2017 Speaking Faculty

John Brooks is the Senior Advisor to the Secretary for Drug Pricing Reform at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and the Principal Deputy Director for the Center for Medicare at the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS). At HHS, Mr. Brooks coordinates the Department’s efforts on reducing prescription drug prices, focusing on improving competition, lowering list prices, addressing foreign free-riding, and reducing out-of-pocket costs for all Americans as described in the Administration’s Blueprint for drug pricing reform. Additionally, at CMS, Mr. Brooks is the Principal Deputy of the Center for Medicare, which oversees the Medicare Fee-For-Service, Medicare Advantage, and Medicare Part D Programs.

Previously, Mr. Brooks has served as the health policy advisor for the White House Domestic Policy Council for CMS issues, and as the Counselor for Health Policy to the HHS Secretary at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Prior to that, he was the Department Head for Health Policy at the MITRE Corporation, overseeing a team that worked with federal agencies across the federal government to develop and implement health policy. John has a JD from the University Of Virginia School Of Law, an MBA from Virginia Tech, and a BS from Franciscan University.

Anna Chorniy is a Research Assistant Professor at Northwestern University. Her research focuses on health economics and encompasses elements of labor economics and industrial organization. Anna’s interests include the impact of public health insurance programs, Medicare and Medicaid, on individuals’ health and wellbeing. She is particularly interested in children’s mental health. In the most recent work, she looks at the effects of ADHD treatment on children health, behavioral, and educational outcomes. Anna also has worked on the Medicare Part D plan pricing and coverage and effects of FDA policies on drug R&D. Anna earned her Ph.D. in Economics from Clemson University and completed her postdoctoral training at Princeton University.

Amanda Forys, MSPH, is the Senior Director of Policy, Pricing, and Reimbursement at United Therapeutics. Her experience includes reimbursement policy analytics, with emphases on Medicare and commercial coverage and payment policy. Her work has covered a wide range of topics, including chronic disease management, post-acute care, long-term care, mental health, and specialty services.

Ms. Forys has focused on policy analysis through claims data and cost reports, as well as payment system modeling, budget scoring, and chronic disease studies. Prior to joining United Therapeutics in 2018, she worked at Xcenda, The Moran Company, The National Association for Home Care & Hospice, and The Lewin Group. Ms. Forys serves as a national speaker on healthcare, and has presented at numerous health and policy conferences. Ms. Forys has also presented findings of research to members of Congress, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), Federal budget offices, and the Medicare Payment Advisory Commission (MedPAC).

Ms. Forys received her Master of Science in Public Health from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, with a concentration in health policy and administration. During this time, she completed an internship with the Government Accountability Office's healthcare team. She received a Bachelor's of Science Degree in Biopsychology and Cognitive Sciences and a Bachelor’s of Arts in Voice Performance from the University of Michigan.

Rick Fry, who joined TrialCard in 2013, leads TrialCard’s Client Services team. He partners with a cross-functional team of IT, analytics, marketing, and business development professionals to deliver best-in-class patient support programs for TrialCard’s biopharmaceutical clients. Prior to this role, Rick led several operations teams supporting TrialCard’s claims processing, operations management, and production and fulfillment. Rick is an active participant in the National Council for Prescription Drug Programs (NCPDP), where he represents the interests of TrialCard and its customers.

Rick also served for eight years in the United States Air Force as a Financial Management Officer. In this role, Rick managed multimillion-dollar operational programs and supported multi-year procurement programs valued at over $80 billion.

Rick holds a BS in Management from the United States Air Force Academy and a Master of Science in Cost Analysis from the Air Force Institute of Technology.

Dec 2015-Present: Director Patient Access and Reimbursement Services – Eisai
Dec 2013-Dec 2015: Deputy Director Patient Access Services - Bayer
Nov 2011-Nov 2013: Deputy Director Pricing and Reimbursement and Patient Assistance -Bayer
Jun 2009-Oct 2011: Manager Pricing and Reimbursement and Patient Assistance-Bayer
Jan 2008-May 2009: Brand Manager Oncology Marketing Leukine-Berlex/Bayer
Nov 2004-Dec 2007: Senior Oncology Specialty Representative-Berlex
April 2003-Oct 2004: Hospital Sales Consultant –Pfizer
Sept 1998-March 2003: Primary Care Representative G.D. Searle/Pharmacia
August 1972-Aug 1998: United States Army Special Forces (Green Beret) Sergeant Major(retired)

Current job description: Currently the Director of Patient Access and Reimbursement Services at Eisai. Currently responsible for 7 Patient Support Programs to include Patient Assistance Programs Eisai’s portfolio. He provides research analysis and intelligence to the Oncology, Neurology and Metabolic Business Units on public policy, reimbursement and coverage issues, develops strategies, minimizes impact of competitors, mitigates adverse effects and identified opportunities to favorably position Eisai Inc. and their products.

Education: Undergrad- Business Administration from Mary Baldwin College

Analise provides regulatory law and strategic business guidance to Sanofi’s internal stakeholders in the Primary Care business unit specifically relating to advertising and promotion of marketed diabetes products. She also acts as the legal “center of excellence” for Sanofi’s patient support and assistance programs and advises on topics such as program creation, savings offer terms and restrictions, enrollment form consent language, HIPAA, marketing opt-in, TCPA, as well as marketing of promotional programs.

Analise is a graduate of Suffolk University Law School in Boston, MA and currently resides in Jersey City, NJ.

Thomas has a BS in Biology from UC Riverside (Magna Cum Laude) and a MS in Business of Bioscience from Keck Graduate Institute. He has worked across Managed Markets at Gilead Sciences in Commercial Rebates, Strategy, and Analytics. Prior to Gilead, he was a management consultant with top pharma clients in the SF Bay Area. Projects included new product launches, process optimization, and market strategy. He is currently leading forensic analytics and investigations for the Data Forensics team at Gilead.

Jeff Myers has been involved in the creation of health care policy for nearly 30 years, starting his career as a Capital Hill staffer during the consideration of President Clinton’s Health Security Act. During his tenure, he wrote amendments addressing DSH payments, Part B coverage, and significant changes to FDA approval rules for products exported from the United States.

In the last 20 years, Jeff has worked the “trifecta” of health care – life sciences, providers, and payors. The constant in this experience with drug and biotech companies, skilled nursing facilities and public payor insurers is that reimbursement drives changes in our health care environment. With more than 50% of the American population now covered by taxpayer funded healthcare, this reimbursement issue will only become even more important.

Dr. Robert Popovian is Vice-President, US Government Relations at Pfizer Inc. For the past 2 decades, Dr. Popovian has published and presented extensively on the impact of biopharmaceuticals and health policies on health care costs and clinical outcomes, including authorship in clinical and healthcare delivery journals and published expert source in Los Angeles Times, USA Today, The Hill, Pink Sheet and Bloomberg News amongst many others. He also writes a regularly published column in Morning Consult regarding health policy and economic issues relevant to the biopharmaceutical industry. He currently serves as a board member for the Global Healthy Living Foundation.

Dr. Popovian completed his Doctorate in Pharmacy and Masters of Science in Pharmaceutical Economics and Policy degrees at the University of Southern California with honors.

Matt is currently the Senior Vice President of Sales and Market Access for Sunovion Pharmaceuticals Inc. Matt is responsible for leading the Account Management, Trade, Contracting and MM Marketing Teams at Sunovion. In addition to his Market Access responsibilities Matt leads Sunovion’s Respiratory, Psychiatry, Neurology and Institutional Sales Teams.

Prior to this position Matt was Vice President of Commercial Model Innovation at Pfizer. He and his team were responsible for evolving Pfizer’s Business Model to meet the rapidly evolving needs of Health Care Providers and Organizations in the US.

Debbie Walters-Francique is Vice President, Assistant General Counsel at Pfizer Inc. and is the Legal lead for the Commercial Solutions Platform Legal team who support: Organized Customers, Government Pricing and Government Contracting functions, Patient, Health & Impact which includes HEOR functions, Account Management and Sales functions, Global Trade Controls and various Strategy, Commercial and Medical Operations groups as well as advisory and counseling related to drug pricing transparency.

In addition to supporting day-to-day activities related to the above functions Mrs. Walters-Francique also provides expertise and counsel to a broad range of clients across the entire organization related to the federal and state Anti-Kickback laws, as well as provide key strategic support into the development and evolution of field commercial and medical roles and interactions. She has been with Pfizer since 2000.

Prior to joining Pfizer, Mrs. Walters-Francique was in private practice with the law firm of Shearman & Sterling in their Mergers & Acquisition Group.

Jason Zemcik is the Product Director for TrialCard’s TC Synapse suite of compliance and risk management solutions, which encompasses co-pay program fraud monitoring and detection, co-pay accumulator mitigation strategies, and government exclusion and anti-kickback safeguards.

Jason joined TrialCard in 2011 and has held roles in Program Management, Data Analytics, Marketing, and Operations. He holds a Project Management Professional (PMP) certification and is a member of the National Health Care Anti-Fraud Association.

Prior to joining TrialCard, Jason served seven years as a United States Army officer, deploying to both Iraq and Afghanistan.

Jason is a graduate of the United States Military Academy at West Point where he earned a BS in Legal Studies with a minor in Systems Engineering.