Value of Health Part III: Potential Disruptors' Impact to Value, Access & Reimbursement

Sagnik oversees product and network strategy at PatientPing. Sagnik has more than 17 years of experience in healthcare technology and previously led the Outpatient EHR and Population Health divisions at Epic Systems Corporation.

As President and CEO of the Massachusetts Biotechnology Council, Bob’s mission is to advance Massachusetts' leadership in the life sciences to grow the industry, add value to the healthcare system and improve patient lives. Over the last decade, Bob has truly become a champion for patients by ensuring innovative companies have the best environment possible to research, develop, and commercialize breakthrough therapies and cures for people around the world who need and deserve them.

Bob oversees our enterprise data and data platform strategy, including investments to connect our data internally and externally, to help unlock insights across CVS Health. In addition, Bob leads the development and deployment of advanced analytics for CVS Retail as well as the Enterprise Modernization initiative, including support of financial optimization and operational analytics for CVS Caremark. His responsibilities will enable data and analytics across CVS Health, supporting our Data strategy to reinvent healthcare by improving outcomes and reducing costs for consumers and customers. Bob holds an honors Master of Business Administration degree in analytic finance from the University of Chicago, Graduate School of Business, and received a magna cum laude degree in economics from Harvard College.

Karen Katz is the Program Director of FoCUS. Previous to FoCUS, Karen was the Director, Intellectual Property Programs, Suffolk University Law School where she developed on-line educational programming, conducted public and academic conferences and created a masters level degree focused on the biopharma industry. Karen practiced law at Hale & Dorr, Crowell & Moring and was in-house counsel at St. Elizabeth’s Hospital in Washington, DC. She presently serves on the board of Addgene, and previously served on the boards of BioBuilder, The Capital Network and MassMedical Angels. She worked in the healthcare and law practices at Korn/Ferry International, was part of the teams at LawCorps and Pangea3 (sold to TMP Worldwide/Monster and Thomson Reuters respectively) and was recognized by the Boston Business Journal for her achievements in the business community. She obtained her law degree from Boston University School of Law where she was on the law review and clerked for the U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit.

Vadim Lubarsky is a 20-year veteran of healthcare policy, having served in numerous executive and analytical positions both in the private and public sectors. Currently, Vadim is the Executive Director for Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) Policy and Reimbursement at Novartis. In this capacity, he leads engagement with CMS, and other Health and Human Services (HHS) stakeholders, to positively impact policy issues of importance to Novartis. Vadim works collaboratively across CMS to oversee direct engagement in resolving a range of policy issues related to reimbursement, access and policy. Previously, Vadim served in a similar role as the Director for HHS within the Federal Government Relations Group at GlaxoSmithKline (GSK). Vadim has worked with HHS to achieve favorable payment and coverage decisions for various GSK products, to develop and impact key regulations, and on the implementation of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) provisions specific to the GSK portfolio. Vadim also led the Medicare and Medicaid practice for a mid-sized healthcare focused financial services firm, where he advised private equity and venture capital on the regulatory and legislative healthcare environment, specifically focusing on federal reimbursement policy. Prior to the private sector, Vadim spent over 11 years with CMS. During his time with the Agency, Vadim served as a special assistant to the Administrator, an Advisor in the CMS Coverage and Analysis Group, and an analyst in both the Center for Beneficiary Services and in the Program Integrity Group. Vadim received both an MBA in health care management and Bachelor of Arts degree from Loyola College in Maryland, graduating summa cum laude. He currently resides in Annapolis, MD with his wife and two daughters.

Ms. Pitluck is the Head of Global Pricing & Reimbursement (P&R) at Spark Therapeutics, Inc., a fully integrated gene therapy company committed to meeting the needs of patients living with genetic diseases. In her current role, Ms. Pitluck priced the first US Food and Drug Administration-approved gene therapy for a genetic disease, LUXTURNA® (voretigene neparvovec-rzyl). She also led the roll-out of Spark’s unique alternate payment options and outcomes-based arrangements for LUXTURNA. She is now working to develop programs to help ensure timely patient access to future one-time gene therapies in development. Prior to joining Spark, Ms. Pitluck was the Executive Director for Global P&R at Alexion Pharmaceuticals, leading all global P&R efforts, including dossier preparation and negotiations for Alexion globally. Ms. Pitluck was formerly the Director of Genentech’s Coverage & Reimbursement Policy and responsible for all US public payer policy and reimbursement issues for Genentech’s products. She also worked at healthcare consulting companies including Avalere Health and Covance Health Economics and Outcomes Services Inc., focusing on policy and reimbursement analyses for a variety of pharmaceutical, biotechnology, and medical device products related to care settings and disease areas. Ms. Pitluck received her Masters of Science at the London School of Economics and Political Science and her Bachelor of Arts from Washington University in St. Louis.