Archives: Speakers

Maria Koufali, is an experienced senior leader in life sciences research and innovation, bringing over 20 years of cross-sector expertise in working with global pharmaceutical companies, digital health firms, diagnostics developers, and MedTech SMEs. She holds a PhD in Pharmacology and Neuroscience, an MBA (Distinction), and is the first NHS R&D Director nationally to be awarded the Nye Bevan Executive Health Leadership Award. Maria currently leads the UK Vaccine Innovation Pathway at NIHR/DHSC, a nationally mandated clinical trials accelerator. In this role, she has delivered over 20 high-priority commercial trials, expanded partnerships beyond Moderna and BioNTech to include smaller biotech firms and large pharma, and embedded site-readiness models and trial metrics to support faster delivery.

Maria has built a wide network of trusted relationships across the life sciences sector and has consistently translated strategic ambition into operational delivery, regulatory compliance, and commercial value. Previously, as Managing Director of Research & Innovation at Nottingham University Hospitals NHS Trust, she designed and delivered the Trust’s entire NIHR infrastructure portfolio from the ground up, securing funding and oversight for a £70m suite including a BRC, CRF, BioResource, and the Medical Technologies Innovation Facility (MTIF)—a £23m translational platform that supports SMEs to take digital and MedTech innovations from prototype to trial. Under her leadership, the Trust’s commercial research income rose to over £13m per year. She has successfully navigated and aligned MHRA, HRA and ISO frameworks to support industry delivery at scale. Maria currently serves as Trustee and Chair of the Industry Advisory Board at the BBSRC-funded Quadram Institute, where she shapes translational and commercial strategy. She brings a proven ability to develop national infrastructure, deliver commercial growth, and work across government and industry to accelerate innovation that benefits patients and the UK economy.

Andrea is an academic, consultant, for-profit/non-profit organisations and entrepreneur with over 30 years of international experience in the healthcare sector, specifically focusing on pharmacy, the pharmaceutical industry, health services and pedagogic research. Andrea’s goal is to provide better outcomes for everybody: patients, providers, and payers. He provides vision and strategic direction as a leader of small and large research teams from different cultural backgrounds. Andrea offers a unique combination of entrepreneurship and academic rigour, allowing him to succeed in various challenging projects.

Key accomplishments
• Co-led the conceptualisation of the Biomedical Evidence baSed Trans-disciplinary (BEST) health research institute, which focuses on people’s health, linking basic and translational investigations from bench to bed to home.
• Led the creation of a multidisciplinary research method and statistical analysis unit (RMSAU), which supports the development of randomised controlled trials in Medicine, Dentistry, Pharmacy Practice, Health Services Research and Pedagogy.
• Co-founder of the Pedagogic Interest Group (PIG), which supports academics in research, widens participation and welcomes early career researchers who contribute to the next REF and students’ experience.
• Created an innovative and bespoke pharmacist-led intervention using a patient-reported outcome measure (PROM) subject to an intellectual property right.
• Developed and led a national research project: a novel, cost-effective intervention in primary care that has changed policy and practice, allowing the government to allocate 36 million Euros to fund such services.
• Lead author of a scientific manuscript which is in the top 5% of all research outputs (n=26,673,263) ever tracked by Altmetric.
• Led an academic module, changing team culture and reducing student attrition by 93%.
• Managed a re-engineering process for improving efficiency and time management whilst optimising costs in a retail pharmacy business; the business achieved a return on investment of 52%.
• Created a pharmacy business from scratch and implemented sales and marketing strategies, achieving a return on investment of 900%.

Skills: statistical analysis and data mining, data presentation, health services research, clinical trials, business management, economics.

Research interests: health services research, clinical trials, outcomes research, effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of pharmacist-led interventions, pedagogic research, active learning, and data modelling.

• Fellow of the Royal College of Ophthalmologists
• Medical Retina Sub-specialist in a busy, multi-cultural teaching hospital
• Strong academic background in medical retina with expertise in commercial and non-commercial clinical trials
• Teacher and trainer committed to clinical excellence