WIB: Innovating Women’s Health – Pioneering Breakthroughs in Life Sciences

Women’s health has long been under-researched, underfunded, and underserved, but innovation is paving the way for change. In this webinar, you’ll hear from a biotech company executive committed to inclusivity and women’s equity at all levels and why supporting women scientists advances women’s health. The founders of BiRed Imaging, Inc., an RIT Venture company, will discuss how their technology increases access to early detection and localization of breast cancer and reduces unnecessary biopsies by utilizing infrared imaging technology combined with an analytical approach to address the most common cancer in women. We’ll also learn from an emergency medical physician who works to serve vulnerable populations and a survivor of triple-negative breast cancer.

The panel will be moderated by Erika von Euw, co-founder and chair of WIB-Los Angeles and the 2024 WIB x RIT Executive MBA Scholar, will moderate the discussion. She has spent the past 22 years in translational oncology research, including nearly 10 years collaborating with Dr. Dennis Slamon, often referred to as one of the “fathers of Herceptin.”

Speaker Bios

Erika von Euw, PhD, VP of Discovery and Translational Research at Deverra Therapeutics and Co-Founder/Chair of WIB-Los Angeles, Moderator

In the fall of 2024, Erika was awarded a full-ride scholarship to RIT Saunders College of Business, which enabled her to pursue her dream of becoming an executive leader in the future of biotechnology. In her current role as Vice President of Discovery and Translational Research with Deverra Therapeutics, Erika leads target discovery, translational research, and development of novel therapeutics for allogeneic off-the-self NK and Myeloid effector cells, as well as business development opportunities. Regarding her Executive MBA program at RIT, Erika said, “This program is uniquely designed to bridge the gap between advanced scientific knowledge and essential business acumen, creating a blend of skills critical for high-level leadership roles in the biotechnology industry. This is my first time pursuing a formal (business) education in the United States, and it wouldn’t have been possible without the full-ride scholarship I was awarded from RIT to do this EMBA. I am sure this experience will be transformational.” Erika has been actively involved with Women In Bio for five years and is the Co-founder and Chair of the new Los Angeles chapter.

Carlos Gutierrez, PhD, Chief Imaging Scientist at BiRed Imaging, Inc.

Carlos is a well-versed computational thermal biophysics and breast cancer researcher with experience in research and development, project and team management, and academic development. He is the Chief Imaging Scientist at BiRed Imaging, a startup company focusing on breast cancer detection through infrared imaging. At BiRed, Carlos serves as the technical lead, moving the company towards product development and an FDA pathway. He has graduated from the Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT) with a PhD in engineering. His research focus is on breast cancer detection through interdisciplinary research in the areas of thermal modeling, inverse heat transfer, computer vision and image processing, and biomedical microfluidics. Carlos has aided in developing novel and powerful algorithms that aided in the detection of breast cancer through infrared imaging. Additionally, Carlos is a dedicated SHPE (Society of Hispanic Professional Engineers) member serving as the current Region 4 Junior Representative, focusing on outreach K-12 STEM programming efforts. He previously served as the Region 4 Graduate Representative, aiding in the creation of programming, panels, and events for graduate students and graduate school outreach.

Satish Kandlikar, CEO of BiRed Imaging, Inc. and Professor at Rochester Institute of Technology

Satish is a Gleason Professor of Mechanical Engineering and a Distinguished Institute Professor at Rochester Institute of Technology. He founded BiRed Imaging for breast cancer detection using multispectral imaging using infrared and optical images. Currently, he is the CEO of the company. He is an inventor/co-inventor of ten boiling heat transfer related and three US and one Australian patents related to breast cancer detection. He is a graduate of the first NSF i-corps program in 2011. He founded BiRed Imaging, Inc. with Prad Phatak, an oncologist, Lori Medeiros, a breast surgeon, and Donnette Dabydeen, a radiologist. BiRed has been assigned three US patents and one Australian patent, and several US and foreign patent applications are pending. The company is in the research phase, has secured an NSF SBIR Phase I grant in 2022, and has won a Center for NY Biotech Accelerator pitch competition. During his 45 years as an innovator and educator at RIT, Satish has graduated 20 PhD students and over 90 MS students. He has published over 450 journal and conference papers.

Heba Nowyhed, PhD, Chief Scientific Officer at Arcellx

Heba joined Arcellx in November 2024 and has more than 15 years of leadership experience in drug development of cell and gene therapies, specifically CAR/TCR engineered T-cell products. Most recently, she has held roles of increasing responsibility at IconOvir Bio, including Chief Scientific Officer, Senior Vice President of Research, and Vice President of Translational Research. As Chief Scientific Officer, she spearheaded the transition of the company’s lead clinical drug product from preclinical to clinical stages, managed the research department, and drove development of a robust biomarker strategy. Prior to IconOvir Bio, she served as Senior Associate at Vida Ventures and Associate Director, Research at Kite, a Gilead Company. Heba began her career at La Jolla Institute for Immunology where she completed a postdoctoral fellowship. She was selected as a Woman to Watch finalist in the Los Angeles Business Journal 2021 Women’s Leadership Awards. Heba received a PhD in immunobiology as well as an MS and MPh in immunobiology from Yale University. She holds a BS in microbiology, immunology, and molecular genetics from the University of California, Los Angeles.

Wendy Ruggeri, MD, Emergency Medicine Physician and Director of Urgent Care Services at the Los Angeles County Jail

Dr. Ruggeri is a bilingual emergency medical physician with a fellowship trained in emergency medical services (EMS) and tactical medicine. Her interests include pre-hospital care, paramedic education, correctional health, law enforcement medical support as well as mentoring pre-health students. Shortly after completing her training in 2012, she was diagnosed with triple-negative breast cancer at age 32. Following treatment, she returned to practicing emergency medicine and urgent care while serving vulnerable populations and raising her three children.