Archives: Speakers

Robert Loll is the SVP of Business Development & Strategic Planning at Praxis, a full service patient recruitment & retention agency that specializes in optimizing study enrollment for research studies with award-winning creative and superior execution.  Designing and deploying effective patient recruitment campaign strategies since 2004, Robert’s clinical background includes 16+ years providing patient care for top collegiate, Olympic and disabled athletes around the world and working for outpatient rehabilitation companies including Baxter, Caremark and NovaCare.  Robert is an Advisory Board member for The Center for Information and Study on Clinical Research Participation (CISCRP), an independent non-profit organization dedicated to educating and informing the public and patients about clinical research.

Stacey Oppenheimer is in the Clinical Imaging group at Pfizer in Cambridge, MA, where she is the Head of Vendor Oversight and Sourcing for Pfizer’s clinical trials with imaging.  In this role, she specializes in alliance management, issue resolution, auditing and providing scientific guidance for clinical study teams.  Prior to this role, she was an imaging lab head at Pfizer in the Drug Metabolism and Medicinal Chemistry Departments. She has a PhD in Chemistry from Vanderbilt University and an MBA from Northeastern University.

Yolanda is the Vice-President of Clinical Operations at Accutar Biotechnology. She brings along 17 years of experience in Clinical Development, with focus on both Clinical Operations and Clinical Project Management. Her areas of expertise include strategic operations planning at the compound-level; first-in-human study planning & adaptive execution in therapeutic areas of oncology and ophthalmology. Leadership with cross-functional teams has included the development and implementation of governance and operational strategy, optimizing processes and building dynamic teams to exceed business objectives. Prior to joining Accutar, she held various positions at Bayer in the US and a number of countries within Asia. This attributes to her extensive knowledge of bridging-strategy between the two continents.

My deep passion for clinical development at the intersection of pharmacy and technology, coupled with my past experiences in community and inpatient pharmacy, entrepreneurship, and the pharmaceutical industry, has formed the foundation of my professional journey. I’m eager to learn, expand my network, and explore new avenues in this dynamic field.

Helen Chalk is a Clinical Development leader who has worked in Clinical and Program Management roles across the pharmaceutical, biotechnology and CRO sectors for over 25 years.  She has a breadth of global industry experience including oversight of Phase 1-4 clinical trials, medical affairs and global managed access programs in indications including oncology, autoimmune disorders, respiratory disorders, cardiovascular and infectious diseases.  Fueled by opportunities to build effective, cohesive teams and processes, Helen enjoys the challenges and daily risk management required to develop drugs and bring them to market.

Beyond work, Helen loves to travel with her family and spend time with her two dogs.  Helen relishes any opportunity to ride horses and to volunteer in a therapeutic riding program in Norfolk, MA.

Harry Barnett Harry is the co-founder and Executive Chairman of Lubris BioPharma, a clinical-stage biotech company developing a proprietary version of the novel, ubiquitous human protein, PRG4, for use in multiple indications.  Novartis owns rights to Lubris’ technology for ophthalmology. Harry’s two-decade life science career includes: (i) co-founding and executive management roles at three life science companies and two CROs; (ii) incubating, partnering and licensing successfully a wide array of pharmaceutical products and technologies including Pepcid Complete®, the OTC hearburn remedy sold by J&J, and; (iii) innovating multi-center, clinical trial processes using techniques that have been adopted as industry standard.  Prior to his transition to life science and biotech, Harry was a transactional business lawyer in private practice at DLA Piper in San Diego, and later at Faneuil Advisors, Inc., an investment advisory firm based in Boston where he served as General Counsel and Executive Vice President.