Program

Nancy is Professor of Health Economics at the University of Melbourne and Senior Fellow at the Office of Health Economics, London. She is Chair of the Board of the EuroQol Research Foundation and served as President of ISPOR (2019-2020). Her principal areas of research expertise are the measurement and valuation of patient reported health outcomes; the cost effectiveness thresholds used in making judgments about value for money in health care; and priority setting in health care. She is currently leading a large programme of research to improve measurement and valuation of quality of life in children (QUOKKA), funded by the Medical Research Future Fund (Australia).  Nancy has published >150 original peer reviewed journal papers on a wide range of empirical and theoretical topics in health economics.

Zoltán Kaló is a Professor of Health Economics at Eötvös Loránd University (ELTE) in Budapest. He is the co-director of the international Health Policy, Planning and Financing master program. Dr. Kaló is also the founder and leader of Syreon Research Institute, an international research corporation specializing in health policy, health economic modeling and technology assessment. He received a Bachelor of Economics degree from the Budapest University of Economics; Medical Doctor degree from the Semmelweis University; MSc in Health Economics degree from the University of York; PhD in Pharmaceutical Sciences degree from the Semmelweis University; and DrHabil degree in Sociology from the ELTE University. He has 20 years of international experience in academia and industry, specializing in health systems design, HTA implementation, health economics and outcomes research, economic modeling, patient access and pricing policies of healthcare technologies. Dr. Kaló serves as a policy advisor to public decision-makers and global health care corporations. He is a Scientific Committee member of the Innovative Medicines Initiative 2 Joint Undertaking (IMI2 JU). He was a Director of the International Society of Pharmacoeconomics and Outcomes Research (ISPOR) between 2012-2014, and the Chair of ISPOR Central and Eastern European Network Executive Committee between 2013-2015.

Dr. Kanavos has previously been Harkness Fellow in Health Care Policy in the Department of Ambulatory Care and Prevention, Harvard Medical School and has held visiting professor appointments at the University of Basel, the University of Delaware and the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. He is an economist by training, and teaches health economics, pharmaceutical economics and policy, health care financing, health care negotiations, and principles of health technology assessment.

He has acted as an advisor to a number of international governmental and non-governmental organizations, including the European Commission, the European Parliament, the World Bank, the World Health Organization, the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), the American Association for Retired Persons, and Ministries of Health of over 28 transition, emerging and developing countries.

Current research

Dr. Kanavos' research interests include comparative health policy and healthcare reform, pharmaceutical economics and policy from a developed and developing country perspective, quality and access in healthcare, and socio-economic determinants of health.

He leads the activities of MTRG, which is a research group comprising of 13 researchers and concentrates on interdisciplinary and comparative policy research on medical technologies. The group conducts research on a number of research streams. As part of its activities, MTRG is currently co-ordinating the activities of the IMPACT HTA consortium, an EU H2020 grant, and has previously coordinated the activities of key research grants on Health Technology Assessment (Advance HTA project), on Chronic Disease and a component of Best Practices in Rare Diseases. It has conducted research under the auspices of and participated in the European Medicines Information Network (EMI-net) and the network for the study of rare diseases. It also coordinates the activities of The Patient Academy, an initiative between academia, health care regulatory agencies and patient groups.

Finn Børlum Kristensen is an international strategic consultant in HTA and HEOR implementation and management and is a Professor in Health Services Research and HTA at University of Southern Denmark since 1999. He is also External Lecturer at Copenhagen Business School. He headed the Coordinating Secretariat of the European Network for HTA, EUnetHTA (www.eunethta.eu) from its inception in 2006 and was Chairman of the EUnetHTA Executive Committee until 2016.

Dr. Kristensen directed the Danish Centre for HTA (DACEHTA) from its establishment in 1997 until 2009. His PhD is in Epidemiology, and he is a medical specialist in public health. He also worked as a primary care physician for several years. He publishes frequently in scientific journals and was editor of a Health Technology Assessment Handbook. He is now a consultant to public and private organisations and companies.

Dr. Kristensen served on the ISPOR Board of Directors from 2011-13 and has chaired the ISPOR HTA Council since 2013.

Nancy S. Berg is chief executive officer (CEO) and executive director of ISPOR—The Professional Society for Health Economics and Outcomes Research, the leading global scientific and educational organization for health economics and outcomes research. Ms. Berg has over 30 years of experience in health care and scientific/technical association leadership, and has been an entrepreneur and business consultant to both commercial and nonprofit organizations. At ISPOR, Ms. Berg is responsible for the Society’s global strategic direction and leadership of the association. She has led the organization, in concert with the Board of Directors, to design and implement a new strategic plan, mission, and vision to guide the Society into the future.

Previously, Ms. Berg led the International Society for Pharmaceutical Engineering (ISPE) as president and CEO. ISPE is the world's largest professional society fostering dialogue and education on technical, scientific, and regulatory best practices in the pharmaceutical and biotech industries. During her tenure with ISPE, Ms. Berg was the architect of the Society's Strategic Plan, focusing ISPE's energies and expertise on high-value initiatives related to drug shortages, quality metrics, global manufacturing quality, facility and supply chain issues, and patient experiences in clinical trials. Prior to her role at ISPE, Ms. Berg served as executive director and CEO of the Society of Manufacturing Engineers (SME). She also previously founded a strategic and business development consultancy company.

Ms. Berg has been engaged in education and business issues at national and international levels. She has served on many government initiatives involving business, community, development, growth, revitalization, and labor issues. She is a supporter of the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society’s Team in Training Program cycling events and a patron of many other charities. Ms. Berg is a graduate of the University of Michigan-Flint and is married to Timothy Jackson.

His Excellency Dr Amin Al Ameeri, MSc, PhD, is the Assistant Undersecretary of Public Health Policy and Licensing Sector in UAE Ministry of Health and Prevention.

Dr Al Ameeri received his PhD and MSc in Medical Science in 2003 from Faculty of Medicine, Aberdeen University in Scotland, UK.

He is responsible for the following departments at MOHAP:

• Drug Department
• Empowerment and Health Compliance Department
• Organization, Licenses and Advertisement Department
• Public Health Policies Department

Darrin Baines, PhD, is a professor of health economics with strong analytical skills in economic evaluation, modeling and the reform of health systems, along with a specialty in technology-enabled pharmacy. He has over 20 years' experience of working in academia, consultancy and the NHS. He is currently leading two international knowledge exchange networks in health economics, operating in China and Egypt.

Since the mid-1990s, Dr. Baines successfully has delivered more than 50 economic evaluation and health economics projects, for clients that include charities, the British Council, the NIHR, pharma and the health service.

As an academic, Dr. Baines has had more than 140 articles published in both, academic and trade, journals, and has extensive experience teaching, supervising and examining undergraduate and postgraduate students, both in the UK and internationally.

Daniel C. Malone, RPh, PhD, FAMCP, is a Professor of Pharmacy at the University of Arizona College of Pharmacy, with cross appointment in the Mel and Enid Zuckerman College of Public Health at the University of Arizona. Dr. Malone leads the Comparative Effectiveness Research Group at the University of Arizona. Dr. Malone has conducted and published cost-effectiveness analyses, burden-of-illness studies, patient reported outcomes studies, and numerous evaluations of healthcare interventions in real-world environments. His research experience includes randomized controlled trials, practice-based research, drug safety, economic modeling, and outcomes research using observational data. Dr. Malone has over 150 peer-review research publications and over 170 total publications. His extramural research funding exceeds $7 million as Principal or co-Principal Investigator, with over $16 million in total funding. He was President of the International Society for Pharmacoeconomics and Outcomes Research from 2015 to 2016.

Dr. Al Ahdab is a UAE national working as a Pharmaceutical Advisor at drug department, Ministry of Health and Prevention, Abu Dhabi, UAE. In addition to her regulatory experience, she has held several key positions across the MOHAP since 1990; including material management, drug formulary manager, deputy head of medical procurement, head of the quality and control section, head of inspection and compliance, and head of pharmaceutical care dept. Dr. Al Ahdab is an active member on several committees at national, regional and international levels, including GCC Group Purchase Tendering.

Dr. Al Ahdab has been working in academia since 2009 as assistant clinical professor of pharmacy practice (adjunct faculty) for both post graduates and undergraduates, in pharmacy colleges and universities in the UAE.

Dr. Al Ahdab’s post-graduate studies were completed at Queens University of Belfast, UK, School of Pharmacy, where she was awarded a PhD in Pharmacoeconomics and Medicine Management in 2008 as a full time study, and Post Graduate Diploma in Clinical Pharmacy in 2003 as part time study. Her undergraduate studies were completed at the Damascus University, School of Pharmacy in 1980.

Sherif Abaza is the general manager MENA at Syreon. He serves as the president elect of ISPOR Egypt chapter. Abaza has worked in various positions in different pharmaceutical companies as Market Access & Governmental Affairs Manager, Group Product Manager & Product Manager. From 2012- 2018 he worked as the governmental affairs director & market access director at Roche Egypt. Before joining Roche, he worked in Novartis Egypt since 2004.

Abaza started his career in Aventis (one of Sanofi Companies) in 1995. Through his work he managed to develop successful partnership programs with government and corporates to improve patient’s access to healthcare. Additionally, he implemented several educational programs to enhance capacity building of partnering institutions. Abaza obtained his Pharmacy degree in 1994, MBA degree in 2007 & Health Economics Diploma in 2013.

Maha El Rabbat, MSc, PhD is a professor of Public Health at the Faculty of Medicine, Cairo University.

El Rabbat is an Ex–Minister of Health and Population for the government of Egypt, presently serving as the Executive Director of the Middle East and North Africa Health Policy Forum (MENA HPF), a regional NGO with a regional mandate. Through her position and within the forum’s mandate, she seeks to strengthen health systems for human development particularly in lower and middle income countries and those in fragile contexts to support regional efforts toward the progressive realization of right-to-health and universal healthcare through expansion of evidence-based policy platform, knowledge exchange, networking, research, and capacity building.

She has held several high-level academic and leadership positions as the Head of the Public Health Department, Faculty of Medicine, Cairo University, and worked closely with national, regional, and international organizations as an expert in health system strengthening, governance, system wide assessments and reform.

El Rabbat is a member of several national and regional networks including OIC networks, and EMRO research consortium.

Dr. Ansgar Hebborn is Roche Pharma's Head of Global HTA & Payment Policy based in Basel, Switzerland. In this role he focuses on current approaches to HTA, pricing and reimbursement decision making frameworks, their impact on pharmaceutical innovation and patient access as well as their future evolution.

Dr. Hebborn is a member and active contributor to national and international pharmaceutical policy forums, as well as professional associations. He currently represents Roche in relevant industry associations e.g. in Brussels as the chair of EFPIA’s European HTA Working Group. During the past few years, Dr. Hebborn has taken an active role as advisor and stakeholder representative in various HTA collaboration networks e.g. EU HTA Network, EUnetHTA and the HTAi Policy Forum Committee, and also has been involved in the foundation of other initiatives in this field e.g. the Green Park Collaborative, the HTAi Asia Policy Forum and SwissHTA. He has been a member of the ISPOR Board of Directors in the past and has led the research work stream of ISPOR Vision 2020 project with focus on future ISPOR research priorities for the years ahead.

During his career with Roche, Dr. Hebborn has had a range of different global roles related to pricing, market access, health economics and outcomes research, based in Switzerland and the US. He led small and large multidisciplinary teams in all major disease areas tasked with the development of global pricing and reimbursement strategies as well as the accompanying clinical, health economic and other outcomes research programs.

Dr. Ismail is a senior biomedical engineer with over 20 years of experience as an international healthcare technology professional. Dr. Ismail is currently in charge of the essential medicines and health technology programme in the Eastern Mediterranean Regional Office of WHO. His current duties involve assisting Member States in developing national strategies and programs in the area of health technologies (including medical devices and assistive products); designing regional tools/guidelines; promoting intersectoral collaboration with relevant institutions; and strengthening national capacity in developing Health Technology Assessment (HTA) and Management (HTM) systems.

Dr. Ismail is a graduate of: Alexandria University, where he earned a BS in Electrical and Communications Engineering in 1991 and an MSc in Biomedical Engineering in 1994; University of Miami - USA, where he earned his PhD degree in Biomedical Engineering in 1998, and Arab Academy for Science and Technology, where he complemented his managerial abilities by obtaining an MBA in 2004.

Dr. Ismail has published many articles in renowned engineering journals and has participated in many national and international conferences.

Dr. Saad Jaddoua has been the chairman of the pharmacy department at King Hussein Cancer Center (KHCC) since 2009. He has played a key role in shaping the pharmacy practice in Jordan, and has participated in leading the establishment of the clinical pharmacy services model in that country.

In addition to his administrative and leadership roles, Dr. Jaddoua leads parenteral nutrition services at KHCC, working with his team on improving patient’s care while maintaining a high standard of pharmaceutical services.

Dr. Jaddoua has a significant role in building Pharmacoeconomics in Jordan through the establishment of the center for drug policy and technology assessment under the pharmacy department, along with supporting capacity building of pharmacists through internship and residency programs.

He serves as a member of many national drug use and pharmaceutical committees.

Prof. Al-jedai is a graduate of King Saud University- College of Pharmacy, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. He received his Doctorate Degree (PharmD) from the Saint Louis College of Pharmacy, MO, USA and completed a general pharmacy practice residency and a specialty residency in immunology and solid organ transplant pharmacotherapy at the University of Tennessee, Memphis, TN, USA. During this time he obtained his Master of Business Administration (MBA) as well. He is board certified as Pharmacotherapy Specialist (BCPS) from the board of pharmaceutical specialties (BPS) in the US and a Fellow of the American College of Chest Physicians (FCCP) and a Fellow of the American Society of Transplantation (FAST). He works currently as the Assistant Deputy Minister for Therapeutic Affairs, Ministry of Health, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. He previously worked as the Director General of Pharmaceutical Care Division at King Faisal Specialist Hospital and Research Center (KFSH&RC), Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. He is also a Professor at Al-Faisal University, School of Medicine and Pharmacy and the past chairman of the scientific board of pharmacy in Saudi Arabia. He also works as a consultant clinical pharmacist with different solid organ transplant teams at KFSH&RC. He teaches advanced therapeutics and clinical immunology to the master of clinical pharmacy and PharmD students at the College of Pharmacy, King Saud University, Riyadh, and Alqassim University, Qassim, Saudi Arabia in which he holds an adjunct faculty position. He is a member of the advisory board of 4 different schools of pharmacy in Saudi Arabia and many peer reviewed journals. He also holds several consultancy positions at the World Health Organization (WHO), Saudi Food and Drug Authority (SFDA), and the Saudi Commission for Health Specialties (SCFHS).

He has presented hundreds of presentations over the years locally and internationally and published more than 30 original peer-reviewed research papers in the medical and pharmaceutical journals in addition to 2 textbooks chapters related to transplant pharmacotherapy, pharmacy practice, and clinical pharmacy.

Dr. Fatima Albreiki obtained her PhD degree in Pharmacy Practice from University of Portsmouth, UK in 2009, her research was about evaluation of Drug Safety of drugs. She joined the Ministry of Health of UAE after she finished her Bachelor degree in Pharmacy from University of Jordan. She received her master degree in Health Care administration from Zayed University in 2007. She has wide experience in Pharmacy Practice, Drug utilization, Drug Safety, Pharmacy and Drug Regulation as she was Director of Drug Registration and Control Department for more than 8 years. She was an active member in many regional, national and local committees of Drug Formulary, Medication Safety and drug regulation and pharmacy practice.

She joined Abu Dhabi Health Services “SEHA” in November, 2014 as Group Director of pharmaceutical department and Chair of SEHA Pharmacy forum. She is interested in development of Pharmacy Practice, which includes Pharmaceutical Care, Clinical Pharmacy and Medication Safety programs; she works in parallel with the practitioners and pharmacists to ensure highly developed pharmacy practice in SEHA BEs and optimum drug utilization. She also chair the Advisory Committee of SEHA Pharmacy Residency Program and involve in many practice committee since the program establishment in 2017. Also she chair Abu Dhabi Pharmacy Conference (ADPhaC)

Also she joined Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences (FMHS) of the United Arab Emirates University (UAEU) as adjunct assistant professor in 2013, where she teaches modules of Pharmacovigilance and Drug safety to Pharm- D program at UAEU. Her research interest is mainly in Drug safety and Pharmacovigilance, Pharmacy Practice, and Pharmaceutical care.

Dr. Kanavos has previously been Harkness Fellow in Health Care Policy in the Department of Ambulatory Care and Prevention, Harvard Medical School and has held visiting professor appointments at the University of Basel, the University of Delaware and the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. He is an economist by training, and teaches health economics, pharmaceutical economics and policy, health care financing, health care negotiations, and principles of health technology assessment.

He has acted as an advisor to a number of international governmental and non-governmental organizations, including the European Commission, the European Parliament, the World Bank, the World Health Organization, the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), the American Association for Retired Persons, and Ministries of Health of over 28 transition, emerging and developing countries.

Current research

Dr. Kanavos' research interests include comparative health policy and healthcare reform, pharmaceutical economics and policy from a developed and developing country perspective, quality and access in healthcare, and socio-economic determinants of health.

He leads the activities of MTRG, which is a research group comprising of 13 researchers and concentrates on interdisciplinary and comparative policy research on medical technologies. The group conducts research on a number of research streams. As part of its activities, MTRG is currently co-ordinating the activities of the IMPACT HTA consortium, an EU H2020 grant, and has previously coordinated the activities of key research grants on Health Technology Assessment (Advance HTA project), on Chronic Disease and a component of Best Practices in Rare Diseases. It has conducted research under the auspices of and participated in the European Medicines Information Network (EMI-net) and the network for the study of rare diseases. It also coordinates the activities of The Patient Academy, an initiative between academia, health care regulatory agencies and patient groups.

Kasem Akhras is Senior Director of Public Affairs Advocacy for the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) Region at Novartis based in Dubai. He is part of the MENA Executive Leadership Team.

Dr. Akhras has 22 years of experience in global Pharmaceutical industry with several top 10 Pharma companies in the area of Pricing and Health Economics, Outcomes Research, Patient Access, and Health Policy. Dr. Akhras moved to Dubai in 2013 to join Novartis Pharma Division as Head of Market Access where he was instrumental in developing and implementing a number of Patient Access Initiatives for several innovative products. He is published extensively in peer-reviewed journals in the area economic evaluations in healthcare, real-world evidence, and health policy, and is a frequent guest speaker at Regional and International congresses.

Dr. Akhras is an active member of the PhRMA Middle East and Africa Executive Committee, and served as Chairman of the Policy and Access Working Group for Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers Association in the Gulf (PHRMAG) from 2014-2016.

He graduated from the University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC) College of Pharmacy with a Doctor of Pharmacy Degree and completed his Pharmacy Practice Residency at Jesse Brown Veterans Administration Medical Center in Chicago. Dr. Akhras continues to hold an appointment as Adjunct Assistant Professor, Department of Pharmacy Systems, Outcomes and Policy at UIC.

Gihan Hamdy El-sisi Msc, PhD, is the founder and Head of the Pharmacoeconomic Unit at the Central Administration for Pharmaceutical Affairs, Egyptian Ministry of Health.

El-sisi received her PhD in Pharmacy practice (pharmacoeconomics thesis) from Ain Shams University and earned a certificate program on health economics and outcomes research at the University of Washington in Seattle, USA.

She is the principal author of International Society for Pharmacoeconomics and Outcomes Research (ISPOR) Health Care Systems Roadmap - Pharmaceuticals and the Pharmacoeconomic Guidelines for Egypt.

El-sisi is the 2011 and 2012 recipient of ISPOR awards during the ISPOR 14th and 15th Annual European Congresses in Madrid and Berlin. Elsisi represented Egypt in the First and Second Middle East Africa Pricing & Reimbursement Future Trends Workshop in Muscat 2012 and in Dubai 2013. She was part of the translation and review committee working on the Arabic translation of the ISPOR Book of Terms. She has several publications and also contributed to a number of clinical research and surveys.

She is the treasurer at the ISPOR Egypt Chapter. El-sisi is experienced in the present and future perspectives of pricing and reimbursement in Egypt and the Middle East.

Dr. Al-Saggabi is the Director of the Drug Policy & Economics Center at the Ministry of National Guard Health Affairs (MNGHA) since 2006. He is the President of the International Society of Pharmacoeconomics & Outcomes Research’s Saudi Arabia Regional Chapter since 2010 and is the Chairman of ISPOR Arabic Network Executive Committee (2016-2018). Dr. Al-Saggabi has obtained his Bachelor Degree of Pharmaceutical Sciences in 1991 from King Saud University and his Master’s Degree in Clinical Pharmacy in 1995 from the same University. In 2000, he has obtained his Doctor of Pharmacy Degree from Purdue University in West Lafayette Indiana USA and in 2002, completed his Post-Doctoral training in Health System Practice and Drug-Use Policy from the University of Wisconsin Hospital & Clinics at Madison Wisconsin USA. Dr. Al-Saggabi has served as Adjunct Clinical Assistant Professor for King Saud University. He chairs the Biologics Reimbursement Committee and oversees the establishment of HTA Program at MNGHA.

Dr. Shadi Saleh is Associate Vice President for Health Affairs at the American University of Beirut (AUB) and the Founding Director of the Global Health Institute (GHI), the first such institute in the Middle East and North Africa region. In addition, he is a Professor of Health Systems and Financing at the Faculty of Health Sciences at AUB.

His areas of expertise are in evidence-based decision-making, economic evaluation and modeling, and healthcare financing policy. He has a track record of providing innovative solutions in the pharmaceutical industry. He has published over 100 peer-reviewed papers and commissioned reports, including publications in the Lancet, American Journal of Public Health and Medical Care among others.

Dr. Saleh serves as Associate Editor for Health Services Research for BMC Research Notes and an editorial board member of Health Systems and Reform journal.

Dr. Saleh is an elected board member of the Consortium of Universities in Global Health. He is a Commissioner in the Lancet Commission on Syria where he co-leads the Health Systems and Rebuilding Thematic Group. Dr. Saleh served as an appointed member of the National Emergency Social Protection Project and the Committee on Universal Health Coverage with the Ministry of Public Health in Lebanon. He also serves as a World Bank, WHO and UN advisor for health care financing policy and system strengthening projects.

Shadi Saleh holds a PhD in Health Policy (minor in health care finance) from the University of Iowa and a Masters of Public Health (health services administration) and a BS from AUB.

Zoltán Kaló is a Professor of Health Economics at Eötvös Loránd University (ELTE) in Budapest. He is the co-director of the international Health Policy, Planning and Financing master program. Dr. Kaló is also the founder and leader of Syreon Research Institute, an international research corporation specializing in health policy, health economic modeling and technology assessment. He received a Bachelor of Economics degree from the Budapest University of Economics; Medical Doctor degree from the Semmelweis University; MSc in Health Economics degree from the University of York; PhD in Pharmaceutical Sciences degree from the Semmelweis University; and DrHabil degree in Sociology from the ELTE University. He has 20 years of international experience in academia and industry, specializing in health systems design, HTA implementation, health economics and outcomes research, economic modeling, patient access and pricing policies of healthcare technologies. Dr. Kaló serves as a policy advisor to public decision-makers and global health care corporations. He is a Scientific Committee member of the Innovative Medicines Initiative 2 Joint Undertaking (IMI2 JU). He was a Director of the International Society of Pharmacoeconomics and Outcomes Research (ISPOR) between 2012-2014, and the Chair of ISPOR Central and Eastern European Network Executive Committee between 2013-2015.

Finn Børlum Kristensen is an international strategic consultant in HTA and HEOR implementation and management and is a Professor in Health Services Research and HTA at University of Southern Denmark since 1999. He is also External Lecturer at Copenhagen Business School. He headed the Coordinating Secretariat of the European Network for HTA, EUnetHTA (www.eunethta.eu) from its inception in 2006 and was Chairman of the EUnetHTA Executive Committee until 2016.

Dr. Kristensen directed the Danish Centre for HTA (DACEHTA) from its establishment in 1997 until 2009. His PhD is in Epidemiology, and he is a medical specialist in public health. He also worked as a primary care physician for several years. He publishes frequently in scientific journals and was editor of a Health Technology Assessment Handbook. He is now a consultant to public and private organisations and companies.

Dr. Kristensen served on the ISPOR Board of Directors from 2011-13 and has chaired the ISPOR HTA Council since 2013.

Dr. Maryam Alowayesh is an assistant professor in pharmacy practice department in the School of Pharmacy-Kuwait University.

Dr. Alowayesh earned her PhD in Outcomes Research from Virginia Commonwealth University, USA.

Dr. Alowayesh has published work on the economic burden of several diseases in Kuwait.

Presently, Dr. Alowayesh is the only pharmacoeconomics scholar in Kuwait. She currently serves as president of the Kuwait ISPOR chapter.

Mohsen George, MD, is Vice President of Health Insurance Organization (HIO) in Egypt since January 2014, previously serving as Chief Medical Officer of HIO for three years.

Dr. George has several areas of experience in addition to Health Insurance systems, including Training and Education, Quality in Healthcare, and Health financing.

He studied management at American University, Harvard School of Public Health, George Mason University, Indian Institute of Management, Flagship Program by World Bank Institute and National Institute of Public Health of Japan.

He is the General & Laparoscopic Surgery Consultant, and member of the General Surgery Scientific Council of both, the Egyptian Fellowship Board, and the Arab Board of Health Specializations.

Dr. George also is a member of the European Pathway Association, the Editorial Board of the International Journal of Care Pathway, and the Advisory Board of the Journal of the Arab Board of Health Specializations.

Dr. Abeer Al Rabayah, is the head of the Center for Drug Policy and Technology Assessment (CDPTA) at King Hussein Cancer Center (KHCC). The CDPTA provides health technology assessment, Pharmacoeconomics, Pharmacovigilance and drug information services to decision makers and members of the pharmacy and therapeutic committee.

Dr. Al Rabayah has a diversified experience; she has had the opportunity to provide her expertise to multinational pharmaceutical companies, national pharmaceutical manufacturers, academia, and international pharmaceutical projects.

She holds a BSc in Pharmacy from Jordan University, a master of art in business administration from Jordan University and a master of science in international health technology assessment, pricing, and reimbursement from the University of Sheffield-United Kingdome. During the last 6 years, Dr. Al Rabayah has lead the development and appraisal of many cost effectiveness decision analytical models, prepared health technology assessment reports to inform decisions regarding new formulary additions, lead and implemented a pharmacovigilance and a drug use evaluation programs at KHCC.

Dr. Al Rabayah has had a strategic role in capacity building of Jordanian and non-Jordanian pharmacists in conducting Pharmacoeconomics studies. She participated as a key faculty member in delivering short Pharmacoeconomics courses in collaboration with the World Health Organization in low-middle income countries. Recently, Dr. Al Rabayah has been selected as a member of the national Jordanian pricing committee at the Jordan Food and Drug Administration.

Dr. Rita Karam is a Pharmacist graduated from Saint Joseph University-Beirut, Lebanon, whose expertise has served in various domains.

She holds a Master’s Degree in Biomedical Engineering and a Ph.D. in Pharmaceutical Sciences from Lyon-France.

Dr. Karam is the Director of the Quality Assurance of Pharmaceutical Products Program at the Lebanese Ministry of Public Health (MoPH) since 2012 and Ministry Consultant since 2014.

She is Associate Professor at the Faculty of Sciences and Medical Sciences at Lebanese University and the Program Coordinator of the Master 2 Professional “Market Access of Health Products” at the Faculty of Sciences at the Lebanese University.

Dr. Karam has authored numerous articles and technically advises several committees.

She is a Board member at ISPOR International Society for Pharmacoeconomics and Outcome Research - Lebanon Chapter.

Dr. Mouna JAMELEDDINE is head of the Health Technology Assessment department at the National Authority for Assessment and Accreditation in Healthcare (INEAS), of which she was a founding member, in charge of implementing HTA activities aiming to build an HTA based ecosystem for decision-making in Tunisia. She led the elaboration of the first HTA reports and guidebooks in Tunisia. She is currently Director in the board of INAHTA
(International Network of Agencies for Health Technology Assessment).

With more than 10 years of professional experience in public health, Dr. Jameleddine was previously a senior Pharmacist doctor at Kassab university hospital and worked, in 2014, for the Minister of Health’s office where she collaborated with the Minister’s special advisor on defining health and pharmaceuticals’ policies, besides carrying out several studies for national projects. She actively participated in national committees like the Societal Dialogue on Health Strategies and Policies involving Healthcare key opinion leaders and civil society.

She has authored many scientific publications and communications and acted as a reviewer of manuscripts for scientific journals like the International Journal for Technology Assessment in Healthcare (IJTAHC). She also participated to the elaboration of international HTA guidebooks. She is an active member of HTAi and actively contributed to several HTA conferences and capacity building activities in many countries, especially in the MENA region.

Holder of a doctorate in pharmacy, Ms. Jameleddine followed a Master of Science Program in «Drug development » at the Faculty of Pharmacy of Monastir. She graduated in « Pharmacoeconomics of drugs and medical devices » at the Paris Descartes University, where she also followed a post-graduate program in "European Market Access".