Healthcare & Philanthropy Summit Panelists

Jim is the Managing Partner of Deerfield. He joined Deerfield in 2000 and is responsible for the management of the Firm. Under his leadership, Deerfield has built deep healthcare information expertise through the Deerfield Institute; expanded its investment capabilities to include venture and private structured financings; established the Deerfield Foundation to contribute toward the health and welfare of disadvantaged children; created Deerfield Discovery and Development, LLC, which organizes Deerfield’s discovery research efforts; and founded Cure, a healthcare innovation center at 345 Park Avenue South in New York City.

Before joining Deerfield, Jim was an analyst at Furman Selz, covering pharmaceutical and medical device companies. Prior to that, he served as Vice President of Corporate Development of Alpharma Inc., a pharmaceutical company, where his responsibilities included business development and strategic planning, and the management of licensing transactions. Jim began his career in healthcare investing at Kidder, Peabody & Co., where he ultimately served as a senior analyst covering the specialty pharmaceutical industry.

He is a member of the Board of Trustees of the New York Academy of Medicine and is a member of the University of Michigan Life Sciences Institute Leadership Council. Jim holds a B.S. in Cellular and Molecular Biology and Economics from the University of Michigan and a M.S. in Biotechnology from Johns Hopkins University.

Emma oversees the foundation's endowment and leads investment strategy to help shape the foundation's role as an engaged investor and deliver on its dual mandate of positive financial returns and broader impact outcomes that support the foundation's mission. Emma leads the foundation's investment strategy together alongside the Investment Committee, helping to grow and evolve the charitable endowment, one of the largest in the UK.

Emma brings a wealth of experience and an acute understanding of growing and managing teams while achieving strong investment returns. Most recently, Emma was co-CEO of Octopus Ventures and founding Chief Investment Officer at Better Society Capital. Prior to this she held roles in world-class investment houses including JP Morgan, Perry Capital, The Wellcome Trust and Marylebone Partners. Throughout her career, Emma has been particularly interested in ESG and impact considerations – she believes passionately that the business of business is to work to solve the challenges faced by people, societies and the planet.

Emma holds an MA from the University of Oxford and an MSc from London School of Economics.

Samuel Norvell serves as Director of Investments at the Annie E. Casey Foundation, where he has overseen the foundation’s investment strategy since June 2016.

Prior to this role, Samuel held senior investment positions including Managing Director at CF Advisory, LLC from 2013-2016 and Partner at Hennessee Group LLC/Terrapin Partners from 2004-2013, where he focused on alternative asset classes and institutional investor solutions.

Samuel began his career at The Corporate Executive Board (CEB) as a Senior Analyst (2002-2004), specializing in research for institutional asset management. He holds a B.S. in Business from the Georgetown University McDonough School of Business.

With a strong background spanning research, advisory and direct investing, Samuel brings to his current role a broad perspective on portfolio construction, governance and long-term institutional investing outcomes.

Mark W. Yusko is the Founder, CEO and Chief Investment Officer of Morgan Creek Capital Management, and Managing Partner of its affiliate Morgan Creek Digital. He established Morgan Creek in 2004 and leads the firm’s application of the endowment model of investing—spanning traditional equities and fixed income to alternatives such as hedge funds, private equity, real estate and venture capital.

Prior to founding Morgan Creek, Mark served as Chief Investment Officer of the UNC Management Company (1998-2004) and Senior Investment Director at the University of Notre Dame Investment Office (1993-1998), where he began his career in institutional investing.

Mark earned his B.S. in Biology & Chemistry, with honors, from the University of Notre Dame and an MBA in Accounting & Finance from the University of Chicago.

He is also a noted speaker and commentator on investment strategy and digital assets, and serves on several investment and philanthropic boards including the Hesburgh‑Yusko Scholars Program and the Morgan Creek Foundation.

Vanita Gaonkar is a Managing Director at DFO Management, LLC in New York, where she plays a key role in overseeing the firm’s investment strategy and operations. She also serves as a voting member of the Investment Committee of Wesleyan University and contributes to the governance of its endowment fund.

Vanita brings extensive experience in institutional investing and strategic asset management, working across multiple alternatives and traditional asset classes. Prior to her current role, she developed broad expertise within the non-profit investing space and has supported organizations in implementing long-term investment programs.

She earned her B.A. from Wesleyan University and is actively engaged in governance and philanthropic initiatives that support higher education and investment best practices.

Julie Grossman Lawson is President of WoodNext, a single family office founded in 2021 for a technology entrepreneur. She oversees all aspects of the family office. Prior to founding Wood Next, Julie was Head of Investments for Marron Capital, the single family office for Donald B. Marron. Before that, she was a Portfolio Manager in London for GAM overseeing arbitrage hedge funds, long only and direct lending funds. Previously she worked in real estate at both TishmanSpeyer and Merrill Lynch investment banking.

She graduated from Princeton University, summa cum laude, and Columbia Business School, with honors. She resides in New York City with her husband and two children.

Mike Jacobellis serves as Chief Investment Officer at a family office, where he leads investment strategy, portfolio construction and risk management across traditional and alternative asset classes. He previously spent many years in the institutional investment space, including serving as Co-Chief Investment Officer at New Holland Capital, where he oversaw portfolio management and investment research as part of the firm’s multi-manager hedge fund and private market credit business.

Mike holds a B.S. in Applied Economics and Management from Cornell University and is a CFA charterholder.

Jason Klein is Senior Vice President and Chief Investment Officer for Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, which he joined in 2008 to create the Investments Office. Jason oversees $9+ billion in global investment assets and leads asset allocation, manager selection and risk management efforts. Jason and the MSK investments team have achieved peer-based recognitions for innovation, portfolio construction and investment achievement.

An active member of the endowment and foundation investment community, Jason serves on the investment committees for the College Board, The Council on Foreign Relations and Cavamont Holdings Limited. He is also a current member of the Global Capital Markets Advisory Council for The Milken Institute and a former member of the investment committees of Oxford University and Wesleyan University. Jason is a board member of the College Board and Cavamont and is a member of The Council on Foreign Relations and The Economic Club of New York.

Previously, Jason was the CIO for The Museum of Modern Art and a Vice President and Principal in the private equity division of Lehman Brothers. Jason earned an MBA from Wharton, a JD from The University of Pennsylvania Law School and a BA from Wesleyan University.

Scott Pittman joined the Mount Sinai Health System as the SVP & Chief Investment Officer in December 2008. The Investment Office is charged with managing the institution’s endowment and long-term capital. The office also provides support to and advises on the health system’s operating funds and strategic investments, insurance and reinsurance assets, and benefit plan assets. Scott serves as the Chairman of the Healthfirst Investment Committee as well as the Chairman for Fulton’s Investment Committee. Scott is also a member of the Investment Council for TIAA-Nuveen.

Prior to Mount Sinai, Scott was the Director of Investments at Baylor University. He also served as an instructor in the Hankamer School of Business and taught the Portfolio Practicum course where students actively managed an investment portfolio. Before joining Baylor’s Investment Office, Scott taught Corporate Finance and Economics, and he spent several years within the healthcare industry.

Mount Sinai Health System is an integrated system encompassing multiple hospital campuses, medical school, and a large, ambulatory footprint in the New York metropolitan area with over 40,000 employees. Mount Sinai is internationally acclaimed for its excellence in research, patient care, and education across a range of specialties and ranks as one of our nation’s top medical facilities.

Donna Snider is the Senior Vice President and Chief Investment Officer for Hackensack Meridian Health, New Jersey’s largest and most comprehensive integrated healthcare care network. Ms. Snider joined HMH in 2020 as their first CIO with the mandate to build an investment office that will support the organization’s mission of transforming healthcare and being viewed as a leader of positive change. The HMH investment office manages both the endowment and pension assets for the hospital system.

Prior to joining HMH, Donna served as a Managing Director at The Kresge Foundation from 2009 to 2020 where she had responsibility for evaluating investment opportunities across all asset classes as well as oversight for the internal trading activity. Before joining Kresge, Donna was a director in the Global Markets and Investment Banking division of Merrill Lynch in New York where she covered institutional investors for structured credit, rates and equity products, as well as corporate issuers for their balance sheet hedging activity. Ms. Snider began her career in 1995 as a pension actuary with Towers Perrin (now Willis Towers Watson) in Chicago.

Donna earned her MBA with concentrations in accounting and analytical finance from the University of Chicago Booth School of Business; she holds a Bachelor of Science in Mathematics from the University of Notre Dame, Magna Cum Laude, Phi Beta Kappa; professional designations include CFA charter holder and an Associate of the Society of Actuaries.

Ms. Snider serves on the board and chairs the investment committee for the Josiah Macy Foundation, serves on the Investment Committee of the Two River Theater and is an active supporter of America Needs You.

Pasy Wang is the Chief Investment Officer for Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles, which oversees $5 billion in assets. She joined Cedars-Sinai in 2022. Previously, Ms. Wang was the Senior Managing Director at Caltech’s $4.5 billion endowment. Prior to Caltech, Ms. Wang co-managed a portfolio of opportunistic hedge funds for Pacific Alternative Asset Management Company (PAAMCO), a leading investment firm for institutional investors. She started her career as a consultant at Deloitte Consulting.

Ms. Wang is a graduate of the University of California, Los Angeles with a B.S. in Electrical Engineering. She also holds an M.B.A. in Finance from Columbia Business School. Additionally, she was awarded the Chartered Financial Analyst designation.

Ms. Wang serves as a director on the board of the Boys and Girls Club of Metro Los Angeles, the Levitt Family Foundation and American Business Bank.

Jo Natauri is the Founder of Invidia Capital Management and brings over 26 years of experience in the healthcare sector. Before founding Invidia, she spent 17 years at Goldman Sachs, where she was named Partner in 2012 and served as Global Head of Healthcare Private Investing. She also held roles on the firm’s Corporate Investment, Life Sciences, and Sustainable Investing Committees, and led “Launch with GS,” a $500 million initiative focused on narrowing the gender gap in investing.

Throughout her career, Jo has led more than $9 billion in equity and structured capital investments and advised on over $250 billion in M&A transactions. She has a proven record as both an investor and operator, generating a gross 2.8x (net 2.2x) MOIC on portfolio exits and driving significant value creation through operational improvements.

Jo has served on the boards of Avantor, Flywire, Parexel, MyEyeDr., Mirion, MDVIP, and MedVet, and is widely recognized for her operational expertise and leadership across the healthcare industry.

Roger Shedlin, M.D., J.D. is President, Chief Executive Officer, and Chairman of WINFertility, a leading fertility and family-building benefits company.

Dr. Shedlin combines professional training in both medicine and law, and has applied that expertise to build innovative managed care models in complex medical specialties, including fertility and reproductive health.

He holds a B.S. from Northwestern University, an M.D. from its Feinberg School of Medicine, and a J.D. from Harvard Law School.