MS. COMFORT KUNAK OGAR

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Comfort Ogar is a global safety consultant with the WHO on the novel oral polio type 2 vaccine (nOPV2). Prior to her work with the WHO, she was a Principal Technical Advisor and pharmacovigilance lead for the USAID funded Medicines, Technologies, and Pharmaceutical Services (MTaPS) program led by Management Sciences for Health, where she supported low- and middle-income countries in Africa and Asia to establish or strengthen their regulatory systems with particular focus on pharmacovigilance systems. She worked as a regulator for about 18 years at Nigeria’s National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC), where she was instrumental to establishing the country’s national pharmacovigilance system.

 

She has a master’s in public health (MPH) from The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, and a master’s in medical sciences (MMSc) in Global Health Delivery from the Harvard Medical School and is a PhD candidate at the University of Utrecht. Comfort is the current secretary of the Africa chapter of the International Society of Pharmacovigilance (ISoP). She is married with two children. She loves traveling and mountain biking.

DR. AHMED HEGAZY

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Dr. Ahmed Hegazy is a Physician by education and holds a Master’s degree in Pharmaceutical Medicine

(First Class Honor), Mini MBA, Medical Quality Management Diploma and Hospital Management Diploma.

  • He holds certificates on programs or courses from:
    • The George Washington University, USA
    • Columbia University, USA
    • Royal College of Physicians, UK
    • Hibernia College, Ireland
    • Uppsala Monitoring Center, WHO
  • He attended many trainings in leadership, strategic thinking, decision-making, brand planning, building efficient teams, high performance, accountability, communication skills, and persuasion and selling skills.
  • Moreover, He attended courses in Outcome Research and Health Economics, Drug discovery and development, Medical Ethics, Biostatistics, Research Methodology, Regulatory Affairs, Medical Affairs, and Pharmacovigilance.
  • Ahmed had been trained on ISO 9001-2015 Quality Lead Auditor Certification and Lean and Six Sigma Greenbelt Holder.

Dr. Ahmed received various awards and recognitions in innovation (Upjohn Award), achievements and others.

  • He has scientific publications in international journals.
  • Advisory Board, Committee member or member to International Scientific Journals, Associations and Conferences.
  • He is a member of Emirates Medical Association
  • He is a member of Emirates Health Economics Society
  • He is a member of the ISoP society and was a committee member of the ISoP Middle East Chapter.
  • He was invited as a speaker for hundreds of local, regional, international events and on TV as well as various online programs.
  • He attended numerous (~100s) conferences and events.

He owns more than 25 years of wealthy experience in Pharmaceutical Industry in different regions and

functions (sales, training, medical, marketing and PV).

  • He is an Expert in the Medical Affairs as he worked for 11 years in various positions in the Medical Affairs (Sr. Manager, Regional Manager and Head) in which he got experience in all MA roles, clinical research, governance, compliance, quality. He possesses strong medical knowledge in various therapeutic areas and many products’ portfolios. Currently, he conducts medical development programs.
  • He was holding a position of Head of Global Patient Safety for Africa, Middle East, Turkey, Russia & CIS countries (82 countries) for 7 years in Merck in which he was managing more than 16 subordinates based in 8 different countries.

Currently he is a:

  • Consultant for Medical Affairs, and Pharmacovigilance for Global, Regional and Local companies.
  • Senior Auditor for an international EU-based firm.
  • Speaker, Lecturer and Trainer for some colleges, companies, and health authorities.

 

DR. JAYESH M. PANDIT

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Dr. Jayesh M. Pandit is the Pharmacovigilance Country Head for Bayer (Pharmaceuticals) in East Africa, based in Kenya, and coordinates pharmacovigilance activities across 33 countries in Sub-Sahara Africa Region. Previously, he was the Head of the Medicines Information and Pharmacovigilance Division at the Pharmacy and Poisons Board- Kenya’s National Medicines Regulatory Authority, where he served for 10 years and developed the National system to ensure the quality, safety, and efficacy of medicines used in Kenya.

 

Jayesh has also served as the Secretary to the Expert Committee on Clinical Trials, has been a member of the Africa Vaccines Regulatory Forum (AVAREF), of various public health program- technical working groups as well as WHO’s team of consultants on Pharmacovigilance in Africa (Pharmacovigilante-Sans-Frontier). Currently Jayesh is an active member of the Pharmaceutical Society of Kenya (PSK), International Society of Pharmacovigilance (ISoP) and its Africa chapter, the Kenyan Association of Pharmaceutical Industries (KAPI), among other professional groups. At KAPI Jayesh also Chairs the Pharmacovigilance and Medical Affairs Committee.

 

Jayesh holds a Master degree in Pharmacy Practice [Clinical Pharmacy] and in his 18+ years of Pharmacovigilance experience, he collaborates extensively with colleagues both in the developing and developed countries, the Uppsala Monitoring Centre (UMC) and the World Health Organization (WHO).

 

At Bayer, Jayesh has special interest in enhancing the concept of Pharmacovigilance across the East, West-Central Africa countries he serves- through greater advocacy by adopting unique training and sensitization methods for his teams and the various in-country PV-related staff. Globally, Jayesh strives to live up to his vision for greater patient safety with a stronger, yet compliant, Industry-Regulatory-Patient collaboration.

MS. WILLEMIJN VAN DER SPUIJ

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Willemijn van der Spuij is Executive Director Europe in the WorldWide Patient Safety Organization in Bristol Myers Squibb. She is responsible for Patient Safety in the EU markets, Balkans and Baltics.

 

Prior to this role she was responsible for EU markets, PV Intelligence & International Operations including the PSMF as well as Training and Outsourcing activities.

Willemijn holds a Nursing Degree from the Netherlands, a BA (Hons) in Sociology from Goldsmiths college, University of London, UK and an MSc in Pharmacovigilance from the University of Hertfordshire, UK.

 

She is a member of the EFPIA Pharmacovigilance Expert Working Group and Chair of the EFPIA International Pharmacovigilance Group. Willemijn is also involved in external PSMF activities and Clinical Trial (PV) activities. She started her career in industry in Quintiles in Clinical Research and moved to Pharmacovigilance in Bristol Myers Squibb in 2003.

 

Willemijn lives in Switzerland with her husband and son.