2023 Global Summit - Speaker Bios
Summit Sponsors
Speaker Biographies
Suhail Alam
Head of Data and Analytics, Novartis IM International; Head of Data, Analytics and Insights, IM US
Suhail Alam holds the positions of Head of Data and Analytics for Novartis IM International and Head of Data, Analytics and Insights for IM US. In his previous roles, he has worked as world wide marketing lead and has launched products in Rheumatology, Cardiovascular and Respiratory. He has also led cross-functional global program teams across commercial, medical, and regulatory as a Global Program Head.
His business experience as well as experience in leading Enterprise Data Science and AI Innovation across the entire value chain gives him a unique perspective and a more complete overview of data and AI use cases across the Product life cycle in Pharma.
At the PMSA Global Summit, Alam will share his knowledge on looking at the Pharma Value chain from the lens of data and AI and the opportunities to unlock patient outcomes.
Gunjan Aggarwal
Executive Director, Data Capabilities and Marketing Data Solutions, Novartis
Gunjan is a business technology leader with more than 20 years of experience and a passion for delivering business outcomes using digital, data and advanced analytics. Her focus has been at the intersection of business and technology to build truly customer-centered products. She is an expert in application of data and analytics capabilities to deliver transformation in three key areas: helping businesses derive value and innovation from investment in technology; defining the data strategy and associated architecture to help businesses transform the way they leverage their technology investments; and execution of the transformation road map.
Afrozy Ara
Senior Director, Strategy and Analytics, Incedo
Afrozy is a Data Science leader with Global experience in partnering with Fortune 500 clients to deliver significant KPI movements leveraging Data & AI. She brings in multi domain experience with expertise with Pharma and Wealth Management.
Currently she leads Diagnostics & Advisory engagements working with CXOs to unlock opportunities for efficiency and growth. Prior to that, she incubated the Data Science & Analytics practice at Incedo which is currently a world-class team that helps Incedo’s clients drive business outcomes through the adoption of ML and AI at enterprise scale. Before Incedo, Afrozy has held Strategy and Consulting leadership roles at Mu Sigma & HCL Technologies.
She lives in the San Francisco Bay area and enjoys hiking and writing, along with her passion for all things Data.
James Aufricht
Director of Product, BlueDot
James Aufricht has been building ML-driven products for over ten years. Most recently, as a Product Director at BlueDot, he has guided the development of large language model tools in our globally leading outbreak intelligence system. A social scientist by training, he has built ML products in the personal finance, educational and public sectors.
Roberto Baguer
Associate Director Data Science, MSD/Merck
Roberto Baguer has a BS Mechanical Industrial Engineering from Universidad de Zaragoza, Spain, and MBA from Tepper School of Business, Carnegie Mellon. Roberto enjoys travelling and getting to know other cultures. In a professional level, he enjoys solving business problems using data and advanced analytical technics. After his MBA, Roberto developed his career on Product Management and Marketing. In the last 12 years, Roberto has focused his career on Data Management and Strategy, Reporting, Advanced Analytics and Machine Learning within Telecom, Consumer Health Care and Pharmaceutical Industries.
Throughout his career, Roberto has developed a skill set on strategic thinking, problem solving, leadership, communication, acquisition and retention marketing, and customer segmentation. He also has experience with Programing (SQL and Phyton) and the use of different analytical tools/environments (Power BI, SAS, Alteryx and Azure).
Jens Barthelmes
NLP Capability Lead, IT M&S, Boehringer Ingelheim GmbH
Jens is leading a global IT capability at Boehringer Ingelheim to help the GTM organization gain value from unstructured data, currently focusing on use cases in Medical Affairs. He is a data science and NLP enthusiast who has applied his technical knowledge as a consultant and solution architect in numerous projects across multiple industries over the past 15 years.
Fernando Carazo
Senior Data Scientist, Veeva Systems
Fernando Carazo is a passionate advocate of innovation in the biomedical sector, dedicated to improving patients' health and quality of life.
With a Ph.D. in Artificial Intelligence from the University of Navarra, he possesses over a decade of experience leading comprehensive projects within the pharmaceutical industry, spanning from drug development to commercial analytics. During his research stay at Stanford University, he applied Deep Learning techniques to advance precision oncology for solid tumors. Additionally, he has delivered more than 600 hours of instruction on Machine Learning in various Master's and Engineering programs, and his work has been published in 15 high-impact international journals and conference papers.
Presently, Fernando is employed at Veeva Systems, where he leverages commercial analytics to facilitate the efficient delivery of treatments to patients, particularly collaborating with G17 pharmaceutical companies.
Jason Carlin
Chief Analytics Officer, Chryselys
Jason is a former PMSA president and served on PMSA’s board for ten years in various roles. Prior to joining Chryselys, Jason was a Principal at Analytical Wizards (now Definitive Health). Previously, Jason was at Novartis and supported the Product Analytics team for Pharma and Sandoz divisions, as well as led Business Insights for Novartis Hematology Oncology. Prior to joining Novartis, Jason was at Bayer Pharmaceuticals in various roles leading Sales Analytics, Reporting Powerhouse, and Oncology Management Science. Jason was also at Eisai Pharmaceuticals and started his career at ZS Associates.
Jason holds a Masters of Engineering in Operations Research & Industrial Engineering from Cornell University, and a Bachelor of Science in Industrial and Systems Engineering with minors in Mathematics and Sales Engineering from the University of Florida.
Ankit Chhabra
Principal, Data Sciences, CustomerInsights.AI
Ankit Chhabra is a Principal within the Data Sciences group at CustomerInsights.AI. He brings 15+ years of broad experience within Life Sciences Commercial data sciences and analytics. He specializes in creating advanced, next-gen solutions by applying the latest in analytics techniques and technologies across Commercial functions within Life Sciences.
Ben Collins
Global Capability Owner for Datascience and AI, Boehringer Ingelheim GmbH
Ben Collins is passionate about transforming healthcare through the power of Natural Language Processing (NLP), ML, AI and LLMs by generating insights from unstructured data, and is adept at developing and industrializing solutions that solve real-world problems in the healthcare domain. He currently holds the position of Global Capability Owner for Data Science and AI at Boehringer Ingelheim. Since February 2020, Ben has been steering the product strategy as the Chief Product Owner for NLP/text mining in medical and commercial business, bolstering technological capabilities. Previously, Ben worked as a Global Strategic Forecast Manager for ten years, supporting launches and commercial preparations for pipeline products by identifying risks and opportunities for present and future brands. Prior to that, he worked for five years in international customer insights roles at Boehringer Ingelheim.
Stefano Driussi
Head of Software Engineering, J+D Forecasting
Stefano Driussi is a seasoned software engineer boasting over two decades of industry experience and currently serving as the Head of Software Engineering at J+D Forecasting. His work has recently focused around integrating AI and machine learning technologies into pharmaceutical forecasting, significantly transforming data interpretation in the industry.
Simon Fitall
CEO, Tudor Health
Simon has been an active member of the international life science insights community for 30 years. Through his experiences in patient data capture, analysis, modeling, and forecasting, Simon brings a novel perspective to being CEO of Tudor Health. Simon has been working in the patient-level data space for 25 years, building complex data analytics and exploration tools, as well as helping to design the creative data capture and business models now employed by Tudor Health. Simon has a BSc in Business Management from Western Governor’s University.
David James
CEO, J+D Forecasting
David James has over 25 years’ experience in pharmaceutical analytics and forecasting, and as CEO of J+D Forecasting has developed innovative solutions from global forecasting’s biggest challenges.
Combining a deep knowledge of forecasting methodologies and process, with a passion for innovation, David has consistently been an early adopter of technological advances that result in the delivery of real, tangible value for clients. As a leader in his field, David has delivered training through J+D to over 200 clients and had published numerous articles and blogs on pharmaceutical forecasting.
Patrick Peristeri, MA, MBA
Director - International Analytics & Forecasting, Horizon Therapeutics
Patrick set up the Forecasting and Analytics function for Horizon in the EMEA-Canada region. He has over 18 years of experience in the Pharma business. Prior to Horizon, Patrick worked for Amgen and Janssen, leading forecasting, market research and competitive intelligence projects for various franchises, notably oncology and immunology across the EMEA region.
Dan Pielak-Watkins
Executive Director, Business Engagement and Activation - Vaccines, HH Digital Data & Analytics, Merck
Dan Pielak-Watkins leads Business Engagement and Activation for Digital, Data, and Analytics capabilities in Vaccines business unit at Merck. He led several transformative cross-functional initiatives leveraging AI capabilities. Dan has 20 years of experience leading data and analytics teams across industries. He has deep expertise in building and activating analytics solutions in Pharma, Oncology, and Vaccines areas.
Dan was born in Poland, and after coming to the US, he lived in NYC, Washington DC, and currently lives in Philadelphia. Dan has master’s degree in economics from Hunter College, NYC. In his spare time, Dan enjoys playing music on multiple instruments, swimming, hiking, and biking.
Charles Rink
Principal, Omnichannel Lead, Axtria
Charles is Global Co-Lead for Axtria's Omnichannel business unit. Currently based in London, he has worked in the life sciences industry for over 25 years in analytics, strategy consulting and technology services roles. Charles advises clients for omnichannel marketing strategy, with a special focus on global analytics automation programs. He has led teams to implement complex technology platforms for several clients, including one of the largest global Next Best Action programs in Pharma.
Aditi Sachdeva
Associate Director, CustomerInsights.AI
Aditi has ~13 years of experience focused on development and implementation of high-end commercial sales and marketing solutions for some of the top LS companies in US/EU/Canada/UK markets. She is a Market Mix Modelling SME & has built and operationalized MMM solutions that are scalable and can be easily molded to embrace geographical nuances.
She is an Associate Director in the Decision Sciences Practice at CustomerInsights.AI. Prior to this, she worked with Axtria for ~8 years and with MarketRx for 3 years. Working directly with client partners on complex business problems, Aditi has provided end to end solutions under the umbrella of patient analytics as well as commercial operations using advanced analytics & ML techniques.
Paolo Sammicheli
Scrum Trainer & Agile Coach, Boehringer Ingelheim GmbH
Paolo Sammicheli is an Italian entrepreneur with +30 years of experience, an international speaker, and author of the books "Scrum for Hardware" and "Scrum in AI - Artificial Intelligence Agile Development with Scrum and MLOps." Today, Paolo is working as an Agile Coach and Scrum Trainer, helping companies to discover better ways of working.
Atharv Sharma
Advanced Data Science Manager, ZS Associates
Atharv Sharma is Advanced Data Science Manager with ZS Associates, based in Philadelphia. Atharv has over nine years experience in applying machine-learning solutions in healthcare, primarily helping the commercial pharma industry realize the impact of real-world data, leveraging advanced analytics and ML-based techniques. He leads multiple initiatives in ZS' Real World Data and Innovation venture.
Prabhjot Singh
Director, Decision Science, Axtria
Prabhjot Singh is a Director in the Decision Science Practice at Axtria and has over 10 years of experience in life sciences industry in different analytics roles. His expertise lies in close collaboration with the customers, building and scaling teams to deliver on key analytics engagements for them. In recent years, his primary focus has been on driving business impact for multiple European clients through analytics. He is passionate about solving new problems and also provides guidance to broader teams in decision science working on European engagements at Axtria.
