Coordination comittee

Javier Urzay

Economist from the Universidad Autónoma of Madrid and MBA from the Instituto Adriano Olivetti of Ancona (Italy), has worked as enterprise strategic consultant in DBK (Databank Group) and has been General Subdirector of Technological Services and Technology Transfer in the Centro para el Desarrollo Tecnológico Industrial (CDTI), I+D promotion agency of the Ministry of Industry, Tourism and Commerce, until 2001, date when he entered FARMAINDUSTRIA as Director of Coordination, Studies and Associate Service. Nowadays he holds the position of General Subdirector of FARMAINDUSTRIA, working primary in economical, strategic and research tasks, as well as general tasks of coordination department . Javier Urzay coordinates the industry representation in the Plataforma Tecnológica Española de Medicamentos Innovadores.

Ferran Sanz

Head of department of Bioestatistics and Biomedical Computing in the Universidad Pompeu Fabra (UPF) in Barcelona. Director of the Programa de Investigación en Informática Biomédica (GRIB) from IMIM and UPF. Vice-rector of Scientific politics of the UPF from January 2004 to March 2009. Author of more than 100 articles published in journals included in the Science Citation Infex. Director of 17 doctoral theses. Coordinator of 7 projects funded by the European Commission, as well as a study demanded by the European Parlament. Nowadays is one of the coordinators of the project IMI (Innovative Medicines Initiative) about the in silico medicines toxicity prediction (eTOX). President of the European Federation of Medical Chemistry (EFMC) in the 2003-2005 interval. IMI's Scientific Committee member. Coordinator of the Biomedical Computing node of the Instituto Nacional de Bioinformática (INB).

José Luis Díaz

Graduated in the University College in London and Doctored in the Southampton university. For 20 years he has developed his professional career in the sphere of the I+D in the biopharmaceutical sector (from biotechnology startups to big pharmaceutical enterprises). After a post-doctoral period in Glaxo (USA) he worked for MacroNex, a biotechnological startup in North Carolina (USA). In 1995 he moved to another biotechnological startup, Idun Pharmaceuticals, in San Diego as Director of New Leads Discovery. From 1999 that he entered Almirall, first multinational pharmaceutical company with Spanish funding, he has held the position of Director of External Research, responsible for the management  of the collaborations for the research, until recently (January 2010) when he moved from "Research" to "Development" to hold the position of Director of Project Management of I+D.

Mabel Loza

Doctor in Pharmacy from the Universidad de Santiago de Compostela (USC). Senior Lecturer in Pharmacology at the USC, where she leads a research and researching staff training group.  In the area of projects applied to medicine R&D, she is the author of six patents at different stages of procesing.  In the area of public research, she has authored over 60 publications in the journals with the greates influence in the area.  She has directed 8 doctoral theses and 28 postgraduate research works.  She participates continually in national and international conferences. She is an evaluator on research projects for national and European Institutions. She has taken part in 35 research projects financed with funding from the public and private institutions.  She has promoted the creation of a company (Pharmatool Digital Interactive), the creation of the USEF Platform for screening drugs and BIOPHARMA Group for translational research in psychiatry in Galicia.

Eduard Valentí

Doctor in Chemical Sciences from the Universidad de Barcelona. Master in Business Management an Administration from ESADE and graduated of General Management Programme from the IESE.  For four years he worked as an educator in the Organic Chemistry departement at the Universidad de Barcelona. In 1988 he joined Laboratorios Dr.Esteve as manager of the Moleculas Modelling Unit. From 1993 to the present he has been the R&D Management Director at he laboratories. Likewise, he has authored 29 scientific publications and communications at international conferences and he has given 30 lectures and courses in the field of research management.

Francisco Javier Carné Cladellas

Medical Doctor from the Universidad Autónoma de Barcelona, Specialist in clinical pharmacology. He has been a professor in the Pharmacology Department at the Universidad Autónoma de Barcelona and, during the 1990's, advisor for the Department of Pharmacy and Healthcare Products at the Ministry of Health and Consumer Affairs and member of the National Committee for the Evaluation of Medicines (CONEM). Since 1995 he is the expert advisor in medicine effectiveness and safety for the European Agency for the Evaluation of Medicinal Products (EMEA). He is also a member of the National Clinical Pharmacology Committee. Since 2000 he is the Service Manager for the Clinicla Pharmacology Unit at the Hospital Clínic i Provincial de Barcelona. He is currently the Spanish Representative for the European Clinical Research Infrastructure Netwoek (ECRIN) and the chairman of the Evaluation Committee for Medicines for Human Use (CODEM) at the Spanish Agency for Medical and Healthcare Products (AEMPS).

Javier Fernández Gadea

Doctor in Chemical Sciences from the Universidad Complutense de Madrid 1980. In 1985 he entered in Janssen and Cilag Spain to start up the Medicinal Chemistry Department. In 1990 he was promoted to Head of Medicinal Chemistry at Centro de Investigación Básica de Toledo being apponinted as Director of these centre in 2000. By 2003 he was promoted to Research Fellow of Jhonson & Jhonson and he became a full member of Management Board of Janssen-Cilag España. He leads projects in a wide variety of therapeutics areas since 1985, resulting in 14 NME's (New Molecular Entity) that entered clinical developmento so far. He is co-author of over 40 publications, 25 oral communications and invited lectures, and co-inventor in over 30 international patent applications. He is regular paricipant in Master and Doctorade Courses at several universities throughout Spain. Director of two doctoral theses and he has participated as invited jury member in the evaluation of 14 doctoral theses. He is a member of the Executive Committee of the Europen Federation of Medicinal Chemistry (EFMC) and Vice-president of the Spanish Royal Society of Therapeutic Chemistry (SEQT). He is also member of the Royal Spanish Society of Chemistry and of the Specialized Group of Organic Chemistry of this society. He has established in Spain through the participation of Hanssen-Cilag two scientific research prizes in different areas.

Vicente Castell

Estrella Soriano

University Degree in Biochemistry and a Doctoral Degree in Biology, from the University of Barcelona (Spain). She started her professional career in Sandoz A.G. (Switzerland) as Associate Investigator in Pharmacology and Preclinical Research, conducting research in receptors of the Central Nervous System. After four years working in the Faculty of Pharmacy of Barcelona, as Associate Professor in Human Physiology, she joined the Pharmaceutical Industry, developing different positions in the area of Clinical Research. Since year 2001, she is the Head of the Clinical Research Department, first in Pharmacia and then in Pfizer, with overall responsibility of the management of all the clinical trials from phase I to IV.

Antonio Portolés

Medical Doctor and Specialist in Clinical Pharmacology. Postgraduate Diploma in Design and Statistics in Health Sciences. Training and Quality Management. Professional Experience: Chief of Section of Clinical Pharmacology Extensive experience in design, evaluation and research development. He has elaborated research in all phases of development and use of drugs, especially in the early stages (phase I) Teaching and Research Experience: Associate Professor, University Complutense of Madrid and director of doctoral theses. Numerous articles in journals, conferences and books, co-editor of several books.

 Xavier Puig

 
Degree in Medicine from the Autonomous University of Barcelona in addition to the Post-Graduate in Pharmaceutical Medicine, also by the UAB, Diploma in Marketing Management from EADA and MBA from ESADE. Since 2010 he has assumed the post of Chief Scientific Officer of Novartis Pharmaceuticals, SA. He began his career at Novartis in 1998 as Product Manager in the area of ​​transplantation, subsequently becoming Therapeutical Area Medical Advisor and Head, before assuming the position of Head of Medical Affairs of Myfortic, as Sr Clinical Research Physician in Basel from 2001. In 2005 assumed the position of Health Outcomes Research and then Head of Therapeutical Area Head for Cardiovascular and Metabolism. Prior to Novartis, he worked at Organon and Boehringer Ingelheim.

Fernando Peláez

Bachelor’s Degree in Biology from the Universidad Complutense de Madrid in 1984 and carried out his PhD studies at the Centro de Biología Molecular (Universidad Autónoma de Madrid). In 1989 he joined the Centro de Investigación Básica de España (CIBE) - the basic research site of Merck, Sharp & Dohme in Spain, where he was responsible for fungal research within a screening group dedicated to discovering natural products with biological activity as a source of new leads in drug development. During this time he contributed to the discovery of many new molecules with therapeutic potential - some of which have progressed to different developmental stages as future drugs. Appointed as CIBE Director in 1999, he led a department with a staffing of 70 people for nine years; during this time he expanded his responsibilities within the company to cover other areas within the drug discovery process. Thus, his group also supported lead optimization projects carried out in other Merck research sites by implementing in vitro automated screens to assess safety and potential drug-drug interactions of candidate molecules. In December 2008 he joined the Spanish National Cancer Research Center (CNIO) as Director of the Biotechnology Programme, where he supervises the Core Units that provide CNIO research groups with access to a broad spectrum of cutting-edge technologies, including genomics, proteomics, transgenic mouse generation, inmunohistochemistry, molecular imaging and several others. Fernando Peláez is author or co-author of 130 original papers, reviews and book chapters, and co-inventor of more than 40 patents on bioactive natural molecules

Cristina Quiles

Doctor of Medicine and Surgery at the Autonomous University of Barcelona, a specialist in cardiology. Senior Executive Program, ESADE, Barcelona 2007. Since 2005, CEO and cofounder of Neuroscience Technologies, a biotechnology company specializing in neuropathic pain research. Member of the Board of Directors of Bio Catalonia and member of Executive Group and Project Advisory Group BioHealth Barcelona Business School of the nomination of an Innovation Knowledge Community of the Euroepan Salut a Catalunya Institute of Innovation and Technology. She has authored several scientific publications

Jesús Cubero  

Licensed in Economic Sciencies and specialized in Audit of Companies. He occupied the position of the Executive Director of the Foundation McDonald's in the period 1998-2004, realizing the setting up of the above mentioned foundation in Spain. In 2004, he joins as General Manager of the Foundation for the Biomedical Research of the University Hospital of La Princesa, carrying out the implantation of the above mentioned foundation and the first plan of work of the same one during the period 2004-2009. In 2009 he joins as General Manager to the Foundation for the Biomedical Research of the University Hospital Puerta de Hierro-Majadahonda's, position that he occupies up to this moment. He takes part as titular teacher in several courses and masters related to the management of the clinical research, author of several chapters related to the economic management of the clinical trials and member of several charitable associations. In the year 2000 he received the Prize Balance Social (Adecco-Actualidad Económica-IESE) to the best management of a social initiative, and the Prize Infancy 2000 of the Community of Madrid to the best social initiative. In 2002 he is nominated A Reapothecary of Honor by his management in the attention to the oncology childhood.

Amelia Martín Uranga

Graduated in Law from the Deusto University and Doctor in Law with a thesis about legal protection of biotechnology innovations, published by the Comares publishing company (2003). She entered FARMAINDUSTRIA in 2006 to manage the Spanish Technological Platform for Innovative Medicines, as other matters, she is in charge of the coordination of public-private cooperation programs to promote the R&D of new medicaments; the coordination of Farma-Biotech, other cooperation program launched some months ago by FARMAINDUSTRIA, as well she manages different biomedical research promotion programs in Spain.  She has a broad professional experience of more than 15 years teaching graduated and post graduated courses related with Biotechnology legal aspects in prestigious national and international universities.  She has participated in different national and European programs of Bio-rights. She has developed her research work in the Cátedra Interuniversitaria de Derecho y Genoma Humano in the Deusto University -of which she is a scientific advisor, the UNED and the Sheffield Institute of Biotechnological Law and Ethics in the Sheffield University (United Kingdom). Since more than 15 years, she has taken part, as regular speaker, in numerous international and national Congresses, Seminars and Events and has published several works about matters relative to the biotechnology and law.