Archives: Speakers

Dr. Abdel-Meguid has extensive experience in drug discovery. He built and managed a number of successful departments and drug discovery programs. He founded Shifa Biomedical Corporation (Shifa), a company dedicated to the treatment of cardiovascular diseases. He also founded ProXyChem, a company focused on providing drug discovery solutions to the biotech and pharmaceutical sector. Prior to this, he was Chief Scientific Officer and Co-Founder of Suntory Pharmaceutical Research Laboratories (SPRL), a structure-based drug discovery company dedicated to the treatment of cardiovascular and immune disorders. Before the formation of SPRL, he was Worldwide Director of Structural Biology and Director of Macromolecular Sciences at SmithKline Beecham (SB), now Glaxo SmithKline (GSK). He also served as Director of several therapeutic programs. Prior to SB, he was head of Biophysical Sciences and Protein Engineering at Monsanto. He has a PhD in Physical Chemistry and MS and BS in Biochemistry.

Jonathan Byrne is an executive with extensive experience in a variety of roles within a number of complex regulated firms holding the position of CEO of Virgin Money Investments since 2021. Prior to taking up this role Jonathan was Business Distribution Director in the Business Division of Virgin Money UK having joined Virgin Money UK in 2017. Prior to this Jonathan held senior leadership roles in HSBC UK across personal, mortgages and wealth customer segments in both strategy formulation and channel execution roles. Jonathan worked with Bank of Ireland in Dublin from 2004 to 2013 and was a member of the Irish executive leadership team from 2012.

Dynamic leader in clinical operations with over 25 years of experience across various therapeutics areas.  After obtaining her master’s degree in microbiology and immunology from a Canadian university, she joined the pharmaceutical industry where she held positions of increasing responsibility, most recently leading the clinical operations team at a small biotech company.  She has worked on programs in all phases of clinical development, in small and large organizations, and is recognized for building highly successful teams.  Her focus is providing guidance and removing obstacles to enable the team to execute efficiently while maintaining a strong sense of teamwork and enthusiasm.  She is passionate about helping others grow and develop and places a high priority on working with the members of her team to achieve their goals.

Jan-Marc Fergg is responsible for the products distributed to clients in the bank’s Jade, Premier and Personal banking segments, as well as leading the teams working on funds and ETFs for wealth management and private banking. He is also developing the group’s ESG offering further. Before HSBC, Jan-Marc spent 20 years at UBS in a variety of senior roles.

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.