Conference Speakers

Damian has held leadership positions for Pfizer Medical Affairs in Europe and the United States as well as at a Global level with a particular focus on medical communications and late stage product development. He is now the Vice President Medical Affairs for the International Developed Markets (Europe, Japan and Developed Asia) for Internal Medicine.

Faisal joined BMS in July 2016 initially to lead the UK and Ireland Medical organisation, and is now Head of the European Medical group.  He has held a variety of senior leadership roles, most recently at Novartis in the USA, where he was the Vice President of US Clinical Development and Medical Affairs Oncology.  

Dr du Plessis is currently EVP, Medical Affairs at Kyowa Kirin International and is a senior pharmaceutical executive with 25 years’ experience mainly in Medical Affairs. He has extensive experience building international teams, driving change and working in regulated markets for GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) across Europe, the Americas, Middle East, Africa, Australasia and Japan.

Professor Bas Bloem is a consultant neurologist in the Department of Neurology, Radboud University Medical Center in the Netherlands. He received his MD degree (with honor) at Leiden University Medical Centre in 1993. In 1994, he obtained his PhD degree in Leiden, based on a thesis entitled “Postural reflexes in Parkinson’s disease.” He was trained as a neurologist between 1994-2000. He received additional training as movement disorders specialist during fellowships at The Parkinson’s Institute in Sunnyvale, California (with Dr. J.W. Langston) and at the Institute of Neurology, Queen Square, London (with Prof. N.P. Quinn and Prof. J.C. Rothwell).

In 2002, he founded and became medical director of the Parkinson Centre Nijmegen (ParC), which was recognized from 2005 onwards as a center of excellence for Parkinson’s disease. Together with Dr. Marten Munneke, he also developed ParkinsonNet, an innovative health care concept of professional networks for Parkinson’s patients covering all of the Netherlands (www.parkinsonnet.nl). In September 2008, he was appointed as professor of neurology, with movement disorders as a special area of interest.

Prof. Bloem has published over 650 publications, including over 500 peer-reviewed international papers. His H-index is 81 (Google Scholar).

Andrew Powrie-Smith is Executive Director of Communications & Partnerships at the European Federation of Pharmaceutical Industries & Associations (EFPIA).

Prior to working at EFPIA, Andrew was Director of Reputation and Stakeholder Engagement at the Association of the British Pharmaceutical Industry (ABPI), in addition to his role as country Director in Scotland.

Before joining the pharmaceutical industry, Andrew was Director of the British Lung Foundation in Scotland and Northern Ireland. He worked in the UK and internationally with a number of NGOs including Amnesty International, Scope and the Red Cross, where he was also member of the International Emergency Response Unit.

Isma Benattia, M.D., MBA,  currently serves as the Head of Medical for the European headquarters and  affiliate Medical teams, across all therapeutic areas. Isma is very passionate about patient involvement in the Research & Development of innovative medicines, the life-cycle management of marketed products and is working extensively with various stakeholders to involve patients in the benefit-risk assessment of medicines.

Prior to her current role, Isma was responsible for advancing Amgen’s leadership in Global Patient Safety & Labeling.  With over 20 years of industry experience, she has held various roles with increasing level of responsibility in different organizations.  Prior to joining Amgen, she served as Vice President and Head of Safety Surveillance and Risk Management at Sanofi Genzyme. She has also worked in Clinical Development, Marketing, Medical Affairs and Executive Management at Eli Lilly France, Pfizer, and Wyeth Pharmaceuticals.

Isma Benattia received her medical degree from Faculte de Medecine d’Alger and Faculte de Medecine Pitie Salpetriere Paris, specializing in Psychiatry with a focus on the pharmacology of psychotropics.  She also earned Master of Business Administration at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Sloan School of Management, as well as Master in Bioethics from the University of Pennsylvania

Dr Michael Devoy is the Executive Vice President for Medical Affairs and Pharmacovigilance for the Pharmaceuticals Division at Bayer AG. He is also the Chief Medical Officer of Bayer AG. Dr Devoy joined the former Schering AG in 2005 as Senior Vice President of Global Medical Development and was appointed to his current position in 2014.

Isabelle has over 25 years of international Management experience in the Pharmaceutical and Consumer goods industries, leading cross-functional and country teams across the globe. From her previous Senior Vice President role, leading the Global Neurosciences Franchise at Ipsen, she was appointed to the new transformation role of Chief Patient Affairs Officer reporting to Global Medical Affairs in March 2016. 

Bora has partnered with medical affairs organizations to create impact and value for patients and healthcare providers globally. He is the leader of ZS’s medical affairs service line in Europe, which is part of the R&D excellence practice area. Bora is also a member of MAPS Digital Strategy Focus Area Working Group building awareness and understanding of digital opportunity and drive transformation with the broader medical affairs community.

Sreeram (Ram) Ramagopalan is the Global Head for Real World Evidence for Market Access at Roche. Dr Ramagopalan’s team strategically plans and executes real world research studies to obtain and maintain access for Roche medicines. He is an international expert in real world evidence with over 260 peer reviewed publications, and is regularly invited to speak at meetings internationally.  

Nansa Burlet is a qualified MD with master’s degrees in public health and business administration. She recently joined Kyowa Kirin International as the Patient Partnership Lead. Her ambition is to collaborate with patients to design clinically relevant and convenient treatments, with the ultimate goal of empowering patients to better manage their own condition.

Catrinel – VP, Head of Global Medical Affairs at UCB Biopharma – is a physician and senior pharmaceutical medicine leader passionate about delivering value for Patients and working for People.

Thriving at the intersection of science, drug development and patient care. Humbled and excited by innovation in healthcare and pharmaceutical business & new opportunities to better serve the patients (precision medicine, digital, health ecosystem solutions).

Catrinel has a track record in excellent leading of diverse teams and matrix projects; equally engaged in developing the strategy and architecture, and bringing them to life operationally. Experience and passion for international exposure in multicultural and interdisciplinary environments.

Along her 22 years’ experience in pharma industry she worked in diverse Medical Affairs roles – local, EU and global – covering team leadership lifecycle & portfolio strategy, pre-launch & launch, working with Pfizer and Amgen before her current role with UCB.

Lori Mouser is the Global Head of Medical Customer Engagement at F. Hoffman La Roche. Leading MSL teams for over 17 years, Lori brings the experience from a range of therapeutic areas. She has US and Global exposure and operates with a commitment to creating solutions through collaboration.

Dr Berkeley Phillips became a Member of the Royal College of Physicians in 1996 and the Faculty of Pharmaceutical Medicine in 2004 and has been a pharmaceutical physician within the Medical Department of Pfizer for the past nineteen years. He was appointed as UK Medical Director for Pfizer in January 2009.

Dr Loubna Bouarfa is a machine learning scientist turned entrepreneur. She is the founder and CEO of OKRA Technologies an artificial intelligence data analytics company for healthcare. OKRA allows healthcare professionals to combine all their data in one place and generate actionable, evidence-based insights in real time, to save and improve human lives.

Jessica Hernández Brichis has over 17 years of experience in biopharmaceutical industry, most of her career dedicated to Medical & Scientific Affairs.  During the last 7 years Jessica has headed medical teams as Medical Director in Spain, Portugal, UK, Ireland, Germany, Austria and Switzerland. 

Roger Wilson was diagnosed with a sarcoma in 1999 and has had six recurrences. He has been a patient advocate since 2002 working in the UK’s cancer research community, chairing a number of national groups in prevention, survivorship, and palliative care. He is the longest serving member of the national NCRI Sarcoma Research Group.

Colin Sims is currently EVP, Strategy at Kyowa Kirin International, where his responsibilities include Project Management, Digital, Market Excellence, Commercial Analytics, Franchise leadership (CNS, Nephrology, Oncology), and Strategy.

Volker Liebenberg, Director Medical Affairs EMEA for illumina, is a physician with more than 15 years of experience in the IVD industry. Based in Berlin, he interacts with leading laboratories and medical institutions across the globe driving the generation and dissemination of evidence proving the value of diagnostics. 

Lianna Ishihara is currently Senior Director and Head of CORDS (Center for Observational Research and Data Science) Markets at Bristol-Myers-Squibb, based in Uxbridge, UK. She holds a PhD in Epidemiology from Cambridge University in the UK and is an ILR-5 level qualified coach. 

Dr. João Dias is an honors graduate of the University of Helsinki. He received his Licentiate/MSc in biochemistry from the Universities of Porto, Portugal and Wageningen, the Netherlands; and his PhD studies in Immuno-Oncology and Gene Therapy at Helsinki University Central Hospital and Helsinki University, faculty of Medicine. He is currently responsible for international medical affairs and clinical development for the medical devices and diagnostics portfolio at Haemonetics which includes Hemostasis Management, Cell Salvage and Transfusion Management products.

Raphael is founder of a consulting firm that supports medical device companies with high quality services in the areas of Medical Affairs & Governance, Clinical Research, Regulatory Affairs and Business Development. In addition, with access to a continuously growing international network of industry professionals and by partnering with chartered psychologists, his firm provides unique headhunting services for start-ups, scale-ups as well as mature companies. 

With more than 18 years of experience in the pharmaceutical industry, Dr de Abadal has experience in multiple therapeutic areas, including oncology, endocrinology and movement disorders as well as operational and strategic Medical Affairs experience in diverse disciplines of medical affairs and product commercialization, at local and global roles, leading compliance and SOP/policy efforts, quality management systems, data generation, medical information, field-based medical teams (MSLs), safety, medical communication & publications.

Since entering the medical communications field in 2010, Sarah has worked with and managed scientific writing teams for multiple pre- and post-launch brands and therapeutic areas including immunology, cardiology, diabetes, neurology, mood disorders, pain and virology/vaccines. Sarah has provided scientific consultancy in publications, medical affairs and marketing.  

William is a Director, Quality and Risk Management, Global Medical and Safety Governance, with wide experience working across Africa, Asia Pacific, Middle East and Commonwealth Independent States at GlaxoSmithKline. In his role, William he is responsible for providing technical support to Country Medical Teams across 80+ distinct countries in Medical Affairs, governance, pharmacovigilance, medical information and human subject research.

Kirtida Pandya holds the position of Executive Director and Head of Medical Services and Operations within the Sandoz US Policy, Medical and External Engagement team. In this role, she has proactively facilitated the growth and transformation of this team. As a key executive member of the US Medical Affairs team, she has built and led a best in-class Medical Services and Operations organization with oversight of Operations, Program Management, Medical Information, Medical Communications, Training, Medical Compliance, Material Approval Process, Medical Education Grants, IITs, Managed Access Programs and Medical Compliance areas. 

Deirdre joined Sandoz in July 2018 as a Medical Affairs Lead in the Global Medical Affairs team in Small Molecules. She is responsible for leading Excellence in Medical Affairs specifically focusing on innovation and excellence in medical education and external engagement, understanding current trends and benchmarking, providing strategic direction for KPIs, metrics and analytics and establishing appropriate engagement and collaboration with country, regional and global medical associates (Sandoz and Novartis).