Session Chair Profile
M.D., Ph.D., Founder and Managing Director, EXXclaim Capital
Biography
Anula Jayasuriya is a private equity executive and venture capitalist. She founded EXXclaim Capital, an early stage venture fund focused on catalyzing innovation, entrepreneurship and investment in Women’s Health. Anula co-founded the “Evolvence India Life Science Fund”, the first fund in India to focus on health care and invest in Indian pharmaceutical, biotechnology, medical device and contract services companies. She was a partner with Skyline Ventures in Palo Alto, and with the German/US venture capital firm TVM, in San Francisco. Her prior positions include VP Business Development at Genomics Collaborative Inc., and Vice President, Global Drug Development at Hoffman-La Roche for opportunistic infections in AIDS and Transplantation. Anula received a BA from Harvard, and an MD and PhD in Microbiology and Molecular Genetics from Harvard Medical School and an MBA from Harvard Business School, as well as a M. Phil. in pharmacology from the University of Cambridge, in England.
Session Abstract – PMWC 2020 Silicon Valley
Considering the differences between males and females in clinical decision-making is crucial. However, white adult men are strongly over-represented in existing medical data sets as clinical trials have not adequately enrolled women or analyzed sex-specific differences in the data. This lack of diversity in the data results in inaccurate treatment decisions. These same limitations are the result of the current “reference genomes” which are predominantly based on white, European ancestry. To fulfill the promise of precision medicine, clinical trials and population studies need to adequately include the female sex. This session will review the needs and progress being made to correct this issue so precision medicine can become more precise.
