Kick start the day with a clear view of the priorities, challenges, and opportunities shaping clinical innovation today.

Alan Balch, Executive Chair, Patient Advocate Foundation

• Capitalize on pipeline value by accelerating trial execution through the development of end-to-end drug development capabilities and an innovative development matrix, to better address complex patient needs at speed
• Enable faster, more comprehensive clinical development by forming strategic partnerships where speed, shared expertise, and patient impact are core drivers of success

Eric Hughes, EVP Global R&D and Chief Medical Officer, Teva

• Move beyond isolated AI pilots to scale intelligence across clinical development, enabling insights to flow across studies, teams, and functions
• Improve decision quality, accelerate evidence generation, and increase operational effectiveness through practical AI use strategies, while learning how leading organizations are building learning-driven clinical ecosystems that deliver faster innovation and better outcomes for patients

Stuart Pyle, Partner, Life Sciences R&D, IBM

• Strengthen portfolio resilience by leveraging AI-driven insights to optimize trial site selection and operating models to evolving regulation and patient access needs
• Scale agile, inclusive trial portfolios by embedding decentralized approaches and AI-enabled tools to reduce access barriers and support long-term clinical development priorities

Shobha Dhadda, SVP and Chief Clinical Science and Operations Officer, Clinical Development, Eisai
Cecilia Schott, VP, Head Precision Medicine Portfolio Planning, GSK

Grab a coffee and join our speakers from this mornings sessions to get the chance to ask your questions directly.

Table One: Eric Hughes, EVP Global R&D and Chief Medical Officer, Teva
Table Two: Stuart Pyle, Life Sciences R&D, IBM
Table Three: Shobha Dhadda, SVP and Chief Clinical Science and Operations Officer, Clinical Development, Eisai

Cecilia Schott, VP, Head Precision Medicine Portfolio Planning, GSK

- Secure access to the highest-performing sites by becoming sponsor of choice through stronger partnerships built on trust, transparency and consistent communication
- Elevate the quality of evidence delivered by reducing operational burden through targeted support and resources tailored to each site’s specific needs

Vanessa Gertsen, Head of Feasibility Delivery and Site Engagement, Late Development Oncology, AstraZeneca
Shannon Edwards, US Site Engagement Lead, AstraZeneca
Kathy Mickel, VP, Membership, Education & Programs, SCRS
Michael Oldfield, Director, Regulatory Affairs, Fox Chase Cancer Center

• Strengthen sponsor oversight by embedding quality by design principles and central monitoring at site level to trigger targeted interventions when risk thresholds are met
• Drive proactive improvement through a collaborative RBQM framework that connects sponsors, study teams and sites, creating ongoing feedback loops that surface risks early and support more informed, responsive decision-making

Laura Doyle, Senior Director, Clinical Operations, Alnylam Pharmaceuticals
Anne Marie Inglis, Senior Director, Clinical Operations Asset Lead, GSK
Safwan Kezbor, Executive Medical Director, Global Clinical Development, Shionogi
Justin Goodarz, Chief Commercial Officer, Verified Clinical Trials

Grab lunch and head to an interactive workshop or designated topic-based tables to connect with like-minded peers.

• Improve trial feasibility and recruitment outcomes by creating structured feedback loops with patients that translate real-world insights on awareness, trust, and participation experience into more accessible and better-designed protocols.
• Strengthen patient retention via continuously capturing and acting on patient perspectives around data transparency, AI use, and communication preferences to shape personalized engagement strategies.

Annick de Bruin, Chief Research and Insights Officer, CISCRP

• Discover why recruitment built one study at a time misses how patients and communities actually move through their journey and what it takes to meet them at that breadth
• Hear a live conversation on what continuous, community-wide engagement looks like in practice, and what it means for sponsors managing a portfolio or a single trial

Brian Weiss, CEO, Carebox
Leah Szumita, Senior Director, Clinical Trial Support Center, Blood Cancer United

• Improve recruitment rates and strengthen retention by building meaningful, insight-led engagement with patient communities from the earliest stages of enrolment planning
• Create more diverse and accessible recruitment pathways by combining digital tools with direct community involvement to build trust, expand reach, and strengthen patient participation

Karen Correa, VP Clinical Development Operations, Boehringer Ingelheim
Amanda Decoker, Head of Patient Engagement, Experience and Recruitment, Takeda
Nicole Richie, VP Population Science, Genentech
Tonya Edison, AVP, Clinical Central Services & Innovation, Eli Lilly and Company
Stephen Andrews, Head of Biopharma Partnerships, Natera

Grab a coffee and join our speakers from this afternoon's sessions to get the chance to ask your questions directly.

Table One: Annick de Bruin, Chief Research and Insights Officer, CISCRP
Table Two: Brian Weiss, CEO, Carebox
Table Three: Karen Correa, VP Clinical Development Operations, Boehringer Ingelheim; Amanda Decoker, Head of Patient Engagement, Experience and Recruitment, Takeda; Nicole Richie, VP Population Science, Genentech; Tonya Edison, AVP, Clinical Central Service & Innovation, Eli Lilly and Company; Stephen Andrews, Head of Biopharma Partnerships, Natera

• Speed up evidence generation by challenging outdated practices and making better use of overlooked opportunities in clinical innovation, beyond the familiar focus on recruitment, decentralized trials and automation
• Embed innovation at scale by understanding what sets transforming organizations apart from experimenting ones, and building the leadership mindset needed to succeed in the next era of clinical development

Sammi Tang, SVP, Head of Quantitative Sciences and Evidence Generation, Astellas Life Sciences
Moderator: Amy Turnquist, VP The Americas Operating Board, Healthcare Businesswomen's Association

The Missing Variable in Clinical Trial Performance

Eligibility tells us who can participate. Readiness helps us understand what patients need to make participation possible. Yet conventional recruitment still optimizes primarily for medical eligibility and speed through the funnel. This session explores how readiness can be measured early and continuously, and turned into an operating signal before preventable barriers become screen failure, dropout, enrollment volatility, or rescue.

Brittany Erana, CEO, Jumo Health

Get hands-on in interactive sessions designed to translate ideas into practical, real-world solutions.

Session One: Rethinking Site Selection: Innovate with Emerging Sites
• Expand trial capacity by identifying and activating emerging and under-utilised sites
• Foster cross-functional partnerships and stakeholder buy-in to support innovative site engagement models and build sustainable, trial-ready research networks

Kathy Mickel, VP, Membership, Education & Programs, SCRS

Session Two: Where AI Earns its Place in Global Patient Recruitment

A working conversation among clinical operations leaders about the top opportunities for AI in global patient recruitment, what's real now and what's on the horizon, and how to add it without costing patients the choice and human contact that keep them engaged.

• Which parts of the recruitment path (e.g. identification, outreach, pre-screening, referral, enrollment) are producing measurable gains from AI today and what's coming next
• How sponsors add automation while protecting patient choice and trust: where human involvement stays non-negotiable, what sites need carried through a handoff, and what study teams are finding in their own recruitment data

Matt Walz, CEO, Trialbee

Session Three: Lead portfolio-wide transformation by turning clinical innovation into lasting results - an interactive discussion

Following on from earlier onstage conversation with Sammi Tang, SVP, Head of Quantitative Sciences and Evidence Generation, Astellas Life Sciences, get hands-on in this interactive session designed to translate ideas into practical, real-world solutions.

Join Sammi to dive deeper into what keeps clinical innovation stuck at the pilot stage. Share your own experiences with peers and work together on practical ways to embed innovation across your portfolio.

Sammi Tang, SVP, Head of Quantitative Sciences and Evidence Generation, Astellas Life Sciences

Wrap up the day with our evening drinks reception, the perfect place to continue the conversations after a full day of insights.

Start the day with purpose – connecting, empowering, and elevating this generation of clinical leaders

What can women in pharma leadership teach us about reaching underrepresented patients and trial populations?
- Examine how lessons from advancing as an underrepresented leader can inform efforts to improve representation across clinical trial populations
- Share practical approaches for building trust with underserved communities, increasing enrollment diversity, and creating more accessible and patient-centric trials
- Identify cross-functional strategies that clinical development, operations, and patient engagement teams can implement to remove barriers to participation
- Leave with a concrete action plan and new peer connections to help drive more inclusive clinical research outcomes

Amy Turnquist, VP The Americas Operating Board, Healthcare Businesswomen's Association

• Learn why no single company, research site or community organization can make clinical research more representative on its own and how a coalition model can help turn ambition into measurable progress.
• Design effective partnerships through shared accountability and locally responsive solutions that can strengthen the broader healthcare ecosystem

Quita Beeler Highsmith, VP Population Health Centre of Excellence, Genentech
Alan Balch, Executive Chair, Patient Advocate Foundation

Structured codes tell you that a patient exists, but they rarely tell you who that patient is. This session makes the case that the richest signal about real-world patients’ lives in unstructured clinical notes, and transparency about the source is what earns trust.

Learn what the clinical narrative reveals that codes miss and how we’ve transformed complex data into Patient Intelligence, a connected, actionable solution that brings you closer to the patient. Hear how these insights can shape decisions across the clinical planning journey, from understanding patient populations and treatment patterns to trial design, site strategy, and recruitment.

Madeline Naylor, Chief Clinical Officer, Citeline

Grab a coffee and head to a designated topic-based tables to continue the conversations and connect with like-minded peers.

Creating Smarter, Simpler and More Adaptive Organizations

- Turn trial data, operational experience, and AI-enabled insights into a continuous learning engine that improves study design, execution, and decision-making across the development lifecycle
- Simplify operating models, reduce trial complexity, and equip cross-functional teams with the skills, governance, and processes needed to scale innovation without compromising quality or oversight

Table One Discussion Focus: How can organizations use scientific, operational, and patient-generated insights to improve future development decisions?
Table Two Discussion Focus: How can organizations reduce complexity to improve experiences for both sites and participants?
Table Three Discussion Focus: What capabilities, governance structures, and cultural changes are required to scale AI innovation across clinical development?

- Partner with communities from trial design through delivery to address the real-world barriers that impact participation, access, and engagement
- Create sustainable community research ecosystems that expand representation, accelerate learning across studies, and generate more relevant clinical evidence

Alan Balch, Executive Chair, Patient Advocate Foundation

• Expand access to diverse patient populations through community-based research networks
• Improve trial speed and data quality by with a site-centric approach
• Combine site performance intelligence, AI-enabled patient identification, and engaged site staff to drive stronger trial outcomes

 
Dana Feuchtbaum, Chief Operating Officer, Iterative Health

• Reduce feasibility risk and strengthen the relevance of your evidence base by using patient registry, EHR, and claims data to validate inclusion/exclusion criteria against the realities of how patients present and progress in clinical practice
• Shorten recruitment timelines and produce more generalizable findings by mapping real world patient pathways to identify the right sites, patient populations, and engagement touchpoints before a trial launches
• Enhance trial predictability and performance by leveraging additional operational parameters to outline scenarios, strengthen forecast alignment, identify issues and assess impact of targeted interventions

Gayathri Sridhar, Director, Epidemiology and Real-World Evidence, ViiV
Vanessa Gertsen, Head of Feasibility Delivery and Site Engagement, Late Development Oncology, AstraZeneca
Denise Johnson Sura, AVP, Patient Engagement, Eli Lilly and Company
Joseph Kim, Chief Strategy Officer, Proof Pilot

Wrap up the day over lunch, connecting with peers and reflecting on key insights and next steps.