Healthcare Finance and Smart Materials Experts Delivering Opening and Closing Plenaries at PharmSci 360

26 June 2025 -- Virginia, US -- AAPS is excited to announce the opening and closing plenary speakers for the 2025 PharmSci 360, taking place November 9-12, in San Antonio, Texas.

Richard Thakor, Ph.D., Associate Professor of Finance at the Carlson School of Management of the University of Minnesota, will open the meeting on Sunday, Nov. 9. Thakor’s research focuses on empirical and theoretical corporate finance in the areas of R&D and innovation and healthcare finance. His talk follows up on a presentation on biotechnology financing delivered by MIT Sloan School of Management economist Andrew Lo, Ph.D., at the AAPS National Biotechnology Conference in May.

Thakor joined the finance department at University of Minnesota after earning his Ph.D. in Financial Economics from MIT. He is also a Research Affiliate at the MIT Laboratory for Financial Engineering and is a Research Affiliate at the WFA Center for Finance and Accounting Research at Washington University in St. Louis, Missouri.

Daniel Anderson, Ph.D., Professor in Chemical Engineering and the Institute for Medical Engineering and Science at the Koch Institute for Integrative Cancer Research, MIT, closes out PharmSci 360 on Wednesday, November 12. He is a leading researcher in the fields of nanotherapeutics and biomaterials, pioneering the development of smart materials. He received a Ph.D. in molecular genetics from the University of California at Davis. His research spans advancements in multiple areas, including medical devices, cell therapy, drug delivery, gene therapy and material science.

“We are excited to showcase the frontiers of pharmaceutical science by bringing these top-notch leaders to the AAPS community,” AAPS 2025 PharmSci 360 Scientific Programming Committee Chair Mei He, Ph.D., said. “I look forward to learning from these experts at the event in November.”

To register for PharmSci 360, visit www.aaps.org/register.

About AAPS
American Association of Pharmaceutical Scientists (AAPS) is a 501(c)(3) non-profit association of more than 7,000 scientists and professionals employed in academia, industry, regulatory, and other research related to the pharmaceutical sciences worldwide. Its mission is to advance the capacity of pharmaceutical scientists to develop products and therapies that improve global health, which members pursue through four peer-reviewed journals and various events in person and online. Visit: www.aaps.org.

About AAPS PharmSci 360
AAPS PharmSci 360 delivers research from across the pharmaceutical continuum, from discovery to delivery, and all stages in between. Thousands of scientists from across the globe converge to discuss cutting-edge breakthroughs, technologies, and techniques in symposia and poster presentations at this science-first event. Visit: www.aaps.org/pharmsci360.