25 years+ industry and clinical experience. Significant experience in establishing Medical Affairs departments, compliance & people development. Graduated from medical school in 1984. Internship in Internal Medicine, Surgery, Ob/Gyn, Urology, Neurosurgery, Plastic Surgery, Anesthesia and Pediatrics. 3 years as Senior Registrar of Internal Medicine in the Endocrine and Diabetes Unit and ER Department.

Teaching and research experience as a lecturer, then Associate Professor of Internal Medicine and Endocrinology/Diabetes at Ain Shams University, Cairo, Egypt. Then in 1995, joined industry Eli Lilly as Head of Medical Department establishing and initiating clinical trials and adding resources to develop the medical function. In 1998, joined Wyeth as Regional Medical Director, establishing a department of 17 (13 medics and 4 clinical operations). Then, became Area Medical Officer responsible for Medical, Clinical and Pharmacovigilance in the Middle East & North Africa (MENA) region. Reports to the Vice President, Managing Director - Middle East, VP, Chief Medical Officer, Global Medical Affairs - EMEA and VP, CR&D European Research Organization (ERO).

Following the acquisition of Wyeth by Pfizer early 2001, was appointed Regional Head, Medical & Clinical Affairs for Pfizer AfME region (approx. 70 countries), reporting to the Head of Medical Affairs in NY but also a member of the AfME leader ship team working closely with the Regional President & leadership team on key strategic matters and managing the region. Moved to NewBridge Pharmaceuticals as Chief Medical Officer (CMO) responsible for Medical Affairs, compliance, Pharmacovigilance, QA & Medical Information, leading a team of 12. Is a member of NBP Leadership team and involved in business development initiatives.

Merrell is currently the Regional Medical Head for Singapore, Hong Kong, and Taiwan at Abbott laboratories. After practicing in clinical settings in hospitals in the US and Singapore over the past decade, Merrell decided to pursue his passion of improving patient care through a different route– the pharmaceutical and medical device industry.

Merrell firmly believes that the role as a medical science liaison or medical advisor is an ideal opportunity and avenue for clinicians and scientists, who also have a strong interest in the business side of healthcare, to contribute towards improving patient care. In addition, he strongly believes in giving back to the society by sharing his knowledge and insights about the medical affairs field within the pharmaceutical and medical device industry; Especially for those interested in making a career switch from the laboratory or clinical settings to the more business-oriented pharmaceutical or medical device industry, without giving up the passion in science.

DThrough his experience and work in medical affairs within the pharmaceutical industry (e.g. AstraZeneca, Boehringer Ingelheim, and Abbott) and medical device/assay industries (e.g. The Binding Site- Medical Device and Immunoassays), Merrell has the opportunity to work internationally with many leading hospital physicians from multiple disciplines, bright business-minded marketers and sales executives, as well as research scientists around the Asia Pacific region.

Merrell is a trained clinical pharmacist and is a certified clinical research professional and a board certified medical affairs specialist. He holds a Doctor of Pharmacy degree from Midwestern University and a Graduate Certificate in Health-Systems Management from the Indiana University School of Medicine, USA.

Based in London, Sameer is the board-level Medical Director Johnson & Johnson’s UK & Ireland Medical Devices business. He has medical responsibility for the broad J&J Medical Devices portfolio, including DePuy Synthes (orthopaedics), Ethicon (general surgery) and Biosense Webster (cardiology) business units. Outside of J&J, Sameer is the founding Chair of the Medical & Clinical Forum at the ABHI, the industry trade association representing UK medical devices companies, and is a mentor for the NHS England Clinical Entrepreneur Programme.

Prior to this role, Sameer was Regional Medical Director for DePuy Synthes Europe, Middle East & Africa (EMEA), the orthopaedics and trauma division of Johnson & Johnson’s Medical Devices group. In this role he helped to build the medical function for DePuy Synthes in EMEA.

Sameer joined J&J in 2005, and prior to his roles in the medical devices sector, he held various medical affairs and clinical research positions at Janssen, J&J’s pharmaceutical division. During his time at Janssen, Sameer had medical responsibility for a wide variety of therapy areas, including psychiatry, neurology, infectious diseases and immunology. In 2012 Sameer was seconded to the UK Department of Health for 9 months, where his role was to help implement policy to improve patient access to innovative new medical devices and medicines.

Sameer graduated in history and medicine from the University of Manchester, and originally trained as a junior doctor in surgery, gaining experience in a variety of specialties. During this time Sameer also qualified as a Member of the Royal College of Surgeons in Edinburgh.

Dr. Troupin has more than 20 years of pharmaceutical industry experience, currently serving as Chief Medical Officer at ERX Pharmaceuticals. She previously served as CMO and VP Clinical Development & Regulatory Affairs at Aquinox Pharmaceuticals and SVP Clinical Development and CMO at Apricus Biosciences. At VIVUS, she held roles in Clinical Development and subsequently Medical Affairs, leading clinical and medical teams in the development and approval of Qsymia for the treatment of obesity. Dr. Troupin completed her medical degree at the University of Pennsylvania, her M.B.A. at The Wharton School of Business, and a Family Medicine Residency in San Diego.

Born in Beirut (Libanon) on 13rd March of 1975, Antoine Daher is a Brazilian businessman who dedicate his life to the Rare Diseases' cause. He speaks Arabic, French, English and Portuguese and has a Master in Political and Administrative Science with an extension in Political Science.

In 2012, he got involved with advocacy, when he discovered that his son has the Hunter Syndrome (MPS II), a metabolic innate error. Founder and president of Casa Hunter, Toni - as he is usually called - has been dedicating his life to help Brazilians with the rare diseases. With a strong presence in the ---- Parliament, he fights for public health policies and laws that grants a better life for people with rare diseases.

Since January/2019, Antoine Daher is the president of Febrararas, The Brazilian Federation of Rare Diseases Associations. He is also member of the Rare Diseases Commission at the Federal Council of Medicine in Brazil (since 2015); vice-president of Clinical Research Alliance of Brazil and president of Casa dos Raros (The House of the Rares).

Dr. Ashok Srivastava's extensive biotech experience includes the current role of Chief Medical Officer, Senior Vice President Immuno-Oncology, Medical Oncology and Hematology Drug Development, Medical Affairs, and Pharmacovigilance for CliniFomatrix. He is also the current Medical Advisor-Vice President: Medical Affairs for Taiho Oncology Inc. Previously Dr. Srivastava was the Vice President of Oncology Drug Development, Medical Affairs, and Clinical Operations for Spectrum Pharmaceuticals, as well as the Executive Medical Director for the Global Oncology Business Unit, Lead Oncology, Global Medical Affairs Oncology for Eisai, Inc. He has more than 15 years of experience in drug development, medical affairs and commercialization of cancer drugs including radiopharmaceutical and supportive care; Phase I – 4, and marketing commercialization of Hematology, Oncology and radio-immuno-oncology drugs in the USA, EU and Japan. He is a pioneer in cancer drug development worldwide for large and complex Phase 3 Clinical Trials.

Dr. Srivastava's notable achievements include contributions to 21-IND (Investigational New Drug) filings and 7-NDA (New Drug Application) filings, with all IND's and NDA's being exclusively for cancer drugs. He was also a pivotal player in the acquisition and merger of a biotech drug organization by Daiichi-Sankyo Pharmaceuticals. Dr. Srivastava is one of the inventors of the Japanese encephalitis vaccine (IXIARO). He has published more than 85 papers in National and International Journals, holds more than 120 abstracts, 3 book chapters and 2 patents. He also served as the medical advisor for Poniard Pharmaceutical for small cell lung cancer and Taiho Oncology in USA, EU, and India. Dr. Srivastava is member of numerous prestigious organizations; America's Top Oncologist 2017, Breast Cancer Foundation, Indian Society of Oncology, American Society of Clinical Oncology, American Society for Therapeutic Radiology & Oncology, American Association of Cancer Research, and International Society of Lung Cancer.