David Tsai

Life sciences is about pushing scientific boundaries to impact as many lives as possible. My work is grounded in one belief: we are all patients at the end of the day. The moment we forget this truth, we lose sight of our core purpose.

Because the patients we are fighting for aren’t strangers: they’re our family, loved ones, and ourselves.

My career is built on the foundations of clinical research, optimizing internal and external partnerships and relationships, all around pushing breakthrough therapies to reach the ones who need it most.

I started as a clinical research coordinator at UC Davis enrolling patients in hematology, oncology, and rare disease trials. Those patients are the unsung heroes — offering their time to offer hope to future patients — and they taught me that every decision in clinical development matters more than we realize.

Since then, I’ve built a deliberately non-traditional career path that’s bridged the clinical site, sponsor, and nearly all stages of drug development. I jump into extended roles where needed — clinops, program management, regulatory strategy, program team leadership — because that’s how you learn to solve any problem that comes up.

I specialize in rescuing stalled clinical trials — identifying what’s broken, creating and executing critical action plans, and getting programs back on track fast. More recently I’ve been focused on novel therapeutic modalities where no regulatory playbook exists and you’re building the plane while flying it.

As a speaker and advisor, I help others think about the problems that haven’t surfaced yet and creatively build solutions — but the work I’m most proud of is the personal 1:1 time spent coaching and helping people across academia, biotech, pharma, and even complete strangers who’ve become close friends.

Let’s remember, at the end of the day, we are all patients. So let’s do right by us.

David Firth

David is Product Director at Moneyhub, with 16 years’ experience in financial services product roles. His expertise spans open data and open finance, credit reference, payments, and more recently, AI. Over the past three years at Moneyhub, David has been instrumental in driving product innovation and strategic development, delivering positive outcomes for both end users and the wider industry.

 

Melissa Chapman

Melissa Chapman is a seasoned product and clinical technology leader at Endpoint Clinical, with more than two decades of experience shaping solutions that strengthen the execution of global clinical trials. Her work centers on designing intelligent, user‑centric systems that streamline study operations, elevate data quality, and support better decision-making across the trial lifecycle.

Melissa is particularly focused on translating emerging technologies—including practical, real‑world applications of AI—into tools that meaningfully enhance automation, site and sponsor workflows, and patient‑centric outcomes.

Recognized for her collaborative leadership style, she partners closely with cross‑functional teams to break down complex operational challenges and deliver scalable innovations. Her strategic approach and deep understanding of clinical development make her a trusted voice on how technology can drive measurable impact in modern trial delivery.

Sebastian Steinmüller

Sebastian is an accomplished and results-driven Logistics Professional, with +20 years’ experience gained within several leading multinational organizations in the logistics industry and an Executive MBA at the School of Management @ California Lutheran University.

From 2012 – 2016 he successfully developed the footprint of DHL Global Forwarding in the Eastern European region as part of the subregional management team. Afterwards Sebastian has been promoted to develop the global Reefer vertical of DHL and took the lead of the product innovation as well as business development in the life science & healthcare sector for DHL temperature-controlled ocean freight.

In 2022 Sebastian joined A.P. Moller Maersk, taking the position of Global Head of Pharma Product where Sebastian using his vast experience of the sector and ocean industry to develop and strengthen the pharma product of Maersk and supporting the overall Integrator strategy.

Rachel Connolly

Rachel Connolly serves as Sr. Director of Alliance Partnerships, driving the expansion of MarketScan’s evidence generation capabilities through strategic collaborations. She brings 15 years of experience as a product leader, partnering with organizations across the healthcare landscape to deliver meaningful solutions and real-world impact. She holds a BS from Iowa State University.

Rebeckah Gillingham

Rebeckah Gillingham is the Sales Director for Wealth, Northern Europe at LSEG, where she leads strategic growth and transformation across a diverse portfolio of top‑tier wealth clients. With deep experience in leveraging data, workflow intelligence, and advanced analytics to unlock commercial and client value, she plays a central role in shaping how wealth firms modernise decision‑making and scale more efficiently. Before stepping into her current leadership role, Rebeckah managed one of LSEG’s largest and most complex EMEA account portfolios, driving adoption of data and analytics solutions and spearheading multi‑year transformation strategies. She has led cross‑functional teams to deliver innovative, client‑centric platforms, including a digital onboarding risk solution that has since been expanded across multiple organisations. Known for her collaborative leadership and ability to translate data into action, Rebeckah brings a practical, forward‑looking perspective on how insights and analytics can reshape the future of wealth management.

Dag Øyvind Paulsen

Dag-Øyvind Paulsen is Head of Architecture at the Bank Norwegian branch of NOBA Bank Group. From his 19 years in Bank Norwegian, Dag-Øyvind has extensive experience in developing and connecting internal and external software systems and has worked closely with the key software vendors in the Nordic financial industry for many years.

For the past year he has been part of the small team that has built NOBA assistant which supports 700+ employees and two million customers getting answers to their questions related to Bank Norwegian, Nordax and Svensk Hypotekspension. Dag-Øyvind holds a MSc in Computer Science from Heriot-Watt University in Scotland.

 

Fredrik Hjortblad

  • Fredrik Hjortblad manages the AI Business Development and Analysis department for Customer Operations at NOBA Bank Group. Over the past six years at NOBA Bank and Nordax Bank, he has led projects focused on continuously improving the customer journey, driving development both internally and directly towards customers of the banks under the NOBA umbrella.

In the past year, he has served as the project leader of the small, team together with tech lead Dag Øyvind Paulsen that has built NOBA Assistant, which supports 700+ employees and two million customers getting answers to their questions related to Bank Norwegian, Nordax and Svensk Hypotekspension.