Medical, Biomedical & Biodefense: Support to the Warfighter Symposium

Enabling the Warfighter: Operational Requirements for Tactical Medicine. The Fort Liberty Research Institute, a program of The Geneva Foundation, is honored to lead a panel that will present the needs, gaps and opportunities for industry and innovators to support the medical requirements of America’s premier warfighting commands.

• Moderator: Lieutenant Colonel (Ret) Stephen DeLellis, Senior Technical Advisor, The Geneva Foundation
• Command Sergeant Major Tony Stephens, Senior Enlisted Medical Advisor, Joint Medical Unit
• Sergeant Major Rich Ciuk, Senior Enlisted Medical Advisor, US Army Special Operations Command
• Sergeant Major Tinamarie Reese, Senior Enlisted Medical Advisor, US Army Reserve Command
• Sergeant Major Matt Garrison, Senior Enlisted Medical Advisor, 3rd Operational Support Group

Sustaining the Medical Treatment Facilities: Logistics, Acquisition and R&D.  Command representatives from the Defense Health Agency (DHA) and constituent military medical treatment facilities (MTFs) will describe the requirements and acquisition processes to logistically sustain military MTFs nationwide.  They will also highlight resources and opportunities for joint research between academia, industry and military investigators from DHA and MTFs in North Carolina.

• Moderator: Colonel (Ret) Denny Lewis, Strategic Advisor, Strategic Initiatives, North Carolina Military Business Center
• Colonel Bruce Argueta, Director, Medical Supply Chain, Defense Logistics Agency
• Commander Kibwe Hampden, Defense Health Agency-Atlantic
• Lieutenant Colonel Danielle Chandler, Director of Logistics, Womack Army Medical Center

Breakthrough Technologies: Opportunities in Military Medicine and Biosecurity. At a time when innovative technologies in the life sciences are advancing at incredible pace, the opportunity to create groundbreaking solutions to heal and protect our military and the US population is greater than ever. While many technical and regulatory challenges remain, understanding what these innovations represent and how transformational they could be is critical in advancing them towards a future marketplace. This panel of speakers will describe the work their labs or companies are pursuing to address complex medical or health security challenges that impact our military and civilian health care markets – with the hope of inspiring with their potential solutions.

• Ronald K. Hann, Jr., Ph.D., Director, Technology Integration, Wake Forest Institute for Regenerative Medicine
• Jack Wang Ph.D., Assistant Professor and Director of Forest Biotechnology Group, North Carolina State University
• Rob Kirkton, Ph.D., Director, New Product Development, Humacyte
• Seema Nandi, Ph.D., Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer, SelSym Biotech, Inc.

Department of Veterans Affairs One-on-One Meetings. The Department of Veterans Affairs, in collaboration with the NCMBC, will host one-on-one meetings with industry at MBB 2024. This forum provides a unique opportunity for dialogue with key decision makers from multiple VA offices.  Participants should bring capabilities statements and prepare a concise “elevator pitch” to communicate a compelling business case for the VA to procure their goods and/or services.

• Marri "Nicki" Fryar, MBA, MHA, BSN, NE-BC, VHA-CM, Executive Director/CEO, Fayetteville NC VA Coastal Health Care System
• Jonathan Benoit, Deputy Network Director, VISN 6, Department of Veterans Affairs
• Dr. Brenda Richardson, Chief Logistics Officer, VISN 6, Department of Veterans Affairs
• Alicia Smith-Freshwater, Chief Biomedical Engineer, VISN 6, Department of Veterans Affairs
• Marlon Arnold, Deputy Chief Logistics Officer, VISN 6, Department of Veterans Affairs
• Craig Holbert, Chief Supply Chain Officer, Charles George VA Medical Center
• Dr. Anna Rutherford, Deputy Chief of Staff, Durham VAMC
• Salisbury VAMC (invited)

Medical Challenges in Large-Scale Combat Operations. This panel will address innovative medical support required in contested combat environments, focusing on autonomous resupply and casualty evacuation to enhance forward unit capabilities.  Methodologies will incorporate a counter-EW posture to protect medical logistics from adversarial threats, emphasizing resilience in contested environments. This approach underlines strategic advancements in military medical logistics, ensuring operational effectiveness and readiness in complex combat scenarios.

• Moderator: Command Sergeant Major (Ret) Bob Burton, Interim Director, North Carolina Defense Technology Transition Office
• Colonel Ty Harris, MD, FAAOS, Orthopaedic Hand Surgeon and Chief, Department of Clinical Investigation  and Director, Medical Simulation Center Surgical Specialty Advisor, Army Medical Central Simulation Committee, Womack Army Medical Center
• Lieutenant Colonel Preston Roy, Medical Capability Developer, Medical Capability Development Integration Directorate, Futures and Concepts Center, US Army Futures Command
• Major Rickey Royal, Project Manager, Army Applications Laboratory, Army Futures Command

Sustaining the Warfighter: Operational Medical Logistics, Acquisition and R&D.  Command representatives from Defense and major military commands will describe the requirements, acquisition and distribution processes to logistically sustain military medical units and warfighters worldwide.  They will also highlight ongoing programs, opportunities and vehicles for joint research with academia and industry to medically sustain the warfighter in future conflicts. 

• Moderator: Colonel (Ret) Todd Ferry, Program Manager, North Carolina Defense Technology Transition Office
• Colonel Bruce Argueta, Director, Medical Supply Chain, Defense Logistics Agency
• Colonel Marc Welde, Commander, US Army Medical Logistics Command
• LCDR Telia R. Wright, MSC, 2nd Medical Logistics Company, II Marine Expeditionary Force
• Lou Jasper, Project Manager for Warfighter Readiness, Performance and Brain Health Project Management Office, US Army Medical Materiel Development Activity (USAMMDA)

Funding the Next Generation of Medical, Biomedical and Health Security Solutions – An Investor’s Take. Many biomedical and health security innovations find support through traditional government support mechanisms – BAAs, SBIRs, STTRs, even OTAs. But most of these technologies will need much more capital than can be accessed through government sources.  When interests and objectives align, institutional investors can fund technology development, scale up, and commercialization working alongside DoD partners to support true dual-use technologies. This diverse panel of venture capital and public-private partnership investors will describe initiatives that support this technology development space, seeking to accelerate and scale private investment for national security.

• Moderator: Erin Kaltenbrun, Ph.D., Director of Investments, Emerging Company Development, North Carolina Biotechnology Center
• Jessica Dymond, Ph.D., Vice President, Technology (B.Next), In-Q-Tel
• Rick Satcher, MS, MBA, Director, Commercialization for Medical Technology Enterprise Consortium (MTEC) and TreMonti Consulting
• Amy Lin, MBA, MA, Division Director, ARPANET-H Innovation Network, Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health (ARPA-H)