Vik is a creative veteran that has worked in big healthcare creative agencies in both his hometown of Chicago, as well as his current home, NYC, including Havas Health & You, TBWA\WorldHealth, and Intouch Solutions. He’s currently one of the leaders within the Life Sciences practice at Accenture Song, a global creative agency that works with some of the largest brands in Pharma and MedTech.

Between his time at Accenture and Outcome Health, where he led marketing and the internal creative agency, O/Studio, Vik has established a unique point of view on how to marry creative content to new kinds of technology. We’re way beyond the world where things are either “print” or “digital” and Vik is helping re-write the script on how best to reach patients, caregivers, and healthcare professionals in a constantly evolving world.

Vik has led creative teams on brand launches across almost every therapeutic area, including recent work in gene therapy for rare disease, immunotherapy products treating advanced stages of cancer, GLP-1s in type 2 diabetes, and more.

He’s also currently working towards his EMBA and MS in Healthcare Leadership at Cornell University, where he’s collaborating with physicians, nurses, life science marketers and consultants on how to fix elements of the healthcare system in our country.

Collette has dedicated most of her career to the healthcare industry and wouldn't have it any other way. She believes that great work begins and ends with a big idea — big enough to elicit awe, wonder, delight, and even envy. Moreover, she believes it takes discovering extraordinary creative talent and giving them the platform and empowerment to do great work. It takes empathy and understanding to see things from the customer's perspective to deliver work that has the power to change lives.

After spending over a decade at Publics/Digitas Health and Evoke — agency experiences that fueled her career, she found herself in a new challenge. Collette joined Dentsu to help set the course for the launch of Dentsu Health, a commitment and ambition to unlock opportunities for growth across the network. As Global CCO of Dentsu Health, she inspires a new generation of creative talent.

She has had the privilege of serving on the Pharma and Health & Wellness Juries at the Cannes Lions Festival, Clio Health Awards, New York Festivals, London International Awards, and The One Show. Most recently, she served as a Jury Chair of Clio Health and, in 2022, a Jury President of the London International Awards for Craft. In 2017, she received the DTC Vanguard Award for driving innovation in consumer health launches. Collette's work has been awarded for creative excellence by CANNES Lions, LIAs, Cresta Awards, MM&M Awards, ANA Multicultural Awards, DTC Awards, RX Club, Addy Awards, and Creative Floor.

Fernando has been with the IPG Health Network for 12 years and has over 20 years of Healthcare Branding experience. As the leader of the Brand Experience Design Group (BX), Fernando oversees all aspects of the brand identity development process from the creation of design strategies to the rollout of identity systems. His expertise lies in the effective application of consumer brand’s design best practices to Healthcare brands.

With experience in launching over 200 healthcare brands Fernando was responsible for driving the branding process that led to the successful launch of brands such as Opdivo, Orilissa, Mounjaro, Entresto, Shingrix, Eucrisa and others.

Fernando holds a BFA on Communication Design from Parsons School of Design and a AAS in Graphic Design from Altos de Chavón School of Design (an affiliate of Parsons School of Design).

In the area of experience design, Gerald is an advocate for human-centered design (HCD) Thinking with a certification in Product Ownership from Scrum.org. He firmly believes that it is our responsibility as creators to value the end-user's needs when crafting experiences.

With over 20 years of experience, Gerald has worked on digital and technology solutions big and small for clients such as Pfizer, Novartis, Genentech, Boehringer Ingelheim, and the American Heart Association. This journey has earned him recognition and admiration among his peers as a respected leader in challenging boundaries and delivering value to customers in healthcare marketing.

As the industry and landscape evolve, Gerald looks to inspire creatives and marketers alike to embrace technology and the user experience to improve our impact as creators on the lives of people who engage with pharma brands.

Nick is a Creative Director in New York City at Saatchi & Saatchi Wellness, who’s passionate about advertising. His expertise spans various art forms, both traditional and digital, and he loves turning complex or abstract ideas into reality. Nick’s professional background includes industrial design, graphic design, production, and art direction.

As a Creative Director, he’s worked with many clients to create innovative solutions for their products across digital, print, and TV platforms. Nick found his way into pharmaceutical advertising over 12 years ago, bringing a modern and thoughtful design eye to the HCP and DTC healthcare realms, pushing for sleek, contemporary, strategic solutions for clients.

Outside of work, Nick dedicates his time to all forms of art, including painting, sculpture, printmaking, photography, and dance. He’s also committed to social and environmental causes, including education, equality, and conservation. He’s an active member of organizations like the One Club, Art Directors Club, Type Directors Club, and AIGA, which allows him to contribute to the community. Nick is also involved with New York Cares, a volunteer organization, and strives to address important social and political issues through his work.

NEW YORK, USA // Good enough is never enough is the simple mantra Adam Hessel has always lived by in his career as a New York advertising creative. Spending more than 2 decades on the consumer side, and now with H&S NY, Adam has collaborated with some of the best talent in the biz, including Linda Kaplan Thaler, Erik Vervroegen, Donny Deutsch, Nicholas Capanear, Kathy Delaney and Spike Lee. These creative leaders began by helping to inspire his work and in turn helped him transform brands and influence pop culture itself.

Adam is proud to have worked at a number of the world’s greatest agencies including: GSW, Deutsch, SpikeDDB, TBWA Chiat Day, The Kaplan Thaler Group and Publicis.

With passion for hard work and to push high creativity, Adam, has garnered many of the creative industry’s top awards which include: Cannes Lions, The One Show, Clio Awards, ANDY Awards, Mercury Awards, London International Awards, Lürzer’s Archive – among others.

Since making the jump to healthcare, Adam has continued to blaze new creative trails and his work on Dream Foundation, Bayer, NYC Botanics have found yet more accolades to name a few. But if you ask Adam, it’s never enough. There are more boundaries to be broken, more creative barriers to be shattered, and bigger ideas to be found.

Ugur developed an interest in marketing at the age of 10, when he would only watch advertisements instead of Disney adventures. Throughout his professional career, he gained valuable experience in various roles and industries, which has made him a skilled strategist and brand developer with a touch of wit. He received training from renowned Fortune 500 companies such as Loreal, PMI, Coca-Cola Company, and Bayer.

With over 20 years of experience in the healthcare and CPG sectors, particularly in his recent role as the Marketing Head in Immunology CSU at Novartis, he has dedicated himself to serving consumers. During his leisure time, he enjoys spending quality moments with his family and constructing Lego sets with his son. An indulgence of his is jelly bellies, especially during the festive season, when he can savor a variety of flavors.

Renata Maia is the first Global Chief Creative Officer at Wunderman Thompson Health. She has spent much of her career at WPP agencies including VMLY&R and Grey. During her 10 years at what was then Y&R where she was regional creative director, she oversaw 19 countries and led three main creative centers of excellence.

In her prior position at AREA 23, just in 2022 Renata won over 30 awards including a Grand LIA in Art Direction in Pharma & Medical Craft plus several golds at the London International Awards, a Cannes Lion, 6 Clios, 5 MM&M awards, and 4 Bricks at the Creative Floor among many other renowned creative shows.

She has served as a juror at the London International Awards, Clio Health Awards, The New York Festival Global Awards, Fierce Pharma Marketing Awards, Clube de Criação do Paraná (Brazil) plus many Luerzer’s Archive student and work selection juries. She was part of the 50/50 Initiative from the Art Directors Club whose goal is to bring equal gender representation to the creative industries, specifically in award show juries, speaking engagements and boards of directors.

Renata was born in the US and grew up in Brazil, and she has a multinational family with her brother being German, her sisters Brazilian, one grandfather British and the other Portuguese. Renata hails from a variety of influences and she believes in breaking barriers and bias, given that human truth resides in the center of different points of view.

Renata is passionate about transforming thought-provoking ideas into stunningly crafted work. She is a champion for giving a voice to diversity and generating inclusiveness, to create an environment full of collaboration and creativity. She believes that not only must our industry give meaning to science, but it must also be a trailblazer in improving health all over the world.

Matt has dedicated his entire career to the healthcare industry and is now leading Omnicom Health Group, the largest healthcare marketing and communications network in the world. Matt has a proven track record of helping companies and brands transform their businesses to better meet the needs of consumers, patients, caregivers and providers. Prior to joining OHG, Matt was the Global President of dentsu health.

Prior to joining dentsu health, Matt was the CEO of Outcome Health, a large healthcare technology company. Matt was recruited by Google and Goldman Sachs in 2018 to lead the company’s turnaround. While at Outcome Health, Matt helped create new products and service offerings for healthcare providers, patients and large hospital systems delivered at the Point of Care and through virtual care. 

Prior to Outcome Health, McNally spent over twenty years on the ad agency side of the health business. He has helped launch and market some of the largest global brands in the category. Matt spent over a decade at Publicis Health. During his tenure, he  created and launched Publicis Health Media, the first global media agency focused on creating unique services and platforms for health and wellness clients. In addition, he was the President of Digitas Health North America, and led Razorfish Health through a business transformation. 

Matt has been recognized as a leader and visionary in the healthcare space.  He was named Agency Marketer of the Year by MM&M, PharmaVoice recognized Matt as one of the 100 most influential people in the life sciences industry, PRWeek named Matt as one of the 50 Top Health Influencers, and DTC National named him as one of the biggest innovators in healthcare marketing today.  In 2022, Matt was inducted into the DTC Hall of Fame.  In addition, he received The Pinnacle Award from MM&M. He also was a Short List Juror for the 2022 Health and Wellness Cannes Lions. Matt also was The Leukemia and Lymphoma Society's Man of the Year. McNally has been on the board of Big Brothers Big Sisters, as well as on the Board of Directors of the Ad Council.

Debra is a seasoned creative leader with a remarkable 25-year career in healthcare and pharmaceutical advertising, where she has consistently demonstrated her prowess in guiding teams and clients toward the development and execution of emotionally resonant and engaging ideas that have the power to build and transform brands.
 

Debra's impact in the industry is underscored by her pivotal role in shaping and launching some of the most iconic brands within their respective categories. Her work and leadership have not gone unnoticed, earning recognition from esteemed industry award shows worldwide including Cannes Lions, Clio Health, The Creative Floor Awards, D&AD, and The One Show.
 

She finds inspiration in the dynamic intersection of technology and health, dedicating herself to staying at the forefront of emerging trends in these areas. Debra's commitment to excellence, coupled with her dedication to innovation, positions her as a driving force in the ever-evolving landscape of healthcare communications.   

As CEO of TBWA\WorldHealth Robin prides herself on bringing disruptive thinking to some of the world’s most ambitious healthcare brands. In her 25+ years she has launched over 50 global brands for companies ranging from start-ups such as Moderna and Bluebird to pharma giants like Pfizer, Astra Zeneca, and Merck.

A creative leader at heart, Robin has a passion for helping clients crystalize their vision and bring their company’s story to the world. She considers herself chief culture officer and has created a strong values-based culture where sustainable inclusion thrives from the inside out. In the past five years, TBWA\WorldHealth has been recognized twice as Med Ad News DEI Champion and twice as Agency of the Year.  

Robin served as Cannes Lions Pharma Jury President in 2021 after serving on the Pharma Jury in 2019. Prior to Cannes Lions, Robin Chaired the Global Awards where she created innovative programs like Young Globals with the goal of attracting the next generation of creative leaders to consider a career in healthcare advertising.  

Robin’s side hustle is giving back to her community by volunteering as a mentor with Waukegan to College, an organization dedicated to helping school students realize their dream of attending a 4-year college or university. One of her mentees was awarded the Gates Millennium Scholarship.

Robin’s 3 children— Aaron (31), Bennett (27), and Maddie (22)— and her husband, Harlan (bigger number), make her laugh every day and remind her of what’s really important.