthesis of chemically labeled intermediates, and was awarded the University of Sussex Bader prize during his BSc studies. With over two decades of experience in drug discovery, he continues to support collaborative partnerships with academic, biotechnology, and pharmaceutical organizations.
Jeremy Burrows, Ph.D.
VP, Head of Discovery at Medicines for Malaria Venture
Jeremy Burrows is the VP, Head of Discovery at Medicines for Malaria Venture (MMV), where he leads the Discovery team focused on developing new medicines for malaria control and eradication. With over 16 years at MMV and prior experience at AstraZeneca, he has helped deliver more than 25 candidate drugs into the antimalarial pipeline. His career includes leadership positions in medicinal chemistry across therapeutic areas including neurology, respiratory, and inflammation, managing teams of up to 20 chemists. Jeremy holds a D.Phil. in Synthetic Organic Chemistry from the University of Oxford and serves on multiple scientific advisory boards including the ASAP AVIDD antiviral drug discovery consortium and the BMGF Cryptosporidium Discovery accelerator projects.
Dominique Besson, MBA
Associate Director of Discovery Data & Alliance Management at Medicines for Malaria Venture
Dominique Besson is Associate Director of Discovery Data & Alliance Management at Medicines for Malaria Venture (MMV), where he currently manages discovery databases and develops information technology systems to support MMV's antimalarial initiatives. He was recently seconded as Associate Director of Business Development and Strategic Partnerships, focusing on identifying potential drug development partners in Japan and South Korea to support MMV's R&D strategy. Since joining MMV in 2017, he has progressed from Discovery Data & Compound Manager to his current leadership role, where he deploys sample logistics synergies and supports MMV open innovation activities. His previous experience includes roles as Director of Strategy at Amal Therapeutics, Technical Officer at the World Health Organization coordinating research networks for neglected tropical diseases, and various technology leadership positions at Merck Serono and Serono. Dominique holds an MBA in Leadership & Sustainability from the University of Cumbria & Robert Kennedy College and a BSc in Chemical Engineering from HES Geneva.
Kelly Chibale, Ph.D.
Professor of Organic Chemistry at the University of Cape Town
Kelly Chibale is a Professor of Organic Chemistry at the University of Cape Town (UCT) where he holds the Neville Isdell Chair in African-centric Drug Discovery & Development and is Founder and Director of the Drug Discovery and Development Centre (H3D) at UCT. He is also a Schmidt Sciences AI2050 Senior Fellow and serves as Editor-in-Chief at ACS Medicinal Chemistry Letters, a position he has held since January 2023. Professor Chibale's research focuses on drug discovery and the development of tools and models to contribute to improving treatment outcomes in people of African descent. His leadership at H3D has contributed to significant momentum in drug discovery research, as demonstrated by the center's strong performance in early 2025. Based in Cape Town, South Africa, Professor Chibale maintains an active research presence and regularly shares updates about H3D's progress and scientific advancements with his nearly 2,000 followers on professional networks.
Elizabeth Winzeler, Ph.D.
Associate Dean and Professor at University of California, San Diego
Elizabeth Winzeler is a Professor at the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine and Associate Dean for Research and Innovation at UC San Diego Skaggs School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences. Her research specialties encompass drug development, cellular screening, malaria, genomics, genetics, chemical biology, infectious disease, microbiology, and systems biology. Prior to her current roles, she served as Department Head at the Genomics Institute of the Novartis Research Foundation for 13 years and as Associate Professor at The Scripps Research Institute for nearly 12 years. Dr. Winzeler earned her Ph.D. in Development Biology from Stanford University School of Medicine and a Master of Science in Biochemistry from Oregon State University. Her work is connected to the Gates Malaria Drug Accelerator (MalDA), where she contributes to advancing antimalarial drug development.