A New Experience for 2026
Join us in for a reimagined BioNexus KC Annual Event at the Kauffman Center for the Performing Arts. This year’s reception-style format is built for connection, featuring heavy hors d’oeuvres, drinks, and more opportunities to network with peers across Kansas City’s life sciences and health innovation ecosystem.
The evening will also feature a dynamic program celebrating the people, ideas, and partnerships driving our region. We look forward to gathering the community in a setting built for conversation, connection, and new opportunities.
October 20, 2026
5:30 – 9:00 PM
Kauffman Center for the Performing Arts
1601 Broadway Blvd, Kansas City, MO 64108
Parking:
Arts District Parking Garage at the Kauffman Center
Attire:
Business Formal
5:30 PM
Networking
7:00 PM
Program + Keynote, Allyson Berent, DVM, DACVIM
8:00 PM
Networking
9:00 PM
Adjourn
Greg Sweat, MD
Former Senior Vice President and Chief Medical Officer
Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Kansas City
Dr. Greg Sweat is Former Senior Vice President and Chief Medical Officer at Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Kansas City (Blue KC). He is responsible for helping the company provide value to its members, partners and community through innovative and affordable patient care. Dr. Sweat oversees population health, networks and contracting, pharmacy, community health, care delivery assets and government lines of business.
In his previous role as Chief Medical Officer at the Shawnee Mission Physicians Group, Dr. Sweat directed the multi-specialty group’s services consisting of more than 100 providers in 25 practices serving more than 225,000 patients per year. He also served as a staff physician and assistant professor in the Mayo Clinic’s Department of Family Medicine in Rochester, Minn.
A respected leader in the industry, Dr. Sweat has received numerous awards throughout his career. He was awarded the Stewardship Award from Shawnee Mission Health and has been included in Ingram’s Magazine 40 under Forty list of local outstanding professionals. Dr. Sweat was also presented with the Excellence in Teaching Award and the Clinician Educator Award from Mayo Medical School.
Keynote, Allyson Berent, DVM, DACVIM
Chief Science Officer
Foundation For Angelman Syndrome Therapeutics (FAST)
Dr. Allyson Berent is a veterinary internist and interventional radiologist with extensive experience designing and leading clinical trials in animals with naturally occurring disease, translating clinical medical device data to inform human therapeutics. In 2014, her daughter Quincy was diagnosed with Angelman syndrome (AS), a rare nondegenerative neurogenetic disorder, which led Dr. Berent to focus on rare disease drug development.
She joined the Board of Directors of the Foundation for Angelman Syndrome Therapeutics (FAST) in 2015 and currently serves as its Chief Science Officer. Through FAST’s venture philanthropy model, Dr. Berent co-founded GeneTx Biotherapeutics, advancing the first antisense oligonucleotide therapy for AS, which was acquired by Ultragenyx Pharmaceuticals in 2022.
Dr. Berent is currently Chief Development Officer at AS2Bio, a drug development accelerator launched by FAST. At AS2Bio, she helps to lead non-clinical and clinical development programs including an AAV gene therapy currently in a Phase 1/2 clinical trial for AS, as well as an autologous ex-vivo hematopoietic stem cell gene therapy and an in vivo non-viral CRISPR-based gene editing program advancing through IND-enabling studies toward first-in-human evaluation.
In addition, Dr. Berent serves as co-director of the Angelman Syndrome Biomarker and Outcome Measure Consortium (ABOM), working to advance the development and validation of biomarkers and outcome measures to support clinical protocol design in this rare population. She brings a unique perspective to regulatory and development discussions, integrating scientific, clinical, and patient-centered considerations in decision making for rare disease drug development.
Dennis Ridenour
President & CEO
BioNexus KC
Dennis Ridenour (he/him/his) is President and Chief Executive Officer of BioNexus KC, the coordinating body for the KC region’s life sciences research initiatives. In this role, Mr. Ridenour fosters regional collaboration while working to increase the concentration and capacity for life sciences and healthcare research in the region. His work makes the region more efficient at commercializing technologies being developed locally, improves the health of patients and animals across the region while reducing and eliminating health disparities, and positively impacts the regional economy by leveraging our strengths at the intersection of human and animal health. Mr. Ridenour is strongly committed to the vision of BioNexus KC, that Kansas City is a global leader at the nexus of human and animal health benefiting all our citizens and the economy.
Thank you to our 2026 Sponsors.
Gold
Silver
Bronze
Join us for an evening of celebration with
leaders and collaborators impacting the Kansas City life sciences ecosystem.
BioNexus KC is a regional convener and catalyst for life sciences innovation in the Kansas City region. Operating at the nexus of human and animal health, BioNexus KC promotes scientific progress and strengthens the impact of research happening in our region. Through collaboration and strategic leadership, BioNexus KC helps accelerate discovery and amplify the Kansas City region’s role as a hub for life sciences innovation.
BioNexus KC is a collaborative organization where all perspectives are welcomed. Together, we work to advance the KC region.