May 5, 2025 - May 6, 2025
2025 BLOOM BURTON & CO. HEALTHCARE INVESTOR CONFERENCE
METRO TORONTO CONVENTION CENTRE
255 Front St W, Toronto, ON M5V 2W6

2025 Keynote Speaker and Panelists

Keynote Speaker

Jim Momtazee

Managing Partner

Patient Square Capital

Jim Momtazee is the Managing Partner of Patient Square Capital. Mr. Momtazee has 29 years of investment and acquisition experience, the vast majority of which was focused on the health care sector. Prior to Patient Square, he spent over 21 years at KKR, initially joining in 1996. He helped establish the firm’s health care industry group in 2001 and subsequently was Head of the Americas Health Care Team for over 10 years. In that role, he managed a team of over 20 dedicated health care professionals overseeing five different health care-related investment strategies including private and growth equity. He was a member of the Americas Private Equity Investment Committee beginning in 2013 and was Chairman of both the Health Care Strategic Growth and Health Care Royalty & Income Investment Committees.

Among the major health care investments made during Mr. Momtazee’s tenure at KKR were Jazz Pharmaceuticals (2004); HCA (2006), a $33 billion transaction which at the time was the largest cash buyout in history; PRA Health Sciences (2013); and BridgeBio Pharma (2016).

Mr. Momtazee currently serves on the board of directors of Apollo Therapeutics, Kriya Therapeutics, Enavate Sciences, Elevage Medical Technologies, Syneos Health, GondolaBio, Hanger, Roivant Sciences, BridgeBio Pharma, and the Medical Device Manufacturers Association. He previously served on the board of directors of Ajax Health, Alliance Imaging, Arbor Pharmaceuticals, PharMerica, Covenant Surgical Partners, EchoNous, Entellus Medical, Envision Healthcare, Global Medical Response, HCA, Heartland Dental, Jazz Pharmaceuticals, Lake Region Medical, PRA Health Sciences, and Spirox.

Earlier in his career, Mr. Momtazee was one of three executives who moved to London to launch KKR’s European investing operations and also spent several months helping launch Accel-KKR, a software and technology-enabled services investment firm. Prior to KKR, Mr. Momtazee worked at Donaldson, Lufkin & Jenrette and was involved in a broad range of merchant banking, M&A, debt, equity, and restructuring transactions.

Mr. Momtazee received a B.A. with distinction, Phi Beta Kappa, from Stanford University and an M.B.A., Arjay Miller Scholar, from Stanford’s Graduate School of Business.

Michael Altman

Head of Strategy

Perceptive Advisors

Michael Altman joined Perceptive in 2007 and is the Head of Strategy on the investment team. His focus is on medical devices, diagnostics, digital health and Specialty Pharmaceuticals. He is also a member of the investment committee for the Credit Opportunities Fund. Additionally, Michael serves as the CFO and Director of ARYA Sciences Acquisition Corp II & III. Prior to Perceptive he was a healthcare trader and analyst at First New York Securities. Michael graduated from the University of Vermont with a B.S. in Business Administration.

Gerry Brunk

Managing Director

Lumira Ventures

Gerry Brunk is a co-founder and Managing Director of Lumira Ventures, a healthcare venture capital firm. Based in the firm’s Boston office, he has led investments in over thirty biotechnology and medical device companies including MAKO Surgical, HistoSonics, Pharmasset, Endotronix, SpectraWAVE, Cardiac Dimensions, enGene, Cadence Neuroscience, Endogenex, and Bardy Diagnostics. Prior to beginning his venture capital career in 2002 Gerry was a founder of several venture capital-funded healthcare companies, served in the healthcare practice at Boston Consulting Group, and was a member of the investment banking group at Credit Suisse First Boston. He holds an MBA from Stanford University Graduate School of Business and a BA from the University of Virginia where he studied biology and economics.

Adrianna Czornyj

Partner

Persistence Capital Partners

Adrianna Czornyj is a Partner at Persistence Capital Partners (PCP), a private equity firm that focuses exclusively on investments in the Canadian healthcare industry. As a Partner, Adrianna is responsible for all aspects of the investment process from sourcing, evaluating and executing on investment opportunities to managing existing investments.  As a healthcare investor, Adrianna has invested in companies across Canada including homecare, animal health, aesthetic medicine & dermatology, fertility, executive health, pharmacy and health education.

Adrianna has over twenty years of experience in M&A, audit, consulting, valuation and private equity.  Before joining PCP, Adrianna was a Partner in Deloitte’s M&A transaction services practice, where she served private equity and strategic corporate investors.

Adrianna is also involved in the community through her role as a director and past Treasurer/Chair of the Finance & Audit Committee for the Michael Garron Hospital Foundation, member of the governance committee at The York School and recently completing ten years with Crohn’s and Colitis Canada as the Chair of the Board.  Adrianna is also a director with the Association for Corporate Growth, Toronto Chapter.

Parag Shah

Founding Managing Director & CEO

K2 HealthVentures

Parag Shah has over 25 years of experience in finance, operations, and venture capital, and is highly experienced in providing comprehensive capital structure solutions to private and public companies in the life sciences industry.

Parag previously served as the Senior Managing Director and Group Head of the Life Sciences practice at Hercules Capital. Over approximately 10 years, Parag and his team committed around $2 billion in capital to venture and growth stage companies in the life sciences industry. Prior to that, Parag was Senior Vice President and Group Head of Imperial Bank’s Life Sciences practice, which was acquired by Comerica Bank. He also served as an Assistant Vice President at BancBoston (acquired by Fleet), where he focused on mergers and acquisitions finance.

Parag currently serves as Chairman of eCare Vault, an early-stage software company that bridges privacy-compliant communications between the education and health sectors. He is also a charter member of TiE, one of the leading entrepreneurial organizations in the country.

Parag is a graduate of MIT where he received an M.S. in Technology, Management, and Policy and B.S. in Molecular Biology, and continues to be involved with the Whitehead Institute at MIT.

Karim Helmy

Managing Director

Viking Global Investors

Karim Helmy is a Managing Director focused on the healthcare sector on the private equity team. Prior to joining Viking in 2020, Karim was a Vice President at Venrock and an Engagement Manager at McKinsey & Company in the Pharmaceuticals Research & Development Practice. Karim received a joint M.D./Ph.D. from New Jersey Medical School and completed an internship in Internal Medicine at Columbia University Medical Center. Before medical school, he worked in discovery research at Genentech. Karim received a B.S. in biology from Stanford University.

Aaron Kantoff

Managing Partner

Scion Life Sciences

Aaron Kantoff is a founder and Managing Partner of Scion. He has spent 15 years specializing in founding, building and investing in life sciences companies, focusing primarily on therapeutics. Aaron currently serves as a board member of Avalo Therapeutics (NASDAQ: AVTX) and Tourmaline Bio (NASDAQ: TRML), where he has been serving since the company’s inception. Previously, he was a Venture Partner at Medicxi, where he was a founding board member of Centessa Pharmaceuticals PLC (NASDAQ: CNTA). Before joining Medicxi, he was a co-founder and board member of RayzeBio (NASDAQ: RYZB), which was acquired by Bristol Myers Squibb (NYSE: BMY).

From 2011 until 2019, Aaron was a Partner at Apple Tree Partners (ATP), a life sciences venture capital firm. At ATP, Aaron was a key member of the therapeutics investment practice, playing a leading role in assembling several ATP portfolio companies, and most notably, serving on the boards of Akero Therapeutics (NASDAQ: AKRO), Corvidia Therapeutics (acquired by Novo Nordisk) and Syntimmune (acquired by Alexion). During his time at ATP, Aaron was also a board observer at Stoke Therapeutics (NASDAQ: STOK) and led many of ATP’s crossover and public biotech investments. Before joining ATP in 2011, Aaron held various roles in private equity and investment banking.

Aaron received a B.S. in Finance and International Business from NYU Stern’s School of Business.

Allyson Rinderle

Managing Director

Bain Capital Life Sciences

Allyson S. Rinderle is a Managing Director at Bain Capital Life Sciences, having joined the fund in 2022. Prior to joining Bain Capital, she was a Principal at KKR within the Healthcare Growth Equity and Private Equity teams where she focused on the life sciences. Before KKR, Ms. Rinderle was a Vice President at Longitude Capital, a healthcare venture growth firm where she focused on biopharmaceutical investments. Prior to that, she was an Analyst at Aisling Capital, a life sciences investment firm, as well as an Analyst in J.P. Morgan’s Health Care Investment Banking practice. Ms. Rinderle holds an M.B.A. from Stanford Graduate School of Business, where she was an Arjay Miller Scholar. She received her B.S. in Biomedical Engineering with distinction from Yale University graduating magna cum laude, Tau Beta Pi, and Phi Beta Kappa.

Nimish Shah

Partner

Venrock

Nimish Shah has been investing in healthcare companies since 2010, with a sharp focus on small-cap public and crossover-stage biotech companies since joining Venrock in 2013. He has a proven track record of delivering strategic capital and market insight to help public biotech companies navigate critical inflection points. 

Nimish is the co-founder and Board Director of Apogee Therapeutics and currently serves as a Board Observer for Jade Therapeutics and Timberlyne Therapeutics. His experience also includes roles as Board Director for InstilBio (NASDAQ: TIL) and as Board Observer for Biohaven Pharmaceuticals (NYSE: BHVN), Dianthus Therapeutics (NASDAQ: DNTH), LianBio (NASDAQ: LIAN), Metsera (NASDAQ: MTSR), and Viridian Therapeutics (NASDAQ: VRDN).

With a strong foundation in science and market dynamics, Nimish works closely with biotech CEOs to support their growth and success, including the transition from private to public company status. He holds a B.S. in pharmacy from Rutgers, an MPH from Columbia University, and an MBA from Columbia Business School, where he also serves on the Healthcare and Pharmaceutical Management Advisory Board.