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Novotel Barcelona City

Nov 15, 2017 9:00 AM - Nov 16, 2017 5:00 PM

Avenida Diagonal 201 (Entrada por Ciutat de Granada), 08018 Barcelona, Spain

11th Annual European Medical Information and Communications Conference and Exhibition

The only European forum dedicated to medical information and communications, organised by medical information and communications professionals.

Speakers

Janet  Davies

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.

Lillian  Auberson, PhD

Lillian Auberson, PhD

DIrector Medical Information EMEA, Argenx Switzerland SA, Switzerland

Lillian Auberson has over 21 years of experience in global and regional leadership roles in medical affairs.  She has developed strategic and innovative above-country operational frameworks in highly regulated settings, including medical information and patient support programs (PSPs). Together with her industry peers, Lillian has contributed to elevating the strategic importance of the medical information function for customer engagement in Europe. Basel, Switzerland is home for Lillian. She has two grown daughters who live in Basel and in Luzern. She is passionate about history and is happy to give anyone a tour of the different historic neighborhoods of Basel.

Isha  Bhattacharyya, PhD

Isha Bhattacharyya, PhD

Senior Director Global Medical Services, Med Communications, Inc, United States

After graduating from the University of Paris XI, France with a Doctorate in Pharmacy, Isha worked in a hospital in Paris before moving into research and development in Nippon Roussel K.K. in Tokyo, Japan, now incorporated into Sanofi. After moving to the US, she worked in several medical affairs functions at companies such as Wyeth, GSK and Shire. Isha has managed multi-functional teams and held roles of increasing responsibility in medical information, clinical trial patient recruitment & retention and publications. In 2013, Isha joined Med Communications as Global Lead. Med Communications is a global medical affairs and pharmacovigilance service provider supporting the pharmaceutical, biotechnology and medical device industries.

Michelle  Bridenbaker, BSN, MS

Michelle Bridenbaker, BSN, MS

Vice-President at MILE, Head of Global Medical Information, , Recordati Rare Disease, 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

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

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.

Isabelle C. Widmer, DrMed

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

Hakan Aribas, MD

CEO and Founder, ORION Healthcare, 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.

Joanne  Gibson, RN

Joanne Gibson, RN

Director, Medical Customer Interface - Europe/Middle East/Africa, Pfizer, Inc., United Kingdom

Joanne is currently the Team Lead for Pfizer EMEA Medical Information frontline regional operations. She is responsible for ensuring the delivery of a professional quality service to Pfizer EMEA customers along with ensuring compliance of the regulatory body requirements and internal processes across the region. She has significant experience in in-sourcing, out-sourcing, and off-shoring frontline MI operations. She has worked with numerous vendors and launched multiple contact centres. Her current operation includes a hybrid of in-sourcing and out-sourcing for the majority of the EMEA region. She developed a robust quality monitoring program that has been implemented across the Pfizer global MI departments.

Sabine  Lischka-Wittmann, DrSc

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.

Angela  Flores, MLIS

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.

Robyn  Rennick, PhD

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.

Jill  Voss, MSc

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.

Vivek  Ahuja, DrMed

Vivek Ahuja, DrMed

Vice President, Global Pharmacovigilance, ArisGlobal, United States

Vivek Ahuja, Vice President of Global Pharmacovigilance at ArisGlobal, utilizes his extensive experience in product development and patient safety by supporting innovations to accelerate great ideas and taking lifesaving solutions to scale. He has served in leadership roles with global/regional responsibilities for the past ten of his fifteen years of work experience in complex multi-country, cross cultural environments. Before joining ArisGlobal he worked with PATH as Director of R&D, Baxter Healthcare and GVK Biosciences.

David  Bowers, PharmD

David Bowers, PharmD

Senior Director, Operations, PPD, United States

David Bowers has 20+ years of experience managing pharmaceutical contact center programs at PPD. As Senior Director of Operations, David supports global medical information for pharmaceutical, biotechnology and medical device clients. He has a background in pharmacy, with a Doctorate of Pharmacy from the University of North Carolina in the United States. During his time at PPD, David has worked with over 30 client contact center programs providing medical information, pharmacovigilance and product complaint processing, patient adherence programs, REMS support and other services. David’s recent experience includes implementing contact center operations in the US, Europe, Latin America and Asia.

Novella  Calcinaghi, PhD

Novella Calcinaghi, PhD

Global Medical Information Leader, F. Hoffmann-La Roche Ltd, Switzerland

Novella Calcinaghi is a Global Medical Information Leader at Roche. She is a Pharmacist with PhD in Neuroscience from University of Zurich . Novella has experience in Safety and Medical Affairs at Roche. Before Roche, she worked for several years in Research and Development both in academia and industry. She is passionate about medical information and how it can empower the HCP and patients in making informed decisions.

Jan  De Wit

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.

Miriam  Fenelon, PhD

Miriam Fenelon, PhD

Medical Information Operations Lead , Europe + Canada, Pfizer Ltd, United Kingdom

Miriam has a background in Molecular and Reproductive Biology and has previously worked in Science Communication. She has worked in Pfizer Medical Information for the last 19 years, working across customer-facing, medical writing and operational roles. Miriam is currently the Operations Lead for Europe and Canada ensuring that our MI systems, digital channels and tools as well as our MI teams are ready for the future evolution of MI. Miriam is still motivated by both Science Communication and Medical Information and is passionate about empowering patients and Health Care Professionals access to scientific education through established and digital solutions.

Damien  Forrester

Damien Forrester

Medical Information Frontline Lead, Europe, Pfizer Ltd, United Kingdom

Damien holds a business degree from Western Sydney University, and has over 10 years’ experience managing customer facing teams in the fields of insurance, emergency medical assistance, and workplace health & safety. In 2014 he moved from Australia to the UK to join Pfizer Medical Information’s European operation. In his role as a Medical Customer Interface Manager Damien supports the oversight of frontline operations for EMEA, ensuring consistency in the quality, compliance and operational systems across the super-region. Damien is passionate about working in a broad region with a unified approach to customer service, whilst still honouring the country and cultural nuances that ensure a positive customer journey.

Evelyn R. Hermes-DeSantis, PharmD

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

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.

Vinod  Koshy, MPharm, RPh

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

Marianne Wittrup Larsen, PhD, MSc

Marianne Wittrup Larsen, PhD, MSc

Medical Information and Patient Safety Manager, Astrazeneca, Sweden

Marianne started her career in basic biochemistry research, driving international projects as well as teaching at university, before moving into the pharmaceutical industry. Marianne has worked broadly with medical information in the Nordic region across therapeutic areas in several positions and companies. She has also worked with patient safety, training and vendor management, again with a Nordic perspective. Lately Marianne has worked with medical information and has just recently moved into medical affairs.

James  Milligan

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.

Marie-Claire  Pickaert

Marie-Claire Pickaert

Deputy Director General, EFPIA, Belgium

Ms Pickaert is the Deputy Director General of EFPIA, member of EFPIA’s General Management. Since 2008, Ms Pickaert is coordinating EFPIA’s ethics and compliance activities. Following the adoption of the 2010 Leadership Statement calling for greater transparency, accountability and ethical behaviour within and industry framework of self-regulation, she took the lead of activities including the creation of the EFPIA e4ethics platform and the development of the EFPIA Disclosure Code. She is acting as the Chief Ethics & Compliance Officer at EFPIA. In 2015, she was asked to take the role of Ambassador to the Medical Communities, coordinating EFPIA’s relationships with medical & scientific societies, including learned societies.

Monica  Rojo Abril

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.

Thorsten  Rothweiler

Thorsten Rothweiler

Head of Professional Services, Explicatos, Germany

Thorsten Rothweiler has a graduation as Bachelor Professional of Business CCI (IHK Hochrhein-Bodensee). He started his Career at Roche Pharma AG in Grenzach / Germany in 2011 in the Medical Information department, where he is responsible for any kind of data analytics. Furthermore, he is a member of different regional and global reporting groups with a strong focus on improving the quality of Medical Information data.

Andrea  Schwander, DrSc

Andrea Schwander, DrSc

Medical Digital Innovation & Transformation Directorr, F. Hoffmann-La Roche Ltd, Switzerland

Andrea is a group leader in Global Medical Information responsible for the Operations & Collaborations Excellence Team working for Roche for almost 12 years. Being a Biologist by training Andrea started as a Scientific Information Specialist in the German Roche affiliate. Becoming a team lead in Medical Information in the affiliate she was responsible for the MI Quality processes, IT systems, Publication support and the literature search team. After a short term assignment in the Global MI team in San Francisco, a GMI leader role for the respiratory portfolio back in Basel, Andrea is now again responsible to oversee global IT solutions for MI, Processes and Systems to support the Roche Medical Information Network.

Celia  Wilson, MS

Celia Wilson, MS

Global Medical Information Specialist, Excelya, France

Celia is an experienced MI consultant and Project Manager, supporting both the industry and providers on a range of projects from outsourcing to training curriculum development. She has worked in several global senior positions within Medical Information over the last few years. Celia loves that there is always something new to discover about Med Info and is herself passionate about sharing her enthusiasm for the field! Her specific areas of interest are on how to best transform information to improve understanding, and how to approach innovation and technology with pragmatism and purpose to meet all stakeholders requirements.

Simon  Young

Simon Young

Director and Head of Commercial, Blue Latitude Health, United Kingdom

Simon is a Director at Blue Latitude Health. Over the last 13 years he has worked in over 30 markets, across a range of clients and project types; from business transformation and capability building to brand and HCP launch strategies to digital strategy, transformation and optimisation projects. Simon has worked with Lilly, Janssen, Novartis, Pfizer and MILE/EFPIA specifically on medical information projects. He has helped to define the future strategy and positioning of medical information services; develop concepts for new informational service delivery models and also optimise existing solutions and services targeted at HCPs.

Richard T. Lippincott, RPh

Richard T. Lippincott, RPh

Executive Director, PPD, United States

Rich Lippincott is Executive Director of Operations in the medical communications group for PPD. In this role he is responsible for PPD’s global medical information contact centers. He has eighteen years of experience in medical information contact center operations. In addition, his experience also includes post-approval product safety, patient adherence, REMS, and in-bound/out-bound contact center work in both the clinical and post-approval areas for the pharmaceutical and biotech industry. Mr. Lippincott has a bachelor’s degree in pharmacy from the Duquesne University.

Eva  Loew, PharmD

Eva Loew, PharmD

Head Medical Information, Novartis Pharma GmbH, Germany

Eva is currently a Grouphead Medical Information for Novartis Pharma in Germany. She has 18 years experience in pharmaceutical industry within medical information, also as Medical Officer for Cardiometabolic franchise. Within Medical Information Eva gained experience in cooperation with external first level providers and managed different cross-divisonal and cross-country Medical Information cooperation projects and teams within Novartis. Eva is member of the subcommittee Medical Information of the industry association (vfa) in Germany and holds a degree for “special pharmacist for pharmaceutical information” and is responsible for pharmaceutical information education for pharmacists within Novartis Pharma Germany.

Mike  Bellis

Mike Bellis

Partner, PEN CX, United Kingdom

Mike’s personal alarm clock is to improve the health and wellbeing of people served by the Pharmaceutical and Life Science sectors. During his time as the European lead for Customer Experience at Pfizer he successfully pioneered the adoption of practices from other sectors to address challenges commonly faced in Pharma; becoming the first pharma company executive globally to be awarded CCXP status (Certified Customer eXperience Professional) by the recognised professionals’ association, the CXPA. He has since co-founded a specialist customer experience management consultancy ‘PEN CX’ to help organisations deliver their ideal experience to improve brand perception, loyalty and advocacy.

Philippe  Sorel Takam, PharmD, PhD, MSc, RPh

Philippe Sorel Takam, PharmD, PhD, MSc, RPh

Senior Global Medical Info Lead, Ipsen, United Kingdom

Phil is a time-honoured healthcare professional and holds a Doctorate in Pharmacy (Pharm.D.), a Master Degree in Pharmaceutical Science and three Post-Graduate Diplomas in Medicines Information, Patient’s Clinical Management and Business Administration. Throughout his professional achievements over 16 years, he has played a broad cross functional senior role with tier 1 and tier 2 global pharmaceutical companies in planning and executing the setting of medical affairs/medical information platforms/programs at regional and global level.

Bernhard  Gandolf

Bernhard Gandolf

Certified Management Consultant, Managing Director, Eisq GmbH & Co. KG, Germany

Bernhard Gandolfs is Managing Director at eisq GmbH&Co.Kg. He is an expert in Operational Excellence and Vendor Management. Especially HealthCare Companies highly value his advice. He is certified as Management Consultant, eisq since 2009. Bernhard discovered his passion for service already during his studies at University in Vienna. After several years of collecting experience at consultancies, he founded his own company, eisq. He was Business Unit Director between 2003-2008 and Senior Consultant between 2000-2002.

Fiona  Syndercombe, MSc

Fiona Syndercombe, MSc

Manager, UK Medical, Biogen Idec Ltd, United Kingdom

Fiona Syndercombe is a Medical Manager at Biogen, UK. After receiving her MSc in Toxicology in 2007 she started her career as a Poison Information Specialist at the National Poison Information Service which sparked her interest in Medical Information. Subsequently in 2012 Ms Syndercombe moved into the pharmaceutical industry and has held MI roles at both Bayer Healthcare and Biogen; she has experience in various aspects of MI including front-line activities, process improvement, training and also oversight of MI and Copy Approval service providers for the UK and Ireland. Her current role recently involved transitioning to a new Medical Information service provider.

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