With over 24 years of consulting experience, Dr. Franco led PwC’s Pharmaceutical R&D practice where he specialized in improving pharmaceutical drug development, technology transfer, clinical trial operations, and manufacturing. Dr. Franco has worked with the senior management of several large pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies, NGOs, and multinational organizations to implement complex change management initiatives to improve growth, reduce costs, and remediate quality and regulatory issues. Dr. Franco has eight management consulting articles, 13 technical publications, and three patents to his name and has served on several international technical review and regulatory standards committees. He has a Doctor of Philosophy and Master of Science in biochemistry from the University of Rochester.

Kenneth Kaitin is a Professor and Senior Fellow at Tufts Center for the Study of Drug Development at Tufts University School of Medicine. He previously served as the group's Director for 23 years. He is also an Advisory Professor at Shanghai Medical College at Fudan University, and he serves on the faculties of the European Center for Pharmaceutical Medicine at the University of Basel, and the American Course on Drug Development and Regulatory Science at the University of California, San Francisco. Dr. Kaitin is recognized internationally for his contributions to the fields of drug development policy and science. He consults, speaks, and writes on global trends in pharmaceutical development and regulation, and he has provided public testimony before the U.S. Congress. A former President of the Drug Information Association, Dr. Kaitin recently served as Editor-in-Chief of Expert Review of Clinical Pharmacology, and as a consultant to the U.S. Department of Defense on bioterror countermeasures. In 2011, he received the Dr. Louis M. Sherwood Award, granted by the Academy of Pharmaceutical Physicians and Investigators, in 2020 he was named Global Fellow in Medicines Development by the International Federation of Pharmaceutical Physicians, and in 2021, he received the Distinguished Achievement Award from the Sino-American Pharmaceutical Professionals Association (SAPA). Dr. Kaitin is a director on the boards of Curis, Inc. (NASDAQ: CRIS), Bio-Tree Systems, Inc., and QCDx LLC. He earned his BS from Cornell University and his MS and PhD in pharmacology from the University of Rochester.

Christine is a Certified Strategic Alliance Professional (CSAP). She holds an M.S. in innovation and technology management from Boston University, Graduate Certificates in Management and Biotechnology Strategy from Harvard University, and a B.S. in biochemistry from the University of New Hampshire. Currently, Christine provides consulting services to biopharmaceutical companies looking to grow and create value through partnerships. During her time in the biopharmaceutical industry, she was the Chief Operating Officer at Keryx Biopharmaceuticals, Senior Vice President of Operations at Forum Pharmaceuticals, and Vice President of Program & Alliance Management at Biogen. She also holds several volunteer leadership roles supporting the University of New Hampshire, Great Bay Community College, and Dana Farber Cancer Institute.

Dr. Kim is a Research Assistant Professor at the Tufts Center for the Study of Drug Development, Tufts University School of Medicine. Her research and consulting focus on work and health equity, examining how diversity, equity and inclusion dynamics impact individual, group, and organizational outcomes, such as patient satisfaction, engagement, as well as team and organizational output and productivity. She has several years of experience working in leadership development, providing coaching and facilitating workshops for leaders. Her research has been published in science, business, management journals, including Nature Biotechnology, Canadian Medical Association Journal Open, Therapeutic Innovation and Regulatory Science, Harvard Business Review, Journal of Management Studies, Journal of Business Ethics, and Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes. She received her BA from Wellesley College and a PhD in Social-Organizations Psychology from Columbia University. In her free time, she enjoys camping, hiking, and scuba diving. 

Ken Getz is the Executive Director of the Tufts Center for the Study of Drug Development and a Research Professor at the Tufts University School of Medicine. He is an internationally recognized expert on pharmaceutical R&D management and execution, protocol design, contract service provider and investigative site management, eClinical technology and data usage, and patient engagement. A well-known speaker at conferences, symposia, universities, investor meetings, and corporations, Ken has published extensively in peer-review journals, books, and in the trade press. He holds several board appointments in the private and public sectors. He received his MBA from the J.L. Kellogg Graduate School of Management at Northwestern University and his bachelor’s degree from Brandeis University. Ken is also the chairman of CISCRP — a nonprofit organization that he founded to educate and raise public and patient awareness of the clinical research enterprise — and the founder of CenterWatch, a leading publisher in the clinical trials industry and one of several businesses that he has sold.

Brenda has over 25 years of experience helping individuals, teams, and companies improve communications, build teams and manage conflict. She has taught leadership courses to pharmaceutical executives for over 5 years and specializes in applying the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) and the Thomas-Kilmann conflict mode Instrument (TKI) to enhance team leadership and performance. Brenda has worked with individuals and small groups as well as large organizations to help them improve interpersonal communications and growth. Brenda holds a Master of Counseling degree and is a certified instructor in MBTI and TKI.

Chris is a senior executive in the pharma life sciences sector for PwC Japan. He served as a partner at Strategy &, a part of PwC Japan consulting practice, until June 2022. He has served as a leader in the global pharmaceutical healthcare practice for the last 14 years and is currently the cross-line-of-services leader (covering consulting, deals, audit, and tax) for the healthcare industry in Japan. Chris was a partner since 2001 and has over 30 years of experience working in and with various pharma, medical device & equipment, and healthcare companies. This includes significant work around the world, particularly in the U.S. and Asia. In fact, Chris lived in Japan for more than 15 years where he served as the GM for one of PwCʼs management consulting businesses from 2006 to 2012. Chris’s client experience spans the full value chain in the pharma and medical devices segments—from suppliers to producers to providers, industry associations, Global Health players, and vendors. Chris has led a wide variety of consulting projects as well as more than two dozen industry surveys. He has specialized in product development and R&D throughout his career. Before joining PwC, Chris worked in industry and academia in medical imaging.

Chris Lowney chairs the board of CommonSpirit Health, America’s largest not-for-profit healthcare system with 140 hospitals and more than 150,000 employees. He has authored six books, including the bestselling Heroic Leadership, which has been translated into eleven languages as was named to the recommended reading list of the Commandant of the United States Marine Corps. His Latest Work, Make Today Matter: 10 Habits for a Better Life (and World), won an Independent Press Award. Chris regularly contributes to Forbes.com on leadership and leadership strategy. He previously served as Managing Director of J.P. Morgan on three continents. Chris holds a B.A. and an M.A. from Fordham University. He holds nine honorary Doctoral degrees (but says that he doesn't have the chops to earn one the real way). He was raised in Queens, New York, hates the Yankees, and roots for the Mets without feeling shame.