Archives: Speakers

John is a results-driven leader with a genuine passion for turning business strategies into reality through financial planning and analysis across various industries. He has a knack for financial modeling, budgeting, strategic planning, and variance analysis, which helps me tackle complex challenges and support data-driven decision-making.

Throughout his career, he’s crafted and executed innovative financial strategies, streamlined processes, and led cost-saving initiatives that have significantly boosted operational efficiency and performance. He’s managed multi-million-dollar budgets and steered investment strategies for complex project portfolios, making sure resources are used wisely to meet strategic goals.

He’s also committed to building and empowering high-performing teams. He’s spearheaded organizational transformations, enhanced the scalability of financial operations, and created talent acquisition strategies and leadership programs to support diversity and inclusion.

Sarah Mische, PhD is an experienced Clinical Affairs leader with a strong background in product development, regulatory affairs, and quality systems. Her strengths include building high functioning teams and critical infrastructure at large and small medical device and biotech companies to drive clinical development programs and successful interactions with regulatory agencies. Sarah’s work on novel therapies includes implantable neuromodulation systems, bioabsorbable polymers, and infectious diseases.

Douglas joined Retail Banker International in 2005. Since 2010, he has edited the title and also has editorial responsibility for sister publications, Electronic Payments International and Private Banker International. In addition, he chaired industry group The Digital Banking Club from 2013-2018

Fatima serves as the Vice President of Global Patient Affairs at Blueprint Medicines, a global, fully integrated biopharmaceutical company that invents life-changing medicines. We seek to alleviate human suffering by solving important medical problems in two core focus areas: allergy/inflammation and oncology/hematology.

In her role, Fatima leads transformative collaborations with external advocacy groups, empowering and educating those affected by systemic mastocytosis. She has led the launch of significant initiatives such as GRTY Health’s SM patient platform, MastoConnect (https://mastoconnect.com), and Colors of SM (https://www.colorsofsm.com/), in partnership with the advocacy community, and actively chairs the Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion (ED&I) patient committee, which looks to address the needs of marginalized and underrepresented communities.

With over two decades of experience in the biopharma sector, Fatima is a dedicated and passionate advocate for patients. Celebrated by PharmaVoice 100 as one of the most inspiring leaders in patient advocacy, her work focuses on amplifying patient voices and harnessing the collective power of individuals to make a positive impact. Fatima is committed to enhancing patient engagement in the development of transformative medicines, ensuring that the patient perspective is integral to every stage of the process.

She inspires her colleagues to foster a culture of purpose-driven advocacy, ensuring that patient welfare remains at the forefront of their mission. Beyond her professional role, Fatima is deeply involved in civic activities, continually dedicating herself to enhancing patient welfare and advocacy on a broader scale.

Stefano Ferrara is a Clinical Development Expert and Director of Clinical Science at BeiGene, specializing in oncology clinical development with a focus on innovative cancer treatments. With over 20 years of leadership in global oncology clinical trials, he has played key roles at Celgene Corp, Novartis Pharma, and Sanofi-Aventis, specializing in GI, Lung, GU, and Pediatric cancers. Stefano is passionate about increasing accessibility to cancer treatment globally. He holds a strong commitment to humanitarian efforts as a supporter of Save the Children. Stefano brings his expertise in both science and advocacy to his role on the advisory board

Frank Richard, MD, MBA is a seasoned medical doctor and has over 20 years of development experience in R&D. In his current role as VP Medical at Heidelberg Pharma AG, Germany, he is providing medical strategy and oversight for the preparation and conduct of phase I-III clinical studies using antibody-drug conjugates (ADCs). Additionally, he supports modelling &simulation activities to understand how to effectively use preclinical data from in vivo studies, mechanistic modeling, and bioanalysis to improve dose prediction and determine the optimal dose when introducing an ADC into clinical trials in various cancer indications.

Frank has been working in the past in Immune-Oncology, Immunology& Respiratory, Rare Hematology Diseases and Iron Metabolism across big pharma and biotech.

Frank holds a MD from Charité Medical University, Berlin, an MBA from University of Applied Sciences, Neu-Ulm, and is a board-certified Clinical Pharmacologist.

Additionally, he exerts an unique expertise and interest in Bayesian Statistics and machine learning in Pharma and Biotech.