Dr Edward Abrahams is President of the Personalized Medicine Coalition (PMC). Representing innovators, scientists, patients, providers and payers, PMC promotes the understanding and adoption of personalised medicine concepts, services and products for the benefit of patients and the health system. It has grown from its original 18 founding members in 2004 to over 225 today.

Previously Dr Abrahams was Executive Director of the Pennsylvania Biotechnology Association, where he spearheaded the successful effort that led to the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania’s investment of $200m to commercialise biotechnology in the state. Earlier he had been Assistant Vice President for Federal Relations at the University of Pennsylvania and Director of Government Relations at Brown University. He worked for seven years for the US Congress, including as a Legislative Assistant to Senator Lloyd Bentsen, an Economist for the Joint Economic Committee under the chairmanship of Representative Lee Hamilton, and as a AAAS Congressional Fellow for Representative Edward Markey.

The author of numerous essays, Dr Abrahams serves on the editorial board of Personalized Medicine and has also taught history and public policy at Brown University and the University of Pennsylvania.

Kofi Amegashie is Managing Executive, Africa of Adcock Ingram Healthcare Pty. Ltd with responsibility for all business operations on the African continent outside South Africa. He also serves on the executive committee of the company as a well as a number of boards.

Prior to joining Adcock Ingram Healthcare, Mr Amegashie had over 25 years of business experience. In 2010, he joined the financial services firm, Alexander Forbes Group as Chief Executive Officer of the Africa business until the sale of the short-term insurance business to Marsh. This followed three years, from 2006-2009, spent at The Coca-Cola Company in Nigeria as Director for Marketing, Strategy and Business Planning. During this time he was also President of the Advertisers Association of Nigeria.

Keen to contribute to the growth of business in Africa, Mr Amegashie joined the International Finance Corporation (IFC) in 2002 with responsibility for small and medium enterprise (SME) development in Africa and was seconded to Johannesburg to drive the strategy development for the commercialisation of the Africa Project Development Facility (a multi- donor funded facility that is focused on the sustainable development of SMEs in Africa) and later, in 2003, co-founded a pan-African consulting firm, Strat Afrique, specialising in business strategy development and implementation.

Mr Amegashie graduated with a BSc degree from Exeter University in 1987 and in July 1996 completed a Master’s degree in Management with the Sloan programme at the London Business School.

Richard Bergström has been the Director General of the European Federation of Pharmaceutical Industries and Associations (EFPIA) since April 2011. Previously he served for nine years as the Director-General of LIF, the Swedish Association of the Pharmaceutical Industry, following positions in Switzerland in regulatory affairs at the pharmaceutical companies Roche and Novartis. Mr Bergström was also appointed by the Swedish Government to the Board of the Karolinska Institute. He is a pharmacist by training, receiving his MSc Pharm degree from the University of Uppsala, Sweden in 1988.

Prior to joining Russell Reynolds Associates in 1995, Mr Bouwens served for five years as Director, Human Resources Europe for St Jude Medical, a global medical technology and services company. At St Jude, he was responsible for the creation of the company's European organisation, headquartered in Brussels with sales offices in 12 countries throughout Europe. Previously, he held a number of human resources positions at GE.

Mr Bouwens received his MS degree in Social and Organisational Psychology from the State University of Utrecht, the Netherlands, and his MS degree in Industrial Psychology from the University of Hull.

William Burns has spent all his career in Pharmaceuticals working for Beecham and then for Roche Pharmaceuticals. Mr Burns retired from his position as CEO of Roche Pharmaceuticals at the end of 2009. He is now a non-executive director in several healthcare companies, notably Roche Holdings (Switzerland); Shire Pharmaceuticals (Ireland); Biotie Therapeutics (Finland); Chugai (Japan); Vestergaard (Switzerland) and Masters Pharmaceuticals (UK). He also chairs the Department of Health (England) and Wellcome funding panel for their joint Health Innovation Challenge Fund. Mr Burns is also on the Advisory Boards for the Centre for Integrated Oncology, Cologne and Bonn, and for Healthcare at Strathclyde, his former university.

Darren Campili is Managing Director, Head of Healthcare Banking EMEA at Deutsche Bank based in London. He was previously an MD in Deutsche Bank’s New York Healthcare team. Prior to Deutsche Bank, Mr Campili was a Senior Vice President and Global Head of Business Development within Novartis' Consumer Division, and prior to that Vice President and Head of Business Development for Sandoz. He was also a member of Novartis' Corporate Executive Group. Prior to joining Novartis, Mr Campili was in Credit Suisse's Healthcare Investment Banking Group. Before business school he was at Arthur Andersen as a Senior Tax Consultant. Mr Campili holds an MBA from Columbia University, Beta Gamma Sigma and a BS from Northeastern University, Magna Cum Laude.

Said Darwazah is the Chief Executive Officer of Hikma Pharmaceuticals PLC, a leading global generic pharmaceutical manufacturer with operations across the US, Europe and the Middle East and North Africa. Mr Darwazah was Chairman and Chief Executive of the Hikma group’s holding company from 1994 to 2003 and Minister of Health for the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan from 2003 to 2006. During his 32 years at Hikma, Mr Darwazah has undertaken several executive roles which have provided him with extensive experience in each functional area of Hikma’s global generic pharmaceuticals business and in the broader strategic leadership of an international entrepreneurial organisation. He has played a key role in the development of the group strategy, including the acquisition of West-Ward

Pharmaceuticals in the USA and the development of the Injectables business in Europe and the MENA region.

Mr Darwazah has a degree in Industrial Engineering from Purdue University and an MBA from INSEAD.

Nikos Dedes is Founder and Chair of ‘Positive Voice’, the Greek Association of People Living with HIV and Founder and Vice-Chair of ‘Prometheus’, the Hellenic Liver Patient Association. Mr Dedes is a past Chair of the European AIDS Treatment Group (EATG). Currently he is a member of the Management Board of the European Medicines Agency (EMA), a member of the Steering Committee of the European HIV Clinical Trials Network, a member of the HIV Treatment Guidelines Panel of the European AIDS Clinical Society, a member of the Strategic and Technical Advisory Committee for HIV/AIDS at WHO, a member of the DIA Advisory Council of Europe (ACE) and a member of various advisory boards for DG Research projects and at the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC).

Dr Marijn Dekkers took over as Chairman of Bayer AG’s Group Board of Management in October 2010. He is a member of the Board of Directors of General Electric in the United States. He is also Vice President of the German Chemical Industry Association (VCI), and member of the Executive Committee of the Federation of German Industry (BDI). Dr Dekkers is also a member of the Business Council and the Business Roundtable, two US based associations of business leaders and CEOs of leading US companies. Prior to joining Bayer in January 2010, Dr Dekkers was President and CEO of Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc, having previously served as Chief Operating Officer of Thermo Electron Corporation, the world’s leading manufacturer of laboratory instruments (later renamed Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. following the acquisition of laboratory supplier Fisher Scientific). This followed a period at AlliedSignal (subsequently Honeywell International Inc.) which he joined in 1995.

Dr Dekkers began his professional career in 1985 as a scientist at the corporate research centre of General Electric in the United States, gaining experience in various units of the company. He graduated in chemistry and chemical engineering.

Eyal Desheh was appointed Acting President and CEO of Teva in October 2013. He has more thirteen years of experience serving in global roles at Teva, first as Deputy Chief Financial Officer from 1989 to 1996, and then returning to take over the role of Group Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer in 2008. In these positions, Mr Desheh had responsibility for financial management, information technology, risk management and administration globally. As the longest standing member of Teva’s Executive Committee, he was also highly involved in the development of Teva’s global strategy, announced in 2012.

Between his positions at Teva, Mr Desheh served as Chief Financial Officer and Chief Operating Officer of Check Point Software Technologies Ltd, an international provider of IT security products, from 2000 until 2008. Previously he was Chief Financial Officer of Scitex Ltd, one of Israel’s first high-tech companies and a world leader in digital imaging solutions. Earlier in his career, he spent six years working in the United States in the financial services industry.

Mr Desheh holds a BA in Economics and an MBA in Finance, both from the Hebrew University.

Ciarán Devane is Chief Executive, Macmillan Cancer Support, a position he assumed in May 2007. Mr Devane also Co-Chairs the National Cancer Survivorship Initiative and is a Trustee of the National Council for Voluntary Organisation and the Makaton Charity. He also serves on the Advisory Council of the Cicely Saunders Institute. In January 2012, he was appointed as a Non-Executive Director of NHS England. Previous positions held by Mr Devane include time at Gemini Consulting, an international management consultancy firm and eight years at ICI. He has also served as Chairman of a major housing association. He was educated at University College, Dublin where he gained first class Honours in Biochemical Engineering. He also holds a Master’s degree in International Policy from George Washington University, Washington DC.

Joan Dzenowagis is an international health policy specialist at the World Health Organization, with experience in information and communication technology (ICT) and public health, policy and strategy development. Ms Dzenowagis has held posts in disease surveillance, information technology strategy and research, as well as managing an international public-private partnership in ICT and health. Currently she is responsible for eHealth governance, with a focus on national eHealth strategy development, eHealth policy and ethics, and health Internet affairs.

Dr Stephen Eck is Vice President and Global Head of Oncology Medical Science at Astellas Pharma Global Development. He is responsible for the oversight of oncology drug development plans. Much of this work is focused on special cancer populations for which unique biology enables the development of personalised cancer therapies.

Dr Eck previously served as Vice President, Translational Medicine & Pharmacogenomics at Eli Lilly and Company where he was responsible for the clinical pharmacology components of drug development. His group also developed the biomarkers and companion diagnostics needed for effective decision-making and for tailoring therapeutics to the right patient population. Prior to Joining Lilly, he served in a variety of leadership roles at Pfizer, Inc.

Dr Eck is a Hematologist/Oncologist with broad drug development experience in Oncology and Neuroscience. He is a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement  of Science and serves on the Scientific Advisory Board of the ACGT Foundation. He also serves on the Advisory Board of the Keck Graduate School, and is a Board member of the Personalized Medicine Coalition.

Dietmar Eidens is Executive Vice President, Human Resources for Merck Serono. He is also a member of the Pharmaceutical Executive Committee. In 2010, Mr Eidens joined Merck Serono from F. Hoffmann-LaRoche, where he held various positions in Human Resources, commencing in 2001, first as Global Head of HR, Pharma Development, and since July 2005 as Global Head of HR, Pharma Research, Development and Licensing. His previous professional experience includes senior global HR positions with GAP, Inc. in San Francisco and Tokyo.

Prior to joining GAP, Mr Eidens held HR positions in the IT/High-Tech industry based in the US and Europe. He was co-founder of a consulting firm specialising in change management and HR transformation.

Mr Eidens is a System Engineer in Informatics. He holds a Master’s Degree in English, Theology and Educational Sciences from the University of Mainz, Germany and an MBA from Henley College in London.

Since January 2012 Dr Roberto Gradnik is Chief Executive Officer of Stallergenes, a European biopharmaceutical company specialised in the treatment of severe respiratory allergies with allergen immunotherapy. Trained as a physician, Dr Gradnik has more than 25 years’ experience in the pharmaceutical and biotechnology sector. After holding various positions with the Knoll Group (a subsidiary of the BASF Group), including that of Vice-President International Marketing Cardiovascular, he joined the Serono Group in 1999 as Italy’s General Manager and Head of Southern European subsidiaries. He was then appointed Executive Vice President for Europe, in charge of all European markets, and a member of the Executive Committee. He continued in the same position for Merck Serono after the acquisition of Serono by Merck AG, more recently, holding the position of Executive Vice-President, Global Business Unit for Neurodegenerative Diseases for Merck Serono.

Jane Griffiths is the first female Company Group Chairman of Janssen in EMEA, the pharmaceutical division of the Johnson & Johnson family. She is responsible for this business across the entire region. Her personal approach focuses on sustainability, accountability, openness and collaboration, and she is leading Janssen EMEA to live these values.

Ms Griffiths has held a number of senior sales, marketing and R&D positions including

International Vice President for Western Europe and South Africa, and Head of Market Access for Janssen EMEA. She is a member of the steering committee of the Johnson & Johnson Women’s Leadership Initiative and the Senior Advisory Board of the EMEA Healthcare Businesswomen’s Association (HBA). Other industry roles include Co-Chairwoman of the EFPIA Executive Committee and Chairwoman of the PhRMA Europe Committee. A passionate conservationist, Ms Griffiths is Chair of the Johnson & Johnson Global Pharmaceuticals Sustainability Council and a Board member. She is also a member of the Johnson & Johnson Corporate Citizenship Trust in EMEA.

Ms Griffiths holds a PhD in Biochemistry from the University of Aberystwyth, UK.

Professor David Haslam is Chair of the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence. He is also past-President of the British Medical Association, past-President of the Royal College of General Practitioners and visiting Professor in Primary Health Care at de Montfort University, Leicester. Professor Haslam was a GP in Ramsey, Cambridgeshire, for many years and has been Chair of the NHS Evidence Advisory Committee, Co-Chair of the NHS Future Forum Information subgroup, an expert member of the NHS National Quality Board, Chair of the NQB Quality Information Committee, and National Clinical Adviser to both the Care Quality Commission and the Healthcare Commission. He is a Fellow of the Royal College of General Practicioners (RCGP), a Fellow of the Faculty of Public Health, a Fellow of the Academy of Medical Educators, and a Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians.

Professor Haslam was Chairman of Council of the RCGP from 2001 to 2004, and was also a member of the NHS Modernisation Board, Vice Chairman of the Academy of Medical Royal Colleges, a member of the Postgraduate Medical Education Training Board, a member of NHS Medical Education England, and Co-Chair of the MMC Programme Board from 2006 – 2009. He has written 13 books, mainly on health topics for the lay public and translated into 13 languages, and well over a thousand articles for the medical and lay press. He was awarded the CBE in 2004 for services to Medicine and Health Care.

Dr John Howe became President and CEO of Project HOPE on May 1, 2001. Project HOPE is an international health education and humanitarian assistance foundation which operates more than 70 programmes in 35 countries on five continents. Before coming to Project HOPE, Dr Howe held the Distinguished Chair in Health Policy at The University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio and had served as the Center’s Chief Executive for fifteen years.

Dr Howe is board certified in both internal medicine and cardiovascular disease and was a tenured Professor in the University’s Department of Medicine. He has a Bachelor’s degree from Amherst College and earned his medical degree from Boston University School of Medicine. He served two years in the Army Medical Corps and later completed the Health Systems Management Programme at Harvard Business School.

Luke Johnson is Chairman of The Institute of Cancer Research. He is also Chairman/part owner of Patisserie Valerie and Gail’s bakeries and serves as a Director at Metro Bank plc. For six years until 2010 he served as Chairman of Channel 4 Television. He was Chairman of PizzaExpress PLC in the 1990s and Chairman of Giraffe for nine years until its sale to Tesco in 2013. He co-founded the largest UK chain of dental surgeries, Integrated Dental Holdings, which was sold for £500m in 2011. Mr Johnson writes a weekly essay in The Financial Times and has written a number of books on business. He studied physiology at Oxford University.

Jean-Paul Kress is President of Sanofi Pasteur MSD, a joint European venture between Sanofi Pasteur, the vaccine division of Sanofi, and Merck (known as MSD outside the US and Canada). Sanofi Pasteur MSD is dedicated exclusively to vaccines and develops Sanofi Pasteur's and Merck's vaccines from phase II b onwards for license and marketing in 19 Western European countries. Dr Kress joined the company in 2011.

Prior to joining Sanofi Pasteur MSD, Dr Kress was Vice President and General Manager in France for Gilead. He joined Gilead in 2006 as Vice President, US Sales and Marketing, Antiviral Business Unit, and during his five years with the company, he ensured strong business results while also delivering new HIV treatments. Starting his career in 1993 as a product manager for Prozac at Eli Lilly, Dr Kress moved to Abbott Laboratories to take up the role of Marketing Director in France. He then became International Marketing Director for Anti-Infectives and Cardiovascular in Abbott's headquarters in Chicago before moving to Copenhagen, to become General Manager of Abbott Laboratories Denmark.

Dr Kress holds a MD degree from Faculté Necker-Enfants Malades in Paris, France, and is an alumni from the prestigious Ecole Normale Supérieure in Paris, France.

Dr Denis Lacombe was appointed as Director at the European Organisation for Research and Treatment of Cancer (EORTC) headquarters in November 2010 with mission of ensuring that the functioning of the headquarters is in line with the decisions of the EORTC Board and to develop and coordinate the future EORTC Scientific Strategy in accordance with evolving health care ecosystems. From September 1993 to January 2013 Dr Lacombe worked as Clinical Research Physician at (EORTC) in Brussels involved in various Groups. Currently, amongst his activities, he is responsible for the Early Project Optimization Department which is dedicated to ensuring that EORTC studies are in line with EORTC strategy. In previous positions at EORTC, prior to 2007, he was Assistant Director Medical Affairs, coordinating the EORTC New Drug Development Team and conducting new drug development studies. From 1991 to 1993, he worked as Clinical Research Adviser in charge of the development of a new oncology drug for the pharmaceutical industry.

Dr Lacombe graduated as MD from the University of Marseilles (France) in 1998, and was granted for a Master Post-doctoral Fellowship at the Roswell Park Cancer Institute, Buffalo, NY, USA for Fundamental and Clinical Pharmacokinetics in 1991.

Yann Le Cam has dedicated 25 years of professional and personal commitment to health and medical research non-governmental organisations in France, Europe and the United States in the fields of cancer, HIV/AIDS and rare diseases. Mr Le Cam was one of the founding members of EURORDIS in 1997, and was nominated Chief Executive Officer in 2001. He has participated to the revision and adoption of European regulations impacting the life of rare disease patients, including the EU Regulation on Orphan Drugs of December 1999. Mr Le Cam was one of three patient representatives appointed to the Committee for Orphan Medicinal Products (COMP) at the European Medicines Agency (EMA) for three mandates, and served as its elected Vice Chairman from 2000 to 2006. He served on the Management Board and Executive Committee of the French HTA agency, ANAES, now called HAS, for five years. He was elected Vice-Chair of the EU Committee of Experts on Rare Diseases (EUCERD) for a three year mandate (2010-2013).

Mr Le Cam holds an Executive MBA from the Hautes Etudes de Commerces – HEC – Jouy-en-Josas France (2000) and an MBA from the Institut Superieur de Gestion (1984), Paris, France.

Until recently, Dr Levin was the President and CEO of Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd. He is a physician and scientist by training and has worked in the pharmaceutical industry for more than 25 years, building a broad range of relationships with biotech, large pharmaceutical companies and academia. Prior to joining Teva, Dr Levin served on the executive committee of Bristol-Myers Squibb (BMS) and had global responsibilities for strategy, alliances and all transactions. He previously held the position of Global Head of Strategic Alliances at Novartis Institutes of Biomedical Research. In this role, he was the strategic point of contact for worldwide alliances with academia and biotechnology, and also established all strategic collaborations.

In 2005 Dr Levin was the recipient of the Albert Einstein Award for Leadership in Life Sciences and in 2012, FierceBiotech voted him as one of the 25 most influential people in Biopharma. In November 2013, B’nai B’rith bestowed upon him their Award for Distinguished Achievement. Dr Levin holds a BA and MA, as well as a doctorate in Cell Biology and Chromatin Structure from the University of Oxford. He did his medical and surgical training at the University of Cambridge.

Ciaran Murray is the Chief Executive Officer of ICON plc. He has 30 years of leadership experience forged from a career spent operating in global markets in high-growth entrepreneurial companies and blue-chip multi-nationals, including PwC, Kraft Foods, Novell Inc. and Northern Foods. He is the Vice-Chairman of the Association of Clinical Research Organisations (ACRO), which represents the CRO industry globally to pharmaceutical, biotech and medical device companies, regulators and legislators, peer associations, academic organisations, patient groups, the media and the public. Mr Murray graduated with a Bachelor of Commerce degree from University College Dublin and he is a Fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in Ireland.

Dr Lee Newcomer is a Senior Vice President at UnitedHealthcare with strategic responsibility for Oncology, Genetics and Women’s Health. Dr Newcomer is a board certified medical oncologist; he practised medical oncology for nine years in Tulsa, Oklahoma, and Minneapolis (Park Nicollet Clinic). He is the former Chairman of Park Nicollet Health Services (now HealthPartners), an integrated system of physicians and hospitals in the Minneapolis and St Paul metropolitan area. The group is nationally recognised for its leadership in quality, safety and cost effectiveness.

Dr Newcomer began his management career as a Medical Director for CIGNA Health Care of Kansas City in 1990. From 1991 to 2000, he was the Chief Medical Officer at UnitedHealthcare where his work emphasised the development of performance measures and incentives to improve clinical care. he was a founding executive of Vivius, a consumer directed venture that allowed consumers to create their own personalised health plans. He returned to UnitedHealthcare in 2006 to focus on combining clinical, financial and administrative incentives for improved and affordable cancer care.

Dr Newcomer earned a BA degree from Nebraska Wesleyan University, an MD degree from the University of Nebraska College of Medicine, and a Masters of Health Administration from the University of Wisconsin at Madison. He completed his internship and residency in internal medicine at the University of Nebraska Medical Center and a fellowship in medical oncology at the Yale University School of Medicine.

Daniel O’Day was appointed Chief Operating Officer of the Pharmaceutical Division of Roche in September 2012. Previously, Mr O’Day was the Chief Operating Officer of the Diagnostics Division starting in January 2010.

Mr O’Day acquired extensive commercial experience through diverse roles within Roche worldwide. These began at Roche Pharma in the US where he held various commercial and sales roles between 1987 and 1998. He then moved to the Roche Pharma headquarters in Switzerland where he held leadership roles in Global Marketing and Lifecycle Management until 2001. Subsequently, he was Head of Corporate Planning at Roche Pharma, in Tokyo, Japan between 2001 and 2003, General Manager at Roche Pharma in Denmark between 2003 and 2006, and President of Roche Molecular Diagnostics in California between 2006 and 2009.

Mr O’Day obtained a Bachelor of Science in Biology from Georgetown University, Washington, DC, in 1986 and an MBA from Columbia University, New York, NY, in 1997.

John Parkinson took up the post of Director, Clinical Practice Research Datalink (CPRD), in 2012, having run the General Practice Research Database (GPRD) for the MHRA since 2005. He was also seconded to the Research Capability Programme which came together with GPRD to form the new enlarged observational and interventional data research system.

Dr Parkinson gained his PhD in Biochemistry from the University of Liverpool and has worked for and as a consultant to the pharmaceutical and wider healthcare industries. Before joining the MHRA he worked as Client Services Director at the University of Dundee on the Tayside Record Linkage system.

Dr Joerg Reinhardt is Chairman of the Board of Directors for Novartis, a position he assumed in August 2013. Dr Reinhardt previously served as Chairman of the Board of Management and the Executive Committee of Bayer HealthCare. Prior to that, he served as Chief Operating Officer of Novartis from 2008 to 2010, and as Head of the Vaccines and Diagnostics Division of Novartis from 2006 to 2008. He also served as Chairman of the Board of the Genomics Institute of the Novartis Research Foundation in the United States from 2000 to 2010; as a member of the supervisory board of MorphoSys AG in Germany from 2001 to 2004; and as a member of the board of directors of Lonza Group AG in Switzerland from 2012 to 2013. He is currently a member of the Council of the International Federation of Pharmaceutical Manufacturers and Associations (IFPMA).

Dr Reinhardt began his career in the industry at Sandoz Pharma Ltd which he joined in 1982 and held various positions including Head of Development. Following the merger that created Novartis in 1996, he became Head of Preclinical Development and Project Management at Novartis, and assumed the position of Head of Pharmaceutical Development in 1999. He graduated with a PhD in Pharmaceutical Sciences from Saarland University in Germany.

Dr Hakan Sakul is currently an Executive Director in the Development Operations Group of Pfizer where he leads companion diagnostics efforts across the Worldwide R&D organisation. His responsibilities also include oversight of Pfizer’s internal Biobank group, and additionally, he serves as the Development Operations Site Head for Pfizer’s La Jolla, California Laboratories. Dr Sakul’s tenure at Pfizer started with Parke-Davis Pharmaceuticals where he directed human genetics, statistical genetics and pharmacogenetics programmes. Subsequently, he served as Director and Site Head for Clinical Pharmacogenomics in Groton/New London Laboratories before taking the role of Senior Director and Global Head of Companion Diagnostics to oversee Pfizer’s companion diagnostics needs across the pharmaceutical portfolio. He later moved to Pfizer’s Oncology Business Unit to serve as Program Manager for the Xalkori (Crizotinib) Companion Diagnostics Development programme, leading to simultaneous FDA approvals of both the drug and the companion diagnostic test in August 2011. He was then promoted to his current role to provide companion diagnostics leadership across Pfizer’s pharmaceutical pipeline.

Dr Jonathan Sheldon is Global Vice President responsible for Oracle’s Health Sciences product portfolio including the areas of translational medicine and personalised healthcare. Previously, Dr Sheldon was Chief Scientific Officer at InforSense (acquired by IDBS), where he was responsible for the company's strategic direction in the health sciences market, as well as leading the consulting group responsible for customer implementations. Prior to InforSense, he was Chief Technology Officer for Confirmant Ltd, where he was responsible for developing the company's proteomics products and services. He also established the first bioinformatics group and was Head of Bioinformatics for five years at Roche Welwyn, UK.

Dr Sheldon holds a PhD in Molecular Biology/Biochemistry from the University of Cambridge.

Rogier Snijdewind is an Advisor for Responsible Investment at PGGM and has been working for PGGM's Responsible Investment department since January 2008. PGGM currently has around €140bn of assets under management and is the investment manager of, amongst others, the pension fund for the Dutch healthcare sector (the second largest pension fund in the Netherlands). Mr Snijdewind’s areas of expertise are health (focusing on engagement with companies in the pharmaceutical, healthcare equipment and beverages sectors), corporate governance and voting. He is also a member of the Eumedion Research Committee, has participated in the Eumedion Reference Group researching "The Duration and Turnover of Dutch Equity Ownership – A Case Study of Dutch Institutional Investors", and is a member of the Reference Group for the Access to Medicine Impact Assessment.

Previously Mr Snijdewind worked for Institutional Shareholder Services and RiskMetrics in various roles. He holds a degree in Public Administration.

Pascal Soriot is Chief Executive Officer of AstraZeneca, a position he assumed in October 2012. Prior to joining AstraZeneca, from 2006 to 2012 Mr Soriot was with Roche Holding AG, Basel where he had held a number of positions to include: Head of Global Strategic Marketing; Head of Commercial Operation; Chief Executive Officer, Genentech; and Chief Operating Officer, Head of Pharmaceuticals. Mr Soriot joined Roche from Sanofi-Aventis, where, from the period 1986 to 2005, he had a long and varied career. Prior to his commercial career, he practised as a veterinarian. He holds an MBA with a major in Finance from HEC Paris.

Mike Standing is the Life Sciences and Healthcare industry leader for Deloitte for EMEA. Mr Standing has consulted to leading pharmaceutical and healthcare organisations in Europe, US and China for over 20 years, focusing on commercial strategy, operations and R&D productivity. In addition, he is currently leading major programmes to understand how real world evidence can transform health outcomes and productivity. He also advises governments on building healthcare clusters and is a member of the UK's Global Medical Excellence Cluster (GMEC) Advisory Board. Prior to joining Deloitte, Mr Standing was Co-Head of Life Sciences for the Monitor Group and Global Head of Capgemini's Life Sciences business. He is a graduate of Durham and Cambridge Universities and is based in London.

Dr Miklós Szócska is Minister of State for Health at the Ministry of Human Resources of Hungary, a position he assumed in June 2010. In this role, he is responsible for managing the overall health sector transformation process in Hungary. Before being appointed to his current position, Dr Szócska was Director of the Health Services Management Training Centre of Semmelweis University, Budapest. His specialisation covers various domains of health management and policy, with special emphasis on the critical aspects of management of change, migration of health professionals and the implications of social network studies on the organisation of health care systems.

Dr Szócska graduated at Semmelweis University of Medicine in 1989. He holds a Master of Public Administration degree from John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University, and a PhD from the Semmelweis University in the field of change management.

Professor Sir John Tooke is Vice Provost (Health), Head of the School of Life & Medical Sciences and Head of the Medical School at UCL, and Academic Director of UCL’s Academic Health Science Centre, UCL Partners. Sir John is President of the Academy of Medical Sciences and the immediate past Chair of both the Medical Schools Council and the UK Healthcare Education Advisory Committee (UKHEAC). He is a member of the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) Advisory Board and the Council for Science and Technology. His clinical and research interests focus on diabetes and its vascular complications and he is a recipient of the European Association of Diabetes Camillo Golgi Award. He is former Chair of Diabetes UK Professional Section and former President of the European Society for Microcirculation. The University of Exeter was awarded a Queen’s Anniversary Prize for his work on the pathogenesis of diabetic microangiopathy. In addition to more fundamental work on the complications of diabetes, his research has embraced screening and service delivery, as well as organisational issues and the patient’s perspective. In 2007 Sir John led the Inquiry for the Secretary of State for Health into Postgraduate Medical Education and Training, culminating in the final report, “Aspiring to Excellence”. In the same year he led a high-level group for the CMO on Barriers to Clinical Effectiveness, the report of which led to the creation of CLAHRCs (Collaborations for Leadership in Applied Health Research and Care).

Professor Paul Workman is Deputy Chief Executive of The Institute of Cancer Research (ICR), London, Head of its Division of Cancer Therapeutics and Harrap Professor of Pharmacology and Therapeutics. He is also Director of Cancer Research UK Cancer Therapeutics Unit at ICR – the largest non-profit cancer drug discovery group in the world.

Professor Workman is a pioneer in the discovery of molecular targeted therapies. He has been closely involved in the discovery of around 20 new cancer drugs, including gefitinib (Iressa) which was approved in lung cancer. He is especially renowned for his innovative research on HSP90 and PI3 kinase inhibitors and as the originator of the widely used Pharmacologic Audit Trail for biomarker-led drug development. He has also been the founder of two biotechnology companies, Piramed Pharma and Chroma Therapeutics and advises many companies and other organisations.

Professor Workman was the leader of the ICR/Royal Marsden Hospital Team that won the American Association for Cancer Research Team Science Award in 2012 and he received the 2012 Royal Society of Chemistry World Entrepreneur Award and the Royal Society of Chemistry George & Christine Sosnovsky Award in 2010.

Dr Timothy Wright is Global Head of Development, Novartis Pharmaceuticals. Prior to this appointment in November 2011, Dr Wright was Senior Vice President and Global Head of Translational Sciences (TS) at Novartis Institutes for BioMedical Research (NIBR) where his responsibilities included Translational Medicine, Biomarker Development, Preclinical Safety (toxicology), and Drug Metabolism and Pharmacokinetics. Dr Wright joined Novartis in 2004 as Deputy Head of Exploratory Clinical Development for Translational Research from Pfizer Global Research and Development as the Exploratory Therapy Area Leader for Inflammation. Before joining industry, he was Chief of the Division of Rheumatology and Clinical Immunology at the University of Pittsburgh. Dr Wright received a BA in Biology from the University of Delaware and MD degree from the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine.

Dr Feng Zhao is the Manager for the African Development Bank’s health and pharmaceutical operations. Dr Zhao has more than 25 years of experience in public health, medicine, economics and demography in Africa and Asia. He has extensively worked on service delivery, public-private partnership, eHealth, Sector-wide Approach, health care financing, and public expenditure analysis. His rich experience in managing health programmes from both the government and donor side has strengthened his skills in the areas of strategy development, planning and implementation.

Before he joined the AfDB, Dr Zhao worked for a range of organisations from World Bank, academia, to government agencies. His last position was Senior Health Specialist of the World Bank responsible for both operations and Economic and Sector Work (ESW) in a number of African countries. From 2009 to 2011, he was based in the World Bank’s Ethiopia country office, serving as Chair of the Health Partner Group. He was also the eHealth Coordinator for the World Bank, leading the preparation of an eHealth programme for Africa.

Dr Zhao holds a PhD in Population and Health Economics from the Johns Hopkins University, a Master of Public Health from University of California at Berkeley and a MD from China. He serves as a faculty member for a number of universities.