Archives: Speakers

Adam Kinsey is currently Associate Vice President and Regional Head of North America for Global Clinical Trial Operations (GCTO) at Merck Research Laboratories. He has over 25 years of clinical research experience, with the last 8 at Merck. He has been a key leader within GCTO, most recently serving as Executive Director, GCTO Clinical Sciences & Study Management (CSSM) and Therapeutic Area Section (TAS) Head: Melanoma, Hepatobiliary Cancers, and Innovative Strategies. Previously, Adam was Clinical Research Director (CRD) Oncology where he served as Director of country clinical operations activities in the United States for Merck’s oncology pipeline. Adam started his career as a CRA and has traversed through various roles in clinical operations of increasing responsibility and scope. He also has experience across a wide array of therapeutic areas and with companies of different sizes and operating models. Adam has a bachelor’s degree in biology from Rice University in Houston. He completed post-baccalaureate course work at Houston Baptist University and coursework toward a Master of Public Health (MPH) degree at the University of Texas School of Public Health in Houston.

Venkat Sethuraman is currently the Global Head of Biometrics and Data Sciences at Bristol Myers Squibb, where he is accountable for the biostatistics/quantitative support to R&D Global Development and Medical organization. In addition, Venkat leads the Innovation Pillar for the Global Drug Development.

Prior to BMS, Venkat was a partner at a management consulting firm, where he led the R&D clinical development and operations. While there, he worked closely with R&D leaders of top 10 pharma companies in driving data-driven clinical decision-making, leveraging advanced analytics and data science. Venkat has held various leadership roles at BMS, Novartis Oncology and GSK leading quantitative and biometrics organization. Venkat has diverse research interests and consulting experience in industry that includes clinical trials design, innovative trial models, data science, and most recently, digital efforts in clinical research.

Venkat received a PhD in statistics from Temple University and an MBA from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania. He currently serves on the Board of Association for Women in Science (AWIS) and has served on the board of the Biopharmaceutical Section of the American Statistical Association.

Dr. Ehrhardt is a biophysicist with a Ph.D. in human physiology. Throughout her career, she focused on driving biomedical research through efficient application of innovative technologies and strategies. She built and led successful teams in industry, including at Merck, where she headed a laboratory providing leading technologies for cell-based research from early discovery through manufacturing; and at BMS where Dr. Ehrhardt led and grew an international clinical assay team to robustly cover large scale registrational and translational clinical analysis generating clinical decision-driving data and mechanistic insights for immuno-oncology, cardiovascular, immunology, metabolic and rare disease studies. Before returning to Merck, Dr. Ehrhardt fulfilled one of her scientific aspirations at CHDI Foundation, designing and implementing successful clinical biomarker discovery and development strategies for Huntington’s disease. Currently, at Merck, Dr. Ehrhardt is providing strategic and technical leadership for the development and implementation of industry-leading and QC-friendly cell-based assays and models for potency determination that reflect the unique mechanisms of biologics products in clinical studies and beyond.

Ella Balasa is a patient advocate, consultant, and a person living with cystic fibrosis. She has committed her time to empowering patients and advancing healthcare strategies. She speaks publicly about the value of patient perspective and has a passion for distilling clinical information for patient communities. Through opportunities working with healthcare organizations on content strategy, writing, speaking, clinical trial development, and sharing the patient experience she aims to affect the healthcare landscape by raising awareness of rare diseases, promoting self-advocacy to patients, and valuable insights to organizations. More of her work and experiences can be found at www.ellabalasa.com.

Li Yan, M.D., Ph.D., Chief Medical Officer of Brii Biosciences, has the overall responsibility for clinical development, regulatory affairs, medical affairs, drug safety, IT and data sciences, quality assurance, and other related functions. As a founding member of the company, he is accountable for building the development team in US and China, strategizing portfolio, driving execution of clinical development programs and product registrations. He led the development, approval, and launch of first neutralizing antibody therapy against COVID-19 amubarvimab/romlusevimab in China. He is also responsible for communications with investors and successfully took the company IPO.

Prior to joining the company, Dr. Yan was Vice President and Head Unit Physician of GSK Oncology, where he oversaw global development of oncology assets focusing on immunotherapy, cancer epigenetics, and cell therapy. Prior to his tenure at GSK, he was Executive Director at Merck responsible for clinical development of oncology, respiratory and immunology, infectious diseases, and vaccines in emerging markets including the development of immunotherapy Keytruda (pembrolizumab) in China and other emerging markets countries. Dr. Yan started his industry career with Centocor, a Johnson & Johnson company, leading both discovery and clinical development of anti-cancer biologics.

Dr. Yan received his medical degree from Medical College of Peking University and a Ph.D. from the University of Kansas Medical Center. He completed his post-graduate training at Beijing Cancer Hospital, Peking University, and Boston Children’s Hospital, Harvard Medical School. He is an alumnus of the Harvard Business School enterprise executive program. Dr. Yan served adjunct professorships at Peking University and Yonsei University, and he is Managing Director of the US Chinese Anti-Cancer Association. He also serves in scientific committees of Chinese Anti-Cancer Association and Chinese Society for Clinical Oncology. He has published over 90 manuscripts and book chapters.

Adam joined Bristol Myers Squibb in 2016 and has held various roles in Oncology Clinical Protocol Operations, Oncology Clinical Development and Global Clinical Trial Strategy & Operations.  Adam is currently the Global Development Operations Therapeutic Area Head for Solid Tumor Oncology leading a team of Operation Portfolio Leads with Full Development.  Before joining BMS, Adam worked for several other sponsors (Wyeth, Merck) and CRO partners across all phases of development and multiple indications including Metabolism, cardiovascular, CNS and Oncology.   Having started his clinical career as a Clinical Nurse Assistant he built upon this experience at the patient bedside and started in industry with a role in data management but has spent the bulk of his time in clinical trial management (project and portfolio management).  Adam holds his Bachelor of Science in Biology and French and a Master of Business Administration.  Adam lives in Pennsylvania, with his wife, Marci, and two children, Vivienne and Oliver.  He is an avid morning runner and usually starts his day with a few miles run and the obligatory few cups of coffee.

Anita Mc Bain joined the Corporate Finance & Stewardship team in April 2018 and assumed the title of Head of Responsible Investment & ESG in September 2018. Anita provides ESG support across equities and fixed income working very closely with the equity and credit analysts and portfolio managers on deep-dive ESG research, thematic research and ESG engagement. Anita regularly speaks at conferences on topics such as climate risk, company ESG disclosure and sustainability topics including anti-microbial resistance, commodity driven deforestation and palm oil and single-use plastic. Before joining M&G, Anita spent six years as Director Sustainability & Corporate Engagement at an impact investment fund that was focused on mitigating climate change and delivering a societal and environmental impact alongside a financial return. Prior to that, Anita was a fixed income credit analyst for various sell-side and buy-side firms.