Neil Adams
Publishing Manager, Pharma Solutions, Nature Publishing Group, ISMPP CMPP™

Neil has worked in medical publishing for the past 20 years at companies such as John Wiley & Sons, Springer Science & Business Media and Informa Healthcare. He is currently publishing manager for the Pharma Solutions division at Nature Publishing Group (NPG), where he works with pharmaceutical and medical communications companies, journal editors and researchers to publish clinical studies in NPG journals. An active member of ISMPP, he currently serves on its ISMPP U committee, and has also been a workshop faculty member at the European and Annual meetings.  Neil received his B.A. from Bates College and is an ISMPP Certified Medical Publication Professional.

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Maria Alu, MS
Cardiology Publications Manager, Columbia University Medical Center

Maria Alu has worked in clinical research and medical publications since 2007, holding positions with the Cardiovascular Research Foundation, Mount Sinai School of Medicine, and Columbia University Medical Center. She has served as Cardiology Publications Manager for Columbia’s Heart Valve Center since 2011, where her primary responsibilities include managing the PARTNER Publications Office, a collaborative effort between Columbia, The Cleveland Clinic, and Medstar Health Research Institute, involving physicians and researchers from the fields of interventional cardiology, cardiac surgery, echocardiography, and health economics and outcomes research. She is currently pursuing an MS in Epidemiology at the Mailman School of Public Health at Columbia University where her research interests include cardiovascular disease and the epidemiology of aging.

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Gregory Bezkorovainy, MA 
Vice President, Scientific Services, Adelphi Communications ISMPP CMPP^TM
Gregory Bezkorovainy is Vice President of Scientific Services at Adelphi Communications in New York. He entered the healthcare communications field in 1988, just as strategic publications planning was taking root in the pharmaceutical industry. Over the years he has worn almost every publications planning hat imaginable, including medical reporter, editor, writer, designer, tactical planner, and strategic planner. Gregory joined Adelphi, Inc in 2002 and has been in his current position since 2006. This is Gregory's sixth consecutive year as faculty for Introduction to Publications Planning.

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Mariam Bibi
Real World Evidence Director, Complete True Life, McCann Complete Medical

Mariam has over 10 years experience of working in the health care industry, with 5 years working at NICE, where she was the lead on various work relating to the use of medicines in the NHS. Prior to NICE she worked at the North West Public Health Observatory (now Public Health England) where she led the development of key metrics in communicable disease. She has an extensive research background and experience in creating, analysing and appraising scientific and clinical data, gained through work in academia and the healthcare sector. She has a doctorate degree in Epidemiology and is an Associate Lecturer in Epidemiology, Evidence Based Practice and Biological Data Processes. 

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Barbara E. Bierer, MD
Professor of Medicine, Harvard Medical School

Barbara E. Bierer, M.D., a hematologist-oncologist, is Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School and the Brigham and Women’s Hospital. Dr. Bierer co-founded and now leads, as faculty co-director, the Multi-Regional Clinical Trials (MRCT) Center at Harvard, a University-wide and collaborative effort to improve standards for the planning and conduct of clinical trials in the developing world. In addition, she is the Program Director of the Regulatory Foundations, Law and Ethics Program of the Harvard Catalyst, the Harvard Clinical and Translational Science Award. From 2003-2014, she served as Senior Vice President, Research, at the BWH and was the institutional official for human subjects and animal research, for biosafety and for research integrity. She initiated the Brigham Research Institute and the Innovation Hub (iHub), a focus for entrepreneurship and innovation. In addition, she was the Co-Chair of the Partners HealthCare Committee on Conflict of Interest. Dr. Bierer established and directed the Center for Faculty Development and Diversity at the BWH; for these efforts, she was the first recipient of the HMS Harold Amos Faculty Diversity Award in 2008.

In addition to her academic responsibilities, Dr. Bierer served on the Board of Directors of both the Association for Accreditation of Human Research Protection Programs (AAHRPP) and the Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology (FASEB). She served as the Chair of the Secretary’s Advisory Committee for Human Research Protections, Department of Health and Human Services from 2008-2012. She is currently a member of the National Academies of Sciences Committee on Science, Technology and the Law. She also serves on the Board of Directors of Public Responsibility in Medicine and Research (PRIM&R), dedicated to promoting the ethical conduct of biomedical and behavioral research; Management Sciences for Health (MSH), an international organization working in partnership globally to strengthen health care, local capability, and access; and the Edward P Evans Foundation, a foundation supporting biomedical research for which she serves as Chair. She has authored or co-authored over 180 publications and is on the editorial boards of a number of journals including Current Protocols of Immunology.

Dr. Bierer received a B.S. from Yale University and an M.D. from Harvard Medical School.

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Manon Boisclair, MSc, RN, ISMPP CMPP™
Director, Global Publications Operations, Celgene

Manon Boisclair is currently the Director of the Global Publication Operations at Celgene leading a team involved in the strategic optimization of departmental processes and publications activities. She has more than 17 years of experience in the pharmaceutical/biotech industry. During the past 8 years, Manon has held a number of leadership roles in global strategic publication planning, lifecycle management, pre & post-launch activities for several hematology & oncology blockbusters as well as pipeline compounds at Celgene and Novartis. Previously, she has held medical field positions in Canada at Novartis and Merck in oncology, cardiovascular disease and pneumology. Manon completed her graduate studies in nursing at McGill University/University de Montreal (U of M), she has been an adjunct professor at U of M with the faculty of nursing while working as a clinical and research nurse in a teaching hospital (Montreal Heart Institute). Manon is a Certified Medical Publication Professional (CMPP) and ISMPP member, and has been an invited speaker at ISMPP, TIPPA, and CBI. She  is actively involved with the ISMPP University committee since the past 4 years, and has also been part of the GPP3 taskforce.

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Michael Buschman, MLIS
Co-founder, Plum Analytics

Mike Buschman is the co-founder of Plum Analytics, which was acquired by EBSCO in 2014. Before founding Plum Analytics Mike was the Director of Product Management for ProQuest's Summon Discovery Service. Previously Mike was a Client Services Manager for the IEEE, and prior to that was Program Manager and Technical Evangelist for Microsoft's Academic and Book Search products. Mike was also the Collections Management Librarian at the Microsoft corporate library for 5 years. Mike earned a Bachelor of Arts degree from Emory University and a Masters in Library and Information Science from the University of Washington iSchool. He lives in Seattle.

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Angela Cairns 
SVP, Global Compliance Team Leader, Executive Management, Ashfield Healthcare Communications, ISMPP CMPP^TM

Angela has worked in medical communications for 30 years, and is currently Senior Vice President and Global Compliance Team Leader at Ashfield Healthcare Communications based in Macclesfield, UK. She is responsible for all aspects of legal and regulatory compliance, including ensuring employee awareness of compliance requirements, compliance testing, development of guidelines and SOPs, providing advice to internal teams, as well as offering guidance on policies and SOPs to external companies.

Angela is an ISMPP member and gained her CMPP certification in 2009. She is also a member of the ISMPP Sunshine Act Task Force and GPP3 Steering Committee, and previously served on the ISMPP Certification Board for 4 years.

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Laine Capaccio, ISMPP CMPP™
Director, Credentialing at ISMPP
International Society for Medical Publication Professionals

Laine Capaccio joined the International Society for Medical Publication Professionals (ISMPP) as Certification Program Director in February 2013. She is responsible for directing all activities associated with the ISMPP Certification Program, including the certification exam, recertification program, and other certification-related activities. Laine has over 8 years of experience at medical communications agencies, SCI Scientific Communications & Information and Advogent (formerly Cardinal Health, Inc.), managing publications and scientific communications projects. She also spent two years as a specialty sales representative with Warner Chilcott in their Women’s Health division. Laine has a BA in Communication from Rutgers University and holds the ISMPP Certified Medical Publication Professional™ credential.

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Christopher Carswell, MSc 
Editor-in-Chief, Pharmacoeconomics, Springer Science and Business Media, LLC

Chris Carswell has been the Editor in Chief of PharmacoEconomics for over ten years, is the co-editor of The Patient:Patient-Centered Outcomes Research and the consulting editor of Applied Health Economics and Health Policy. He also leads a team of six other professional journal editors in the fields of pharmacoeconomics, pharmacovigilance and pharmacokinetics.. He practised as a pharmacist for over 10 years before becoming a medical writer and then a full-time professional journal editor with Adis publications in 2001.

Chris was a lead author on the CHEERs reporting guidelines for economic evaluations and is also an author on GPP-3 taking the lead on the guidelines for authorship and author payment sections.

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Alice Choi, PhD, ISMPP CMPP™
Chair, ISMPP Board of Trustees (2014-2015)
Global Head, Complete Medical Communications

Alice Choi is currently the Global Head of Complete Medical Communications (CMC), a division of McCann Complete Medical.  Alice has an honours degree in Pharmacology, a Masters Degree in Clinical Pharmacology, a Masters in Public Health and a doctorate in cancer epidemiology.  Pre CMC, Alice began her career in academia as a researcher before moving on to a number of healthcare agencies, working in medical communications, market research and health outcomes.  

Since joining CMC in 2002, Alice has held a number of different roles, including account director and commercial director, before taking up her current position in 2006.  In this role, she oversees a multidisciplinary team based in offices across the UK and the US.  Alongside her broader operational responsibilities, Alice continues to work closely with several clients.  Having 20 years of experience in a range of different therapy areas, she assists clients with a variety of projects including communication planning, Phase IIIB/IV planning, stakeholder services and general consultancy – in particular, publication planning and best practice scientific exchange are important areas for Alice and the wider CMC team.  Alice is a Certified Medical Publication Professional and has served on several ISMPP committees over the years.  She is currently the Chair of the Board of Trustees for ISMPP and also serves as a Governor for The Christie, one of Europe’s leading cancer centres.

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Jacqueline Cole
Clinical Operations Portfolio Management, Oncology
Eli Lilly and Company

Jacqueline (“Jackie”) Cole manages a portfolio of oncology clinical trials for Eli Lilly and Company.  Jackie has worked at Lilly for 15 years in a variety of roles within Clinical Operations, including CRA, Project Manager, and Research Manager, all within the oncology therapeutic area. In her current role as Portfolio Manager, Jackie is responsible for the implementation and enrollment of multiple breast cancer studies.  Jackie’s oncology experience reinforces the urgency in patient -centered innovation, and lends itself well to her interest in patient focused initiatives. She has developed a variety of innovative programs at Lilly aimed at enhancing the patient clinical trial experience, including travel reimbursement and sharing clinical trial results with patients.

Jackie has a Bachelor’s degree in Biology from Indiana University and a Master’s degree in Molecular Biology from the University of Rochester. She is a teleworker and lives in Colorado with her husband, two sons, and a garage full of bikes.

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Tim Collinson, BSc 
Business Unit Head, West Coast, Fishawack Communications, ISMPP CMPP™

Tim has worked in global medical communications for 19 years, in roles in the UK, USA and Canada. His background includes medical editing and writing positions, in-house global brand team support for a leading pharma company, and Editorial Director and Operations Director roles within the Fishawack Group. Tim recently established the Fishawack Group's US West Coast operation in San Francisco, where he provides editorial direction and technical leadership for a range of products and services. He is a Certified Medical Publication Professional, and serves on the International Society for Medical Publication Professionals (ISMPP) Communications Committee and is a member of the ISMPP Asia-Pacific Education Taskforce. Publication planning, journal and congress publications, symposia, advisory board meetings and educational materials are among the medical communication activities with which Tim has many years' experience. He has an honours degree in Physiology/Pharmacology with Health Studies and research experience at the Justus Liebig University Hospital in Giessen, Germany.

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Grahame Conibear
Senior VP, Integrated Communications, Adelphi Communications NY

As leader of the Adelphi NY office, Grahame brings  more than 25 years experience in blue chip Pharma companies, starting as a Medical Representative and rising through strategic brand director roles (national and global) to the position of Director of Global Marketing and executive board member. In addition, he has experience in pharmacy retailing and corporate finance as Corporate Development Manager at The Boots Company in the UK.

Grahame’s agency experience has centered on strategic communications and publications planning, and digital innovation. He has been successful in driving the delivery of major client assignments in medical publications across a wide range of therapeutic areas—both in the US and on a global basis. His clear and structured approach to strategic communications planning extends from the foundations of brand vision and positioning, through to the tactical delivery of major integrated global programs.

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Laura C. Conway, JD
Director, Regulatory and Compliance Services, Porzio Life Sciences

Laura C. Conway is a Director of Regulatory and Compliance Services with Porzio Life Sciences, LLC. Ms. Conway collaborates with the company's directors, managers and regulatory professionals to provide regulatory guidance to customers and to maintain the content of our products and services.

She shares responsibility for support of Porzio AggregateSpendID, the organization's automated tool for the collation and aggregation of marketing expenses. On this team, Ms. Conway serves as a contact for new customers and assists in system implementation and maintenance.

Ms. Conway is also a Counsel of Porzio, Bromberg & Newman P.C. and a member of the firm’s Life Sciences Compliance, Commercialization and Regulatory Counseling Department.  In her capacity with the law firm, she counsels pharmaceutical, medical device and biotechnology organizations on compliance issues, including: healthcare compliance audits; comprehensive compliance programs; FDA and state law issues; off-label issues; compliance with PhRMA and AdvaMed codes and OIG Guidance; implementation of aggregate spend solutions; state and federal transparency and disclosure laws; PDMA; healthcare consultant contracts; and clinical trial agreements.
Ms. Conway received a J.D. from Georgetown University Law Center and her B.A., magna cum laude, from Boston College.  Ms. Conway is AV rated by Martindale-Hubbell. She proudly serves on the Board of the New Jersey Women Lawyers Association.

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Patricia L.N. Cornet, MA
Associate Director Advocacy, Global Development & Operations, R&D, Bristol-Myers Squibb

Patricia has over 15 years of experience in the pharmaceutical industry, working in both pharmaceutical companies and CROs.  Patricia began her career in the industry as a clinical site monitor having worked at the CROs Bio-Pharm and Covance. Patricia has worked in clinical project management for over 15 years covering the therapeutic areas of Immunology, Respiratory, Endocrinology and HIV at Schering-Plough.  She has also developed a multi-faceted experience base by working on Phase IV clinical trials, in Outsource Management and in Data Management.  

Patricia joined BMS in June 2004 as a Protocol Manager with oversight of clinical trials in immunology for global development operations (GDO). In October 2006, Patricia joined the Global Recruitment & Analytic (GR&A) Department for a newly-created position of Senior Recruitment Manager based in Shanghai, China. In the new role, she supported the overall goal of building the clinical trial business in the geographic region by focusing on patient recruitment, investigator recruitment/training, and strategic alliances with head quarter key stakeholders.  She returned to the U.S. in 2009 to oversee a global team of recruitment managers and country specialist. As Associate Director, Patricia was responsible for driving the strategic direction of the recruitment team and department initiatives with a focus on optimization of study start up and acceleration of recruitment for early phase and late phase studies. In 2013 Patricia transitioned into a newly formed advocacy department in GDO as advocacy lead for immunoscience, cardiovascular and rare diseases. The advocacy organization focuses on bringing the voice of the patient into the clinical development process and develops strategies to drive greater accessibility, awareness and education of clinical trials across the GDO portfolio as well as ensure diversity in trial participation. She is responsible for developing strategies to support clinical programs and various cross therapeutic and company level patient engagement initiatives.

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Juli Clark, PharmD
Executive Director, Global Medical Writing
Amgen

Juli has directed the Global Medical Writing department at Amgen for 8 years, and has 18 years of experience in the biotech industry, having managed staff and services in Medical Writing, Medical Information and Medical Communication roles.  Prior to working in industry, she worked for two smaller companies (Pathogenesis, and Otsuka). Juli earned her B.S. Pharmacy and Doctor of Pharmacy degrees at University of Iowa, and completed a General Hospital Pharmacy Residency program and Fellowship in Ambulatory Care Clinical Pharmacy.  Prior to entering the biotech/pharma industry, Juli practiced as a clinical pharmacy specialist in a variety of settings including managed care, Indian Health Service, private and large University Hospitals.  Juli is currently serving as Trustee at Large on the ISMPP Board of Trustees, and has been an active participant/presenter in the Medical Publishing Insights and Practices Initiative (MPIP) as well as with ISMPP, AMWA and DIA.

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Robert Creutz Jr., BA
Executive Account Manager, iThenticate, iParadigms, LLC

Robert has worked as a copy editor, recruiter, educator and sales professional.  He has championed research integrity for the last 10 years as an account executive for iParadigms, the developers of both the Turnitin and iThenticate plagiarism detection software platforms.  He has presented in past to both the ISMPP and AMWA membership.

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Elvira D'souza 
Senior Vice President, Medical Writing Operations, Medical Communications, Cactus Communications Pvt Ltd., 
ISMPP CMPP^TM

Elvira D’souza has over 10 years of experience in the medical communications industry. Elvira has a very good understanding of the logistics of global outsourcing of medical writing services and works extensively with key decision makers within pharmaceutical/device companies globally to develop long-term relationships and provide solutions for assistance with multiple types of projects including publication planning, graphics support, regulatory writing, and marketing support documentation across a range of therapeutic areas.  During her tenure at CACTUS, Elvira has also gained expertise in interacting with individual authors/researchers from all over the globe, especially in the Asia-Pacific region.

Elvira helped conduct the first BELS exam in India and has also proctored subsequent BELS exams in the country. She has a bachelor¿s degree in life sciences from the University of Mumbai and a master¿s in business administration from Narsee Monjee Institute of Management Studies in Mumbai, India. She also has an ELS certification from the Board of Editors in the Life Sciences and is a certified medical publication professional.

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Mary Beth DeYoung, PhD
Publications Lead, AstraZeneca

Mary Beth DeYoung has a PhD in Biochemistry from the University of Pennsylvania and completed a postdoctoral fellowship at the University of California at San Francisco. She worked at PAREXEL-MMS in Hackensack, NJ for 8 years, holding positions from Editor to Principal Writer.  She led the Publications group at Amylin Pharmaceuticals for 5 years, joined Bristol-Myers Squibb as a Global Publications Lead, then transitioned to AstraZeneca in the same position. She has supported the publication of >100 manuscripts.

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Keith E. Evans, PhD
Director, Global Health Outcomes, InScience Communications

Keith Evans holds qualifications in Economics (BA Econ) and Health Economics (PhD) from Leicester University. He worked as a lecturer in economics at Leicester Polytechnic/De Montfort University for five years. Keith then worked as Health Economist and later Director of Health Services Research Unit (UCNW Bangor) and has also worked for Ayrshire & Arran Health Board (UK NHS) as health economist in the department of Public Health. Keith has worked in medical communications agencies for the past ten years specializing in health outcomes and evidence-based medicine projects. His current role is to  provide specialist health outcomes input into InScience Communication medical communication services.

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Judy Fallon, PharmD 
Vice President, Clinical Content, C4 MedSolutions, LLC, ISMPP CMPP^TM

Judy began working as a community pharmacist, but developed a keen interest in drug information during her PharmD training that ultimately led her to pursue a career in medical communications. Her first position was as an Associate Editor at Scientific Therapeutics Information, Inc. She joined Scientific Connexions as a Medical Writer in 2003 and was promoted to Director, Medical Communications in 2004. In 2010, Judy joined Complete Healthcare Communications, where she is currently Vice President, Clinical Content at C4 MedSolutions, LLC, a CHC Group company.

Judy has extensive experience in medical writing and publication planning. Over the past 16 years, she has written and edited clinical trial manuscripts, review articles, abstracts, posters, platform presentations, and medical affairs projects that are far too numerous to count. In addition, Judy’s sense of humor and well-honed diplomacy skills have served her well when liaising with sponsors and thought leaders.  

Judy received her PharmD from the Philadelphia College of Pharmacy, University of the Sciences in Philadelphia, Philadelphia, PA. Judy is a registered pharmacist in New Jersey and is a Certified Medical Publication Professional. In her spare time, she can be found lounging poolside with a good book.

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Sarah Feeny, BMedSc, ISMPP CMPP™Head of Scientific Direction, Complete Medical Communication

Sarah L Feeny is Global Head of Scientific Direction at Complete Medical Communications, head-quartered in the UK. Sarah studied medicine at the University of Nottingham Medical School in the UK, but deciding she would make a very poor healthcare professional, she changed track and became a biomedical writer/indexer in 1993. She moved to Complete Medical Communications in 1998 and has extensive experience in the field of ethical publication planning and delivery. She has also assisted in the development of industry publication planning SOPs and policy documents, as well as running industry training on good publication practice. Sarah is a charter member of ISMPP, past Chair of the European Committee of ISMPP (2008-2011) and held the European At-Large position on the ISMPP Board of Trustees (2011-2014). You can follow Sarah on twitter @iamsarahfeeny.

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Kathryn Foxhall
Freelance Reporter

Kathryn Foxhall has covered health in Washington for 40 years, including 14 years (1978-1992) as editor of the American Public Health Association’s newspaper. She accidently became a reporter after applying for a typing job at the now defunct Selma Free-Press in Selma, Alabama, with her new B.A. from Birmingham-Southern College.

Currently freelancing for Contemporary Pediatrics and other publications, she previously worked for the American Psychological Association’s magazine and for newsletters on substance abuse and medical coding. After years of getting a dynamic education by speaking frankly with sources on Capitol Hill and in federal agencies, she became alarmed as federal workers came under rules prohibiting them from communicating with journalists without the oversight of the public relations offices—in reality oversight by people in power.

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Joyce Frieden
News Editor, MedPage Today

Joyce Frieden is a News Editor at MedPage Today, a medical news website for physicians and other health professionals; her duties include writing and editing stories on medicine and health policy. A graduate of the University of Michigan, Joyce began her career in medical journalism 31 years ago at Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, working as a news editor for Physician's Management, Modern Medicine, Hospital Formulary, and several other medical magazines.

Since then, her byline has appeared in Business & Health magazine, Internal Medicine News, Family Practice News, and other physician publications. Her freelance clients have included Physician's Weekly, UPI, WebMD, Reuters Health, the Washington Post, and Washingtonian magazine. She is the recipient of a Jesse H. Neal award presented for editorial excellence by American Business Media and is co-coordinator of the Washington chapter of the Association of Health Care Journalists.

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Christine Gatchalian, PhD
Director, Global Medical Writing, Amgen

Christine Gatchalian PhD, Director, leads the Oncology and Hematology/Oncology teams in Global Medical Writing.  Christine has accumulated 21 years of experience in the biopharmaceutical industry, the last 8 of which have been in scientific publications.  She joined Amgen Global Medical Writing in 2004, briefly supporting pipeline product teams in Oncology before assuming the role of Bone therapeutic area lead.  In this capacity, Christine developed teams of medical writers supporting all indications for denosumab and a pipeline product.  Prior to 2004, Christine led a team of medical writers and a graphics specialist at Kendle International, which provided dedicated publication support on Amgen products.  Christine received her PhD in Neural Sciences from Washington University in St. Louis.

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Wil Glass, PhD 
Senior Director, Global Publication Planning, Allergan

Accomplished strategic leader, scientist, and change agent with over 10 years of experience in top pharmaceutical and device companies.  Has worked in the Publishing space for over 7 years and personally authored > 20 publications in peer-reviewed scientific journals.  During his career, he has driven the planning and execution of strategic publication plans for some of the most successful and recognized products in Pharma (HUMIRA, BOTOX, Infliximab).  Has personally developed corporate publication policies for Top Tier Pharma companies ensuring global alignment, understanding, and adherence.   Finally, he is a transformational leader who motivates teams to develop, pursue, and enact novel methods for goal achievement. 

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John Goldsmith, MD, FACP
Acting Associate Director, Rare Disease Program, Office of New Drugs, Center for Drug Evaluation and Research, FDA

Dr. Goldsmith is serving on detail as the acting Associate Director of the Rare Diseases Program in the Office of New Drugs/CDER/FDA. He has been trained as an internist and hematologist and has had an extensive career in academia, at regulated industry, with orphan disease foundations and in government focused on rare diseases. Throughout his career, he has led funded pre-clinical and clinical research programs and directed numerous clinical trials in support of licensure for treatments for rare diseases.

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Anuj Gupta, MD, FACC, FSCAI
Assistant Professor of Medicine, Division of Cardiovascular Medicine, University of Maryland School of Medicine
Director, Cardiac Cathetorization Lab
Governor, Maryland ACC

Dr. Anuj Gupta, FACC, FSCAI is an Assistant Professor of Medicine and Director of the UMMC Cardiac Cath Lab. He is board certified in Cardiovascular Disease and Interventional Cardiology. Before joining the University of Maryland faculty in 2008, Dr. Gupta completed his Interventional Cardiology training at Columbia University where he actively participated in TAVR, EVAR/ TEVAR, and ASD/ PFO closures. He is the Site PI for the PARTNER 2 trial and the Salus Trial, and treats patients with the commercially available Medtronic Corevalve and Edwards XT devices. Dr. Gupta is also the site PI in the SYMPLICITY HTN-3 trial, as well as the site PI for BEST-CLI, a NHLBI funded trial to evaluate treatment strategies for critical limb ischemia.  He is the President of the Maryland chapter of the ACC and on the Board of Governors for the ACC.  He is a Principal for the Maryland Academic Consortium on PCI Appropriateness and Quality, an external peer review system jointly administered by the University of Maryland School of Medicine and the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine.

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John Gonzalez, PhD, ISMPP CMPP™
Publications Director, AstraZeneca

John is a UK registered pharmacist who spent the first part of his career in academia, completing his PhD in neuroscience and subsequently lecturing in pharmacology.  For the past 28 years he has worked in the publishing, healthcare agency and pharmaceutical industry sectors. He started in healthcare communications and publishing by joining Adis International (now part of the Springer Group) where he held several roles including General Manager (Germany), Business Development Director and Editorial Director.  John then joined AstraZeneca in 2000 as a Global Publications Manager working in the neurology, pain, anaesthesia and psychiatry areas. He then moved into the area of Global Professional Relations at AstraZeneca in the psychiatry field - a position he held for 3 years.

Since 2008 John has been in a leadership role in the Global Publications Group at AstraZeneca Medical Affairs at Alderley Park, UK. He was Director of Publications Policy until August 2013 and is currently Therapy Area Publications Director for CNS, GI and Infection. John has been a member of the Medical Publishing Insights & Practices (MPIP) Initiative Steering Committee and Secretary on the ISMPP Board of Trustees. He is currently a member of the CMPP Board of Trustees.

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Anuj Gupta, MD, FACC, FSCAI
Assistant Professor of Medicine, Division of Cardiovascular Medicine, University of Maryland School of Medicine
Director, Cardiac Catheterization Lab
Governor, Maryland ACC

Dr. Anuj Gupta, FACC, FSCAI is an Assistant Professor of Medicine and Director of the UMMC Cardiac Cath Lab. He is board certified in Cardiovascular Disease and Interventional Cardiology. Before joining the University of Maryland faculty in 2008, Dr. Gupta completed his Interventional Cardiology training at Columbia University where he actively participated in TAVR, EVAR/ TEVAR, and ASD/ PFO closures. He is the Site PI for the PARTNER 2 trial and the Salus Trial, and treats patients with the commercially available Medtronic Corevalve and Edwards XT devices. Dr. Gupta is also the site PI in the SYMPLICITY HTN-3 trial, as well as the site PI for BEST-CLI, a NHLBI funded trial to evaluate treatment strategies for critical limb ischemia.  He is the President of the Maryland chapter of the ACC and on the Board of Governors for the ACC.  He is a Principal for the Maryland Academic Consortium on PCI Appropriateness and Quality, an external peer review system jointly administered by the University of Maryland School of Medicine and the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine.

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Jim Gurr, PhD
Publications Lead, Oncology, Scientific Publications, MedImmune

Jim Gurr, PhD, has over 15 years experince in publications in the pharmaceutical industry and is currently a Publications Lead, Oncology, in the Scientific Publications group at MedImmune. Prior to joining MedImmune, Jim held similar positions in the publications teams at Bristol-Myers Squibb, Pfizer and Wyeth. He has been a member of ISMPP since its inception and has served on the Annual Meeting Committee for the past 6 years.He is also an author on GPP2 and GPP3.

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Zachary Hallinan
Director, Patient Communication and Engagement Programs, CISCRP

Zachary Hallinan is the Director of Patient Communication and Engagement Programs at the non-profit Center for Information and Study on Clinical Research Participation (CISCRP). A graduate of the University of Pennsylvania, he oversees CISCRP's programs for better understanding and meeting the needs of clinical research volunteers globally, including programs to assist research sponsors in communicating clinical trial results to study volunteers in plain language. He has been recognized for his work and scholarship by the National Science Foundation, and was recognized by CenterWatch as one of twenty innovators changing the face of the clinical trials industry.

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Iain Hrynaszkiewicz, MA
Head of Data and Humanities & Social Sciences Publishing, Nature Publishing Group & Palgrave Macmillan

Iain Hrynaszkiewicz is Head of Data and HSS Publishing at Nature Publishing Group and Palgrave Macmillan, where his responsibilities include developing new areas of open research publishing and data policy. He is publisher of the journals Scientific Data, Palgrave Communications, and helps develop open access monograph publishing. Iain previously worked as Outreach Director at Faculty of 1000. He spent 7 years at the first open access publisher BioMed Central as an Editor and Publisher, of multidisciplinary life science journals and evidence-based medicine journals, and the Current Controlled Trials clinical trial registry. He has led various initiatives, and published several articles, related to data sharing, open access, open data and the role of publishers in reproducible research. These include guidelines for sharing clinical research data, published in the BMJ in 2010. 

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Brian Jenkins
Executive Multimedia Editor, Multimedia Publishing, Elsevier

Brian Jenkins has 26 years of publishing experience, starting in Journal Production with Lawrence Erlbaum Associates and Elsevier for the first 8 years, was a freelance editor for 2, and has been in his current position with Elsevier for 16 years. Brian is now Executive Multimedia Editor at Elsevier, working on industry-supported print and electronic content that goes through journal peer review.

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Renu Juneja, PhD
Head of Medical Communications, MedImmune

Renu Juneja is Head of the Medical Communications group at MedImmune (the worldwide biologics research and development arm of AstraZeneca). Her group has the responsibility for writing regulatory documents (clinical trial reports, summary documents, protocols, investigator brochures, briefing documents etc.) as well as publications (manuscripts, review articles .); for peer-reviewed journals and presentations (abstracts, posters, oral presentations etc) at the scientific meetings.

Previously, she led the Strategic Scientific Communication (SSC) group at Novo Nordisk Inc. (NNI). She also had the opportunity to lead the Information & Education group at NNI and was responsible for the company’s library and for Independent Medical Education (IMEs) programs. Renu started her career in Novo Nordisk as a medical write. After finishing her PhD in Reproductive Biology & Biochemistry from the Post Graduate Institute of Medical Education & Research (PGIMER) in India, Renu joined The Population Council in NY as a Postdoctoral fellow. Two years later, she received an independent research grant from the Lalor Foundation and joined the department of Molecular Biology at the Princeton University, She has over 20 publications in peer-reviewed journals and has presented at various national and international conferences.

Renu has presented and conducted workshops at the annual meetings of various professional organizations e.g. ISMPP, TIPPA, CBI, and Q1 productions.

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John F. Kamp, JD, PhD
Executive Director, Coalition for Healthcare Communication

Dr. John F. Kamp is Executive Director of the Coalition for Healthcare Communication, a medical marketing trade association with offices in New York City and Washington, DC. He is also Consulting Counsel with the law firm Wiley Rein LLP, and is a widely respected advocate for First Amendment rights of individuals and corporations. His clients and association members rely on Kamp for legal, policy and reputation management as well as effective advocacy for their corporations and organizations.

Kamp’s professional experience includes 10 years with the Washington, DC, office of the American Association of Advertising Agencies and nearly a decade in public relations and policy positions at the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), including four years as Director of Congressional and Public Affairs. Before moving to Washington, Dr. Kamp taught journalism and communication law at the University of Iowa and at Tulsa University.

Dr. Kamp is a frequent speaker at industry meetings on ethical, legal and policy issues on medical marketing, and is recognized as an authority on these issues by the trade and consumer press. He serves on the advisory boards of the Chesapeake Bay Environmental Center, the Michael Stern Parkinson’s Research Foundation, and Medivo, a healthcare startup company. He is on the editorial boards of the Life Science Compliance Update, Medical Marketing and Media, and the FDA Advertising and Promotion Manual. Dr. Kamp is co-author (with Wayne Pines) of three books on compliance with FDA policy published by FDA News, including DTC Advertising and Promotion: The Changing Environment. He is a member of the bar in the District of Columbia and the United States Supreme Court.

Dr. Kamp earned his bachelor’s degree at the University of Notre Dame, his doctorate from the University of Iowa School of Mass Communications and his juris doctorate at the University of Tulsa School of Law.

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Larry Kovalick, PharmD
Director, Medical Writing, Amgen

Larry has been Director of Medical Writing at Amgen since 2007 where he leads medical writing teams in nephrology, inflammation and cardiovascular.  He came to Amgen from Bristol-Myers Squibb where he was the Director of Scientific Communications for neuroscience and had prior responsibilities on the Plavix and Glucophage Medical Strategy teams.  Before that, he developed clinical programs for AARP Pharmacy Service as a clinical specialist. He spent a decade at the bedside where he was a unit-based pharmacist at Lehigh Valley Hospital in Allentown, PA and performed daily Medical Intensive Care Unit patient rounds with the medical team.  

Larry is a magna cum laude graduate of the Philadelphia College of Pharmacy and Science where he earned his BS and PharmD degrees.  He is American Society of Consultant Pharmacists (ASCP) board certified in Geriatrics (CGP), an International Society for Medical Publication Professionals (ISMPP) Certified Medical Publications Professional (CMPP), an elected ISMPP voting director on the Credentialing Board, past President and Program Chair of the Mideastern Pennsylvania Society of Health Systems Pharmacists (MEPSHP) and was preceptor to dozens of pharmacy students.  He is also an avid collector of early California plein air art.

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Bhakti Kshatriya, PharmD
Global Scientific Communications, Novartis Oncology

Dr. Kshatriya has over 18 years’ experience in publication planning & execution, spanning from pre-launch preclinical stage to launch and through end of product lifecycle, including Rx-to-OTC switch.  She has worked on a wide range of therapeutic areas, including hematology/oncology, respiratory, cardiovascular disease/anti-thrombosis, bone disease, anti-infectives, HIV, transplant medicine, dermatology and gastroenterology.  Her experience includes working at major pharmaceutical companies as well as medical education companies, with her current posting within Global Scientific Communications at Novartis Oncology, where she is responsible for development/update of company policy & SOP related to publications, publication metrics and HCP payment/TOV transparency reporting.  Prior to this, she has held positions with increasing responsibilities - leading Publication teams at ALTANA Pharma (now Nycomed), and Aventis Pharmaceuticals (now sanofi-aventis).

Bhakti is a member of International Society for Medical Publication Planners (ISMPP) and active member of ISMPP’s Ethics & Compliance Committee (2011-2014), Standards Committee (2014) & Annual Program Committee (2013-2015).  She has previously served on the Global Workshop Committee (2012-2013).

Bhakti graduated with Doctor of Pharmacy degree with honors from Rutgers University College of Pharmacy in 1997 and with BS in Pharmacy from Philadelphia College of Pharmacy & Science (now University of Sciences in Philadelphia) in 1993.

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Alexander Liede, MSc, PhD
Director, Center for Obervational Research, Amgen

Alexander Liede, MSc, PhD is an Observational Research Director with Amgen Inc.  Alex has been with Amgen since 2004, and he serves as the Center for Observational Research product lead for the denosumab oncology (XGEVA®) program. Alex also leads the OSCER (Oncology Services Comprehensive Electronic Records) database, Amgen’s go-to source of real-world oncology data containing electronic health records on over 500,000 cancer patients treated at community-based oncology clinics across the US.

Alex received his PhD in cancer genetic epidemiology from the University of Toronto in Canada and published extensively in the field of breast and ovarian cancer and the BRCA1 and BRCA2 susceptibility genes. Alex worked as a research scientist at the Gilda Radner Cancer Detection Program of the Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles, and as a genetic counselor for Cancer Care Ontario at the Women’s College and Princess Margaret Hospitals in Toronto. His Master’s degree in genetic counseling is from the University of Manchester in the UK, and his Bachelor’s degree in molecular genetics is from the University of Toronto.

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Robert J. LoCasale Jr., PhD, MS
Director of Quality, Design & Analytics in Medical Evidence and Observational Research, AstraZeneca

Since joining AstraZeneca, Bob’s responsibilities as an epidemiologist include support of patient safety, payer evidence and medical affairs functions through managing, designing and conducting all types of observational studies in support of neuroscience, respiratory and cardiovascular compounds.  As a leader in generating and disseminating medical evidence through observational research in AstraZeneca, he has provided strategic and epidemiologic expertise for cross-company and cross-functional steering committees, data and analytic business reference groups, innovation and process improvement initiatives in support of internal and external alliance collaborations to outline best practices in RWE data access, methodology and utility.  Prior to joining AstraZeneca, Bob spent six years as a lead pharmacoepidemiologist in Merck's Pharmacoepidemiology and Database Research Unit.  While at Merck, Bob conducted numerous pharmacoepidemiology studies utilizing several large administrative claims and electronic medical record databases in multiple countries.  Prior to joining Merck, Bob received a PhD in Pharmaceutical Health Services Research with a focus in Pharmacoepidemiology and an MS in Epidemiology and Preventive Services at the University of Maryland, Baltimore in 2007.  In addition to his epidemiologic and leadership skill set, Bob is a trained Green Belt in Lean Six Sigma methodology and also has 10+ years of programming experience in SAS. 

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Terry Materese
Executive Publisher, Health and Medical Sciences, Elsevier

Terry Materese is an Executive Publisher for Elsevier, with specialty lead responsibility for journal portfolios in clinical pharmacology, social and economic medicine, as well as management responsibility for journals in clinical neurology and anesthesiology.  Terry has over 25 years of experience in leadership roles within national and international publishing organizations, growing, adapting and transforming media companies into strategic multi-media print, electronic and digital delivery providers.

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Robert J. Matheis, PhD, MA, ISMPP CMPP™
Executive Director, Global Scientific Communications, Celgene

Robert J. Matheis is Executive Director and Head of Global Scientific Communications for Celgene. Previously, he served as Head of CER Strategy and Communications within the US Evidence Based Medicine department of Sanofi. Dr. Matheis was President of the International Society for Medical Publication Professionals (ISMPP) during 2011-2012 and first Chair of the ISMPP Credentialing Board of Delegates.

Dr. Matheis is a licensed clinical psychologist and founder of Psychological and Educational Consulting LLC. He holds a PhD in clinical/neuro psychology and a MA in behavioral statistics. He is an ISMPP certified medical publication professional™ (CMPP).

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Joelle McCaslin, MA, ISMPP CMPP™
Associate Director, Medical Publications, Biogen

Joelle McCaslin, MA, CMPP serves as an Associate Director of Worldwide Medical Publications at Biogen.  In her current position, Joelle has oversight of the development and implementation of operational and process-related enhancements enabling the efficient execution of publication deliverables, with strong insight alignment to meet the needs of worldwide stakeholders for data dissemination, planning, and execution. In addition, she has leadership in regional and affiliate publication related activities in support of Biogen’s marketed products and development compounds in Neurology, Hematology, and Immunology. 

Joelle joined Biogen in 2011 with several years of prior pharmaceutical and biotech industry and Medical Publications experience, including managing Global Medical Communications and Publications for the Bio-surgery division at Genzyme, a Sanofi company, and serving as the lead for Publications at Cubist Pharmaceuticals, Inc. Joelle holds a Master of Arts degree in Medical Communication from Emerson College, in association with Tufts University School of Medicine, and a Bachelor of Arts in Neuroscience from The Johns Hopkins University.

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Rhiannon Meaden, PhD 
Director, Adelphi Communications, Ltd.

Rhiannon is responsible for the development of strategic and scientific projects and accounts, and navigation of services across the multidisciplinary Adelphi Group. She has directed a wide range of publications-focused accounts in a variety of therapy areas. Her interests span publications strategy and tactical planning, and in continually innovating Adelphi Communications' publications business through the ILLUMINATE DigiPubs initiative. Rhiannon has held faculty positions at ISMPP, and represented Adelphi Communications at TIPPA.

As a member of Adelphi's Senior Management Team, Rhiannon is involved in ensuring best practice is applied across account teams to maintain high levels of scientific and editorial quality and excellence in client service.

Rhiannon joined Adelphi Communications in April 2005, and has worked in medical communications since 2002. Prior to this, she gained a PhD in HIV Clinical Research under the mentorship of eminent expert Professor David Back and a BSc (Hons) in Pharmacology at the University of Liverpool, UK.

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Rina Mehta, MBA, PharmD
Senior Manager, I&I Publication Solutions, Celgene

Rina is currently a publication professional at Celgene Corporation, supporting the planning and development of HEOR/Market Access scientific communications. In the past, she has held positions in Medical Affairs strategic operations and planning and Market Access.  Prior to joining the pharmaceutical industry, Rina was a practicing community pharmacist.  Rina holds a MBA, in Pharmaceutical Management and Marketing, and PharmD from Rutgers University.

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Ide Mills, CSW
Principal, Strategic Healthcare Communications

Ide Mills, CSW is a health educator and patient communication specialist. Prior to working in pharmaceutical marketing with an expertise in oncology, Ide worked in academic and community cancer centers as a social worker for 20 years. Working with both adults and children with cancer, Ide counseled patients and families through all stages of the disease process and developed educational support programs to address their needs. Ide also worked for and served on the boards of national cancer organizations, including The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society and the American Cancer Society. She is a founding board member of Gilda's Club - Westchester, NY. Currently, Ide serves on the Cancer Support Community, Lung Cancer Experience Registry advisory board.

Ide has worked with numerous pharmaceutical companies (AstraZenenca, Astellas, BMS, Celgene, Daiichi- Sankyo, Genentech, GSK, Merck, Novartis) on patient, care-partner and nurse initiatives for cancer; neurological disorders including multiple sclerosis, Alzheimer’s disease, seizure disorder; cardiac disease such as heart attack and hypertension; and rare diseases. She has developed health literate, patient education and behavior change programs regarding disease awareness, patient-provider communication, treatment adherence, and disease management. Ide has recently had two articles published. One article is her personal experience taking oral oncolytics written for Genome magazine’s launch edition and one offers practical knowledge on how we learn for Cancer Today.

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Ira Mills, PhD
Senior Scientific Specialist, PAREXEL

Ira Mills, PhD is a Senior Scientific Specialist at PAREXEL where he has worked for the past 3 years. Ira has broad experience in publications with 15 years at medical communication agencies and 20 years as a research scientist on the faculty at Brown and Yale University. Ira has published more than 40 peer-reviewed articles of original research and been an invited speaker at national and international congresses.

Ira is an ISMPP member and has been an active presenter at recent ISMPP Annual Meeting poster sessions with 2 recent presentations focused on assessing social media in relation to publication activity and also presented on this topic at a recent ISMPP U focused on social media. Ira is currently serving on the ISMPP Annual Meeting Committee.

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Diane Moniz Reed, PharmD, ISMPP CMPP™
Group Director and Head, Oncology Medical Publications
Bristol-Myers Squibb Company

Diane Moniz Reed, PharmD, is a strategic, solutions oriented healthcare professional with more than two decades of experience in enabling effective medical communications in the pharmaceutical industry and clinic settings.  Passionate about change leadership, building new organizational capabilities and developing high performing, customer-focused leaders, Diane currently serves as Group Director and Head of Oncology Medical Publications at Bristol-Myers Squibb.  In this role she leads a team of publication professionals accountable for the development and execution of functionally and geographically integrated publication plans worldwide across the Immuno-Oncology and hematology portfolios.  Previously she held positions of increasing leadership in the Field Medical organization at BMS in multiple therapeutic areas. Prior to joining Bristol-Myers Squibb, Diane held a faculty appointment at Xavier University College of Pharmacy where she successfully established clinical pharmacy practices in critical care and emergency medicine at the Medical Center of Louisiana, New Orleans.

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LaVerne A. Mooney, DrPH
Director, Publications Oncology, Pfizer Inc.

LaVerne obtained her BSc degree from Galway University, Ireland and was awarded her Masters and Doctor of Public Health from Columbia University School of Public Health, New York.  For the last 8 years, LaVerne has been a Director and Team Leader of Publications in Pfizer Medical. LaVerne has represented Pfizer as a Steering Committee and Founding Member of the Medical Publication Insights and Practice (MPIP) collaboration.

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Jorge Moreno-Cantu, MSc, PhD, ISMPP CMPP™
Global Scientific and Medical Publications Director, Merck

Dr. Moreno-Cantu is a medical publication professional with over 15 years of experience in the medical communications field. Having worked as a researcher in academia, at publication agencies, and in the pharmaceutical industry, Dr. Moreno-Cantu has experienced first-hand the challenges and opportunities faced by publication professionals in complementary roles.  He is currently an Associate Director in the Department of Global Scientific and Medical Publications at Merck where he is responsible for the development and implementation of global and regional publication plans for multiple Merck products.

Dr. Moreno-Cantu is a native of Monterrey, Mexico and a graduate of McGill University in Montreal, Canada, where he received M.Sc. and Ph.D. degrees.  He lives in NJ.

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Scott Newcomer, MS, ISMPP CMPP™
Assistant Director, Publications, Shire Pharmaceuticals

Scott Newcomer is an Associate Director of Scientific Publications at Shire supporting the angioedema products. Scott has worked in the pharmaceutical industry since 1999 and specifically in scientific publications since 2002.  Scott came to Shire in 2014 as part of the acquisition of ViroPharma, where he had worked since 2012.  Before that, Scott worked in scientific publications at Cephalon/Teva and Centocor.  Scott received an MS degree in Biology from the University of Houston and a BS degree from Juniata College.  Scott is a Certified Medical Publication Professional and a member of ISMPP.

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Louise Norbury, MSc, ISMPP CMPP™
Senior Director, Medical Communications, PAREXEL

Louise has 14 years’ experience in medical communications and is passionate about creating engaging communication initiatives. She specializes in integrated strategic publications plans for drugs and devices in early phase through to post-launch, across indications and franchises. As Senior Director of Medical Communications, Louise leads the Scientific Strategy & Innovation Team at PAREXEL and drives and implements the PAREXEL Fellowship training curriculum. She ensures that innovation, thought leadership and best practices are applied across all publication programs and provides consultancy to internal colleagues and external companies on good publication practices and innovative ways to publish. Previously, Louise spent 10 years in medical research working on projects in oncology and immunology at Manchester University, UK, where she earned her MSc degree in Cell Biology. Louise is an ISMPP member and CMPP certified. She has been an active member of the ISMPP European Meeting Program Committee since 2013.

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Mukund Nori, PhD, MBA 
Senior Medical Writer, Scientific Solutions, Envision Pharma Group, ISMPP CMPP^TM

Mukund Nori is a Senior Medical Writer at Envision Pharma Group. Mukund keeps himself well informed on the current status of publications guidelines, legal issues, public and government data disclosure sites, etc., and shares his expertise with his colleagues within Envision Pharma Group through internal training programs. He is dedicated to promoting best practices, ethics, and transparency in all aspects of medical publications. Specifically, over the past several years, he has led educational presentations and discussions at ISMPP Annual Meetings and various pharmaceutical companies on the issues and potential solutions pertaining to authorship, data disclosure and transparency, and other matters of ethics in publication practice that go beyond the written guidelines.

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Paul O'Grady, PhD
Senior Director, Global Scientific Communications, Novartis

Paul O’Grady has worked in the medical communications sector for over 14 years, holding positions within both agencies and pharmaceutical companies. Paul received a doctoral degree in biochemistry from the University of Southampton, UK, and a bachelor's degree from King’s College, London.

After obtaining his PhD, Paul relocated to the US, where he conducted post-doctoral research at the University of Rochester. He eventually moved to New Jersey, where he began working as a medical writer/director. Following work as a publication manager at Aventis/sanofi-aventis, he subsequently moved to Schering-Plough where he eventually assumed the role of Director of Global Publications in Global Medical Affairs. In this position, Paul was responsible for overseeing publications across the company, the product literature database, and production of US managed care dossiers. In 2009, he transitioned to the Global Scientific Communications group in Novartis Oncology, first as Director for New Products, subsequently becoming Senior Director overseeing a group which focused on the publications and medical education for everolimus (Afinitor), and across the company’s renal cell cancer and Breast Cancer portfolio.

He has been active in ISMPP for the last few years - co-running the Joy of Gap Analysis workshop of the ISMPP Annual Meeting for 4 years and serving on 2013, 2014 and 2015 Annual Meeting Program Committees.

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Steven M Palmisano, Sr.
Vice President, Managing Director, MedThink SciCom, ISMPP CMPP^TM

With more than 34 years of healthcare experience under his belt, Steve provides an uncommon level of insight as the managing director and strategic leader of MedThink SciCom. His experience as both a client and an agency leader enable him to provide solutions that are both innovative and effective. Steve has authored a range of publications on topics such as scientific platforms, social media and its role in medical conferences, awareness and application of publication guidelines, and the durability of bioprosthetic heart valves.

Steve came to MedThink from a medical communications agency in Princeton, NJ, where he was senior vice president, managing director, and author of the first industry article delineating the role and value of scientific platforms that guide and inform the communications of both assets in development as well as those facing significant market challenges. His scientific platform work encompasses numerous therapeutic areas and phases of product development.

During his years of employment with Sanofi and Nycomed, Steve served on two boards of directors as chairman for the American Society of Radiologic Technologists (ASRT) Education & Research Foundation and as a public director for the USDE-accredited Joint Review Committee on Education in Radiologic Technology (JRCERT).

Steve earned his bachelor of science in microbiology and public health from Michigan State University, and the credential of CMPP (Certified Medical Publication Professional) through the International Society of Medical Publication Professionals (ISMPP). He has served as the vice-chair of the ISMPP Certification Board and currently serves as chairman.

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Madhavi Patil, PhD
Head, Publications and Medical Communications,
SIRO Clinpharm Pvt. Ltd., INDIA

Dr. Madhavi Patil is a PhD in Biochemistry and Post-graduate in Life Sciences (Applied Medical Sciences) from Mumbai, India. She has over a decade (~14 yrs) of experience in hard core medical writing and clinical research from reputed organizations like Novartis, Cognizant and SIRO Clinpharm Pvt. Ltd. working for top pharmaceutical clients. Madhavi currently functions as Head, Publications and Medical communications at SIRO Clinpharm Pvt. Ltd. managing service delivery, business expansion, quality assurance, and competency development for end-to-end publication services across FTE and transaction models. She has several publications to credit in reputed national and international peer-reviewed journals and congresses.

Madhavi possesses an overall experience as writer/ reviewer, SME in varied publication document types across different therapeutic areas, phases, and complexities and has collaborated with various teams in different geographies. She is also experienced in regulatory documents and aggregate reports. She earlier shouldered the responsibilities in different organizations as Lead, Narrative writing for a major client engagement and as offshore Medical Writing Manager- for a leading pharma client in diabetes care. Madhavi has actively contributed to establish graphic designing capabilities and multimedia support for publications at SIRO (posters/ slide decks layout/ printing/ shipping, audio abstracts etc.). She is a key member of the coaching and mentorship program (MW CHAMP) of SIRO for competency building of publication writers.

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Teresa L. Peña, PhD
Executive Director, Global Medical Publications, Bristol Myers Squibb

Terry Peña, PhD is a strategic, dynamic and results oriented leader with more than 15 years of experience in Medical Affairs and Diagnostics. She leads the Worldwide Medical Publications group at Bristol-Myers Squibb in the development of leading-edge publication governance, strategies, processes and plans. Prior to joining BMS, she led a team of scientists and publications professionals to deliver high-quality, scientifically rigorous, publication plans for the entire AstraZeneca portfolio of compounds/drugs. Before joining AstraZeneca, she held positions in publications at UCB and Abbott Labboratories where her responsibilities ranged from leading publication plans to process improvements and training, including development of corporate publication policy and streamlining publication practices. Terry started her career as a scientist in the Abbott Diagnostic Division and holds a PhD in Biology from Purdue University.

Terry is an active member of ISMPP speaking at many of their events and holding a variety of key positions over the last several years. She will assume the role of Chair, ISMPP in April 2015. Terry is also as an active steering committee member of MPIP and GPP3 and a strong advocate of good medical publication practice and driving the communication of high quality science.

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Kim Pepitone, BA 
Scientific Director, Scientific Services, Cactus Communications, ISMPP CMPP^TM

Kim Pepitone, BA, CMPP, is a 25-year medical communications and publications veteran. She currently holds the position of Scientific Director at Cactus Communications. Prior to joining Cactus, she was Senior Director, Knowledge Management, at ISMPP. During her 5-year tenure at ISMPP, Kim was responsible for professional education program content provided by ISMPP to its membership and was integrally involved in the creation and launch of the Certified Medical Publication Professional (CMPP) program. She has published and speaks frequently on the Physician Payments Sunshine Act and serves as Vice Chair of the ISMPP Sunshine Act Task Force.

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Michael has 20 years of experience in the pharmaceutical, biopharmaceutical, medical device, and healthcare delivery fields. His expertise includes pre-launch/launch/post-launch medical communications activities designed to educate and inform healthcare professionals, patients, caregivers, and other stakeholders. He has broad experience in publication planning and adult-based education, including 10+ years in continuing education and pharmacy education credentialing/certification.

At MedVal and PharmaWrite, Michael manages a team of professional writers, scientific managers, editors, meeting planners, and designers who develop professional, compliant medical and clinical communications, with a focus on clinical data publications and associated meeting activities. He is an active CMPP Board Member and a current CMPP Vice-Chair, and also an active member of the ISMPP U Committee. As a past-Chair of ISMPP U, Michael assisted in establishing 'Needs-based' sessions for ISMPP U that meet educational gaps for publication professionals.

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Kenneth Pomerantz, PhD
Director, Medical Publications, Boehringer Ingelheim Pharmaceuticals, Inc.

Dr. Pomerantz has extensive experience in both Academic Research and Scientific/Medical Communications within the Pharmaceutical Industry.

After earning a PhD in Physiology from Georgetown University, he pursued post-doctoral training at Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons. He later held the rank as Assistant Professor at Cornell University Medical College, in the Department of Hematology/Oncology, where he furthered NIH and AHA-funded research efforts in vascular cell biology, pathology, and molecular biology. Over his academic career, he published 40 scientific publications.

From 1996 to 2005, Dr. Pomerantz led domestic strategic publication planning for the Cardiovascular, Metabolic, Oncology and Hematology Portfolios, and global scientific publication planning to support the Men's Health portfolio at the Bayer Corporation.

From 2005 to 2012, Dr. Pomerantz served GlaxoSmithKline as Director, Scientific Communication Strategy, and ¿Medical Communications Quality & Practices¿. He was responsible for Global Key External Expert and Scientific Communications initiatives in the Cardiovascular/Metabolic and Oncology therapeutic areas.

Dr. Pomerantz joined Boehringer Ingelheim Pharmaceuticals Inc. in 2012 to lead the Medical Publications Group. As Director of this Group, he provides strategic and tactical direction for the Medical Publication function within the Department of Clinical Development and Medical Affairs, and in support of US and Global stakeholders.

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Nicole Rapior, PhD
Head of Global Scientific Communications, Boehringer Ingelheim Pharma GmbH & Co. KG

Nicole has headed since 2012 the Global Scientific Communications Team at Boehringer Ingelheim which is responsible for the planning and development of all global scientific publications for Boehringer Ingelheim's main therapeutic areas, respiratory, cardiovascular and metabolic diseases as well as oncology, immunology and CNS. In total, she has 8 years of experience within the field of scientific publications having also worked as Global Publications Strategy Manager in prior roles at Boehringer Ingelheim, Warner Chilcott Pharmaceuticals and Procter & Gamble Pharmaceuticals. Nicole holds a Ph.D. in Biochemistry and a Master degree in Advanced Oncology.

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Tom Rees, MSC, PhD
Scientific Strategy Advisor, Medical Communications, PAREXEL

Tom has 18 years experience in medical communications and publications planning, and is currently part of the Strategy & Innovations team at PAREXEL International, having previously held roles as team leader and lead medical writer. Tom is a regular contributor to the US and European ISMPP meetings, and has contributed a number of new research presentations on the topics of metrics (including altmetrics), social medial, publications innovations, and good publications practice, and was the winner of the best poster award at ISMPP EU in 2013. He has been a member of the ISMPP Global Workshop Committee from 2012-2015. Tom is an editor at ResearchBlogging.org and holds a PhD in Biotechnology from Cranfield University in the UK.

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John G. Ryan, DrPH
Associate Professor of Family Medicine,
Director, Division of Primary Care/Health Services Research and Development,
Director, United Health Foundation Center of Excellence at Jefferson Reaves, Sr., Health Ctr, University of Miami Miller School of Medicine, Miami, Florida; and Editor, Endocrinology, Diabetes, and Other Endocrine Disorders, Clinical Therapeutics

As an editor for the journal, Clinical Therapeutics, Dr. Ryan is responsible for manuscripts addressing type 2 diabetes and other endocrine disorders. He also conceptualized and provides editorial oversight to a new journal section designed to partner with senior clinical investigators to explore the emerging science that is studied at premier scientific meetings that represent a diverse set of clinical disciplines. Relevant content is then promoted to participants of those meetings using social media and other mechanisms.

Dr. Ryan is an Associate Professor of Family Medicine and Director of the Division of Primary Care/Health Services Research and Development at the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine’s Department of Family Medicine and Community Health. His clinical and research interest is in type 2 diabetes, with special emphasis on high-risk populations and mechanisms for achieving behavior changes that include increased participation in diabetes self-management. He conceptualized, implemented and supervises a coordinated care program for managing diabetes that targets low-income, high-risk patients followed in a community health center that is affiliated with Miami’s tertiary care hospital. The model includes clinical diabetes support as well as diabetes self-management education and behavioral support programs that are aligned with the cultures and health literacy levels of the target population.

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Kevin Ryder, PhD
Senior Vice President, Clinical Content and Editorial Services, Complete Healthcare Communications

Kevin joined the CHC Group as a Scientific Director in 2003, developing and executing publication planning for several products in neurology and oncology. In his current role at CHC Group, Kevin manages a number of clinical content teams while providing strategic oversight and tactical back up across several therapeutic areas. He is a current member of the International Society for Medical Publication Professionals, has served on a number of ISMPP committees, and participated as invited faculty at the ISMPP annual meeting.

Before joining CHC Group, Kevin held positions in academic, governmental, and non-profit sectors. He was a Fellow of the American Cancer Society during his postdoctoral training at Johns Hopkins Medical School. Kevin was an NIH-funded investigator and faculty member at Fox Chase Cancer Center and adjunct faculty member at the University of Pennsylvania. In addition, he gained research administration experience with the National Cancer Institute as scientific review administrator, and over the past 5 years Kevin has also served as an Ad Hoc Executive Secretary for the Department of Defense’s Peer Reviewed Medical Research Program and for the New York Stem Cell grants program. He is a current member of the American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology.

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Carol Sanes-Miller, MS
Sr Manager, Medical Communications, Medical Affairs, Hematology, Baxter Healthcare, ISMPP CMPP™

Carol Sanes-Miller has been active in biomedical communications for more than 30 years, and has been involved in publication planning since 1992. In late 2014, Carol joined Baxter Healthcare in Deerfield, IL as Senior Manager, Global Medical Communications. Prior to Baxter, Carol spent 2 years as Director of Scientific Content at Vision2Voice, a small marketing communications agency based in Deerfield, IL. She also worked for 4 years as a Global Publications Manager, commuting weekly to AstraZeneca in Wilmington, Delaware, where she managed publications and symposia for diabetes and cardiovascular products. From 2000 to 2008, Carol worked for Takeda Pharmaceuticals North America in Deerfield, IL, where she held various positions from Senior Medical Writer to Manager of Strategic Publications, development compounds, gastroenterology and cardiovascular science, and managed publication plans in the therapy areas of sleep, oncology, sepsis, endometriosis, gastroenterology and lipid-lowering. Before joining Takeda, Carol spent 8 years as Managing Medical Editor with Discovery International, a medical communications company then located in Deerfield. While at DI, she developed publication strategies and plans, promotional and CME materials, publications and presentations for pharmaceutical company clients. Her professional experience also includes nearly ten years as in-house editor at Rush-Presbyterian-St. Luke's Medical Center in Chicago, where she supported academic publication development in the departments of pathology, surgical nursing, internal medicine, and the Office of the Dean. For 3 years, Carol was Managing Medical Editor at Publications International, publishers of Consumer Guide^®, where she developed consumer-targeted books and magazines on topics including family health, fitness, exercise, diet and prescription drugs. Carol has been an active member of ISMPP since its inception, serving on the Best Practices Committee, co-chairing the subcommittee on publication strategy development, and as a member of the CMPP Board (2010-2014), including 2 years on the executive committee and as Board Chair from 2013-2014. Carol is a co-author of GPP2 and the recently submitted GPP3. Carol holds a BS in Biology from Northwestern University and an MS in Biology from Northeastern Illinois University. She lives in suburban Chicago with her husband, youngest son, and super puppy, Izzy.

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Jill Sanford, MS
Director, Global Communication, Celgene

Jill Sanford is Director of Scientific Communications for Multiple Myeloma at Celgene Corporation. Jill has over 15 years of experience in the pharmaceutical and medical communication industries including positions in both Research & Development and Medical Affairs. Over the years, she has developed expertise in scientific communications, including publication process and development, and efficient and impactful data dissemination.

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Brian Scheckner, PharmD, BCPP
Senior Director, Head of Scientific Publications-US,  Shire, ISMPP CMPP^TM

Brian Scheckner, PharmD, BCPP, CMPP, is Senior Director, Head of Scientific Publications - US, within Global Medical Affairs at Shire. He has worked in the pharmaceutical industry since 1999, serving primarily in publication and medical communication leadership roles. Prior to Shire, Brian's pharmaceutical industry work included positions at Wyeth and Interlink Healthcare Communications.  Brian attended the University of the Sciences in Philadelphia (PharmD) and Rutgers University (BS, Pharmacy), and has licenses/certifications in pharmacy, psychiatric pharmacy (BCPP), and publications planning (CMPP).  Brian is currently serving as the Vice-Chair of the ISMPP U Committee, and was a previous member of the ISMPP Standards Committee. He has been a speaker at ISMPP, TIPPA, and CBI publication planning meetings.

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David Lee Scher, MD, FACC, FHRS
Director, DLS Healthcare Consulting, LLC

David Lee Scher, MD, FACP, FACC was a pioneer adopter of remote patient monitoring and integration of monitored devices with electronic health records. He is a respected leader and voice (via his blogs The Digital Health Corner, the syndicated Digital Doctor and at Medscape) of mobile health technology, including remote patient monitoring and mobile medical apps. He chaired a panel which developed standards for certification of medical apps and serves as Chair of the HIMSS Mobile Health Roadmap Task force. Scher's experiences as IRB Chair for a large medical center, clinical investigator for NIH trials of medical devices, and Medicare advisory committee representative give him a unique perspective as a medical writer and technology consultant. He is well-known in social media (@dlschermd, named one of the top 10 cardiologist to follow on Twitter), and is an active leader at HIMSS as member of its Mobile Health Committee, and Chair of its Mobile Health Roadmap Task Force. Scher is a practicing cardiac electrophysiologist and Director at DLS Healthcare Consulting, a digital health technology focused company. Dr. Scher has spoken about the challenges and benefits of digital health technology for risk management associations, patient advocacy groups, pharmaceutical industry conferences, international professional medical societies, and international health information technology groups. He shares the vision of mobile technology changing the landscape of healthcare as it has other sectors of society. This includes bridging gaps in healthcare delivery and health literacy.

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Lisa Schill
Vice President, RASopathies Network USA
Patient Advocacy and Outreach Consultant

Lisa Schill is a parent advocate, dedicated to improving the lives of those living with rare diseases. Ms. Schill specializes in connecting caregivers, researchers, support organizations and families to help support patients in the pursuit of advancing treatment options and patient outcomes.

She currently serves as Vice President of the RASopathies Network, a non-profit dedicated to advancing research of the RASopathies by bringing together families, clinicians and scientists. She is presently working as a Meetup Advocacy Ambassador for Global Genes facilitating rare disease meet ups for the aHUS (Atypical Hemolytic-Uremic Syndrome) population. She is a co-investigator for the 2015 International Meeting on the Genetic Syndromes on the RAS/MAPk Pathway to be held in Seattle, WA with the co-chairs, Drs. David Stevenson and Brigitte Widemann.

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Suzann Schiller, MA 
Executive Vice President, Strategic Collaborations, Cello Health Communications - MedErgy HealthGroup, ISMPP CMPP^TM

Suzann collaborates with agency and client teams across the Cello Health organization to develop and deliver integrated service solutions that meet strategic needs. She brings over 28 years of experience in the healthcare communications industry, including nearly a decade in medical publishing at a leading healthcare publisher.  She has broad and deep experience both in the strategic publications planning and promotional medical education arenas, and has led  multiple account teams to develop, drive and deliver multi-faceted strategic programming to clients supporting all stages of the product lifecycle.  

A charter member of ISMPP, Suzann earned her Certification in Medical Publication Planning (CMPP) in February 2009 and has served as Chair of ISMPP’s Credentialing Committee since 2011.  In addition to participating as an item writer for the CMPP exam for the last three years, Suzann has participated in a variety of CMPP-related educational events, including serving as faculty for a CMPP Primer ISMPP U and CMPP Review Annual Meeting Workshops. Suzann is committed to upholding the credibility of the programs she manages, and helps client teams interpret and navigate today’s challenging publications landscape to ensure scientific disclosure activities uphold good publications practice guidelines.

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Daniel Shanahan, MA, MSc 
Associate Publisher, BioMed Central

Daniel Shanahan received Master’s degrees in Natural Sciences and Experimental and Theoretical Physics from University of Cambridge. He joined BioMed Central in 2013 as Associate Publisher for the Medical Evidence portfolio, driving open science and research transparency strategies and initiatives across the company.

Daniel has been involved in several initiatives to improve the quality of published evidence used to inform biomedical research and practice. He is a member of the CONSORT Group and has helped develop a number of research reporting statements, including CONSORT extensions for pilot and feasibility studies, and embedded recruitment trials. Daniel is currently Chair of the Threaded Publications (Linked Reports of Clinical Trials) working group, a member of the working group for the Trial Forge initiative to improve the efficiency of clinical trials, and is also participating in strategic efforts to revise the EU Clinical Trials Directive, to encourage the wider adoption of reporting guidelines, and to improve policies to combat publication bias and selective reporting.

In his role at BioMed Central, Daniel oversees the development of several broad-scope biomedical journals focussing on improving research integrity and reproducibility, including Trials and the Journal of Negative Results in Biomedicine. He devised and launched the new co-produced medical journal Research Involvement and Engagement, taking the lead in designing the innovative governance model and peer review structure.

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Richard I. Shader, MD
Professor Emeritus, Department of Integrative Physiology and Pathobiology and Department of Psychiatry

Dr. Shader is Professor Emeritus in the Department of Integrative Physiology and Pathobiology (IPP) and in the Department of Psychiatry at Tufts University School of Medicine, where he also chaired two departments and served as program director for a graduate studies program. He is also a Senior Research Fellow and Medical Consultant at the Tuft’s Center for the Study of Drug Development (CSDD), where he also co-chairs and teaches in their internationally known, week-long, annual Postgraduate Course in Drug Development. Prior to joining the Tufts faculty, he was an Associate Professor of Psychiatry at Harvard Medical School and Director of Training at the Massachusetts Mental Health Center.

His diverse research experience includes recognized and pioneering work in the study of the pharmacodynamics and pharmacokinetics of central nervous system agents, drug metabolism and aging, adverse drug reactions, drug-drug interactions, and the safety and efficacy of natural products He completed 10 years as a National Institutes of Health (NIH) MERIT Investigator, was appointed by the Reagan administration to the National Advisory Mental Health Council for NIH, served on a National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) study section, and was a frequent ad hoc reviewer. He also served on advisory and data safety monitoring boards for research programs at NIH, NIMH, Johns Hopkins, the University of Ottawa, and the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center at Dallas.

Dr. Shader is the founder and Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of Clinical Psychopharmacology, now in its 35th year, and became Editor-in-Chief of Clinical Therapeutics (CT), the official journal of the European Association for Clinical Pharmacology and Therapeutics, in 2012. He has served in leadership roles for various national medical associations and is the recipient of major awards, including the American Psychiatric Association’s Seymour Vestermark Award (twice) and a Kaiser fellowship from Stanford. He is the author or co-author of over 700 scientific publications and the author, editor, or co-editor of 21 scientific books and monographs.

He is a graduate of Harvard, received his MD from the NYU School of Medicine, and his psychiatric training at the Massachusetts Mental Health Center, Harvard Medical School and at NIMH in Bethesda, Maryland. He also graduated from the Boston Psychoanalytic Institute.

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Donna Simcoe, MS, MS, MBA
Medical Publication Consultant, Simcoe Consultants, Inc. ISMPP CMPP^TM

Donna Simcoe has managed publications at Cadence, AstraZeneca, Wyeth and Cephalon. Donna holds 3 Master degrees in Biomedical Writing, Biotechnology and an MBA, and is a Certified Medical Publication Professional (CMPP). She is an active member in AMWA, ISMPP and TIPPA. Donna recently served as the Chair of the ISMPP U Committee (2013-2014) and is the current AMWA Pacific Southwest Chapter President (2014-2016). Donna is now a Medical Publications consultant and principal at Simcoe Consultants, Inc., a biomedical consulting company focusing on medical publication strategy and medical writing.

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Kanaka Sridharan, MS, R.Ph
Head, Scientific Communications, Cell & Gene Therapies Unit, Global Medical Affairs, Novartis Pharamceuticals Corporation

Kanaka obtained her MS in Pharmacy through University of Bombay, India. She is a registered Pharmacist in the State of New York and a certified medical publication professional. For the last 20 years Kanaka has worked in the Pharmaceutical industry in the areas of publication writing, CE, medical information and medical education; and as a medical writer worked closely with authors in the development of abstracts/posters/ manuscripts/symposia slide decks. Kanaka joined Novartis Pharmaceuticals Corporation in 2007 and since then has served in the capacity of medical communication lead with responsibilities that include supporting publication and medical education covering several therapeutic areas ranging from new products to established medicines. She recently was on a one year International assignment as the Quality Lead Coach closely working with in-house medical writers at Novartis (India) healthcare Pvt Ltd where she introduced several training modules and put process in place for obtained compliant, high quality deliverables. Currently she is appointed as Global communications Head, Cell & Gene Therapies Unit at Novartis Pharmaceuticals Corporation.

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Sharon Suntag, MS, ISMPP CMPP™
Medical Director, Quintiles

Sharon has over 25 years’ experience in health care communications, including 13 years at Quintiles. She is responsible for leading medical affairs activities, which include communications with clinicians, investigators, and patients. Her hands-on perspective is invaluable in the development of communication strategies and platforms, publication plans, data analysis and presentation, advisory boards, roundtable and investigator meetings, focus groups, market access communications, patient support programs, and education of team members globally. Sharon is an active member of the International Society of Medical Publication Professionals (ISMPP), and served for several years each on the workshop and program committees, including roles as abstract chair and roundtable chair for the annual education meeting.
Sharon earned a BS in Cell Biology from Cornell University and an MS in Human Genetics from Sarah Lawrence College. Prior to coming to Quintiles, she had 15 years’ experience as a genetic counselor working in both hospital and community settings. Along with providing patient care, she was responsible for materials and presentations for both public and professional audiences. She has earned board certification in genetic counseling, as well as the CMPP credential.

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Sonia A. Schweers, PharmD, ISMPP CMPP™
Global Publication Monitor, Medical Publications, Bristol-Myers Squibb

Sonia Schweers is a pharmacist by training with expertise in publication compliance, operations and journal publishing. Sonia is accredited by the International Society for Medical Publication Professionals as a Certified Medical Publication Professional (CMPP) since 2010. Sonia is the Global Publication Practices Monitor at BMS responsible for creating and implementing a strategic vision for a global monitoring program to evaluate adherence to publication procedures and regulations.

Previously, Sonia served as the US Publication Quality and Compliance officer and Publication Operations lead at Sanofi. Sonia was responsible for developing and implementing procedures and training for publication development, Datavision and Sunshine Act. Sonia was also responsible for publication monitoring and management of allergy publications. Sonia started in publications as Accepting Editor with three Elsevier clinical journals where she developed and implemented editorial policies and manuscript requirements. Sonia reviewed manuscripts, evaluated other peer reviewers’ comments and communicated them to the authors. Sonia accepted or rejected revised manuscripts in collaboration with the Editors in Chief.

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Russell Traynor 
Business Lead, Envision Technology Solutions, Envision Pharma Group, ISMPP CMPP™

Russell Traynor is Business Lead, Envision Technology Solutions, responsible for working with his clients to identify and implement effective technology solutions to meet their needs. Russell has worked in medical communications and publications since 1997, both as a medical writer, account lead and business consultant. Russell has presented and published extensively in the area of medical publications, including topics such as Open Access Publishing, need for Quality Control globally, successful implementation of one SOP across the organization, and the future of medical publications. Russell has served on ISMPP's Board of Trustee as European Trustee and the Chairman of ISMPP, 2012-2013. He is an ISMPP Certified Medical Publication Professional (CMPP).

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Mary Uhlenhopp
Advocacy and Ally Development Lead, Amgen Europe, Switzerland

Mary Uhlenhopp is the Advocacy and Ally Development lead at Amgen Europe. Her main area of expertise is in building meaningful alliances with 3^rd party organizations for scientific exchange. She has led external relationships with professional societies, managed several CME oncology courses for the Amgen oncology teams, and developed nurse education programs that have spanned 29 countries and 17 languages. For more than 7 years, she has led Amgen Europe Patient Advocacy programs for the Value, Access and Policy teams as well as with R & D and Regulatory functions seeking patient engagement within the drug development process. She has been widely published in clinical and scientific journals and recognised for her contributions to the field in Europe with honorary memberships and awards. Mary is also an active member of the EUPATI network aiming for better engagement of patients in drug development.

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Hester van Lier, PhD
Program Director, Excerpta Medica, ISMPP CMPP™

Hester is an experienced team leader at Excerpta Medica, with ten years of experience in medical communications. She has supported international pharmaceutical companies in the development and execution of publication plans at the managerial and content level of products ranging from orphan disease status to blockbuster. Hester is actively involved in the implementation and adherence to Good Publication Practice and a Certified Medical Publication Professional. Since 2006, her expertise focusses on publication plans that integrate medical and Health Economics and Outcomes Research (HEOR) data and insights. Her interests and professional energy go towards shaping interspecialty teams that develop and deliver impactful plans. 

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Stella Wang, BSPharm, MS, MPH
Manager, Evidence Based Medicine Communications, US Medical Affairs, Sanofi

Stella Wang, BSpharm, MS, MPH is a Medical Communications Manager at Sanofi US Evidence Based Medicine (EBM) group.  In her role as an EBM Communications Professional, Stella supports the EBM mission of conducting and communicating research that supports the value of Sanofi’s products toward the optimal care of patients.  She partners across EBM, Medical Affairs, and the broader organization to identify salient evidence needs for population-based healthcare decision makers and develop strategic communication plans to disseminate evidence for use in scientific exchange.

Stella received her Master of Public Health with concentrations in Health Policy & Management and Global Health Leadership from New York University in NYC, her Master of Science in Pharmacy Administration from St. John’s University in NYC, and her Bachelor of Sciences in Pharmaceutical Science from Fudan University in Shanghai.

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Peter Wehrwein, BA
Editor, Managed Care

Peter Wehrwein is editor of Managed Care, a monthly publication that covers the cost and delivery of health  for medical directors and other executives at health plans and provider organizations. Prior to Managed Care, Wehrwein was editor of the Harvard Health Letter, a monthly consumer newsletter published by Harvard Medical School, and the Harvard Public Health Review, published by the Harvard School of Public Health. He has written for Nature, Cancer Discovery, the Nova Next website, Lancet, and Newsweek. Wehrwein lives in Philadelphia.

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Al Weigel, M.Ed
President & COO, ISMPP, ISMPP CMPP™

Al Weigel is President and COO for the International Society for Medical Publication Professionals (ISMPP). Al joined ISMPP in November of 2013 with primary responsibility for implementing the strategic goals and vision of the Society, in addition to ensuring the Society meets established milestones for ongoing development, growth and success. Prior to joining ISMPP, Al led cross-therapeutic medical publication and scientific communication teams at sanofi-aventis, Boehringer-Ingelheim and Celgene Corporation.

Al earned his Masters of Education at the University of the Arizona and currently is a ISMPP Certified Medical Publication Professional™ (CMPP).

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Gaby Weissman, MD
Cardiovascular Fellowship Program Director, Georgetown University/ Medstar Washington Hospital Center

Gaby Weissman, MD, is director of the Cardiovascular Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) Core Laboratory and a cardiologist at MedStar Washington Hospital Center (MWHC). In addition, he is the program director for the cardiovascular disease fellowship at Georgetown University/MWHC, co-director of the advanced cardiac imaging fellowship of the MWHC/National Institutes of Health, and an assistant professor of Medicine and Radiology at Georgetown University School of Medicine. Dr. Weissman is widely recognized for his expertise in cardiovascular medicine and for his focus on cardiovascular MRI and computed tomography (CT).  Dr. Weissman has published widely in peer-reviewed journals, including Circulation, American Journal of Cardiology, and the Journal of the American College of Cardiology Cardiovascular Imaging as well as having authored book chapters on cardiac imaging.  Dr. Weissman is a fellow of the American College of Cardiology, and he is a member of the American Heart Association, the Society of Cardiovascular Magnetic Resonance Imaging and the Society of Cardiovascular Computed Tomography. He has served on the Society of Atherosclerosis Imaging and Prevention's Council of Tomographic Imaging.

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Gaby Weissman, MD
Director, Cardiology Fellowship Program, Washington Hospital Center

Gaby Weissman, MD, is director of the Cardiovascular Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) and a cardiologist at MedStar Washington Hospital Center (MWHC). He is the program director for the cardiovascular disease fellowship at Georgetown University/ Washington Hospital Center as well as the co-director of the advanced cardiac imaging fellowship of the Washington Hospital Center/ National Institutes of Health. He also is an assistant professor of Medicine (Cardiology) and Radiology at Georgetown University School of Medicine.

Dr. Weissman is widely recognized for his expertise in cardiovascular medicine with a particular focus on cardiovascular MRI and computed tomography (CT). Dr. Weissman is a reviewer for multiple journals including Cardiovascular Revascularization Medicine and the Journal of Cardiovascular Computed Tomography and serves as a reviewer for the American College of Cardiology's Scientific Sessions. Dr. Weissman has published more than 20 articles in peer-reviewed journals, such as Circulation, American Journal of Cardiology, and the Journal of the American College of Cardiology Cardiovascular Imaging.

Dr. Weissman is a member of the American Heart Association, the Society of Cardiovascular Magnetic Resonance Imaging, the Society of Cardiovascular Computed Tomography, and is a fellow of the American College of Cardiology. He has served on the council of tomographic imaging for the Society of Atherosclerosis Imaging and Prevention. At MWHC, he serves on the Institutional Review Board. He is board certified in internal medicine as well as cardiovascular disease, and has certifications in nuclear cardiology, adult echocardiography, and cardiovascular CT.

Dr. Weissman earned his medical degree at the University of Texas Medical Branch in Galveston. He completed his internship and residency in Internal Medicine at Yale-New Haven Hospital. Dr. Weissman further pursued his cardiology training at Yale University with a focus on echocardiography and nuclear cardiology. He obtained further specialization in cardiovascular MRI and CT at the Georgetown University/MedStar Washington Hospital Center program.

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Louise Wyhopen, BSN, RN, ISMPP CMPPTM
Associate Director, Scientific Communications
Novartis Oncology, Global Medical Affairs

Louise Wyhopen is Director Scientific Communications in Global Medical Affairs at Novartis Oncology. Since entering the pharmaceutical industry 17 years ago, Louise has held various roles in scientific/medical communications. She currently focuses on oncology global scientific communication/publication activities working closely with internal cross-functional teams to drive, develop, and implement Global Scientific Communication Strategies, including publication analysis, planning and execution as well as support for global medical education programs. Louise is a registered nurse and a member of several professional societies including the Oncology Nursing Society and ISMPP. She is also a Certified Medical Publication Professional (CMPP).

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