Gabriele Nicolini, PharmD, PhD is Head of Global Medical Affairs & Patient Advocacy for Chiesi Farmaceutici S.p.A. since 2018. Gabriele is a senior manager with 20 plus years of experience including R&D, Medical Affairs, training and sales. He’s enthusiastic, energetic, strategic thinking leader with academic background, skilled in people management, with strong problem solving, decision making, networking and communication skills. Leading the Global Medical Affairs team, his purpose is to ensure strategic guidance at both Global and local level (Chiesi affiliates), alignment, sharing of knowledge and transparency in communication with external stakeholders, by acting as facilitator of scientific evidence generation and dissemination leveraging on medical expertise and ethics. Gabriele joined Chiesi in 1999 starting his career as a sales representative and quickly moving to the role of trainer of the field force and medical advisor for the respiratory area. He spent more than 20 years in medical affairs with the main focus on respiratory diseases both for the Italian affiliate and the global structure, including a period in research and development leading a Phase 4 studies unit in the clinical development department. During his career Gabriele had the opportunity to design, manage and publish more than 20 research projects both on in vitro effect of drugs and clinical trials from phase 2 onwards, including post approval Real World Evidence observational studies. At the top of his editorial career he acted as a reviewer for 7 peer-reviewed international journals in respiratory field and was member of the editorial board for 2 international journals. He is author and co-author of more than 40 original articles and reviews in peer reviewed journals including the New England Journal of Medicine, Lancet Respiratory Medicine, Thorax, ERJ, Respiratory Medicine, PLOS One and other important journals.  

Most recently, on top of the Head of Global Medical Affairs & Patient Advocacy role, he was appointed as Chief Scientific Officer for Chiesi Global being accountable for medical compliance of the global team promotional activities with reference to the Italian regulation and code of practice. 

Gabriele received a degree in Pharmacy (PharmD) from the University of Milan and a doctorate (PhD) in Experimental Respiratory Pathophysiology from the University of Parma. 

Caroline Shepherd, BPharm, is Managing Scientific Director, for McCann Health Medical Communications Ltd, with over 25 years’ experience in global communications and medical publications strategy in Medical Affairs for the biopharmaceutical industry.  Caroline leads teams in delivering scientific excellence and has led and executed a variety of medical communications programs in numerous therapeutic domains. Research interests have included the value of professional medical writers, plain language summaries and scientific accuracy in lay media. Most recently, Caroline has joined the inaugural MAPS Editorial Review Board where she is delighted to be applying her medical publications experience to uphold excellence and credibility of MAPS publications.

Caroline received a bachelor’s degree in Pharmacy (BPharm) from the University of London and is an International Society for Medical Publications Professionals (ISMPP) Certified Medical Publications Professional (CMPP).