Archives: Speakers

Eveliina Paljärvi is Industry Lead for Food and Beverage at Adven, a leading energy partner and investor in sustainable energy and utilities infrastructure. In her role, she works with companies across the food and beverage sector to develop and implement low-carbon and resource-efficient energy solutions.

Eveliina focuses on building long-term partnerships where Adven invests in and operates energy and utilities infrastructure, enabling producers to improve energy and water efficiency and reduce emissions without large upfront investments. She holds a Master’s degree in Economics and Business Administration and is passionate about advancing practical solutions that support the industry’s sustainability and competitiveness.

Tracy Cyr is Vice President and Head of Global Project Management at Caidya, where she leads global teams focused on delivering high-quality clinical programs with consistency, transparency, and strong stakeholder alignment. With a career spanning senior leadership positions at leading top five CROs, as well as roles in two top fifty biopharma companies, she brings deep expertise in project delivery, operational strategy, and cross-functional collaboration.

Tracy is known for fostering high-performing teams and strengthening partnerships between sponsors, CROs, and investigative sites. She recognizes that trust, communication, and human dynamics are critical drivers of clinical trial success. Her background in public health, combined with hands-on operational leadership, enables her to balance scientific rigor with practical execution.

Tracy holds a BA in Economics from Colby College and an MSPH, Health Policy and Administration from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Bringing 20 years of clinical trial execution and team management experience, Dr. Learn is personally committed, enthusiastic, and passionate about translational science. With interests in the strategic development of novel therapeutics, Dr. Learn is a published author and has been a team leader in the registrational buildout, agency submission, and regulatory approval of five separate and unique marketed products (YONDELIS®, IMBRUVICA®, KEYTRUDA®, BREYANZI®, and ABECMA®).

A former project leader at Duke University, Merck & Co, and Istari Oncology, Dr. Learn has authored numerous clinical trial protocols, including the design, implementation, and execution of various cellular and genetic therapies.

Over the past five years, Dr. Learn has served as a subject matter expert overseeing the clinical development programs of >20 cell and gene therapy programs in rare disease, CNS, pediatrics, and oncology for emerging biotech portfolios and large-cap pharma. His current interests and commitments lie in the phasing of dose, route, and administration of cell and gene therapies in the clinic and how to use innovations in immunotherapy to drive these unique therapies further in improving patient outcomes.

Kris Foster is the cofounder of Project Nemo, a movement dedicated to representation, accessibility, and making sure overlooked voices are no longer ignored.

Project Nemo started as a simple idea – a conversation on a plane – turning into a powerful platform focused on amplifying unheard voices and creating opportunities for those overlooked. For Kris, Project Nemo is more than just work – it’s personal. It exists to challenge systems that weren’t built for everyone and to prove that inclusion is not a nice to have, it’s essential.

Alongside this, Kris created Open Book, a storytelling platform that celebrates resilience, sparks honest conversations, and gives people the space to be seen, heard, and valued on their own terms. He believes stories have the power to shift culture, not just inspire it. Every project he touches is rooted in the same conviction: our differences are strengths, accessibility should be baked in from the start, and real change only happens when people are brave enough to build it together.

Dr. Farheen Shaikh is Vice President, Global Clinical Project Management & Operations at Zydus Therapeutics, where she leads global clinical operations and project management across complex drug development programs from early clinical development through late-stage development and registration.

With more than 19 years of experience in clinical research and drug development, Dr. Shaikh has led global programs across rare diseases and areas of significant unmet medical need, including hepatology, neurology, and inflammatory diseases. Her experience spans Phase 1–4 clinical development and includes both in-house, sponsor-led clinical trial execution and fully or partially outsourced CRO delivery models, giving her a broad perspective on how different operating models can be optimized for speed, quality, accountability, and cost.

Her expertise includes global study strategy and execution, regulatory interactions, clinical operations, CRO and vendor oversight, investigator and site engagement, and cross-functional leadership across the United States, Europe, India, and other international regions. She has particular interest in accelerating clinical development without compromising scientific rigor, patient safety, or data quality, and in developing efficient sponsor–CRO–investigator partnerships for complex and rare-disease clinical trials.

Kari has served as President and CEO since November 2007 and previously held progressive leadership positions with the organization since 2001. During her tenure, the TSC Alliance established a comprehensive research platform fostering collaboration with industry and academia to move treatments for TSC forward in a more expedited way. Because of her leadership, the organization has taken an active role in educating the TSC community about clinical trials to diminish the time for recruitment, including pivotal trials that have led to three FDA-approved drugs specifically for TSC. In 2019, the organization launched a Research Business Plan with the goal to change the course of TSC for those living with it today and for generations to come paired with an aggressive fundraising campaign leading to more than $23 million raised. Since joining the TSC Alliance, the organization has grown from a $2.1 million annual operating budget to $10 million and is heralded with top ratings by watchdog organizations. Kari graduated with a BA degree in Theatre from the State University of New York at Albany and upon graduation founded a theatre company with fellow graduates in New York, NY.  After the loss of her first child, Noell, to sudden infant death, she dedicated her career to helping other families.

Joe is responsible for leading the development strategy and internal R&D efforts for projects within the RTW Foundation portfolio. Prior to joining RTW Foundation, Joe was a staff scientist at Regeneron where he led a team focused on preclinical development of gene therapies and AAV vector engineering. Before Regeneron, Joe was a principal scientist at Pfizer where he developed and led multiple immuno-oncology programs from early-stage discovery up to IND application, working with a diverse array of modalities including lipid/polymeric nanoparticles, PROTACs, ADCs, antibodies, and small molecules. Prior to Pfizer, Joe was a senior scientist at Innovimmune, a biotech startup. During his PhD, Joe developed unique delivery technologies for nucleic acid-based drugs, seeking to modulate immune responses for autoimmune and oncology indications. His PhD work led to two separate first author publications in Molecular Therapy, as well as additional publications throughout his research career.

Joe has a BS in human biology from Michigan State University, a MS in cellular & molecular biology from Eastern Michigan University and a PhD in immunology & biomedical sciences from the Albert Einstein College of Medicine.