San Diego 2027 Speaker Spotlights: Who’s Presenting at ImmunoMark

San Diego 2027 Speaker Spotlights: Who’s Presenting at ImmunoMark

ImmunoMark Summit San Diego, the West Coast launch edition, runs on 10–11 February 2027 with two parallel streams: Immuno-Oncology, and Biomarkers, Companion Diagnostics & Precision Medicine. The speaker panel already includes translational, development, regulatory and commercial leaders from Pfizer, Genentech, Johnson & Johnson, AbbVie, Amgen, Gilead Sciences, Regeneron and Xencor, alongside smaller biotechs and non-profit research organisations.

This is a preview, not an interview series. Every name, job title, company and session title below is taken directly from the published San Diego agenda. Where a speaker has been assigned a session, we explain why that topic matters now. Where a session has not yet been assigned, we list the speaker without guessing at what they will cover. For the earlier interview-led profiles from London, see our Speaker Spotlight Series hub.

Key takeaways

• Six San Diego speakers have confirmed session slots so far, spanning IO and ADC combinations, multi-omic resistance biology in NSCLC, liquid biopsy and MRD, spatial and multimodal measurement, molecular diagnostics and AI-driven digital pathology.
• The wider speaker panel is weighted towards translational medicine: Xencor, Janux Therapeutics, Nkarta, Regeneron and Gilead Sciences all have translational, precision medicine or regulatory leaders listed.
• Sponsor speaking slots are built into the agenda in both streams: Platinum on Day 1, Gold and Silver on Day 2.
• The agenda is still filling. Many session titles do not yet have a named speaker, so expect further confirmations before February.

Stream 1: Immuno-Oncology

Rakesh Dixit: IO agents meet ADCs

Rakesh Dixit, Co-founder, President and CSO, Regio Biosciences (An AstraZeneca Spin-Off Biotechnology Company) | President & CEO, Bionavigen
Session: Challenges of Efficacy and Safety when Combining Immuno-Oncology Agents with ADCs (Day 1, 10:00)

Antibody-drug conjugates are increasingly being trialled alongside checkpoint inhibitors, and the hard questions are as much about safety as efficacy: overlapping toxicities, dosing, and whether the payload’s effect on the tumour microenvironment helps or hinders the immune response. Dixit’s public biographies describe a long career in biologics safety, including senior biologics R&D roles at MedImmune and AstraZeneca, which makes this a talk aimed squarely at the development decisions combination teams face. For background on how patient selection works in this space, see our piece on ADC and immunotherapy patient selection.

Stream 2: Biomarkers, Companion Diagnostics & Precision Medicine

Ariel (Yung-Chia) Chen: response and resistance in NSCLC

Ariel (Yung-Chia) Chen, Director, Biomarker and Translational Sciences, Interventional Oncology, Johnson & Johnson
Session: Decoding Response and Resistance to Immunotherapy in NSCLC Through Integrative Multi-Omic and AI Approaches (Day 1, 10:00)

Non-small cell lung cancer is where checkpoint inhibitors have had their widest use, and also where the limits of single-analyte biomarkers such as PD-L1 are most visible. Integrating genomic, transcriptomic and imaging data with machine learning is one of the main routes the field is taking to explain why some patients respond and others do not. Readers new to the topic can start with our guide to PD-L1 as a predictive biomarker.

Hadly Clark: liquid biopsy and MRD

Hadly Clark, Director, FasterCures, Milken Institute
Session: The Growing Role of Liquid Biopsy and Minimal Residual Disease Monitoring in Personalized Cancer Care (Day 1, 11:30)

FasterCures is the Milken Institute centre focused on accelerating patients’ access to medical advances, so this session is likely to look at liquid biopsy from the system level: evidence, access and adoption, as well as the assays themselves. ctDNA-based MRD testing is moving from research use into trial design and, in some settings, clinical decisions, which raises practical questions for sponsors and payers. Our article on ctDNA and MRD in immunotherapy trials covers the trial side.

Ivan Lebedev: multimodal measurement

Ivan Lebedev, Founding Steward, Verdant Center for Spatial Biology
Session: Beyond Spatial Omics: Multimodal Measurement as Infrastructure for Precision Medicine (Day 1, 12:00)

Spatial biology has produced striking data on how immune cells are organised within tumours, but turning that into reproducible, decision-grade measurement is a separate challenge. The framing of this talk, measurement as infrastructure, points at standardisation and how different modalities fit together, which is where many spatial programmes stall. For the technology trade-offs, see spatial proteomics vs spatial transcriptomics.

Merlinda-Loriane Sewavi: precision diagnostics

Merlinda-Loriane Sewavi, Co-founder and CEO, Syntheia Labs
Session: Advancing Next-Generation Precision – Diagnostics Through Genomics and Molecular Technologies. (Day 1, 14:00)

Genomic and molecular methods underpin most companion diagnostics in oncology, and the bar for analytical validation and clinical utility keeps rising. A founder-led perspective on this topic is useful for attendees weighing how early-stage diagnostics companies can build evidence that pharma partners and regulators will accept.

Sripad Ram: AI-driven digital pathology

Sripad Ram, Director, Digital Pathology and Image Analysis Group, Pfizer
Session: Panel Discussion : How AI-Driven Digital Pathology is Transforming Biomarker Discovery and Precision Medicine (Day 1, 16:00, panellist; moderator TBA)

Image analysis is changing how tissue biomarkers are scored, moving from manual, categorical reads towards quantitative and reproducible measures. A pharma digital pathology lead on the panel brings the practical view: how algorithms get validated, how they fit into trial workflows, and where they could support future diagnostics.

More names on the San Diego speaker panel

These speakers are listed on the agenda’s Expert Speaker Panel but do not yet have a session assigned in the published programme. We have not guessed at their topics.

The pattern is clear: translational and precision medicine leaders dominate, with development and regulatory voices alongside. Day 2 sessions still awaiting speakers include “Emerging NK Cell, TIL and In Vivo CAR Platforms Reshaping Cancer Immunotherapy” and “Global Regulatory Strategies for Companion Diagnostics and Precision Medicine”. Our explainer on in vivo CAR-T is useful background.

All confirmed San Diego sessions at a glance

What sponsors can do with this agenda

The published programme reserves speaking slots for sponsors in both streams, at fixed points in the day:

• Platinum: Day 1 at 11:00, 12:30 and 14:30, between the confirmed sessions on liquid biopsy, spatial measurement and molecular diagnostics.
• Gold: Day 2 at 10:00, 11:00 and 12:30, either side of the morning keynotes and the NK, TIL and in vivo CAR session.
• Silver: Day 2 at 14:30, after the predictive biomarker and resistance sessions.

For diagnostics, tools, CRO and platform companies, the value is in placing your talk next to the topics your buyers came for. A spatial or digital pathology platform speaking on Day 1 sits beside Pfizer’s digital pathology panel and the Verdant session; an MRD assay provider sits near the FasterCures talk. Pre-arranged 1:1 meetings then let you follow up with the translational and precision medicine leads listed above. See the San Diego sponsorship opportunities or our page on the companion diagnostics conference in San Diego.

FAQs

Who is speaking at ImmunoMark Summit San Diego 2027?

The speaker panel includes leaders from Pfizer, Genentech, Johnson & Johnson, AbbVie, Amgen, Gilead Sciences, Regeneron, Xencor, Janux Therapeutics, Nkarta and the Milken Institute’s FasterCures, among others.

Which sessions have confirmed speakers so far?

Six sessions have named speakers: Rakesh Dixit on IO and ADC combinations, Ariel (Yung-Chia) Chen on NSCLC immunotherapy resistance, Hadly Clark on liquid biopsy and MRD, Ivan Lebedev on multimodal measurement, Merlinda-Loriane Sewavi on precision diagnostics, and Sripad Ram on an AI-driven digital pathology panel.

Can sponsors present at ImmunoMark San Diego?

Yes. The agenda reserves Platinum sponsor slots on Day 1 and Gold and Silver sponsor slots on Day 2, in both streams. Sponsors can also take part in pre-arranged 1:1 meetings.

Where can I read the London speaker spotlights?

See the London speaker spotlights article and the Speaker Spotlight Series hub on the ImmunoMark blog, which features interviews from the London 2026 edition.

Join the speakers at ImmunoMark Summit San Diego

ImmunoMark Summit San Diego brings 300+ senior attendees together on 10–11 February 2027 for two parallel streams, keynotes, panels, case studies, pre-arranged 1:1 meetings and a Day 1 drinks reception. Read more about the immuno-oncology conference in San Diego, and catch up on the London speaker spotlights too.

Register for ImmunoMark San Diego

If your company wants to meet this audience, or present alongside these speakers, see the San Diego sponsorship opportunities.

Present alongside them