Gregor Anderson
Pharmacentric Solutions
Greg set up Pharmacentric Solutions in late 2017 offering consultancy services specialising in packaging and device strategies and solutions for the Pharma industry. He advises both small and large Life Science companies on topics such as sustainability, human factors, design for manufacture and leveraging new technologies. Prior to this he spent 30 years working at GSK with his last role there being Senior Device and Packaging Director.
His career started at Smiths Industries Medical Systems as a device designer where he focused on surgical equipment development working closely with healthcare professionals. He then joined the R&D Device Development Unit at Glaxo and worked on the conceptualisation, design and scale-up of various injectors and key inhaler device platforms and the ongoing lifecycle for these novel inhalers. In 2009 Greg moved to GSK Manufacturing as Head of Global Technical Packaging. More recently he has focused on supporting the launches of the Ellipta inhaler, respiratory training devices and also researching and preparing GSK’s respiratory and packaging strategy for Emerging Markets. In 2016 he joined the Medicines Manufacturing Industry Partnership and wrote and published the UK Pharma roadmap for Innovation and Technology. He holds over 40 patents and has expertise in ideation and conceptualization, integration of sustainable technologies and patient centric design and has presented papers on these topics globally. Greg sits on the UK Institute of Materials Packaging Board representing Pharma. He has a B.Sc. in Industrial Design, a M.Sc. in Polymer Science & Engineering and a Postgraduate Diploma in Marketing.
Jeremy Clarke
GlaxoSmithKline
Jeremy is a Senior Fellow in GSK’s Global Manufacturing Technical Function supporting technology transfer, industrialisation and filing of late stage development candidates in the respiratory portfolio, life cycle management programmes for marketed products and external advocacy in the science and regulation of orally inhaled drug products (OIPs). Jeremy is a Fellow of the Royal Pharmaceutical Society, a member of the Board of Directors of IPAC-RS and co-chairs the Inhalation Focus Group of the Academy of Pharmaceutical Sciences. A pharmacist by training, Jeremy obtained his PhD in non-aqueous colloid & interface science at the Welsh School of Pharmacy, University of Cardiff. Following his doctorate studies, Jeremy joined Ciba-Geigy (Novartis) working on OIPs, where he advanced to leadership of the formulation development group. Subsequently, Jeremy joined Vectura where, as Director of Respiratory Development, he had responsibility for both in-house and contract development programmes for OIPs. Jeremy then joined Pfizer at Sandwich as matrix/line leader with responsibility for development of new products and technologies for both OIPs and IR/MR oral solid dosage forms.
Shyamal Das
University of Otago
Dr Shyamal Das is a Senior Lecturer in Pharmaceutical Science at the University of Otago since 2013. He pursued a Research Fellowship at Monash Institute of Pharmaceutical Sciences after obtaining his PhD degree from the same Institute in 2009. He also received research training at the Imperial College of London, the University College of London and the University of Sydney. He also worked in a pharmaceutical industry after his undergraduate degree in pharmacy.
Dr Das leads the research on pulmonary drug delivery of powders in New Zealand. His particular interests are (i) Solid surface characterization for understanding powder behaviour (ii) Particle engineering approaches (eg, spray drying, dry coating, crystallization and milling) to develop efficient and stable powder formulations, (iii) Dissolution of drugs in the lung and subsequent absorption and toxicity. He has published many papers and presented in >50 conferences on fundamental understanding in these areas.
Dr Das has been successful in receiving grants and fellowships as principal applicant including the prestigious nationally competitive grant from Health Research Council of New Zealand and grants from pharmaceutical industries. He has established collaboration with several established research groups worldwide. He has examined PhD theses from Australia, New Zealand, Asia and the UK (eg, Imperial college of London) and consulted to Pharmaceutical industries.
Dr Das is also a passionate teacher. He won the OUSA 2016 Teaching Excellence Award -Top Five Teacher 2016
Jenny Lam
The University of Hong Kong
Dr Jenny Lam is an Associate Professor at the Department of Pharmacology and Pharmacy, The University of Hong Kong. Dr Lam obtained her MPharm and PhD from The University of Nottingham, UK. Her PhD project was on the development of non-viral vector for gene delivery. After working in the National Physical Laboratory for a year and a half, Dr Lam was awarded the Maplethorpe Fellowship, continued her research in nucleic acid delivery in the Department of Pharmacy at King’s College London. Dr Lam joined the Department of Pharmacology and Pharmacy in the University of Hong Kong in 2009 as Assistant Professor, and was promoted to Associate Professor in 2016. Her research is focused on the development of novel delivery system for macromolecular therapeutics including nucleic acids (especially siRNA and mRNA), peptides and antibodies, with special interest in the use of particle engineering methods to produce inhaled dry powder formulations for the treatment/prevention of respiratory diseases. She is the principal investigator of a number of research projects funded by RGC, HMRF and NSFC, and has published over 50 peer-reviewed articles on drug delivery.
Jason McConville
The University of New Mexico
Dr. McConville is an Associate Professor in the Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences at the University of New Mexico and an Adjunct Professor in the Department of Pharmaceutical Technology at the University of Bonn. He earned an Applied Chemistry degree from the University of Coventry in 1994, before working as a researcher in the field of aerosol drug delivery at the University of Bath, in the Centre for Drug Formulation Studies (CDFS). In 1999, he moved to Scotland and received his Ph.D. at the University of Strathclyde in 2002, working on chronopharmaceutical drug delivery. He then worked as a post-doctoral fellow at the University of Texas at Austin, before later being appointed to the rank of an Assistant Professor in 2006. Here his work was centered on administration of antifungals and cancer chemotherapy agents, via inhalation. Dr. McConville joined the faculty at the University of New Mexico in 2012, and his current research interests focus on using new technologies to improve patient compliance and health outcomes with inhalation, oral, and thin film delivery technologies. Dr. McConville serves as the Associate Editor of Special and Themed Editions for Drug Development and Industrial Pharmacy, on the Editorial Advisory Board of Inhalation, and the Journal of Biopharmaceutics and Therapeutic Challenges, and as a Scientific Advisor for the International Pharmaceutical Excipients Council of the Americas.
Jolyon Mitchell
Jolyon Mitchell Inhaler Consulting Services Inc
Dr. Jolyon Mitchell, PhD, FRSC (UK), CChem. CSci, is the CEO of Jolyon Mitchell Inhaler Consulting Services Inc., specializing in the laboratory evaluation of all types of orally inhaled products (OIPs). He was formerly Scientific Director of Trudell Medical International, a company manufacturing devices for delivering inhaled medications. His interests include all aspects of laboratory testing of inhalers, including the development of methods that mimic patient use. In the role of Scientific Adviser to the International Pharmaceutical Consortium on Regulation and Science (IPAC-RS), he has helped pioneer simplified but powerful methods for determining aerodynamic size-related parameters of importance for inhaler-generated aerosols through the Abbreviated Impactor Measurement (AIM) and Efficient Data Analysis (EDA). He also has an active role in EPAG, currently participating in their CFD and Device Resistance sub-team. He played a major part in standards development for ISO 20072:2009, ISO 27427:2010, and CAN/CSA Z264.1-02:2002 (rev. 2008). He was appointed to the 2010-2015 and 2015-2020 sessions of the USP Expert Committee: General Chapters – Dosage Forms, and currently co-chairs the Aerosols subcommittee. He is an adjunct professor at the University of Western Ontario and an affiliate professor at University of Hawaii. He is on the Editorial Advisory Board for Inhalation, has published more than 400 articles and contributed to five books relating to aerosol technology and inhaler products in particular.
Helen Muirhead
Independent Respiratory Medicine Expert
Helen now is an independent Respiratory Medicine Expert, acting as a consultant after 30 years with GSK in both R&D and Manufacturing. Helen is also now involved in teaching at Universities and supports Lung Disease charities.
In GSK, Helen headed up the Respiratory Centre of Excellence during the late stages of Product Development through Regulatory Filing and Commercial Launch and supply of new Medicines – in the Ellipta Portfolio (Including the recent Trelegy, triple drug therapy). Helen was also responsible for the classic and established brands; the existing Diskus Portfolio (Including Advair).
Helen and her team were based in Ware (UK), Evreux (France) and Zebulon (USA): it comprised of Pharmacists, Chemists, Material Scientists, Engineers and Device designers and she was Accountable for the robustness and reliability of the Respiratory Products and Processes, as well as the skills and competency of the Global Respiratory Technical Organisation.
Helen was also the Technical Lead on the Global Ellipta and Diskus Manufacturing Excellence Forums.
A Fellow of the Royal Society of Chemistry, with 42 years of Industrial experience from Quality Control, Quality Assurance, Analytical method development, including 15 years in R&D Respiratory Product Development (in pMDIs, DPIs and intranasal development), through Clinical Trials Design and manufacturing… heading up the Respiratory Pilot Plant. Helen has been in Technical roles within Manufacturing for 15 years.
Darragh Murnane
University of Hertfordshire
Darragh is theAssociate Dean for Enterprise in the School of Life and Medical Sciences at the University of Hertfordshire, where he also carries out his research in the Centre for Topical Drug Delivery and Toxicology (TDDT). He trained as a pharmacist initially, gaining a BSc. (Pharm.) from Trinity College Dublin and then a PhD in Pharmaceutical Technology from King’s College London.
Darragh’s research focuses on improving drug delivery products for topical administration of medicines to patients, particularly for inhaled aerosol therapies. In TDDT the research collaborations revolve around developing an understanding of how inhalable particles can be manufactured and processed such that a stable formulation and product can be developed. Through academic and industrial collaboration, he also investigates the factors affecting on-demand generation of a therapeutic aerosol by the patient. This involves assessment of the biological exposure behaviour and responses after inhalation, and the development of advanced analytical techniques to assess product performance and use by patients.
Steve Newman
Scientific Consultant
Steve Newman is a Scientific Consultant based in Norfolk, UK. He has a BA in Physics from the University of Oxford (1971), an MSc in Radiation Physics from the University of London (1974), and a PhD in the Faculty of Medicine of the University of London (1982). Steve was a Medical Physicist at the Royal Free Hospital, London, UK, from 1971 to 1982. From 1982 to 1991 he was a Principal Physicist and Honorary Senior Lecturer in the Department of Thoracic Medicine, Royal Free Hospital and School of Medicine, London, UK. From 1991 to 2004, Steve was a Director and Chief Scientist of Pharmaceutical Profiles, a company based in Nottingham, UK. Steve has published over 250 research papers, invited articles and book chapters. These publications are mostly concerned with aspects of pulmonary and nasal drug delivery. He has given numerous lectures both at international conferences and within the pharmaceutical industry. In 2009, he was principal author and editor of “Respiratory Drug Delivery: Essential Theory and Practice”, published by RDD Online and Virginia Commonwealth University. Steve is a Fellow of the Institute of Physics in the UK (F Inst P). He acts as a reviewer for many medical and pharmaceutical journals, and is a member of the editorial boards of the Journal of Aerosol Medicine and Pulmonary Drug Delivery, and Expert Opinion on Drug Delivery. In 2007 he received the Thomas T Mercer award, jointly presented by the International Society for Aerosols in Medicine and the American Association of Aerosol Research, for “excellence in pharmaceutical aerosols and inhalable materials”.
Steven Nichols
Specialist Consultant-OINDP
Dr. Steven Nichols is a Specialist Consultant OINDPs and their devices and has 30 years of industrial experience in inhaled and nasal product development.
Founder of European Pharmaceutical Aerosol Group (EPAG).
Expert Group Membership (Current and Past)
Member of the European Pharmacopoeia “Inhalanda” working group.
Member of the European Pharmacopoeia ‘HFA propellants’ working group
Member British Pharmacopoeia, Committee of Experts – Pharmacy.
Chair British Pharmacopoeia ‘Inhaled products’ working party (formed 2011)
Member of ISOTC 84/JWG 5 – Pulmonary delivery device group that developed standard ISO 20072 ‘Aerosol drug delivery device design verification – Requirements and test methods’. (activity completed).
Has made over 50 presentations at International Conferences and has many papers published in peer reviewed journals.
Sarah Zellnitz
Research Center Pharmaceutical Engineering
Sarah Zellnitz is a pharmacist by training. During her PhD at the Graz Technical University (AT) she explored glass beads as new model carries in dry powder inhalers (DPIs) and gained expertise in particle engineering via surface modification and detailed material characterization. She currently holds the position of Senior Scientist at Area II “Advanced Products and Delivery” at the Research Center Pharmaceutical Engineering (RCPE) in Graz (AT), where she is leading the Inhalation group and coordinating the different activities in this field. Her research focus is on tailoring DPI formulations via mechanistic understanding of the interplay of material properties, formulation properties, adhesive-cohesive force balance and drug detachment.
Sarah has joined the conference abstract review panel for Drug Delivery to the Lungs (DDL) in 2016.