Jill Steinbach-Rankins, Ph.D. is a Senior Associate Director of Innovation Technology at Boehringer Ingelheim and an Adjunct Prof. of Pharmacology & Toxicology at the University of Louisville (UofL). Dr Steinbach-Rankins joined Boehringer-Ingelheim in May 2022, after holding a tenured Associate Professor appointment in Bioengineering for 8.5 years. Her academic research focused on the development of polymeric nanoparticles, electrospun fibers, and 3D-bioprints as new multipurpose delivery technologies to enhance delivery and treatment for cancer, viral, and bacterial applications, to the female reproductive tract and oral cavity. In industry, she now investigates a variety of external technologies, focused on drug delivery, predictive capabilities, and novel platforms to support Research & Development. She received her Bachelor’s degree in Materials Science Engineering from the University of Illinois Champaign-Urbana, and Master’s degree at Arizona State University (ASU) while working full-time in industry. She earned her Ph.D. in Bioengineering (ASU) and was fortunate to conduct her Postdoctoral training at Yale University. During Dr Steinbach-Rankins’ career, she has been honored to receive more than 22 scientific/leadership awards, ~50 domestic/international research awards earned by her trainees, multiple NIH R01, R21, and other funding opportunities. She currently serves as co-Chair of the Skin and Mucosal Delivery Focus Group (SMD) and is co-leading a new industry team focused on bridging academic-industry interests in SMD.

Dr Christoph Marschall is a pharmacist by training, having studied at the University of Heidelberg. His academic journey continued at LMU Munich, where he pursued a PhD in Pharmaceutical Technology. His research, conducted in collaboration with Novaliq Heidelberg, concentrated on ocular drug delivery and high concentration formulations of New Biological Entities (NBEs). After earning his doctorate, Dr Marschall took on the role of Laboratory Head at Abbvie. His responsibilities included container closure system and combination product development. Dr Marschall’s journey then led him to Boehringer Ingelheim, where he currently heads an early-stage pharmaceutical development laboratory. His work primarily revolves around ocular drugs, with a particular interest in sustained release formulations. In addition to his regular duties, Dr Marschall has shown a keen interest in external innovation and partnering. He recently initiated an open innovation call for sustained release ocular formulations, demonstrating his commitment to fostering collaboration in the field. 

Tal Sines serves as Biond’s VP BD since 2021 and brings vast experience in business development and Intellectual property skills, working for both pharma corporate and startup companies. Prior to Biond, Dr Sines was senior Alliance Management at CytoReason, where he managed several significant collaborations with 1st tier Pharma companies and was IP project manager for biological products at Teva pharmaceuticals.

Dr Sines holds a PhD in molecular Biology from the Weizmann Institute of Science and is a certified Israeli patent attorney by training.

Uli Kuchenbrod is a distinguished professional with over 20 years of experience in the pharmaceutical industry. With a career that has traversed numerous roles and responsibilities throughout the value chain, he bundles a comprehensive Fill & Finish CDMO perspective. His educational foundation in mechanical engineering, coupled with strategic insights gained from an MBA in Perth, Australia, has equipped him with a robust skill set. Mr Kuchenbrod is deeply passionate about innovation, focusing on packaging and drug delivery systems. His expertise has been instrumental in shaping end-to-end processes and identifying innovation opportunities, always with the needs of both the pharma customer and the patient in mind.

Faith Holmes, MD, brings more than 30 years of experience in direct patient care, and 11 years of medical practice management to her role as Elligo’s Chief Medical Officer. Her unique perspective plays an important part in building the company’s network of Research Ready physician practices and preparing them to conduct research. Dr Holmes’ rich perspective — including experience in family medicine, hospice, and palliative medicine that spans solo practice and single specialty and multispecialty group practices — allows her to build rapport with study managers, site staff, and investigators, and provide medical and scientific knowledge to support future growth. Dr Holmes has served as the Principal Investigator for interventional, diagnostic device, and observational trials in several therapeutic indications in Elligo’s eSolutions model and at the Elligo Clinical Research Center. She earned her BS in chemistry and biology from Trevecca University, her MD from ORU School of Medicine, and is board certified in family medicine and hospice and palliative medicine.

Aly Jackson is a Business Development Project Leader within the Pharma Partnering organization at Genentech/Roche. In this role, Aly leads diligence efforts and deal discussions with potential partners to enable collaborations on drug discovery and development. Her primary focus is on platform partnerships, such as those that enable target discovery, lead identification, and drug delivery. Prior to this role, Aly served as a Human Factors Engineer in Device Development at Genentech, supporting the development of combination products such as large on-body injectors, autoinjectors, and pre-filled syringes. She’s also held various roles within Pharma Technical, including manufacturing, regulatory, and MSAT. Aly received her Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees in Bioengineering from UCLA, and her MBA from UC Berkeley. In her free time, she enjoys playing soccer, mountain biking, and traveling the country to explore national parks. 

Dr. Holly Robertson is the Head of Advisory Services at Medidata Solutions where she leads a team of subject matter experts, providing guidance to clients and partners in adopting decentralized clinical trial (DCT) strategies and technologies. She obtained her PhD in Pharmacology from the University of Colorado Health Sciences Center in Denver, CO. Dr.Robertson has over 20 years of experience in pre-clinical, translational, and clinical research at leading academic institutions including the McGovern Institute for Brain Research at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Duke University, and Duke Clinical Research Institute (DCRI). She also held appointments at the Broad Institute and the Stanley Center for Psychiatric Research. Since 2015, she has led multi-disciplinary teams in developing operational strategies for DCTs including the ADAPTABLE Study, the Industry’s first and largest fully decentralized clinical megatrial with over 15,000 patients enrolled. She is an active member of Clinical Trials Transformation Initiative (CTTI) participating in the Embedding Clinical Trials into Clinical Practice working group, and the European Forum for Good Clinical Practice (EFGCP) eConsent Initiative resulting in several publications and resources for the clinical trial community. Throughout her career, Dr. Robertson has worked collaboratively with sponsors, sites, patients, ethics committees, and technology companies to pioneer successful strategies in changing the clinical trial landscape. She is passionate about developing patient-centered technologies that improve the design and execution of clinical studies, ease patient participation, and accelerate commercial outcomes to improve patient health.

Zdenek Zencak is the Global Clinical Operations Development Unit Head for Cardiovascular, Renal and Metabolism and currently acting as Head of Program Strategy and Planning in Novartis Global Clinical Operations. In this role, he leads a team that oversees the planning and execution of Novartis global clinical trials across various therapeutic areas. Dr Zencak has more than 20 years of experience in the pharmaceutical industry, with a strong background in Development. He joined Novartis in 2006 and has held various roles in the Novartis Development organization since then. Dr Zencak has a PhD in Chemistry from the University of Basel. He lives and works in Switzerland.

Noble Shore has been leading efforts to develop and integrate innovative technologies in clinical research for nearly 20 years. Noble has led groundbreaking projects including (a) one of the first RBM/EDC integrations on the market which was used in the H1N1 pandemic response in 2009, (b) an automation engine for CDISC SDTM transformations used on over 200 studies since 2012, and (c) launch of the unified Advantage eClinical technology platform for clinical research which was used to qualify Remdesivir as the first available treatment for COVID-19 in 2020 and which has been used on over 1,100 studies to date. Noble holds an MS in Software Engineering from the University of Maryland and a BS in Computer Science from Carnegie Mellon University.

Shira Orr is a pioneering force in the domain of drug delivery systems. She has been developing biopolymers for 25 years starting in the Israeli Technology Intelligence unit at the age of 18. Following her military service Shira completed her BSc and MSc - cum laude at Tel Aviv University. Throughout her PhD studies she received the distinguished Kraitman excellence scholarship, followed by a postdoc at Harvard Medical School. Following her postdoctoral work, Dr Orr has gained experience in the pharma industry. Dr Orr believes that the non-lipid bio-polymer based nanoparticles delivery system is the answer to gene therapy and will reshape the boundaries of gene therapy and patient care.

Charlie Paterson is a clinical development expert and associate partner at PA Consulting. He has a background in physics and extensive knowledge of lab technology, clinical trials design and execution, and provider operations. Mr Paterson drives the development and adoption of breakthrough technologies with leading organizations across the clinical trials continuum using data-driven approaches.

https://www.linkedin.com/in/charliepatersoninnovates/

Kelsey Jakee, managing consultant with PA Consulting, has an established track record of leading and managing transformation in pharmaceutical R&D. Over the past 14 years, she has advised Top 20 BioPharma and industry consortia on clinical innovation, new service and business model development, R&D technology strategy, digital transformation, improving the patient experience, and leveraging novel data sources across preclinical, clinical, and drug safety. Her mission is to drive high-impact and lasting change in clinical research to help us all live our best lives.

https://www.linkedin.com/in/kelseyjakee/