Archives: Speakers

Hans-Juergen Arens PhD is currently Vice President of International Clinical Research Services at Frenova Clinical Research. He has nearly three decades of experience in the pharma and medtech industries and worked previously in global clinical research and development at Takeda, Merck KGaA, and Abbott/AbbVie. At Fresenius Medical Care he headed the Department of Medical Affairs from 2010 to 2016 for the company’s renal pharmaceuticals international business. Hans-Juergen uses his expertise to involve himself and his team in directing international clinical trial and data services, supporting clients with medical and operational leadership, as well as consulting services. As Head of Frenova International he has developed a service portfolio dedicated to supporting external sponsor companies in the planning, preparation and execution of clinical trials at centres throughout Europe, Middle East, Africa, Latin America and Asia/Pacific. He received his PhD in Pharmacology/Toxicology from Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz, Germany.

Since 2000, Kai has been a pioneer in patient-facing solutions for clinical trials working with young innovative technology companies. In 2012, Kai co-founded eClinicalHealth, the developers of the Clinpal decentralized clinical trial platform. In 2019 Kai co-founded the DEEP initiative to co-create a novel integrated ecosystem for the development, validation and acceptance of digital measures. Kai continues to work with DEEP, which is now an independent company. Through his involvement in technical, operational and scientific roles, he has gained deep and holistic understanding of the clinical trial process and the key mechanisms of our ecosystem.

Kai brings his entrepreneurial spirit and creative mindset to support Janssen’s global regulatory policy work across a range of topics. Kai has a passion for broad pre-competitive collaboration and is motivated to modernize the ways our broader ecosystem works together to advance the adoption of novel tools and methods to support efficient and patient-centric pharmaceutical R&D.

Dr. Eriksson is a strategy, operations and board advisor working with some of the most innovative companies in Life Sciences. He is the former CEO and current Strategic Advisor at Trialbee, a leader in the digitization of clinical research whose clinical trial patient recruitment & enrollment platform is used across the industry in global clinical trials to help biopharmaceutical and medical device companies meet enrollment timelines. An executive with extensive experience in clinical drug development at the clinic, sponsor and CRO levels including Merck & Co. Inc., PAREXEL and ICON. Dr. Eriksson is trained and skilled in clinical pharmacology, clinical research, clinical research operations with emphasis on health care alliances, site operations, feasibility, study start-up & implementation and patient recruitment. He is a strong business development and leadership professional with an innovative and creative mind to address clinical development challenges and realize new opportunities. Dr. Eriksson is an Associate Professor in Clinical Pharmacology at Lund University, Sweden and at Rutgers University School of Health-Related Professionals in New Jersey, USA.

Elvira Suniega-Tolentino is the Clinical Project Manager Team Leader for Singapore at the Nestlé Clinical Research Unit, responsible for end-to-end clinical project management and operational activities of Nestlé corporate clinical trials serving all Business Units. At the Clinical Research Unit, she is also leading the Vendor/Out-sourcing activities where she drives strategic partnerships with CROs, Universities, Laboratories, etc. Prior to joining Nestlé, Elvira was the Area Clinical Operations Manager for Abbott Nutrition R&D, Asia Pacific Center in Singapore for 11 years. Over the years, she has sharpened her expertise in the industry, bringing in thoughtful and strong competency into Nestlé’s clinical projects. The combination of her expertise, leadership and passion for innovation strongly supports the continuous improvement and excellence of Nestlé’s clinical research activities to further unlock the power of food to enhance the quality of life for every consumers, today and for generations to come.

With a broad background as cancer rehabilitation specialist through exercise referral, Natacha is an EUPATI fellow with significant experience in patient advocacy and patient education in the field of cancer. Before joining Lymphoma Coalition in 2017, she had successfully held Patient and Public affairs roles in cancer charities in Spain since 2011. Natacha was appointed Board Member of ECPC from 2016 to 2017 and is currently Chair of EBMT Patient Advocacy Committee, and member of EHA´s European Affairs Committee, ESMO Patient Advocacy Working Group, GoCART Coalition and contributes to other projects at European level, as Harmony Alliance, T2EVOLVE, and RESILIENCE. Natacha is a true believer in the power of cooperation. She has worked at a national and European level with multi-stakeholders’ partnerships, educational groups, and she is deeply interested remove barriers to access to care for patients with lymphoma and to improving the quality of life for patients. Natacha has contributed to Health Technology Appraisal processes and is frequently invited to provide the patient perspective in different scenarios. In addition to the role at EU level, she is currently member of the Institutional Working Group on the Plan to Access Advanced Therapies in the National Health System in Spain.

Michael is responsible for a team of 11 people and the overall delivery of the conducted studies. The group runs several studies in different indications with a clear focus on rare diseases. In 2016 AOP Orphan received approval for one new product (RAPIBLOC®). In 2019 AOP received the marketing authorization for their first biological (BESREMi®), after completing a series of clinical studies and successfully passing a series of EMA inspections under Michael’s responsibility.

Before joining AOP Orphan Michael has been operations manager for Haemophilia at Baxter. Michael has many years of experience as a project manager and learned the job in clinical research from scratch starting as CRA at Amgen. Michael received his Ph. D in biochemistry from the University of Vienna. 

CEO Dr Michael-Robin Witt holds a Ph.D. in Neuropharmacology from the Royal School of Pharmacy, Copenhagen, Denmark. He has published more than 50 publications in peer-reviewed scientific journals. Following 12 years in academic research, at the Brain Research Institute, St. Hans Hospital, Roskilde, Denmark. MRW has held senior line and project management positions in Scandinavian Biotech companies including Neurosearch AB (1999-2000), AstraZeneca R&D (2000-2003), KaroBio AB (2003-2007). In 2007, MRW co-founded Axcentua Pharmaceuticals AB, acting as CSO for 5 years before joining Lead Discovery Malaysia in 2012 where he currently holds the positions of CEO & CSO. MRW joined Gabather AB in September 2014 and was appointed Principal Scientist in October 2015. He is currently CEO.

Dr Christine Natasha Ryan holds a PhD in Neuroscience from the University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK and an MBA from Stockholm School of Economics. Following a post-doc at the Brain Research Institute, St. Hans Hospital, Roskilde, Denmark, CNR remained in Scandinavia moving to Sweden to work at Astra, which then became AstraZeneca, holding line management and competitive intelligence roles. CNR has engaged in preclinical research at blue chip companies such as AstraZeneca, smaller pharmaceutical companies, CROs and biotechs, working at Karo Bio AB, and Cerca Insights among others. CNR joined Gabather AB as Principal Scientist in 2017, becoming VP Operations in 2018.