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Please join Columbia Technology Ventures for a panel discussion on investing in AI innovations, where leading investors will explore what’s driving the next wave of breakthrough technologies. We’ll cover emerging trends across the AI landscape, how investors evaluate teams and traction in a fast-moving market, and key considerations around risk, regulation, and responsible deployment. Attendees will leave with practical insights on how AI technologies move from academia toward market adoption.
The panel will be 3-4pm, followed by networking.
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The CTV Innovation-to-Impact Series is a university-wide, multi-session initiative designed to support Columbia innovators at every stage of technology translation. Through dynamic expert-led panels, lectures, and workshops, the series offers practical insight into funding, commercialization, company formation, and regulatory pathways for innovators from across the Columbia community.
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To stay up to date on upcoming events, please visit the CTV website.
Iliya Bozhkov is a venture capital investor at IBM Ventures based in New York. He focuses on early- and growth-stage investments across the AI stack, cybersecurity and the wider enterprise software domain tackling complex architectural challenges across heterogeneous hardware, compute resource management, and enterprise data systems. Having lived and operated across diverse global markets, he brings deep experience navigating contrasting cultural dynamics and aligning cross-border ecosystems.
Dr. Sherwin Kuo is a healthcare investor at Fusion Fund and a practicing physician at Cedars-Sinai in Los Angeles. He combines clinical expertise with investment acumen, focusing on healthcare AI, AI-driven drug discovery, and healthcare robotics. He was an early investor in CG Oncology (NASDAQ: CGON). Sherwin completed his residency in Internal Medicine at Mount Sinai Health System and a Clinical Informatics fellowship at UC Irvine, and holds an MBA from UC Berkeley.
Sara Shabani is an investor at Cota Capital, where she focuses on AI infrastructure and physical AI, spanning semiconductors, data center infrastructure, emerging AI platforms, and robotics. Prior to Cota, Sara was at McKinsey where she worked with large enterprises and hyperscalers on AI strategy and commercialization. She holds a PhD in Physics from Columbia University and previously conducted research at Google.
William R. Kenan Jr. Professor of Biological Sciences (Chair), and Professor of Chemistry, Pathology & Cell Biology
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Columbia University
Brent R. Stockwell, PhD, is the William R. Kenan Jr. Professor of Biological Sciences and Chair of the Department of Biological Sciences, and Professor of Chemistry in Arts & Sciences, and Professor of Pathology and Cell Biology, Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons, Columbia University Irving Medical Center. His research involves the discovery of small molecules that can be used to understand and treat cancer and neurodegeneration, with a focus on biochemical mechanisms governing cell death. In a series of papers from 2003-2012, Dr. Stockwell discovered compounds that activate a previously unrecognized form of cell death that he termed ferroptosis. His lab defined key mechanisms governing ferroptosis, its therapeutic implications, and essential tools for studying this new form of cell death. There are now more than 24,000 papers on ferroptosis from hundreds of labs around the world. Dr. Stockwell has received numerous awards, including being elected to the US National Academy of Medicine, the 2024 Cell Death and Differentiation Award, and the Great Teacher of Columbia College Award. He has been in the top 1 percent of highly cited researchers the last five years and was ranked among the top 50 scientists in the world in 2025. He has published >200 scientific articles, been awarded 23 US patents, received >50 research grants for >$40 million, launched five startup companies and written a book for general audiences about drug discovery, The Quest for the Cure.
