Archives: Speakers

Sarah is a clinical research professional with over 25 years of international experience spanning the medical device, pharmaceutical, biotech, and CRO sectors. Her background includes a strong focus on leadership in clinical operations, site engagement, and patient recruitment strategies across diverse therapeutic areas including oncology, infectious diseases, immunology, and vaccines.

Sarah has recently joined Autolus as Director of Clinical Site Engagement, where she will be supporting the planning and execution of site engagement strategies to drive clinical trial success. Prior to this, she served as Regional Director for Clinical Site Management & Monitoring (EU/UK) at Moderna, and held global and regional leadership roles at Biogen, AbbVie, Novartis, Janssen-Cilag and IQVIA, driving patient-centric trial strategies and enhancing site performance.

Sarah lives in the Cotswolds with her three daughters and two dogs, and in her spare time, practices yoga as much as possible.

Strategic and globally experienced clinical operations leader with deep expertise in oncology drug development – spanning immuno-oncology, cell therapies, and both solid tumour and haematologic malignancies. I lead complex programs across Europe, North America, and AsiaPac, consistently translating clinical complexity into decisive, value-driven execution within biotech, pharmaceutical, and CRO environments.
I offer a global perspective, having led international teams, managed cross-border trials, and engaged directly with regulators including the FDA, EMA, MHRA, BfArM, MFDS, and others. Fully authorized to work in both the EU and the United States, I navigate regulatory diversity, cultural dynamics, and operational complexity with agility and precision.
As a people-first leader with high emotional intelligence, I build, coach, and retain high-performing global teams – driving accountability, strategic alignment, and performance while balancing innovation with compliance.
I deliver value by:

• Driving complex clinical trials from first-in-human through pivotal phases – including NK cell therapies – by eliminating operational barriers through data-driven decisions, strategic foresight, and implementation of scalable, inspection-ready systems.
• Leading global stakeholder alignment and regulatory execution, securing executive buy-in, managing multi-million-dollar budgets and vendor oversight, and contributing to successful submissions, inspections, and expedited pathways such as FDA Fast Track and RMAT designations.
• Elevating operational quality and compliance by strengthening systems, ensuring audit readiness, and embedding a culture of continuous improvement across functional teams.
Throughout every engagement, I bring clarity to complexity – transforming strategic vision into operational results that accelerate access to transformative therapies.

More than 20 years of experience in pharmaceutical companies, with strong research, pre-clinical, clinical safety and regulatory expertize in different therapeutic areas (neuroscience, metabolism and oncology). For 10 years, acted as project/ team leader and laboratory head, leading various pre-clinical therapeutic and diagnostic programs. Since 2007 held positions of increasing responsibility in the Product Development-Clinical Safety Community at Hoffmann-la Roche. Currently, Senior Group Director, managing a team of safety science professionals working on early clinical development oncology programs and in/out licensing opportunities. Gained recently additional FDA and EU regulatory filing experience, acting as regulatory project manager for the first Roche bispecific T-cell engaging therapy for a hematology malignancy indication.

Highly motivated to expand my professional career in a further global strategic and managerial role. Seeking opportunities at the edge of science, drug development, with a focus on strategic alliances with internal and external partners.

For over 20 years, I have worked as a leader in pharmaceutical companies. As a rather quiet, “introverted” type, I initially felt like an outsider in my leadership role. Today, I see many loud leaders who talk a lot and tell others what to do. The result is usually disappointing. 𝐈𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐥𝐥𝐢𝐠𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐩𝐞𝐨𝐩𝐥𝐞 𝐝𝐨 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐰𝐚𝐧𝐭 𝐭𝐨 𝐛𝐞 𝐝𝐢𝐫𝐞𝐜𝐭𝐞𝐝; 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐲 𝐰𝐚𝐧𝐭 𝐭𝐨 𝐡𝐚𝐯𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐢𝐫 𝐨𝐰𝐧 𝐚𝐡𝐚 𝐦𝐨𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐬.

I’m a Medical Doctor (MD) and public administration expert with over 20 years of experience dedicated to improving patient outcomes globally through clinical practice, health policy, advocacy, and healthcare management. My expertise spans cardiology, oncology, immunology, public health, and particularly rare diseases such as neurofibromatosis (NF). As Managing Director of the Children’s Tumor Foundation Europe, I lead initiatives focused on improving care, policy, and research collaboration for NF, driving meaningful partnerships across patient communities, clinical networks, EU institutions, and industry.

I’ve previously held senior roles in both government (Ministry of Health, Poland) and industry (Johnson & Johnson, Pfizer), where I successfully influenced health system reforms, including oncology, cardiology, family medicine, emergency medicine, health policy frameworks, coordinated clinical trials, and led high-level stakeholder engagement across the EMEA region. My experience includes developing national health programs, EU regulatory advocacy, clinical trials management, and patient-centered care strategies that have significantly enhanced access and care quality.

I am deeply committed to using policy, innovation, and collaboration to create tangible improvements for patients and healthcare systems. Let’s connect to discuss partnerships, advisory roles, or collaborative projects aimed at transforming healthcare for patients across Europe and beyond.

Lean management / line management
Main line management tasks: people development through trainings, coachings and sit-ins, performance assesments, resourcing
Main process improvment tasks: structured problem solving sessions, interface coordination, SOP reviews, assesments and updates, quality systems development
Main project delivery tasks: responsibility for project delivery within given timelines, budget and quality

Physician-scientist (MD) with over 20 years experience covering clinical care, early / translational & late drug development & executive leadership in global Oncology-Hematology & Immunology, regulatory submissions-approvals and commercialization. Special interest in development of targeted and novel therapies for severe diseases with unmet need. Maintains excellent network with the global medical & thought leader community as well as various specialists and consultants. Visionary, value-driven, passionate, sympathetic and efficient leader to bring along organizational transformation.

Dynamic and passionate biopharma leader with over 25 years of global expertise spanning clinical practice and R&D, and CROs. A problem-solver and strategist at heart, I thrive on tackling challenges. As a Managing Director and servant leader, I have driven operational excellence and transformed business critical processes. Through empathy and empowerment, I have led diverse international teams with less than 10% employee turnover.

In my current role, I saved over $2 million USD within six months through renegotiation and introduction of efficiencies, while doubling our satisfaction with vendors via introduction of governance structures and key performance, quality, and risk indicators.

Deeply committed to ethical and sustainable practices, I leverage data-driven decision-making to align vision, mission, and objectives with impactful outcomes. I bring energy, focus, and leadership to every initiative, ensuring excellence and meaningful contributions to healthcare.

A seasoned Clinical Research leader with 19 years of relevant experience in handling global clinical trials in multiple therapeutic areas- Oncology, Endocrinology, Immunology, Cardiology, Ophthalmology, Gastroenterology, Vaccines and Respiratory. Extensive experience in biosimilar development for more than 12 years