Pistoia Alliance USA Conference 2025

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The Convene One Boston Place
201 Washington Street, Boston, MA 02108

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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
09:45	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 – Christian Baber, Chief Portfolio Officer, Pistoia Alliance 10:00: Are Agents All We Need? – Hendrik Luuk, Senior Director of NLP, Pfizer 10:15: From pilots to production: building trust in agentic AI for pharma R&D – 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: Empowering Scientists with Agentic AI: AstraZeneca’s Path to Human-AI Collaboration – Ronen Artzi, Senior Director, Technology Innovation Oncology Data, Analytics and AI Platforms, AstraZeneca & Chris McSpiritt, VP of Life Sciences Strategy, 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 – 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, Giovanni Nisato and Birthe Neilsen, Pistoia Alliance 14:15: Opening Remarks – Christian Baber, Chief Portfolio Officer, Pistoia Alliance 14:30: FAIR – Genta Spahiu Pina, Pfizer 14:45: CAS & Datavid Case Study, Rodney Fulford, CAS 15:00: Speaker Q&A 15:15: Coffee Break 16:00: Data FAIRy – Tim Ikeda, Astrazeneca 16:20: Miles Davies, CEO, Amino Data 16:40: Yelena Budovskaya, Genentech, Principal Data Excellence Leader 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 14:15: Opening Remarks – 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 / Marcin von Grotthuss, Takeda 16:20: Future Perspective: How the Intersection of AI and RWD Are Accelerating Research Opportunities within the Pharmaceutical Industry – Jared Worful, Bayer 16:40: Driving Efficiency and Innovation in Pharmacovigilance Systems – James John, Director Patient Safety and R&D Quality Information Research, Abbvie
17:30	Conference Closes