Fatima Scipione is Vice President of Global Patient Affairs at Blueprint Medicines, a Sanofi company, and a recognized leader in advancing patient advocacy as a strategic force in healthcare. With more than two decades of experience across the biopharmaceutical and nonprofit sectors, she has pioneered approaches that embed the lived experience of patients into drug development, evidence generation, and healthcare decision-making through trusted partnership with patient and professional advocacy communities.

Through her leadership, patient communities, clinicians, researchers, and industry leaders work together to ensure the lived experience of disease informs how medicines are developed, evaluated, and delivered. A respected voice across the advocacy and biopharmaceutical landscape, she is known for building trusted collaborations that keep scientific innovation grounded in the needs and experiences of the communities it is meant to serve.

Fatima believes progress in medicine accelerates when science and lived experience move forward together. She is a PharmaVoice 100 Most Inspiring Leader in Healthcare and a PM360 ELITE Patient Advocate.

Sara Pierson is Sr. Director, Clinical Trial Ecosystem Group Lead at Pfizer, where she oversees the company’s clinical trial digital infrastructure. Her portfolio includes PfizerClinicalTrials.com, PfizerClinicalTrialAlumni.com, PfizerConnect, Pfizer’s prescreening and referral management solutions, clinical trial social channels, and the Pfizer Clinical Trial Contact Center. Her work focuses on improving the end‑to‑end clinical trial experience from awareness through study completion by helping people connect with clinical trials in meaningful, accessible ways.

During her tenure at Pfizer, Sara has also served as Director, Patient Recruitment Programs, supporting the oncology portfolio and leading teams of recruitment strategists and specialists, as well as Director, Strategic Solutions, where she helped bring innovative clinical trial technologies from concept to execution.

Prior to joining Pfizer, Sara built her career across contract research organizations (CROs) and patient recruitment agencies, giving her a broad, practical perspective on clinical trial operations and participant and site engagement.

Niti Goel, MD, is a board-certified rheumatologist and physician-scientist with over 25 years of industry experience who discerns the clinical and market potential of new molecules and products across autoimmune, autoinflammatory, and musculoskeletal pain conditions, focused on getting them approved, prescribed, and in the hands of the people who need them. She currently is President of Caduceus Biomedical Consulting and formerly held senior leadership roles at TrialSpark (now Formation Bio), Abcuro, Kezar Life Sciences, and IQVIA, as well as various roles at Array BioPharma, Inc., UCB Pharma, and Procter & Gamble Pharmaceuticals. In her early career at University of Texas Medical Branch in Galveston, TX, she served as an investigator for multiple interventional clinical trials as well as NIH funded programs. She is currently an Adjunct Assistant Professor at Duke University School of Medicine, precepting trainees in the rheumatology clinic at the Durham Veterans Administration Hospital. Niti has interests in novel trial design; representativeness in clinical trials; inclusion of the patient perspective in clinical research endeavors; and mentoring individuals at all career levels. She graduated summa cum laude with her M.D. degree from Jefferson Medical College of Thomas Jefferson University and received her bachelor’s degree from Pennsylvania State University; she completed her internal medicine and rheumatology training at Duke University Medical Center.

Cecilio "CJ" Delgra, MD has developed significant experience is safety case management and operations, medical review, clinical trial safety, global regulatory inspection management, safety vendor quality oversight and outsourcing, process development, safety CAPA management, and REMS Operations oversight during his time within safety departments as several global biopharmaceutical companies. Over the past 22 years, CJ has served in various leadership roles within global safety organizations at Celgene/BMS, Merck, Amgen, Genentech/Roche, and Kendle International (now Syneos) and led teams in Colombia, Switzerland, UK, Japan, China, India, Canada and across the US. He has led safety integrations of acquired companies and additionally led transition of safety information of divested products. CJ has been active with TransCelerate PV projects, and a past speaker at the American Society of Clinical Oncology and the LUNGevity Foundation round table on compliance with the FDA "Final Rule" and reducing uninformative IND Safety Reports to FDA and investigators. Most recently, CJ was the VP Individual Case Management, Medical Review, Aggregate Safety Reporting and Clinical Trials Safety Management at BeiGene Global Patient Safety where he led a group of 80 located across the US and China. 

Melissa Alesse is President of Biorasi, a biotech-first CRO platform, where she leads the organization’s strategy, operations, and execution with a focus on rigor, transparency, and predictable clinical trial delivery. With a career shaped by over 20 years in contract research organizations, and academic training grounded in life sciences and research, Melissa is focused on reducing complexity and strengthening operational clarity so that clinical trials are well run. She is known for her sound judgment, collaborative leadership style, and steady guidance in complex trial environments – qualities that sponsors rely on when entrusting critical clinical programs to Biorasi.

Victoria Boswell-Smith, PhD, is Group Managing Director at Resonant Group. With more than 20 years of experience in life sciences communications and strategic engagement across the drug development lifecycle, she partners with pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies to develop integrated strategies that connect clinical development with successful commercialisation.

Victoria works closely with medical, commercial, communications and market access teams to help organisations articulate and demonstrate the value their medicines bring to patients, physicians, and healthcare systems. Her work focuses on shaping clear and compelling asset narratives and communications programs, and evolving these with the developing evidence base, to maximise asset value and impact amongst key stakeholders.

She has a particular interest in scientific storytelling and in helping companies design communication strategies that translate complex clinical and outcomes data into meaningful value propositions that support adoption and access.

Victoria earned her PhD in Pulmonary Pharmacology from King’s College London and completed postdoctoral research investigating phosphodiesterase 3 and 4 inhibitors.

Katarina Luptakova, MD, a biotech executive, has 20 years of experience serving patients with cancer through bedside patient care and drug development.  As a trained hematologist and oncologist, Dr. Luptakova is a passionate leader in biotech, driving development of novel treatment options through all stages of development and has contributed to the development and successful launch of multiple cancer therapies. Dr. Luptakova is currently serving as Chief Medical Officer at Xilio Therapeutics, after being rapidly promoted from roles of Senior Vice President, medical, and Vice President, clinical research. Xilio Therapeutics, a public company, is a clinical-stage small biotech developing novel tumor-activated immune-oncology agents.  

Prior to joining Xilio in December 2021, Dr. Luptakova served as vice president, clinical development at Constellation Pharmaceuticals, Inc. through its acquisition by MorphSys AG. Prior to Constellation, Dr. Luptakova served as senior medical director and clinical lead at Tesaro, Inc.where she contributed to the successful development and commercialization of multiple cancer therapies, including Zejula® (niraparib) and Blenrep® (belantamab mafodotin-blmf).

Earlier in her career, Dr. Luptakova held roles of increasing responsibility at Takeda Oncology and was an attending physician in the bone marrow transplant and malignant hematology division at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston, Massachusetts. Dr. Luptakova received her medical degree from Comenius University School of Medicine in Bratislava, Slovakia. She completed her internal medicine residency at St. Elizabeth’s Medical Center in Boston and her fellowship in hematology/oncology at Beth Israel Medical Center, Harvard Medical School.

Dr. Nicolas Garnier is a passionate advocate for patient empowerment and disease awareness, with a lifelong dedication to improving the lives of patients. He holds a Master’s degree in Cancer Genetics from Denis Diderot University (Paris, France) and earned his PhD in Experimental Medicine from McGill University (Montreal, Canada) in 2013.

Nicolas’s early research focused on the functional genomics of pediatric leukemia, conducted as a Postdoctoral Fellow at Sainte-Justine Hospital (Montreal, Canada). In 2015, he transitioned to Pfizer Canada Medical Affairs, where he held various roles, including Senior Manager of Access for Pfizer Canada Rare Disease, overseeing Market Access, Health Economics & Outcomes Research (HEOR), and Policy.

His commitment to patient advocacy grew in his subsequent role as Head of Patient Advocacy at Pfizer Research & Development, where he collaborated with patient groups, especially in the Rare Disease and Oncology sectors. In this position, Nicolas facilitated the integration of patients', caregivers', and advocates' insights into clinical development programs, ensuring these perspectives positively impacted patient outcomes. One of his notable achievements was launching the SCREEN4CARE public-private IMI consortium on behalf of EFPIA, aiming to improve the diagnosis journey for rare disease families. He also serves on the SCREEN4CARE Scientific Advisory Board, contributing his expertise to guide this signigicant initiative.

In December 2023, Nicolas joined Servier as Chief Patient Officer, where he now leads the Global Patient Affairs department. His mission is to ensure that Servier fulfills its commitment to patients by forging partnerships across the organization and worldwide, covering all stages of the Discover-Develop-Deliver continuum. Additionally, Nicolas serves on the Scientific Advisory Board of the MIB (Make It Better for kids with Osteosarcoma).

He is also a proud member of the PFMD (Patient Focused Medicines Development) Board, furthering his advocacy efforts and dedication to improving patient outcomes globally.

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Dr Ana Marija Gjurovic, MD, MSc is an accomplished executive with over 25 years of leadership in the pharmaceutical industry across Europe, the Middle East, and Africa. Her expertise spans Clinical Research, Medical Affairs, and Patient Engagement, with a proven record in building high-performing teams and managing complex projects.

Currently, as Senior Strategy Director, Patient and Site Centric Solutions, RDS at IQVIA, Ana Marija drives patient experience strategy in clinical development. Previously, as Global Head of Patient Engagement at AstraZeneca, she led development of patient engagement COE and enterprise-wide initiatives integrating behavioral science and patient empowerment. She also has extensive experience in leading Medical Affairs teams on local and regional level.

Ana Marija is dedicated to advancing healthcare by driving patient-centric clinical research and practice change, incorporating patient perspectives from development to commercialization. She champions patient self-management and empowerment, fostering patient partnership and working toward a more compassionate healthcare experience and improved health outcomes.

Ana Marija is a frequent industry speaker, and active member of number of professional organizations including ISPEP, PEPS and MAPS.

Ana Marija holds a Medical Doctor degree from the University of Zagreb, Croatia, and a Master of Science in Pharmacotherapy from the University of Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa.