In her role, Cheryl leads Diplomat’s Industry Relations team in finding partnerships and crafting health care solutions. Specifically, Cheryl leads Diplomat’s corporate efforts in identifying new opportunities within the pharmaceutical industry. She then collaborates with manufacturers to design services and distribution solutions that support their patients’ journey

Cheryl brings more than 25 years of industry experience, with work in independent and specialty pharmacy, as well as in managed care consulting and health care IT. Before joining Diplomat in July 2011, Cheryl worked as the senior director of clinical services at Sanovia Corporation, where she managed new product development and sales support. Prior to her tenure at Sanovia, she held roles with Priority HealthCare as a pharmacist-in-charge for oncology and lead pharmacist for pain management. Cheryl also founded C. Allen & Associates, a firm focused on managed care consulting, and Eden Drug Company, an independent pharmacy.

Cheryl earned her Bachelor of Science in pharmacy at Samford University’s McWhorter School of Pharmacy, and her MBA at Saint Joseph’s University Erivan K. Haub School of Business with a focus in pharmaceutical and health care marketing.

ADAM AMDUR was first diagnosed with severe obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) in 2008, more than thirty years after he first showed symptoms. As he struggled to learn how to manage this chronic illness, he was able to successfully identify the early symptoms and seek treatment for his then two-year-old daughter. In 2012 Amdur first joined the only existing national patient advocacy association, the American Sleep Apnea Association (ASAA), to learn everything he could to help himself and his daughter. Eventually he took the lead in the association’s evolution from a twenty-five-year-old physician-run organization into an entrepreneurial patient-driven, public-health advocacy association. The ASAA launched a new crowd-sourcing campaign, #Sleeptember.Org, in Fall 2015, which tackles long-term recruiting, retention, and sustainability efforts for patient-powered research activities utilizing all relevant channels of social media and technology.

Amdur was the first Patient Principal Investigator and co-founder of the Sleep Apnea Patient-Centered Outcomes Network (SAPCON), funded as part of the Affordable Care Act’s national Patient Centered Outcomes Research Network PCORnet. He worked to bring together patient leaders from each patient-powered research network (PPRN) and clinical data research network (CDRN) at a special patient retreat in order to discover a common patient voice as it relates to research best practices and collaboration with diverse stakeholders. He is also participating on the Clinical Trials Translation Institute (CTTI) issues surrounding the use of mobile devices in clinical trials. CTTI is the non-profit arm of the FDA.

Amdur is also one of the founding investigators of the SleepHealth Apple ResearchKit Mobile Study powered by IBM Watson HealthCloud and a co-investigator on the O2VERLAP Study with COPD Foundation and the American Sleep Apnea Association funded by the PCORnet PPRN Demo award.

Amdur has given presentations at both community and professional conferences as a patient advocate including the National Institutes of Health’s Workshop of the Precision Medicine Initiative. Most recently, he participated in the Everyone Included White House Medx meeting and appeared in many print and live news interviews presenting the patient’s perspective on research and advocacy.

Adam is also currently writing a dynamic and interactive memoir, Asleep at the Wheel: Living with Sleep Apnea, in hopes of putting a face to this disease to better educate the public about its cause and treatment and promote research in collaboration with www.MetroDigi.com

Dr. Balch is the Chief Executive Officer of Patient Advocate Foundation and National Patient Advocate Foundation.

Dr. Balch has nearly fifteen years of executive leadership in the non-profit sector with an emphasis on consensus-building and collaboration. He has led numerous federal advocacy efforts on a range of issues both at the legislative and regulatory level over the years. He became the CEO of both PAF and NPAF in 2013. From 2006 - 2013, he served as the Vice President of the Preventive Health Partnership -- a national health promotion collaboration between the American Cancer Society, American Diabetes Association, and American Heart Association. Prior to his work with the Preventive Health Partnership, Dr. Balch was the Executive Director of Friends of Cancer Research.

Dr. Balch has served on the Executive Board of the Patient Advocate Foundation and National Patient Advocate Foundation since 2007. Dr. Balch also serves on numerous advisory boards and committees. He is a member of the External Advisory Board for the Hutchinson Institute for Cancer Outcomes Research (HICOR), a member of the Duke-Margolis Payment Reform Group, a member of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation/Avalere Cost of Care Advisory Board, a member of the Quality and Outcomes Committee for the National Comprehensive Cancer Network (NCCN), and recently served as a member of the Guiding Committee for the Health Care Payment Learning and Action Network (LAN). Dr. Balch also serves on the Finance Committee and the Membership Committee for the National Health Council in Washington, DC, is a member of the National Committee for Quality Assurance’s Consumer Advisory Council, and sits on the inaugural board for The American Journal of Managed Care’s (AJMC) Institute for Value-Based Medicine (IVBM).

He earned his PhD in environmental studies with a concentration in political economy in 2003 from the University of California, Santa Cruz; his master’s degree in environmental sciences in 1997 from the University of Texas in San Antonio; his bachelor’s degree (cum laude) in biology in 1994 from Trinity University in San Antonio. Dr. Balch is the Chief Executive Officer of Patient Advocate Foundation and National Patient Advocate Foundation.

Dr. Balch has a decade of executive leadership in the non-profit sector with an emphasis on consensus-building and collaboration. From 2006 - 2013, he served as the Vice President of the Preventive Health Partnership -- a national health promotion collaboration between the American Cancer Society, American Diabetes Association, and American Heart Association. Prior to his work with the Preventive Health Partnership, Dr. Balch was the Executive Director of Friends of Cancer Research. He has led numerous federal advocacy efforts on a range of issues both at the legislative and regulatory level over the years. For example, he helped to organize and lead a coalition that successfully fought for improvements in the regulatory process for the review of cancer drugs at the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). He also contributed to the development of key federal policies related to the Affordable Care Act.

Dr. Balch serves on the Executive Board of the Patient Advocate Foundation and National Patient Advocate Foundation. Dr. Balch also serves on numerous advisory boards and committees. He is a member of the National Committee for Quality Assurance’s Wellness and Health Promotion Advisory Committee, a member of the Guiding Committee for the Health Care Payment Learning and Action Network (LAN), a member of the Advisory Board for the Patient Resource Cancer Guides, External Advisory Board member for the Hutchinson Institute for Cancer Outcomes Research (HICOR) and a member of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation/Avalere Cost of Care Advisory Board. Dr. Balch also serves on the Finance Committee and the Membership Committee for the National Health Council in Washington, DC and recently accepted an invitation to join the inaugural board for The American Journal of Managed Care’s (AJMC) newest initiative, the Institute for Value-Based Medicine (IVBM). He is also a member of the 2017 Access to Innovation Forum Steering Committee for the Biotechnology Innovation Organization (BIO). He earned his PhD in environmental studies in 2003 from the University of California, Santa Cruz; his master’s degree in environmental sciences in 1997 from the University of Texas in San Antonio; his bachelor’s degree (cum laude) in biology in 1994 from Trinity University in San Antonio.

Dr. Bosworth is a health services researcher and a Professor of Medicine, Psychiatry, and Nursing at Duke University Medical Center and Adjunct Professor in Health Policy and Administration at the School of Public Health at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. He is involved with the development of the new Department of Population Health Sciences at Duke University. His research interests comprise three overarching areas of research: 1) clinical research that provides knowledge for improving patients’ treatment adherence and self-management in chronic care; 2) translation research to improve access to quality of care; and 3) eliminate health care disparities.

Dr. Bosworth was the recipient of an American Heart Association established investigator award, the 2013 VA Undersecretary Award for Outstanding Achievement in Health Services Research (The annual award is the highest honor for VA health services researchers), and a VA Senior Career Scientist Award. In terms of medication adherence, Dr. Bosworth has been developing and implementing tailored interventions to reduce the burden of chronic diseases. These trials focus on motivating individuals to initiate health behaviors and sustaining them long term and includes using various methods of engagement and including various members of the healthcare system (e.g., pharmacists and nurses). He has led over 30 trials and participated in another 50 resulting in over 270 peer reviewed publications and four books. This work has been or is being implemented in multiple arenas including Pharma patient support programs, Medicaid of North Carolina, The United Kingdom National Health System Direct, Kaiser Health care system, and the Veterans Affairs. He will talk about the state of medication adherence including population and patient-centered methods for medication adherence, the role of policy, potential for digital solutions and provide some specific recommendations to improve medication adherence and subsequent outcomes for individuals.

Dr. Covington is currently a Senior Director and Global Head of Field Medical Strategy for Medical, Diabetes and Cardiovascular Disease Business Unit at Sanofi. She specializes in building and deploying stakeholder and patient engagement models with supporting measurement and training infrastructure to improve the health outcome strategies. Her goal is to apply these insights in strategic and innovative ways to address complex issues within healthcare systems, organizations and communities. Much of her work focuses on population-based health disparities in outcomes, operations management and cultural competency models.

Prior to joining Sanofi, Melva led both Global and US-based teams in Health Outcomes and Pharmacoeconomics across a number of therapeutic areas at Lilly and Roche Labs. She is passionate about assessing integrated data and perceptions contextually and then applying that knowledge for targeted health solutions across diverse patient populations.

She has an A.B. in Politics/Economics from The Catholic University of America, Masters of Public Health in Maternal and Child Health and Ph.D. from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and MBA from the Johnson School at Cornell University. Melva has authored numerous publications, is an avid public speaker and serves as a mentor to youth throughout the United States.

Victoria (Vicky) DiBiaso, is the Global Head of Clinical Operations Strategy & Collaboration within Sanofi’s R&D; organization.

In her position, she manages an international team accountable for Sanofi’s development stage portfolio overseeing protocol optimization, global trial feasibility, competitive intelligence, the global investigator network and patient partnerships supporting an informed R&D; model.

She and her team are responsible for ensuring collaborations with patient groups, as well as clinical trial physicians and coordinators, for protocol design considerations and robust patient community engagement strategies. She also has a large focus on clinical trial innovation ranging from technology to competitive intelligence to adequately inform decisions and patient facing activities. Their primary mandate is to optimize clinical trials from all aspects related to patients and investigator sites so that meaningful medications can come to market sooner.

Vicky has over 20 years of global experience ranging from phase I-IV drug development in rare disease biotech and multi-therapeutic specialty large pharma. She’s worked across multiple platforms such as devices, small molecules, biologics and gene-therapies.

Vicky is a frequent speaker at international industry conferences and is repeatedly quoted in industry publications related to clinical trial innovation and patient collaboration. In 2013 she was listed as one of CenterWatch’s Top 20 Innovators changing the face of clinical trials. In 2014, she was featured in the Wall Street Journal and has guest lectured on the role of patient, investigator and industry collaborations. She is a volunteer for the Michael J Fox Foundation for regional public engagement, a Research Ambassador and Team Fox co-captain. She also is a volunteer advisor for the Critical Path Institute (Parkinson’s).

Vicky holds a Master’s in Public Health and a Bachelor of Science in Nursing.

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.

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.

Elizabeth Franklin, LGSW, ACSW, is Executive Director of the Cancer Policy Institute (CPI) at the Cancer Support Community (CSC) where she is responsible for all aspects of the Institute including day-to-day operations, strategic and policy direction, fundraising, and management. Previously, Elizabeth was Senior Director of Policy and Advocacy at CSC where she developed and implemented CSC’s regulatory and legislative agenda, secured relationships with policymakers and stakeholders across multiple sectors, and engaged national partners to identify areas of common work and consensus to collectively advocate for positive change for people affected by cancer.

Elizabeth was formerly Director of Policy and Engagement at the George Washington University Cancer Institute where she worked at both the macro level, developing and implementing the Institute’s policy agenda, and at the micro level, working with the patient-centered care team to ensure that all patients had access to high-quality, timely cancer care. Previously, Elizabeth was Senior Director of Policy and Advocacy with the Prevent Cancer Foundation as well as Special Assistant to the Chief Executive Officer at the headquarters of the National Association of Social Workers.

Currently a doctoral student at the University of Maryland School of Social Work, Elizabeth is focusing her studies on the ways in which cancer patients and survivors define value in the cancer care system and how those definitions can be incorporated into public policy and practice initiatives. Elizabeth obtained her Masters degree in social work from the University of Illinois at Chicago and her Bachelors degree in social work from the University of Kentucky. She is a Licensed Graduate Social Worker in the District of Columbia and a member of the Academy of Certified Social Workers

Jessica Grossman, MD is the CEO of Medicines360. She has been a board member of Medicines360 since 2011. Dr. Grossman is a seasoned industry executive with a proven track record leading successful women’s health companies.

As a medical technology executive, she brings a wealth of experience in product development and commercialization and the ability to accelerate profitable business models.

Prior to joining Medicines360, Dr. Grossman served as president and founding CEO of Sense4Baby, Inc., where she closed a $4-million series A investment and within 18 months of joining the organization, led the company to a successful acquisition following FDA clearance, CE mark, and early commercialization.

Dr. Grossman was also Founder and President of Gynesonics, an early stage medical device company focused on minimally invasive solutions for women’s health, where she raised over $22 million in venture capital financing. Under her leadership, she invented and developed the first intrauterine ultrasound guided radiofrequency ablation device for fibroid tumors.

She has also been a Medical Director at Ethicon Endo-Surgery, part of the Johnson and Johnson family of companies. Dr. Grossman holds numerous patents and has published several peer reviewed articles. She has performed research at the Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, one of the teaching hospitals of Harvard Medical School.

Dr. Grossman earned her MD at Thomas Jefferson University and her undergraduate degree with honors from Brandeis University.

Andrea Furia-Helms is currently on detail as the Acting Director of the Patient Affairs Staff in the Office of Medial Products and Tobacco, Office of the Commissioner. She is working with the centers/offices to support the FDA’s ongoing patient engagement efforts and is coordinating cross-cutting patient engagement activities to ensure patients, caregivers, and advocates have opportunities to share their perspectives in the FDA regulatory meetings. Ms. Furia-Helms spent the past ten years in the FDA’s Office of Health and Constituent Affairs where she directed the FDA Patient Representative Program and coordinated patient engagement activities.

Prior to FDA, Ms. Furia-Helms was Director of the Back to Sleep (now Safe to Sleep) campaign, a public- private partnership to educate communities on Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS), at the National Institutes of Health. She developed SIDS outreach initiatives for African American, American Indian and Latino communities.

Ms. Furia-Helms has a B.A. in psychology from Framingham State University, a B.S. degree in community health education from University of Maryland, and a Master of Public Health degree from The George Washington University.

Jeff Henderson has more than 26 years of pharmaceutical and biotech experience. He currently is the Vice President of Managed Markets at Intarcia Therapeutics, Inc, a position he has held since September 2015. In this position, Jeff is responsible for the Managed Markets Organization overseeing the Account Management, Payer Strategy, and the Government Reporting and Pricing functions.

Prior to joining Intarcia Therapeutics, Inc, Jeff spent 5 years at Vertex Pharmaceuticals, Inc and 19 years working for Pfizer, Inc. in various leadership positions. He has a broad range of experience and expertise leading commercial teams within the industry and specializes in new product commercialization, national and key account management, marketing, trade and distribution, specialty pharmacy, strategic planning, and pharmaceutical contract negotiation and pricing.

Jeff served as an officer in the United States Army for 15 years where he attained to rank of Major and is a graduate of the Virginia Military Institute with a Bachelor of Arts in History.

Todd Hobbs, MD, is vice president and chief medical officer for Novo Nordisk in North America, where he leads the organization’s focus on the implications of diabetes for the patient, healthcare system and healthcare professionals.

Dr. Hobbs provides overall medical guidance to Novo Nordisk’s diabetes- and obesity-related projects. He provides input into the clinical development and life-cycle management strategies for diabetes and obesity, as well as medical input into the R&D; pipeline. He is involved with the optimization of relationships with top key opinion leaders and medical societies, and provides guidance to and participates in consultant advisory boards and key patient and professional associations and top thought leaders in diabetes.

Dr. Hobbs began his career at Novo Nordisk in 2004 as a field medical scientific director, then moving to the position of senior medical director, diabetes, in 2010. He led the Medical Affairs activities for all of Novo Nordisk’s current insulin products and devices, as well as supporting future insulin products through strategic and tactical activities.

In 2016, he started a 3 year term serving on the board for the American Medical Group Foundation (AMGF), the research foundation arm of the American Medical Group Association (AMGA).

Prior to working at Novo Nordisk, Dr. Hobbs had established a clinical practice based in Louisville, Kentucky, focusing on the intensive management of patients with diabetes of all ages, and served as chairman of the Medicine Department for a large Regional Medical Center in Kentucky. During this 10-year clinical career, he cared for more than 2,500 adults and children with diabetes, including outpatient and inpatient care, as well as intensive care.

Dr. Hobbs’ has a unique perspective on and personal dedication to the treatment of diabetes: his own experience with the disease began more than 25 years ago when he was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes. His passion for defeating the disease intensified even more with the diagnosis of one of his sons with the same condition at the age of five.

Tom Hubbard leads NEHI’s projects on comparative effectiveness research, patient medication adherence, and prevention and wellness initiatives. Mr. Hubbard leverages his policy and technology experience to examine ways the country’s health care system can be transformed, focusing on the promotion of medical innovation and the improvement of quality and efficiency in clinical care.

Mr. Hubbard came to NEHI after seven years at the Massachusetts Technology Collaborative (MTC), where he led industry-focused projects and supervised the annual publication of the MTC Index of the Massachusetts Innovation Economy. His work has included supervising the I-495 Technology Corridor Partnership, an industry-municipal collaboration on growth, and leading projects on broadband deployment, federal research funding advocacy, and nanotechnology.

Previously, Mr. Hubbard served as Executive Assistant for Economic Affairs to U.S. Senator John Kerry, as Deputy Director of Development for Massachusetts Governor Michael Dukakis, and as Director of Community Development and Planning for the City of Gardner, Massachusetts.

Mr. Hubbard graduated from Harvard College and holds a masters in public policy from Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government.

Usman Iqbal is a Senior Director, Medical Affairs & HEOR at Trevena, Inc. Usman has 12+ years of diverse experience spanning clinical medicine, R&D;/Med AFF, Health economics & outcomes research across academia and biopharmaceutical. His experience spans number of different therapeutic areas including Neuroscience, as Senior Medical Affairs Leader at AstraZeneca, and Oncology, as former Head of Sanofi Oncology, Global Evidence & Value Development (GEVD). As part of both R&D; and Med Affairs in different bridging roles, Usman has had been responsible for Portfolio Prioritizations, Patient centric trial designs, Integrated Medical Affairs Planning, and end-to-end Evidence generation based on Multidisciplinary Stakeholder engagement (Patient, Provider, Payer), Market insights and Relative Medical Value Assessment Platforms. Prior to working in the industry that also includes Amgen and Boehringer Ingelheim, Usman was at the Boston University Health Outcomes Technology Group as a senior research fellow and served as a research consultant for Veterans Affairs Pharmacy Benefit Management (VA-PBM), the Centers for Medicare &, Medicaid Services’ Health Outcomes Survey Initiative (CMS-HOS), the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ), and the National Committee for Quality Assurance (NCQA). Usman has authored more than 50 publications and his research experience encompasses patient & physician evaluations in BIG Data and large integrated health care systems with a specific focus on comparative effectiveness, patient centered outcomes, physician profiling, and patient access solutions. Usman received his MD from Allama Iqbal Medical College, Lahore, Pakistan and Master of Public Health and Master of Business Administration from Boston University.

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.

Helen has more than 15 years’ experience in in the Pharmaceutical industry, working for several companies and academic institutions in both the UK and the US. Helen joined Bristol-Myers Squibb almost five years ago, and transitioned her career from a director in public affairs and corporate communications to advocacy relations and patient engagement. Currently, Helen leads advocacy, diversity and patient engagement strategy for Bristol-Myers autoimmune and oncology portfolio in R&D.; Helen interacts with a broad variety of patient facing organizations and groups to identify collaboration opportunities in order to better understand and incorporate patient, caregiver and advocacy perspectives in clinical studies.

Helen completed his undergraduate studies at the University of Southampton, U.K., and received her Ph.D. from the University of Cambridge, U.K., studying the molecular genetics of Multiple Sclerosis in the Department of Medicine.

Fran Kochman is the Director, National Advocacy and Alliance Development, for GlaxoSmithKline, a science-led global healthcare company dedicated to improving the quality of human life by enabling people to do more, feel better and live longer.

Fran is responsible for developing and leading the Federal Government Relations Advocacy strategy and execution in alignment with key stakeholders, in order to shape and influence the external healthcare environment within the Respiratory Community, and working with Professional Associations, and Business Coalitions. Previously, she had worked in a similar role, within the Oncology Community.

Prior to her current position, Fran was a Regional Account Director, responsible for Medicaid and Public Payers and Senior Manager, State Government Affairs Advocacy helping customers remove barriers and access medicines in the Public Sector, and garnering support for state legislative priorities by developing relationships and building coalitions with patient advocacy organizations and professional associations in New York and New England.

Fran has also held several other positions during her 30-year tenure at GSK, which include Sales Representative, Sales Trainer, Hospital Sales Representative, District Sales Manager, Market Development Manager, and Sr. Manager of Healthcare Education.

Prior to joining GSK, Fran attended the University of Rhode Island, where she completed a National Pharmaceutical Council Industry Internship Program and earned a B.S. in Pharmacy.

Jake LaPorte is Head of Digital Development at Novartis and responsible for leading the company’s digital efforts within their Global Drug Development organization. Jake began his career at McKinsey & Company, where he was a leader in their Pharmaceutical R&D; practice, during his six-year tenure, developing an expertise in large, complex transformations and innovation. It was on a fateful, extended journey in Asia-Pacific, however, where Jake read Ray Kurzweil’s The Singulatiry is Near and became captivated by the possibility of digitizing the Pharmaceutical R&D; engine – he has focused his career on the realization of this concept ever since. Subsequently, he co-founded Snapdragon Chemistry, with the Head of the Chemistry Department at MIT, which seeks to enable companies to implement continuous flow chemistry in discovery, development and manufacturing, with the ultimate goal of fully digitizing chemical synthesis. Snapdragon Chemistry was recently recognized by Launch.org as a top 5 innovator in Chemistry and was joined by multi-billion dollar companies such as Dow Chemicals and Wiley Sciences. Prior to joining Novartis, Jake held various leadership positions at PPD, Inc, where he collaborated with executives to develop and implement C-level, strategic initiatives, including a long-term transformation to create industry-leading approaches to clinical development in key therapeutic areas.

Jake completed his PhD in Organic Chemistry from Harvard University, where he was an HHMI doctoral fellow, and received his BSc in Biochemistry and Mathematics, summa cum laude, from the University of Delaware.

Sara Latham is the Chief Operating Officer and Executive Vice President of Global Strategy at the COPD Foundation, a nonprofit organization dedicated to improving the quality of life for those affected by chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), a progressive lung disease affecting more than 30 million Americans.

In addition to overseeing the Foundation’s care delivery, education, communications and community outreach departments, Ms. Latham spearheaded the strategic development and launch of COPD360social, a digital collaboration platform, uniting patients, family members, caregivers and medical professionals in the form of a novel online social community composed of 32,000 members in over 120 countries. Ms. Latham is also responsible for COPD Global, the Foundation’s newest initiative seeking to unite global advocacy organizations in a common mission of raising awareness of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease worldwide.

Prior to joining the COPD Foundation, Ms. Latham worked in various positions in the healthcare, nonprofit and technology sectors for international global communications firms.

Ms. Latham earned a Bachelor of Arts in Art History and European History from the University of Pennsylvania and pursued advanced graduate study at the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine.

Christine MacCracken is Director, Patient Support at the Janssen Pharmaceutical Companies of Johnson and Johnson where she leads strategic identification and implementation of patient-centered initiatives. In this role, she serves as key liaison to New York University School of Medicine and the Compassionate Use Advisory Committee (CompAC). Her focus is on raising organizational awareness around hearing the voice of the patient and recognizing “Every Patient is a Person First”.

Prior to joining the Johnson & Johnson Family of Companies in 2015, Christine was Senior Director, Business Insights at the National Comprehensive Cancer Network (NCCN).In support of people with cancer and the providers who treat them, she closely collaborated with industry, state oncology societies and advocacy groups to disseminate NCCN treatment information through health technology platforms as well as market and outcome research programs.

Christine’s strong passion around hearing the voice of the patient began at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia where she was an oncology nurse treating families with life changing diagnoses. With patients and their experience front of mind, she developed an interest in research and joined Radiation Therapy Oncology Group (RTOG) with a focus on quality of life studies. Bridging this interest with pharmaceutical development, she later joined Merck & Co., Inc. with increasing roles of responsibility in clinical research and academic affairs, ultimately sharing her collective experience as an adjunct professor.

Christine holds a Bachelor of Science, Nursing from Holy Family University and Master’s Degree, Health Education from Arcadia University.

Meghan McKenzie is an Associate Director, Sr. Clinical Program Leader in Genentech’s Research and Early Development (gRED). In Clinical operations, she manages complex programs in neurology, ophthalmology, oncology, rheumatology and immunology and is leading gRED’s Patient Centricity team and the work-life integration team. gRED’s Patient Centricity vision is to empower Early Clinical Development to obtain and amplify the patient voice to improve development planning, trial design, and trial execution.

Meghan has worked across all phases of drug development for over 20 years in clinical operations, data management and as a site study coordinator.

Meghan received her Bachelor’s in Economics at UNC- Chapel Hill and her Master’s in Biology: Human Physiology at San Francisco State University. Before joining Genentech in 2005, Meghan held various positions at a CRO, a research site, at NASA in their Human Research Center as well as at nonprofit think tanks in Washington, D.C.

She and her husband (a veterinarian) have two dogs, a snake, and they enjoy music and extensive travel with their 17-year old daughter, when they can get her attention.

Dr. Martin Mendoza serves as the Director of Extramural Research for the Office of Minority Health (OMH), Office of the Commissioner, FDA. As director of OMH’s extramural research program, Dr. Mendoza oversees all OMH extramural research which includes projects in the FDA Centers of Excellence in Regulatory Science and Innovation (CERSI) cooperative agreements with Johns Hopkins University, the University of Maryland, Stanford University, the University of California San Francisco, Yale University, and Mayo Clinic. Dr. Mendoza has spoken before Congress in support of OMH’s programs and mission, has authored numerous Congressionally-mandated reports, and is also the primary author for OMH’s recent FDA guidance document Collection of Race and Ethnicity Data in Clinical Trials.

Prior to joining the FDA, Dr. Mendoza spent several years in the Office of Clinical Research at the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS), NIH. There, he was part of programmatic management for all NINDS-sponsored clinical trials and oversaw the institute’s Congressionally-mandated reporting of women and minorities in clinical research. Previously, Dr. Mendoza was an active researcher within the NIH intramural research program, conducting laboratory-based research at the National Cancer Institute, the National Institute on Aging, and the National Human Genome Research Institute where he served as a genetic mapper for the Human Genome Project. Dr. Mendoza is a graduate of the University of Maryland Baltimore County and received his doctorate in cancer biology from Johns Hopkins University.

With more than 13 years of Specialty Pharmacy experience, Brandon has served in various roles at Accredo, Medco, Express Scripts and Vanderbilt Specialty Pharmacies. In 2012 he piloted the “Embedded Specialty Pharmacist” model that Vanderbilt uses in its clinics today to provide comprehensive and coordinated care to specialty patients. As Program Director of VSP, his focus is on business growth opportunities including payer and manufacturer contracting. Brandon is a board member for the Specialty Pharmacy Certification Board and also serves on the NASP education committee.

Susan Peschin, MHS, is president and CEO at the Alliance for Aging Research. The Alliance for Aging Research is dedicated to accelerating the pace of scientific discoveries and their application to vastly improve the universal human experience of aging and health. For more than 30 years, the Alliance has guided efforts to substantially increase funding and focus for aging at the NIH, FDA, AHRQ, and CDC; built influential coalitions to guide groundbreaking regulatory improvements for age-related diseases; and created award-winning, high-impact educational materials to improve the health and well-being of older adults and their family caregivers.

Since 2012, Ms. Peschin has been a driving force in the growth and success of the organization. Under her leadership, the Alliance has remained strong in these priorities and continued to build on its reputation as a forward-thinking public policy and health education organization. As president and CEO, she leads the strategic development and implementation of Alliance initiatives, as well as manages Board governance and organizational operations. As a thought leader on many aging-related issues, she has led the Alliance in efforts to: boost older adult immunization rates; increase NIH Alzheimer’s disease and aging research funding; raise awareness of geriatric cardiac issues; develop a senior patient and family caregiver network through a PCORI engagement grant; and co-organize a first-ever NIH geroscience summit. She participates in major industry and policy symposiums around the country each year, and has published opinion pieces in news outlets nationwide.

Ms. Peschin currently serves on the Board of Heart Valve Voice U.S. and the National Council on Patient Information and Education; on the World Economic Forum’s Council on Human Enhancement; on the National Advisory Council for the National Institute on Aging at the NIH; on the Steering Committee for the Coalition for Imaging & Bioengineering Research; and as a member of the Lifespan Domain Task Force for the Clinical & Translational Science Award program, funded by NCATS at the NIH.

Ms. Peschin earned a B.A. in Sociology from Brandeis University, and a M.H.S. degree in Health Policy from the Johns Hopkins University Bloomberg School of Public Health.

Jamie Ring is the Head of Patient Advocacy at Spark Therapeutics, a leader in the field of gene therapy. In her role, Jamie is responsible for patient advocacy activities related to Spark’s disease areas of interest. Prior to joining Spark, Jamie spent 10 years at Genzyme, where she most recently served as the Vice President of Patient Advocacy and Humanitarian Programs – Rare Diseases. In that role, Jamie provided strategic oversight of all advocacy programming and managed external partnerships related to Genzyme’s global humanitarian programs which provide free therapy to hundreds of patients around the globe. Prior to Genzyme, Jamie worked at Biogen supporting patient programs for both the Multiple Sclerosis and Non-Hodgkin’s Lymphoma disease communities. Additionally, Jamie worked at the ALS Therapy Development Institute as the Associate Director of Programs, responsible for ALS disease awareness initiatives and fundraising campaigns. In 2013, Jamie was voted by PharmaVoice magazine as one of the 100 most inspiring leaders in the pharmaceutical industry.

Jamie holds a B.A. in Sociology from Union College, Schenectady, NY and a M.P.H. in Social & Behavioral Sciences from Boston University.

John Rother is President and CEO of the National Coalition on Health Care, America’s oldest and most diverse group working to achieve comprehensive health system change. The Coalition’s membership of more than 80 participating organizations includes medical societies, businesses, unions, health care providers, faith-based associations, pension and health funds, insurers, and groups representing consumers, patients, women, minorities, and persons with disabilities.

Prior to joining the Coalition in 2011, Mr. Rother served as the longtime Executive Vice President for Policy, Strategy, and International Affairs at AARP. There he led the development of AARP’s policy positions and advocacy strategies. Under his leadership, AARP engaged in robust public policy research and analysis, public education, and advocacy on health and retirement issues at the federal, state and international levels. Mr. Rother wrote numerous articles and was a frequent speaker on health, retirement security, the federal budget, and the boomer generation.

From 1981 to 1984, Mr. Rother was Staff Director and Chief Counsel for the U.S. Senate Special Committee on Aging under the direction of Chairman John Heinz (R-PA). From 1977 to 1981 he served as Special Counsel for Labor and Health to U.S. Senator Jacob Javits (R-NY).

Mr. Rother is a graduate of Oberlin College and the University of Pennsylvania Law School. He is a member of the DC Bar, the National Academy of Social Insurance, and the Gerontological Society of America.

In 2010 Mr. Rother received the Robert Ball Award for Outstanding Achievements in Social Insurance from the National Academy of Social Insurance for “lifetime advocacy to strengthen Social Security and Medicare.”

As Executive Vice President of Advocacy and Health Quality at the national center of the American Heart Association, Mark Schoeberl is responsible for the overall strategic direction of the Heart Association’s public policy efforts including policy research and development of organizational position statement, legislative and regulatory affairs at the state and federal level, and community-based advocacy initiatives including Voices for Health Kids, a Robert Wood Johnson Foundation funding initiative to address childhood obesity. Mr. Schoeberl also leads the Association’s health care systems and clinical quality improvement initiatives, including the AHA’s award-winning flagship Get with the Guidelines program to improve in-hospital cardiovascular and stroke care, Mission:Lifeline targeting pre-hospital systems of care, and collaborative efforts with the Joint Commission and American College of Cardiology to provide disease-based certification programs to identify centers of excellent in cardiovascular and stroke care.

Mark is the member of the Public Affairs Council board, immediate past chair of the Campaign to End Obesity (Washington, DC), past chair of the National Forum to Prevent Heart Disease and Stroke (Atlanta), and served as a consumer representative for the National Association of Insurance Commissioners.

Prior to joining the AHA in 2002, Schoeberl was deputy director and chief of staff at the Iowa Department of Public Health.

Schoeberl, an Iowa native who now resides in Plano, Texas, received a Bachelor’s of Arts in Political Science from Simpson College (Indianola, Iowa) and a Master’s of Public Administration from Iowa State University.

Roxanne Schwans, MBA, is Vice President, Managed Care Market Access, HUB and Specialty Pharmacy for Horizon Pharma. She is responsible for Managed Care, PBM, HUB and specialty contracts for orphan, commercial and specialty drugs as well as their distribution.

During Roxanne’s 24 years of innovative leadership, she has consistently exceeded forecast goals and increased profitability while showing an extraordinary level of creativity and strategic insight. Her high-level executive tenures at Walgreens, Amgen Biologics, Hospital Corporation of America, Sanofi-Aventis and Johnson and Johnson were marked by the development of cadres of strong leaders, and she helped her teams develop valuable best practices while establishing measurable efficiencies.

An expert in strategic planning, marketing and sales, Roxanne has created and implemented numerous highly innovative marketing programs and ad campaigns along with large contracts, patient services and HUB consolidation projects. With her powerful communication skills, she connects as well with consumers as with C-Suite executives.

Winner of both the Payer Leadership Award and Excellence in Achievement Award, Roxanne’s expertise includes strategy, sales, legal, sales operations, HUB, specialty pharmacy, client services, government and national accounts. She has implemented astute marketing strategies for national managed care organizations, health systems, clinics, employers, brokers, government entities, HUB services, unions and PBMs.

A Six Sigma Green Belt, Roxanne is an executive board member of the ADA of South Dakota and the Pennsylvania Bio Executive Team. She holds an MBA, a Health Services Administration BS degree, and is a board certified radiologic technologist.

Kesslyn Smith is an experienced leader in the building of innovative, patient-centric reimbursement and patient support programs. She has served patients across a broad range of disease states at Sanofi and its predecessor companies, at Otsuka, and more recently at Sandoz Biopharmaceuticals where she designed, developed and launched a comprehensive reimbursement support program for the first Biosimilar product in the U.S.

Kesslyn initially made her mark in Oncology where she was responsible for strategic oversight and management of initiatives in oncology patient assistance, national patient advocacy programs, and support programs for the underinsured, including co-pay assistance. She has also held positions in oncology clinical operations and global marketing.

Kesslyn is a respected and admired advocate in the patient access community, where she has served on several strategic advisory committees. In addition, she has chaired large industry events and is a key industry speaker on topics such as healthcare reform, affordability, specialty distribution and an array of other topics related to supporting patients’ needs.

Kesslyn also is the recipient of several industry awards including Patient Advocate Foundation’s “Humanitarian Advocacy Award”, and in 2013 she was the inaugural recipient of AmerisourceBergen “Commitment to Patient Care” Award, honoring one individual who has spent their career advocating for patient access and outcomes and has been able to achieve results.

Stephen currently serves as Director, Specialty Injectable Marketing and Market Access functions within the Pfizer Injectables business unit, a $1.1 billion portfolio supplier of sterile injectables and surgical products. In this role, he provides leadership in the establishment and maintenance of product value propositions inclusive of commercialization, pricing, distribution, access, reimbursement, patient services, and dispensing of Specialty Products.

Stephen brings close to 26 years of managed care and marketing experience largely in the US. In his prior position as Associate Director of Brand Maximization and Established Medicines at Novartis Pharmaceuticals, he led brand and portfolio peri-LOE teams on initiatives to improve product access, reimbursement, patient affordability, and emerging customer strategy across the portfolio of cardiovascular, oncology, immunology, anti-infective, inflammatory, neuroscience, and pipeline assets across the product life cycle. He also served as market access, distribution, and pricing lead for ILARIS, where he developed customized distribution strategies, market access plans, and reimbursement programs.

Prior to Novartis, Stephen has served in a number of cross-functional roles with Pharmacia/Upjohn, Johnson & Johnson, and Bristol Myers Squibb leading the generation of optimal access and reimbursement for products across multiple managed care accounts. These include GPOs, IDNs, ACOs, PBMs, SPPs, Retail, Wholesalers, Insurers, VA/DoD and other national/regional customers across all channels such as Commercial, Medicare Part D/B, Managed Medicaid and ACA Exchanges. In these positions, he has developed a deep knowledge and understanding of the clinical, economic, and business model dynamics driving decision making and product coverage by payers.

Stephen’s managed care, marketing, pharmaceutical launch, and lifecycle management expertise in US product commercialization also spans biologics, small molecules, devices, biosimilars, and generics across multiple therapeutic classes including rare diseases.

Stephen holds a B.S. in Biology from Wright State University and an M.B.A. from Franklin University, as well as attending executive leadership programs in pharmaceuticals & leadership at Harvard School of Business.

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.

Dr. Tang is the Senior Director and Head of Growth Markets, Global Health Economics and Outcomes Research (GHEOR) at Teva Pharmaceutical, responsible for health outcomes research in developing countries and Asia region. Dr. Tang has established the newly created Growth Markets Market Access and HEOR team within Teva.

Previous, Dr. Tang was a Senior Director of Health Outcomes Research at Pfizer Emerging Markets supporting Asia region. His responsibilities includes developing and implementing research strategies in clinical development (specialized in health economics assessment and patient reported outcomes, product value dossiers), and post market products (real world and large database creation and analysis). Dr. Tang is specialized in therapeutic areas of oncology, hematology, and immunology (biologics), and women’s health.

Prior to Pfizer, Dr. Tang was the director of Health Economics and Clinical Outcomes Research in Johnson & Johnson and GlaxoSmithKline, where he was responsible for health outcomes research in biologics and oncology.

He is also an adjuvant professor of China Fudan University, adjuvant faculty of Zhejiang University Medical School, and Scholar of School of Population Health, Thomas Jefferson University. Meanwhile, Dr. Tang is the current Chair of the Health Technology (Industry) Committee, Asia Consortium of the International Society of Pharmacoeconomics and Outcomes Research (ISPOR).

Dr. Tang’s training includes a medical degree in Preventive Medicine, PhD in Health Services Research, and MPH in Health Planning and International Health.

He has over 20 years’ experiences in medicine, public health, and health economics and outcomes research. He has published more than 30 manuscripts in peer review journals, 100+ abstracts and numerous speeches and presentations in major scientific congresses including ISPOR. He is knowledgeable in the development of Health Technology Assessment around the world. In addition, he served at Scientific Committees of International Health Economics Association (iHEA), Society for Medical Decision Making (SMDM), and a Peer Reviewer of America Journal of Managed Care.

Stella K. Vnook is a Head of Access Services and Patient Support at Jazz Pharmaceuticals. Responsible for leading two critical components of the Market Access function at Jazz: Patient Services and the Field Access Managers (focused on Hematology/ Oncology, Sleep/ Narcolepsy, Pain Franchises). With her leadership, Jazz team will optimize patient services program’s design and delivery with an evidence-based approach to optimize patient access.

From 2014-2017 Stella was a Head of Managed Markets at Purdue Pharma, where she successfully re-shaped Market Access Division; infusing a new payer strategy and contracting analytics around profitable access. Her scope of responsibilities included Commercial, Pharmacy, Government and Institutional channels for Purdue’s Sleep, Pain, OIC and OTC Franchises. At Blackstone Private Entity, Catalent, Stella accelerated revenue growth and helped the company file an IPO in early 2014. Heading up the Global Marketing and Strategy for Softgel Technology (B2B), her teams developed and implemented highly successful marketing programs to launch 9 products, build 2 Joint Ventures and led numerous acquisitions in LATAM, Asia-Pacific and EU to further growth Rx and Consumer brands for Catalent. At Merck, she led the new commercial strategy efforts as a Director of US Strategy Office, focusing on customer centricity, integration of Schering Plough and other critical M&A; activities. As part of Merck, and Schering-Plough Joint Venture, she formed new managed markets organization, launched multiple brands, re-engineered sales structures to fit the needs of JV which led to immediate success in gaining profitable access, drive product launch efficiency and create patient and provider awareness of product benefits.

Stella holds a B.A. in Biology & Anthropology, a Pharmacy Degree from Temple University (PA License) and M.B.A. from LaSalle University. She is certified in Six Sigma (Green Belt), Lean Sigma and Organizational Change Management.

Tom Wallace is a national board member of the Cancer Support Community as well as advocate and thought leader for alliance building functions and strategies in health care. He previously led Eli Lilly and Company’s global advocacy function. Tom has created industry leading efforts to build relationships, integrate advocate insights to improve clinical drug development, and find common ground with health care stakeholders on public policy and plans to solve commercial challenges and opportunities. He believes the foundation for partnering is grounded on the needs and priorities of patients and their support network. Tom was also an early contributor to several initiatives related to transparency in health care and global health programs.

Other experiences include government service, volunteerism, and chairmanship of the PhRMA Alliance Section from 2006-08 when the Part D drug benefit was created. Tom was elected to the National Health Council board, serving a full term and on the executive committee; and, selected to serve on the American Osteopathic Foundation Board in 2017. He enjoys amateur gardening and triathlons.

Marla Wexler is 35 years old, was born with a complex congenital heart defect, and had 4 open-heart surgeries by the time she was 6. She went from pediatric cardiac ICU patient to pediatric cardiac ICU nurse until being diagnosed with systemic lupus erythematous (lupus). Due to complications from the disease, she was forced to put her nursing career on hold. Since 2008, Marla has been diagnosed with lupus and multiple rare autoimmune diseases, cervical cancer, and lobular carcinoma in situ. She’s the creator and author of the blog Luck Fupus (www.luckfupus.com) which she writes about the day-to-day and long-term struggles of living with multiple chronic illnesses. She’s known for her humorous, keep-it-real style of writing. Her blog was used as a platform to help her become a patient leader and influencer, and Marla now travels the country attending healthcare conferences, speaking publicly sharing her story, educating and advocating for patients across the globe.

Tonya Winders. MBA is currently the President and Chief Executive Officer of Allergy & Asthma Network, the leading patient advocacy organization dedicated to ending needless death and suffering due to asthma, allergies and related conditions.

Tonya has over 17 years experience in leadership roles within the allergy and asthma industry. From sales and marketing leadership to managed markets access, she has worked tirelessly to ensure patients have access to effective diagnostic and treatment tools.

Tonya serves on several expert panels including NAEPP and NIAID Immunotherapy Utilization. Furthermore, she is on the board of directors of Not One More Life, American Respiratory Care Foundation and is the current president of the Global Asthma & Allergy Patient Platform.

Personally, Tonya is the mother of five children, four of whom have asthma and/or allergies, ranging in age from 12-18 years old. She is a fierce patient advocate who overcame cancer twelve years ago. She now enjoys spending time with her husband of twenty years Brian Winders and cheering on her children in various sports.