Dr Maria Jison is a distinguished Pulmonary-Critical care physician at AstraZeneca and serves as Global Clinical Head in the Respiratory & Immunology therapeutic area, overseeing the late phase clinical development strategy for the Fasenra portfolio. Her career reflects a deep commitment to patient advocacy and the underserved, blending direct patient care, public health, and technological innovation. Dr Jison has held pivotal roles in the eICU during its early stages and at the FDA Center for Devices and Radiologic Health. Driven by her passion for patients and fostering innovation, Dr Jison developed the AIRE Mobile Unit, AstraZeneca's mobile clinical trial pilot program. This newly launched initiative has quickly become a catalyst for collaborations in health equity both in the community and within the company. With a goal of broadening access to clinical trials for underrepresented populations, this initiative underscores Dr Jison's commitment to ensuring equitable access to cutting-edge research and treatments for all patients.

Bharat Koyani, Associate Director in the Digital Biomarker team at Regeneron Pharmaceuticals, is leading the development of digital biomarker efforts for targeted indications. With over a 5 years of experience in implementing digital biomarker in Phase I-III clinical trials, Mr Koyani has been instrumental in identifying fit for the purpose DHT. Mr Koyani earned his MSHS from the George Washington University.

Katerina Placek, PhD, is a Senior Manager in Digital Health Sciences at Takeda where she advises clinical teams on the selection and implementation of digital tools in clinical trials. She leads device validation studies, assesses new technologies, and supports teams in digital biomarker development across therapeutic areas, specializing in Neurology. Prior to her role in Digital Health Sciences, Dr Placek was a Manager in Quantitative Sciences at Takeda where she worked as a data scientist in Neurology, including on projects involving digital endpoints. Dr Placek holds a PhD in Neuroscience from the University of Pennsylvania, an MSc in Experimental Psychology from the University of Oxford, and a BA in Psychology from St. Mary's College of Maryland.

Zackary “Zak” Smith works on a variety of Tufts CSDD studies focusing on drug development performance, efficiency, economics and innovation adoption. Many of these projects involve creating, compiling, and analyzing very large datasets. Mr Smith completed his BS at Florida Southern College and received his MA from Brandeis University. He is a former research analyst at Tufts CSDD and has worked as a research assistant at Harvard University and at the University of Massachusetts.

Jake Strauss is a Managing Director at Warburg Pincus based in New York. He joined Warburg Pincus in 2010, and is a member of the firm’s Healthcare group. Previously, he worked in the firm’s Energy group. Prior to joining Warburg Pincus, he was in the Consumer Products and Retail Investment Banking Group at Citigroup in New York. He currently works with Aetion, Ensemble Health Partners, and Helix and has been involved with the firm’s investments in Accriva Diagnostics, Bausch & Lomb, and ReSearch Pharmaceutical Services (RPS). He was also previously a Director of Canbriam Energy, Citizen Energy, and RS Energy Group. Mr Strauss received a BA magna cum laude in Economics from Princeton University.

With an expertise in applying Design Thinking approach to Product Models, Chandeep Kaur has been consistently delivering impactful, intuitive, and user-oriented solutions across an extensive spectrum of industries, such as healthcare, public sector, retail, finance, and non-profits.

As a seasoned Product Designer, Ms Kaur plays a pivotal role as the bridge between business stakeholders and cross-functional technical teams, ensuring seamless alignment and delivery of tangible business value. What truly sets Ms Kaur apart is her profound understanding of user needs, honed through rigorous user research and empathy-driven design practices. She played a pivotal role in eliciting business requirements for the Clinical Trials website Project, transforming them into actionable prototypes. This enabled rapid ideation and MVP testing, facilitating a seamless transition to a Product Model approach focused on value and incremental delivery. Her user-centric approach not only effectively communicates solutions but also drives user engagement that directly aligns with overarching business goals.

Ms Kaur’s proficiency in design thinking methodologies empowers her to navigate complexity, uncovering valuable insights and opportunities that fuel Product innovation. By championing iterative development and fostering continuous feedback loops, she ensures that solutions evolve in sync with user needs and market dynamics.

Christina Fawcett, a certified Project Management Professional (PMP), boasts a rich career spanning over two decades in the execution of clinical trials across diverse designs, phases, and therapeutic areas. Currently, she holds the position of Director of Digital Health Delivery, where she spearheads a team responsible for the effective implementation of digital and decentralized solutions within GSK's global clinical operations portfolio. Her leadership ensures quality standards, broadens participant involvement, and minimizes operational inefficiencies. Prior to this, Christina honed her skills in study delivery within CROs, notably as a Senior Director at PRA Health Sciences. Here, she led the Decentralized Clinical Trial Operations team, pioneering DCT protocols for various sponsors, including a groundbreaking fully decentralized Phase IIIb interventional trial.

Dr Anand Subramony is Vice President of the DDCS (Delivery, Device, and Connected Solutions) group at Lilly and he provides leadership to early development of combination products and novel drug delivery technologies. Prior to Lilly, Dr Subramony was Vice President within the Biologics Engineering and Targeted Delivery group, at AstraZeneca where he led various cross-functional teams in the areas of nanomedicine, drug conjugates, and drug delivery of new modalities including implantable cell therapy devices. He also provided leadership to external innovation and CoSolve, an open innovation platform. Prior to that Dr Subramony headed the Drug Delivery & Device Development at Medimmune and built an internal team that focused on combination product development, connected devices, digital biomarkers/sensors, as well as advanced novel delivery technologies including oral peptide delivery and other novel controlled release technologies. 

In other roles, Dr Subramony was Principal Fellow and Head of Novel Delivery Technologies at Novartis (NIBR, Cambridge, MA), head of the Materials Science group at Alza /J&J (Mountain View, CA), and Director of Materials Science & Drug delivery at Dr. Reddy’s Laboratories (Bridgewater, NJ). 

With his broad experience in pharma biotech, Dr Subramony brings innovation and scientific rigor coupled with execution excellence and sense of urgency to create patient centric products. He has established and managed high-performing teams in all his roles. Dr. Subramony holds an M.S. degree in Materials Science Engineering (IIT, Bombay) and a Ph.D. degree from Purdue University. With several refereed publications and patents, he is a sought-after Key Opinion Leader in the areas of drug delivery and product development.

Chris Rodricks is a Strategic Partnerships Lead in Pfizer Ignite, a new end-to-end developmental and clinical service model for biotech innovators to help advance novel therapies to market. In the past, Chris worked in Strategy and Consulting working across the R&D continuum from idea to launch and has been involved in and led a number of efforts across the drug development value chain from organizational redesign (e.g. creation of a new clinical organization, enabling functions), integration efforts (e.g. Wyeth, Allergan) and unit level strategies (e.g. GTx operations) to productivity analyses (e.g. productivity, metrics analyses, cost per POC), forecasting (e.g. pre-launch milestone forecasting) and competitive analyses linked to overall strategic priorities. 

Chris’s career is fueled by a relentless curiosity and a passion for forging meaningful connections with the extraordinary individuals he encounters. He is a proud alumnus of Stevens Institute of Technology, where he obtained a bachelor’s degree in Chemical Biology, and Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, where he earned his MBA.

Chris’s personal life is just as fulfilling as his professional one. He resides in Mystic, CT, with his wonderful wife, their spirited son, and two exuberant huskies, who bring joy and a touch of chaos to their home.

TBA