Archives: Speakers

Arun Sivanandam has more than 12 years of experience in clinical research at site and sponsor side. He investigated mechanisms by which active ingredients in cumin seeds halt Prostate Cancer progression and metastasis at the Vattikutti Urology Institute, Henry Ford Hospital. With a dual clinical appointment in Robotic-Surgery at the Institute, Arun focused on post-surgical outcomes of Da-Vinci Robotic Prostatectomy for Hormone Refractory Patients. He worked as a Research Associate to improve recruitment metrics in the Million Veterans Program genomic biobanking initiative for Loma Linda VA Medical Center where he developed a novel Point of Care recruitment solution in outpatient clinics. To understand site-side difficulties in trial recruitment and conduct, Arun served as a Senior Clinical Research Coordinator for Cardiology Phase 4 trials at the Loma Linda VA Medical Center, and as a Lead Clinical Research Specialist for Investigator-Initiated and Phase 0 – 3 Gastric Neuroendocrine Rare Disease trials at Stanford Cancer Center. Subsequently, Arun lead the Gastric-Immuno-Oncology Rare Disease Bispecific-T cell-Engager portfolio at Amgen on various aspects of clinical research operations. More recently, Arun headed to Santen, with a focus on driving operational excellence in Ophthalmology clinical research as Associate Director Global Clinical Development and Operations, where he oversees Phase 1 – 4 clinical trial conduct. Arun received a Bachelor’s degree in Biological Sciences from University of California-Riverside, a Master’s degree in Biomedical Sciences from Wayne State University and completed Doctoral degree coursework from Michigan State University College of Human Medicine. His thesis was on the role of the Androgen Receptor in Hormone Refractory Prostate Cancer. He received a Certificate for Graduate Biostatistics at Harvard University Extension. He also conducted undergraduate research on osteoporosis progression and has authored several papers, abstracts and a book chapter on protein signal transduction.

Program and Alliance Management professional with 15+ years of product development, project management and operations experience within the biotechnology and biopharmaceutical sectors. Proven ability to organize and manage late-stage development cross-functional teams completing projects on time with meticulous attention to detail.

Eric Rogers has been in the Global Hotel Technical Vertical selling solutions from Guestroom phones, to Operational Software, to Revenue Management, to Guest Facing Technology to Hotels for over 20 years across EMEA, India, Americas and further afield.

During Covid, Eric decided it was time to do something different – He set himself up as a Global Recruiter for our Vertical – something he always felt was missing. A challenging decision for sure when Hospitality was completely flat.
Initially, the plan was to find roles for the amazing friends and colleagues who were being let go.

Today, Eric Rogers Global is still focussed on Hotels and their Vendor community. Candidates have been placed across the UK, Europe, US, APAC & the Middle East. Most recently, Eric has placed a candidate in Japan – so truly global.

Hospitality expert with background in Revenue Acceleration & PMS solutions for hotels, at Adyen looking after Central European markets, helping hotels streamline their payments set-up.

Sean Smith is a Biological Threat Exclusion Coordinator (BTEC) for CBP in the Office of Field Operations/ Agriculture Programs and Trade Liaison/ Biological Threat Exclusion. As a BTEC, Mr. Smith is charged with supporting and developing U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) operational capacity and capability in preventing tools of agro/bio-terrorism from entering the U.S.  Mr. Smith has more than 17 years of public service with CBP, and has worked in a variety of environments, including on the southern land border, maritime, air passenger, and cargo locations.  He has also been able to assist in several past domestic and international CBP disaster recovery operations.