2018 Speaking Faculty

David Davidovic has been involved in the commercialization of products and in building best-in-class commercial capabilities in the pharmaceutical and biotechnology industries for over 37 years, including over 23 years at Merck & Co. and 8 at Genentech and Roche. Most recently, David was Vice President and Global Head of Commercial Services for Genentech and Roche. Currently, he heads pathForward, providing strategic and advisory support to many life-science organizations, start-ups and non-profits focused on healthcare. David also serves on a number of company advisory boards and is a member of the Board of Directors of Clinica Verde, a global healthcare organization designing and operating sustainably designed community health hubs in Latin America.

David joined Genentech in 2005 as head of US Commercial Strategy; in 2007 he became head of the US Commercial Business Practices function; and in 2011 was appointed VP and Global Head of Commercial Services for Roche Pharma Medicines, which includes Genentech in the US. Prior to joining Genentech, he spent over 23 years with Merck & Co. where he served in multiple marketing, sales, business development, medical education, and commercial operations leadership roles, including marketing, sales, business unit and franchise head positions, in Canada, the US, the Middle East and Africa and globally. David was born and grew up in Quito, Ecuador; holds Bachelor of Science and a Masters in Business Administration degrees from McGill University in Montreal, Canada; and is based in San Francisco, CA.

I have been working in Software product development for the last 20 years. I have been a Senior manager and authentic leader with the analytical ability to dive deep in the data and develop insights. R&D; industries include: pharmaceutical , financial, telecom, network security, radio computing software

Passion: Work on wearable technologies that have the potential to revolutionize people’s lives and help their penetration in the healthcare and Biopharma R&D.; Intensively work on removing obstacles due to fragmented efforts across the industry and a lack of shared knowledge and methodologies that would enable broad implementation of wearables to support drug development

Lisa is the strategic lead for promoting and building patient centered products, and solutions that fit into people’s lives and improve healthcare outcomes. This includes leveraging current programs such as patient support programs, as well as creation and development of new mechanisms for improving patient outcomes though both internal and external collaborations. Lisa’s role is to build a global platform for patient centered capabilities to catalyze the development, measurement, adaptation, and amplification of solutions that improve outcomes of interest to patients and their families, providers, and payers.

Lisa comes to Sanofi as a pharmaceutical executive with expertise in outcomes research and public health. Most recently, she has been an entrepreneur, catalyzing the development of low cost “disruptive� medical devices to promote public health and a strategy consultant, advising biopharmaceutical companies on product and service development and on evidence generation strategies to meet the needs of patients, providers, payers and policy makers. In Lisa’s previous roles at Pfizer as Vice President of Medical Affairs and Vice President of Global Outcomes Research, she developed evidence from clinical trials, observational studies, and “real world� analyses to support product value assessment throughout the product lifecycle as well as customer-based assessment of both products and services. Additionally, she has created innovative patient focused, multi-sector partnerships to promote health care access, quality and outcomes in numerous populations, ranging from maternal and infant health to the elderly.

Lisa has a B.S. in Biology from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (M.I.T.) and an M.B.A. in health care management from Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania; she earned an M.D. and M.P.H. degrees from Johns Hopkins and is board certified in pediatrics.

Robin Farmanfarmaian is a professional speaker, entrepreneur and angel investor working on companies in cutting edge tech poised to impact 100M people or more. Currently Farmanfarmaian is VP of Actavalon, curing cancer; and Strategic Relations Advisor to MindMaze, VR for stroke and brain injury rehabilitation. Recent investments include Invicta Medical, a medical technology company for sleep apnea, & Dance Biopharm, inhaled insulin with a smart, connected device. A life long philanthropist and mentor, she is the Co-Founder and on the Board of Directors (formally Executive Director) for the Organ Preservation Alliance, catalyzing breakthroughs in organ banking for transplants and tissue engineering. Robin is on the advisory board of many startups and conferences, and mentors entrepreneurs. Previous work includes being one of the founders of Morfit, the Exponential Medicine conference, President at Innovation for Jobs, and a VP at Singularity University. Her book, “The Patient as CEO: How Technology Empowers the Healthcare Consumer�, is a #1 Best Seller on Amazon.

EMMANUEL FOMBU MD, MBA is a physician, entrepreneur, medical futurist, patient advocate, author, speaker and innovative healthcare executive with vast experience in venture capital, private equity, medical affairs and clinical development in the pharmaceutical, device, imaging and molecular diagnostics industries as well as bringing quality experience to healthcare delivery. He is an adamant advocate for value-based healthcare and a leader in the design and execution of clinical trials using innovative digital technology to evaluate complementary health approaches and their integration into real world health care. He is also passionate about patient education, mhealth, real world evidence generation, personalized medicine, genomics, nanotechnology, big data, artificial intelligence, machine learning, internet of things, blockchain technology and digital medicine. Dr Fombu is also an external advisory board member on nanotechnology at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s MIT.nano project.

Dr Fombu did his clinical training at Emory-Crawford Long Hospital and holds an MBA from both the Cornell SC Johnson College of Business in Ithaca, NY and Smith School of Business at Queens University in Ontario, Canada. He lives in New York City.

Deb grew up in Green Bay, Wisconsin and graduated with her Master’s degree in Audiology from Memphis State University. After seven years practicing as a pediatric audiologist at Riley Hospital for Children in Indianapolis, Indiana, Deb and her husband relocated to South Carolina where she joined Eli Lilly and Company. She has been with Lilly for the past 18 years in sales and marketing, with the vast majority of her experience in marketing roles across both the US Affiliate and Global Brand Development. She possesses deep cardiovascular experience, extensive alliance experience, and she played a key role in the US launch of Effient. Deb was most recently the Senior Marketing Director of IHP Marketing (CIALIS, Strattera, Axiron) and Puerto Rico within the US Bio-Medicine’s Business Unit, having profit and loss responsibility for $2B+ of revenue. Most recently, she assumed the leadership role of a cross-functional team which is leading the transformation of the go-to-market model for healthcare professionals across all three business units.

Deb delivers strong results through building empowered, high achieving teams by focusing on individual development, accountability, and recognition. She has extensive experience developing and executing the health care provider marketing strategy and efforts both on the global and affiliate side of the business, including hospital experience and US product launch, amongst the therapeutic areas of cardiovascular, osteoporosis, and Men’s Health. She expanded her expertise to include robust direct to consumer marketing, payer marketing and contracting, and an expanded breadth of multi-channel marketing. Deb also engages in the marketing community by serving as a marketing facilitator within Lilly, and by serving as a guest lecturer at the Butler Lacy College of Business and Indiana University Kelly School of Business. She also serves on the board for Pharma Force and on the Strategic Marketing Board for the Lacy College of Business at Butler.

Deb’s free time is dedicated to doing volunteer work for Helping Challenged Children, LLC, which provides medical equipment to children in need, and she volunteers throughout the year with her family. Her personal interests include playing volleyball, sketching, attending Green Bay Packers games as a loyal season ticket holder, cheering on the sidelines for her two very active children, and relaxing at the lake with her husband, kids, and friends.

An internationally renowned thoracic surgeon, researcher, author and academician, Larry R. Kaiser, MD, is the leading health sciences executive at Temple University in Philadelphia, PA. He serves as CEO of the Temple University Health System, Senior Executive Vice President for the Health Sciences, and Dean of Temple University School of Medicine. Prior to joining Temple University Dr. Kaiser was the President of UTHealth, the University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston from 2008 until April 1, 2011.

Dr. Kaiser graduated from Tulane University School of Medicine in 1977 and completed his internship and residency in General Surgery as well as a fellowship in Surgical Oncology at the University of California (Los Angeles). He then completed a residency in cardiovascular surgery and thoracic surgery at the University of Toronto. Following that, he served as a thoracic surgeon at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center and Assistant Professor of Surgery at Cornell University Medical College (New York) and was then recruited to Washington University School of Medicine (St. Louis) where he was promoted to Associate Professor of Surgery in 1990.

In 1991, Dr. Kaiser was recruited to the University of Pennsylvania (Philadelphia) where he held a succession of positions of increasing responsibility, including Associate Professor of Surgery, Chief of General Thoracic Surgery, Founder and Director of the university’s lung transplantation program, and Director of its Center for Lung Cancers and Related Disorders. In 1995, he was promoted to Professor of Surgery and in 1996 was named the Eldridge Eliason Professor of Surgery, the first individual to hold that chair. In 2001, following a national search, he was named the John Rhea Barton Professor and Chairman of the Department of the Department of Surgery at Penn.

In 2008, Dr. Kaiser was selected as the President of the University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston. There, he was responsible for six schools, more than 10,000 faculty and trainees, and a 900-member physician practice.

Dr. Kaiser’s research and clinical interests include lung cancer, malignant mesothelioma and mediastinal tumors. He is the author or co-author of 14 books and over 250 original papers.

Dr. Kaiser has served in a number of leadership capacities for professional societies and associations, and has been a director of the American Board of Surgery and the American Board of Thoracic Surgery. In 2004, he was elected to the Institute of Medicine of the National Academy of Sciences. His recent honors include citations in Castle Connolly’s “America’s Top Doctors for Cancer� 6th edition, Who’s Who in the World, and Philadelphia Magazine’s “Top Docs,� among others.

Kristen Magee joined AssistRx in March of 2016 as the Senior Director for Business Strategy. Prior to joining AssistRx, she had over 10 years of experience in patient services consulting (Blue Fin Group, 4Front) and pharmaceutical sales and field reimbursement (Janssen/Ortho Biotech, Centocor). Prior to entering pharma, Kristen worked for 10+ years in IDN health administration of hospital outpatient facilities and physician practices.

Kristen specializes in the application of technology to medical benefit products including the impact to office/outpatient operations, insurance coverage issues, product distribution considerations, and manufacturer concerns for patient and provider access services. She is also a key player in the development of tech-enabled patient support services in AssistRx’s Patient Solutions division.

Kristen’s undergraduate degree is in Health Administration/Business Administration from Winthrop University in Rock Hill, SC and she has a Master’s in Business Administration from Clemson University. She serves on the board of CPNow, a nonprofit that supports cerebral palsy education and independent research and is a past President of the Winthrop University Alumni Association.

Daniel J. McBride is an Associate Director on the Merck Vaccines Digital Engagement (MVDE) team. He is responsible for implementing digital solutions to close gaps in vaccination rates, vetting potential partners / vendors (including contract negotiation), navigating the complex internal review and approval processes for promotional activities and developing comprehensive communications from MVDE to internal stakeholders.

Prior to joining MVDE, Dan held the position of Director, Privacy and Data Protection for the Merck Privacy Office (MPO), where he was responsible for consultation on Privacy matters as well as review and approval of promotional assets for the commercial areas within the Human Health and Animal Health divisions.

Dan joined Merck in 1995 as Manager, Planning and Support for the US Human Health Mid-Atlantic Field Sales Group. Since then, he has held the following positions: Professional Sales Representative – USHH, Manager – USHH Financial Services, Sr. Account Manager – Merck Meeting Services and Associate Director in Merck Corporate Audit & Assurance Services.

Dan holds Certified Information Privacy Manager (CIPM) and Certified Internal Auditor (CIA) designations and is Six Sigma Yellow-Belt certified.

Dan earned his Bachelor’s Degree in Economics from Villanova University; then obtained an MBA in Finance from American University in Washington, DC

Shawn Nason, COO of Population Health for Healthways is known for saying, “Innovation isn’t work, it’s a lifestyle.� At Healthways, Shawn leads team encompassing product, health resolutions and outcomes, marketing, operations, data analytics, and the new Healthways Innovation Living Lab, known as The HILL.

Prior to Healthways, Shawn was CEO of the Nason Group, which specialized in meeting people where they are and creating the right experience for each and every consumer, whether it be a customer, a patient or a community member. Additionally, Shawn acted as Chief Innovation Officer for Xavier University in Cincinnati, Ohio and had the honor to lead, create, and develop a team at the Xavier Center for Innovation. For three years prior, Shawn led a team at Humana focused on strategic and consumer innovation with an emphasis on design and consumer experience. Shawn also spent six years at The Walt Disney Company in various capacities within Walt Disney Imagineering and Disney Cruise Line.

An inspirational thought leader, Shawn has a proven record of gaining confidence with key executives, stakeholders, peers, and employees at all levels.

Shawn has a BS in Business Management and Finance and an MBA in International Business and Finance. He is currently working on his DBA in Organizational Leadership & Change. Shawn states, “I have the amazing honor to ignite teams, organizations, and individuals to tap into their creative mind and spark ideas and solutions they have never dreamed of!�

Subha has spent the past twenty nine years in technology leadership roles at Fortune 500 companies in Chemical, Pharma, Media, Retail, Technology, and HealthCare sectors and has also founded a technology startup. He is a passionate technologist, futurist, and digital health evangelist who applies technology to solve problems. Currently at Cigna, Subha is a Senior Director of Innovation R&D;, a team focused on research of emerging and disruptive technologies. His expertise includes applying Cloud, Digital Health, Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning, Internet of Things, Wearable’s and other disruptive technologies like Blockchain to solve customer centric innovation efforts at Cigna. His current agile R&D; team is part of US Market, Corporate Function and Customer Service organization in Cigna's CIO office. He spearheads projects with many IT/Business leaders in Cigna's global business units to champion new ideas. His team engages from conception through customer journey, ideation, proof of concept/technology pilots and commercial adaptation.

Subha is very active in professional organizations and peer groups in emerging technology. He is a member of the governing board of Hartford InsurTech hub; a startup accelerator created by a joint effort with other industry leaders to innovate in many insurance technology areas. He often speaks in health and insurance technology conferences about digital health, health engagement, and using technology to get better health outcomes. Subha has an MBA from Cornell University, a MS in Industrial Systems Engineering from LSU, and a B.Tech in Chemical Engineering from Anna University, India. He was recognized with American Red Cross (ARC) president’s award for his leadership to restore communication during Katrina relief efforts. He lives with his wife and two children in Nyack, New York and practices digital health, enjoys disruptive technology, travel, and cooking fusion food.

Douglas Stover joined UCB in 2016 to lead the Patient Experience and Value Mission for the Global Neurology Patient Value Unit.

Prior to joining UCB, Douglas spent 10 years with Gallup, a research based consultancy, where he served as a strategic advisor to clients building customer focused cultures. During his time a Gallup, he was also responsible for the overall success of the joint venture between Gallup and Healthways, Inc., whose mission was to redefine how individuals, organizations, communities and countries measure and manage well-being. Previous experience includes senior positions at The Advisory Board, OgilvyOne and ICG Commerce.

Douglas received his Bachelors of Science from the Pennsylvania State University and Masters of Business Administration from Georgetown University.

Joel Wright was named President and Chief Executive Officer of a combined specialty and mail services company with AllianceRx Walgreens Prime that launched on April of 2017. This combined company is a subsidiary of Walgreens, the Retail Pharmacy USA Division of Walgreens Boots Alliance, and will be headquartered in Chicago, Ill.

Mr. Wright previously was Divisional Vice President of Walgreens Specialty Solutions Group, a division dedicated to providing patients with complete specialized pharmaceutical care to treat chronic, rare or complex conditions. During his tenure from 2013 - 2016, Mr. Wright developed and executed a successful go-to-market strategy for five central specialty and 250 local specialty pharmacies throughout the U.S. and Puerto Rico. Under his leadership, the Specialty Solutions Group nearly doubled its sales and amassed more than $8 million in annual revenue.

Before leading the specialty division, Mr. Wright held a variety of leadership roles of increasing responsibility at Walgreens. He began his Walgreens career 22 years ago as a Pharmacy Manager and Supervisor and has since served as Vice President of Home Care, Executive Director of Pharmacy and Senior Director of Healthy System Operations.

Mr. Wright holds a Bachelor of Pharmacy degree from the Ferris State University in Grand Rapids, MI. He also completed the Executive Management Program for Pharmacy Leaders at University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School of Business.