2nd DECENTRALIZED & HYBRID CLINICAL TRIALS WORLD CONGRESS 2026 EUROPE

Redefining Clinical Research Through Decentralization, Technology, and Collaboration

London, United Kingdom

Wednesday 25th - Thursday 26th February 2026

KEY INDUSTRY EXPERT SPEAKERS

Mohamed Sharaf

EMEA Regional Senior Medical Advisor

Johnson & Johnson

Mohamed Sharaf

EMEA Regional Senior Medical Advisor

Pharmacist, currently Regional Senior medical advisor-EMEA “Europe Africa and Middle east” – Johnson & Johnson. Study responsible Scientist for Global studies. I have more than 18 years’ experience in pharmaceutical field commercial & medical, worked at Pfizer, Sanofi, Spimaco and Janssen. Having more than 10 years’ experience in Medical Affairs and clinical studies as MSL, Med Advisor and Regional Medical program lead across GCC, Emerging Markets and EMEA region . Different publications in Immunology Rheumatology and IBD.

Saryu Goel

Senior Pharmacology/Toxicology Reviewer

FDA

Saryu Goel

Senior Pharmacology/Toxicology Reviewer

Saryu Goel, DVM, MVSc, MS, PhD, DABT, RAC (US), Senior Toxicologist, Rare Diseases, Pediatrics, Urologic and Reproductive Medicine, and Speciality Medicine. In his current work, Saryu provides expert advice to representatives of pharmaceutical companies on proposed nonclinical and regulatory drug development strategy for successful submissions. Perform expert safety reviews of nonclinical submissions during drug development from preIND, IND, through NDA/BLA & post marketing. He is an expert in reviews of toxicology studies for new drugs (small molecules, large-molecules, including impurities, residual solvents, excipients, flavors, fragrances, extractables & leachables, etc.). Specialties: Pharmacology/Toxicology Educator, Public Speaking, Competitive Intelligence, Regulatory Affairs, Translational Research, Toxicology, Immunology, Veterinary Reproduction, Veterinary Medicine, Quantitative/Qualitative Structure Activity Relationship [(Q)SAR], Genotoxic Impurity Risk Assessment and Mitigation, Safety Assessment of Biologics, Pharmaceuticals, Nutraceuticals, Good Laboratory Practice (GLP), Good Clinical Practice (GCP).

Angela May

Strategic & Operational Leadership | Stakeholder Engagement

DCT Advisor

Angela May

Strategic & Operational Leadership | Stakeholder Engagement

Angela has extensive clinical operations leadership experience, including program management in large phase 3 outcome trials. She led a strategic initiative for DCT leading to her appointment as Head of DCT Strategy & Implementation at Bayer where she led a dedicated team specialising in designing and implementing hybrid and fully-remote decentralised approaches in interventional studies. Angela recently founded her own consultancy business providing operational expertise and strategic thought-leadership for biotech and technology clients. Angela is also a visiting lecturer and Scientific Advisory Board member for the Centre of Pharmaceutical Medicine Research at King's College London.

Rasmus Hjorth

Head of Communication

James Lind Care

Rasmus Hjorth

Head of Communication

Rasmus Hjorth has several years of experience working with engaging patients in clinical research as Head of Communication in the patient recruitment company, James Lind Care. His work experience centers around how to engage patients in clinical trials which includes working with developing services and communication that increases the awareness and interest about clinical research among patients. He also has years of experience developing advertisement- and information material for recruiting patients to clinical trials, resulting in engaging thousands of patients in several clinical trials. Rasmus holds a Masters degree in communication and besides his job as Head of Communication in James Lind Care he is also a member of the board in the Danish Lung Patient Association.

Prof. Dr. Volodymyr Anisimov

Data Science Associate Director, Center for Design & Analysis

Amgen

Prof. Dr. Volodymyr Anisimov

Data Science Associate Director, Center for Design & Analysis

Dr. Volodymyr Anisimov is Data Science Associate Director, Center for Design & Analysis at Amgen, based in London, UK. With over 22 years of experience in the Pharma industry, he is a leading expert in the development of innovative statistical technologies for modelling and optimal designing clinical trials operations. Prior to Amgen, Dr. Anisimov worked for GlaxoSmithKline and Quintiles (IQVIA) and led the development of cutting-edge methodologies for predictive patient recruitment and drug supply modeling. He is an internationally recognized expert in these areas and has also been granted the status of Honorary Professor at the School of Mathematics and Statistics at the University of Glasgow, UK, 2011-2018. Dr. Anisimov began his career in academia. Prior to transitioning to the Pharma Industry, he served for 20 years as Professor & Head of the Applied Statistics Department, founded by himself at Kyiv National University, Kyiv, Ukraine. He holds MS, PhD, and ScDr (Hab.Dr) degrees in Probability & Statistics and a scientific degree of Professor in Applied Statistics, has published over 200 papers and several books, supervised 24 PhD theses, and has led and participated in various UK and EU scientific grants.

Diane Driver

Head Program Delivery, GCSO

UCB

Diane Driver

Head Program Delivery, GCSO

Diane has spent over 35 years in the Pharma Industry, starting her career as a research pharmacologist at Smith Kline & French, before switching to Clinical Development in a CRO in 1988. She then spent 12 years taking roles of increasing responsibility and geographical scope, before moving to Pharma in 2000. During this she has led global clinical development programs, set up and managed a global in-house monitoring team, headed UCB’s Outsourcing Contracts & Strategic Partnering department, and is currently Head of Program Delivery, where she provides expertise and leadership of a global team to drive & oversee operational delivery of clinical programs of all phases across the portfolio, leadership of a Global Strategic Feasibility team where the increasing use of digital and AI technologies is supporting new approaches to site and country selection, leadership of a Global Clinical Innovation group who are responsible for identifying and driving innovation in our clinical programs, as well as leadership of a Global Clinical Trial Patient Engagement team who support gathering patient insights before, during and after clinical trials, and patient recruitment activities. Enhancing clinical trial diversity is also a key responsibility within the Program Delivery team. In addition, Diane has also represented UCB on the Integrated Leadership Team (ILT) of TransCelerate since 2014, where she is currently the executive Sponsor for 3 key projects, and also the ILT representative leading regular connections with EFPIA.

CAROLE SCRAFTON

CEO & Co-Founder Patient Advocacy Organisation

FibroFlutters

CAROLE SCRAFTON

CEO & Co-Founder Patient Advocacy Organisation

Carole is a patient with chronic and genetic rare disease, Patient Partner, Expert Patient, Patient Speaker, Author and Researcher. She is the CEO & Co-founder of FibroFlutters Patient Advocacy Organisation for chronic / rare illnesses. Helping to develop, nurture and advocate for a multidisciplinary approach to all aspects of medical healthcare so that chronic illness & rare disease patients can receive the type of care and treatments that they need. Carole utilises varying social media platforms to support people with Chronic illness & Rare Disease, #notjustpatients, and with a multi-stakeholder following. A network used for raising disease awareness and sharing as much up to date information. Carole also advocates for patientcentricity, especially patient engagement best practices and the need for patients to be included within research at early development / preclinical phases. She recognises the need to help educate patients about clinical trials and the reason why they should get involved. Recently as a Patient, and with FibroFlutters, was a team member of an initiative to create: ‘How-To guide’. How to implement Patient Engagement into Early Development and Preclinical phases with Patients Focused Medicines Development.

Van Zyl Engelbrecht

Head of Country Operations / Decentralised Clinical Trials & Innovation / Rare Diseases / Regulatory Affairs

Alexion Pharmaceuticals, Inc

Van Zyl Engelbrecht

Head of Country Operations / Decentralised Clinical Trials & Innovation / Rare Diseases / Regulatory Affairs

Coming Soon

Dr Catherine Blewett

Senior Development Manager

Health Research Authority (HRA)

Dr Catherine Blewett

Senior Development Manager

Dr Catherine Blewett has worked for the Health Research Authority (HRA) since 2011, and is currently the Senior Development Manager in the co-ordination and standardisation team - working with stakeholders in the health research regulation field to standardise practice across the UK. She led the work developing and implementing the combined review of clinical trials of investigational medicinal products on behalf of the HRA and was a member of the European Commission Clinical Trials Expert Group. She is currently the Senior Responsible Owner (SRO) overseeing the revision and implementation of the UK clinical trial regulations for the HRA. She was awarded a PhD in 2021 in the field of Bioethics and Medical Jurisprudence, for her thesis which established enabling regulatory approaches to the use of surplus tissue samples for secondary research purposes.