The Board

Karsten started his career with Merck KGaA in 2003 with different roles in Strategic Marketing, Sales Force Effectiveness, Inhouse Consulting and R&D Project Management Office across different therapeutic areas and regions. Karsten is now responsible for the Secondary Data Insights and Market Performance Analytics team supporting Global Franchises & Functions as well as working closely with regional commercial units and Business Development.
Karsten’s previous role was with Global Business Intelligence Oncology on MR, Forecasting and Epidemiology across different indications. He believes EPHMRA is key to help the members in accelerating and establishing best practices for overcoming current and future industry challenges.

Dr. Thomas Hein joined Thermo Fisher Scientic ImmunoDiagnostics as Global Director Customer Insight and Strategy in August 2014. He has more than twenty years of experience in market research, most of it in the pharmaceutical industry in the areas of primary and secondary market research as well as forecasting and competitive intelligence.

From 2007 – 2014 he was the Vice President of Global Market Research within Bayer Healthcare Pharmaceuticals with an international team in Berlin, Montville (USA), Singapore, Mexico, China and Switzerland. Prior to that, Dr. Hein was the Vice President of Global Market Research at Schering AG for 5 years.

Before taking these global responsibilities, he was in Market Research of Schering subsidiaries in Germany as well as the USA.

Managing the Association's finances is the Treasurer's role and to ensure that prudent budget management is implemented and resources are effectively allocated and managed.

As General Manager, Bernadette takes the Board initiatives and implements them across the Association. All activities are designed to meet members needs and to support members in their daily work. Effective budget management is key to the Association's success.

Amr has over 20 years experience in healthare market research. He is a regular contributor to EphMRA and has been a familiar face at the annual conference attending every year since 2001. Over the past 5 years he has enjoyed being an active member of the Programme Committee supporting the development throughout the year and the itinerary of the annual conference. In this role Amr has had a unique opportunity to meet and interact with a wide range of members across the industry.

More than 20 years professional experience (17 years in the pharmaceutical industry with companies including Novartis, Roche, Gruenenthal, Altana Pharma, Bayer AG), leading international teams (up to 60 people, located in EU, S. America, Africa and USA), in the departments of Research & Development (R&D)/Pharmacovigilance, Quality and Pharma Development. I worked at global and local level cross functional with other departments (e.g. Medical Affairs, Marketing, Legal and Regulatory Affairs). I have knowledge in different therapeutic areas including, oncology, respiratory, immunology, neuroscience and infectious diseases as well as in Drug Development and Project Management during my role in Roche.

Marcel gained his Master’s degree in International Business Communication Studies in 1999 from Radboud University Nijmegen, The Netherlands and has worked in international healthcare market research for nearly 18 years.
In addition to having led various business units, he has remained a very all-round and well-versed practitioner across all activities in the research life cycle, including recruitment, fieldwork, moderation and reporting. Marcel is passionate about the industry given his involvement in EphMRA's Learning and Development committee and has a particular interest in qualitative research where he is exploring novel methods, such as Natual Language Processing and the use of chatbots
In his current position as Senior Director, he is responsible for SKIM's EU Methodology & Innovation team, leveraging the latest market research developments and trends across all SKIM industries, whereby continuing to execute tried and tested methods whilst experimenting with the latest ones to ensure versatiliy and relevance with our clients.

March 2020 - present
Purdie Pascoe - Director

March 2019 – February 2020
Elma Research - Managing Director, UK (London)

January 2016 – December 2018
Kantar Health - Managing Director, UK (Epsom)

December 2012 – December 2015
GfK - Regional Lead, Healthcare, Asia, GfK (Singapore)

April 2002 – December 2012
Kantar Health (formerly TNS Healthcare - Managing Director, Asia Pacific, Middle East & Africa (Singapore)

October 2000 – April 2002
Synovate - Regional Director, Healthcare, South East Asia (Malaysia)

Prior to moving to Asia in 2000, I held a number of researcher roles, initially with NOP Healthcare (now GfK) and then with TNS Healthcare.

Xander has worked in market research since the early nineties, mostly in or for the pharmaceutical industry. He currently works for Eli Lilly & Company in a cross-therapeutic area international data analytics role. Before that, he supported global, international and affiliate market researchers in matters related to compliance, privacy and regulations.
Prior to joining Lilly, Xander worked for DSM Anti-Infectives, Organon International and IMS.
Xander is a current member of the EphMRA Board, the Code of Conduct Ethics Committee and in the past served on the Learning & Development Committee for several years.

During my career, I’ve been lucky to hold positions in all stages of the research chain, from data collection to end client, providing me with a comprehensive and expansive viewpoint on our industry. I started my journey with Kantar Health, where I served in Field/Project Management and Compliance roles, as well as COO for Kantar’s healthcare panel organization (All Global). I next joined Survey Healthcare where I served as the company’s Compliance lead and US sales team head. At SHC, I helped the organization to establish its European presence with responsibilities focused on BD, Sales and Marketing Operations. After SHC, I launched a consultancy focused on helping full service/data collection agencies to establish and maintain their compliance operations infrastructures in the face of regulatory changes (i.e. GDPR, CCPA). In 2021, I joined Organon as the Global Head of Compliance for Business Insights/Analytics. Since 2024, my remit has been expanded to include compliance operations oversight for PSPs, Digital Solutions, Social Media, and CI. I am CIPP/E certificated via the IAPP. In addition, I’ve previously served in industry association leadership roles, as a Chapter Leader (Director, Treasurer, President) and National Board Member (Director) for the MRA (now Insights Association).
I feel very strongly that EPHMRA plays a key role in representing, protecting and advocating for our industry; providing networking opportunities and connections across the global membership; welcoming and supporting the next generation of researchers; and offering ongoing education and training to our industry members. I see this every day in my work with the Ethics Committee, our interconnections with other like-minded associations, and the initiatives we take forward in support of our membership. In a time where our industry faces many challenges ahead, whether it is due to the economic and cultural landscape in which we are currently navigating, addressing questions about data quality, or understanding the impact of AI on the research we conduct and on the role of insights professionals, it is even more critical to have associations such as EPHMRA ready to guide, support and lead us forward. It would be my honor to serve on the EPHMRA Board. If given the opportunity to serve, I look forward to supporting our membership with their needs today, while also ensuring that the association remains focused on initiatives that are critical to the future of our industry.

Paul has worked in the pharmaceutical industry his entire career and has no intent of changing course. Working on medicines that change people’s lives is incredibly rewarding. He began his career at ZS Associates, supporting both biotech and large pharmaceutical companies on projects spanning sales and marketing. It’s here that he developed a particular passion for market research.

Since his consulting days, he has worked in local, regional, and global business units in various market insights leadership roles across Biogen, Shire (later Takeda), and now CSL Vifor. He finds particular motivation in uncovering insights that drive tangible business decisions. Paul began his career in the US, and in 2015 made the leap to Switzerland, where he now lives with his wife, two young kids, and high energy dog – a Hungarian vizsla. He is honoured to have the opportunity to continue to support the mission of EPHMRA, which is integral to all of us delivering the highest value insights and ultimately improving patients’ lives.

With over 20 years 'pharmaceutical market research experience, Paula is expert in complex qual, market understanding, TPP assessment and strategic comms work and leads training and development and ensures consistent delivery of excellent quality research.

With over a decade of experience in healthcare market research, I have honed my expertise both on the agency and client sides, covering a diverse range of indications and various stages of the product lifecycle. For the past six years, I have been a member of UCB, initially joining the EU market research team as the Insights Lead for Neurology, where I managed the Parkinson’s disease and epilepsy portfolio.

In my current global role, I support the Rare Disease Business Team in launching two new assets for a rare neurological condition and preparing for additional indications. Additionally, I collaborate with the Early Evidence Team to advance proof-of-concept studies across multiple neurological conditions.
I hold a Master’s degree in Chemistry and Business Management from the University of Manchester and a PhD in Synthetic Chemistry from the University of Warwick.