2023 Program

120+

Attendees

40

Companies

22

Speakers and panelists

15

Sponsors

A conference put on BY marketers FOR marketers

2023 marked the commencement of the PHARMAFWD Summit Series: The Innovative Marketer, an event that enjoyed full capacity attendance. We invite you to peruse the meticulously curated agenda, as well as the profiles of distinguished speakers and panelists who graced the occasion with their profound insights and expertise.

2023 Summit Agenda

8:00 am - 9:00 am

Registration & Breakfast

Breakfast sponsored by RxTro

9:00 am - 9:10 am

Summit Opening Remarks

9:10 am - 9:40 am

Keynote Open: The Revolutionary Scientific Evidence That Caring Makes A Difference, Dr. Stephen Trzeciak

Dr. Trzeciak’s research on the role compassion can play in supporting patients and improving outcomes is inspiring and very relevant to the work we do in Pharma.  Dr. Trzeciak will share how infusing compassion in our day-to-day activities can help us experience less burnout and be happier.

9:40 am - 10:15 am

Insights For Innovation Panel

An interactive discussion focused on customer insights generation and analysis to inform strategy and action. We will hear about novel design approaches to insights gathering, new techniques in insights collection, and innovation in translating insights into action.

Moderator: Kelly Leinster, Keytruda Sales & Marketing Director, Merck

Erik Prieditis, Vice President Pharmaceutical Operations & Digital Strategy, Bayer

Curtis Fichtner, Vice President Business Development, KeyOps

Patrick Glinski, President, Normative

10:15 am - 10:35 am

Networking Break

Networking break sponsored by EMREACH

10:35 am - 11:10 am

The Power Of Real-World Evidence For Marketers

Understanding the patient journey, clinical practice, and unmet needs is critical when planning the launch and growth of your brand. Integrating real world evidence (RWE) into your planning process can bring to light the barriers and challenges that may lead patients to suboptimal care in their journey. This session will discuss how RWE can help the marketer shed light on those challenges and integrate insights to improve the value they bring to their stakeholders and improve patient care.

Brad Millson, General Manager, Oncology, Real World Solutions, IQVIA

Sebastien Gerega, Senior Principal, Consulting & Analytics, IQVIA

11:10 am - 12:00 pm

AI-Powered Patient Care And The AI-Powered Pharma Commercial Model

Don Watts- Khure Health

  • EMR landscape in Canada + current challenges and opportunities
  • The immense opportunity to accelerate earlier diagnosis and accelerate linkage to appropriate care

Dr.  Nadia Alam, MD CCFP-A MSc- Halton Healthcare – Past President of the Ontario Medical Association

  • A physician’s perspective of AI-enabled Clinical Decision support to support technology enhanced care
  • Personal experiences where use of this technology has supported clinical decisions and earlier diagnosis 

Dr. Andrew Vellathottam MD CCFP MScCH ACBOM- Lead Physician East GTA FHO

  • Overview of recently published evidence of the utility of this technology to support physicians and enhance patient care
  • Personal experiences where use of this technology has supported clinical decisions and earlier diagnosis
12:00 pm - 1:00 pm

Lunch

Lunch sponsored by Khure Health

1:00 pm - 1:40 pm

Senior Leaders Panel: Perspectives From Senior Leaders

The panel of senior industry leaders will share their insights on what constitutes an innovative marketer, drawing from their extensive Canadian and Global experiences. They will offer a perspective on the emerging skills and capabilities required to achieve marketing excellence in the rapidly evolving healthcare landscape. The session will conclude with valuable advice for aspiring marketers who seek to become future senior leaders, both in Canada and Globally.

Moderator: Ambreen Kassam, Specialty Care Business Unit Head, GSK Canada

Fabien Paquette, mRNA Vaccines & Antivirals Portfolio Lead, Pfizer Canada

Paul Petrelli, General Manager, Jazz Pharmaceuticals Canada

Cheryl MacDiarmid, Senior Vice President, Head Of Global Strategy, ViiV Healthcare

1:40 pm - 2:15 pm

Accelerating Your Brand’s Adoption Through Cognitive And Behavioural Science, Jacob Braude, Principle – ZS

Jacob will lead a discussion on how cognitive and behavioral science can accelerate adoption of your brand value proposition. Cognitive and behavioral science can provide valuable insights into how people make decisions and what motivates them to adopt a product or service. By understanding how people think, feel, and behave, marketers can tailor their brand value proposition to resonate with their target audience and improve chances of success.

2:15 pm - 2:50 pm

Omnichannel In Pharma: Making It Happen And Work For You

This interactive discussion of omnichannel engagement for Canadian pharma and life sciences companies will deliver multiple perspectives, from strategy to execution to outcomes. Whether you are starting out on this journey or looking to sharpen current engagements, the panel’s focus on real world examples will serve as a knowledge bank that can be easily drawn from and adapted for immediate impact to enable effective omnichannel engagement with your customers. Hear directly from a life sciences company, the execution partner, and IQVIA to understand the critical building blocks to make omnichannel happen at your organization and, more importantly, make it work for you.

Venky Lalapet, Sr. Principal – Digital Excellence & Customer Engagement, IQVIA

Michael Ness, Director, Omnichannel Engagement, Data Ad

Jim Coe, Director, Sales Operations & Contract Management, Business and Consumer Markets, LifeLab

2:50 pm - 3:10 pm

Networking Break

Networking break sponsored by EMREACH

3:10 pm - 3:45 pm

Patient Support & Engagement Panel: The Power Of Patient Support For Marketers

The participating companies’ leaders will engage in an interactive panel to share their insights on what marketers need to know about the rapidly evolving landscape of PSPs. They will discuss various topics such as leveraging PSP data for forecasting and generating insights, using holistic services to engage patients and caregivers to improve outcomes, and the latest trends in digital solutions that can support your brand strategy.

Moderator: Catherine Bissett, Head of Patient Services, Takeda

Jessica Lovett, Vice President Business Development & Digital Innovation, Innomar

Bev Herczegh, Vice President Strategy & Business Development, Sentrex

Cate Leslie, Senior Director Strategy & Systems, Shoppers Drug Mart Specialty Health Network

3:45 pm - 4:15 pm

Keynote Close: Being Compassionate- What Does It Mean For You? Dr. Stephen Trzeciak

Dr. Trzeciak’s research on the role compassion can play in supporting patients and improving outcomes is inspiring and very relevant to the work we do in Pharma.  Dr. Trzeciak will share how infusing compassion in our day-to-day activities can help us experience less burnout and be happier.

4:15 pm - 4:30 pm

Summit Closing Remarks

The Revolutionary Scientific Evidence That Caring Makes A Difference

Dr. Stephen Trzeciak

Dr. Stephen Trzeciak, Author, Compassionomics: The Revolutionary Scientific Evidence that Caring Makes a Difference

Stephen Trzeciak, MD, MPH is a physician scientist, Chief of Medicine at Cooper University Health Care, and Professor and Chair of Medicine at Cooper Medical School of Rowan University in Camden, New Jersey. Dr. Trzeciak is a practicing intensivist (specialist in intensive care medicine), and a clinical researcher with more than 120 publications in the scientific literature. Dr. Trzeciak’s publications have been featured in prominent medical journals, such as: JAMA, Circulation, and The New England Journal of Medicine. His scientific program has been supported by research grants from the National Institutes of Health (NIH), with Dr. Trzeciak serving as Principal Investigator.

Dr. Trzeciak is the co-author of Compassionomics: The Revolutionary Scientific Evidence that Caring Makes a Difference (2019), and Wonder Drug: 7 Scientifically Proven Ways That Serving Others Is the Best Medicine for Yourself (2022). His work has been featured in numerous media outlets including CNN, NPR, USA TODAY, The Washington Post, Harvard Business Review, and Freakonomics. For this work, he was awarded the Influencers of Healthcare Award by The Philadelphia Inquirer. Broadly, Dr. Trzeciak’s mission is to raise compassion and kindness globally, through science.

Dr. Trzeciak is a graduate of the University of Notre Dame. He earned his medical degree at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, and his Master’s of Public Health at the University of Illinois at Chicago. He completed his residency training at the University of Illinois at Chicago, and his fellowship in critical care medicine at Rush University Medical Center. He is board certified in internal medicine, critical care medicine, and neurocritical care.

Insights For Innovation Panel

An interactive discussion focused on customer insights generation and analysis to inform strategy and action. We will hear about novel design approaches to insights gathering, new techniques in insights collection, and innovation in translating insights into action.

Kelly Leinster

Kelly Leinster (Moderator), Keytruda Sales & Marketing Director, Merck

Erik Prieditis

Erik Prieditis, Vice President Pharmaceutical Operations & Digital Strategy, Bayer

Curtis Fichtner

Curtis Fichtner, Vice President Business Development, KeyOps

Patrick Glinski

Patrick Glinski, President, Normative

The Power Of Real-World Evidence For Marketers

Brad Millson

Brad Millson, General Manager, Oncology, Real World Solutions, IQVIA

Brad Millson is General Manager of the Oncology Practice within the Real World Solutions consulting group at IQVIA. He leads the strategic operations and development of our growing oncology business. Previously, Brad was Principal, Real World Solutions at IQVIA, responsible for market access strategy and real-world evidence-based solutions for the pharmaceutical industry and its stakeholders. He joined the company in 2013, bringing his global expertise in pharmaceutical brand management, strong medical science training, and strategic problem solving across government and private sectors to the organization. Brad is recognized as a thought leader for his expertise in health outcomes, market access and policy strategy.

Sebastien Gerega

Sebastien Gerega, Senior Principal, Consulting & Analytics, IQVIA

Sebastien has more than 12 years of consulting experience spanning the pharmaceutical and life sciences industries. Specializing in healthcare data driven analytics, Sebastien has led numerous project in physician segmentation, longitudinal patient analysis, forecasting, sales force effectiveness, and incentive planning. He has extensive experience in qualitative consulting projects, including influential thought leader identification, primary market research and brand strategy formulation.

Sebastien holds an MBA from McGill University and a BSc in Bioinformatics from the University of Sydney.

Senior Leaders Panel: Perspectives From Senior Leaders

The panel of senior industry leaders will share their insights on what constitutes an innovative marketer, drawing from their extensive Canadian and Global experiences. They will offer a perspective on the emerging skills and capabilities required to achieve marketing excellence in the rapidly evolving healthcare landscape. The session will conclude with valuable advice for aspiring marketers who seek to become future senior leaders, both in Canada and Globally.

Ambreen Kassam (Moderator), Specialty Care Business Unit Head, GSK Canada

Fabien Paquette

Fabien Paquette, mRNA Vaccines & Antivirals Portfolio Lead, Pfizer Canada

Paul Petrelli, General Manager, Jazz Pharmaceuticals Canada

Cheryl MacDiarmid, Senior Vice President, Head Of Global Strategy, ViiV Healthcare

Accelerating Your Brand’s Adoption Through Cognitive And Behavioural Science

Jacob Braude

Jacob Braude, Principle – ZS, New York, New York

ROLE: Jacob leads COGNITIVE by ZS where ZS is a leader in helping clients commercialize behavioral and cognitive science to improve the impact of their sales and marketing.

EXPERTISE: Jacob has over 18 years of experience in brand and marketing strategy. For the past several years he has been one of the leading voices on how brands and companies can bring understanding of cognitive biases and unconscious decision making into the way they think about and communicate with customers.

PRIOR EXPERIENCE: Jacob’s background is as a strategic leader on the agency side where he has led brand strategy for healthcare products across a wide range of categories and audiences, including three of the Top 5 bestselling pharmaceutical products worldwide. His articles on the potential to shape behavior with behavioral insights in Fast Company, Ad Age, and Forbes.

EDUCATION: Jacob holds a B.A. in Communications from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

AI-Powered Patient Care and the AI-Powered Pharma Commercial Model

Don Watts

Don Watts, Global President, Khure Health Inc.

Don Watts has over 2 decades of experience in the Life Sciences industry with commercial leadership and general management roles in both Pharmaceutical and Medical Device businesses with companies like Organon Biosciences, Bausch and Lomb, Medtronic, and Fresenius Medical Care.  During this time he has gained national and global commercial experience in many areas of healthcare including primary care, numerous specialties, hospital/surgical businesses, specialty pharma, and capital equipment.

Don has a BSc from Western University and an MBA from the Richard Ivey School of Business at Western University.  Don has always found great personal reward by helping others live better lives through the innovative technology he has been fortunate to provide to Canadian healthcare practitioners throughout his career.   Don joined Khure Health as its President in early 2020 and found the potential opportunity of Khure’s technology to improve the lives of so many complex and rare disease patients with earlier diagnosis to be something he was immediately passionate about.  When he joined the company had 2 staff members and a minimal viable product just entering the market.  Don and the team were successful in growing the business exponentially and rapidly developing their innovative product offering such that multiple acquisition offers came soon after.   In April 2021 Khure was successfully acquired by MCI Onehealth Technologies (DRDR:TSX) for $13.5M.  MCI hired Don on to continue to lead and grow the company as its Global President and General Manager.   In 2021, Don was awarded Start-up Innovator of Year by Digital Health Canada for the game changing technology and support Khure Health is providing to Canadian physicians.

Dr.  Nadia Alam, MD CCFP-A MSc

Dr. Nadia Alam, MD CCFP-A MSc,

Halton Healthcare – Georgetown site
Primary Care Lead – Halton SCOPE program
Faculty – U of T DFCM and IHPME
Past President, Ontario Medical Association

 Dr. Andrew Vellathottam, MD CCFP MScCH ACBOM

Dr. Andrew Vellathottam, MD CCFP MScCH ACBOM,

Family Physician, Lead Physician East GTA FHO

Occupational Health and Medical Consultant

Omnichannel in Pharma: Making it happen and work for you

This interactive discussion of omnichannel engagement for Canadian pharma and life sciences companies will deliver multiple perspectives, from strategy to execution to outcomes. Whether you are starting out on this journey or looking to sharpen current engagements, the panel’s focus on real world examples will serve as a knowledge bank that can be easily drawn from and adapted for immediate impact to enable effective omnichannel engagement with your customers. Hear directly from a pharma company, the execution partner, and IQVIA to understand the critical building blocks to make omnichannel happen at your organization and, more importantly, make it work for you.

Venky Lalapet

Venky Lalapet, Sr. Principal – Digital Excellence & Customer Engagement, IQVIA

Michael Ness

Michael Ness, Director, Omnichannel Engagement, Data Ad

Jim Coe

Jim Coe, Director, Sales Operations & Contract Management, Business and Consumer Markets, LifeLab

Patient Support & Engagement Panel: The Power Of Patient Support For Marketers

The participating companies’ leaders will engage in an interactive panel to share their insights on what marketers need to know about the rapidly evolving landscape of PSPs. They will discuss various topics such as leveraging PSP data for forecasting and generating insights, using holistic services to engage patients and caregivers to improve outcomes, and the latest trends in digital solutions that can support your brand strategy.

Catherine Bissett

Catherine Bissett (Moderator), Head of Patient Services, Takeda

Jessica Lovett

Jessica Lovett, Vice President Business Development & Digital Innovation, Innomar

Bev Herczegh

Bev Herczegh, Vice President Strategy & Business Development, Sentrex

Cate Leslie

Cate Leslie, Senior Director Strategy & Systems, Shoppers Drug Mart Specialty Health Network

We thank our valued 2023 sponsors

Khure Health Logo
AmerisourceBergen Innomar Strategies Logo
Specialty Health Network by Shoppers logo
IQVIA Logo
Sentrex Health Solutions logo
EMREACH Logo
Rxtro Logo
iMD Logo
bMod Logo
Wellworth & Best logo
KeyOps Logo
Women Leaders in Pharma Logo
OkRx Logo
AUXITA Logo
Canadian Pharmacists Association logo

2023 Participant Organizations

AmerisourceBergen
AstraZeneca
Auxita
Bayer
bMod
Bristol Myers Squibb
Canadian Pharmacists Association
Emreach
EMD Serono
GSK
IMD
IQVIA
KeyOps
Jazz Pharmaceuticals
Khure Health
Lundbeck
Merck
Novartis
Novocure
Novo Nordisk
OkRx
Otsuka
Pfizer
Pharma Science
Rxtro
Sentrex
Specialty Health Network by Shoppers
Takeda
Wellworth & Best
Women Leaders in Pharma