Archives: Speakers

Research scientist and team builder specializing in drug discovery, AI/ML, functional genomics, and RNA biology, with experience in clinical development from target identification through patient selection.

I’m a strategic innovation leader passionate about shaping the future through collaboration, foresight, and action, with 10+ years of cross-industry experience leading AI-driven transformation, and idea-incubation programs. At Takeda, I lead cross-functional teams that turn bold ideas into real-world impact. Whether designing AI-augmented solutions, facilitating innovation sprints, or running strategic foresight labs, my mission is to empower people and systems to work smarter, faster, and more meaningfully. In my experience, the key piece of a successful concept-to-launch process is creating focus for the team. This requires continuous prioritizing and fluency in both tech and laypeople speak. I’m genuinely and deeply curious about the subject matter in my care, and it helps me translate ambiguous challenges into bold, scalable solutions, launch enterprise-wide innovation initiatives, and lead high-performing teams to deliver lasting impact. With a background in business analysis, agile coaching, and startup consulting, I thrive at the intersection of creativity, technology, and human-centered design. I’ve launched noteworthy MVPs, guided 60+ innovation champions, and delivered measurable results in complex environments. If you’re looking to future-proof your organization, foster a culture of experimentation, and lead with empathy—let’s connect.

I’m a senior data and AI leader who builds production-grade data platforms and analytics foundations that make data trustworthy, accessible, and decision-ready at scale. My focus is on enabling self-service analytics, well-modeled datasets, and AI-powered data experiences across federated organizations. I currently lead enterprise data platform and analytics capabilities at Genmab, where I own a global lakehouse supporting thousands of users, PB-scale data, and mission-critical workloads across R&D and commercial teams. I’ve scaled global teams, owned multi-million-dollar platform budgets, and partnered closely with executives to align data strategy with business outcomes. Across biotech, consumer data, and consulting environments, I’ve built and operated data systems spanning ingestion, modeling, governance, analytics engineering, and AI enablement — balancing speed, trust, and operational rigor. Lastly, I’m passionate about building customer-centric data solutions embedded in federated domains, transformative enterprise capabilities and strategies, partner-centric collaboration, and creating great teams.

I lead R&D data enablement and data product strategy, building scalable, governed data foundations that transform data into a strategic asset across the Pharma R&D value chain. I focus on building high-quality, reusable, and interoperable operational data platforms and domain-specific data products that speed scientific outcomes, support advanced analytics and AI/ML, and deliver measurable business value. I work closely with stakeholders across Research, Clinical Development, Safety, Regulatory, and Portfolio & Project Management to ensure R&D data is discoverable, analytics-ready, and fit for decision-making. By applying data product thinking, strong governance, and modern data architecture principles, I help organizations move from siloed data to trusted, scalable, cross-domain insights. Core Competencies: R&D data foundations & data product strategy, Analytics- and AI/ML-ready data enablement, Data governance, Product Management, Clinical Data Management, Data Standards & Analytics, Decentralized Trials (DCT, DHT), Governance & Risk Oversight, AI & Digital Innovation, Stakeholder Management, Data Privacy & Security, Vendor Management, Design Thinking, Leadership Development, Certified Coach Technology, Tools, and Frameworks: Medidata Rave, Oracle Clinical, Veeva Clinical/Vault, Informatica, Reltio, Formedyx, Collibra, Python, VBA, Databricks, AWS Bedrock, UIPath, Redshift, SpotFire, Power BI, GCP, CDISC, 21CFRP11, RBQM, FHIR, CRISP-DM, V3+, LEAN

Broadly speaking, I am a research professional dedicated to improving access to healthcare services, the development of novel and effective treatments for disease prevention, symptom relief, and cures, and improving the quality of care through a reduction in the occurrence of medical errors. My particular set of skills, acquired through education and experience, have made me adept at working with the data essential to tackling these issues.

Strategic Clinical Development Leader | Oncology & Beyond I am a strategic and science-driven clinical development leader with 16+ years of experience shaping global drug development across oncology (solid tumors & hematologic malignancies), cardiovascular, rare, and specialty medicine. Over my career, I have:

• Directed global Phase I–III trials that informed pivotal approvals and label expansions
• Led NDA/BLA submissions resulting in successful global filings and regulatory milestones
• Built and guided high-performing cross-functional teams spanning Clinical Development, Biostatistics, Safety, Regulatory, and Clinical Operations
• Partnered with KOLs, CROs, and regulators to navigate complex development pathways I’m known for bringing clarity and structure to complexity, aligning science with strategy, and driving decisions that accelerate development while upholding patient focus and data integrity. As a senior leader, I thrive in fast-paced, matrixed environments where strategy, adaptability, and communication define success. I am also deeply committed to mentorship and talent development, ensuring teams grow alongside programs. Specialties: Oncology Clinical Development | Global Regulatory Submissions | Trial Oversight | Medical Monitoring | Portfolio & Pipeline Strategy | Cross-Functional Leadership | Data-Driven Decision Making

Experienced Consultant with a demonstrated history of delivering clinical IT projects for pharma, biotech/CROs with a Wharton Management Development Program, Kellogg Product Strategy and a Stanford Advanced Program Management from Stanford University. Anand is a tech savvy leader with interests in AI, big data, blockchain and use them to address the challenges faced by the life sciences industry. He is a big believer in product innovation and leads teams in product development. Anand loves participating in hackathons and social innovation activities in the life sciences/ healthcare space.

I oversee end-to-end EDC build and maintenance across multiple studies, ensuring compliant, high-quality, and on-time delivery. My experience spans study startup through database lock and archival, including eCRF standards and design oversight, validation strategy, UAT execution, release management, migrations, and post-production support. I provide direction and oversight across study build activities, driving consistent execution, accountability, and adherence to data integrity and quality standards throughout the clinical trial lifecycle.

Amir Momen-Roknabadi is Director of Artificial Intelligence at Therna Biosciences, where he leads the AI team accelerating RNA design and optimization across the therapeutic pipeline. He brings over a decade of experience across machine learning, computational biology, and translational biotechnology, with deep expertise in building end-to-end ML systems that turn complex biological and clinical data into actionable insight.

Prior to Therna, Amir developed RNA-based generative AI models for early cancer detection at Exai Bio, contributing to liquid biopsy approaches validated against clinical cohorts. Amir earned his Ph.D. from Princeton University and completed postdoctoral training at Columbia University, where he developed computational methods to connect biological sequence, structure, and function at scale.