Manuel Sanchez-Felix, PhD, is a Senior Fellow with the Chemical and Pharmaceutical Profiling (CPP) group at the Novartis Institutes for BioMedical Research in Cambridge, MA. He is a scientific leader with over 20 years of experience in drug discovery and development where he co-invented and contributed to the successful development and launch of various pharmaceutical products.  

At Novartis, Dr Sanchez-Felix leads a cross-functional group from Discovery and Development that is responsible for the evaluation and implementation of external Novel Delivery Technologies. His previous position at Novartis involved heading a group of scientists at the interface between Research and Development, establishing physicochemical and biopharmaceutical properties, and combining this information to initiate development strategy and formulation design. Prior to joining Novartis, Dr Sanchez-Felix was at Eli Lilly & Company for 20 years. His area of expertise includes Biopharmaceutics, drug delivery and patient-centered formulation design. Areas of drug discovery where he has developed products include CNS, infectious diseases (specifically TB, Malaria and Rheumatic fever), oncology, bone regeneration, and diabetes. 

Dr Sanchez-Felix received his B.Sc. Honors degree and Ph.D in Chemistry from the University of Surrey, UK. He is also an Adjunct Professor in the Department of Industrial and Physical Pharmacy at Purdue University (West Lafayette, IN) and a Fellow of the Royal Society of Chemistry. Recently, he has joined the Advisory Board of both the Biomedical Programs at Middlesex Community College and Northeastern University who have a program supporting students from minority communities. 

Jeffrey Weber, MD, PhD, is the deputy director of the Perlmutter Cancer Center, and in that capacity he works with a multidisciplinary team of medical and surgical oncologists, dermatologists and pathologists to treat patients with melanomas ranging from the most common to the most complex. Dr Weber serves as co-director of the Melanoma Research Program, overseeing work in experimental therapeutics.

Dr Weber’s clinical and research interests primarily lie in the field of immunotherapy for cancer. He works at the forefront of new ideas in immunotherapy for treating patients with melanoma and managing the side effects of these novel therapies. He has also been involved in a variety of clinical trials, including trials for melanoma vaccines, protocols involving adoptive cell therapy and novel immunotherapy trials for patients with melanoma.

Dr Weber is the principal investigator of several ongoing studies funded by the National Cancer Institute, including trials in clinical drug development and managing the autoimmune side effects of immunotherapy for melanoma. In the past, he served as the principal investigator and director of Moffitt Cancer Center’s Specialized Programs of Research Excellence (SPORE) grant for skin cancer and melanoma research from the National Cancer Institute.

Dr Weber has published more than 150 articles in the top peer reviewed journals in my field. He currently sits on the scientific advisory boards of cancer-related biotechnology companies and numerous cancer institutions and foundations.

Dr Samantha (Sammy) Sarett is a Senior Director in the Genetic Medicine department at Eli Lilly. In her graduate research at Vanderbilt University, she designed effective and varied strategies for delivery of nucleic acid drugs. She built upon this foundation in postdoctoral work at AbbVie formulating diverse nanoparticle carriers before joining biotech Exicure. Since then, Dr Sarett has concentrated on design and evaluation of approaches to achieve extrahepatic delivery of nucleic acids. In her current research at Eli Lilly, she focuses on driving innovative and meaningful advances in this challenging and high-impact delivery space.

Ronak Savla is Director, Strategic Ventures at Catalent Pharma Solutions. In his role, Dr Savla is responsible for expanding and nurturing the company’s strategic partnerships with life science venture capital firms, biotechnology incubators, consulting firms, and academic technology transfer offices. Dr Savla also manages the Catalent’s fund-of-funds representing the company’s limited partnership positions. 

Previously, Dr Savla led the Medical Affairs and Competitive Intelligence functions at a biotechnology company harnessing the innate immune system to develop novel therapeutics. Dr Savla supported the commercial launch of a novel agent for a rare leukemia and was responsible for all aspects of Medical Affairs including medical information, medical education, medical science liaisons, investigator-sponsored clinical trials, Phase 4 post-marketing safety study, and KOL engagement. Dr Savla also built the Competitive Intelligence and New Product Planning function to drive business decisions regarding asset prioritization and indication selection. Outside of his professional role, Dr Savla is an Angel Investor with the HealthTech Capital group focused on funding and mentoring startups to disrupt healthcare delivery.

Dr Savla is also an Adjunct Associate Professor within the Department of Pharmacy Practice at Rutgers University. Dr Savla has a PharmD and PhD from Rutgers University and a MBA from Johns Hopkins University – Carey Business School.

Jan Wolber, PhD, is Global Product Leader Digital in the Pharmaceutical Diagnostics business of GE Healthcare. He is based in Amersham in the UK. His work is focused on Artificial Intelligence solutions for image assessment and clinical decision support across multiple disease areas. The development of digital biomarkers is an integral part of the Precision Health strategy of GE Healthcare.

Dr Wolber has more than 20 years of experience in medical imaging R&D as a scientist, project leader, departmental manager and commercial leader. He received his PhD from the University of London in 2000 on work in the field of hyperpolarized 129Xe Magnetic Resonance. He also has a MBA from Warwick Business School. Since 2012, Jan has held an honorary professorship in MR physics at the University of Sheffield alongside his employment at GE Healthcare. In addition, Dr Wolber is involved in several academic collaborations, for instance with the University of Oxford in the UK and with Vanderbilt University Medical Centre in the US.

Dr Wolber has been working across the innovation value chain of medical imaging from very early concepts to translational research, clinical studies and commercialization. For instance, he was a key team member in the development and regulatory approval of GE Healthcare’s amyloid PET agent VizamylTM. He has also been involved in the development and deployment of image analysis software.

Theresa Scheuble is Head of Enterprise Design & Innovation for Johnson & Johnson. She is an expert on combination product requirements and considerations supporting all segments of Johnson & Johnson.

Prior to her current role, Theresa was Head of the Combination Product Drug Delivery Systems Development for the East Coast team in Janssen, a Johnson & Johnson Company. While at Janssen, Theresa was responsible for Combination Product Device development and led cross-sector initiatives. Theresa has been with Johnson & Johnson for greater than 25 years, working in all Segments of Johnson & Johnson with 18 years specifically in the Medical Device Segment. She was the project lead and technical lead for greater than 20 portfolio enhancing products by Johnson & Johnson companies. She also has experience in the Automotive and Aerospace industries.

Paul Schultz has over fifteen years of experience in biopharma, medtech and digital health. As an accomplished and successful entrepreneur, he is passionate about solving challenging healthcare problems with large market opportunities and novel solutions. Mr Schultz has a demonstrated track record of closing large enterprise multi-year partnerships with top-30 pharma while driving significant upside value.

Amin Sedighiamiri is Associate Director, Device Development at AstraZeneca, where he is leading cross-functional product teams to develop and bring injectable drug-device combination products to market. Additionally, he spearheads the evaluation and implementation of innovative technologies aimed at improving drug delivery and the overall patient experience. His expertise extends to the integration of digital solutions for injectable biologics, ensuring the seamless convergence of technology and the administration of biologics. Before joining AstraZeneca, Dr Sedighiamiri worked in Delivery, Device and Connected Solutions organization of Eli Lilly and Company, where he led design and development of connected solutions for various drug delivery devices. Additionally, he serves as a board member at the Society of Plastics Engineers – Medical Plastics Division, dedicated to facilitating the exchange of technical insights among the scientific and engineering community pertaining to medical applications utilizing plastics and polymers. Dr Sedighiamiri holds BSc, MSc and PhD in Mechanical Engineering and over 12 years of experience in product innovation and commercialization across multiple industry segments.

  Dr Jaymin Shah is a Senior Research Fellow in Pharmaceutical Sciences and heads a global biopharmaceutics group in Pfizer R&D. He also holds an adjunct faculty appointment at the University of Houston. He obtained his Ph.D. in Pharmaceutics from University of Houston. From 1988-1999 he served as Associate Professor (Tenured) of Pharmaceutical Sciences at Medical University of South Carolina, where he led a lab developing sustained release parenteral delivery systems and modeling of skin transport and mentored 7 Ph.D. and 2 MS graduates. Dr Shah joined Pfizer in 1999 where he has led formulation groups and project teams supporting development of various candidates as parenteral/ophthalmic dosage forms, peptide and oligonucleotides development and research initiatives in parenteral and ophthalmic delivery including LAI, depots, sterile suspensions, implants, and nanoparticles. Dr Shah has been recognized with achievement awards for leadership and innovation in Pfizer. Jaymin has published 63 papers, 10 patents/patent applications, 75 abstracts and made more than 114 presentations at various scientific forums such as Arden House Conference, AAPS symposia, CRS, FDA and academic centers. His current research interests include topical drug delivery, parenteral sustained release (depot), nanoparticles, ophthalmic delivery, and topical formulation development. Currently Dr Shah leads a global biopharmaceutics group providing biopharma risk assessment and strategy for biopharmaceutical aspects for drug development using in vitro performance and PBPK modeling.