Dr. Buckner received her bachelor’s degree in chemistry from Carleton College, magna cum laude. She attended Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, and after receiving her MD, she completed her residency training in Internal Medicine at the University of Minnesota. Dr. Buckner went on to complete a fellowship in rheumatology at the University of Washington. As a fellow she was honored with the American College of Rheumatology’s Senior Rheumatology Scholar Award. After completing her medical training, Dr. Buckner continued her research training as a postdoctoral fellow in the laboratory of Dr. Gerald Nepom. In 1999, she was the recipient of the ACR Arthritis Investigator Award. Since 1999, Dr. Buckner has been an investigator at the Benaroya Research Institute (BRI). She became the Director of the Translational Research Program at BRI in 2005, was named Associate Director of BRI in January 2012 and was appointed President of BRI in January 2016. Dr. Buckner continues to care for rheumatology patients at the Virginia Mason Medical Center, and she is an affiliate Professor of Medicine in the Division of Rheumatology at the University of Washington.

Dr. Kawas has led the company in business and financial growth through two oversubscribed financing rounds. The funds raised will support and accelerate growth of the company and take the lead candidate through the early stages of human testing.

For her leadership and accomplishments at M3 Biotechnology, Dr. Kawas won Entrepreneur of the Year award from the Association of Washington Business (December 2016), was selected as one of EY’s Winning Women Entrepreneur (November 2016), won the 40 under 40 award from the Puget Sound Business Journal (July 2016), was an Entrepreneur of the Year Finalist for EY (June 2016) and a Young Entrepreneur of the Year Finalist for GeekWire (June 2016). She was named one of Seattle’s Most Influential People by Seattle Magazine (November 2015) and one of the Women to Watch in Life Sciences by the Washington Biotechnology and Biomedical Association (July 2015). As a company, M3 Biotechnology was also just named as one of Seattle’s 10 hottest startups by GeekWire in 2016.

She also serves on multiple boards, including the Washington Governor’s Life Science Advisory Board and the Scientific Review Board for the Alzheimer’s Drug Discovery Foundation.

Dr. Kawas earned a doctorate in molecular pharmacology from Washington State University in 2011, and received the Harriett B. Rigas and Karen DePauw awards for academic achievement and leadership skills. She holds a Doctor of Pharmacy (PharmD.) from the University of Jordan (2008). Dr. Kawas also completed the Executive Training Program at the Foster School of Business, University of Washington (2014).

Lisa Schaures guides healthcare organizations, social ventures and nonprofits in the Pacific Northwest through everyday general counsel matters, quandaries and major life cycle events. In more than 10 years of practice, she has helped clients through starting up, governance structuring, purchases, mergers, conversions, conflicts of interests, acquiring tax exempt status, complex tax concerns, deferred compensation strategies, contract negotiations and expansion growing pains.

As the Vice President at BioMed Realty, I lead the development and acquisition of real estate projects for the biomedical industry. With over 11 years of experience in this role, I have successfully delivered over 2 million square feet of laboratory and office space for life science companies across Seattle and Boulder markets.

My core competencies include identifying and securing land opportunities, conducting feasibility and financial analysis, negotiating leases and contracts, and overseeing design and construction teams. I am passionate about creating value-added real estate solutions that support the innovation and growth of the life science and technology sectors. My mission is to partner with clients and stakeholders to achieve their strategic and operational goals, while ensuring the highest standards of quality, sustainability, and safety.

Bob Cowan is the Director of Facilities for the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center. He is responsible

for day to day Operations, Maintenance and Repair of the beautiful, highly complex, world class, 1.6

million square foot, Fred Hutchinson Campus. The 15 building Campus, located in Sunny Seattle WA, is

dedicated to both Cancer Research and Treatment, has over 4,000 staff and boast of 3 Nobel Prize winners

amongst the staff.

Bob’s been at the “Hutch” over 18 years and during that time has overseen an expansion program of more

than a million square feet, helped the Center win over 20 Energy Awards at both local and national level,

weathered more inspections than you can count JCAHO, DOH, FDA, AAALAC, CAP, etc.. And even

found time to take a 6 month sabbatical where he took his family on an around the World Adventure

covering over 40,000 miles.

Bob’s a retired Navy Commander; originally from Grosse Ile, Michigan (a small island between Michigan

and Canada) He graduated from the University of Michigan with a Bachelor’s in Industrial Engineering and

from the University of Florida with a Masters in Civil Engineering. Bob is married to the former Kristina

Lindstam of Stockholm, Sweden and has three children Nicklas, 18, Clara, 17 and Hanna 14.

Gavin Keith leads the Northwest Life Sciences Group for DPR Construction, one of the country’s top technical builders and #1 ranked pharmaceuticals contractor in the U.S. (ENR 2018). With over 33 years of experience (24 with DPR) in the delivery of biopharmaceutical manufacturing, research and development, as well as commercial office facilities, Gavin works to enhance DPR’s overall project delivery and quality of service for the company’s Life Sciences customers, which include such industry leaders as Alexandria Real Estate Equities, AbbVie, Baxter(Shire), Bayer, BioMarin, BIOGEN, Genentech, and Merck.

Gavin drives continuous improvement throughout the organization and constantly seeks new ways to enhance overall construction delivery through emerging processes and technologies. He received his B.S. in Civil Engineering from the University of California at Berkeley in 1986, and is a registered California Professional Engineer. Gavin has achieved LEED® Accreditation from the U.S. Green Building Council and is a member of the International Society of Pharmaceutical Engineering (ISPE).