The Speakers

Michelle Pfeifer is an innovation economy banker at J.P. Morgan. She is part of a national team dedicated to helping Life Sciences companies at every stage of development – from startup to IPO and beyond – in the biotech, pharma, med device, and diagnostic sectors. Based in Chicago, Michelle covers six central Midwest states and acts as a trusted advisor to customers and prospects as they navigate strategic growth, fundraising efforts, operational efficiency, and ecosystem connectivity. She also serves as the co-national banker associate manager, working with banker associates in the Midwest, West and Canada regions.  Michelle grew up in Milwaukee, WI and graduated with a BBA in Finance from the University of Wisconsin Madison, which has helped shape her passion for innovation and growth in the Midwest. 

Nada Hanafi is a thought leader within the Life Sciences and MedTech industry with over 22 years of experience across the public and private sectors. She is the Founder of MedTech Strategy Advisors, LLC where she advises life-science companies on regulatory strategy, product development, and clinical research to accomplish regulatory, compliance, and business goals. Nada spent over 12 years working for the FDA, serving in increasing roles of responsibility and ultimately as a Senior Science Health Advisor in the Center for Devices and Radiological Health (CDRH), where she led cross-Center and Agency programs for the advancement of FDA's mission to promote and protect public health, including as Co-Founder of the Health of Women (HoW) program, the Network of Experts program and the Patient Preference Initiative. She served as CDRH Liaison and Subject Matter Expert to FDA’s Office of Women’s Health (OWH) and the Office of Minority Health (OMH). She collaborated with the Center for Tobacco (CTP) and the National Institutes of Health (NIH) where she served as Senior Management Advisor to the Director at the Office of Research on Women’s Health (ORWH), to improve regulatory efficiency and to strengthen data collection. Nada’s drive and passion to address health inequities with a focus on women and minorities led her to Co-Found MedTech Color, a non-profit focused on advancing the representation of people of color within MedTech. Nada also serves on the Steering Committee and as Co-Chair on the (1) Regulatory and Science Policy subcommittee, and (2) Discovery & Development Accelerator committee for the Innovation Equity Forum (IEF) led by Gates Foundation and NIH ORWH. Nada holds an MSc in Biomaterials and a BEng in Biomedical Materials Science & Engineering from Queen Mary College, University of London. She earned her MPH from Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. Nada is a Certified Quality Improvement Associate (CQIA) and a Certified Quality Auditor (CQA) from the American Society for Quality (ASQ). 

Jessica Tam's passions lie at the intersection of technology and health equity with a track record of developing and commercializing new innovations in healthcare as well as establishing national programs focused on improving access to care for underserved communities. She is currently an Associate Director at Baxter Healthcare focused on new product development and innovation with experience across product marketing, corporate strategy, business development, R&D, and manufacturing. Jessica received a BS in Chemical Engineering for Stanford University and an MBA from the University of Chicago Booth School of Business.  

Dr. Charlotte Jones-Burton is a healthcare industry trailblazer passionate about creating healthier communities globally through drug development, patient advocacy, and people engagement/empowerment.  Her three-pronged approach reflects her community, service, and health and wellness values.   Charlotte combines her leadership in research and people development with her clinical acumen to positively impact patients and communities suffering from chronic diseases.  Charlotte is a biopharmaceutical executive who has spent over a decade in the pharmaceutical industry leading clinical trial development for multiple medicines across various disease areas, including cardiovascular and renal diseases. 

Over the past 15 years, Dr. Jones-Burton has focused on leading clinical trials and teams focused on creating medicines for patients who suffer from heart and kidney diseases. Her current role is SVP, Product Development and Strategy at Chinook Therapeutics. 

Dr. Jones-Burton earned a medical degree and Master of Science in Epidemiology and Preventive Medicine, with a concentration in Clinical Research, from the University of Maryland School of Medicine. Charlotte’s postgraduate training included an internal medicine residency and a nephrology fellowship at the University of Maryland Medical Systems. Charlotte is active in numerous professional associations and organizations and founded Women of Color in Pharma (WOCIP), a non-profit professional society and Foundation focused on creating a legacy in the life sciences industry of equitable access and improved health outcomes for all.   As its President, Charlotte is leading the organization's growth in the US, Europe and Africa.   

Charlotte’s dedication to improving health equity has received many awards, including the MM&M Platinum Award for Outstanding Contribution to Healthcare and WOCIP’s Global Icon Award. PharmaVoice identified her as one of the pharmaceutical industry’s top 100 inspiring people, and Fierce Pharma spotlighted her as one of “The Most Influential People in Biopharma” in 2023.

Meghan Phillipp is a strategic leader dedicated to building collaborations that advance health and strengthen communities. As Vice President of Community Impact at Third Horizon Strategies, she guides initiatives internally and consults with clients, offering strategic advising and program design that connect business, philanthropy, and leadership development to foster innovation, thought leadership, and lasting community impact. She also serves as the inaugural Executive Director of the Health Care Council of Chicago (HC3), a collaborative platform that brings together leaders across the health care system to address the city’s most pressing health challenges.

With more than a decade of experience in health care, corporate social responsibility, development, and community engagement, Meghan has partnered with start-ups, nonprofits, and major institutions to launch programs, cultivate partnerships, and design innovative solutions. Before joining Third Horizon, she was Corporate Relations and Special Events Manager at CommunityHealth, the nation’s largest free health clinic for the uninsured, where she continues to champion its mission as President of the Associate Board. She also serves on the board of Sharing Notes, a nonprofit that brings live music to hospital patients across Chicago and advises several mission-driven organizations.

She earned her MBA as a Baumhart Scholar at Loyola University Chicago’s Quinlan School of Business. She also holds a Bachelor of Arts in Music with a minor in Theatre Arts from Lawrence University and a certificate in Digital Marketing from General Assembly. Her career embodies a unique blend of creativity, strategy, and community-centered leadership, all focused on advancing equity in Chicago and beyond.

Visionary, mission-driven leader committed to transforming global communities.

My favorite places to be: in front of a room casting vision for how things could be, helping people connect their resources to bring about needed change, tackling big problems with big, audacious solutions, dreaming with passionate people about what could be, laying the groundwork for game-changing plans. 

Katie is a tireless champion for health equity and access to high-quality reproductive health care. With 20 years of experience at the helm of social change organizations, Katie has earned a reputation as an influential leader, disruptor, and reproductive health policy expert with sharp business acumen and a strong track-record of leveraging public-private partnerships to accelerate impact. She has spent the last 15 years of her career in Chicago leading reproductive health and rights organizations. Her experience, relationships, and tenacity enable her to drive ICAN!’s ambitious agenda, pursue innovative and scalable solutions, build effective coalitions and partnerships, and mobilize resources to advance ICAN!’s mission and vision. Launched in January 2021 as a new venture aiming to ensure all Illinoisans, including those who are BIPOC and those with fewer resources, have unfettered access to high-quality contraceptive care, ICAN! successfully advocated for adoption of a Medicaid Family Planning Program that expanded coverage for 1.2 million newly eligible Illinoisans. ICAN! is now scaling its model by guiding and resourcing states around the country to ensure equitable access to high quality preventive and primary care–including birth control.

In her previous role as the CEO of Bright Pink—a national breast and ovarian cancer prevention organization—she led the effort to significantly scale the reach of innovative digital tools and programs, including Assess Your Risk, which helped over 1 million women assess their personal risk for breast and ovarian cancer. As the VP of Development for Planned Parenthood of Illinois, she tripled annual philanthropic revenue to north of $12 million and supported the organization’s most significant policy efforts of the past several years: removing Medicaid abortion coverage restrictions, increasing Medicaid coverage for the most effective birth control methods, protecting patients’ right to reproductive health information under the Illinois Health Care Right of Conscience Act, and requiring insurance coverage of up to 12 months of birth control without cost-sharing.

Katie has also held leadership roles at the Chinook Fund, Cystic Fibrosis Foundation, and Rape Assistance and Awareness Program. An experienced public speaker and media spokesperson on the topic of women’s health, Thiede’s remarks have been featured in such outlets as the 2018 Women’s March Chicago, United States of Women, ABC7, CBSN, WBEZ, WCIU, tastytrade, and 23andMe’s SPIT Podcast. Katie earned her BA from the University of Wisconsin-Madison.​ She is an active member of the Reproductive Health Advocates Coalition, Protect Our Care Illinois Coalition and former Funding Exchange Board Member and Juno4Me Advisor. In 2022, Katie was recognized as an inaugural New Profit Health Equity Fellow. In 2023, she was recognized as the Health & Medicine Policy Research Group’s Policy Award winner and she is a 2024 graduate of the University of Chicago’s Civic Leadership Academy.

Thiede lives on the south side of Chicago with her husband and 14-year-old son. She is an avid long-distance runner, always pushing herself to go farther, faster—an approach she applies to her career as a social entrepreneur. Her life’s mission is to ensure that everyone has the ability to decide if, when, and under what circumstances to be pregnant or parent.

A seasoned institutional PE/VC investor, with $1B of capital deployed and a demonstrated track record in healthcare, Julia Monfrini Peev is the Founder and Managing Partner of PACE Healthcare Capital. Based in Chicago, IL, PACE Healthcare Capital is a women- and diverse-led venture capital firm, investing in early stage digital health and healthcare IT businesses. We focus on backing companies led by diverse leadership team, located between the Coasts, and building impactful solutions for the healthcare of tomorrow. 

Krisila is a social impact, global health and entrepreneurial leader with a talent for effectively integrating social impact and commercial ventures. She has a wealth of operational experience across 70 countries, led or contributed to more than $100M of new funding, managed teams ranging from 2 to over 1,100 people, and is a gender lens investing (GLI) expert.

Inspired by her extensive experience designing, launching, leading, scaling, measuring and advising social ventures, Krisila launched Propelevate to champion investors and entrepreneurs to successfully navigate the intersection of the market and social impact. She developed a business plan and fundraising strategy to secure funding for the introduction of life-saving technologies to Sub-Saharan Africa, and leads a team focused on increasing investment by asset owners into VC funds that benefit women, among other engagements. The range of clients she has directly supported include: 2Flo Ventures, Asian Development Bank, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation (in partnership with Catalyst Global), Investing in Women (an initiative of the Australian Government), Medical Credit Fund, Neumann Kaffee Gruppe, RHIA Ventures, and Vivacelle Bio.

Prior to Propelevate Krisila worked as the Senior Director of Program Services at TechnoServe; Country and Program Director with PSI in the Central African Republic, Guinea and India; and the Director of Business Leaders for Sensible Priorities. Earlier in her career she spent several years in the Sahel, working for the US State Department in Niger, Hewlett Packard in Senegal, and PSI in Burkina Faso.

Reflecting her global experience, Krisila is fluent in English and French, is proficient in Spanish, and is conversational in Hausa. Krisila holds an MBA from the University of California, Berkeley and a BA in Political Science from Boston University.