Tonia Nesheiwat, PharmD, is the vice president of medical affairs and project leadership at Caribou Biosciences, responsible for developing and executing medical affairs strategy and supporting new product development. She brings 15 years of clinical development, submission and medical affairs experience from large, mid-size and small pharmaceutical companies primarily focused in hematology/oncology. Before joining Caribou, Dr Nesheiwat was the Executive Director of Medical Affairs, Cell Therapy at Legend Biotech, where she was a member of the senior leadership team, established the medical affairs organization from the ground up, managed a diverse group of medical affairs professionals (including medical science liaisons) located across the U.S. with cell therapy expertise, as well as led medical affairs activities with their collaboration partner for the global and U.S. launch of CARVYKTI™ in multiple myeloma. Her experience also includes five years at Celgene, where she held several program leadership positions across hematology in clinical development and medical affairs, including Senior Director, Global Medical Affairs, CAR-T for ABECMATM in multiple myeloma. Prior to Celgene, Dr Nesheiwat worked at Novartis on the oncology global clinical development team for Afinitor® in mantle cell lymphoma, gastric cancer and breast cancer indications. Dr Nesheiwat received her Doctor of Pharmacy (PharmD) degree from Rutgers, the State University of New Jersey, where she also completed her post-doctoral fellowship in oncology early phase clinical development in partnership with the Schering-Plough Research Institute.

Jen Horonjeff, PhD, is a patient advocate and the Founder & CEO of Savvy Cooperative. She was named one of the 50 Most Daring Entrepreneurs by Entrepreneur Magazine, alongside Elon Musk and Reese Witherspoon, for her work at Savvy, which helps companies equitably gather input and insights from diverse patients. Dr Horonjeff is passionate about patient co-design as she grew up with numerous autoimmune diseases, and survived a brain tumor as an adult. She also holds a PhD in Environmental Medicine, and previously worked as a health outcomes researcher, a human factors engineer and user-centered designer, and an advisor to the FDA. Dr Horonjeff serves on the Board of Directors for The Sequoia Project, a non-profit focused on health data exchange, the Advisory Board of Trialbee, a clinical trial recruitment company, and numerous other committees. Utilizing her unique perspective, Dr Horonjeff strives to give patients a platform to have their experiences be heard, included, and equitably valued– because the future of healthcare is co-designed with patients.

Stephanie Terrey is the senior director of patient experience research at CorEvitas, part of Thermo Fisher Scientific, leading the team in conducting qualitative and quantitative research with patients and caregivers that cultivate accurate and meaningful insights to assist clients in the development of patient-centric programs. Ms Terrey has over 15 years of experience conducting and overseeing research in pharmaceutical and nonprofit settings. Ms Terrey previously worked at IQVIA as the associate director of patient insights and at RTI International as a research scientist. Ms Terrey earned a BA in psychology from Meredith College and a MA in industrial and organizational psychology from East Carolina University.

Devra Densmore began her journey in patient advocacy at nine, when she saw a news program highlighting the impact HIV/AIDS had on Ryan White’s life. Her academic work at the University of Wisconsin-Madison (BA) and the Evans School of Public Policy and Government Affairs (MPA) focused on how to better incorporate patient insights into HIV/AIDS policy to better address the needs of vulnerable populations. In the years that followed, she worked in hospitals, both domestic and internationally, incorporating the patient experience into quality improvement measures; accelerated trial recruitment via patient engagement; represented patients in front of the FDA; formed coalitions between advocacy groups to mobilize communities around legislative advocacy; and led the formation of an advocacy function at multiple biotech companies. After 18 years of strategic advocacy leadership, Devra formed Elevate Advocacy, a boutique consulting firm focused on providing differentiated patient engagement and advocacy counsel with a health equity lens. Her impact has been felt in rare and common disorders, including: ALS, Lupus Nephritis, Membranous Nephropathy, Major Depressive Disorder, Postpartum Depression, Prostate Cancer,Reproductive Health, SCN2A-DEE, SCN8A-DEE, and Trigeminal Neuralgia.

Dawn Colburn, PharmD, BCOP, is currently the Vice President of Clinical Development at Bolt Biotherapeutics. Dr Colburn has almost two decades of drug development experience working at companies of various stages including Genentech, Arcus Biosciences and Agenus. Prior to joining industry, Dr Colburn practiced as an oncology clinical pharmacist at MD Anderson Cancer Center. She received her PharmD from the University of California at San Francsico.

TBA

As Director of Clinical Research at The Michael J. Fox Foundation (MJFF), Eda Baykal-Caglar, PhD, focuses on advancing the Foundation's patient-centric mission through patient engagement in research to accelerate progress toward a cure for Parkinson's Disease. She leads MJFF's patient engagement team that forges partnerships with patients, research volunteers, industry and academic scientists, and the online smart-match tool Fox Trial Finder to increase the flow of participants into Parkinson's disease clinical trials.

Dr Baykal-Caglar started her career as a physicist but driven by her interest in creating an impact through science to advance community health, patient advocacy, and education, she switched careers to work in nonprofits and healthcare. She holds a PhD in Physics and an MS in Biotechnology and Physics Education. In her free time, she enjoys hiking, listening to podcasts, reading, and traveling with her husband and daughter.

Kim Ribeiro is the Head of Diversity & Patient Inclusion Head at AbbVie. Within this role, Ms Ribeiro has been responsible for building and operationalizing the enterprise strategy for AbbVie’s intentional approach to attracting underserved and diverse populations of investigator sites and patients into our clinical trials, leveraging patient insights to enhance clinical trial design, and building the foundational capabilities necessary to drive patient and investigator inclusivity. During her tenure at AbbVie, Ms Ribeiro held positions in clinical recruitment strategy and patient centricity. Her collective experience has uniquely positioned her to be a leading voice in clinical trial diversity and patient centricity. As a licensed Medical Laboratory Scientist, Ms Ribeiro has been recognized by the ASCP as a 40 under 40 clinical professional. She completed studies in biotechnology and biotechnology management.

With a master’s in public health specialized in healthcare management and postgraduate studies in medical law and bioethics, Ewa McHale brings a robust academic foundation to the field of clinical trials. Currently serving as the Director, Global Clinical Solutions at AstraZeneca Canada, she oversees the improvement of operational processes and the implementation of technology in clinical studies. Ms McHale experience includes roles in clinical operations and development, with a focus on oncology trials, and a commitment to integrating patient partnership in trial design and execution.

Susan Gilchrist works on the Lilly CoDesign team gathering feedback from external partners; physicians/investigators, study coordinators, payers, and patients to influence the global development of the clinical portfolio while looking to improve the customer experience and provide meaningful benefit to patients. She is an advocate for innovation in clinical research while ensuring participant preferences and needs are incorporated into trial designs. Susan previously held a concurrent role as the Community Manager for @LillyTrials while also developing the Lilly Trials website with a focus on educating potential participants and helping them match to trials. Susan has had a variety of roles at Lilly across medical, clinical, and marketing. She is an RN and prior to Lilly worked at the bedside and in clinical research.

Su Smith is Head of Patient Strategy at Origins, the patient focused specialist agency. Origins transforms our client’s strategies and results through connecting them with the power of the patient. Our patient focused work delivers significant incremental value across medical, clinical development and regulatory approval and market access around the globe. We enable our clients to truly put the patient at the heart of everything they do and realize greater success as a result. Ms Smith works closely with our clients and patient experts to design programmes that create value and leverage the power of the patient. Ms Smith is known for her passion, strategic counsel and problem-solving prowess.

Vanessa Boulanger brings over 15 years of experience to her role as Director of Patient Engagement at Boehringer Ingelheim, where she is responsible for advancing patient engagement strategies and expanding cross-functional capabilities to operationalize the science of patient input. Previously, Ms Boulanger served as Executive Director of Strategic Partnerships at the Amyloidosis Research Consortium (ARC) where she worked at the intersection of research, strategy, and community engagement to reimagine how cross-stakeholder collaboration can advance equitable science and targeted impacts on behalf of patients. Prior to ARC, Ms Boulanger was the Director of Research at the National Organization for Rare Disorders (NORD) where her work focused on the needs of the rare disease community and the fit-for-purpose use of data. Ms Boulanger holds an MSc in Global Health and Population from the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health and she currently serves as a member of the AcademyHealth Disparities Interest Group.