Skip to main content
more options

Speaker Biographies

Keynote Speakers:

Marketing & Strategy Panel:

  • Erik Fiedler, VP, Account Management, Pharmacy Sales, CIGNA
  • Dr. B.J. Bormann, Vice President, Pfizer Global Research & Development; Head, Strategic Alliances, Pfizer Inc
  • Dr. Anthony Artuso, Senior Director, Strategic Planning and Decision Analysis Bristol-Myers Squibb

M&A, Alliances, VC, Startup Panel:

Dr. Anthony Artuso
Senior Director, Strategic Planning and Decision Analysis
Bristol-Myers Squibb

Dr. Anthony Artuso is Senior Director, Strategic Planning and Decision Analysis, Bristol-Myers Squibb. While at BMS Dr. Artuso has been engaged in the evaluation of investment opportunities and resource allocation decisions across the full spectrum of BMS business activities, including R&D, licensing, capital investment, and sales and marketing. His team coordinates and provides core analytic support for the corporate strategic planning process, disease area planning, and R&D portfolio management, as well as forecasting and decision analytic support for new product development planning.

Prior to joining BMS, Dr. Artuso spent ten years in academia where his research focused on the economics of pharmaceutical and biotechnological R&D. While on the faculty at Rutgers University, he was instrumental in establishing a new center for high throughput systems in the life sciences. He also designed and served as director of a multi-institutional research program on the economics of biotechnological R&D. For the ten years prior to joining BMS, Dr. Artuso also ran his own consultancy, assisting clients in the pharmaceutical and biotechnology sector with strategic planning, licensing and technology transfer issues. Dr. Artuso also spent eight years in public finance where he held roles of increasing responsibility, which included the position of CFO, at an independent public sector utility.

Dr. Artuso holds a B.A. from Columbia University a Master's degree in Public Policy from Harvard University and Ph.D. from Cornell University. His doctoral dissertation, which focused on the economics of natural product research in the pharmaceutical industry, was published by Pharmaceutical Products Press in 1997 as "Drugs of Natural Origin".

William K. Heiden
CEO
Elixir Pharmaceuticals

William K. Heiden became Chief Executive Officer and President of Elixir in September, 2004. He was previously President and Chief Operating Officer of PRAECIS, which he joined in May 2002. At PRAECIS, Mr. Heiden oversaw the U.S. approval and launch of the company's first product. Mr. Heiden came to PRAECIS from the Schering-Plough Corporation, which he joined in 1987 and left as Vice President of Schering's Oncology/Biotech business unit. This division, with annual sales of approximately $1 billion, has been a major driver of growth for Schering. During 1998 and 1999, Mr. Heiden was Vice President, marketing and sales of Key-Acute Coronary Syndromes, a Schering division created for the co-commercialization of Integrilin® with COR Therapeutics (now Millennium Pharmaceuticals, Inc.). Integrilin® has since become the market leader amongst Gp 2b3a inhibitors. Mr. Heiden served as Schering's director of Managed Health Care from 1996 to 1998, with responsibility for all Schering products within Managed Care for a twelve state region. From 1988 to 1996, Mr. Heiden held a variety of management roles in Schering's International Division. He served as General Manager for Schering's business in the BeNeLux (Belgium, Netherlands and Luxembourg), head of prescription product marketing at Schering Canada, and General Manager for Schering Belgium. Mr. Heiden holds Masters degrees from Cornell University's Johnson Graduate School of Management and the University of Louvain and a Bachelors degree from the University of Florida.

Erik Fiedler
VP, Account Management, Pharmacy Sales
CIGNA

Erik is the Vice President of CIGNA Pharmacy's account management team. In this role Erik oversees a team of eight clinical account managers and is involved with overall pharmacy strategy to manage CIGNA's clients' drug spend.

Erik joined CIGNA in September 2004. Prior to joining CIGNA, Erik worked for one of the leading Human Resource consulting firms, Hewitt Associates, for ten years. Erik was part of Hewitt's pharmacy leadership team in evaluating PBM proposals and developing strategies to manage Fortune 500 companies' pharmacy benefit expenses. Erik was also the consultant for several employer groups providing advice on managing all health & welfare benefits. Prior to this Erik worked for MetLife's managed care group for four years.

Erik received his BS degree from Central Connecticut State University in 1988 and earned his MBA degree in healthcare administration from Sacred Heart University in 1995.

Dr. B.J. Bormann
Vice President, Pfizer Global Research & Development; Head, Strategic Alliances Pfizer Inc.

Adele C. Oliva
Partner, Apax Partners L.P

Ms. Adele C. Oliva is a Partner at Apax Partners L.P. She joined the firm in 1997 and is based at the firm's New York office. Ms. Oliva specializes in the healthcare industry with a focus on the specialty pharmaceutical and medical-device sectors. She is an Advisor to a number of health care companies. Ms. Oliva brings experience in both the investment, marketing, and business development issues facing companies in this industry. Most recently, she led Apax Partners' investment and exit in ESP Pharma, apart from that Ms. Oliva works closely with portfolio companies such as RITA Medical Systems Inc. and U.S. Labs Inc. Previously, she has held positions in marketing and business development with Baxter Healthcare in the company's CardioVascular and I.V. Systems divisions. Her experience also includes positions with Ogilvy & Mather, where Ms. Oliva was employed in the firm's office in Hungary, and with CoreStates Financial Corp., where she worked as a Commercial Lending Officer and Senior Financial Analyst. Ms. Oliva is a Director at Ricon Inc, Cardeon Corp., iPhysicianNet Inc., Esprit Pharmaceuticals Inc., Xanodyne Pharmaceuticals, Alliance Medical Corporation, Prometheus Laboratories, Inc., and SkinMedica, Inc. She serves on the National board of The Forum for Women Entrepreneurs. Ms. Oliva served as a Director of Symphonix Devices Inc. since November 2000. She was awarded the prestigious Ewing Marion Kauffman Fellowship in venture capital and entrepreneurship.

Ms. Oliva is a graduate of Saint Joseph's University and holds an M.B.A from Cornell University, where she was an Albert Fried Fellow and Director and grant recipient of the Central & Eastern European Development Program.

Peter Pfreundschuh
Director of Global Asset Valuation
Johnson & Johnson

Peter Pfreundschuh, is the Director of Global Asset Valuation at Johnson & Johnson Pharmaceutical Services L.L.C. In this capacity, Peter's team is responsible for the development and coordination of internal and external market forecasts. This process includes in-depth analysis in the areas of Market Research, Health Economics and Pricing, Epidemiology, and other supporting areas. Prior to this role, Peter last served as Controller of New Business Development, Drug Discovery, and Drug Evaluation for Johnson & Johnson Pharmaceutical Research & Development L.L.C. (J&JPRD). In this capacity, Peter's team compiled financial and business analysis in the execution of more than two hundred and fifty deals.

Peter started his career as an auditor for Arthur Young & Co., where he eventually transitioned into the Mergers & Acquisitions Group. Subsequent to this he joined American Standard Companies, Inc., and worked in a variety of capacities ultimately leading to a role in preparing the company for an Initial Public Offering. This was followed by a role as Controller for Alimenterics Inc., a small medical diagnostics and biotechnology company before joining Johnson & Johnson.

Peter has broad experience in the pharmaceutical and medical diagnostics industries including specific expertise in the areas of finance, business development, marketing and strategic planning. Peter holds a BS in Accounting from Rutgers University and an MBA from Rider University.

Dr. Sean Nicholson (Panel Moderator)
Associate Professor, College of Human Ecology
PAM, Sloan
Cornell University

Prior to joining the PAM Department in 2004, Sean was an Assistant Professor in the Health Care Systems Department at The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania. He is currently a Faculty Research Fellow at the National Bureau of Economic Research and a Senior Fellow of the Leonard Davis Institute of Health Economics. Sean was a Research Associate at the Population Studies Center at the University of Pennsylvania from 1998 to 2004 and a visiting scholar at the National Board of Medical Examiners in 1999-2000. Sean worked for four years as a management consultant with APM and taught high school for two years before enrolling in graduate school. His research interests include health economics, applied microeconomics, and labor economics.

Dr. Alan J. Biloski (Panel Moderator)
Senior Lecturer of Finance
Johnson Graduate School of Management
Cornell University

Alan J. Biloski joined the Johnson School in July 2001 and currently oversees first-year finance majors through his leadership of the Investment Banking Immersion and his support of the practicums for the Research, Sales and Trading and Managerial Finance Immersions. After a 15-year career in M&A banking, Dr. Biloski retired as Managing Director of Merrill Lynch in April 2001. He had joined the firm's Healthcare Group in July 1998 and advised clients on approximately $100 billion of M&A transactions, including Pfizer's unsolicited bid for Warner Lambert, MedImmune's acquisition of US Bioscience, the sale of Mycogen to Dow Chemical and Alkermes acquisition of Advanced Inhalation Research. In November 2000, he advised Immunex on a comprehensive restructuring of its relationship with American Home Products (now Wyeth) which included major governance changes, the dilution of AHP's ownership interest in Immunex from 55% to 41% and the largest biotech equity offering in history with the sale of $3.2 billion in Immunex common stock. He also led efforts that produced two of the largest private placements in biotech history, raising $160 million for Advanced Medicine (now Theravance) in 1999 and $110 million for Eyetech in 2000.

Dr. Biloski serves on the Board of Directors of the Boyce Thompson Institute and the Franziska Racker Centers. He holds a Ph.D. in synthetic organic chemistry from Cornell University and an M.B.A. with distinction from Columbia University. He was elected to Phi Beta Kappa at Yale University and graduated summa cum laude with a B.S./M.S. in Chemistry.