Archives: Speakers

Meleknur specializes in translating technical dairy capabilities into commercial clarity. By bridging market analysis and product innovation, she helps shape focus areas that turn consumer insights into relevant, scalable product solutions.

Lorraine Moran is a registered dietitian with deep clinical, medical nutrition and food industry expertise, recognised for advancing evidence‑based nutrition. She also holds leadership and governance roles across national and European dietetic and regulatory bodies, contributing to professional standards and quality frameworks. In her role as Senior Nutrition Manager at Tirlán, she guides the application of evidence‑based nutrition to product innovation, research and public health initiatives. Lorraine is committed to improve health outcomes and supports the translation of robust science into real‑world impact.

Jonathan Kornstein is Vice President of Rare Disease and Pediatrics at Caidya, where he leads teams delivering clinical trial services tailored to the unique challenges of rare disease and pediatric development. In his role, he oversees operational, clinical, and medical specialists to design and execute patient-centric studies, and provides strategic guidance to clinical management, commercial development, and business development functions.

He brings approximately three decades of experience in the pharmaceutical and clinical research organization industry. He has guided clinical strategies that balance operational rigor with patient needs, and he leads discussions and thought leadership on rare disease trial execution and patient-centric research approaches.

He holds a bachelor’s degree in biology from Hamilton College in Clinton, New York, and is based in Chapel Hill, North Carolina.

Braden Adam is a software engineer and entrepreneur with a passion for public health, systems thinking, and mission-driven innovation. His experience includes strategic advisory work at Deloitte and over six years of active investment analysis, sharpening his ability to assess risk, navigate uncertainty, and design solutions built for long-term impact. Currently, he is applying this mindset to one of the most tightly regulated and stagnant industries in the U.S., helping lead the introduction of a next-generation nicotine alternative. By assembling a diverse team of regulatory, scientific, and strategic experts, he is working to deliver a product that not only meets the highest standards of compliance and user experience, but also redefines harm reduction for both people and the planet.

Katherine Ilkhani is an Iranian-American entrepreneur and advocate for climate action, human rights, and public health innovation, evidenced by her previous leadership as Deputy Executive Director at Climate Cardinals, the world’s largest youth-led climate nonprofit, and as a member of the National Solidarity Group of Iran, a leading organization within the Iranian diaspora. Her experience also includes contributions to the launch of a digital fashion platform and her role as a youth advisor to Revolve. Currently, she is actively tackling the critical public health and environmental challenge of smoking-related deaths and illicit nicotine products by spearheading the U.S. entry of a revolutionary sustainable nicotine alternative, forging a strategic alliance with a leading Swedish harm reduction company and assembling a world-class regulatory powerhouse to ensure its swift and impactful entry.

Benjamin Apelberg, PhD is the Deputy Director for Regulatory Science in the Office of Science at FDA’s Center for Tobacco Products (CTP). In this role, he oversees scientific divisions responsible for managing the Office’s tobacco regulatory science research program, including the Population Assessment of Tobacco and Health (PATH) study and collaboration with CDC on the National Youth Tobacco Survey; serving as expert reviewers and technical project leads (TPLs) for the premarket tobacco product application (PMTA) and modified risk tobacco product application (MRTPA) pathways; and providing scientific expertise in the fields of the health sciences, medicine, pharmacology, epidemiology, social science, evaluation, and statistics to support the Center’s tobacco product regulatory efforts.