Speakers

Omar Ali, Head of Payers - Verpora

A pharmacist payer with over 25-years experience across both primary care & secondary care having served on numerous formulary groups, drugs & therapeutics & area prescribing committees. Previous roles include Visiting Lecturer at UCLH Pharmacy Programme, Independent Prescribing University of Surrey, Former Adviser to eGuidelines, Associate Editor Canadian Journal of Population Therapeutics & Clinical Pharmacology.  Omar has served a position on the External Reference Group on Cost Impact Modelling for NICE for10 years was also appointed Panel Member for the newly formed Adoption & Impact Program Reference for NICE thereafter.

He has advised foreign investors (US Embassy) on ‘Value Based Assessments (hosted by the UKDTi). As head of payers at Verpora, he leads a group of 150 global payers within a network bringing pricing, access & reimbursement expertise from over 30 markets across the globe.  He has embarked on a PhD doctorate on Value-based & innovative contracting with medicines publishing his 1st thesis “Performance based leasing model over time for CAR-T therapies” commissioned by Catapult & NHS England. He is a well-seasoned global speaker on Medicines pricing, access & reimbursement, having delivered keynotes in 2025 at AMCP Chicago, Model-N Austin Texas, Eversana Tampa Bay, VBA&IC in Dubai, RWE in Frankfurt and Orphan Drugs in Amsterdam. 

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Helen Bennis, Senior Director – Ipsos UK

Helen has over 20 years experience within the healthcare sector working within insight and strategy roles. She is passionate about health equity and amplifying the patient voice.  She has lead a number of projects generating insights and points of view around how to tackle health inequities.  She has spoken at various patient empowerment and patient partnership conferences and been invited to speak on panels at non-industry lead events about the role of insights/ research in challenging health inequities.

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Mohammed Saleh Bham, Division Head, Healthcare – Massive Wave Research

Mohammed Saleh Bham is a healthcare communications and medical affairs specialist with extensive experience supporting global biopharmaceutical teams. He has worked across multiple therapy areas and has partnered with medical affairs and commercial teams to deliver expert engagement, medical education and evidence driven strategic initiatives.  Mohammed completed two in-house secondments with Pfizer. He first served as GLocal Real World Evidence Acceleration Team Lead in 2023, followed by a Medical Analytics Associate role in 2024. Across both placements he supported cross functional teams, streamlined processes and contributed to global medical strategy.  He has collaborated with organisations including AstraZeneca, BioMarin and Vertex Pharmaceuticals on KOL strategy, advisory boards, congress activities, speaker training and internal capability building. His experience spans cardiovascular medicine, rare diseases and other therapeutic areas, with a strong focus on strengthening relationships between companies and external experts.  Mohammed now heads the healthcare division at Massive Wave Research Healthcare where he oversees client relations, business development and healthcare fieldwork delivery.

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Dr Radikha Bhatia, Global Head of Scientific Communication Excellence - UCB Pharma

Radhika Bhatia is a strategic leader in Global Medical Affairs, with nearly 20 years of experience driving excellence across scientific communications and digital solutions. At UCB Pharma, she heads Scientific Communication Excellence, overseeing processes, platforms, systems and capability building across three interconnected pillars: Scientific Publications, Medical Communications, and Medical Learning.  A key part of Radhika’s role—and a personal passion—is measuring impact.

She is deeply committed to embedding robust frameworks that track performance, demonstrate value and guide continuous improvement. She ensures that scientific communications deliver meaningful outcomes for both the organization and the patients it serves through clear frameworks and analytics. Radhika also leads the rollout and ongoing enhancement of digital capabilities, including AI adoption and advanced analytics, across literature management, conferences, and communications. She fosters a culture of innovation and operational excellence, building future-ready teams and simplifying complexity through technology.  Radhika is also a mental health first aider and wellbeing champion, advocating for overall wellbeing at work and contributing to reducing stigma and promoting positive mental health.

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Barbara Brese, Patient Engagement Manager – Boehringer Ingelheim

With over two decades of experience across the NHS and the pharmaceutical industry, Barbara brings a unique blend of clinical understanding and strategic expertise to advancing patient-centred healthcare. A pharmacist by background, she spent 22 years in the NHS, gaining first-hand insight into patient care pathways and the operational realities of healthcare delivery. Since moving into the pharmaceutical sector, Barbara has worked across three leading companies, focusing on innovative service redesign, contracting solutions, and evidence-based approaches to improve access to medicines. Her work bridges policy, practice, and patient experience—ensuring that access strategies are both equitable and sustainable.

In her current role as Patient Engagement Manager, Barbara integrates the patient voice throughout the lifecycle of medicines development—from clinical trials and real-world evidence generation to reimbursement and beyond. She is also deeply engaged in market research, driving initiatives that capture authentic patient insights to inform business intelligence, shape research priorities, and strengthen partnerships between industry and key healthcare stakeholders. Barbara will share how embedding patient perspectives within market research can generate richer insights, support more meaningful engagement, and ultimately lead to innovations that reflect real patient needs. Committed to collaboration and continuous improvement, Barbara is passionate about turning patient engagement into measurable, transformative impact across the healthcare ecosystem..

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Hannah Brown, Global Head of Marketing - M3 Global Research

Hannah Brown MBA is global head of marketing for M3’s market research divisions, working across M3 Global Research, QQFS, All Global, m360 Research, ekas, Med Planet, pharma-insight, Michael Allen Company, and M3-MI. She previously worked in medical publishing, and joined M3 in 2015 as marketing director, with responsibilities including growing the membership of Doctors.net.uk and working across both med comms and market research divisions (M3 EU, medeConnect, and M3 Global Research). 

In 2025 she was appointed to the BHBIA’s Board of Directors, and is the board liaison for the fieldwork committee. Outside of work she co-hosts two football podcasts, is a season ticket holder at Stockport County, and is a member of the club’s DEI external working group. In 2015 she co-founded a women’s virtual networking, peer coaching, and mentoring hub, Women at Work, which now has over 3,000 members. She is a mother of twin tweens (about as much fun as it sounds), and a pug whose snoring she has to apologise for every time she’s on a call.

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Carly Brown, CEO - Liberating Research Ltd

Carly created Liberating Research 10 years ago, having worked in healthcare fieldwork since 2005, with a founding principal that our industry needs to hear from real Patients and they need to be part of the conversation. A Multiple Sclerosis Patient herself, she created one of the first specialist Patient research communities of its kind in Healthcare MR, Liberating Research recruits in over 300 different conditions in the US, Europe and Canada and have run over 3,000+ Patient, Carer & PAG studies.

From Chronic conditions, Rare Diseases, all the way through to stage 4 Cancer patients, Liberating Research pride themselves on deep condition knowledge and empathetic understanding of what it takes to get a Patients involved in research. Pioneers in the use of digital marketing, charity and patient support group engagement and creative custom recruitment in this sector, Liberating Research has generated over £250,000 in donations to health charities through the work they do. You can read more about Liberating Research at www.liberatingresearch.com/about.

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Tamara Burke, VP, Global qualitative business development - Konovo

With over 20 years experience in Healthcare Market Research , I have been very lucky enough to have navigated and maintained a high standard of complex qualitative offerings and solutions throughout my healthcare career. Currently working for Konovo as VP of global qualitative global client base,  My role covers qualitative fieldwork solutions for our teams globally.  My approach has always been client focused, consisting of a consultative and supportive role.  Encouraging partnership and inspiring trust.  Vital to client support is the ability to share my extensive experience in the healthcare MR sector with HCP, Payers, KOL's & Patient fieldwork. With a thirst for AI powered methodologies, innovation and efficiency within the qualitative space, maintaining a positive approach to change and development is key. 

After developing and publishing the first guide to payer research in European markets over 10 years ago, the updated version is now available to include Canada and the USA. With experience managing and mentoring qualitative fieldwork and account managers as well as being head of global qualitative sales and marketing, my extensive experience is unique. In a previous role  I involved in the start up of a  patient focused fieldwork company my experience has enriched and honed the skills needed to provide clients with very well rounded and robust recommendations and experience to help shape their qualitative and quantitative research.  Methodologies include: Qual TDIs, Face to Face , FG's , Online Qualitative, Shadowing, Online Gaming , AI technology, Device testing, MRCO, round table  & Ethnographic research.

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Pamela Cusick, Senior Vice President – Rare Patient Voice

Pam Cusick is an experienced research professional with more than 30 years of expertise in study design, implementation, and analysis. Her background in public health communications and research, coupled with her passion for patient advocacy, dovetail with Rare Patient Voice’s mission and vision. Pam hopes to expand Rare Patient Voice’s panels to include all patients and caregivers who want to share their opinions and impact their disease category. Pam earned a BA in Psychology from Sweet Briar College, and a MA in Psychology from the New School for Social Research. She is Past-President of the Board of Directors and Scientific Advisory Council Lead for the Horses and Humans Research Foundation. As Senior Vice President, Pam’s focus is on the continued growth and success of RPV, with an eye on client services, business development, and oversight of patient outreach, panel management, and marketing.

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Vicky Davies, Senior Insight Director - Bryter

Vicky, a Senior Insight Director at Bryter, has enjoyed over 20 years uncovering and embedding meaningful healthcare insights that inform innovation, branding, and communications. She leads the design and delivery of foundational pharmaceutical research programs, applying advanced qualitative and behavioural science techniques to surface strategic, actionable findings.

Her experience spans client and agency-side, diverse therapy areas and varied stakeholder groups but the motivation is always the same: translating complex voices and needs into clear insights that guide decision-making. Vicky is a strategic planner, an experienced moderator and a creative thinker who thrives on the ability to balance analytical rigour with emotional engagement.

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Paul Dermody, Head of Learning & Development - Propel Performance Limited

As Head of Learning & Development at Propel Performance, Paul leads the design and delivery of Human Performance Factors training programmes that help organisations enhance leadership capability and drive lasting behavioural change.
With over 36 years of experience in senior leadership roles, Paul brings deep expertise in Learning & Development and a proven track record of creating and delivering bespoke training solutions across a range of sectors, including pharmaceuticals, financial services, and digital technology.
He specialises in senior leadership development, strategic thinking, and management training, with a particular focus on building and sustaining high-performing teams.

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Lucy Doorbar, CEO - LDA Research

Lucy Doorbar is the Founder and Director of LDA Research, a specialist fieldwork agency focused on engaging hard-to-reach audiences in healthcare. With nearly 25 years of experience in patient and provider research, Lucy began her career in social research with the NHS before moving into international healthcare market research with leading agencies including IPSOS and The Planning Shop International.

In 2008, Lucy transitioned to freelance consultancy and launched LDA Research in 2011. Now approaching its 15th anniversary, LDA is recognised for its ability to recruit rare disease patients, specialist clinicians, and niche healthcare stakeholders across global markets. Lucy is passionate about improving the patient experience in market research and advocates for inclusive methodologies that ensure a diversity of voices are heard.

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Lili Ferguson, UK Rare Disease Brand Manager - Pfizer Ltd

Lili Ferguson is a Brand Manager specialising in rare diseases, with a strong focus on driving brand strategies in complex therapeutic areas. Lili brings expertise in patient-centric approaches and cross-functional collaboration, ensuring that insights translate into meaningful outcomes for healthcare professionals and patients alike.

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Darren Fleetwood, Head of Data and Analytics – Madano

Measuring what truly counts has been the common thread in Darren’s career. In his role at Madano, Darren helps clients find meaningful answers in their data – from the reach and engagement of scientific publications to the commercial outcomes of strategic initiatives. He honed his evaluation expertise in roles spanning the NGO world and global research firms, giving him a unique perspective on how evidence-based insights can drive change in any sector.

Darren has built and implemented measurement frameworks that go beyond traditional metrics, focusing on real impact and behaviour change rather than just what’s easy to count. He is particularly known for working closely with client teams to embed these frameworks into everyday practice – whether partnering with Medical Affairs professionals to evaluate scientific communications or with commercial excellence leaders to link metrics to business objectives. Darren’s approach is collaborative and pragmatic: recognising that introducing new measures often requires managing change.

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Timothy Futter, Principal Consultant – IQVIA

As Principal at IQVIA, I am responsible for leading the Primary Data Collection business within the UK. This involves consulting with our clients to understand their objectives, developing study concepts, as well as the implementation and reporting of robust non-interventional studies. I bring to IQVIA an excellent understanding of the regulatory and research governance processes that underpin clinical research, coupled with experience in working with all the key stakeholders involved in research; clinicians, patients and sponsors.

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Lee Gazey, Head of Insights and Digital - Madano

Lee Gazey is Head of Insights and Digital at Madano, part of AVENIR GLOBAL. He helps pharma and healthcare brands make smarter, more human decisions by combining behavioural insight with digital strategy and execution. With more than 20 years in market research and consultancy, Lee has worked with global teams to uncover what truly drives healthcare professionals, patients, and brands — and to turn that understanding into meaningful action. He leads a multidisciplinary team of researchers, data scientists, and digital specialists who translate evidence into growth — from launch readiness and omnichannel engagement to content strategy and measurement.

Passionate about connecting strategy to execution, Lee champions making insights practical, powerful, and designed to drive real change. A passionate advocate for ensuring best in class insights should sit at the heart of brand strategy, he’s excited to be presenting “Futureproofing Insights: The Human Skills That Will Matter Most in 2030”, a thought provoking paper that will  exploring how empathy, creativity, and curiosity will define the next generation of insight professionals in an AI-driven world.

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Vinayak Gokhale, Engagement Manager - Lifescience Dynamics

Vin is a medical doctor with specialized training in clinical development and expertise in pharmaceutical commercialization. In his various roles so far, he has worked across the entire spectrum of drug development and healthcare delivery.  Vin advises global pharma companies on brand strategy for pre-launch and mature products using insights supported by primary as well as secondary intelligence, market research research and analytics.

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Bors Hulesch, Captain – Brains&Cheek

Bors trained as a social scientist in Budapest and Amsterdam. He has been a market researcher since 1997, and in pharma since 2005. He sits on the board of the BHBIA and is the Chair of its Sustainability Committee. He is a founding partner of Brains&Cheek, a small, global pharma MR agency. 

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Ben Lorkin, Senior Director - Day One Strategy

Ben has 19-years healthcare experience, is a qualified NLP practitioner and is passionate about behavioural science and pioneering the use of new thinking and approaches Ben is fascinated by understanding why people do what they do and how this can be leveraged to influence behaviour and brand strategy.

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Matt Lindley, Vice President - Propel Performance Limited

A former Royal Air Force Royal Squadron pilot and a part-time Boeing 777 intercontinental airline pilot, Matt and his team of pilot consultants translate flight-deck management techniques into real-world corporate environments.

Whilst in the military he served on 32 (The Royal) Squadron, flying members of the Royal Family and government ministers worldwide, and now flies long-haul services out of London for a leading airline. Prior to flying, Matt worked at Ford Motor Company, where he implemented Japanese management techniques in automotive operations.

Matt’s specialty is Human Performance Factors, using proven flight-deck techniques to improve outcomes for teams operating under pressure. As head of PROPEL, Matt focuses on improving decision-making under pressure, leadership, and teamwork in high-pressure industries.

His work emphasizes rapid, structured debriefing, inclusionary decision-making that flattens unhelpful authority gradients, and the neuroscience of stress and trust, exploring how these dynamics shape performance, safety, and execution.

Matt delivers keynotes and tailored workshops, and leverages a team of experienced pilot-facilitators to scale these methods across global client engagements, ensuring insight turns into measurable, repeatable behaviours.

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Hannah Mann, Founding Partner - Day One Strategy

Hannah has 23 years of experience in pharmaceutical market research and insight, both on the client and agency side. Throughout her career she has been fortunate enough to work on some of the world’s largest pharmaceutical brands – seeing them through from early-stage development all the way to launch and beyond.   Hannah set up Day One in 2019 to bring combine technology and human intelligence to the bring fresh insight to the healthcare sector, is a regular speaker at industry events, host of the Day One podcast and an Insight Top 250 winner 2024.

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Anna Meadows, Head of Behavioural Science – Healthcare – Ipsos UK

Anna has more than 20 years of multinational experience in advertising, market research, marketing and behavioural science consultancy. She now specialises in the analysis of human behaviour and applied behavioural science in healthcare and is currently Head of Behavioural Science - Healthcare at Ipsos UK. ​

Anna has worked with many global organisations (e.g. Nestle, Unilever, HSBC and The Motion Picture Association) devising and implementing large qual and quant research projects and developing communication strategies for their many brands. She has also worked closely with public sector Clients including The Singapore Government on health behaviour change initiatives. ​

Anna lived and worked in Asia Pacific for 18 years as Client Service Director at Lowe Advertising in Australia and as Head of Qualitative at Kantar (Millward Brown) in Singapore. Anna holds an MSc in Behavioural Science from the London School of Economics and sits on the Research Board of the Global Association of Applied Behavioural Scientists.

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Rory Mitchell, AI Lead - Healthcare Research Worldwide

Rory is HRW's dedicated AI lead, applying the latest advancements to make healthcare market research more engaging, insightful, efficient, and creative. He ensures AI is used safely, runs presentations with clients, and keeps colleagues at the forefront of innovation.

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Laurence Olding, Director - Bryter

Laurence, a Director at Bryter, is a seasoned expert with over 15 years of in-depth research in this evolving market. His unique approach combines innovative research methods with a keen focus on simplifying complex concepts. Laurence’s expertise lies in integrating novel techniques with clear, impactful deliverables, providing insights that extend far beyond the confines of a single presentation. His work resonates with audiences, offering a clear and comprehensive understanding of the subject matter.

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Neil Osmond, Entrepreneur & former CEO

With a career that began in pharmaceutical analytics and evolved through strategic insight, commercial, marketing, and digital transformation, Neil brings a holistic perspective to business challenges. His early roles at ZS Associates and SmithKline Beecham provided a strong foundation in commercial strategy and business analysis, which he later combined with a passion for people, technology, user-centred design and strategic execution to drive successful outcomes.  In 2007, Neil co-founded Earthware, initially developing interactive mapping solutions before pivoting the company into a full-service healthcare creative digital agency. Under his leadership, Earthware delivered award-winning digital products—including web platforms, and mobile apps—primarily for global pharmaceutical clients.  Neil’s passion is helping businesses navigate the intersection of technology, healthcare, and human behaviour, ensuring digital solutions not only meet commercial goals but deliver real-world value to users (often patients and clinicians).  Neil also has a passion for using Agile values and principles, and the Scrum methodology, to drive innovation and productivity and has personally trained or coached over 400 pharmaceutical professionals in Agile and Scrum.

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Jemma Reast, Senior Research Director - Madano

Jemma specialises in insights that connect evidence, empathy, and strategic foresight, taking learnings from her roles across agencies and the NHS. With a career spanning patient-centred research, policy-relevant insights, and strategic consultancy, she has built a reputation for translating complex findings into clear, compelling narratives that drive action. Jemma’s work focuses on futureproofing the insights function in a time of technological disruption and resource pressure—helping her primary research team identify the human skills that will remain critical in the next five years.

She has led thought leadership on audience segmentation, cultural trends in healthcare, and the evolving role of insights in policy and patient engagement. Jemma champions curiosity, empathy, and critical thinking as the enduring capabilities that keep insights professionals indispensable in a fast-changing landscape. Her perspective combines hands-on research expertise with a broader view of where the healthcare industry is headed, making her an engaging and forward-looking voice in the conversation about the future of insights.

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Michael Schulte, Senior Vice President - Account Management – Sago Health

Michael Schulte is Senior Vice President, for Sago Health. In this role he manages several global healthcare accounts and provides consultative services for his clients, ranging from strategic account planning, partner collaboration and project execution.  Michael has been in marketing research his entire professional career, starting off as a project manager for Horizon Insight – a full-service research consulting agency. With that experience, he learned the fundamentals but consistently challenged the status quo and in the process, developed a well-defined research strategy for the market research environment as we know it today. Michael attended the University of Kentucky and achieved his Certificate of Proficiency in Qualitative Research from the Burke Institute .  He’s an active member of both PMRC and Intellus and works out of Tampa, Florida. 

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Matthew Stinchcombe, Engagement Manager – IQVIA

Matt has over 18 years of experience in life sciences market research consulting. He specialises in custom primary market research (PMR), delivering insights from healthcare professionals, payers, and patients to address strategic, business-critical questions across all stages of the product lifecycle.  He leads the design and execution of both UK-specific and global ad-hoc research studies, ensuring the voice of the customer is embedded in decision-making—particularly in areas such as patient pathways, disease burden, access, and value communication.  Matt works within IQVIA’s Primary Intelligence team, which is increasingly supporting clients with protocolised PMR (pPMR) approaches and developing tailored research solutions that meet rigorous methodological standards while remaining agile and responsive to evolving client needs.

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Curtis Widmer, Research and Projects Director- Madano

Curtis is a Research and Projects Director within Madano’s Insights practice, where he leads programmes that blend behavioural science, data analytics, and communications strategy to help clients make better, evidence-based decisions. With a background in research and data science focused on healthcare, Curtis specialises in understanding how audiences think, communicate, and behave. At Madano, he manages multi-market studies that integrate qualitative and quantitative methodologies, as well as data science approaches, often in close collaboration with strategic communications teams. His work spans stakeholder mapping and message testing through to advanced analytics and impact evaluation frameworks. Curtis is passionate about turning data into practical insight that clients can actually use - rather than being forgotten in a slide deck.

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Ali Wilson, Partner - Day One Strategy

Ali Wilson brings over 25 years of experience shaping and delivering strategic insights across the pharmaceutical industry. Having spent more than 15 years in senior client-side leadership roles — including over a decade at Johnson & Johnson — Ali has developed a deep understanding of commercial strategy and operations across global markets, therapy areas, and all stages of the product lifecycle. Her career spans client, consulting, and agency environments, giving her a unique perspective on how to bridge scientific understanding, strategic thinking, and commercial execution. Today, as a Partner at Day One Strategy, Ali focuses on transforming how healthcare organizations harness the combined power of human intelligence and AI to generate deeper insights, make faster decisions, and deliver smarter strategies.

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