2022 Faculty

Rupi Bancil

SVP, Global Study Operations & Expansion
Care Access, UK

Jimmy Bechtel, MBA

VP, Site Engagement
SCRS. USA

Jimmy Bechtel is the Society for Clinical Research Sites’ (SCRS) Vice President, Site Engagement. He brings experience from both the site and sponsor sides of the clinical research industry to his critical role with SCRS. Mr. Bechtel provided a variety of support within the site spectrum in previous positions as data specialist, patient recruiter and operations manager. On the pharma side where he worked in innovation project management, Mr. Bechtel utilized his previous professional experience to encourage a site-centric environment and create ease for sites working with a major sponsor company. This multifaceted background allows Mr. Bechtel to bring a unique perspective to the work he does on behalf of the sites. At SCRS, Mr. Bechtel is in charge of developing and executing the company’s site-facing initiatives, and works closely with key industry partners to build out various SCRS partnership programs. He also manages some of SCRS’s large industry initiatives that are based on innovative concepts and helps oversee the organizations membership.

Lisa Bjornestad
Vice President of Clinical Operations & Growth
DM Clinical Research, USA

Lisa Bjornestad is the Vice President of Clinical Operations and Growth at DM Clinical Research, a rapidly expanding, wholly owned site network based in the United States. Lisa has over 25 years of experience in the clinical research industry. She has directed both early and late phase research sites and has extensive experience in business development, project management, and relationship management. Lisa is passionate about improving access to clinical trials as a treatment option for all patients and committed to driving diversity in clinical research.

Rachael Buck, PhD
Director, Project Management EMEA
Accellacare, UK

Rachael has over 20 years’ experience in the Clinical Research industry and 8 additional years in Research and Development. She has worked across a wide range of clinical trial functions, from Project, Data and Budget Management to Patient Access / Recruitment, Site Support and Site Network Relationship Management and Development. Her current responsibilities include management of the EMEA region as a Director of Project Management for Accellacare, with additional Operational responsibilities of country management for Spain, Poland and Germany. Her #1 goal is placing quality and patients at the heart of clinical research.

Steven Burke, PhD
Director, Strategic Site Collaborations
PPD, Part of Thermo Fisher Scientific, UK

Chiara Cassaniga, MS
Sr. Director Site Strategy and Relationship Lead
PPD, part of Thermo Fisher Scientific, Italy

Working in Clinical Research for the last 25 years, master degree in Pharmaceutical Chemistry and technology developed her experience starting as CRA and managing clinical operation teams and start up teams with increased responsibilities till the start up Regional head position for EMEA. Gained additional experience in being part of the Business continuity plan team during the COIVD pandemic and managing start up team managers globally. Recently joined the Site Strategic collaboration team as strongly convinced sites must be a key focus for continuing to deliver clinical trials in a patient centric high speed transformational industry.

Ana Corte Real, MBA
Director Project Managment
PPD, part of Thermo Fisher Scientific, Portugal

Working in Clinical Research for the last 16 years with experience in several roles namely CRA, Clinical Team Lead to Project Manager. For the last 7 years have been managing multi-national clinical studies/ Programs across Europe, North America and Asia as a Global PM. Ensuring high performance of the team (Leading and Mentoring), management of the budget consumption, timelines and escalation of major changes and risks while participating in BIDs and budget development/ proposal. Have completed a MBA – Lisbon MBA, Católica | Nova. Received Biology degree from Aveiro University, Portugal and have completed 2 post graduations in Clinical Trials Monitoring and Conservation Biology.

Edward Czerwinski, MD, PhD
Senior Medical Director, Professor
FutureMeds, Krakow Medical Centre, Poland

Professor Edward Czerwinski MD PhD, Senior Medical Director Futuremeds; founder and head of Krakow Medical Centre (KCM) (1995-2022), and Professor of the Jagiellonian University University being the head of the Department of Orthopaedics. He is a practicing medical doctor with a 50-year experience as well as an active university lecturer, scientist and community benefactor. In KCM he has supervised 180 trials and has overseen 47 as the PI. The Site has undergone 18 external audits and one FDA inspection and has always received excellent assessments. Under his direction KCM received international recognition as one of the best sites in Europe and has cooperated with companies from all over the world.

E.Czerwinski’s current international chairmanships include European Osteoporosis Summit for Central Europe, IOF Expert panel and Guidelines Scientific Committee regarding the osteoporotic fracture prevention with EULARE and EFORT. Winner of the prestigious International Foundation of Osteoporosis 2015 award. Member of 10 boards of scientific international magazines, member of 21 societies, organizer of 22 congresses in Poland including World Congress on Osteoporosis, Krakow, April, 2018.

A Member of 10 boards of scientific international magazines, member of 20 societies, organizer of 21 congresses, author of 526 publications with Impact Factor of 206, 2600 citations.

Martine Dehlinger-Kremer, PhD
Vice President Scientific Affairs, Pediatric SME
ICON Plc, Germany

Dr. Dehlinger-Kremer’s expertise spans more than 30 years in the research industry, including 30 years of experience in global regulatory affairs, medical affairs, and pediatric leadership. Prior to joining ICON, she served in several executive leadership roles at global CROs, and has experience in global drug development in more than 40 countries. She has contributed to the global development of numerous products, including medicines for children, drugs for orphan diseases and biosimilars. Her vision and leadership extend to service with a number of professional organizations – she is an observer member of the Coordinating Group of the European Network of Pediatric Research (Enpr-EMA) at the European Medicines Agency, chair of the Pediatric Working Group and also President of the European CRO Federation (EUCROF), serves as chair of the European Forum for Good Clinical Practice (EFGCP) Children’s Medicines Working Party and Board Member of the association, and is active in the International Children’s Advisory Network (iCAN).

In 2015, Dr. Dehlinger-Kremer was named one of PharmaVOICE’s 100 Most Inspiring People in LifeSciences. Dr. Dehlinger-Kremer earned a Doctorate in Sciences from the J. W. Goethe University in Francfort on the Main, Germany; a Diploma of Advanced Study in Neurophysiology from the University Louis-Pasteur, Strasbourg, France; and a Master of Sciences degree from University Moulin de la Housse in Reims, France.

Kaye Doiron
CEO, Founder, Site Director
Research Works, USA

Kaye Doiron has founded and centrally managed eight multi-specialty clinical research sites, globally. Her mission is increasing ethnic and racial diversity in research while providing gold standard care to patients and gold standard data to sponsors. Recent expansions to Puerto Rico include the projected build out of a teaching phase 1 unit to provide clinical trial professionals the hands-on experience they need for mastery.

Brandon Doyle, MBA
Associate Director, Site Alliance/SME Global Site Diversity Strategy
Parexel, USA

Brandon Doyle, MBA, is Associate Director, Site Alliances and SME Global Site Diversity Strategy for Parexel. In this role, Brandon serves as a site solutions consultant to prepare sites for the evolving needs and demands in the clinical research trial industry. Brandon joined the SCRS Diversity Program 4 years ago and represented Parexel as the first CRO to join the initiative. He is guided by the belief that every person should have access to clinical research as
a continuum to their health care and that diversity, equity and inclusion is essential for a person’s ability to thrive and prosper. Brandon has 22 years in industry under various roles from study coordinator and program director at the site level and clinical enrolment manager and site management at the CRO level. Brandon brings a unique perspective on patient engagement and recruitment through his MBA Marketing degree from Carlson School of Business.

Paul Pearse Duffy, MA, RGN, PGd
Head, Clinical Site Partnerships
MSD, Ltd., UK

Currently leading efforts with MSD’s Clinical Site Partnership Team, which incorporates enhancing relationships with targeted clinical research sites and developing clinical site networks. Paul has held several roles within bio-pharmaceutical company and CRO environments including project management, people management, CRA and study nurse in European, North American and Japanese organisations, as well as within the UK NHS. He is a Registered General Nurse, holds a MA in Healthcare Leadership and Development and Post Graduate Diplomas in Ethics and Law and Biomedical Research.

For the past 5 years Paul has been UK and Ireland country representative for TransCelerate Ltd, a non-for-profit organisation dedicated to the development and improved delivery of clinical trials.

Carme Esteve
EU Clinical Trial Submission Strategy Manager
Sanofi, Spain

Biologist, clinical research professional with more than 25 years’ experience. Working to prepare the implementation of the Clinical Trial Regulation being a success.

Diana Foster, PhD
Vice President, Diversity, Inclusion & Equity
SCRS, USA

Dr. Foster serves as a consultant to the Society for Clinical Research Sites as the Vice President of Strategy and Development. In her role she is responsible for building relationships with industry that help amplify the voice of the clinical research site.

Diana is a recognized expert in the intricacies of site management and an innovator in the use of strategic marketing and positioning tactics. Diana has designed and facilitated site management and patient recruitment trainings across the globe. While serving as president at DAC Patient Recruitment Services (formerly D. Anderson & Company), Diana led the organization through its evolution as a niche site management organization. Her early tenure as head of an SMO, Rheumatology Research International, also gave her a unique understanding of how sites operate and what they need to reach enrollment goals within targeted timelines.

Over the past two decades, Diana has addressed audiences across five continents, published multiple papers and articles, and written five authoritative industry books including “Global Issues in Patient Recruitment and Retention,” a sequel to “International Patient Recruitment: Regulatory Guidelines, Customs and Practices.” The books have served as teaching tools for colleges and universities, along with her earlier works: “A Guide to Patient Recruitment,” “A Guide to Patient Recruitment and Retention” and “50 Ways to Cope with Arthritis.” In addition, she has been a sought after speaker and given copious presentations across the world.

Her personal honors include recognition by the Global EXEC Women’s International Council as an International Woman of Influence, being named a finalist for Ernst & Young’s Entrepreneur of the Year Awards, and an induction into the PharmaVOICE “100 Most Inspiring People in the Life-Sciences Industry.” She is among accomplished women around the globe who are changing the way international clinical trials are conducted.

Almenia Garvey, MSc
Sr. Director, Site Network Development
ONCACARE, France

Almenia has over 25 years’ experience in clinical research and during this time she has had the opportunity to work on a number of projects combining healthcare andtechnology. She specialises in site selection strategy,investigator identification and investigator relationshipmanagement. Almenia has a passionate interest in drivingdiversity in all aspects of clinical trials. She is on the board ofDirectors for Nvolve, a non-profit that focuses on preparing
young women for STEM careers and the Advisory Board for(CISCRP)The Center for Information and Study on Clinical Research Participation.

Malgorzata Gerjatowicz-Osmanska, MD, MBA
Regional Clinical Research Director
Pratia SA, Poland

Malgorzata has +10 years’ experience in sales and marketing of pharmaceutical industry (MerckSharpDohme, Servier), and +10 years in clinical trials. She successfully developed research site Malopolskie Centrum Medyczne (MCM) in Krakow, Poland, as a unique model of dedicated oncohematology unit and joined the elite class research sites highly valuated by local and global Pharmaceutical and CRO companies. Joining an international SMO Pratia as a MCM managing director and Innovation & Development Team Lead she supported the company in digitalization, becoming the first Hyggio Product Owner. Currently she is responsible for Pratia sites and oncology units in southern part of Poland, constantly improving people, working on further expansion. Acting for the clinical research community in Poland, he is both a member of the Board of the Polish Society of Good Clinical Practice (GCPpl) coordinating the Working Group of Research Sites, and a lecturer at postgraduate studies at the Jagiellonian University in Krakow, Poland.

Carla Gomes, PharmD, MBA, MS
Regulatory Affairs Senior Director
PPD, part of Thermo Fisher Scientific, Portugal

Carla Gomes has been working in Regulatory Affairs for more than 20 years and is currently leading the Regulatory Affairs Science Department at PPD, part of Thermo Fisher Scientific. Carla oversees about 130 Regulatory Affairs Leaders providing Regulatory strategy and intelligence over the whole world and whole life cycle of the medicine. Carla Gomes is Oversight Director for the EU CTR implementation, assuring cross departmental communication, determining that all SOPs, guidance’s, tools, and systems are updated, and being responsible for the Liaison team (team responsible for the CTIS submissions). Her experience includes Pharmaceutical Companies, Competent Authorities, Distribution and Logistics.

Carla Gomes holds a graduation in Pharmaceutical Sciences, a Master in Pharmaceutical Technology an MBA in Economics and a Master in Regulation and Evaluation of Medicines and Health Products. Carla is a Regulatory Affairs Expert by the Pharmaceutical Society.

Rebeca González Vicedo, MA
Director Decentralized Clinical Trials
emovis GmbH, Germany

R. González-Vicedo, Director Decentralized Trials, emovis GmbH, Berlin. She believes that patients must be at the center of clinical trials. For years, she has  worked to provide solutions with decentralized elements to sponsors and CROs. As Director of emovis Homecare Visits, together with ther team she supported over 50 clinical trials with homecare services. Currently, she directs the Decentralized Clinical Trials department to combine the benefits of digital innovation with emovis’ expertise and experience to deliver clinical trial solutions aiming for better recruitment, higher patient engagement and a pleasant patient experience, while maintaining high safety and quality standards.

Ana Herradón
Associate Director, Clinical Operations Manager
BMS, Spain

Degree in Chemistry in the area of Biochemist and Molecular Biology;
Master degree in Biotechnology;
Master degree in environmental management;
Since 1995 working in the Pharmaceutical Industry;
Since 2003 Responsible of the Monitoring group in BMS Spain and Portugal;
Since 2016 until 2019 TransCelerate Program Lead for BMS;
since 2018 TransCelerate Country Lead for Spain.

Annie Hesslewood
Global Head, Site Success Adoption Team
Medable, UK

Degree in Chemistry in the area of Biochemist and Molecular Biology;
Master degree in Biotechnology;
Master degree in environmental management;
Since 1995 working in the Pharmaceutical Industry;
Since 2003 Responsible of the Monitoring group in BMS Spain and Portugal;
Since 2016 until 2019 TransCelerate Program Lead for BMS;
since 2018 TransCelerate Country Lead for Spain.

Hans Christian Hoeck, MD, PhD
CEO
Trialcare Research, Switzerland

Graham Howieson
Sr. Director Business Development
Greenphire, UK

Graham is a proven senior business development executive with wide-ranging experience across the global clinical research market.He is passionate about clinical trials and Greenphire’s solutions and is keen to support the adoption of digital tools to deliver a tangible ROI for your trials.

Corina Jurk, MA
Director Site Solutions EMEA
Parexel International, Germany

Corinna Jurk has more than two decades progressive experience in Clinical Research and in the Pharmaceutical Industry. She gained her grounded experience in different roles in Clinical Operations, Project Quality, at  Solutions. Currently Corinna is holding the position as Director Site Solutions EMEA focusing on building strong relationships with our site partners. Building these strong relationships, especially in challenging times like COVID, is more important than ever. This includes listening to the needs of our sites and really understanding their challenges, and those of the patients they serve. COVID
has had a significant and lasting impact on many aspects of our professional and personal live. However, the situation has also been a catalyst for significant
innovative transformation. The same applies for the retention of our staff and employees. Corinna likes crafting out of the box strategies. Her belief is: Hiring staff is not the only option to have the resources needed.

Janusz Kabata, MD, PhD, MBA
CEO
Gp4research, Poland

Janusz Kabata MD, PhD, MBA is a successful entrepreneurial healthcare professional with over 35 years of academic and executive experience in public and private healthcare sectors in Europe, and 25 year experience in various aspects of clinical trial management, including managing central laboratory services as well as home-care services for European and global clinical trials. He is founder of GP4research. Prior to GP4research he co-founded GlobalCare Clinical Trials Ltd, and developed the network of home care service providers in Europe and Asia. He established Synevo Central Lab. Together with his wife, since 25 years he manages GP practice in Gdańsk, Poland. He is specialist in public health and laboratory medicine.

Rókus Kriszt, PhD
Site Partnership Manager
Sanofi, Hungary

Experienced clinical research professional with solid life science background (PhD from National University of Singapore, visiting scholar at Harvard Medical School), currently working as Site Partnership Manager at Sanofi.

Michał Kwiatek, Md, PhD
Investigator, Site Director
Pratia SA, Poland

Michał is a hematologist who specializes in lymphoproliferative diseases. Medical director of the PRATIA POZNAŃ clinical research center, as well as a co-founder of two medical start-ups: BADANIA.pl and NEO-INSIGHT.

Adam Levy, MRes Pharmaceutical and Biomedical Sciences
Senior Solution Specialist
Medidata, a Dassault Systémes company, UK

Nicola McIntosh, PhD
Vice President, Head of Commercial
AES, UK

Nicola leads Business Development for AES, building and developing the AES commercial team. In this role since 2022, her strategic focus and operational knowledge of study start up and patient enrollment serve the organization and growth of the business portfolio. Nicola joined AES from PPD in 2019 with more than 25 years of customer-centric and clinical research experience.

Nicola holds a Bachelor of Science in Biochemistry from the University of Glasgow and a doctorate in Clinical Oncology from the University of Cambridge.

Karen McIntyre, MSc
Senior Director, Patient Innovation Centre
Parexel, UK

Karen has 30 years’ experience in a clinical research organization (CRO) and Site Management Organisation (SMO) in a variety of positions. Karen brings extensive experience in variety of therapeutic areas including cardiovascular and metabolic disorder, women’s health, neuroscience and infectious diseases in phase II through phase IV clinical trials.

With a special interest in site partnership, she has been involved in the development of Site Support Management tools with the goal to improve quality, transparency, and compliance across investigative sites since 2005. Karen’s current role within Parexel Site Innovation Centre leverages patient engagement as the frontline of patient strategy.

Karen is also an active member and Co Vice Chair of NREC Scotland.

Dan Milam, EMBA
Director, Clinical Trials Partnerships
EQRx, USA

With over twenty-five years of experience working in the pharmaceutical, CRO and site sectors, Dan has gained a wide perspective and understanding of the needs of the industry as a whole that aids in facilitating and building strong alliances. His focus with EQRx is to establish and build productive working relationships with healthcare organizations and clinical sites to support EQRx’ goal of bringing innovative medicines to patients at a fraction of the price.

Angela Maria de Silva Papa, PharmD; MSc
Director, Clinical Operations
PPD, part of Thermo Fisher Scientific, Portugal

Ben Quartley, PhD
Enterprise Head of Decentralized Trials and Patient Centricity
Labcorp Drug Development, UK

Ben has spent 25 years in the Pharmaceutical Industry and has a broad range of experience, having worked in Pharma, CROs and at a Site Management Organization. During his time in Pharma he recognized the opportunities and challenges of clinical trial delivery from the site perspective and decided to join a Site Management Organization, where he was responsible for implementing site enablement and site support models. Since then he has deliberately chosen roles to gain a broad experience of the CRO industry including operations, project management and commercial roles. 

Susana Ramos Truque, PhD in Pharmacy
Clinical Trial Program Early Planning Lead- Oncology
Sanofi, Spain

Susana Ramos is Clinical Trial Program Early Planning Lead in Onco/Hematology at Sanofi. She graduated from the University of Barcelona, with PhD degree in Pharmaceuticals in 2002. After graduation she worked as scientific researcher at the University of Barcelona. Susana has 19 years of experience in the industry, mainly in clinical research. She joined Sanofi-aventis in 2004 and progressed her career across a range of roles in clinical research & development as Clinical Research Associate, Clinical Project Lead, Regional Trial Manager in Europe and Global Feasibility Lead in Oncology. As Early Planning Lead she is responsible to drive global early planning and engagement for clinical trials and provide unified Global Clinical Study Unit strategy and recommendation on feasibility, country selection and site recommendations.

James Riddle
VP, Research Service & Strategic Consulting
Advarra, USA

James Riddle is the Vice President Research Services & Strategic Consulting for Advarra where he employs his extensive experiences managing large research operations, technology, and research compliance teams to support our client’s research programs and grow Advarra worldwide. In addition to leading Advarra’s Biosafety Service, Biostatistical Service, GPStm Service, and strategic consulting teams; Mr. Riddle also serves on the Board of the Northwest Association for Biomedical Research (NWABR); as Chair of the Site Accreditation and Standards Initiative (SASI) Accreditation Council; as member of the CTTI and MRCT Steering Committees; as editorial board member for IRB Advisor; as well as a faculty member, mentor, and regular speaker for Public Responsibility in Medicine and Research (PRIM&R). Prior to joining Advarra, Mr. Riddle served as a leader of the human subject protection and animal care and use program at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, one of the nation’s largest independent cancer research centers. In addition, he has previously served as an AAHRPP site visitor and was the Vice President of Operations and Director of Technology at another large central IRB. His expertise includes multi-national research operations and compliance, implementation of research technology solutions, computer software validation, and management of large IRB, IACUC, and IBC systems.

Mr. Riddle has a bachelor’s degree in accounting with an emphasis in computer science from Western Washington, University, College of Business and Economics.

Jeff Repper
EVP, Strategic Site Initiatives
TPS Global, USA

Experienced Vice President with a demonstrated success working in the clinical research and health care industries. Strong professional skilled in leadership, management, and budgeting.

David Rosebaum, MSc
Managing Director
Rosenbaum Group, Turkey

David Rosenbaum has over 12 years experience in the field of Clinical Research managing a FSP based CRO in the niche region of south-east Balkans and Turkey. Performed over 30+ clinical Trials focusing on CNS (Multiple Sclerosis) COVID19, Oncology, Rheumatology and other Therapeutic Areas.

Piotr Sawicki, MS
Head of Clinical Trials Department
CMP, Poland

Patient Engagement, Recruitment, and Retention expert focused on new methods of patient recruitment.
20+ years of Experience in direct work Clinical Sites, PIs, Study Teams, HCP, Coordinators, and CRA’s.
Pioneer in building referrals system from HCP to Clinical Sites with active support of Clinical Relation Specialists
Member of GCPpl, EU steering committee SCRS

I started my professional career in clinical trials in 1994 in the family company, Medical Centre Osteomed as a co-owner, member of the board, and patient recruitment specialist.
In 2002 I opened an independent Phase I/II and Bioequivalence unit – Clinical Research Centre, in Poland, where I was a member of the board and General Director up to May 2007.
In 2006 I opened a contract research organization (CRO), called MPRPharma.
In 2007 I led the merger of both organizations CRC and MPRPharma with an Indian CRO – Lambda Therapeutic Research. It was the first Indian CRO in Poland and in CEE.
In April 2007 I was presented as one of the coauthors of the first handbook about bioequivalence studies in Poland
In October 2011 I became a Member of the Board of the Polish GCP Association, (Good Clinical Practice,) GCPpl
In May 2012 CMOsteomed (our family company) and Synexus joined forces in Poland. Between 2012 and 2019 I was with Synexus, AES – part of the PPD business, holding positions from Clinical Site Director to Head of Patient Recruitment in the CEE region.
From 2019 I am leading the Clinical Trials Department in CMP – a health care provider with 19 medical units.
In 2020 I started work in the working group at Medical Research Agency responsible for web-based serwis dedicated to patients.
In 2021 I started the position of coordinator of Clinical Research Ambassadors at the Association of Good Clinical Practice in Poland.

Steve Satek, MBA
Chief Commercial Officer
Flourish Research, USA

Claudia Schaub
Site Solutions Director, Strategic Networks
Parexel, Germany

Claudia has over 18 years of experience working in the pharmaceutical industry at the site, sponsor and CRO level. She started her clinical research career as scientific researcher in pain management, became a site manager, developed into a global project manager in oncology after which she moved into feasibility and site selection. Currently Claudia works with Parexel’s Strategic Site Network partners to deliver new treatment options to patients. 

Claire Sears, PhD
Director, Strategy and Partnerships
THREAD Research, UK

Claire Sears joined THREAD Research as Director, Strategy and Partnerships late in 2021, where she holds responsibility for the THREAD Partnerships team. Prior to this, Claire was Director, Site Identification and Feasibility for IQVIA Clinical Technologies, where she led the team responsible for cross-pharma data sharing collaborations and IQVIA’s Feasibility technology, following on from roles in Investigator Engagement with DrugDev. Based in the UK, prior to DrugDev, Claire spent 8 years at AstraZeneca in medical affairs.

Helena Sigal, MD
Founder & Owner
Sigal SMS, Germany

Started my professional carrier as medical doctor and investigator I was growing very fast in the clinical research field and have overtaken the positions of Director Clinical Operations or Head of Operations Germany with the International Dedicated Research Centers Company.

After years of experience I decided to set up my own company – SMO in Germany – to support the sites to become more professional.

SIGAL SMS acts as a bridge between stakeholder groups to support the site’s development and to bring customers established, professional and specialized sites groups with available patient databases.

Jai Singh
SVP, Site Adoption
OneStudyTeam, USA

Jai leads patient sourcing and site adoption at OneStudyTeam. He develops solutions that enable sites to recruit, pre-screen, and enroll patients more effectively and efficiently. He aims to bring transparency to enrollment performance and to ensure every enrollable patient is able to gain access to the appropriate clinical trial.

Aneta Sitarska-Haber,MD 
Associate Director, Regional Operational Delivery
PPD, part of Thermo Fisher Scientific, Poland

Aneta Sitarska-Haber is associated with the clinical trials industry since 1998. She has medical background, graduated at the Medical University of Warsaw. She has held monitoring and management positions in different contract research organisations and was responsible for operational and business aspects of international clinical research projects from Phase I to Phase IV in many therapeutic indications. Since 2005, she has been working at PPD Poland (part of Thermo Fisher Scientific), a global CRO company, currently as Associate Director of Clinical Research. She is responsible for supervising, coaching and training the clinical team (CRAs, remote monitors, CTC) developing the partnerships with site research networks and liaison with Patient Advocacy Groups by promoting patient centricity approach. She is a Vice-president of the GCPpl Association, involved in the Association since 2002.  Co-organizer of statutory activities such as training and industry meetings, including annual conferences on  the International Day of Clinical Research, the educational program for patients (Ambassadors for the clinical trials”), supports and provides meetings training for patients organization. She cooperates with the Medical Research Agency, including co-creating the portal “Patient in clinical trials” and is a member of the Polish Platform of EUPATI (European Patients’ Academy).

Estrella Soriano, PhD
Director, Clinical Site Operations
Pfizer, Spain

Estrella Soriano works at Pfizer as Senior Director Clinical Site Operations for Spain and Portugal. In the role Estrella is responsible for all Clinical Trials (phase 1 to phase 3 ) conducted in those countries. She has more than 25 years of experience in Clinical Research in Site Facing roles in the Pharmaceutical Industry.

Anna Titkova, MD, PhD, Professor, MBA
Country Head Pratia Ukraine, International Operations Manager Pratia Europe
Pratia, Ukraine

I graduated from Kharkiv National Medical University. I have a PhD, Master of Science degree in Medicine. Work as a scientific researcher in Kharkiv Medical Academy of Postgraduate Education. I have a MBA and master’s degree in pedagogy, completed an internship in Harvard and Yale Universities, qualified as international lecturer and senior researcher. I am an independent medical reviewer in scientific journals of the Ministry of Health of Ukraine. I have more than 150 scientific publications, 5 parttens on invention, the author of interantional monograph in pathophysiology. In March 2020 I opened the Pratia Ukraine LLC and the 1st Ukrainian SMO clinical research site Pratia Clinic Ukraine as a part of international site network Pratia under the umbrelle of Neuca group. In the field of clinical trials performance we work with 10 medical institutions in 4 regions of Ukraine.

Iwona Tongbhoyai         
Vice President of Operations
FutureMeds, Germany

Iwona Tongbhoyai is on a mission to bring the clinical industry stakeholders closer and help them advance to the next level. With over 15 years of Site and Clinical Trials Management background and more than 7 years of Business Consultancy experience, Iwona has a unique blend of expertise with a strong focus on strategic planning. She spent 6 years at Accelerated Enrolment Solutions (previously known as Synexus and now part of PPD) where she was responsible for the Western Europe Region providing site and study solutions across 14 sites in the region, and then she led the global Sites and Patients Feasibility, Global Start-up, Regulatory and New Solutions teams, improving the efficiency of the global start-up, and clinical trial and site operational readiness across over 160 sites and 17 countries.

Iwona is the Vice President of Operations at FutureMeds, a growing professional Site Network Organisation with 13 Dedicated Research Sites across 4 European countries.  She plays a key role in increasing FutureMeds’ operational efficiency, growing FutureMeds’ site network and building lasting relationships with Sponsors and CROs. She specialises in Decentralised Trials and strives to help Sponsors and CROs develop and deploy strategies and solutions that positively impact research timelines and drive medical progress. 

Vivienne van de Walle, MD, PhD, CPI
CMO
PT&R, Netherlands

Viviënne van de Walle studied medicine both at the University of Maastricht and at the University of Oxford. In addition to her MD degree she holds a medical research degree in Genetics, Pediatrics and Genetics. In 2004 she successfully defended her thesis for her PhD in Auxology and in 2011 she passed the CPI exam. She has always combined clinical research with patient care and has been a full time principal investigator at independent clinical research sites. She co-founded and owns the independent research site PT&R ) since 2006. Her entrepreneurship is reflected by her skills as thought leader and in consulting, educating and managing at CROs, pharma, nutritional companies and in executive and advisory board functions at eCOA vendors and trade organizations i.e. ACRP, SCRS, TransCelerate, CISCRP and the NVFG. With her PT&R-team she was also the proud winner of the inaugural SPRIA EU award of the SCRS . In 2019 she was nominated for the Clinical Trial Europe – Christine Pierre Life Time Achievement Award and in 2020 she was nominated at the 5th World Congress on Advanced Clinical Trials and Clinical Research for Women in Science Awards / Women Scientist. She started her research career as a participant in a clinical trial and during the COVID19 pandemic has participated in a vaccine trial for HCP and a virtual predictive COVID infection trial. As a result, Viviënne has a unique perspective of the various sides of the table in clinical research and is eager to share her many years of experience. As she states: “I love it when you pick my brain”.

Michaela Vancova, MPH
Managing Director
Clinical Research Director, Slovakia

Michaela is a chemical engineer (analytic chemistry) with additional Masters degree in Public Health. Recently, she has passed CRCP exam.Michaela has over 13  years of experience in clinical research in different positions – from CRA, LCRA to international PM in both CROs and big Pharma companies.

Sofie Vanderplaetsen, MSc
Senior Director, Project Delivery
PPD, part of Thermo Fisher Scientific, Belgium

Sofie Vanderplaetsen is Senior Director within Project Management in PPD, part of Thermo Fisher Scientific, with more than 20 years of clinical research experience in both pharma and CRO settings. Sofie is also a member of the PPD Rare Disease and Pediatrics Center of Excellence of PPD. Ms. Sofie Vanderplaetsen holds a master’s degree in Medical Biochemistry from the University of Antwerp and a Postgraduate in Biomedical Sciences & Clinical Research from the University of Liège.

David Vulcano, LCSW, MBA, CIP, RAC
VP, Clinical Research Compliance & Integrity
HCA Healthcare, Honorary SCRS President, USA

David is a well-known thought leader and change agent in the clinical research industry. He lives outside Nashville, Tennessee where he involves himself in work, family life and other charitable and entrepreneurial opportunities.

Christopher Watson, PhD
Director, Consulting
THREAD Research, UK

Renée Werner
Director of Customer Success
emovis GmbH, Germany

It was more by chance that Renée Werner started working in clinical research. From an apprenticeship in hotel business to studying Print and Media Technology,she started at emovis in Marketing and has now been responsible for fast and efficient patient recruitment at emovis for 5 years. With success! By now, emovis also offers patient recruitment support for other sites in German-speaking countries. The service of the Patient Access Group, as well as the areas of Marketing and Business Development are the responsibility of Renée Werner.

Dawie Wessels, MD, MBA
Chief Medical Officer
Signant Health, UK

Dawie’s deep expertise across multiple therapeutic areas, multinational development leadership, and experience in associated commercial growth supports the expanding impact of the Signant Science and Medical team. Dawie joins us from AES, where he served as Chief Medical Officer for five and a half years. Prior to AES, he held various research and senior leadership roles at Parexel for over 15 years, developing and implementing medical scientific focused business strategies across the early phase space. Dawie holds MBA and MBChB MBA (Medicine and Business) degrees from University of the Free State, South Africa. We are rightly proud of our science and medical heritage and how it has contributed to – and continues to – position us as leaders in our industry. Building on the therapeutic approach to our sales pipeline, the development of our offerings across as many therapeutic areas as possible continues under Dawie’s leadership. Originally hailing from South Africa, Dawie is based in the UK.

Aleksei Zhmuro, MD, PhD
Director, Clinical Operations/ GMBA Ukraine
Parexel International, Ukraine

Oleksii (Aleksei) Zhmuro has worked in clinical research for more than 25 years. He is a M.D., Ph.D. (cardiology, clinical pharmacology). Prior to joining the industry, Aleksei was associated with various research & educational institutions where he held different clinical and academic positions, including the role of Head of Department of Clinical Pharmacology & Pharmacotherapy of the National Institute of Internal Diseases. Author and lecturer of the first Ukrainian course “Clinical trials of drugs” (National Pharmaceutical University, 1997), a contributor of numerous publications
and books on clinical trials. For many years Aleksei has been leading Parexel Clinical Operations team in Ukraine, at present – as Director,
Global Monitoring Organization, at the same time serving as GMBA Ukraine. He got a broad knowledge of the relevant international regulations and national guidelines and implements this expertise into everyday practice.