Shabbir Ahmed leads the Life Sciences Practice for LiquidHub. With over 15 years of deep industry experience, Shabbir is able to translate complex business processes into technology-oriented solutions. He has assisted in the launch of over 56 pharmaceutical brands through our LiquidAnalytics Specialty Data Platform.

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.

Kari Amundson is the Vice President of Specialty Pharmacy Development for Fairview Pharmacy Services. She oversees pharma, payer and provider sales and account management, as well as clinical and business development, for Fairview Specialty Pharmacy.

Sheila Arquette is a 1989 magna cum laude graduate of the State University of New York at Buffalo School of Pharmacy. Sheila has been employed at Independent Health for over 11 years, assuming the Director of Pharmacy Services in July 2014. She has extensive experience in retail and hospital pharmacy practice in addition to the managed care, PBM and specialty pharmacy space.

Prior to joining Independent Health I worked in almost every pharmacy practice setting. I have practiced as a community pharmacist in the capacity of staff pharmacist at large chain stores and as the supervising pharmacist for a supermarket chain and as a relief pharmacist for a local independent pharmacy; as a clinical pharmacist for several hospitals across New York State; as a staff pharmacist in long term care pharmacy as well as the LTC pharmacy consulting space.

In 2003 I joined Independent Health as a clinical review pharmacist in the prior authorization department. I was then promoted to the prior authorization department manager and then again to the assistant director of pharmacy for all clinical services. In my current role I am responsible for the oversight of the pharmacy prior authorization department, clinical decision accuracy and reliability, the timeliness of our decisions, regulatory compliance with all CMS, NCQA and DOH requirements, medical director education and support, drafting and maintaining all pharmacy drug specific and administrative policies, formulary design and the oversight of the ongoing maintenance of 10 drug formularies for the following lines of business: commercial, Medicare advantage, managed Medicaid, exchange and employer group self-funded pharmacy benefit designs. I am actively involved with Medicare compliance as it relates to both clinical policies and procedures and PBM related functions. I am directly responsible for all specialty pharmacy operations including medical and pharmacy benefit drug channel management, drug access, contracting, service metrics, reporting and the quantification of intervention related health outcomes. In 2010 Independent Health opened our own specialty pharmacy-RelianceRx. I was integrally involved in the implementation of RelianceRx since its inception and continue to oversee all operations and patient/provider services from the health plan perspective. I work closely with the specialty pharmacy management staff to ensure our collective strategic objectives are met. Independent Health is also its own PBM and I am responsible for providing the clinical support required for our PBM to effectively administer our formulary management edits and benefit designs. Independent Health offers a self- funded pharmacy benefit and self- funded medical TPA services. I serve as the clinical support to our self-funded benefit account management teams and employer group representatives. I am responsible for the network participating pharmacy audit process including all audit related functions and recovery. I manage our pharmacy network MAC list and serve as the clinical liaison to other departments of the health plan including medical resource management, special case review, benefit administration, and medical director staff. I am a non-voting member of our Pharmacy and Therapeutics Committee and clinical appeals team member. I am the pharmacy clinical representative for all adverse determination appeal related administrative matters and legal proceedings with Maximus and Medicare administrative law judge case review. I also provide the pharmacy clinical support for all managed Medicaid fair hearing proceedings. I am also responsible for providing 24/7 on-call pharmacy support to our members, providers and pharmacies. I currently have 5 direct reports and 20 indirect reports.

I am a current member of AMCP and NASP.

Eric Baim is the Vice President and Head of U.S. Compliance at Shire based in Lexington, MA. As a senior governance, risk and compliance executive, Eric has over 15 years of experience successfully leading, enabling and integrating governance, risk management, integrity and compliance responsibilities for pharmaceutical, medical device, biotech and other healthcare organizations. In this capacity, he has supported the growth and transformation of a number of patient services functions. Prior to joining Shire, Eric has various compliance roles at Novartis in New Jersey and, before that, practiced as an attorney in Washington, DC. Eric has law and public policy degrees from Duke University and a Masters in Psychology from the University of Cincinnati. He did is undergraduate work at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

32 years of experience in the pharmaceutical and biotech industry working with Bayer Biological, Medimmune, Amgen, Genzyme, Amylin, Biogen and Takeda. Responsible for development and implementation of strategies related to the distribution and operations for company products utilizing the appropriate distribution channels, which include wholesalers, retail chain, independent pharmacies, specialty distributors, specialty pharmacies GPO’s and IDN’s.. Also responsible for the strategic development of Specialty Distribution programs including but not limited to the execution and management of 3PL and PAP programs.

As Chief Medical Officer of BCBSNC, Dr. Caveney leads healthcare program design and strategy, medical management, care management, plan quality initiatives, provider network, and pharmacy for the plan’s 3.9 million members.

John is a tenured strategist in the pharmaceutical, pharmacy benefit management and health information management industries. For over 22 years, he has produced award winning results for Fortune 500 and entrepreneurial healthcare companies. John excels at transforming strategy to operational success. He has a strong track record of delivering solid approaches to capture innovative opportunities that maximize revenue, margin and profitability by ensuring project output aligns directly to strategic objectives and company/business unit vision. John has taken clients through projects that span the product lifecycle from FDA product submissions through new product launches and product extension strategies. Industry experience coupled with project management and a seamless integration of Blue Fin Group’s project approach and methodology are his value drivers most appealing to clients.

Brent Clough co-founded Trio Health in 2013. Trio Health provides MFRs with real-time insight on real-world patients along with auditing the performance of physicians and pharmacies. Prior to Trio Health, Brent founded IntrinsiQ Financial in 2004, which merged with IntrinsiQ Research in 2006. IntrinsiQ developed a robust Oncology platform to allow MFRs and hedge funds to understand usage by stage, line and disease that reconciled to reported drug revenue. Upon the merger, Brent was elected President and CEO of the company. The company grew from a start-up to 90 employees prior to being acquired by Amerisource Bergen.

Kelly began experiencing symptoms of autoimmune arthritis in 1984 (while in her teens), it wasn’t until 2001 that she was officially diagnosed with an autoimmune arthritis disease. Her first diagnosis was Sjo¨gren’s Syndrome. Eventually she was diagnosed with sero-negative RA, which was later changed to Polyarticular Spondlyoarthropathy. She also manages thyroid disease (resulting from Graves’ Disease), fibromyalgia, renin-deficient hypertension, and disseminated superficial actinic porokeratosis (DSAP) on a daily basis.

Kelly connected with other autoimmune arthritis patients via social media in 2008. She began volunteering with the “Buckle Me Up!” Movement, which evolved into the International Autoimmune Arthritis Movement (IAAM) beginning in 2009; she then became a co-founder of IFAA (International Foundation for Autoimmune Arthritis) in 2013. Kelly has represented the American College of Rheumatology on Capitol Hill as an Advocate for Arthritis multiple times and is active in the patient advocacy community. She is also the author of the blog As My Joints Turn: My autoimmune soap opera and also writes for CreakyJoints and The Mighty. Professionally, Kelly is a speech-language pathologist specializing in autism and augmentative/alternative communication.

Maryann has over 25 years of experience in the healthcare sector spanning retail/specialty pharmacy, biotechnology and management consulting. Maryann’s focus has been to provide strategic and tactical direction to the optimize channel strategy across a number of franchises leveraging the specialty pharmacy distribution channel in support of the desired patient service model.

She has held various leadership roles at Mallinckrodt, Biogen Idec, PriceWaterhouse Coopers, EMD Serono and CVS Health. She has provided thought leadership in the management of multi-sponsored REMS programs and led an innovative limited distribution track and trace program designed to mitigate diversion and counterfeiting of high target biologics. Maryann has successfully launched several biologics products in to the specialty space and continues to provide expertise focused on continuous model improvement.

Maryann practiced pharmacy at CVS Health in Massachusetts after graduating from Mass College of Pharmacy. She is a member of the editorial board of Specialty Pharmacy Times and a member of the National Association of Specialty Pharmacy. She is a frequent speaker at key trade conferences.

Maryann is a Registered Pharmacist in Massachusetts.

I was diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes in 1988 when I was 22 years old. I quickly discovered that regular exercise was a great way to help control my blood sugar. Soon after diagnosis I re-discovered cycling. I rode my first organized half century (50 miles) in 1990. Since then, I have ridden in many century and metric century rides over the past 25 years. I will be riding in my third Tour de Cure this year, and proud to be a Red Rider. I am looking forward to the interaction with other people that support our cause, and other Red Riders.

Paul is responsible for leading the Rx retail and wholesale channel national account team for branded Pfizer products in the US and Puerto Rico. Paul joined Pfizer in 1988 and has over 28 years of industry experience. During his tenure at Pfizer, Paul has held multiple and diverse positions. In addition to his current trade role, these include headquarters operations, payer account management, field sales management and field sales. Paul is a graduate of the University of Nebraska and is based in Denver Colorado

Adam J. Fein, Ph.D., is the president of Pembroke Consulting, Inc., a management advisory and business research firm based in Philadelphia. He also is the CEO of Pembroke’s Drug Channels Institute, a leading management educator for and about the pharmaceutical industry.

Dr. Fein is one of the country’s foremost experts on pharmaceutical economics and the drug distribution system. Top manufacturers call on Dr. Fein’s insights and judgment to create successful commercial strategies and make better strategic decisions in our evolving healthcare environment.

Dr. Fein’s popular and influential Drug Channels website (DrugChannels.net) is the go-to source for definitive and comprehensive industry analysis, delivered with a witty edge. He has published hundreds of academic and industry articles, and is regularly quoted in such national publications as The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, Fortune, Drug Benefit News, and many others.

Dr. Fein earned his doctoral degree from the Wharton School of Business at the University of Pennsylvania and a B.A., summa cum laude, from Brandeis University. He lives in Philadelphia with his wife and their two children.

Donna Gilbert is a Vice President of Strategic Accounts and responsible for increasing AmerisourceBergen’s partnership with biopharmaceutical manufacturers. Donna provides guidance on channel strategy and launch planning for branded and specialty products. She works closely with brand and trade teams to identify commercialization solutions from AmerisourceBergen companies. By incorporating solutions from global specialty logistics, consulting, patient support, distribution, GPO services and specialty pharmacy, Donna uses a highly customized approach to optimize access for downstream customers and the patients we serve. Previously, Donna served in leadership roles within Xcenda, AmerisourceBergen’s market access consulting group as well as Lash Group, AmerisourceBergen’s patient support services business. With more than 20 years of healthcare experience, including time as a writer and editor for business and healthcare publications, Donna is a highly sought after national speaker and has presented nationally on topics related to managed care contracting, healthcare reform, emerging payment models, reimbursement and practice management. Donna is a graduate of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill with a BA in Journalism.

Patricia J. Goldsmith joined CancerCare in 2014 as Chief Executive Officer, overseeing the vision and direction of the organization. Ms. Goldsmith brings more than 20 years of nonprofit management and strategic planning experience to the role, and has a proven track record of success in hospital and physician academic organizations, as well as nongovernmental health care organizations.

She previously served as Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer at the National Comprehensive Cancer Network (NCCN). In this role, Ms. Goldsmith was responsible for the overall operations of NCCN. She reported directly to the Chief Executive Officer and provided oversight of the functions of NCCN Oncology Outcomes Database, NCCN Oncology Research Program, Finance, U.S. & Global Business Development, Marketing and Communications, Public Affairs, Professional Publications, Best Practices, Analytics, Research & Consulting, Conferences and Meeting Planning, Media Programs, Continuing Medical Education and Grants and Information Technology. In addition, she was responsible for public policy initiatives at the Federal level and national initiatives related to payors and employers including the education related to these constituencies. Ms. Goldsmith was also responsible for the NCCN Foundation, established as the philanthropic affiliate of NCCN to embrace the NCCN mission of improving the quality and effectiveness of care provided to patients with cancer. Ms. Goldsmith formerly served as Vice President for Institutional Development, Public Affairs and Marketing at the Moffitt Cancer Center in Tampa, Florida – an NCCN Member Institution. There she oversaw the Moffitt Cancer Center's Foundation, Public Relations, Marketing, and Business Development functions in addition to fundraising initiatives. Before joining Moffitt, she developed and directed all managed care activities for the University of South Florida College of Medicine.

A frequent speaker at national meetings and symposia, Ms. Goldsmith was chosen by U.S. Representative Bill McCollum (R-Fl.) in 2003 to join a panel of 100 thought leaders representing every stakeholder interest in health care. This unique effort focused on building consensus about what structural changes could be made in our nation's health care delivery system to assure quality health care for future generations. Recently, Ms. Goldsmith participated as a faculty panel member at Bristol-Myers Squibb’s 2015 Market Access Summit focusing on the patient experience from diagnosis, through treatment, and beyond, and at the Fifth Annual Association for Value Based Cancer Care (AVBCC) Conference where her session focused on patient engagement and patient assistance. Prior to these conferences, Ms. Goldsmith participated as a speaker at the 16th Annual Patient Assistance & Access Programs (PAP) Meeting, her session entitled, “Cross-Functional Strategies for Advocacy Relationship Development,” and as a panel participant at the Turning the Tide Against Cancer Through Sustained Medical Innovation Conference, her session entitled, “Addressing the Value and Cost of Cancer Care.”

Ms. Goldsmith has studied at the Pennsylvania State University, the University of Missouri Bloch School of Business and the Harvard School of Public Health. She was a winner of the 1999 Distinguished Women in Business Award sponsored by the Business Journal of Tampa Bay and also was named the 1999 Leukemia Society Woman of the Year, an award based on her philanthropic efforts on behalf of the Leukemia Society.

Christopher Grant is the Executive Director for National Patient Services with Quest Diagnostics. In his role, he oversees all clinical patient facing services that Quest provides. Most recently, he has developed retail channels through exclusive partnerships with Albertsons grocery stores and WalMart to provide in-store Quest clinics. Prior to joining Quest Diagnostics, he served as the Vice President for Patient Services at Johns Hopkins Hospital for their global business. Chris spent almost 20 years with Kaiser Permanente developing patient-facing solutions in their hospitals, medical group and insurance organizations nationwide. Chris is based in Baltimore, Maryland.

Salvador Grausso is Vice President U.S. Patient Access for the Endo Branded Pharmaceutical Business leading a team responsible to ensure patient access to our medicines and building the market access capability.

Sal has 20 years of experience in the Pharmaceutical Industry building up market access and commercial expertise in both the domestic and international arenas. He came to Endo from Celgene where he led Market Access for the Inflammation and Immunology division. Prior he was with Merck where he Led Global Pricing and helped build the international Market Access capability.

Sal has a masters degree in Accounting from Farleigh Dickinson University and is presently pursuing his doctorate degree in Health Technology Assessment (HTA) at the University for Health Sciences, Medical Informatics and Technology (UMIT) in Hall in Tirol, Austria.

A pharma professional with over 15 years of hands on experience and leadership, Ms. Greenberg has worked in multiple drug development domains, from bench research to cutting edge technology and specialized informatics and information management. Most recently, she architected the specialty data aggregation and analytics strategy for two oral oncolytic product launches and has managed the operations team for commercial systems and specialty analytics for a rapidly expanding product portfolio.

Jon Haas is the Director, Market Access and Channel Management for the Theratechnologies Market Access Team, where he is responsible for market access and channel management. Previously, Jon was with Asembia, LLC. where he was the Senior Director, Trade Relations. In his previous role, he developed HUB support services, commercialization strategies and specialty pharmacy & distribution network solutions to manufacturing partners. Jon has been in the pharmaceutical industry for over 32 years and is well versed in market and patient access solutions, specialty pharmacy/distribution and patient/provider support programs. Jon has previously developed and lead market access and payer focused initiatives for specialty pharmaceutical manufacturers, service providers and consultants with such companies as Palio (inVentiv Health), AmerisourceBergen, McKesson, Serono and Abbott Laboratories.

Tara has been a nurse for over 20 years with experience at the bedside and in the pharmaceutical industry. While in the clinical setting, she specialized in caring for Multiple Sclerosis and hospice patients. She made the transition to the pharma in 1997 and has spent the bulk of that time in Patient Services.

In her current role, Tara has responsibility for overseeing the patient and provider experience for Regeneron’s new dermatology product. Tara joined Regeneron in February of 2016. Prior to that she worked for Infinity Pharmaceuticals and Novartis where she spent several years in increasing roles of responsibility and won multiple awards. Prior to joining Novartis, Tara held roles across various healthcare and pharmaceutical organizations in the areas of Quality Assurance, Training, Patient Services, and Case Management.

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.

John Hudak is a Senior Fellow in Governance Studies and Deputy Director of the Center for Effective Public Management at Brookings. He writes extensively on the American presidency, public administration, campaigns and elections, legislative-executive relations and drug policy. He is the author of the new book "Marijuana: A Short History." John holds a Ph.D. in political science from Vanderbilt University.

Marie E. Lamont serves as President of Patient Services at Dohmen Life Science Services. She provides leadership, vision, direction, coordination and management for a broad range of areas, including program design and case management, patient onboarding, dispensing and delivery, patient engagement and advocacy, and product reimbursement.

Prior to joining DLSS in 2016, Marie worked for more than 20 years at Sanofi Genzyme, a specialty care global business unit of Sanofi, focused on rare diseases, multiple sclerosis, immunology and oncology. She held several leadership roles within the company, including Global Head Business Strategy, Commercial Operations and Humanitarian Programs for Rare Disease; Vice President of Finance and Accounting, Transition and Integration; and Vice President of International Finance and Operations.

Marie earned a bachelor’s degree in business from Saint Michael’s College in Vermont.

Natasha is an insightful, natural leader that leverages management consulting, project management, and corporate development expertise to develop and implement business transformation strategies for Pharmaceutical and Biotechnology clients. Skilled in negotiating and communicating complex concepts to all stakeholders, Natasha drives business transformation through active partnership which creates a clear and aligned strategic vision, and then oversees tactical execution necessary to meet strategic goals. She draws upon expertise in Healthcare, Market Access, Program Management, Systems Implementation, Data Analytics, Organizational Change Management, and more to serve as a trusted Advisor to help organizations scale and adapt to fluid market dynamics. Natasha is currently a Director at Covance, where she works with some of the largest global Pharmaceutical companies to help launch new products and navigate the complex access marketplace, with a focus on products dispensed by Specialty Pharmacies in competitive markets.

Michael Mittelman is currently the Patient Editor at The BMJ and a Co-Founder and VP of Patient Advocacy and Partnerships of the American Living Organ Donor Fund, a patient rights group focused on helping living organ donors in their quest to become a donor. He is the former CEO and Co-Founder of PHmHealth, a digital health company focused on post-acute care and compliance. His experience as a patient spans over 3 decades. He is a 3-time kidney transplant recipient with other chronic conditions. Michael was invited to testify/advocate before the FDA and serves as PCORI (Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute) patient representative. Additionally, he serves on the steering committee of a PCORI-Funded initiative. He has also overseen the mobile app development taskforce and the data governance taskforce for the same PCORI-funded initiative, the NephCure Kidney Network. Michael is a tireless, independent patient advocate and a healthcare strategist. He strongly believes that patients should play integral roles in healthcare companies and government agencies.

Michael holds an MBA in Healthcare Management from the Fox School of Business at Temple University. He also has a BA in Biological Basis of Behavior from the University of Pennsylvania. He is a published author, with his latest piece in the American Journal of Transplantation.

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.

Rob joined Express Scripts in 2005 and is currently the V.P., Business Development Pharma and Biotech. Rob has extensive knowledge of the PBM, Specialty Pharmacy, Specialty Distribution, and Patient Access Services (REMS, PAP, Reimbursement, Nursing Services). He is a subject matter expert in the development and enhancement of the Specialty Pharmacy and Specialty Distribution channels for new and existing specialty products. Rob has responsibility for business development for pharmaceutical and biotech client’s strategies in order to successfully contract and maximize distribution channel strategies. This involves providing a single source solution for all patient access, specialty pharmacy, and specialty distribution channel needs.

Rob holds an M.B.A. from the Crummer Graduate School of Business at Rollins College and a B.A. in Biology from Indiana University.

Ms. Pigg is a forward thinking health care executive who has diverse experience with a broad array of health care organizations and products including commercial, Medicare and Medicaid lines of business. In her role as SVP/Chief Pharmacy Officer for Gateway, Cynthia combines her expertise in strategic planning with tactical practices to manage the pharmacy department’s financial performance, cost management and containment, policies and quality improvement, while maintaining high levels of member satisfaction. As the senior leader in Pharmacy, she collaborates with medical management teams to develop programs that engage members and enhance “best-in-class” care management, while managing and improving Gateway’s pharmacy expenses across all business lines.

Previously, Ms. Pigg served as Senior Vice President of Pharmacy for Magellan Health, Inc., where she was responsible for strategic leadership, product innovation, performance improvement, sales and marketing support, customer satisfaction and quality. She has served as CEO of the Foundation for Managed Care Pharmacy and was a Vice President at Cigna Healthcare focusing on Trade Relations, Customer Service and Medical Cost Management.

Ms. Pigg holds an Masters in Health Administration from the Medical College of Virginia/Virginia Commonwealth University and B.S. degrees in Pharmacy and Medical Technology, as well as numerous awards and honors from national and state pharmacy associations. She is also a Fellow of the Academy of Managed Care Pharmacy.

Throughout his healthcare career, John’s mission has been to define and build unique programs that are recognized as “best in class” for patient experience and outcomes. With extensive experience from both the pharmaceutical manufacture and within a large integrated health system, John embraces the opportunity to connect specialty patients and their providers to manufactures, payers, plan sponsors, and others, to create a patient-centric, clinical care team model that produces superior, demonstrable results in patient care.

John is a proud graduate of the University of Georgia, receiving his Master’s in Business Administration and Marketing from the University of South Carolina.

James Romano serves as the Director of Government Relations and Advocacy for Patient Services Incorporated (PSI). PSI is a national nonprofit patient assistance organization that assists families with rare diseases and chronic illnesses access needed treatments and therapies through health insurance premium assistance and cost sharing assistance. Since 2005, James has worked with PSI President, Dr. Dana Kuhn, to promote access to care for patients with rare, chronic and catastrophic illnesses.

James began his life in advocacy with the Bleeding Disorders Community which expanded to the rare disease community. James understands the importance of access to care, because of having three uncles and two cousins with hemophilia. In 1995, James began his career by advocating for the Ricky Ray Hemophilia Relief Fund Act when he was 19 years old. James worked on Capitol Hill for a Member of Congress for 4 years specializing in health care issues. James then transitioned to health care lobbying firm where he assisted in representing patient advocacy groups. Since 2014, James has been a recognized leader in the fight to fix Third Party Premium Assistance Rule at CMS.

James holds degrees from Marymount University, George Mason University and an MBA from the University of Mary Washington. James currently resides in Fredericksburg, Virginia with his wife Carolee and daughters Rachael, Erica and Ashley—who he is training to be the fifth generation to advocate for the Hemophilia and Rare Disease Communities.

A pharma professional with over 10 years of commercial oncology experience. Currently leads the trade and distribution function at Takeda Oncology. Solid background in trade relations and accounts management concentrating in specialty pharmacy and specialty distribution. Most recently part of two oral oncolytic launches leading the trade strategy and implementation.

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.

Ramesh Srinivasan is Vice President of Specialty Products and Biosimilars for the U.S. Pharmaceutical business at McKesson Corporation. He works with pharmaceutical manufacturers to design optimal channel strategies and provide tailored distribution solutions that drive commercial success. Prior to his current role, he was Vice President, Corporate Strategy and Business Development, where he helped develop McKesson’s enterprise-level strategy for retail pharmacies, advanced analytics, specialty and biosimilars. Before joining McKesson in 2013, Ramesh was Associate Principal with McKinsey & Company, where he served as a strategy consultant for companies across the healthcare continuum, including biopharma manufacturers, specialty distributors, providers and healthcare technology vendors. Prior to McKinsey, Ramesh was a Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the NSF Laboratory for Molecular Sciences at the California Institute of Technology. Ramesh holds PhD and MS degrees from the California Institute of Technology and an undergraduate degree from the University of Mumbai (India), all in chemical engineering.

Ray Tancredi is divisional vice president, Specialty Pharmacy Development Brand Rx/Vaccine Purchasing, at Walgreens, based in Deerfield, Illinois Tancredi oversees a team responsible for all specialty pharmacy trade functions including Specialty Pharmacy product access, including limited distribution and relationships, managing manufacturer hub services and referrals, contract negotiation, implementation and compliance, pharma programs and services, data analysis and reporting, RFP support and coordinating clinical, patient services, new drug in-services, and education. Additionally, he oversees management of strategic manufacturer accounts in an effort of maximize contracts and provide exceptional customer service. Tancredi also oversees the team responsible for brand prescription drug launches and vaccine procurement including flu vaccine, GPO relationships, and specialty pharmacy distributors.

EDUCATION: Tancredi earned his Bachelor of Science in Pharmacy from Temple University School of Pharmacy (1983) and is a registered pharmacist in PA and FL. He also holds a Master of Business Administration in Management from Eastern University (2001).

PROFESSIONAL MEMBERSHIPS: He is president of the Specialty Pharmacy Certification Board (SPCB) and is a Certified Specialty Pharmacist (CSP Certificate 032).

Donna Trane is responsible for all aspects of business development including sales, contracting, and strategic growth initiatives. She continually uses her knowledge of patient access, experience with product launches, and analytical skills to strengthen client relationships. She is a subject matter expert in the development, enhancement, and integration of specialty pharmacy and specialty distribution services for new and existing products including patient access, adherence and REMS programs.

Donna joined our organization in 1995 and since then, she has been instrumental in the growth of several divisions. Donna has extensive knowledge of the PBM, specialty pharmacy, and specialty distribution services. She has experience in sales and marketing in the pharmaceutical and healthcare industry.

Donna was previously a national sales manager for a major pharmaceutical company. She has received numerous awards and served on multiple advisory boards for specialty pharmacy and specialty distribution. She has expertise in the areas of oncology, hepatitis C, rheumatoid arthritis, multiple sclerosis, PAH, and multiple orphan and ultra-orphan diseases.

Donna earned a Bachelor of Arts in business administration with a minor in health sciences from the University of Central Florida.

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.

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.

Mr. Zweigenhaft is key industry thought leader and accomplished executive in the specialty-biotech pharmaceutical and oncology cancer care ecosystems.

Today Mr. Zweigenhaft is President of the National Association of Specialty Pharmacy, representing the industry on National Policy, Specialty Pharmacy Education and Government Relations based in Washington, DC. Mr. Zweigenhaft is also the Managing Partner of BioPharma Partners, LLC. a New York based Private Equity Company focused on incubating new healthcare delivery services, specialty bio-pharmaceuticals, genomics, precision medicine and digital health technologies into healthcare ecosystems. Mr. Zweigenhaft guidance has supported several key drug launch market strategies with industry leaders the likes of Genzyme, Pharmacyclics, Gilead, Janssen, Pfizer, Alexion, Bayer, GSK, Seattle Genetics, Monogram Science, Roche, Genentech, CureVax and Genomic Health.

Additionally Mr. Zweigenhaft is consultant and senior advisor to the shareholder group of Cancer Treatment Centers of America. In his role with the shareholders he is responsible for incubating growth and enterprise wide opportunities in the cancer care marketplace.

Previously Mr. Zweigenhaft held the office of CEO and Vice Chairman of Onco360 a national oncology pharmacy care management provider with corporate offices in New York City. The Onco360 model provided the full continuum of oncology pharmacy service solutions to over 3,000 community based Hematologists and Oncologists, Hospital Based Cancer Centers of Excellence in coordination with managed care providers insuring over 45 million people. Under Burt’s vision and leadership Onco360 created, developed and implemented the industry best practice oncology pharmacy model by incorporating the strengths of Board Certified Oncology Pharmacists and Oncology Patient Advocates to support the prospective and concurrent patient centered oncology medical home model. In 2014 PharMerica acquired controlling interest in Onco360 and relocated the company in 2015 to Louisville, KY.

Mr. Zweigenhaft previously served as Senior Vice President of Managed Care Sales and Marketing, Government Programs, Trade Relations and Business Development Strategies for Priority Healthcare Corporation, a publicly traded company in the specialty pharmacy sector with $2.3 billion in specialty drug revenues before being acquired by Express Scripts in 2005.

Prior to 2002, Mr. Zweigenhaft spent several years serving as a specialty pharmacy consultant to Medco, CuraScript, BioScrip and several Regional National Blue Cross Blue Shield and National Managed Care Payer programs.

Mr. Zweigenhaft holds a Bachelor of Science in Management and Economics from the University of Buffalo School of Management, where he also serves on the Dean’s Advisory Committee and remains active with the University of Buffalo schools of Pharmacy and Medicine including the Center of Excellence for Bioinformatics and Health Sciences. Mr. Zweigenhaft is a member of AMCP (American Managed Care Pharmacy), HOPA (Hematology Oncology Pharmacists Association) and ASCO (American Society of Consulting Oncologists). Mr. Zweigenhaft also serves on the Editorial Boards of several industry publications and is Editor and Chief of the Journal for Value Based Cancer Care. Mr. Zweigenhaft is also Co-Chairman and Co-Founder of the AVBCC (Association for Value Based Cancer Care) and serves as a Board Member of and President of NASP (National Association of Specialty Pharmacy) in Washington, DC.

Philanthropically Mr. Zweigenhaft serves on the National Board of Swim Across America for Cancer; a NFP organization that has raised $90 million to date to support cancer research laboratories. In 2015 Mr. Zweigenhaft was honored to be the recipient of the CancerCare “Help and Hope Award”.