Maria Beatrice Panico

Deputy Chief Medical Officer, Scendea

I am a Principal Medical Consultant at Scendea, responsible for providing highly strategic clinical and regulatory advice. I was formerly a Leading Senior Medical Assessor at the MHRA and represented the UK in the European working groups on new trial designs, safety and In Vitro Diagnostics. I am one of the authors of the CTFG Recommendation Paper on the Initiation and Conduct of Complex Clinical Trials. I was involved in the UK response to both the Ebola and the COVID19 medical emergencies.
Before joining the MHRA I worked as a clinical neurologist, clinical investigator, researcher in neuroscience and pharmacovigilance expert in the pharmaceutical industry.
I was a member of the WHO working group on regulatory aspects of artificial intelligence.
I am a medical doctor, fully qualified neurologist and have a PhD In neuroscience.

: https://uk.linkedin.com/in/maria-beatrice-panico-0

Sarah Tabrizi

Joint Head of Department of Neurodegenerative Disease, University College London

Professor Sarah Tabrizi is a clinician-scientist internationally recognised for her pioneering research into Huntington’s disease and neurodegeneration. She is the Director of the UCL Huntington’s Disease Centre and Joint Head of the Department of Neurodegenerative Disease at UCL Queen Square Institute of Neurology. Her work combines basic cellular research with translational approaches to develop effective, disease-modifying therapies.

Professor Tabrizi has published over 300 peer-reviewed papers and serves on multiple expert panels, including the UK HD Association and the European HD Network. Her contributions to neuroscience have been recognised with numerous awards, such as the Leslie Gehry Brenner Prize for Innovation in Science and the Royal Society Fellowship.

Paul Sharp

Lead Scientist, Medicines Discovery Catapult

Paul is a Senior Preclinical Imaging Scientist with over 15 years of experience in driving innovation in translational research within academia and industry.

Paul has a PhD in neuroscience and expertise across multiple therapeutics areas from oncology to CNS disorders, with a strong focus on applying anatomical and functional imaging modalities for disease phenotyping, PK/PD readouts and evaluating whole-body biodistribution of complex medicines.

David Thomas

Head of Policy and Public Affairs, Alzheimer’s Research UK

David Thomas is the Head of Policy and Public Affairs at Alzheimer’s Research UK (ARUK), and leads the organisation’s efforts to influence policy, advocate for change and shape the public affairs agenda to accelerate research into dementia, advance innovation, and improve access to new treatments.

Before joining ARUK, David Thomas worked at Roche in the UK, leading public affairs and policy work across several disease areas including dementia.He also served at NHS Confederation as Head of Public Affairs, gaining experience working with healthcare providers and commissioners.