EP PerMed 3rd Round Table: Challenges and Best Practices in the Implementation of Personalised Medicine Approaches in Nordic Countries – Industry View

Niklas Sandler, PhD is founder and Chief Technology Officer (CTO) at CurifyLabs. Over the years he has worked in various roles both in the pharmaceutical industry and academia. Since 2010 his research focused on printed drugs. He has know-how in late stage pharmaceutical product development. He also has experience of leading process engineering activities and various material science projects in the pharmaceutical industry and academia. Between 2019-2022 he was Chief Technology Officer at Nanoform Finland Ltd.

As one of the leading cancer specialists in Estonia, Dr Peeter Padrik has more than 30 years of experience as a clinician, researcher, leader, and healthcare manager at Tartu University Hospital. In addition to the therapy of malignant tumours, Dr Padrik is one of the pioneers in implementing innovative genetic information into healthcare. To enable the personalised prevention of common cancers, he founded Antegenes. Antegenes has developed and brought into healthcare practice innovative genetic tests to evaluate individual predispositions for serious common cancers with clinical recommendations to reduce mortality.

Read our EP PerMed Best Practice on Genetics-based Personalised Breast Cancer Prevention and Screening here.

Marguérite Mensonides is a pharmaceutical entrepreneur with 30+ years of industry experience. She currently serves as the CEO of Amplio Pharma, a clinical stage company focused on improving the efficacy of existing drugs for chronic diseases like rheumatoid arthritis. Based on the finding that certain polymorphisms improve the clinical response to 1^st line RA treatment, Amplio Pharma is recasting an old drug in the innovative role of a PK enhancer to transiently mimic this genetic predisposition. The objective: a faster and more effective 1^st line treatment of RA.

Daniel Ågren serves as an industry expert at Roche AB, where he leads initiatives dedicated to the scalable implementation of personalised medicine within the Swedish healthcare ecosystem. His professional background encompasses extensive experience in the practical integration of both advanced diagnostics and pharmaceuticals, offering a holistic perspective on the delivery of personalised medicine solutions. By focusing on the infrastructure and implementation frameworks necessary for innovation, he works to streamline the pathway from innovation to clinical application. His contributions center on identifying collaborative best practices that facilitate the transition of complex, pharmaceuticals and diagnostic interventions into sustainable standard-of-care workflows.

Rasmus Fält works at the intersection of healthcare innovation, research, hospitals, and implementation. As Accelerator Lead at BETA.HEALTH – Rigshospitalet, he supports clinical teams in developing, maturing, and translating ideas from research and clinical practice into solutions that can create real value for patients and healthcare professionals. His work focuses on bridging the gap between early-stage innovation and practical adoption in the healthcare system.

Daniel Mogefors is leading the development of CELSI, the Center for Emerging Life Science Innovation, a Swedish public-private pre-project focused on how emerging life science companies can move from scientific promise toward implementation readiness and scale. He has worked across the University of Oxford, RISE, EIT Health, and the Clinical Innovation Fellowships at Karolinska Institutet/KTH, supporting research-led startups and health innovators in commercialization, market validation, clinical adoption and partnership development.

Daniel has expertise in ecosystem perspective on how personalised medicine innovations can be translated from academia and startups into routine healthcare practice across countries.

Richard Rosenquist Brandell is a Professor and Senior Physician in Clinical Genetics at Karolinska Institutet and Karolinska University Hospital, Stockholm. He also serves as the Director of Genomic Medicine Sweden, a national infrastructure for implementation of precision medicine. He also serves as co-chair of the newly established Precision Omics Initiative Sweden (PROMISE). Richard Rosenquist Brandell is a member of the Nobel Assembly at Karolinska Institutet.

Read our EP PerMed Best Practice on Childhood Cancer in Sweden here.

Wolfgang Ballensiefen is project manager and policy adviser for health research topics and related funding measures on the European level and nationally primarily on behalf of the German Federal Ministry of Research, Technology and Space (BMFTR). He coordinates the European Partnership for Personalised Medicine (EP PerMed). He co-authored several strategic and policy-oriented publications in different areas of health research, such as the EP PerMed related Strategic Research and Innovation Agenda SRIA 2023, the STARS Common Strategy: Regulatory Support and Advice for Academia (2022), the Strategic Research Agenda for Cardiovascular Diseases (SRA-CVD, 2019) or the ICPerMed “Vision Paper”, 2019.

Ilias El Houari serves as a policy adviser to the Flemish Government with a focus on pharma, health and life sciences. In addition, he serves as WP3 lead in the European Partnership for Personalised Medicine (EP PerMed), contributing to the advancement of innovation in personalised medicine across Europe. He holds a PhD in Biochemistry and Biotechnology from the University of Ghent, Belgium, and worked as a postdoctoral fellow at the Whitehead Institute, Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Boston, USA.

With over 20 years of experience spanning small biotech startups, large pharmaceutical companies, and non-profit organizations, I have developed a deep understanding of the healthcare ecosystem and its many stakeholders. Throughout my career, I have led and supported research, innovation, and clinical development in close collaboration with academia, industry, health authorities, and healthcare providers. My focus has always been on bridging sectors, building strong teams, and translating scientific knowledge into meaningful outcomes for patients and society.

Torstein works as a Senior Adviser at The Research Council of Norway. He is co-lead of WP2 in the European Partnership for Personalised Medicine, focusing on research activities and transnational calls within the partnership. He holds a master’s degree in pharmacy and a PhD in pharmaceutical analytical chemistry from the University of Oslo.

Since 2023, Merike Leego is Senior Manager for EP PerMed at EIT Health, one of the European Commission’s innovation funding bodies. Between 2017 and 2023, Merike held several roles at EIT Health, including Innovation Lead and Key Account Manager for the Nordic countries. Prior to this, she worked as a Project Manager for international grants at the Estonian Biobank, University of Tartu that has instrumental role in implementataion of personalised medicine in Estonia.

Laura Prat is a Barcelona-based senior event and project manager. She currently works with EIT Health, where she leads european events and collaborative projects that connect startups, universities, healthcare professionals, and innovators across Europe. Alongside her project leadership work, she is also a university lecturer, combining operational expertise with a strong focus on communication and partnership building.