Data Driven Innovations – November 11 & 12, 2025
Address: Convene One Boston Place, 201 Washington Street, Boston, MA 02108
Join us at our annual USA conference, in Boston, where new ideas are sparked and new initiatives are activated thanks to the power of collaboration.
Polite notice, conference registration is available for members only. If you are not a member and would like to attend or you are unsure of your membership status, please email comms@pistoiaalliance.org for information.
Our Sponsors
For sponsorship and attendance opportunities contact catherine.maskell@pistoiaalliance.org or download the Boston Sponsorship pack here
Agenda
Day 1: Tuesday November 11
| Time |
Event |
Details |
| 13:00 |
Badge Collection and Coffee at The Convene |
|
| 13:30 |
Introductions |
Becky Upton |
| 13:40 |
Unlocking the Future: Harnessing AI in the Journey from Molecule to Medicine |
Amrik Mahal, Astrazeneca |
| 14:10 |
Unlocking AI Synergies: Industry Insights on Pre-Competitive Collaboration
|
Thiago Ramos dos Santos,
Zuhlke Engineering GmbH |
| 14:20 |
Keynote Presentation |
Jagat Adhiya, Bayer |
| 14:50 |
Coffee Break and Networking |
Sponsored by Digital Science |
| 15:30 |
Keynote Presentation |
Steven Winig, Novartis BioMedical Research |
| 16:00 |
Science to Supply – How We Are Driving Parallel Opportunities across Research, Pre-Clinical, CMC, Manufacturing and Supply. |
Julie Huxley Jones, Vice President, Business Engagement and Technology for Research, Preclinical and BSMO, Vertex Pharmaceuticals |
| 16.30 |
Sponsored Research |
Copyright Clearance Center |
| 17:00 – 19:30 |
Networking Drinks at The Dagny Hotel |
|
Day 2: Wednesday November 12
| Time |
Event |
Details |
| 09.00 |
Badge Pick Up |
|
| 09:30 |
Welcome |
Becky Upton, President, Pistoia Alliance |
| 09:45 |
Morning Stream Sessions |
 Stream 1 – Agentic AI and Human Agency
Who’s in Whose Loop
As AI models in general and agents in particular become more capable the question of where and how they should be used grows in importance. When do we want humans in the loop checking AI decisions rather than models augmenting human intelligence?
Hosts: Christian Baber, Rob Gill and Vladimir Makarov, Pistoia Alliance
- 09:45: Opening Remarks including portfolio update by Christian Baber, Chief Portfolio Officer, Pistoia Alliance
- 10:00: Are Agents All We Need? Hendrik Luuk, Senior Director of NLP, Pfizer
- 10:15: Speaker – Mirit Eldor, Managing Director, Elsevier Life Sciences Solutions
- 10:30: Speaker Q&A
- 10:45: Coffee break
- 11:30: Chaithanya Bandi, Genetech
- 11:50: Building Trustworthy Agentic AI: The Role of Human Expertise and Ontologies – Jane Lomax, Terminology Services Group Leader
- 12:10: Pharma and Vendor Case Study – sponsored by Domino
- 12:30: Speaker Panel and Key Takeaways
 Stream 2 – Beyond the Cage
Reimagining Drug Development
In this session we will explore the scientific shift toward alternative methods in drug development, focusing on the 3Rs principle: Replacement, Reduction, and Refinement. We will focus on some of the latest innovative approaches
Hosts: Thierry Escudier and Veronique Francois, Pistoia Alliance
- 09:45: Opening Remarks including portfolio update by Thierry Escudier, Pistoia Alliance
- 10:00: Minimal Metadata Set for In Vivo Data, Stefano Gaburro, Scientific Director, Tecniplast
- 10:20: Novel Alternative Methods: Review of Existing Methods, Alastair King, Head of Biology, Eurofins
- 10:40: Speaker Q&A
- 10:45: Coffee Break
- 11:30: Adoption of NAMs in Pharma: Successes and Challenges – Jessica Treadway, Senior Research Scientist, Abbvie
- 11:50: Novel Alternative Methods: The Road Map of Expansion – Jon McCord, PCRM
- 12:10: Bridging Science and Regulation: FAIR Template and Open Repository for IVP Assays – Aishwarya Balajee, Head of Scientific Data & Digital Transformation, Zifo Technologies & Chris Butler, Research Fellow / Director, Abbvie
- 12:30: Speaker Panel and Key Takeaways
|
| 13:00 |
Networking Lunch |
| 14:15 |
Afternoon Stream Sessions |
 Stream 3 – Smart Data
Smarter Science
Whether directly or through models, data drives decisions and leads to smarter, more efficient R&D. However, much of our data is not in a useable form. How do we create, format and manage our data to ensure that we can get the most value from it?
Hosts: Christian Baber and Birthe Neilssen, Pistoia Alliance
- 14:15: Opening Remarks by Christian Baber, Chief Portfolio Officer, Pistoia Alliance
- 14:30: FAIR – Genta Spahiu Pina, Pfizer
- 14:45: Vendor / Pharma Case Study – DataVid
- 15:00: Speaker Q&A
- 15:15: Coffee Break
- 16:00: Data FAIRy – Tim Ikeda, Astrazeneca
- 16:20: sponsored by Amino Data
- 16:40: TBC
- 17:00: Speaker Q&A / Panel Discussion
 Stream 4 – Fast Forward Late Stage R&D
Go fast, be safe
In this session we will explore the transformative role of digital technologies in accelerating the late-stage R&D process. It will highlight how AI, digital innovation and leveraging real-world data enable more efficient, scalable, safe and patient-centric research.
Hosts: Thierry Escudier, Pistoia Alliance and Aditya Tyagi, Pistoia Alliance
- 14:15: Opening Remarks by Thierry Escudier, Pistoia Alliance
- 14:30: Accelerating Clinical Trials with AI, Anastasia Christianson, EPAM
- 14:45: Accelerating the Bench to Bedside for Parkinson’s Disease with Knowledge Graph Technology, Kate Trimble, Senior Technical Product Manager, The Michael J Fox Foundation
- 15:00: Speaker Q&A
- 15:15: Coffee Break
- 16:00: Carl Latham, Ontoforce
- 16:20: Driving Efficiency and Innovation in Pharmacovigilance Systems, James John, Director – Patient Safety and R&D Quality Information Research, Abbvie
- 16:40: Speaker Panel
- 17:00: Key Takeaways
|
| 17:30 |
Conference Closes |
Register below
Note to members if you are experiencing any issues please email comms@pistoiaalliance.com
