2017 Speaking Faculty

Amy L. Blickensderfer received her Doctor of Pharmacy from University of Missouri-Kansas City and completed a Pharmacy Practice Residency at Barnes-Jewish Hospital in St. Louis, MO. With over 16 years of industry experience in a variety of Medical Affairs roles across multiple therapeutic areas, Dr. Blickensderfer offers a unique perspective on how Real World Evidence can be effectively utilized with a variety of audiences. She has previously been a Medical Science Liaison, Managed Care Liaison, and has also managed these types of teams. Currently, Dr. Blickensderfer is the Head of Innovation & Partnerships at Novartis Pharmaceuticals within the US Health Economics & Outcomes Research group. She is responsible for leading the Medical strategy and support of all value-based contracting efforts for the Innovative Medicines portfolio.

Arthur is the head of medical science at Alcon, a Novartis Division, and leads the field based surgical MSL team. He comes from Calgary, Canada and holds a degree in mechanical engineering, a doctorate in biomedical engineering, and an executive MBA specializing in healthcare marketing. He developed an image-guided treatment for uterine fibroids using ultrasound waves and was a Gates foundation fellow involved in starting three biotech companies. Arthur started his career at an Israeli start-up leading clinical applications, professional education and KOL management. Since then he has had medical affairs experience in the fields of interventional radiology, radiology, urology, gynecology, oncology, endocrinology prior to moving into eye care. Before Alcon, Arthur was a medical liaison and a medical lead for Prolensa and Lotemax Gel at Bausch and Lomb, and now he and his team cover the entire Alcon surgical portfolio. Arthur’s career highlight was representing Alcon in Cambodia on a SEE international medical mission trip last year. Arthur resides in Plano, TX with his wife and three kids. He enjoys traveling, running, biking, skiing, playing the piano, coaching soccer and volunteering as a board member with a few non-profit organizations. He is an also an editor for the Medical Science Liaison Society and an adjunct faculty at St Joseph’s University teaching global corporate strategy.

Paul is a clinical pharmacist by training with a fellowship in Health Economics and Outcomes Research (HEOR). He graduated with honors from The University of Oklahoma (BSci Pharmacy, �?93) and 2 years later from the University of Texas (PharmD, �?95). His HEOR fellowship was completed at the University of South Carolina and sponsored by Novartis (’97). He started his career in HEOR at Parke-Davis/Pfizer in Ann Arbor, MI before moving to DFW and working for 14 years at Alcon. While at Alcon, he was in HEOR as a researcher, clinical development, and for the last 8 years started and ran a medical affairs team. Paul is well-published in HEOR as well as pre-clinical and clinical pharmaceutical studies. Since 2011, he has held various roles of increasing responsibility in field HEOR with BMS, Sunovion, and now Celgene.

Paul and his wife Shelly are parents of 3 … one girl and two boys: ages 21, 19, and 18. Two are at university and one is in his senior year at a military academy. With his family Paul enjoys serving at his church, volunteer work, skiing, fishing, camping, wake surfing, and large game hunting in Colorado and Wyoming.

A Physician Executive Leader experienced in Product Life Cycle Management in Global/US Surgical Device and Pharmaceutical Industries, multiple disciplines of academic/clinical Medicine, Business Development/Implementation and Leadership -building/empowering Matrix-driven, cross-functional scientific driven business organizations.

His career spans over 35 years from Rural Private Practice, to working in an Academic/Staff Model HMO, to becoming an Experienced Global Medical Affairs’ Executive Physician in the Pharmaceutical, Biotech, Surgical Device and Healthcare arenas.

After completing a BS in Biology at Baylor University, he earned an MD Degree from Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, Texas. He performed a residency in Primary Care/Family Medicine at the UT Southwestern HSC @ John Peter Smith Hospital in Fort Worth, Texas followed by a rewarding career in Clinical/Academic Primary Care. He received training as a General Surgeon at Scott and White Memorial Hospital in Temple, Texas, where he practiced for 25 years. He is a decorated Flight Surgeon in the US Air Force Reserve and for 28 years has been a Professor at Texas A&M; Health Science Center College of Medicine.

In 2003, he moved to the Pharmaceutical Industry starting at Schering-Plough, where he held a senior position in Global Medical Affairs for HCV, HIV, Oncology, Allergy and CV. He became the Area Chief Medical Officer for sanofi-Aventis in all therapeutic areas for the US – Southwest. At Alcon R&D; (a Novartis company), he began as a Senior Medical Director and was promoted to the Global Medical Affairs Franchise Head of all Surgical Ophthalmic devices to include cornea, cataract and retina. He then took a leadership position at Merck to launch Zepetier. Currently, he is the VP of Field Medical Affairs at Mallinkcrodt Pharmaceuticals.

Dr. Cortes brings extensive experience in the surgical and clinical practice/research of Ophthalmologic/General Surgery (to include orthopedic and urologic), CV (including thrombolytics), Allergy (Immunology and Inflammation), Metabolic (Diabetes), Virology (HCV/HIV) ,Oncology (Solid tumors), Autoimmune/Rare Diseases (ECP) and Pain Management (MMA).

Instrumental in the final Phase IIIb and IV research/launch of third generation Cataract Phacoemulsion Instrumentation/IOLs, Retinal Surgical Instrumentation for AMD, Glaucoma shunts and Femtosecond Laser Technology, Virology (HCV/HIV), CV (thrombolytics for ACS), Oncology and Immunology/Allergy with oversight of over 300 studies and 825 publications.

Dawn has nineteen years of pharmaceutical industry experience with a focus on and passion for the Medical Affairs function. She spent 14 years in the US market in various roles within Medical Affairs focused on operational excellence. In 2012, she helped establish the Global Medical Excellence function and then went to Japan for three years to establish the Medical Excellence function in that emerging market. Much of her experience has centered around driving an increase in the contribution and value that Medical Affairs brings to the business through strategic planning, metrics, capability development and communication strategies.

In her role as PaCe Excellence Director, Dawn is responsible for the strategic direction and leadership of the capability programs to elevate patient insight and engagement skills to help teams effectively understand patient needs and co-create solutions with patients. She also facilitates enterprise-level collaborations to develop robust patient-oriented risk management and governance frameworks.

Dr. Erin Drew, M.D., is a Medical Science Liaison for the Respiratory Division of GlaxoSmithKline pharmaceutical company. She taught high school Physics and Chemistry after earning her Bachelor of Science degree from Howard University in Washington, DC. Dr. Drew earned her medical degree and completed her Pediatric residency at the University of Maryland Medical System in Baltimore, Maryland.

Prior to joining GSK in 2002, Dr. Drew practiced General Pediatrics for 10 years in Baltimore, MD. As a member of the Associates Program at the University of Maryland medical school, she served as a teacher and community mentor to medical students and pediatric residents while running her private practice.

During her years at GSK, Dr. Drew has supported numerous launches, served as a speaker and provided clinical support for the Respiratory and Immunology MSL teams. She develops and maintains relationships with Key Opinion Leaders as well as Clinical Investigators. She currently provides scientific support for our entire Respiratory Portfolio (7 products) for MD, DC and DE.

Robert (“Bobby”) Faison is the Central Region Oncology Medical Affairs Field Director for Astellas. He leads a team of 6 MSLs supporting Xtandi, Tarceva, and pipeline compounds for various solid tumors and hematologic malignancies. He earned his Pharm D degree from Mercer University, Atlanta, GA and completed a Pediatric Critical Care Residency at All Children’s Hospital in St Petersburg, FL. He began his career as a Clinical Pharmacist at University Community Hospital in Tampa, FL then left clinical practice to pursue a career in the pharmaceutical industry as an MSL at Astra Zeneca supporting their Oncology portfolio in breast and prostate cancer. He has over 17 years of Industry experience in Medical Affairs, leading MSL teams at AstraZeneca, JNJ/Ortho-biotech, Boehringer-Ingelheim and Astellas. His skills and experience have been integral to multiple successful Oncology drug launches, to building and developing new MSL teams, and mentoring in the Oncology Medical Affairs community.

Dr. Dawn Flick is a Senior Director of Registries in US Medical Affairs at Celgene Corporation. Prior to coming to Celgene in 2014, Dawn led U.S. oncology registry studies in Medical Affairs at Genentech for 7 years. She fully appreciates the analytical challenges and tremendous value of real-world clinical data to Medical Affairs’ medical teams, internal and external stakeholders, and ultimately to the broader medical community and patients.

Dr. Flick received her doctorate in Pharmacoepidemiology from Harvard School of Public Health. She also worked as a community pharmacist for over 20 years.

Chris Garabedian is currently Chairman and CEO of Xontogeny, a company focused on the management of early stage life sciences companies from preclinical to cinical proof-of-concept. Previously, Chris served as the President and Chief Executive Officer of Sarepta Therapeutics from 2011 to 2015, an RNA-based technology company focused on rare and infectious diseases, where he advanced multiple drugs into clinical trials, including a leading program in muscular dystrophy that led to a product approval in 2016.

Chris also served as Vice President of Corporate Strategy for Celgene from 2007 to 2010 where he was responsible for strategic planning, M&A;, portfolio review and other strategic initiatives. Prior to Celgene, Chris worked at Gilead Sciences, Inc., from 1997 to 2005 where he served in a number of global leadership roles, including as Vice President of Corporate Development, Vice President of Marketing, and Vice President of Medical Affairs. While at Gilead Sciences, Chris's responsibilities ranged from managing corporate development initiatives, including portfolio review and strategic planning, M&A;/business development, and leading four global product launches. Chris also held various commercial development positions at COR Therapeutics, Inc. from 1998 to 1999 and at Abbott Laboratories from 1994 to 1997.

Chris is a frequent speaker across a variety of topics at industry conferences. He also serves as a Senior Advisor to the Boston Consulting Group, on the Board of Directors for MassBio, as faculty for the GLG Institute, and as a member of the Board of Advisors for the Keck Graduate Institute.

Dr. Julie Hambleton is presently the VP, Head of US Medical at Bristol-Myers Squibb. Dr. Hambleton is a senior biotechnology leader with broad experience in drug development across all phases from pre-clinical through commercialization and post-marketing. Prior to joining BMS, Dr. Hambleton was the Executive Vice President and Chief Medical Officer at FivePrime Therapeutics, where she led Clinical, Clinical Operations, Regulatory, Preclinical/Translational and Process Development and was a member of their Executive Committee. Before joining FivePrime, Dr. Hambleton served as Vice President, Clinical Development, at Clovis Oncology, Inc. where she oversaw early clinical development programs and managed Clinical and Pharmacokinetic functions. She also spent seven years at Genentech, Inc, most recently as Group Medical Director, Global Clinical Development, leading a cross-functional group conducting multiple trials of Genentech's Avastin® (bevacizumab) antibody in different indications.

Prior to joining industry, Dr. Hambleton completed her medical & hematology/oncology training at the University of California, San Francisco, where she then served on faculty for 10 years.

Dr. Hambleton received a B.S. degree from Duke University, and an M.D. degree from Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine and is Board-certified in Hematology and Internal Medicine.

Usman Iqbal MD, MPH, MBA is a Senior Director, Medical Affairs & HEOR at Trevena, Inc. Usman has 12+ years of diverse experience spanning clinical medicine, R&D;/Med AFF, Health economics & outcomes research across academia and biopharmaceutical. His experience spans number of different therapeutic areas including Neuroscience, as Senior Medical Affairs Leader at AstraZeneca, and Oncology, as former Head of Sanofi Oncology, Global Evidence & Value Development (GEVD). As part of both R&D; and Med Affairs in different hybrid roles, Usman has had been responsible for Portfolio Prioritizations, Integrated Medical Affairs Planning, and end-to-end Evidence generation based on Stakeholder engagement (Patient, Provider, Payer), Market insights and Relative Medical Value Assessment Platforms. Prior to working in the industry that also includes Amgen and Boehringer Ingelheim, Usman was at the Boston University Health Outcomes Technology Group as a senior research fellow and served as a research consultant for Veterans Affairs Pharmacy Benefit Management (VA-PBM), the Centers for Medicare &, Medicaid Services’ Health Outcomes Survey Initiative (CMS-HOS), the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ), and the National Committee for Quality Assurance (NCQA). Usman has authored more than 50 publications and his research experience encompasses patient & physician evaluations in BIG Data and large integrated health care systems with a specific focus on comparative effectiveness, disease management, physician profiling, and patient access solutions.

Sean Lilienfeld, a board certified neurologist, is International Chief Medical Officer and Vice President of Medical Operations at Johnson & Johnson Medical Devices. He was the co-founder of the J&J; Medical Devices Clinical Leadership Council (CLC) which was instrumental in harmonizing practices in medical and clinical affairs in J&J; medical devices over the past decade, drove adoption of many policies including ethical principles and publication transparency and multiple safety initiatives for the sector. Dr. Lilienfeld has been involved in the development of medication and medical devices in the field of Alzheimer’s Disease, migraine, epilepsy, and other conditions affecting the nervous system for over 20 years. In the past decade he has expanded his role in medical devices from neuroscience to orthopedics and eventually to cover all of the MD companies of J&J.;

Dr. Lilienfeld trained in medicine in Johannesburg, South Africa. He received the degree of MBBCh at the University of the Witwatersrand in 1984. He became a Fellow of the College of Physicians in Neurology and board certified in 1991. He obtained a Masters in Medicine at the University of the Witwatersrand in 1996. He became registered in medicine in the United Kingdom in 1997. From 1991 to 1995 Sean served as an attending and then senior attending neurologist at the Johannesburg Hospital. Following 2 years in private practice, he joined Johnson & Johnson at the Janssen Research Foundation in Belgium in 1997. In 2000 he relocated to New Jersey and continued his work in drug development with J&J.; In 2003 he was appointed to the Codman board and relocated to Massachusetts, beginning his transition to a medical device focus.

Prior to joining J&J; in 1997, he practiced as an attending neurologist for 5 years and as a private practice neurologist for 2 years. He completed a residency in neurology and also trained in respiratory intensive care. Sean has published extensively in the medical literature and has presented papers and abstracts at many US and international meetings on subjects relating to neuroscience. He is the holder of 10 patents covering both pharmaceuticals and medical devices. He is a recipient of the Johnson & Johnson medal for Research and Development (R&D;) in 2003. Dr. Lilienfeld is a Fellow of the American Academy of Neurology and a member of many US and international medical societies.

Kim comes to us from UCB, a global pharmaceutical company based in Belgium, well known in the medical community for its drugs in epilepsy, autoimmune disorders and Parkinson’s disease. Within UCB, she currently splits her time between two positions.

First, she is Senior Director, Head of US Medical Neurology, where she heads up UCB’s relationships with the medical, research and patient advocacy community and ensures the integrity of medical communications relating to neurology in the United States. At the same time, she also serves as Senior Director, Global Head for Patient Initiatives where she oversees the ongoing effort of tailoring UCB product, technology and service offerings to unique patient needs.

Kim joined UCB in 2007, originally working with physicians and researchers as a Medical Science Liaison in the UCB Medical affairs office, and over the years has held a variety of medical and science positions in the US, Europe and Asia, and has played a central role in the launch of epilepsy drugs Vimpat and Briviact, and the drug Neupro for Parkinson’s disease. Prior to joining UCB, she worked at Aspreva Pharmaceuticals where she served as a medical science liaison focused on lupus, multiple sclerosis, myasthenia gravis and general rheumatology and nephrology.

Kim holds a PhD in Neuroscience and Physiology from New York University and a BS in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology from Penn State University. She was a post-doctoral fellow of the National Science Foundation at the New York University Sackler Institute of Biomedical Sciences where she led research on brain imaging in Parkinson’s disease and the electrophysiology of synaptic vesicle proteins. She is the author of nine peer-reviewed articles relating to neurology and more than 40 posters and abstracts.

She lives in Marietta, Georgia, with her husband and two children.

Azmi Nabulsi, M.D., M.P.H., is Deputy Chief Medical and Scientific Officer for Takeda Pharmaceuticals, where he manages the strategic, medical, and operational functions. He contributes to Takeda’s R&D; strategic vision, leads portfolio management, patient engagement efforts, manages many of Takeda’s alliance partnerships, and drives continuous improvement in Takeda’s global R&D; operations, enhancing productivity and delivering results.

Previously, Dr. Nabulsi was president of Takeda Development Center Americas, Inc., where he directed all aspects of Takeda’s drug development activities, including the identification of new product candidates, execution of clinical trial programs and support for innovative lifecycle management approaches for Takeda’s marketed products. He also provided oversight and direction on the transitioning of Takeda compounds from research through development and into global market launch and has led multiple New Chemical Entity (NCE) approvals. Functions under his management include, clinical science/early development, clinical operations, pharmacovigilance, analytical science, quality assurance, regulatory, pharmaceutical science, and strategic project management.

Dr. Nabulsi has more than 20 years of experience, having previously held the position of general manager for Takeda’s Strategic Development Department based in Osaka, Japan, where he oversaw Takeda’s global portfolio strategies, development of Mid-range plans, product development plans and performance and productivity initiatives. Prior to that, he held various roles of increasing responsibility within R&D; operations for Takeda.

Prior to joining Takeda in 2004, Dr. Nabulsi held multiple global leadership positions in the development division of Abbott Laboratories including, head of the oncology and transplant venture, and divisional vice president of Global Medical Affairs, including epidemiology and outcomes research.

In addition to industry experience, Dr. Nabulsi has held positions within academia, including an adjunct assistant professorship in the University of North Carolina's Department of Epidemiology, and a research fellowship at the University of Minnesota's Division of Epidemiology. He currently represents Takeda on number of Boards, including for the iBio Institute and the Foundation for Sarcoidosis Research.

Dr. Nabulsi has presented more than 38 scientific abstracts at leading scientific meetings and published more than 18 studies in top tier medical journals. He has also authored a chapter in the book Advances in Neurology Volume 76 Antiepileptic Drug Development.

Dr. Nabulsi received his medical degree from Ain-Shams University in Cairo, Egypt, and his master of public health degree from the University of Minnesota.

Currently the hematology publications and scientific content lead at Bristol-Myers Squibb leading a team responsible for covering assets in leukemia, lymphoma and multiple myeloma. He has extensive experience in medical strategy, commercial and preclinical having supported assets across all phases of development including life cycle in several therapeutic areas like Immunoscience, Transplantation, HCV, Cardiovascular and Metabolics. Most recently he was the Head of US Specialty Medical Information where he led several initiatives to enhance customer experience and is currently a member of PHACT-MI, a collaboration of pharmaceutical companies to bring Medical Information transparency to the healthcare community.

Georgea Pasedis is a Doctor of Pharmacy graduate from MCPHSU Boston. Currently Georgea is the Northeast Senior Medical Science Liaison for Shire Pharmaceuticals. Growing up in Boston she began her training at Brigham and Womens and Mass. Eye and Ear. Post graduation she worked as a Regulatory Affairs Associate specializing in Oncology for AstraZeneca. Moving in Medical Affairs Georgea held multiple positions within Medical Communications and Global Medical Affairs as an Medical Science Liaison. Having collaborated with practitioners in an array of therapeutic areas including cardiovascular disease, neurology, pain management, diabetes, and oncology she has developed a vast clinical skill set. Dr. Pasedis has given numerous lectures and presentations during her career and has co-authored several abstracts and posters which have been presented at various medical congresses. Additionally, Dr. Pasedis has served as field medical team lead on several investigator initiated research committees, collaborated in numerous clinical development projects, chaired various best practices committees, and has mentored numerous MSLs. She is a certified Immunizing pharmacist and certified diabetes patient educator. Georgea sits on the Board of Trustees for the Hellenic Nursing and Rehabilitation Center in Canton, MA. Now as a consultant and medical liaison Georgea provides medical education to doctors throughout the country to better help care for their patients.

Patrick Reilly is currently CEO for phactMITM, a collaboration of pharmaceutical company Medical Information (MI) departments that are dedicated to supporting healthcare professionals in their commitment to provide quality patient care. Patrick is also principal at Reilly Consulting, LLC, focusing on pharmaceutical medical affairs management. Patrick has spent the past 30 years within the Pharmaceutical Industry, primarily at Bristol Myers Squibb within the R&D;/Medical Affairs organization. During his tenure at BMS, Patrick worked in a variety of leadership roles with a focus on building and enhancing organizational capabilities like clinical trial monitoring, global field medical, and most recently globalizing medical information.

As Vice President of Medical Information at BMS he led the globalization of the organization, leveraging technology and establishing innovative multi-channels to enhance the exchange of medical and scientific information for HCPs. Patrick was also actively involved in the people strategy at BMS, talent acquisition and development, where he was the executive sponsor of the PharmD Fellowship/Residency program.

Patrick has a bachelor’s degree in Biology, a bachelor’s degree in Medical Science (as a Physician Assistant) and a Master’s Degree in Business administration. He is an active member of the Drug Information Association (DIA) and the American Society of Association Executives (ASAE) and is a frequent presenter at Life Sciences conferences.

Dr. Tehseen Salimi, MD, MHA, is currently serving as Head of Medical Affairs for Primary care & Women’s Health at Merck. Prior to Joining Merck she has served in Medical Affairs leadership roles within several Pharmaceutical organizations including Roche , Sanofi , AstraZeneca & Trevena Prior to joining the Pharmaceutical industry she served in leadership positions within managed care organizations, including Cigna and Fallon Health care.

Dr. Salimi is a Healthcare Executive with over 25 years of experience leading transformative patient-centric initiatives to bridge the evidence & value gaps. Her leadership developed in complex and rapidly changing environments, is backed with strong tenure in managed care (US Payer) and global pharmaceutical arenas. Her work to develop evidence based frameworks including a model for integrating medical value into portfolio valuation & Medical Affairs strategy & planning process has been critical for customer-centric transformation.

During her tenure, Dr. Salimi was honored with several awards, including the Hippocratic award for connecting Science with Medical Practice , the Physician’s Recognition Award for Best Outcomes and the Superior Achievement Award at Cigna. She was also featured in the 1998 annual report of the National Committee for Quality Assurance (NCQA) for the Best Practice Quality Improvement Initiative. She attributes her success to commitment to Patient care, perseverance, and dedication to Innovation & learning.

Dr.Salimi is a physician by training and obtained her Preventive medicine fellowship from University of Massachusetts and a Masters in Health administration from a joint degree program at Clark and UMass.

Dr. Robert Schott is a graduate of the University of Michigan Medical School, where he trained in Internal Medicine. He then attended the School of Public Health and engaged in postdoctoral cardiovascular research in the Thoracic Surgery Laboratory at the University of Michigan, where he was a member of the Department of Surgery. Clinical responsibilities included attending in the Emergency Department and working as a physician on the helicopter service (Survival Flight). Dr. Schott continued his postdoctoral research at the Max Planck Institute in Bad Nauheim Germany and worked clinically for the Emergency Department at the Regional Airforce Hospital in Wiesbaden Germany, before returned to the US to pursue postdoctoral work in Cardiovascular Molecular Biology at the Harvard Medical school, where he was a Burgher Fellow. He was trained in clinical cardiology at the Massachusetts General Hospital before entering the practice of cardiovascular medicine in the South San Francisco Bay.

Dr. Schott subsequently served as the Chair of Cardiovascular Medicine and then as the first Vice President of Medical Affairs for the Sutter Medical Center in Sacramento, California. He was the Vice President the Medical Affairs at diaDexus in South San Francisco before joining Eli Lilly as the Global Launch Leader for Evacetrapib in 2014. After discontinuation of that program in October of 2016 he moved to Lilly|Chorus as a research physician and medical officer, and in March of 2017 became the interim Chief Medical Officer for Lilly|Chorus.

Chorus is an autonomous division of Eli Lilly and Company which partners internally with Lilly and externally, to create and oversee drug development programs in early phase clinical research through the proof-of-concept phase, across multiple therapeutic areas.

Mr. Shaw is a Medical Science Liaison Director at Pacira Pharmaceuticals, Inc. where he oversees a number of key initiatives in the medical affairs department. Mr. Shaw has been instrumental in the growth of Pacira’s MSL group and has led the team through its recent expansion. He leads the company’s innovative educational learning initiatives including Pacira’s digital and multimedia platforms. Mr. Shaw led the company through the development and implementation of a cutting edge virtual reality learning tool that allowed physicians to experience real time feedback in the infiltration of Pacira’s product, EXPAREL. This VR learning tool has been deployed nationally to reach both leading and grassroots clinicians. Mr. Shaw has also led the roll-out of the surgical training app resource, Touch Surgery. Through these efforts, Touch Surgery has been implemented in a targeted use case in Pacira’s RCTs. Mr. Shaw is also involved in the development of product administration videos for principal investigators in the company funded RCTs. Most recently, he has been working with internal and external stakeholders on the development of an augmented reality platform that will be used for collaborative learning programs.

Mr. Shaw is a registered nurse with extensive experience in Critical Care, Trauma and Cardiac Surgery. He has clinical interests in peri-operative pain management, Critical Care and Cardiology. Mr. Shaw received his RN-BSN degree from St. Petersburg College in Florida. He is a veteran of the United States Coast Guard.

Liia Vainchtein is a pharmaceutical executive with the proven record of 15+ years of strategic leadership and operational expertise in the R&D;, Medical Affairs and Global Compliance on a country, regional and global level across various geographies. She has lived and worked in Russia, Netherlands, UK, Middle East and USA, fluent in spoken and written English, Dutch and Russian. Liia is a highly motivated team player, with tremendous enthusiasm, passion, determination and an excellent attitude related to delivering solutions that improve patient's lives across the world. Her current role focuses on providing leadership and expertise to strategically lead the team that is designing and executing post-registration studies, IISR team and Global Publications team. Her previous role focused on design, coordination and implementation of Takeda’s Global Compliance Program. Other roles, based out of the USA, UK and Netherlands, focused on the development of the strategic design of all aspects of the national, field-based medical programs, overseeing the design and the execution of the clinical trials and development of publications, study synopses, investigator brochures, and full clinical protocols in accordance with applicable relevant ICH, CPMP, and FDA guidance.

Liia’s background includes managing and leading analytical and quality control labs in academia and industry, design and execution of the clinical trials (phase IIIB, IV, Investigator-Initiated), launch planning, life-cycle management, publication management with a proven record of 13 published scientific publications, payer management, vendor management, team leadership and budget administration. Experienced and successful in Key Opinion Leader (KOL) management; working successfully across various teams including marketing and sales and R&D.;

Jamie Vora, PharmD, MBA is a director within the Healthcare Solutions Team at Abbvie, responsible for Endocrine, Metabolic and Men and Women’s Health. Jamie supports the field team responsible for scientific exchanges with Healthcare Decision Makers s and the development of real world evidence in therapeutic areas she supports.

Jamie’s areas of expertise include managed care, analytics and modeling, formulary development and benefit design. Most recently, Jamie served as the President of Analytics and Outcomes at Remedy Analytics. In this role, she developed retrospective and predictive analysis tools to provide payer solutions to reduce drug costs, improve patient outcomes, and quantify the impact of industry trends. Jamie also worked as a health care consultant at Milliman where she provided pharmacy and clinical consulting services to large employer clients focused on specialty therapy classes and products, formulary management, clinical program evaluation, and fraud, waste and abuse. Jamie also spent several years working for a large prescription benefit manager, focused in analytics and modeling. Prior to pharmacy school, Jamie spent four years as an IT consultant, with a focus in the pharmaceutical industry.

Jamie earned her Doctor of Pharmacy and Master of Business Administration with a focus on management information systems from the University of Illinois. She also maintains her pharmacy license in Illinois.

Dr. Joseph (Joe) Wiley is, currently, the Vice President of Medical Affairs, North America, for Leadiant Biosciences, Inc., Gaithersburg, MD.

Dr. Wiley is a graduate of Loyola College in MD with a BA in Mathematics and earned his medical degree from the University of Maryland School of Medicine. He trained in Pediatrics at Johns Hopkins and completed a fellowship in Pediatric Hematology/Oncology and Bone Marrow Transplantation at Johns Hopkins. Dr. Wiley served on the faculty of the Pediatric Oncology and Bone Marrow Transplant departments at Hopkins for 5 years from 1988-1993.

In 1993, Dr. Wiley moved to Chapel Hill to become the First Director of Pediatric Bone Marrow Transplant at the University of North Carolina (UNC). He subsequently established the BMT program as well as the program in Pediatric and Adult Unrelated Marrow Transplant Programs. He also served as Division Chief, and Subspecialty Program Director for the UNC Pediatric Hematology Oncology program from 1994-2000.

In 2000 he came to Sinai Hospital, Baltimore, MD, as Division Chief of Pediatric Hematology-Oncology for which he served until 8/2015. Sinai Hospital is a community hospital but has a large, academic based Pediatric Department with a free standing Pediatric residency Training program and 17 Pediatric Subspecialties. Dr. Wiley became Chairman of the Department of Pediatrics in 5/2001, serving until 5/2015. He has also served as Program Director and Assistant Program Director for the residency training program at Sinai.

During his tenure as Chairman of the Department, Dr. Wiley was the principal stakeholder in fundraising, design, and operations that led to the construction of a state of the art Pediatric Inpatient unit. The Inpatient unit – The Herman and Walter Samuelson Childrens’s Hospital—opened their doors in March, 2012 and ushering in an era of Patient/Family centered facilities that put the patient at the center of the inpatient experience. Dr. Wiley has been featured in the Baltimore magazine “Top Docs” issue on an annual basis since 2001 including this current year and was selected by the American Academy of Pediatrics, Maryland Chapter as “Pediatrician of the Year”, in 2013, an award given to him voted on by his peers in the state of Maryland.

On 11/7/2016, Dr. Wiley started in a new position as Vice President of Medical Affairs, SigmaTau Pharmaceuticals, Gaithersburg, MD. On 2/17/17 Sigma-Tau Pharmaceuticals, Inc. underwent a name change to Leadiant Biosciences, Inc. Leadiant Biosciences, Inc. is a research-based pharmaceutical company that dedicates considerable scientific and financial resources to the research, development, and distribution of novel and effective therapies to address patient needs and improve their quality of life.

Dr. Wiley is a member of numerous national and international societies. He has been active in clinical research in Pediatric Hematology-Oncology with nearly 50 publications and an equal number of abstracts. He is, best known for his work in Stem Cell Transplantation, supportive care and infections in cancer patients, particularly fungal infections. He has participated in, and chaired multiple symposia and advisory groups on antifungal therapy nationally and internationally and has been an invited professor on multiple occasions internationally. He has been a Principal Investigator of numerous investigator -initiated trials, industry sponsored trials, and National Cooperative Group trials. He is a past Chairman of the IRB at Lifebridgehealth and has been a member of Orphan Drug Advisory Boards in the past. He has given more than 120 presentations on a number of topics in multiple countries and hospital systems throughout the world.

As the Chief Medical Officer for Roche Diagnostics Corporation, Alan serves as our clinical spokesperson and lead counsel on everything from the policy to the practice of diagnostic medicine. With his extensive history in the managed care, pharmaceutical and biotechnology industries, Alan is well-versed in the changing landscape of healthcare including emerging trends and technologies, regulatory and legislative hurdles, payer challenges and the growing relevance of diagnostics with the advent of outcome-based reimbursement.

Alan’s Medical and Scientific Affairs organization serves as the clinical partner to Roche customers by managing both Investigator Initiated and Roche Sponsored Studies, scientific consulting, advisory boards, PACE and CEU education, an on-site applications lab, Visiting Scientist Program and Fellows Program. By cultivating relationships with other industry thought leaders, Alan helps align our diagnostic development to Roche’s focus in infectious disease, cardiology, oncology, women’s health, inflammation and blood screening.

Alan brings with him medical and scientific leadership experience from his work at Miraca Life Sciences, Caris Life Sciences, Star Pharmaceuticals, Caremark, Inc. and AdvancePCS. He earned his medical degree from University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine and a masters of public health degree from Johns Hopkins School of Public Health and Hygiene.