Clinical Trials in Bulgaria
01/03/2026
Munich 2026 Conference
24/04/2026
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Photo of Derk Arts, MD, PhD - iduneo

Dr. Ole Dammann

Co-Founder and Managing Director of iduneo

 

Ole is the Co-Founder and Managing Director of iduneo, a company dedicated to helping patients across Europe access clinical trials while supporting pharmaceutical companies with data- and AI-driven recruitment solutions.

Ole brings extensive experience in clinical research. Before founding iduneo, he served as CEO of a network of research sites, which was successfully acquired by a pan-European organization. He has played a key role in the digital transformation of clinical research and has been actively involved in several prominent industry initiatives.

Earlier in his career, Ole held various leadership roles in the chemical and healthcare industries, with a focus on finance. He holds a Master’s degree in Business Administration and a Ph.D. in Organization from the University of Mannheim, which included research conducted at Stanford University.

 

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iduneo Logo

At iduneo, we leverage artificial intelligence to simplify access to suitable clinical trials for cancer patients - while accelerating patient recruitment for the pharmaceutical industry. Our goal is to reduce the operational burden of trial matching and help bridge the gap between standard care and clinical research.

 

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Photo of Derk Arts, MD, PhD - Castor

Derk Arts, MD, PhD

Founder and CEO of Castor

 

Derk Arts, MD, PhD, is a physician-entrepreneur and a global leader in clinical research technology innovation. As the founder and CEO of Castor, Derk has spearheaded a revolution in clinical trial technology, transforming how data is collected, managed, and leveraged to accelerate medical research. With a mission to make clinical trials more efficient, inclusive, and patient-centric, Derk has led Castor’s growth from a single-use case in an ICU in the Netherlands to supporting over 15,000 studies across 90+ countries.

A medical doctor with a PhD in clinical trial methodology, Derk’s expertise spans healthcare, technology, and business. He is passionate about addressing inefficiencies in the research ecosystem and empowering researchers with tools to generate high-quality evidence faster. Derk is also a seasoned public speaker, having contributed to prominent conferences and panels on decentralized clinical trials, artificial intelligence in healthcare, and the future of patient engagement.

 

LinkedIn

Castor Logo

Castor is designed to help researchers collect, manage, and analyze data for clinical trials and research studies. It offers features like building electronic case report forms (eCRFs), integrating data from various sources (EHRs, wearables, ePROs), real-time reporting, and ensuring compliance with regulatory standards.

Castor was founded to democratize access to clinical research technology, to improve health equity across the globe and extend the human healthspan.

 

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Photo of Dr. Eva Wolf - Eurofins MUC Research

Dr. Eva Wolf

CEO and Head of Clinical Research at Eurofins MUC Research

 

Eva Wolf is a dedicated clinical researcher bringing over 20 years of expertise in study planning, conduct and analysis. After graduating in physics at the Technical University Munich (TUM), she completed a Master’s degree in Public Health and Epidemiology at the Ludwig-Maximilians-University in Munich, followed by her doctoral studies in Health Technology Assessment (HTA) at the UMIT (University of Health Sciences, Medical Informatics and Technology) in Hall/Tyrol, Austria.

As CEO and Head of Clinical Research at Eurofins MUC Research, she ensures rigorous study design, precise statistical analyses, and comprehensive medical writing. She emphasizes an interdisciplinary approach by fostering collaboration between health care providers, scientists and IT experts to improve study outcomes and drive innovation.

 

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Eurofins MUC Research Logo

Eurofins MUC Research is operating as an ISO-certified CRO with extensive experience in the planning, conduct and analysis of observational and clinical studies with a focus on post-authorisation studies and implementation of real-world data into clinical research.

Eurofins MUC Research supports its clients throughout their research projects including protocol writing, site feasibility, regulatory affairs, and design of electronic, web-based CSV-validated study platforms/eCRFs. Services encompass reliable and comprehensive data management, sound planning and execution of statistical analyses, as well as medical writing of scientific manuscripts and clinical study reports.

Eurofins MUC Research has extensive expertise in facilitating data collection using multiple data sources, structures and coding systems to generate real-world evidence. All aspects of data security, quality control, and quality assurance are rigorously implemented and consistently maintained.

With the help of highly qualified and experienced staff, Eurofins MUC Research is able to implement research projects in an efficient and client-focused timely manner.

 

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Photo of Zina Sarif - Yendou

Zina Sarif

Founder and CEO of Yendou

 

A scientist turned founder, Zina spent a decade in cancer drug discovery before leading clinical research at Parexel and PhIII oncology trials at AstraZeneca. Driven by the vision of a cancer-free world, she built Yendou to accelerate research, streamline operations, to deliver life-saving treatments faster.

 

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Yendou Logo

Yendou is the first AI-powered Site Engagement CRM built for the clinical research workforce—without burdening sites with new technology. Designed to turn site engagement into operational performance, Yendou helps scale late-stage clinical pipelines faster than ever. Finally, ClinOps gets a smarter way to work.

 

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Photo of Maria del Pilar Garzón Riveros - FastTrack MedTech

Maria del Pilar Garzón Riveros

FastTrack MedTech

 

Maria is a certified Clinical Research Associate with six years of experience in clinical trials. Over the course of [his/her/their] career, she has collaborated with a range of universities and companies across the fields of clinical nutrition, pharmaceuticals, and medical products. These collaborations have included the planning and execution of various types of clinical studies. Currently, Maria leads the clinical trials department for medical products at FastTrack MedTech GmbH.

One of her greatest passions lies in exploring new technologies and treatment strategies in the medical field to improve the management and prevention of both communicable and non-communicable diseases. With a strong foundation in clinical research and a commitment to innovation, Maria aims to support startups in transforming their ideas into reality—ensuring efficiency, high quality, and safety throughout the development process.

 

LinkedIn

FastTrack MedTech Logo

FastTrack MedTech (FTMT) is an industry-in-clinic platform that connects medical device and healthtech developers with real-world clinical environments and expert insights. By providing direct access to practicing medical professionals and realistic testing settings, FTMT helps bring innovative ideas closer to clinical reality. The platform also facilitates access to clinical trials, streamlining the path from concept to implementation.

Our approach is simpler, more accurate, and highly efficient. We aim to:

  • Facilitate knowledge transfer between clinicians and developers

  • Support the development of focused, need-driven medical products

  • Accelerate the translation of research into clinical applications

  • Enhance the accuracy and reliability of clinical data

  • Continuously improve product quality

  • Achieve cost savings through operational efficiency

Our services are designed to bridge the gap between innovation and clinical practice, helping to bring better healthcare solutions to market faster. These services include:

  • Study monitoring

  • Support in creating essential documentation for clinical studies

  • User research and analysis

  • Clinical study coordination

 

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Kayleigh Rogers

Head of Business Development at Siteworks GmbH

 

For nearly a decade, I've been building partnerships in clinical research and drug development, always passionate about interdisciplinary communication and systemic, human-focused continuous improvement. 

 

LinkedIn

Siteworks Clinical Research Logo

Siteworks Clinical Research is a professionalized Site Network of 8 clinical study sites based in Germany performing Phase Ib - IV clinical trials in a variety of clinical settings including medical practices, clinics, and independent research centers, and supporting a variety of therapeutic areas including Neurology, Inner Medicine, Sleep, Pain, Cardiology, Dermatology, Pulmonology, and more.

 

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Prof. Dr. med. Johannes Bogner

Head of the Division of Infectious Diseases at the Downtown Campus of the University Hospital of Munich, Germany

 

Prof. Dr. med. Johannes Bogner, born 1960, is head of the ID department since 2006. He attended Medical School at Munich and started his training in Internal Medicine and Infectious Diseases in 1986. He was active in building up and expanding the Division of Infectious Diseases since 1986, which comprises now an ID Consult Service for inpatients, a Clinic for acute and chronic infectious disorders as well as an ID ward. He was trained in Internal Medicine, Endoscopy and Pulmonary Medicine. He completed his expertise as an Infectious Disease Specialist with a fellowship at the Albert Einstein Medical School, Bronx, New York. In 1994 he was appointed assistant Professor and attending physician. 2001 he was appointed Professor of Medicine. He is active as a teacher at Medical School in various forms including lectures, seminars and teaching rounds. He is Board- approved instructor for Internal Medicine and Infectious Diseases and has numerous lectures and talks at international and national conferences. In 2012 he was appointed Editor in Chief of the Springer-Nature Journal INFECTION. His scientific core aereas are immunology and treatment of HIV infection, development of new anti-infective medication in clinical trials (antivirals, antimycotic compounds and antibiotics), and antibiotic treatment of infections due to multi-resistant organisms.

 

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Sandra Kreuzaler

Senior Scientific Advisor Research at ViiV Healthcare

 

Sandra Kreuzaler is a Scientific Advisor Research at ViiV Healthcare, Germany, since October 2020.

She develops and collaborates with research sites in Germany to contribute to R&D efforts across the ViiV pipeline as well as for approved treatments for HIV, and serves as the German contact for investigator-sponsored studies. Sandra holds a degree in Biochemistry from Freie Universität Berlin. Her prior roles included Senior Pharmacovigilance Manager at a large global CRO (PPD), and Clinical Studies Lead at a small local CRO, both in Cambridge, UK. She has extensive experience in medical affairs, clinical trials, and drug safety management.

 

LinkedIn

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Univ.-Prof. Dr. med. Christoph Schindler

CMO & Managing Director
Center for Clinical Trials (ZKS)
Medizinische Hochschule Hannover (MHH)

 

Prof. Dr. med. Christoph Schindler is Professor of Clinical Pharmacology at Hannover Medical School (MHH), where he leads the Center for Clinical Studies (ZKS) and the Early Clinical Trial Unit (ECTU). He is also a member of the managing board (Vorstand) of the KKS-network.

He studied medicine at the Universities of Ulm and Toronto and completed his clinical and research training in Dresden, where he became a specialist in Clinical Pharmacology. After leading the translational clinical trials unit at TU Dresden, he was appointed W2 Professor at MHH in 2012 and has since built one of Germany’s leading infrastructures for early clinical research.

Prof. Schindler’s research focuses on early-phase drug development (Phase I–IIa), biomarker-guided trials, and translational pharmacology. He has pioneered the use of electronic health records and digital platforms to improve the design and conduct of clinical studies, accelerating the translation of novel therapies into patient care.

He is an experienced academic teacher and mentor, directing accredited Good Clinical Practice (GCP) training courses, lecturing at the TRAIN Academy, and leading the Clinical Trials module in the MHH Master’s program in Biomedical Data Science.

With an H-Index of 21, Prof. Schindler has published widely on innovative therapeutic approaches. Recent highlights include randomized controlled trials in Tourette syndrome, a Phase 3 study on COVID-19 prophylaxis in elderly patients, a Phase 2 trial on Emicizumab in haemophilia, and a Phase 1 gene therapy study in diabetic foot ulcers, with results published in Lancet Haematology, Clinical Infectious Diseases, and other leading journals.

He is a member of the American College of Clinical Pharmacology (ACCP) and the German Society for Clinical Pharmacology (DGKliPha/DGPT), and serves as Editor-in-Chief of Therapeutic Advances in Endocrinology and Metabolism. Through his leadership, research, and teaching, Prof. Schindler has become a driving force in advancing clinical pharmacology and early-phase clinical research in Germany and beyond.

 

LinkedIn

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Dr. med. Tobias D. Gantner,
MBA, LL. M.

CEO of HealthCare Futurists GmbH

 

Tobias Gantner is a physician with additional degrees in health economics, medical law, and philosophy. He is Professor for Digital Health and Innovation and founder of HealthCare Futurists GmbH, where he has spent more than a decade pioneering the digital transformation of healthcare – from democratizing access to care through mobile and telemedical solutions (Ohnearztpraxis, Digitale Residenzpraxis, HealthCare MakerMobil) to building AI-driven platforms such as Lebenswerk.ai, which brings biography work into elderly care.

Dubbed the “Q of Medicine” by Stern Magazine, Dr. Gantner is recognized for turning visionary ideas into tangible innovations. He is a strong advocate of emergence-based medicine and the use of AI in new fields of clinical research – particularly through synthetic data and narrative data. His work focuses on future skills: how healthcare professionals and organizations can thrive in a world shaped by disruptive technologies and new paradigms of evidence.

 

LinkedIn

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Alexander van der Mey

CEO at Healex

Healex is dedicated to automating the billing process for clinical trials from the clinic’s perspective.With our TrialFinance Manager, we ensure that clinics receive proper compensation for all services rendered.

Our solution is distributed through our OEM partner, Deutsche Telekom Healthcare / T-Systems.

 

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Prof. Dr. Bianca Wittig

Medical Head Sanofi Specialty Care Germany, Switzerland, Austria & Country Medical Lead Germany

 

Bianca Wittig is a senior executive physician with over two decades of leadership experience in both pharmaceutical industry and academic medicine. Before joining industry, she became a Professor of Internal Medicine with board certifications in Internal Medicine and Gastroenterology/Hepatology. Her scientific contributions include over 60 peer-reviewed publications in high-ranking journals, complemented by research at prestigious institutions like the German Cancer Research Center Heidelberg, Basel Institue for Immunology and Charité Berlin. Her pharmaceutical career spans more than 15 years across Sanofi, AbbVie, and Morphosys, where she led teams of up to 200 medical professionals in national and global settings. At Morphosys, Bianca Wittig was leading R&D Strategic Evaluation in Business Development and early clinical development and successfully launched Tafasitamab for non-Hodgkin lymphoma, while at AbbVie she built extensive matrix teams across 19 countries as Area Medical Lead for Oncology/Hematology. Her leadership was instrumental in multiple product launches including Venetoclax in CLL, Viekirax in Hepatitis C, and Humira in various indications including pediatric applications. In her current role at Sanofi, she is heading Medical Affairs Specialty care in Germany, Switzerland and Austria and Country Medical Lead Germany cross indications in immunology, neurology and oncology as well as rare diseases.

 

LinkedIn

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Ronald Boumans

Munich Medtech

 

Ronald Boumans has been working with medical devices in many different roles since 1987: R&D, distribution, standardization, quality of life research, market surveillance for a competent authority, high-end regulatory consulting, and work as a PRRC. In 2022 he started Boumans Regulatory Consulting, which specializes in strategic regulatory consulting and in PRRC services. In 2023 he was a co-founder of Munich Medtech Regulatory Consulting, a consultancy specializing in working with startups. Thanks to having worked with devices from all these different perspectives, he can see easy solutions in complex situations.

Ronald compares Regulatory work with flying a plane: a good pilot can land his plane in a storm; an excellent pilot knows how to avoid bad weather.

 

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Daniela Karl

1st Chairwoman at Buveba e. V.

 

Daniela Karl is a highly experienced clinical research professional with more than 30 years of experience in nursing, cinical trials and study coordination. After beginning her career as a registered nurse, she moved into clinical research in 2008 and has since worked as Study Coordinator and Team Lead in oncology and neurology at leading German university hospitals, a CRO, and currently coordinates clinical studies at a neurological practice in Munich.

Since 2021, she has served as Chairwoman of the Bundesverband des nicht-ärztlichen Studienpersonals in der Klinischen Forschung e.V. (BUVEBA e.V.), where she is a strong advocate for increasing the visibility and professional recognition of study coordination and for the establishment of a mandatory, standardized training program in this field.

 

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Steffen Ruschinski

Munich Medtech

 

Steffen is a trusted Medical and Technical Writer supporting Medtech companies in all aspects around Clinical Evaluation and Post Market activities for medical devices risk classes I – III.  As Shareholder, Advisor and Board Member for various Medical Device companies around the globe he has deep insights into medical devices business and an entrepreneurial mindset. Since 2025 he also serves as Reviewer and Judge for Medtech Innovator Los Angeles. As partner of Medtech Munich he will help you to achieve your goals.

 

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Camille Chouan

Head of Innovation at EIT Health

 

Camille Chouan is Head of Innovation at EIT Health, where she leads funding programmes to support breakthrough technologies and solutions that are transforming healthcare in Europe, from wearables to digital therapeutics, AI-driven diagnostics, telehealth and advanced medical technologies. A former Design Director at IDEO, she has spent her career advising organizations on innovation and digital transformation, building user-centric solutions, and mobilizing investments towards impactful ventures.

 

LinkedIn

EIT Health is a vast, vibrant community of world-leading health innovators backed by the European Union. We collaborate across borders to connect and enable the brightest minds from business, research, education and healthcare delivery, creating a productive environment in which innovation can flourish. Together, we address the biggest health challenges Europe faces.

 

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Pedro Coelho

Founder & CEO, Biorce

 

Pedro Coelho is the Founder and CEO of Biorce, a health AI company redefining how life-changing treatments reach patients faster and more efficiently. A visionary in the intersection of life sciences and technology, Pedro founded Biorce in 2024 to tackle the deep-rooted inefficiencies he witnessed throughout his career in life sciences consulting. The name Biorce, born from the fusion of Biology and Force, reflects his mission to drive transformation across clinical development through intelligent automation.

Prior to founding Biorce, Pedro was Senior Vice President at Talentmark, where he created and led TMFS, a specialized CRO focused on Oncology and Cell & Gene Therapy. He also held executive roles in business development and commercial strategy, including as Chief Commercial Officer at Konspol Holding.

Pedro’s academic background spans executive education from Harvard Medical School and the University of Pennsylvania. He graduated Summa Cum Laude in Business Administration from EU Business School and ranked in the top 2% globally in the International Baccalaureate in Sciences.

 

LinkedIn

At Biorce, we help pharma and biotech companies run faster, smarter, and more cost-effective clinical trials using advanced AI.

Our flagship platform, is the first AI Clinical Trial Assistant built to accelerate protocol development, feasibility, and study startup. It reduces amendments, improves patient matching, and supports more confident decision-making – leading to faster timelines and lower risk.

Designed with input from leading clinical experts, Biorce’s platform transforms regulatory data and medical literature into actionable insights that streamline planning and execution. Whether you’re a global biopharma, an agile biotech or a CRO, Biorce helps your teams design better trials and bring treatments to market sooner.

We bring together expertise in AI, clinical operations, and healthcare to solve today’s biggest R&D challenges, without compromising quality, compliance, or patient safety. Learn more at www.biorce.com

 

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Rebecca Zeising, MSc, MBA

Head of Business Development at PharmaTrail

 

Rebecca is a clinical research leader who bridges MedTech/Pharma, CROs, and startups with a people-first mindset. Over more than 15 years—from her start as a clinical research associate to leading international trial operations—she has seen that studies advance not only through technology and process, but mainly through trust and respect for participants’ time and for sites’ workload. Since 2021, she has worked on the vendor side, applying blockchain to build secure, transparent, and intuitively user-friendly electronic data capture (EDC) solutions that enable inclusive practices whilst ensuring highest level of data integrity. She currently heads Business Development at PharmaTrail, where she forges strategic partnerships and scales the company’s business. Passionate about advancing digital health and improving patient access, Rebecca also contributes to sector-wide progress through the European Forum for Good Clinical Practice (EFGCP) eConsent initiative.

 

LinkedIn

PharmaTrail is a Swiss health-tech company delivering blockchain-secured EDC, eConsent, and ePRO—giving clinical trials tamper-proof audit trails, strong compliance, and trusted data by design. Our mission is shaping a new clinical trial industry standard for data integrity that ensures trust, delivers value and elevates patient care.

 

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Vasily Kalakutskiy

Connectivity & Products Tech
EMC & Product Safety
Business Development Manager Medical Product Certification
SGS Germany GmbH

 

SGS Germany GmbH, Munich, Germany
Business Development Manager Medical Product Certification
MDR Lead Auditor and Product assessor (CE0598)
Background and education: Biomedical Engineer, MBA in Medical Devices and Healthcare Management

 

LinkedIn

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Borislava Peric

Therapeutic Area Head, Director, Global Clinical Trial Operations, MSD Sharp & Dohme GmbH

 

Borislava Peric is Therapeutic Area Head Non-Oncology and Director of Global Clinical Trial Operations (GCTO) Germany at MSD Sharp & Dohme GmbH, one of the world’s largest research-driven biopharmaceutical companies. With over 14 years of experience in clinical research, Borislava has a proven track record in clinical trial management, trial oversight, and people development across global, cross-functional teams.

Since joining MSD in 2020, Borislava has worked in different positions with increasing responsibility and is currently overseeing the non-oncology clinical trial operations in Germany, playing a key role in shaping efficient processes and high-quality standards. Her expertise spans CRO and vendor management, trial oversight, and establishing operational frameworks that ensure compliance, performance, and patient safety.

Borislava’s career reflects a deep commitment to operational excellence and collaborative leadership. She began her journey in on-site monitoring and has since grown into a respected leader with the ability to influence across all levels of a matrix organization. Her focus on empowering teams and ensuring timely, high-quality deliverables has positioned her as a strategic force in the success of MSD’s clinical research programs.

 

LinkedIn

MSD (Merck Sharp & Dohme) has stood for medical innovation for over 130 years, developing life-saving medicines, vaccines, and animal health products. Driven by the mission to improve human and animal health, MSD is shaping the future of healthcare through science, dedication, and global collaboration.

 

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Alain Volny-Anne

European AIDS Treatment Group

 

Alain Volny-Anne is a long-standing HIV/AIDS treatment activist who has been engaged in the fight against HIV since the early 1990s, with a strong focus on research into HIV and related conditions. He played a key role in the creation of the French HIV Community Advisory Board, helping to ensure that the voices and perspectives of people living with HIV were represented in scientific discussions.

For over three decades, Alain has contributed to numerous French and international expert groups and scientific committees, consistently advocating for greater community involvement in research. Since 1997, he has been a member of the European AIDS Treatment Group (EATG), supporting its mission to improve scientific knowledge and empower people living with HIV. This work has led him to represent the EATG in various scientific fora, including the RESPOND Consortium, the CASCADE HIV Cohort, the EACS Guidelines group, and the Glasgow HIV Drug Therapy Congress.

Until recently, Alain also reported on HIV conferences for several community groups in France and the UK.

Alain is deeply committed to promoting patient engagement as a cornerstone of ethical and effective clinical research.

 

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Bogdan Adrian Trandafir

ADVOCACY PATIENTS 
Representative of people with HIV/AIDS (Romania)
The National Union of Organizations of People Affected by HIV/AIDS (UNOPA)

 

Bogdan-Adrian Trandafir is a long-standing advocate for people living with HIV in Romania, with over 11 years of experience in advancing their rights and access to care. He is a member of the National Union of Organisations of People Affected by HIV/AIDS (UNOPA) and represents the Romanian HIV community as an Advocacy Patients leader, and part of the HIV Outcomes Romania's Steering Committee.

At the international level, Bogdan serves as a member of the European AIDS Treatment Group (EATG) and the European AIDS Clinical Society (EACS).His mission is to ensure that every person living with HIV in Romania can enjoy a dignified life, full social inclusion, and access to quality healthcare. Outside his advocacy work, Bogdan is also a passionate photographer, capturing stories and moments that inspire change.

 

LinkedIn

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Nikolay Vasev, PhD

Chief Executive Officer at Epix AI

 

Nikolay Vasev has long experience with European healthcare. His PhD from the University of Copenhagen focused on Court of Justice of the European Union adjudication in patients' rights cases and on the application of the Cross-border Patients' Rights Directive in Bulgaria, Poland, the Czech Republic, Austria, the Netherlands and Denmark.

He also worked at DG SANTE at the European Commission on several health-related dossiers and published a report on Antimicrobial Resistance in Europe. As a policy officer at the UK Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, Nikolay was in charge of enhancing the measures for stable iodine distribution in case of nuclear emergency.

Since returning to Bulgaria in 2018, Nikolay has worked at Sopharma Trading as a Project Manager for the strategic projects in both Bulgaria and Serbia. Since February 2023, Nikolay has been Chief Operating Officer at Epix AI getting the company ready for its market launch.

 

LinkedIn

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Olga Törringer

Enterprise Sales & Partnerships Manager at Curewiki

 

Olga is a digital innovation leader with over 13 years of experience in scaling technology solutions across global market. She leads engagement with top pharmaceutical sponsors and ecosystem partners, helping to shape enterprise adoption of patient-centric technology. At Curewiki, Olga advances the mission of making medical research more accessible by empowering patients to discover and join research opportunities that fit their needs.

 

LinkedIn

Curewiki is building a pan-European digital infrastructure that makes clinical research more accessible for patients. Through partnerships with hospitals, patient organizations, and other trusted healthcare platforms, we empower individuals to discover and pre-screen for relevant studies in real time. Our AI-powered eligibility flows simplify complex criteria, breaking down barriers to participation and addressing one of the biggest challenges in research: recruitment delays. By moving from fragmented campaigns to a continuous, patient-first model, Curewiki accelerates trial timelines, reduces screen failures, and broadens inclusion, ensuring that no patient misses a potentially life-saving opportunity.

 

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Manfred Taschner

CEO at LifeTaq-Analytics GmbH

 

Manfred is co-founder and CEO of LifeTaq. He studied Biotechnology at BOKU Vienna, at Griffith University Brisbane (Australia),and at Harvard Medical School in Boston (USA). His experience in drug research at AFFiRiS AG give him an excellent understanding of the market and its requirements. In 2017 he founded LifeTaq to implement his vision of sustainable as well as scalable drug development using human in vitro models instead of animal testing.

 

LinkedIn

LifeTaq is TechBio company from Klosterneuburg, near Vienna, Austria, that provides solutions for automated mass tissue production. We accelerate preclinical research by fully automating the production of standardized human in vitro tissue models. This reduces numerous animal trials, lowers time and costs by up to 80%, and improves reliability - enabling pharma and biotech to deliver safer treatments to patients faster.

The Tissura platform is LifeTaq’s main product. It is a modular machine for the high throughput production of in vitro models with its first application in respiratory research. Tissura combines technologies from the biotech, automation and digitalization field and acts as an all-in-one solution for reproducible, scalable and sustainable pre-clinical drug testing according to new regulatory frameworks.

 

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Dr. Anthony Harris

Director of Business Development at Linical

 

Tony is Director of Business Development at Linical. He has his PhD in Biomedical Engineering. After spending several years at the LMU he made the switch to industry. He has worked for multiple medical device and pharmaceutical companies, to help them to grow their business.

 

LinkedIn

Linical is a public, mid-sized Contract Research Organization headquartered in Japan with a significant presence across all major markets including North America, Europe, and Asia-Pacific. Linical provides the full spectrum of drug development services from early stage to large-scale, multinational studies. Our areas of focus include Phase I-IV studies in oncology, neurology & psychiatry, immunology & vaccine, and endocrinology & metabolic diseases. Rather than be all things to the market, this intentional design allows us to provide our clients the right size, right reach, and right team.

 

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Kaloyan Ratchev

Founder Vangavis / Onco:Innovate

 

Kaloyan Ratchev is a passionate ecosystem builder, entrepreneur, investor and startup mentor. He is the founder and CEO of Vangavis, a leading innovation company operating at the intersection of ecosystems and networks across the DACH and CEE regions. Kaloyan is the founder and organiser of Onco:Innovate, the European oncology innovation network, which is a health innovation initiative at the crossroads of traditional oncological networks and modern startup & innovation organisations. In addition, Kaloyan is an executive board member of the Brussels based “European AI Forum” (EAIF), the largest AI umbrella organisation in Europe, representing more than 3000 European AI startups and companies from 13 countries.

Kaloyan holds a master's degree in Sociology and Economics from the University of Economics in Vienna and has been working in the field of ecosystem development, innovation and entrepreneurship for the last 20 years. His current fields of interest are AI & deep tech, health & life sciences, technology transfer and science based innovation.