Fall 2026
This semester,
at a glance.
Presented by MCBcDNA
Fall 2026 Speaker Series
This fall, MCBcDNA is hosting 13 events featuring biotech and the life sciences' most
prominent leaders at UC Berkeley, a weekly series of evening talks and fireside chats spanning
industry, academia, medicine, public health, and government, running September through December.
Each event pairs a marquee speaker with our community of Berkeley students, researchers,
and faculty, followed by open networking. Most sessions are held on and around the UC Berkeley
campus, with select sessions in San Francisco and over Zoom.
September
Jackson Egen, Ph.D.
Senior Vice President, Research Oncology, Gilead Sciences
Leads oncology research at Gilead, advancing the company's cancer immunotherapy and targeted therapy pipeline.
Sep 14
8:00 – 9:30 PM PT
Location TBA
Lloyd Minor, M.D.
Carl and Elizabeth Naumann Dean, Stanford University School of Medicine
Physician-scientist and dean of Stanford Medicine. Identified superior canal dehiscence syndrome and developed its surgical treatment; a national voice on precision health.
Sep 22
7:30 – 9:00 PM PT
Location TBA
Joe Betts-LaCroix
CEO & Co-Founder, Retro Biosciences
Co-founder and CEO of Retro Biosciences, a longevity biotech working to add ten years to healthy human lifespan. Previously founded OQO and Vium, and is an inventor on over 100 patents.
Sep 30
7:30 – 9:00 PM PT
Location TBA
October
Hal Barron, M.D.
CEO, Founder & Board Co-Chair, Altos Labs
Cardiologist and former President of R&D at GSK and Chief Medical Officer at Genentech. Now leads Altos Labs, focused on cellular rejuvenation programming.
Oct 1
7:30 – 9:00 PM PT
Location TBA
David Schaffer, Ph.D.
Director, QB3 & the Bakar BioEnginuity Hub, UC Berkeley
Berkeley professor of chemical & biomolecular engineering and bioengineering. His directed-evolution work on AAV gene-therapy vectors underpins therapies now in clinical trials; co-founder of 4D Molecular Therapeutics.
Oct 7
5:00 – 6:30 PM PT
Location TBA
Frank McCormick, Ph.D.
David A. Wood Distinguished Professor of Tumor Biology & Cancer Research, UCSF
Cancer biologist known for foundational work on the Ras oncogene. Founder of Onyx Pharmaceuticals and former director of the NCI's RAS Initiative.
Oct 14
7:30 – 9:00 PM PT
Location TBA
John Maraganore, Ph.D.
Founding CEO, Alnylam Pharmaceuticals
Founding CEO of Alnylam Pharmaceuticals, which he led from its early days to the first FDA-approved RNA-interference (RNAi) therapeutic — establishing an entirely new class of medicines.
Oct 15
7:30 – 9:00 PM PT
Location TBA
Syra Madad, D.H.Sc. & Jake Glanville, Ph.D.
Chief Biopreparedness Officer, NYC Health + Hospitals · CEO, Centivax
An epidemiologist and special-pathogens expert in conversation with a computational immunologist developing broadly protective vaccines. Both were featured in Netflix's “Pandemic.”
Oct 22
7:00 – 9:00 PM PT
Location TBA
Ryan Watts, Ph.D. & Joseph Lewcock, Ph.D.
CEO & CSO, Denali Therapeutics
CEO and CSO of Denali Therapeutics, which develops technology to deliver drugs across the blood-brain barrier for neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer's and Parkinson's.
Oct 29
7:30 – 9:00 PM PT
Location TBA
November
Eric Verdin, M.D.
President & CEO, Buck Institute for Research on Aging
President and CEO of the Buck Institute, an independent research institute dedicated to the biology of aging. His research focuses on metabolism, epigenetics, and age-related disease.
Nov 5
7:30 – 9:00 PM PT
Location TBA
Elias Zerhouni, M.D.
Former Director, National Institutes of Health
Radiologist who directed the National Institutes of Health from 2002 to 2008 and later served as President of Global R&D at Sanofi.
Nov 12
6:30 – 8:00 PM PT
Location TBA
Brian Kobilka, M.D.
Nobel Laureate in Chemistry; Professor, Stanford University
Recipient of the 2012 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for his work on G-protein-coupled receptors, the receptor family targeted by a large share of modern medicines. Professor at Stanford.
Nov 19
7:30 – 9:00 PM PT
Location TBA
December
Pradeep Natarajan, M.D.
Vice President, Head of Cardiometabolic Research & Head of Human Genetics, Amgen
Cardiologist and human geneticist leading cardiometabolic and human-genetics research at Amgen, connecting genomic discoveries to new treatments for heart disease.
Dec 1
7:30 – 9:00 PM PT
Location TBA
Interested in partnering? Reach out to
aidanheller@berkeley.edu.
Never miss an event.
Events are open to students, researchers, faculty, and the broader Bay Area life-science community. Subscribe to the Luma calendar and follow us on Instagram and LinkedIn for the schedule.
