Agenda: 2026 Avoca Quality Consortium Summit

Tuesday, September 29, 2026
10:00 AM - 10:05 AM (EDT)																Welcome and Opening Remarks • Michelle Webb - Vice President, Avoca Quality Consortium - Avoca, A WCG Company
10:05 AM - 10:20 AM (EDT)																Keynote Speaker • Jonathan Rowe, PhD, MS, MA - Senior Consultant - AQC
10:20 AM - 10:35 AM (EDT)																Fireside Chat with Patient Advocate • Matthew Stary - Patient Advocate • Kristen Bennett - Director, Client Delivery - Avoca, A WCG Company (Moderator)
10:35 AM - 11:20 AM (EDT)																Panel Discussion: Designing Risk-Based Quality: Embedding Patient-Centric Thinking from the Start • Jonathan Rowe, PhD, MS, MA - Senior Consultant - AQC (Moderator) • Keyhan Afaghi - Director, Clinical Quality Assurance - Corcept • Jamie Harrop - Vice President, Clinical Operations - Beam Therapeutic • David Hilfiker - Sr. Director, Risk Based Quality Management, R&D Operations - Daiichi Sankyo • Ida Holme, MD - Director in Clinical Risk Management and Oversight - Novo Nordisk • Rachel Jones, MS, CCRP - Director, Clinical Research Operations and Strategy - CARTI
11:20 AM - 11:25 AM (EDT)																Break
11:25 AM - 12:10 PM (EDT)																Panel Discussion: Strengthening Oversight Through QA–Operations Partnership • Jill Johnston, CCRA, CPM - Chief Innovation Officer - WCG (Moderator) • Nona Dokuzova - Head, Third Party Quality R&D Quality and Risk Management - GSK • Phill Gallacher - Senior Vice President, Head of Clinical Operations & Program Management - Cullinan Therapeutics, Inc. • Danial Hassan - Compliance Officer & Project Manager - Revival Research Institute • Lauren Scott Kernodle - Head of R&D Quality - BioMarin
12:10 PM - 12:40 PM (EDT)																Networking / Refresh Break
12:40 PM - 12:55 PM (EDT)																AQC Industry Survey Findings and Perspectives • Michelle Webb - Vice President, Avoca Quality Consortium - Avoca, A WCG Company
12:55 PM - 1:40 PM (EDT)																Panel Discussion: Intelligent Quality: Leveraging AI to Drive Better Trial Outcomes • Mette Andersen - General Manager - WCG (Moderator) • Christopher Romero, MD, PhD - Medical Director and Principal Investigator - Headlands Research • Donald Thampy - Associate Vice President, Head Data Integration and Automation - Merck • Catalina Tirna - Head of Process and Risk Surveillance - Novartis • Vimi Shukkoor - Advisor, Medical Quality Systems - Eli Lilly and Company
1:40 PM - 1:45 PM (EDT)																Break
1:45 PM - 2:30 PM (EDT)																Panel Discussion: The Inspection Readiness Challenge: E6(R3), AI, Decentralization, and Beyond • Jenny Martin - Senior Consultant - AQC (Moderator) • Natasha E. Ballard, MD, DABFM, FAAFP - Principal Investigator - M3 Wake Research • Laure Lequesne - Head of Clinical Projects Quality Management - Sanofi • Paula Markos - Director II, RDQA Inspection Management - AbbVie • Dave Nickerson - Head of Clinical Quality Management - EMD Serono
Wednesday, September 30, 2026
10:00 AM - 3:00 PM (EDT)																AQC Members Only - AI, Quality, and ICH E6(R3): From Principles to Practice • Corey Alexander, MBA - Global Head CQA Technologies, Innovation, and Operations - Novartis • Brian Barnes - Director, Governance Excellence & Risk Management - BioNTech • Karen Harvey - Senior Director, Avoca Quality Consortium - Avoca, A WCG Company • Jonathan Rowe, PhD, MS, MA - Senior Consultant - AQC