Don is the Director for Medicines Development at EATRIS and Scientific Lead of the REMEDi4ALL European Platform for Medicines Repurposing. Don previously headed therapeutic development at the National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences at the US National Institutes of Health following a 30-year career in academia, biotech, non-disease research foundations and patient care organisations.

Anton Ussi has been the EATRIS Operations & Finance Director since 2015. Joining EATRIS in 2010, he was co-responsible for the operational design and statutory incorporation of the infrastructure. With a background in mechanical engineering in the automotive industry, small business administration, and later in technology transfer focused on molecular imaging, Ussi specialises in public private collaboration and deployment of infrastructure for translational research in medicine.

Dr Cesar Hernández García is Director General of Common Portfolio of the NHS and Pharmacy at the Spanish Ministry of Health since 2022. Formerly, he was Head of Department of Medicines for Human Use at the Spanish Agency for Medicines and Medical Devices from 2009 to 2022. A rheumatologist by training, he worked at the Hospital Clínico San Carlos (Madrid) from 1989 to 2009.

Dr. Yoana Nuevo-Ordóñez, who holds a PhD in Analytical Chemistry, is Head of the Innovation Office and the National Scientific Advice Unit at the Spanish Agency of Medicines and Medical Devices (AEMPS). She represents Spain in the European Innovation Network (EU-IN), which brings together the Innovation Offices of National Competent Authorities and EMA’s Innovation Task Force. Within this network, she has led and co-led major European initiatives, including the STARS project funded by the European Commission, and several Horizon Scanning reports on emerging technologies such as genome editing, faecal microbiota transplantation, and nanomedicines. She also co-leads the Simultaneous National Scientific Advice (SNSA) Pilot with the Paul Ehrlich Institute (PEI) and Belgium’s FAMHP.

In the field of drug repurposing, Dr. Nuevo-Ordóñez co-led the European Repurposing Project Pilot in collaboration with EMA, recently completed, and serves as a member of the REPO4EU expert board while collaborating in REMEDi4ALL. More broadly, she drives the strategic theme “Regulatory Science, Innovation and Competitiveness” within the European Medicines Agencies Network Strategy (EMANS) 2028, promoting regulatory innovation and competitiveness across Europe.

Prof. Surrallés is currently the Scientific Director of Sant Pau Hospital Biomedical Research Institute, with over >1300 researchers and 72 research teams. He is also Director of the Joint Research Unit in Genomic Medicine UAB-Sant Pau, and Coordinating Director of the Master of Medical Genetics at the UAB, a join collaboration between Sant Pau and Vall Hebron UAB Hospitals.  

With a PhD in Genetics and postdoctoral experience in The Netherlands (Leiden University Medical Center) and Finland (Finnish Institute of Occupational Health), he originally set up his research team at the UAB where he is currently Full Professor of Genetics. He was member of the University Research Commission and Director of the UAB Department of Genetics and Microbiology. In January 2017, he was appointed Director of the Genetics Department at Sant Pau Hospital, Barcelona. He is Director of the Biobank of DNA Repair Syndromes and team leader at the Centre for Biomedical Network Research on Rare Diseases (CIBERER), where he acted as member of its Direction Board for 10 years (2007-2016).  

He is specialist in the field of cancer predisposition syndromes due to mutations in DNA repair genes, where he has contributed with the discovery of novel causative genes in breast and colon cancer, Fanconi anemia, Bloom syndrome and others. Regarding therapeutic research, he holds two orphan drug designations by EMA, participates in academic clinical research including gene therapy clinical trials, and coordinates a trial on the prognostic value of genetic factors in Fanconi anemia and the first ever clinical trial on Fanconi anemia head and neck cancer.  

Thanks to his extensive research activity, he holds the ICREA-Academia award with four consecutive renewals (2008, 2013, 2018 and 2023). Dr. Surrallés has supervised over 60 research grants as Principal Investigator awarded from public and private institutions worldwide including Catalan, Spanish, European, American and Australian institutions, adding up to >9M euros of competitive funding in the last 15 years.  

Prof. Surrallés is inventor of 5 patents, leads a number of contracts with private foundations and biotech-pharma companies including Moderna, Rocket, Roche, Boehringer Ingelheim, Genzyme, Merck and others. He has given tens of invited lectures in international meetings world-wide and published >150 publications including articles in Nature, Lancet, Nature Communications, Nature Medicine, Cell Stem Cells, Blood, Gastroenterology, Am J Hum Genet, Genes and Dev and PNAS (12.000 citations, H factor of 55). He had supervised 20 PhD students and tens of Master Degree Students.  

He is reviewer of tens of scientific journals including Science, Nature, Molecular Cell Biology or Blood and Referee of multiple national and international funding agencies including European Research Council (EU), Agence Nationale de la Recherche-ANR (France), Agència de Gestió dAjuts Universitarisi de Recerca (AGAUR), ANEP (Ministerio de Ciencia y Tecnología), Cancer Research UK (UK), Commission of the European Union, Selection Board Subcommittee on Genetic Diseases and Cancer of the ISCIII (Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation), Dutch Cancer Society (The Netherlands), Fanconi Cancer Fundation (USA), German-Israeli Fundation for Scientic Research and Development (Germany), INSERM (France), and the French National Cancer Institute (France). 

Dan’s eldest daughter Amelie was diagnosed with Tay-Sachs in 2011 at 15 months of age and, upon finding that there was no dedicated advocacy group providing support for families affected by this disease in the UK, he set set-up the Cure & Action for Tay-Sachs (CATS) Foundation with his wife Patricia. Since the group was launched, they have been able to grow The CATS Foundation so that it now offers a variety of services to its family members and has been actively involved in the research investigating therapeutic treatments for Tay-Sachs and Sandhoff disease. Dan is fully committed to leading the charity towards its goal of finding a treatment so that there is hope for those families affected by Tay-Sachs and Sandhoff in the future.

Shirlene Badger is passionate about the role of genomics in improving health and leads Global Patient Advocacy at Illumina Inc. In this role she leads the Patient Advocacy strategy and engagement across the fields of rare and undiagnosed genetic disease, reproductive health, newborn screening, infectious disease and oncology. Trained as a medical sociologist at the University of Cambridge, her PhD was one of the first to explore the experiences of children and families participating in genetic research to find a cause for their symptoms. She then spent over fifteen years leading academic research initiatives at the University of Cambridge, UK and elsewhere that sought to elevate the impact of patient voice in the development and implementation of novel and experimental medical and omic technologies.

Dr Nafeesa Mat Ali is a Clinical Researcher at City St George’s, University of London, working at the intersection of clinical trials, diagnostics, and global health. Trained as a medical doctor in Malaysia, she transitioned into research to advance equitable access to affordable treatments and early diagnosis, particularly for underserved populations. 

She is a part of the International Affordable Diagnostics and Therapeutics Alliance (IA-DATA) and collaborates closely with the Universiti Malaya Affordable Diagnostics and Therapeutics (UMADT) team to develop scalable, cost-effective healthcare solutions. Her current work centres on drug repurposing and innovative diagnostics for neglected cancers and rare diseases, including managing international multi-site studies such as the NeoART cancer drug repurposing programme in Malaysia. 

Nafeesa also champions health literacy and community engagement for breast and cervical cancer, co-designing cancer awareness initiatives with ethnic minority women community champions in the UK and indigenous women community champions in Sarawak, Malaysia to make health research more inclusive and impactful. 

Barbara Yu is Co-founder and President of the Citrin Foundation, a research-driven, patient-centered nonprofit dedicated to finding a cure for citrin deficiency, a rare inherited metabolic and urea cycle disorder, and advancing innovation in the rare disease field. She established the Foundation in 2016 with her husband, Yen How Tai, driven by a family’s experience with this condition and a conviction that meaningful progress in rare diseases requires long-term commitment, cross-sector collaboration, and scientific excellence.

Drawing on a background that bridges science-driven philanthropy, patient advocacy, and finance, Barbara brings a holistic perspective to the rare disease field, addressing both the scientific challenges of therapy development and the systemic barriers that often slow research, diagnosis, and patient access to treatment. She advocates for an ecosystem approach to patient-driven research and philanthropy-led science as a way to accelerate therapeutic innovation in underserved disease areas.

Under her leadership, the Citrin Foundation has built a global research and clinical ecosystem to advance the understanding, diagnosis, and treatment of citrin deficiency. The Foundation supports and leads initiatives spanning basic science, translational research, therapeutic development, clinical studies, patient support, and community engagement, working closely with academic institutions, clinicians, researchers, biotechnology partners, and patient communities worldwide. A key strategic milestone for the Foundation is the establishment of the UCD Translational Research Center Universität Zürich – Citrin Foundation, launched in 2025 to accelerate translational research in urea cycle disorders.

In 2024, Barbara convened and hosted a multi-stakeholder strategy roundtable at the Annual Symposium of the Society for the Study of Inborn Errors of Metabolism (SSIEM), bringing together regulators, researchers, clinicians, and patient advocates to discuss the essential components required to successfully develop therapies for rare diseases.

In parallel with her philanthropic work, Barbara is Co-founder and Co-CEO of YH2 Capital, a long-term investment firm managing proprietary capital with a fundamental investment approach. Earlier in her career, she was Partner and Head of Asia at Eton Park Capital Management and previously led the Principal Strategies Group in Asia at Goldman Sachs, overseeing the investment business at both firms. She began her career in mergers, acquisitions, and restructurings at Morgan Stanley in New York and Hong Kong.

Barbara graduated from Magdalene College, Cambridge University, with a BA in Law, double first-class honors. Barbara was awarded the N. Diaz Scholarship for Law and Norton Rose Prize for Commercial Law. She was also a Jardine Scholar which provided a full scholarship for her undergraduate study.

Dunja joined ZonMw in 2020 and leads the national Drug Repurposing Programme. She oversees programme operations and drives its strategic development with the Dutch Ministry of Health and other key stakeholders. Her focus is on strengthening the programme’s impact through cross‑sector collaboration, improved knowledge exchange and evidence‑based pathways that accelerate translation into clinical and societal benefit. She also contributes to the European REMEDi4ALL initiative, helping to build a coordinated ecosystem for drug repurposing and advance innovative funding approaches.

Before joining ZonMw, Dunja built a solid 20‑year track record in a wide range of R&D roles within the pharmaceutical and CRO sectors. She contributed to clinical trial start‑up, steered complex multinational projects, and held several leadership positions across the Nordic and Benelux regions.

Anton Ussi has been the EATRIS Operations & Finance Director since 2015. Joining EATRIS in 2010, he was co-responsible for the operational design and statutory incorporation of the infrastructure. With a background in mechanical engineering in the automotive industry, small business administration, and later in technology transfer focused on molecular imaging, Ussi specialises in public private collaboration and deployment of infrastructure for translational research in medicine.

Alisa DeGrave is a postdoctoral researcher at the Fraunhofer Institute for Translational Medicine and Pharmacology (ITMP-TNM) in Göttingen, working under the mentorship of Prof. Dr. med. Lars Schlotawa. Her research focuses on the molecular mechanisms underlying multiple sulfatase deficiency (MSD) and how repurposed small molecules modulate cellular pathways involved in its pathophysiology. By studying these effects in cell models, she aims to understand how these small molecules rescue the disease phenotype and to identify therapeutically relevant candidates.

Yannick bridges a strong interdisciplinary background in pharmaceuticals and business. With interest spanning from business operations, commercial strategies, partnerships, and innovation in the life sciences sector, he focuses on building collaborations that assist the development of precision medicine. He combines scientific understanding with commercial insight to translate precision medicine capabilities into impactful partnerships across biotech and pharma.

Nathalie, PharmD, is a senior scientific project manager at the Innovative Health Initiative (IHI) within the Scientific Operations team, with responsibilities ranging from coordination of activities within the team, support to public-private consortia, to engagement with stakeholders with particular focus on regulatory bodies. Nathalie joined in 2012 the Innovative Medicines Initiative (now IHI), after having worked at the European Medicines Agency (EMA) over 15 years as a scientific administrator with various responsibilities related to the development and approval of medicinal products.