Anthony Jones is professor of Neuro-rheumatology at Manchester University and leads the Human Pain Research Group. He is a consultant rheumatologist at Salford Royal Foundation Trust. He has established one of the first multidisciplinary inflammatory arthritis clinics in the North West for patients with complex needs. He has also established a multidisciplinary musculoskeletal pain clinic for patients with rheumatic pain and a neuropathic pain for patients with nerve-damage related pain. In order to work more closely with healthcare professionals in primary care, the musculoskeletal and neuropathic pain clinics have recently moved to the Walkden Gateway Centre. This new facility integrates the highest standards of clinical practice with opportunities for involvement in leading-edge research.

Whilst at the Hammersmith Hospital Professor Jones pioneered the development of techniques to image neurochemical and metabolic brain responses to pain using Positron Emission Tomography. Over the last twenty years he has used a number of functional brain imaging techniques to understand the normal and abnormal mechanisms of pain perception. There is now the exciting prospect of using some of the insights gained in these studies to develop new approaches to pharmacological and cognitive interventions for chronic pain. He also leads the International Association for the Study of Pain Musculoskeletal Pain Taskforce, and has led the development of National and International Guidelines on the Integrated Management of Musculoskeletal Pain (jointly sponsored by the BSR and the IASP).
His main current goals are to use the current understanding of pain perception to encourage more rational use of current therapies and to develop new mechanisms-based treatments for pain.

Prof Theo F Meert is the head of the R&D Global Government Grant office (G3O) of J&J. The G30 aims to be a Center of Excellence and point of contact for Public Private Partnerships and grants worldwide by ensuring optimal use of available (public) funding opportunities to optimize our strategic engagement in PPPs as an important tool in our external innovation strategies for Janssen Pharmaceutica, MD&D and J&J consumers. Besides being a point of contact for multiple grant agencies, Theo is an active member in EFPIA, IMI and various strategic government groups such as the SGG DKM and ND, and the point of contact of various local & international agencies.
During his career at J&J, started in 1981, he is appointed to multiple international global functions. He was born in 1958 in Oostham, and obtained a Ph.D.on psychopharmacology in Experimental Psychology at the University of Brussels (1986) and a Ph.D. in Medicine/Anesthesiology at the University of Antwerp (1994).
Within his various functions obtained within J&J up to senior Research Fellow, he guided different multidisciplinary research teams within the field of CNS (Psychiatry- Addiction -Pain –Neurology/ Alzheimer). The activities of these groups covered the complete drug discovery process from early TI/TV over drug candidate selection to POC and further clinical testing. Dr Meert also supports some Full Development products and is involved in the scientific support of novel and marketed products. He was a key driver for several advanced projects in the CNS area leading to marketed drugs and has constructed an extensive network within J&J and external scientific and clinical organizations. Later on, he did built up an external network on external partnership initiatives and was instrumental in various novel external innovation models
His scientific expertise is reflected in multiple patents (>15), publications (> 225), congress communications (> 200) and invited lectures (>150). He is professor and scientific advisor/researcher at different universities (Leuven (Dept Biological psychology), Antwerp (Dept Pharmac Biomed Vet Sciences), Brussels (VUB, Dept Biolog Psychology), Hasselt (Dept Med Biomed sciences) and Ghent (Fac Medicine and Health sciences, dept. Anesthesiology), (co)promoter of various mainly (bio)medical PhD students.

Ian M. Bell was educated at Cambridge University and received an M.A. in Natural Sciences (1988) and a Ph.D. in Organic Chemistry (1991). He was awarded a NATO postdoctoral fellowship to continue his studies at the Scripps Research Institute in La Jolla, CA, working in the lab of Prof. Donald Hilvert. In 1994 he joined MSD in West Point, PA, where he is currently a Principal Scientist in the Department of Discovery Chemistry. He has worked on a number of programs in the areas of neuroscience, oncology and infectious diseases, including CGRP receptor antagonists for the treatment of migraine.

Dr. Groeneveld was trained as a Neurologist at the University Medical Center Utrecht where he also performed his PhD. Before joining CHDR, he worked among others on gene therapy projects at biotechnology company Genzyme. Since 2009 he is Research Director at the Centre for Human Drug Research (CHDR) in Leiden, and is responsible for research in the areas of neurology and pain. At CHDR he was trained as a clinical pharmacologist. He is also a staff-member at the department of Neurology of VU University Medical Center, Amsterdam, where he performs clinical work as a neurologist and is involved in the multidisciplinary care for patients with pain. His primary scientific interest is in early phase drug development for the treatment of pain and neurodegenerative diseases. He is a treasurer of the working group for Pain of the Dutch Neurological Society, vice-chairman of the Dutch Journal for Neurology and Neurosurgery and executive editor to the British Journal of Clinical Pharmacology.

Richard is CEO of Apollo Therapeutics, a collaborative venture between three world-leading UK universities (Imperial College London, UCL and the University of Cambridge) and three global pharmaceutical companies (AstraZeneca, GlaxoSmithKline, Johnson & Johnson Innovation). Apollo provides committed translational funding and drug discovery expertise for novel therapeutics, sourced from the best of British academic research, accelerating them towards the clinic.
Richard is a cell biologist with a degree in biochemistry from the University of York and PhD from University College London and prior to Apollo spent 20 years in pharmaceutical drug discovery and development. Richard developed his technical experience and leadership skills in leading biology teams, drug safety teams and for the last few years leading clinical translational strategy in the Pain and Neuroscience therapy area. Richard has lead 7 programmes to clinical candidate selection, developed IND/CTA-enabling and preclinical regulatory packages for many assets, and led >30 clinical studies spanning Ph0 to Ph2 designs, execution and delivery.

Dr. Klein, MD, is a board-certified physiologist trained at the University of Mainz, Germany. Before joining Mundipharma Research in 2012, he performed his PhD in Neurophysiology under the guidance of Prof. Rolf-Detlef Treede at the Neurophysiology Department of the University of Heidelberg (Medical Faculty Mannheim), with a research focus on translational human pain models of neurogenic sensitization. As a member of the German Research Network on Neuropathic Pain (DFNS), he was also involved in the development of clinical somatosensory phenotyping techniques, such as a standardized Quantitative Sensory Testing (QST) battery.
At Mundipharma Research he is responsible for translational science aspects in pain and other CNS diseases.

Anthony Jones is professor of Neuro-rheumatology at Manchester University and leads the Human Pain Research Group. He is a consultant rheumatologist at Salford Royal Foundation Trust. He has established one of the first multidisciplinary inflammatory arthritis clinics in the North West for patients with complex needs. He has also established a multidisciplinary musculoskeletal pain clinic for patients with rheumatic pain and a neuropathic pain for patients with nerve-damage related pain. In order to work more closely with healthcare professionals in primary care, the musculoskeletal and neuropathic pain clinics have recently moved to the Walkden Gateway Centre. This new facility integrates the highest standards of clinical practice with opportunities for involvement in leading-edge research.

Whilst at the Hammersmith Hospital Professor Jones pioneered the development of techniques to image neurochemical and metabolic brain responses to pain using Positron Emission Tomography. Over the last twenty years he has used a number of functional brain imaging techniques to understand the normal and abnormal mechanisms of pain perception. There is now the exciting prospect of using some of the insights gained in these studies to develop new approaches to pharmacological and cognitive interventions for chronic pain. He also leads the International Association for the Study of Pain Musculoskeletal Pain Taskforce, and has led the development of National and International Guidelines on the Integrated Management of Musculoskeletal Pain (jointly sponsored by the BSR and the IASP).
His main current goals are to use the current understanding of pain perception to encourage more rational use of current therapies and to develop new mechanisms-based treatments for pain.

Steve is a Registered Pharmacist and received his Pharmacy degree from Drake University. He then pursued graduate studies in Pharmacology and received a PhD from the College of Medicine at the University of Illinois. Steve became a postdoctoral fellow in Pharmacology at the University of Kentucky, College of Medicine from, later becoming a Research Associate in Veterinary Sciences. His research at the time focused on in vivo neuropharmacology of pain transmission and opioid and nicotine pharmacology. Subsequently, Steve joined the faculty of the School of Veterinary Medicine at Louisiana State University and achieved the rank of Endowed Professor at the time of his departure. He subsequently joined the Pharmacia & Upjohn Company (later becoming Pfizer then Zoetis) to pursue a career in drug discovery and has continued in that capacity since 1999. Steve is currently Therapeutic Area Head of Pain & Inflammation, Oncology, Cardiac Disease and Oncology. Steve’s research interests include animal models of pain, arthritis, inflammation, heart disease and the pharmacology of novel analgesics, NSAIDs, opioids and sedatives. He has also been active in evaluating novel, molecularly targeted therapeutics in spontaneous canine neoplasias, from a translational medicine perspective. Steve enjoys playing jazz guitar and singing in his free time.

Mary Hanaman MD is founder and president of NeuroDigm Corp. She is board certified in Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation and Pain Medicine with over thirty years active clinical experience with treatment of neuromuscular injuries, spinal cord injuries, amputations, neurological disorders, and degenerative conditions. Her clinical focus is on the neuroanatomic diagnosis and localized treatment of subacute and chronic pain conditions associated with these disparate disorders. She has extensive experience with therapeutic peripheral nerve blocks. NeuroDigm’s preclinical research translates her clinical experience into a model of neuropathic pain as a tissue matrix disorder. She is a graduate of Baylor College of Medicine and is on the adjunct staff at the University of North Texas Health Science Center in the Department of Integrative Physiology as an assistant research professor.

PhD and post Doc in Neurobiology and Neurochemistry. Subject of research were multi-parametric monitoring of the living brain under oxygen stress and the cross talk between the immune system and the neuronal system in neurodegenerative disease. When joining the industry years ago I lead the pharmacology department of Pharmos. The main R&D focus at that time was developing cannabinoid agonist for the treatment of neurodegenerative diseases and pain. For the last 10 years I have the honor of leading the science at MD Biosciences and MD Biosciences Innovalora. The company focus is in neurology pain inflammation and cancer.

Steve is a Registered Pharmacist and received his Pharmacy degree from Drake University. He then pursued graduate studies in Pharmacology and received a PhD from the College of Medicine at the University of Illinois. Steve became a postdoctoral fellow in Pharmacology at the University of Kentucky, College of Medicine from, later becoming a Research Associate in Veterinary Sciences. His research at the time focused on in vivo neuropharmacology of pain transmission and opioid and nicotine pharmacology. Subsequently, Steve joined the faculty of the School of Veterinary Medicine at Louisiana State University and achieved the rank of Endowed Professor at the time of his departure. He subsequently joined the Pharmacia & Upjohn Company (later becoming Pfizer then Zoetis) to pursue a career in drug discovery and has continued in that capacity since 1999. Steve is currently Therapeutic Area Head of Pain & Inflammation, Oncology, Cardiac Disease and Oncology. Steve’s research interests include animal models of pain, arthritis, inflammation, heart disease and the pharmacology of novel analgesics, NSAIDs, opioids and sedatives. He has also been active in evaluating novel, molecularly targeted therapeutics in spontaneous canine neoplasias, from a translational medicine perspective. Steve enjoys playing jazz guitar and singing in his free time.

Thomas Christoph has over 20 year experience within the pharmaceutical industry working in preclinical pharmacology. At Nycomed he contributed to the development of Lornoxicam (Xefo®). At Grünenthal he has 20 year experience in pain pharmacology overseeing a large spectrum from classical opioids such as buprenorphine (Norspan®) and tramadol (Tramal®) to innovative analgesics such as tapentadol (Palexia®) and cebranopadol up to cutting edge novel targets like ion channels. His group is deeply involved in developing novel pain read-outs and in translational aspects of pain research actively searching for pre-competitive networks within different frameworks such as EU-based or local/regional co-operations. Numerous full papers, abstracts and patents document his scientific work.

Dr Keith Phillips is a senior research scientist within the Neuroscience group at the Lilly UK research park in Windlesham Surrey leading a in vivo neurophysiology group supporting the development of translatable biomarkers for both pain and neurodegeneration projects. His group specialises in electrophysiological recordings in anaesthetised and awake behaving animals in peripheral nerves, spinal cord and centrally using both single unit and EEG/LFP recording techniques. Though close collaborations with early stage clinical groups internally, external academic and industry collaborator he is involved in a number of clinical translational projects. Keith is the Lilly lead within the Horizon2020 IMI pain group and is leading a new IMI project aiming to clinically validate a number of neurophysiological pain biomarkers. He has led a number of internal exploratory projects and also worked on multiple projects that have delivered clinical candidates. Prior to joining Lilly, Keith completed is PhD in neuroscience at Cardiff University and then continued his research at Bristol University as a postdoc within Dr Matt Jones group. He received his bachelor’s degree in pharmacology from Southampton University.

Dr. Stauffer is an executive physician and Chief Medical Officer (CMO) at Cara Therapeutics. He is also the Founder of Alta Life Sciences, LLC., a boutique pharmaceutical/investment consulting firm. Prior to joining CARA he served as CMO in both public and private specialty pharma companies. From 2004-2009 he was CMO at Alpharma Pharmaceuticals; and the architect of the clinical development program for EMBEDA, the first abuse-deterrent long-acting opioid analgesic approved by the FDA (see www1.pfizerpro.com/hcp/embeda/technology). His medical practice and clinical research experience spans over 20 years; having built teams of clinicians, scientists, MSLs, regulators and safety experts in support of clinical development projects, marketed brand drugs and devices.
Joe began his industry career as Global Medical Director at Abbott Laboratories. In that role he was responsible for Phase I-III trials. Prior to Abbott he worked at FDA as a Medical Review Officer in the Anti-Inflammatory & Analgesic Division of the Center for Drug Evaluation and Research. While there, he reviewed Investigational New Drug (IND) Applications and New Drug Applications (NDA) for opiate, non-opiate, anti-inflammatory, topical and novel pain compounds. Disease areas included: rheumatoid/osteo/psoriatic arthritis, AS, PHN, DPN, post-operative, acute/chronic pain, Multiple Sclerosis and other rare painful diseases.
Dr. Stauffer practiced clinically for eight years, first as a Navy general medicine physician and then as an Anesthesiologist. He completed residency training in Anesthesiology & Critical Care Medicine at the Johns Hopkins University Hospital and maintains an appointment as part-time Assistant Professor in the Department of Anesthesiology and Critical Care Medicine at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. He received his MBA from a joint program (TRIUM) between New York University, Stern School of Business, London School of Economics (LSE) and HEC (Hautes Etudes Commerciales) School of Management in Paris. Dr. Stauffer is a veteran of the US Navy; honorably discharged as a Lieutenant Commander after serving eight years, including a 3-yr.active duty tour as a Naval Medical Officer delivering primary and acute care to soldiers, sailors, marines, dependents and retirees. He graduated from the Philadelphia College of Ostoepathic Medicine and carries an active Pennsylvania State medical license.
He is a 2002 founding member of the Initiative on Methods, Measurement and Pain Assessment in Clinical Trials (IMMPACT). In 2011, under the FDA’s Critical Path Initiative, this collaboration became an official public-private partnership between pharma, FDA, NIH, academia and patient advocacy associations. The new group, Analgesic Clinical Trial Translations, Innovations, Opportunities and Networks (ACTTION) is an ongoing multi-year effort designed to address the major gaps in scientific information which confound analgesic clinical trials and analgesic drug development. He has lectured internationally on topics ranging from clinical drug development, medical affairs, investor relations and the FDA regulatory process.
In 2005 he served as an expert member of the FDA/Mayo Clinic Working group on Patient Reported Outcomes and co-authored the supportive paper (Value in Health, Nov/Dec 2007) on validation of self-reported outcome measures. This consortium presented their consensus to the FDA at an open meeting in February 2006 as part of the rollout of the FDA Guidance for Industry, Patient-Reported Outcome Measures: Use in Medical Product Development to Support Labeling Claims.
He has served as a manuscript reviewer for Mayo Clinic Proceedings (2006) , Pain Medicine (2014), and Therapeutic Advances in Drug Therapy (2014) In 2007 he was named one of the “100 Most Inspiring People” by PharmaVOICE magazine. In 2011 he was selected as a Board member of the American Academy of Pain Medicine Foundation. From 2014-2015 he served on the Board of Directors of TrialScope, a provider of technology enhanced clinical trial solutions and services.
In 2012 the European Commission appointed him as an expert clinical research reviewer as part of the European Union (EU) health initiative for Research & Innovation. He was invited back in 2014 to continue this work for the EU 'Health, Demographic Change and Wellbeing' Horizon 2020 project.

 

Dr. Stauffer is an executive physician and Chief Medical Officer (CMO) at Cara Therapeutics. He is also the Founder of Alta Life Sciences, LLC., a boutique pharmaceutical/investment consulting firm. Prior to joining CARA he served as CMO in both public and private specialty pharma companies. From 2004-2009 he was CMO at Alpharma Pharmaceuticals; and the architect of the clinical development program for EMBEDA, the first abuse-deterrent long-acting opioid analgesic approved by the FDA (see www1.pfizerpro.com/hcp/embeda/technology). His medical practice and clinical research experience spans over 20 years; having built teams of clinicians, scientists, MSLs, regulators and safety experts in support of clinical development projects, marketed brand drugs and devices.
Joe began his industry career as Global Medical Director at Abbott Laboratories. In that role he was responsible for Phase I-III trials. Prior to Abbott he worked at FDA as a Medical Review Officer in the Anti-Inflammatory & Analgesic Division of the Center for Drug Evaluation and Research. While there, he reviewed Investigational New Drug (IND) Applications and New Drug Applications (NDA) for opiate, non-opiate, anti-inflammatory, topical and novel pain compounds. Disease areas included: rheumatoid/osteo/psoriatic arthritis, AS, PHN, DPN, post-operative, acute/chronic pain, Multiple Sclerosis and other rare painful diseases.
Dr. Stauffer practiced clinically for eight years, first as a Navy general medicine physician and then as an Anesthesiologist. He completed residency training in Anesthesiology & Critical Care Medicine at the Johns Hopkins University Hospital and maintains an appointment as part-time Assistant Professor in the Department of Anesthesiology and Critical Care Medicine at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. He received his MBA from a joint program (TRIUM) between New York University, Stern School of Business, London School of Economics (LSE) and HEC (Hautes Etudes Commerciales) School of Management in Paris. Dr. Stauffer is a veteran of the US Navy; honorably discharged as a Lieutenant Commander after serving eight years, including a 3-yr.active duty tour as a Naval Medical Officer delivering primary and acute care to soldiers, sailors, marines, dependents and retirees. He graduated from the Philadelphia College of Ostoepathic Medicine and carries an active Pennsylvania State medical license.
He is a 2002 founding member of the Initiative on Methods, Measurement and Pain Assessment in Clinical Trials (IMMPACT). In 2011, under the FDA’s Critical Path Initiative, this collaboration became an official public-private partnership between pharma, FDA, NIH, academia and patient advocacy associations. The new group, Analgesic Clinical Trial Translations, Innovations, Opportunities and Networks (ACTTION) is an ongoing multi-year effort designed to address the major gaps in scientific information which confound analgesic clinical trials and analgesic drug development. He has lectured internationally on topics ranging from clinical drug development, medical affairs, investor relations and the FDA regulatory process.
In 2005 he served as an expert member of the FDA/Mayo Clinic Working group on Patient Reported Outcomes and co-authored the supportive paper (Value in Health, Nov/Dec 2007) on validation of self-reported outcome measures. This consortium presented their consensus to the FDA at an open meeting in February 2006 as part of the rollout of the FDA Guidance for Industry, Patient-Reported Outcome Measures: Use in Medical Product Development to Support Labeling Claims.
He has served as a manuscript reviewer for Mayo Clinic Proceedings (2006) , Pain Medicine (2014), and Therapeutic Advances in Drug Therapy (2014) In 2007 he was named one of the “100 Most Inspiring People” by PharmaVOICE magazine. In 2011 he was selected as a Board member of the American Academy of Pain Medicine Foundation. From 2014-2015 he served on the Board of Directors of TrialScope, a provider of technology enhanced clinical trial solutions and services.
In 2012 the European Commission appointed him as an expert clinical research reviewer as part of the European Union (EU) health initiative for Research & Innovation. He was invited back in 2014 to continue this work for the EU 'Health, Demographic Change and Wellbeing' Horizon 2020 project.

 

Steve Doberstein joined Nektar in January 2010 as Senior Vice President and Chief Scientific Officer to lead discovery research at Nektar. Dr. Doberstein brings over 20 years of experience in biotechnology research and development to the company. Prior to joining Nektar, Dr. Doberstein served as Vice President of Research at XOMA, Five Prime Therapeutics, and Xencor, and held a variety of senior positions at Exelixis. His experience spans small molecule, protein therapeutics, and monoclonal antibody discovery and development in therapeutic areas including oncology, neuroscience, inflammation, immunology, and metabolic diseases. Dr. Doberstein also serves as the Chairman of the Board of Nektar India.
Dr. Doberstein received his Ph.D. in Biochemistry, Cell and Molecular Biology from the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine where he studied in the laboratory of Dr. Thomas Pollard, and completed his postdoctoral work in Dr. Corey Goodman's laboratory at UC Berkeley. Earlier in his career, Dr. Doberstein held a variety of engineering roles at DuPont after receiving his B.S.Ch.E. degree in Chemical Engineering from the University of Delaware.

Aia Malik is Lucideon’s Healthcare Product Manager. Lucideon is a provider of novel drug delivery and formulation technologies for the pharmaceutical industry. Aia pursues new technology and service offerings to benefit Lucideon’s clients. She helps to ensure that Lucideon is at the forefront of new technologies and that it has an in-depth understanding of its markets, thus helping its clients to grow and prosper. Aia holds a BSc (Hons) Forensic Science (First Class Honours) and joined the company originally as part of Lucideon’s chemical analysis team.

Having completed her thesis on serine proteases in learning mechanisms at the Institute of Clinical Research of Montréal, Tanja joined the laboratory of J.C. Schwartz in Paris in 1996 where she pursued her research on metalloproteases for 10 years. Her work was published in highly respected journals, and her vast experience of proteases provided her with a solid international reputation in the field. She joined Pharmaleads in 2006 to head the Biochemistry laboratory, characterizing metalloprotease and inhibitor activity in vitro and in vivo, through the design of specific assays. In 2014, she was appointed head of clinical operations.

Dr. Iain Chessell is the Head of the Neuroscience Innovative medicines unit at AstraZeneca, based in Cambridge UK, leading a cross-functional team dedicated to discovery and clinical development of the neuroscience portfolio.
Dr. Chessell joined the AstraZeneca (AZ) subsidiary, MedImmune, in November 2008 as vice president, Research, with the intent of initiating neuroscience R&D at MedImmune. After building a portfolio in analgesia and neurodegeneration, in 2010 he was promoted to vice president and head of the Neuroscience Center of Excellence (CoE) and subsequently head of the AstraZeneca neuroscience innovative medicines unit. Dr Chessell also serves on the AstraZeneca IMED leadership team which has responsibility for running the AZ’s discovery and early development organization.
Prior to joining AZ, Dr. Chessell was chief executive officer at NeuroDiscovery where he completed a number of Phase 1 and Phase 2 clinical programs for analgesia. Previously, he was global head of pain R&D for GlaxoSmithKline, where he delivered a portfolio of clinical candidates, and was involved in 19 clinical development projects from Phase 1 to Phase 3. He was also responsible for review of potential in-license opportunities, and was chair of the core disease teams for pain and neurodegeneration, as well as serving as chair of the Neurology management team. Dr. Chessell also managed several high profile academic and industrial collaborations, and is author of more than 95 peer reviewed publications.
Dr. Chessell received his bachelor’s degree in pharmacology from University College London, and received his doctoral degree from the Department of Neurochemistry at the Institute of Neurology, London.

 

Randall Stevens, M.D. joined Centrexion Therapeutics as the Chief Medical Officer in April 2015. Randall is a board certified internist and rheumatologist with more than 25 years in pharmaceutical medicine. Prior to joining Centrexion, he served as the Corporate Vice President, Head of Inflammation and Immunology Clinical Development of Celgene Corporation. Earlier in his career, Randall spent 11 years at F. Hoffmann La Roche where he was a global leader in inflammation and immunology clinical research. In total, Randall has played an integral role in bringing five drugs to market. Additionally, he is Clinical Professor of Medicine at Robert Wood Johnson School of Medicine and on the faculty since 1987.

Shaloo Pandhi, physician by training holds MD in Clinical Pharmacology. She has over 10 years of experience in global drug development in several therapeutic areas. She is working currently as Global program medical director at Novartis Pharma AG Switzerland. In her role she is responsible for clinical leadership of development program for a novel molecule targeted for neuropathic pain treatment.

Dr Hygge Blakeman has worked in the pain field for almost two decades, with more than 10 of those years in the pharmaceutical industry. Starting in preclinical discovery, moving to translational science into the medical sciences, Karin brings experience from the many different steps of a drug’s way to the market.
Dr Hygge Blakeman received her Ph.D. in Neurophysiology from the Karolinska Institute in 2002 for studies on spinal mechanisms of pain. She moved on to do a post doc with AstraZeneca and then joined them to lead a team focused on pre-clinical models of analgesia and in vivo pharmacology. In 2010, she joined a team of preclinical and clinical scientists to form the Translational Sciences Department, were she was responsible for analgesia biomarkers in project stages from idea to clinical trials. Since 2015 she is a part of the medical department at Grunenthal Nordics, focusing on introducing new pain treatments to physicians.

Drug discovery leader, has a 17-yr strong record of planning, completing programs and delivering clinical candidates. Group leader, mentors junior scientists, cross functional and cross-site team leader (both small molecule and antibody programs) with an excellent track record to plan and complete research programs. Member of the sr. staff, licensing evaluation teams, and efficiency initiatives. Experienced in full drug discovery cycle including validation of targets, HTS assays, automation, hit/lead identification, lead optimization, clinical candidate selection, and represented research on clinical teams. Extensive drug discovery leadership experience in ion channels, GPCRs, transporters, kinases, and transcription factors toward identifying clinical candidates. Leading an in vitro pharmacology group that supports assay development, focused screens, lead optimization efforts, evaluation of new technologies and automated HTS.
Gave invited lectures, presentations at several scientific conferences (APS, EB, SBS, Spring Pain Research, IBC ACT, Arrowhead pain, etc). Authored and published 49 papers in research areas of drug discovery, lead optimization, pharmacology, clinical trials, molecular biology, biochemistry, and gene regulation. Serves as an ad hoc reviewer for several journals (AJP, JBC, JBS, JCI, J. Neurosci, JPET, Mol. Pharm, Pain & others).

Dr. Mikhail Kalinichev has more than 15 years of broad, multi-functional experience in pharmaceutical industry, specializing in therapeutic areas of neurology and psychiatry. Currently, he is a Director of the in vivo Neurology/Toxins unit at Ipsen Innovation, France. Previously, Mikhail worked at Lundbeck pharmaceuticals (Denmark), Addex Therapeutics (Switzerland) and GlaxoSmithKline (UK). Mikhail obtained a doctorate (Ph.D.) in Behavioral Neuroscience from the Center for Molecular & Behavioral Neuroscience, Rutgers University (USA). He has published more than 40 scientific publications. Mikhail is a recipient of the GlaxoSmithKline Exceptional Science Award and the Vernalis Prize of the British Association for Psychopharmacology.