Speakers
Janet Davies
Senior Director, Medical Information, Gilead Sciences, United Kingdom
Janet is responsible for the Medical Information function in the European region, which responds to requests from healthcare professionals and patients about Gilead’s medicines. She is a Nominated Medical Signatory for Gilead. Janet is recognised globally as a leader in Medical Information in the pharmaceutical industry. She is an active member of PIPA (Pharmaceutical Information and Pharmacovigilance Association) and the DIA. She chaired the annual DIA Medical Information and Communications conference in Europe from 2006 to 2011, 2016 to 2019. In 2012 Janet was given an Outstanding Service award by the DIA. She was awarded Fellowship of the Royal Pharmaceutical Society in 2017 in recognition of her contribution to pharmacy.
Monica Rojo Abril
Medical Information Manager Iberia Cluster, Gruenenthal Pharma S.A., Spain
After graduating in Information and Communication Sciences, Mónica Rojo Abril expanded her training in Investigative Journalism, Library Science and Medical Information. She has developed her professional career in the Pharma Industry in MedInfo, up to her current position as MedInfo Manager Iberia cluster, Grünenthal Spain. Mónica was one of the co-founders of the Medical Information Working Group sponsored by the Spanish Medical Association of the Pharmaceutical Industry (AMIFE), and has been co-editor and co-author of the Spanish MedInfo Guidelines in pharma industry. Passionate about Medical Information and with a vocation to share knowledge and experiences, Mónica co-leads the first and unique MedInfo Postgraduate Course in Spain.
Representative Invited
Med Communications, Inc, United States
Richard McCombie
Director, Leader Scientific Services & Content Compliance, Actelion Pharmaceuticals Ltd, Switzerland
20 year career in the pharmaceutical industry working in clinical development, sales and medical affairs. Highlights include: - Leadership of a global line function in clinical development with responsibility for budgets, hiring, departmental objectives and strategic planning - Extensive line management experience with demonstrated excellence in the retention and development of direct reports - Successful background in the delivery of multiple/ complex scientific communication deliverables within set timeframes, budgets and to high standards of quality
Michelle Bridenbaker, BSN, MS
Independent Consultant, MLB Consulting, Switzerland
Michelle is currently the Global Medical Information Lead at Idorsia Pharmaceuticals Ltd. She has worked in industry Globally for over 15 years in roles including: Medical Device Sales, Med Info, Pharmacovigilance and Medical Affairs for Ethicon Endosurgery (a J&J Company), Eli Lilly, Pfizer, Amgen, Shire and Biogen. Michelle is very passionate about Med Info & Med Affairs and is highly motivated by innovative, customer centric ways to support healthcare and non-healthcare professionals around the world to ensure the safe and effective use of medicines.
Sarah Dunnett
Medical Operations Partner, Sarah Dunnett Consulting Ltd, United Kingdom
Sarah is a Medical Operations Consultant working with Medical Information, Affairs and Compliance professionals, applying skills in clinical pharmacy and experience as a Regional Director and Cluster Senior Manager. She has partnered many teams and led a wide range of initiatives, e.g. catalysing complex projects; auditing and improving processes; developing clear operating frameworks; evaluating and implementing novel technologies; upskilling multi-cultural, cross functional groups; and effecting change. A Pharmacist and Medical Signatory, Sarah sustainably improves business and patient outcomes. She is a past President of PIPA, founding member of the MILE body, and has supported the DIA as a committee member and session chair since 2008.
Marie-Luise Helmich, PhD
Head of Europe Medical Information , Sanofi, Germany
Marie-Luise is the Head of Europe Medical Information at Sanofi. Before, she has led Medical Information for Sanofi in Germany, Switzerland and Austria. Besides ensuring high-quality Medical Information for all customers and products, she is working on inclusion of new digital media in the Medinfo channel mix. She is the Co-founder of the subcommittee Medical Information of the industry association (VFA) in Germany. Before joining Medical Information she has gained experience in Medical Affairs, Supply Chain, and as a Qualified Person in Quality.
Med. Isabelle C. Widmer, DrMed
CEO elytra GmbH, Consultant, elytra GmbH, Switzerland
Isabelle Widmer, MD is a life science consultant and coach based in Europe. Isabelle supports teams in both Fortune 500 companies and biotech to deliver global transformation programmes in Medical Affairs and Med Info. Combining an entrepreneurial mindset, analytical and project management skills with the ability to design and implement tailored solutions, Isabelle takes pride in proposing pragmatic, sustainable and cost-effective solutions. A published author, frequent conference presenter, recent Programme Director at Basel University in postgraduate education in pharmaceutical medicine and a Program Committee member for the DIA Annual European Medical Information and Communications Meeting she is passionate about continuing education.
Hakan Aribas, MD
Medical Operations Head, Orion Healthcare Inc., Turkey
Previous positions: Novartis Pharmaceuticals – Region Europe Medical Expert on Bone & Pain; Novartis Pharmaceuticals – Medical Information & Communication Manager; Novartis Pharmaceuticals ANKARA Rheumatology, Gastroenterology & Urology Therapeutic Area (Reg. Medical Manager); Sincanli Government Hospital, AFYON Medical Group Chairman & Chief of Staff, E.R. Doctor; Universal Group, Bodrum/MUGLA Emergency Boat and E.R. Doctor. Education: Faculty of Medicine, University of Trakya, EDIRNE.
Sabine Lischka-Wittmann, DrSc
Sr. Director - Medical Information, Europe, Lilly Deutschland GmbH, Germany
Sabine Lischka-Wittmann, PhD is currently the European Medical Information Director for Eli Lilly & Company. She was previously the Senior Manager of the Medical Information and Medical Liaisons teams in Germany. Sabine is a highly experienced Medical Information manager: she has managed the German team for over 20 years. Sabine has lead numerous projects across the European region during her role as a European MedInfo Coordinator, including the implementation of Virtual MedInfo Teams in Europe to increase productivity, a quality assurance system for MedInfo responses, and the harmonization of process flows in this function. Sabine has presented at the DIA US Medical Communications workshop as well as the European Med Info conference.
Jill Voss, MSc
Head of Scientific Communications and Medical Information, Novartis Pharma AG, Switzerland
Jill is a medical information professional with more than 30 years’ experience in international, regional and affiliate roles in pharmaceutical and biotech companies, as well as 9 years providing strategic business and medical consultancy services. Jill has held leadership roles in medical communications, medical information and health informatics. Currently Jill is on assignment to Patient Engagement responsible for involving patients in the decision-making processes to develop treatments that will address real unmet needs. Jill is also the Past-President of the MILE association (Medical Information Leaders in Europe), a cross-industry collaboration.
Inês Afonso Gomes, MPharm
Senior Medical Information Specialist, Pfizer, Portugal
After her Master in Pharmaceutical Sciences, Inês did a post-graduation course in Pharmacotherapy and Pharmacoepidemiology in the Faculty of Pharmacy, Lisbon. She is currently working on her PhD thesis in Public Health on the epidemiology of breast cancer in Portugal. Prior to joining Pfizer, Inês worked in a Clinical Trial Unit and did laboratory work in a university research center. Since 2013, Inês has been working as a Medical Information Specialist (MIS) at Pfizer, aligned with the Oncology area. She is currently responsible for the handling of questions on multiple oncologic products and for directly contacting with both HCPs and patients. She has also been involved in several innovative content projects within her MedInfo role.
Evelyn R. Hermes-DeSantis, PharmD
Director, Research and Publications, phactMI, United States
Evelyn R. Hermes-DeSantis, PharmD, BCPS, is the Director for Research and Publications for phactMI and Professor Emerita at the Ernest Mario School of Pharmacy at Rutgers, the State University of New Jersey. She is dedicated to advancing and elevating the practice of medical information. She received both a BS in Pharmacy and a PharmD from Rutgers and completed a Drug Information specialty residency at the Medical College of Virginia Hospital in Richmond, Virginia prior to working at the University of Utah Hospital Drug Information Service. For 25 years she was the Director of Drug Information Services at Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital and a Clinical Professor at the Ernest Mario School of Pharmacy at Rutgers.
Sashka Hristoskova, PhD
Head Medical Imformation Excellence, Novartis, Switzerland
Sashka started her career in the pharmaceutical industry in the area of clinical research and development, where she was leading clinical trials in different therapy areas. Sashka then moved to medical affairs and had several roles as Medical Scientific Expert and Medical Director, both on regional and global level. In these roles, Sashka focused on medical education, experts engagement and publications. Sashka is currently Head Medical Information Excellence at Novartis.
Paula Daniela Scopetta
Medical Information Manager, Eli Lilly, Ireland
Paula is the Medical Information Manager for the Spanish Hub at Eli Lilly. Paula joined Lilly in July 2015 as a Medical Information Analyst providing support for the Spanish & Italian Hub. After being part of the successful go-live of the MI Transformation project for both countries, Paula took on additional scope through her work as a Hub point of contact, continuous improvement champion and customer experience team representative, supporting various regional and global initiatives. Paula holds a MSc in Pharmaceutical Chemistry and Technology and a Diploma in Project Management.
Rashel Wilson, PhD
Global Training & Metrics Lead, Biogen, Switzerland
Global Medical Information operational strategist & functional excellence lead with extensive experience in transforming business intelligence, customer insights and functional training programs into high impact, high visibility operations; thereby increasing the MI function’s value position. She earned her PhD in Marine Biology training in genetic and molecular methods for drug discovery. Rashel has broad experience developing effective learning journeys and managing big data. She has developed technical methods that have enhanced data extraction from challenging sources. She is highly motivated to communicate and implement meaningful change with reliable data, education, and effective solutions.
Christopher Blackford, MSc
MI Europe Operations Manager, Pfizer UK, United Kingdom
Chris joined the industry 9 years ago in frontline Medical Information with a background in Anthropology and Medicine. He has since transitioned into managing people and processes in Medical Information, covering several busy markets across Europe. He is experienced in leading diverse and multilingual teams in various locations and this includes both the vendor as well as ‘in-house’ business perspectives. Originally from Austria, Chris is currently based in the UK as MI Operations Manager for Pfizer. He is passionate about Quality and ensuring provision of excellent Medical Information by optimal use of systems and by taking cultural differences and customers’ needs into account.
Nancy Brandt, PharmD
Sr. Leader Medical Customer Experience, Genentech/Roche, United States
As a Senior Global Medical Information Leader in Genentech, Nancy drives innovation for medical communication while ensuring operational excellence across the affiliate countries to provide an optimal medical experience for healthcare providers and patients. One of her focus is to enhance analytic capabilities through machine learning and data harmonization to deliver better insights to support customer communication and medical planning. Prior to Genentech, Nancy was a clinical pharmacist with a range of experience from large research institutions to integrated ambulatory care centers. She is graduated a Doctorate in Pharmacy, and completed her clinical residency at Mount Sinai St-Luke’s-Roosevelt Hospital Center in New York City.
Anna Campuzano Garcia, DrSc
Medical Information Manager, Ferrer Internacional, Spain
After graduated in Pharmacy in the University of Barcelona, started her professional career in Madrid where she worked in Business Development and R&D projects. Also in Madrid did the Master in Pharmaceutical Company Management at the Instituto de Empresa. Back in Barcelona joined the company Ferrer, working first as Product Manager, and later as Medical Information manager, her current position. Recently graduated in Psychology and is an active member of the Medical Information Working Group under the auspices of the Spanish Medical Association of the Pharmaceutical Industry (AMIFE).
Angela Flores, MLIS
Medical Information Associate Director, Lilly Deutschland GmbH, Germany
Angela is Sr Manager with long experience in Medical Information. She has leaded Medical Information and Scientific Communication teams in Spain and since 2014 leads a multinational, multilingual and virtual Medical Information team in Europe, focused in implementing digital transformation. She is a teacher at the Health Evaluation and Access to Market Master (University Carlos III Madrid) and is a member of the MEDES committee; Medical Literature Database in Spanish. During 7 years she coordinated the Medical Information working group in AMIFE; the Spanish Association of Medical Professionals from the pharmaceutical industry.
James Milligan
Vice President Pharmacovigilance and Risk Management, Seqirus UK Limited, United Kingdom
Joined Industry more than 10 years ago after training in hospital medicine and neuro-immunology research in the UK. Interests from clinical practice include cardiology, neurology and rheumatology. Experience covering pharmacovigilance at all stages of lifecycle as well as multiple successful NDA and MAA submissions across major therapy areas. Currently leads a global group of Safety Physicians and Scientists across US and Sweden and covering therapy areas of Respiratory, Inflammation, Autoimmunity, Infection and Vaccines. James is actively involved promoting scientific thinking from basic sciences through to challenges of public health and real-world risk management.
Jane Raine, RPh
, Gilead, United Kingdom
UK Registered Pharmacist with extensive experience across industry and hospital sectors in Medical Affairs, Medical Information and Regulatory Affairs. Broad therapy area understanding including virology, cardiometabolism and in the oncology/haematology field for the last 5 years. Experience of planning and executing projects at international/local affiliate interface for both large multinational and small companies. Currently, the Regional Cell Therapy Medical Information Lead for Europe, Middle East, Australia and Canada.
Martina Vlkova
Consultant, ADAMAS Consulting Ltd, United Kingdom
Martina Vlkova, PhD is a broadly skilled Pharmacovigilance (PV) professional with extensive experience in the planning, conducting and reporting of pre-qualification and full PV systems audits for various stakeholders. Martina has been responsible for the management and delivery of global PV audit programmes and the development of PV systems for multiple Marketing Authorisation Holders (MAHs). She has been working with PrimeVigilance, s.r.o as a Head of Quality Assurance. Currently, Martina is the Consultant of ADAMAS Consulting Ltd. She received a Bachelors, Masters and postgraduate degree from the Czech University of Life Sciences (CULS) Prague. She has also presented at various conferences e.g DIA, including ISoP & UMC.
Jan De Wit
Director, Global Medical Information Vaccines, GSK, Belgium
Jan De Wit started his professional career as Intensive Care Nurse in IC Units for Neurosurgery and for Major Burn Injuries. After 9 years at university hospitals his passion for clinical research made him join the pharmaceutical industry. He then worked for 20 years in different therapy areas in R&D both in country and above country leading roles. When he moved to the Global Medical Affairs department of the Vaccines Business Unit 8 years ago he discovered a passion for Medical Information (MI) and the need to develop a dedicated global MI department. Jan is currently leading the Global MI department for Vaccines at GlaxoSmithKline. He is a member of MILE and has a special interest in content generation and AI.
Elizabeth Mapp
Director, Global MI/PV Quality Assurance, Propharma Group, United Kingdom
Elizabeth is the Director of Global Quality for the Medical Information and Pharmacovigilance services provided by ProPharma Group. She is responsible for leading compliance and quality assurance for MI, PV, and related services across all ProPharma Group MI PV locations worldwide. She has been leading the globalization and harmonization of ProPharma Group’s Quality Management Systems across its various sites around the world. She is also the Data Protection Manager for MI and PV within ProPharma Group, and alongside General Counsel has been guiding over 100 EU clients through the challenges of GDPR in 2018. Elizabeth has over 20 years’ experience in the Pharma Industry and is passionate about quality and continuous improvement.
Suzanne Reading
Medical Information Frontline Lead - Europe , Pfizer Ltd, United Kingdom
Suzanne has worked within the pharmaceutical industry for 15 years, the last 13 years dedicated to Medical Information. Suzanne has a passion towards all areas of Medical Information, ensuring the highest level of support to customers through multi-channel interactions and expert medical responses. Within her current role, she is the lead for vendor oversight and management across Europe. Ensuring the partnership based on a specific process, outlined in the contract between client and vendor. Suzanne has previously held lead roles in UK and Irish vendor management, European in-bound channels, European Medical Information processes for enquiry intake and Medical Information Subject Matter Expert for audits and inspections.
Robyn Rennick, PhD
Director, Medical Information, GlaxoSmithKline, United Kingdom
Robyn is currently working as Global Medical Information Director at GSK. She has held a number of medical positions in the company starting in the MI team in Australia. Her experience spans a number of different roles across the Pharma, Vaccines and Consumer Business Units focussing on different therapy areas. These roles have been at both regional and global levels and included time working in a Scientific Communications role working on the communication and publication strategy for a number of products in development, before moving back to Medical Information.
Larry J Davis, PharmD
Professor of Practice, Clinical and Regulatory Affairs, Keck Graduate Institute, School of Applied Life Sciences, United States
Larry is Professor of Practice, Clinical and Regulatory Affairs in the Henry E. Riggs School of Applied Life Sciences at the Keck Graduate Institute and currently VP, Medical and Clinical Affairs at EVERSANA. He is a pharmaceutical industry professional with over 20 years of experience in the areas of Medical and Clinical Affairs, Drug Safety/Pharmacovigilance, and Quality and Compliance. He has an extensive clinical practice and academic teaching background having formerly served for many years on the clinical faculty at the University of California, San Francisco School of Pharmacy where he was Associate Clinical Professor.
Vinod Koshy, MPharm, RPh
Head of Medical Information and Promotional Compliance, Aspen Pharmacare, Ireland
Vinod is the Head of Aspen medical information and promotional compliance function based in Ireland. Vinod is working in Aspen since 2012 and was primarily responsible for managing the implementation of central medical information function and promotional compliance function. Vinod worked in ICON Clinical Research as Study/Project Lead before Joining Aspen. Before Joining ICON, Vinod worked as a community pharmacist in Dubai. Vinod is a qualified pharmacist who completed his Masters in Pharmacy and also hold degree in Pharmaceutical Marketing. Vinod recently completed his Masters in Pharmaceutical Medicine from Trinity College, Dublin
Preeti Verma, DrMed
Head of Delivery, Drug Safety Operations, BioClinica, India
Dr. Preeti Verma is an MS in OBG with over 15 years of experience in Medicine and PVG. She is Head of Operations and Delivery,drug safety, MICC and regulatory affairs.Prior, to this, she was she Associate Vice President, Pharmacovigilance Operations at APCER.She has experience in ICSR processing/Signal Management/Aggregate Report/quality management/handling audits&inspections exhibiting rapid progression for excellence,process implementation/improvements/transition and driving innovation. In her corporate career, she has been associated with various therapeutic areas as Dermatology,Endocrinology,Neurology&Respiratory diseases.
Suzanne C. Meenan
Medical Information Group Lead, Roche Products Ltd, UK, United Kingdom
As a Medical Information Group lead, she manages the Medical Information and Library functions. She has been involved in the development of the company’s healthcare professional portal and the recent re-launch of the Roche UK website. Suzanne has a degree in Biochemistry and a post-graduate qualification in Management. She previously worked in Medical Information, Resource Management and R&D Strategy at GSK, and as an independent consultant in medical communications where she worked on the development of several training apps and portals. She returned to industry in 2017, initially joining Roche in Healthcare Compliance where she developed their UK compliance policies on implementation of digital assets and promotional email activities.
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