eyeforpharma Philadelphia Exhibition & Awards

Greg leads the Key Account Management and Field Reimbursement team at Alkermes. Prior to joining in 2018, Greg has held leadership positions across pharma, bringing 20+ years of industry experience, most recently as Vice President of Key Account Management at Astellas. Prior to joining Astellas, Apostol worked for 18 years at Pfizer, launching and leading the Key Account Management (KAM) team, as well as leadership roles in Primary Care and Institutional Sales, Specialty Sales, Payer Account Management, and in KAM. Apostol has extensive domestic and international experience focused on improving clinical and quality outcomes for patients through Integrated Delivery Network (IDN) marketing, organized customer market strategies and KAM training platforms. Apostol is a graduate of Colby College of Waterville, Maine, where he earned a bachelor's degree in business and history. He also holds a Master of Science in Health Systems from Rutgers and a Masters Certificate from Villanova in Lean Six Sigma, Six Sigma Green Belt and Project Management.

David is a 33-year veteran in the pharmaceutical industry having held numerous leadership positions at Bristol-Myers Squibb for 28 years and with UCB for 5 years.

David’s currently role, as Head of US Performance Training for UCB and President of the Life Science Trainers and Educators Network representing over 2,000 life science learning professionals world-wide, has contributed to healthcare panels, educational symposia, books, articles and keynotes at major conferences and events.

His passion for patients and caregivers stems from his personal experiences at home and at work. He first began his journey to evangelize patient-centricity in healthcare following the death of his father who struggled with his health and fragmented care. Said recently, “I get up every day thinking of my parents, and what they did for me. For the longest time, I felt guilty about how difficult it was to coordinate care for my Dad. And, in some ways, I believe that lack of coordinated care contributed to his death. I’ve turned that guilt into my purpose, and will do all that I can to see things through the patient’s eyes and what they are experiencing

Dr. Zhen Su, Senior Vice President and Chief Medical Officer of North America for EMD Serono and Head of Global Medical Affairs Oncology (a.i.), heads the North American Medical Affairs organization as well as the medical strategy development and global medical team for the Oncology Franchise.

A physician executive with more than 20 years of experience, Dr. Su has strong clinical expertise in oncology, immuno-oncology and urology. He has held positions in academic and pharmaceutical medicine, including general management, clinical development, medical affairs and business development. Prior to EMD Serono, Dr. Su served in numerous leadership positions at Sanofi and GSK. Before joining industry, Dr. Su held several academic positions, including faculty roles at Duke University and University of Florida.

He has deep ties to the oncology community, having worked with leading oncologists at organizations globally. Dr. Su earned his MD degree from the Technical University of Dresden, Germany and completed his MBA training at the University of Toronto, Canada.

Muna Bhanji serves as head of Merck’s Global Market Access organization with responsibility for enabling access and payer reimbursement for the company’s medicines and vaccines.

Throughout her career, Muna has demonstrated an unwavering commitment to Merck’s mission of saving and improving lives, working with healthcare providers, patients and payers to support access to the inventions brought forward by Merck’s scientists.

Muna joined Merck’s Manufacturing Division in 1986 and later transitioned to Merck's Human Health group where she has held positions of increasing responsibility in the areas of Sales, Managed Markets, Commercial Operations and Global Marketing for Hospital & Specialty businesses including Oncology, Virology, Anti-infective, Neuroscience and Immunology franchises. Since 2012, Muna, in her capacity as head of Global Market Access, leads the Pricing and Market Access Strategy functions for Merck’s diverse portfolio of products and vaccines, globally.

In addition to her commercial leadership roles, she has served on the Board of the Foundation of Managed Care Pharmacy and has chaired Merck’s Supervisory Board in the Netherlands. She is currently on the Board of Possible Health, a Nepal focused NGO, providing integrated, high quality, affordable healthcare to rural, underserved communities.

Muna earned her Bachelor of Pharmacy degree from Rutgers School of Pharmacy and an MBA from St. Joseph’s University.

Robert W. Dubois, MD, PhD, is the chief science officer and executive vice president of the National Pharmaceutical Council (NPC). In this role, he oversees NPC’s research on policy issues related to the appropriate role of real-world evidence in decision-making, how best to determine value of health care services, the relationship between access and health outcomes, and approaches to maintain an environment supportive of innovation.

Dr. Dubois, who is board certified in internal medicine, brings more than 25 years of experience in health care research, with a particular focus on understanding and ensuring that patients receive high value health care. He has co-founded and led various health care research organizations in developing quality research with practical application. Most recently, he was the chief medical officer at Cerner LifeSciences, where he focused on comparative effectiveness and the use of an electronic health records infrastructure to implement clinical change.

Prior to joining Cerner in 2001, Dr. Dubois co-founded Protocare Sciences and was its executive vice president, chief medical officer, and later its CEO.

Throughout his career, Dr. Dubois’ primary interest has centered on defining “what works” in health care and finding ways for that evidence to inform health care decision-making. He is a recognized expert in the areas of defining best practice, disease management and appropriateness of care. He has authored more than 160 peer-reviewed articles on comparative effectiveness, evidence-based medicine, the development of practice guidelines and determining the optimal use of high-cost medical services.

Dr. Dubois received his AB from Harvard College, his MD from the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine and his PhD in health policy from the RAND Graduate School. He is a member of the Medicare Evidence Development and Coverage Advisory Committee, Steering Committee for the Electronic Data Methods Forum, and the Advisory Board of the Institute for Clinical and Economic Review. Additionally, he is the associate editor of the Journal of Comparative Effectiveness Research and is on the editorial board for Health Affairs and The American Journal of Managed Care.

Dr. McNair joined Aetna in September 2017 and brings a wealth of healthcare experience.

A hospitalist by training, Dr. McNair has significant experience in UM/UR for commercial, Medicare, and MA plans, as well as care management. As a physician leader, she has managed teams of physicians and healthcare providers, spurring them to excellence.

As the Senior Medical Director for Aetna Community Care, Dr. McNair is devoted to achieving the best outcomes possible and reducing barriers to wellbeing within a high risk population. These goals are achieved through a variety of means, including collaborating with staff, providing ongoing education both clinically and related to care management, and multidisciplinary case conferences. She works closely with other Aetna programs to ensure a seamless, high-quality member experience. Further, her interactions with providers, provider groups, and medical neighborhoods promotes member engagement, success, and provider satisfaction. She has a special interest in informatics and data visualization and uses this interest to assess program efficacy and identify areas of opportunity.

Dr. McNair graduated from the University of Texas Health Science Center in San Antonio and completed her residency at Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center in North Carolina. She is board certified in Internal Medicine.

Percival Barretto-Ko is president, Astellas Americas. In this role, he has responsibility for the company's operations across the Americas region of Astellas, a company dedicated to improving the health of people around the world through the provision of innovative pharmaceutical products. Astellas focuses on serving patients’ unmet medical needs across multiple therapeutic areas, including Cardiology, Hematology, Immunology, Infectious Diseases, Oncology and Urology.

Previously, Barretto-Ko was senior vice president, international, where he led Astellas Pharma Canada, Astellas Farma Brasil, Astellas Farma Colombia and operations in more than 20 other countries where Astellas’ innovative therapies serve unmet patient needs.

Barretto-Ko joined Astellas in 2005 in the United Kingdom, initially leading the company’s Immunology and Transplantation business unit in Europe, the Middle East and Africa, and thereafter, led Astellas Pharma Europe’s corporate strategy organization. In 2011, he returned to the US as Senior Vice President, corporate strategy and government affairs. In that role, Barretto-Ko led the company’s corporate strategy and business development organizations based in Northbrook, Ill., and government affairs based in Washington, D.C.

Before joining Astellas, Barretto-Ko held commercial positions with the Roche Group in the United States and United Kingdom.

Barretto-Ko earned a B.S. in biological sciences with honors from Cornell University, an MBA from Yale School of Management and an M.S. from MIT Sloan School of Management, where he also served as a Sloan Fellow for Innovation and Global Leadership.

In addition, Barretto-Ko serves on the Board of Directors for the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America (PhRMA) and represents Astellas on PhRMA’s Federal Committee, which helps shape how PhRMA approaches key policy issues on Capitol Hill.

As Head of the Disease Interception Accelerator (DIA), Ben Wiegand, Ph.D., leads a team focused on addressing the root causes of select diseases, intervening earlier than today’s clinically accepted point of diagnosis to stop, reverse or inhibit progression to disease.

With more than 20 years at Johnson & Johnson (J&J), Ben brings a range of experience in identifying and piloting new business and funding models, accelerating growth opportunities and scouting new and emerging scientific areas to deliver innovative solutions.

Prior to joining the DIA, Ben served as Vice President, Global Open Innovation and New Business Models Research & Development for the J&J Group of Consumer Companies. His responsibilities included the creation of disruptive innovations and the progression of emerging scientific areas, like the microbiome and big data, to progress advances in healthcare.

Ben has served as General Manager and Vice President, Science and Innovation, J&J Wellness & Prevention, Inc. He also held responsibility for the Employer Franchise, focused on providing health and performance solutions to large employers to help manage healthcare costs and improve employee productivity. During his tenure with Wellness & Prevention, Ben led science and innovation efforts to support the enterprise, including oversight of an innovation development program and measurement/reporting of industry-leading organizational outcomes.

Ben earned a Bachelor of Science in Chemistry from the University of Illinois and a Master of Arts and a Ph.D. in Physical Chemistry from Harvard University.

As the North America Head of the Primary Care Business Unit for Sanofi, Michelle is responsible for commercial operations in the U.S. (including Puerto Rico) and Canada, which is comprised of Sales, Marketing, Market Access, One Trade, and Innovative Solutions. Michelle also sits on the Board of Directors for Onduo, a joint venture with Verily Life Sciences dedicated to helping people living with diabetes. She will also serve as the Chair for Sanofi’s U.S. Country Council starting on January 1, 2019

Michelle has a broad commercial background which includes substantial P&L accountability, extensive partnerships, significant organizational results, and strategic innovation work. Throughout her career, she has demonstrated her skills as a passionate, patient-centric leader who consistently holds herself and the organization to drive outcomes and better experiences for patients. She joined Sanofi in January 2018, bringing deep knowledge across many therapeutic areas including CNS, women’s health, musculoskeletal and diabetes. During her 25 years with Eli Lilly, she held progressively more senior roles in sales, marketing, human resources, and general management. Most recently, Michelle served as Chief Operating Officer for the International Business of Lilly, where she was responsible to drive the commercial operations and strategy.

Michelle is recognized for championing women’s issues and education. She is one of the Sanofi ambassadors for the Healthcare Businesswomen’s Association Gender Parity Collaborative.  She served as executive sponsor of Lilly’s Women’s Leadership Network for several years. She also served as a member of the Advisory Council for St. Mary’s Child Center, is currently an Advisor to the JBW Women in Management Center at Purdue University, and serves on the Alumni Board at DePauw University.

She is also member of the Health Leadership Council, an exclusive coalition of healthcare executives aiming to help make affordable, high-quality care accessible to all.

Michelle earned her Bachelor of Arts in Economics from DePauw University.

Michele Sharp received her Doctor of Pharmacy degree from Butler University in Indianapolis, Indiana in 1994. She started her pharmaceutical career as a hospital pharmacist at Methodist Hospital in Indianapolis. In 1995, Michele joined Eli Lilly and Company where her career has spanned across 4 different assignments in the organization, including US Medical Affairs and Global Regulatory Affairs. Her experience in Regulatory Affairs includes leading label development for several US New Drug Applications, serving as the liaison between a Lilly product development team and the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to obtain regulatory approvals for new formulations and indications for the product, and supervising a group of 20 Regulatory reviewers who review all advertising and promotional materials for over 20 US marketed products. In this role, she has worked to develop mutually productive relationships with the leaders within the FDA Office of Prescription Drug Promotion. Michele has presented oral testimony on behalf of Lilly at FDA hearings and participated on expert panels at various professional conferences on topics ranging from health information technology and challenges in advertising and promotion for prescription drugs, how to leverage the Targeted Product Profile (TPP) tool during the drug development process to maximize efficiencies in both drug development and commercial phases, ways to apply a quality system framework in the development, dissemination and maintenance of advertising and promotion and incorporating health literacy principles during development of consumer safety information for consumer-directed advertising.

Kyle Skiermont is the Chief Operating Officer for Fairview Pharmacy Services, a leading health system based pharmacy organization in Minneapolis, MN. He received his PharmD from the University of Nebraska Medical Center College of Pharmacy. As COO, Kyle is responsible for strategy and overall operations of Fairview Pharmacy's specialty pharmacy, retail, MTM, mail order, long term care, compounding, home infusion and community infusion business units.

Kyle has spent 20+ years in pharmacy including traditional retail, clinic based retail, outpatient pharmacy at an academic health center, community and home infusion, specialty, and mail order. In addition, he is a frequent media and professional spokesperson on a variety of pharmacy topics.

Steve Basilotto serves as chief experience officer for Froedtert Health, charged with identifying and executing leading edge opportunities to provide customers, patients and staff with an experience they want and value. Steve draws upon his 30 years of pairing a people-centric approach with technology and analytics to deliver consumer-guided innovations. His additional responsibilities for corporate marketing, communications, strategic planning, performance measurement, innovation and a digital health company for Froedtert Health, directly support the creation of an atmosphere of engagement and discovery.

Steve’s direct-to-customer experience spans financial services, health insurance, technology and now health provision services. In recent years, he served as head of enterprise consumer experience and consumer service operations for Aetna. Previously, Steve was COO of USAA Bank, a US financial services firm consistently recognized at the top of Forrester’s annual US Customer Experience Index. Prior to USAA, Steve held senior leadership positons in operations, technology, analytics and strategy at HSBC, GE Capital and Fidelity Investments.

Steve’s refreshing approach inspires purpose-driven customer interactions grounded in respect, possibility and fun. His team members describe his leadership style as emotionally intuitive and collaborative. In describing his own leadership philosophy, Steve says “Everyone benefits when we align our strengths with dynamic business opportunities. I set high standards but empower and trust my team with the next challenge.”

An adventure-seeking family man, Steve loves his time with his wife and son, including playing or watching sports and trying new restaurants. His interest in classic and exotic cars hints at his passion for innovation.

Froedtert Health is a Milwaukee, Wisconsin-based integrated health care system providing a variety of health-related services including hospitals and health centers, home care, laboratory, health insurance, employer health services and workplace clinics, and digital health solutions. Froedtert Health combines with the Medical College of Wisconsin to offer five hospitals, more than 1,600 physicians and nearly 40 health centers and clinics in southeast Wisconsin, drawing patients from throughout the Midwest and the nation.

There are several words to describe Dr. Christopher Boone: health futurist, patient advocate, executive, professor, social scientist, and self-proclaimed “data hippie.” Boone is recognized as being a dynamic, innovative thought leader and a public voice on the power of health data and its ability to radically change the U.S. health care delivery system. Most recently, he was honored as a 2017 40 Under 40 Leader in Minority Health by the National Minority Quality Forum and Congressional Black Caucus.

Boone currently serves as the Vice President of Real World Data & Analytics at Pfizer, an adjunct professor in the health informatics program at the University of Cincinnati, and a co-founder of a few start-up companies. Prior to Pfizer, he was a Vice President at Avalere Health and the Executive Director/CEO of the Health Data Consortium (HDC), a public-private partnership working to build a national movement on the use of open health data to transform the U.S. health care system.

Boone has held appointments on several prominent national committees, including the Executive Board of Directors for the Patient Advocate Foundation and the National Patient Advocate Foundation, the National Quality Forum’s (NQF) Interoperability Committee, the advisory group for Robert Wood Johnson Foundation’s Data Across Sector for Health (DASH) initiative, the Board of Directors for SHARE for Cures, the Federal Health IT Policy Committee, the advisory group for the American Society of Clinical Oncologists CancerLinQ initiative, and the National Committee on Vital and Health Statistics Working Group on HHS Data Access and Use.

Originally from Dallas, Texas, Dr. Boone earned a B.S. from the University of Tulsa, a M.S. from the University of Texas at Arlington, a PhD from the University of Texas at Dallas, and two executive certificates from the Harvard Kennedy School. In addition, he is a certified healthcare executive and Fellow of the American College of Healthcare Executives.

John is a COPD Patient diagnosed in 2005. His career was in retail as District Manager and troubleshooter and then as a Marketing Director. He left the workforce in 2011. After engaging in an educational COPD internet film project and being asked to share his story at a pharmaceutical conference, John decided his efforts would be best spent in advocacy work for the COPD community. 
John is a member of the Board of Directors, US COPD Coalition. He is Wisconsin Advocacy Captain for the COPD Foundation. He also serves on the Executive Board of Directors for EFFORTS (an international support group for the COPD community).

He is serving on the Governing Board for the COPD Foundation Patient Powered Research Network (PCORI). John also sits as a Patient Reviewer for Peer Review Medical Research Programs for the Department of Defense.

His involvement in social media and interacting with other patients and caregivers led to a position of Research Associate with the Breathe Chicago Center at University of Illinois/Chicago.

John is also a Co-investigator for a PCORI funded study at Johns Hopkins: Impact of a Peer Support Program Amongst COPD Patients and Their Caregivers.

Erin Moriarty Wade is a freelance writer specializing in healthcare and the mom of a child with a rare autoimmune disease. She has covered everything from the AIDS epidemic in Southeast Asia to hospital competition in Atlanta, but now she mostly does content writing and editing for healthcare organizations. She brings a depth of personal experience and unique insights when writing about healthcare.

A graduate of American University in Washington, D.C., she also earned a master’s degree in journalism from Columbia University in New York City.

Follow her on Twitter @EMoriartyWade.

Kristina Figueroa is a “make the impossible inevitable” type. She is a T1D patient + patient advocate + connector of people to knowledge. Her career and background combines her passion for advancing research while meeting people and patients where they are. She works for Sydney-Based George Clinical, helping connect KOLs to Clinical Trials through a Scientific Leadership model, which helps drive site, physician and patient engagement by harnessing a peer-to-peer relationship of physicians.

Kristina studied Public Health and launched her career in clinical research. She has helped lead several initiatives around Patient Perspectives, both on a global and national level, working alongside leaders from various groups. These initiatives include, but are not limited to, a collaborative partnership with the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation, a similar initiative with JDRF, Patient Perspectives roundtable discussions for operational staff to meet patients like the ones they see as data points, and facilitated discussions around protocol development with real life patients.

She currently serves on the Executive Committee for the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation’s local Board of Directors, as well as the Healthcare Business Women’s association. She jumps at the chance to challenge herself, learn and grow, and influences her colleagues and teammates to do the same, while having fun

Pujita Vaidya serves as the Senior Advisor on the Patient-Focused Drug Development Program in the Office of the Center Director, in the Center for Drug Evaluation and Research (CDER) at the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA). She has been with the FDA since 2012 and leads the operations of CDER’s Patient-Focused Drug Development initiative, an effort to systematically obtain patient input and facilitate the incorporation of meaningful patient input into drug development and regulatory decision making. Prior to her current role, she served as the Acting Director for the Decision Support and Analysis Team in the Office of Strategic Programs, leading the operations of PFDD initiative and the development of CDER’s Benefit-Risk Framework and its implementation in the drug review process. Pujita is also a member of the International Council for Harmonization (ICH) Management Committee. Pujita holds a Master of Public Health degree in infectious diseases and vaccine science and policy from Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, MD, and a bachelor’s degree in biochemistry from Wheaton College, MA.