What is your current role in EPAD?

I joined EPAD in October 2018 and am assigned as a lead EFPIA partner responsible for oversight of the Longitudinal Cohort Study (LCS), working alongside the Chief Investigator office at UEDIN.  I am a member of Work Package 4, currently leading the LCS Recruitment Core Team and am also involved in Work Package 7 activities.

What did you do prior to joining EPAD?

I am a medical doctor specialising in pharmaceutical medicine. I have been working for Janssen since 2006 in a number of different roles with increasing responsibilities. My current role is Global Trial Leader, Associate Director, and since 2010 I have been leading multiple international phase 2 and phase 3 interventional trials in the neuroscience therapeutic area, including Alzheimer’s disease.

Tell us a bit about the institution/company/organisation you work for.

Janssen is a pharmaceutical company of Johnson & Johnson, a multinational medical devices, pharmaceutical and consumer packaged goods manufacturing company. Simply put, we’re people working hard with a mission to treat, cure, stop and prevent some of the most devastating and complex diseases of our time — from heart disease, diabetes, and psoriasis to Alzheimer’s disease, HIV, and cancer.

What are your expectations from the EPAD project?

I find it fascinating that so many academic and industry partners came together to work on such an important area of unmet medical need for new and more effective treatments for Alzheimer’s disease. The approach of working together, rather than in parallel, is what provides a tremendous motivation to make the EPAD project a success. I expect that the final result will be to help people around the world to live longer, healthier and happier lives.