Archives: Speakers

Kent Thoelke is a pioneering healthcare executive with over 30 years of clinical research experience. As CEO of Paradigm Health, he leads the company’s mission to create equitable access to superior healthcare for patients worldwide. Prior to joining Paradigm Health, Kent served as Chief Innovation Officer at ICON plc following its acquisition of PRA Health Sciences, where he was Chief Scientific Officer. Throughout his career at these organizations, he has driven digital transformation in clinical trials and championed data-driven approaches to make drug development more efficient and equitable across multiple therapeutic areas and geographic regions.

Joshua Karelitz, PhD is a Principal Regulatory Scientist II, Regulatory Affairs for Altria Client Services. In this role he leads abuse liability assessment and oversees design and conduct of studies in support of Premarket Tobacco Application and Modified Risk Tobacco Product Application submissions to the Food and Drug Administration.

Prior to joining Altria, Dr. Karelitz was a Postdoctoral Scholar in the Division of Cancer Control and Population Sciences at the University of Pittsburgh. During his postdoctoral and graduate training, Dr. Karelitz’s research focused on sensory perceptions and reinforcement of reduced nicotine content cigarettes and heated tobacco products. He has authored and co-authored over fifty peer-reviewed publications on tobacco product use behavior and has presented his research domestically and internationally.

Sonny serves as the Regulatory Science Integration Director for Japan Tobacco International. Sonny joined JTI in 2020 and is responsible for the implementation and refinement of the JTI Regulatory Science Strategy, including the continuous review of the evolving global RRP regulatory landscape and overall regulatory trends.

Prior to joining JTI, Sonny spent over 10 years with British American Tobacco in charge of a conventional-type RRP development as scientist who covered multiple fields, such as leaf, smoke emission and human exposure. After leaving BAT, Sonny worked across global organizations and provided strategic direction for the efficient rollout of RRP into heavily regulated markets. Sonny oversees the studies being conducted for the joint venture between the JT Group and Altria Group, to commercialize Ploom® in the U.S. market.

He received his BS in Pharmacology from University College London, MS in Biomedical Sciences Research from Kings’ College London University and Ph.D. in Pulmonary Physiology from the University of Sheffield.

Eric Johnson is a chemist and a researcher in environmental impacts. He was Editor in Chief for 16 years of an academic journal, Environmental Impact Assessment Review. According to Google Scholar, in the past 35 years he has published about 150 scientific articles which have been cited about two thousand times by other researchers. His main areas of research have been the agricultural, chemical and energy industries as well the biogenic carbon cycle.

He is Managing Director of Atlantic Consulting, which is based in Zurich, Switzerland. He is also a senior advisor to ecoinvent, the world’s largest knowledge base of life cycle assessment, for the topics of chemicals, oil and gas and plastics. ecoinvent provided some of the data for the analysis he will present today.

John Patterson is President of IKE Tech, a leading provider of identity verification (IDV), biometric authentication, and tokenization technology across a range of everyday consumer products.  A passionate champion of Tobacco Harm Reduction, John has spent the last decade leading programs for some of the biggest brands in vapour technology including NJOY, JUUL and Aspire. As current Head of IKE Tech LLC, he is steering the organisation’s focus on solving some of the biggest industry challenges by utilizing innovative solutions to address youth access and illicit products.

Experienced Clinical Development and Drug Safety physician. Served in leadership positions in pharma companies for almost two decades, leading global clinical research and pharmacovigilance activities.

Ph.D. in biomedical engineering with 15+ years leading research and clinical trials. Extensive experience with international business operations and establishing collaborations. Excellent communication with scientific and lay audiences. Sound leadership skills in managing interdisciplinary teams across institutions with and without authority. Focus on problem-solving, conflict management, and creative solutions.

Kelly is a communications leader with more than 15 years of experience across all facets of pharmaceutical communications. In her current role as Head of Communications & Public Affairs for Servier Pharmaceuticals – she devises, manages and implements communications strategies across a range of internal and external channels and vehicles in support of corporate initiatives, pipeline and marketed products. She strives daily to meet patient needs and ensure their voice is heard.