John H. Beisner is national chair of Skadden Arps Slate Meager & Flom's mass torts, insurance, and consumer litigation group Over his 40-year career, he has represented defendants in a wide range of high-visibility trial and appellate court litigation matters. He has defended hundreds of class actions and served as defendant's lead counsel in many federal multidistrict litigation proceedings. Mr. Beisner is a frequent writer and speaker on litigation procedure issues. He is a 1978 University of Michigan Law School graduate and a member of the Council of the American Law Institute.

Sheila L. Birnbaum is co-chair of Dechert's product liability and mass torts practice and focuses on complex product liability, mass torts and insurance litigation. She is one of the country's preeminent product liability and class action defense lawyers, having served as national counsel or lead defense counsel in some of the largest tort cases in the United States.

Stanley E. Blackmon is an associate at Bradley Arant in Birmingham, AL. Stanley concentrates his practice on pharmaceutical products liability litigation and appellate litigation. Stanley has experience representing clients in federal and state trial and appellate courts, including in multidistrict litigation and consolidated state court litigation.

Stephanie A. Blazewicz is Lead Counsel, U.S. Litigation and Investigations for Takeda Pharmaceuticals. In this capacity, she manages and directs strategy for a range of litigation matters, including antitrust, commercial litigation, class action, product liability and employment litigation She also regularly partners with Takeda's US business units and business development function to shape strategy for avoiding and mitigating liability exposure. In addition, she provides day-to-day legal support for Takeda's Compliance function. Ms. Blazewicz held the same role within Shire Pharmaceuticals, before it was acquired by Takeda in January 2019. Before joining Shire, Ms. Blazewicz was a litigation partner at Bryan Cave (now Bryan Cave Leighton Paisner) in San Francisco, where she focused her practice on a wide variety of matters, including class action, intellectual property and commercial litigation. Ms. Blazewicz received her J.D. from American University, Washington College of Law, and her bachelor's degree in Finance and Economics from Boston College.

Kali Enyeart Book is an associate at Goodell DeVries in Baltimore, MD. Her practice focuses on product liability defense. She has represented pharmaceutical and material handling manufacturers in state and federal cases throughout the United States, including in mass tort and multi-district litigation. Kali has been a member of several trial teams, and significant experience in case strategy, fact and expert development.

Sheila S. Boston is a litigation partner and member of Arnold & Porter Kaye Scholer LLP's top-ranked Product Liability Group She is a trial lawyer and litigation strategist who defends clients from initiation of the case through trial and creative settlement resolutions. She has successfully litigated before both state and federal courts, and has significant MDL and class action experience. Sheila has been recognized by Who's Who Legal in Product Liability Defense every year since 2012. Sheila is a longtime member of DRI's Drug & Medical Device Steering Committee and is currently serving as the Chair of its annual seminar.

Jessica L. Brennan is a Senior Associate in the Products Liability & Mass Tort department at Drinker Biddle & Reath LLP, resident in the Florham Park, New Jersey office. She represents foreign and domestic manufacturers of pharmaceuticals, medical devices, and consumer products in individual cases, multidistrict litigation, and state coordinated proceedings.

The Honorable Raymond T. Chen is a judge on the United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit. Judge Chen was appointed by President Obama in 2013, unanimously confirmed by the Senate on August 1, 2013, and assumed his office on August 5, 2013. Judge Chen previously served as Deputy General Counsel for Intellectual Property Law and Solicitor at the United States Patent and Trademark Office from 2008 to 2013. He was an Associate Solicitor in that office from 1998 to 2008. From 1996 to 1998, Judge Chen served a Technical Assistant at the United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit. Before joining the court staff, from 1994 to 1996 Judge Chen was an associate with the firm of Knobbe, Martens, Olson & Bear in Orange County, California. Before law school, Judge Chen worked as a scientist at the law firm of Hecker & Harriman from 1989 to 1991. Judge Chen received his J.D. from the New York University School of Law in 1994 and his B.S. in Electrical Engineering from University of California, Los Angeles in 1990

Joseph D. Cohen is a partner in the Houston office of Porter Hedges. His practice focuses on handling catastrophic injury and wrongful death cases arising from allegations of products liability, including pharmaceuticals. He also provides individual representation to current and former employees of pharmaceutical and medical device manufacturers in both civil and criminal contexts. Joe is a member of the DRI Board of Directors and the Drug and Medical Device Steering Committee.

Okianer Christian Dark is Associate Provost for Faculty Development and Professor of Law at Howard University School of Law. Dean Dark teaches courses on Torts, Products Liability, Advanced Torts and Health Law, and regularly lectures on legal issues in health law in the Health Ethics course at the Howard University Medical School. Before Howard, Dean Dark was a trial attorney in the Civil Division of the U.S. Department of Justice, Special AUSA in the District of Columbia, AUSA in Portland, Oregon, and a tenured full Professor at T.C. Williams School of Law, University of Richmond in Richmond, VA. As a scholar, her publications are on the use of tort law to address issues in vulnerable communities as well as on legal pedagogical issues and other matters related to legal education.

Matthew (Matt) DePaz was recently seconded to Sanofi to work in the company's litigation department in Bridgewater, New Jersey. In this role, Matt collaborated with in-house counsel and assisted with the management of Sanofi's litigation workload, which included working with outside counsel to defend one-off tort cases and coordinating discovery for a multidistrict litigation. Matt is currently a Senior Associate at Shook, Hardy & Bacon LLP in Kansas City, Missouri and is a member of the firm's Product Liability Practice Group. Prior to joining Shook, Matt interned at Walgreens in the Regulatory and Litigation group, where he assisted in-house counsel on various state and federal regulatory matters. He also interned at Shire in the Sales Training department to educate sales associates on gastrointestinal products.

Christina (Tina) Diaz is Vice President & Associate General Counsel, Global External Legal Relations Team (GELRT) at GSK, the team responsible for negotiating value-based fee arrangements and managing GSK's relationships with law firms. Prior to this role, she was assistant general counsel and handled a diverse portfolio of litigation including products liability, commercial matters and government investigations. Ms. Diaz has more than 20 years of experience in the industry. She practiced at Morgan, Lewis & Bockius, and was in-house at Elf Atochem (n/k/a Arkema Group) prior to joining GSK. She majored in biochemistry at Columbia University and received her J.D. from Temple University.

Rebecca M. (Becky) Fuentes, MS has been a litigation consultant at R&D Strategic Solutions for over twelve years. She has assisted trial teams on hundreds of cases nationwide in several types of civil litigation including product liability, medical malpractice, securities fraud, toxic tort, intellectual property, and insurance cases. Becky has extensive experience preparing witnesses for deposition and trial testimony, developing juror profiles for jury selection, and assisting trial teams with jury selection and trial monitoring.

M. Ashley Garry is a member of Lilly's global litigation and compliance team where he manages product liability and commercial litigation, U.S. privileged investigations, and provides counsel to Lilly PAC. Ashley previously worked as an associate at Nelson Mullins Riley & Scarborough, LLP and as a law clerk and legislative liaison to the then Chief Justice of the South Carolina Supreme Court following graduation from Cornell Law School.

Aleshadye Getachew is an associate at Wilkinson Walsh + Eskovitz in Washington, DC. Her practice focuses on complex civil litigation, including antitrust and products liability. Aleshadye also has experience in all aspects of trial strategy and preparation. She has worked on trial teams that have successfully tried cases to jury verdict.

Sara J. Gourley, a litigation partner in Sidley Austin's Chicago office, is head of the Products Liability Group and served on the firm's Executive Committee for many years. Sara's practice is focused on pharmaceutical and medical device defense, especially multi-jurisdictional coordination and defense of class actions. She has played leading defense roles in some of the pharmaceutical industry's most significant products liability litigation and is consistently recognized by top ranking publications, including Chambers, Legal 500, LMG Life Sciences, and many others. Sara currently serves as the Chair of the DRI DMD Committee.

Joseph R. Guerra is co-leader of Sidley's Supreme Court and Appellate practice and a former Principal Deputy Associate Attorney General for the U.S. Department of Justice, focuses his practice on appellate representation and law-intensive, trial-level litigation. Joe has argued a wide range of constitutional, statutory and administrative law matters in federal and state courts, including the United States Supreme Court and most of the federal courts of appeals. In particular, Joe has focused on questions of statutory interpretation, preemption and the First Amendment rights of manufacturers in the context of the Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act. Joe has been recognized by Benchmark Litigation, The Legal 500 USA, The Best Lawyers in America and Chambers USA.

Christopher M. Guth is Senior Counsel for Bayer US. Chris manages and directs strategy in mass-tort product liability litigation, internal and external investigations, and counsels on compliance and risk management. Prior to Bayer, Chris practiced as a litigator in the Philadelphia office of Blank Rome LLP as member of the Life Sciences, Corporate Litigation, and Gaming & Digital Media teams. Chris is a graduate of the Duke University School of Law

Taryn W. Harper is an associate at Greenberg Traurig in Atlanta. Taryn focuses her practice on products liability litigation with an emphasis on pharmaceutical and medical device litigation. She has experience with products liability matters in both state and federal courts across the country, including single plaintiff actions and mass tort actions involving a variety of products and medical issues. Prior to joining her firm, Taryn served as law clerk to three federal judges.

Jennifer Snyder Heis is a partner in the Cincinnati office of Ulmer & Berne, where she represents product manufacturers and sellers, including drug and medical device companies and dietary supplement manufacturers. She defends clients both locally and nationally, in multidistrict litigation and coordinated state proceedings. Ms. Heis is actively involved with DRI's Drug and Medical Device and Product liability Committees, and serves on the Law Institute.

James K. Holder is a partner in the San Francisco office of Gordon & Rees where he handles a broad range of complex business litigation, including product liability, mass torts, and breach of contract disputes with a focus on the defense of pharmaceuticals and medical devices as well as professional liability matters. Mr. Holder is currently serving as New Member Orientation Chair for the DRI Drug and Medical Device Committee.

Tarek Ismailis a partner in the Chicago office of Goldman Ismail Tomaselli Brennan & Baum. Tarek is a trial attorney specializing in the defense of pharmaceutical and medical device companies in major product liability litigation. He is a fellow of the American College of Trial Lawyers and the International Society of Barristers.

Jobina Jones-McDonnell is Vice President and Assistant General Counsel of Litigation & Risk at Endo Pharmaceuticals where she handles all facets of litigation and government investigations for the company. Prior to joining Endo, Jobina was an Associate at Reed Smith LLP, where she was a member of the Commercial Litigation group.

Justin A. Kashman As in-house litigation counsel for Zimmer Biomet, I manage and analyze the organization's litigation and risk. Currently, I direct a portfolio of product liability, non-competition, business, employment, commercial, and insurance related litigation, and I advise Zimmer Biomet's business units on various legal issues.

Neal K. Katyal is the Paul and Patricia Saunders Professor of Law at Georgetown University and a Partner at Hogan Lovells. He previously served as Acting Solicitor General of the United States. He has argued 37 cases before the Supreme Court of the United States, with 35 of them in the last 9 years. Most recently, Neal argued the "Travel ban" case on behalf of the State of Hawaii against President Trump in the Supreme Court of the United States. In the 2016-17 term alone, Neal argued 7 cases in 6 separate arguments at the Supreme Court, far more than any other advocate in the nation – nearly 10% of the docket. At the age of 48, he has already argued more Supreme Court cases in U.S. history than has any minority attorney, recently breaking the record held by Thurgood Marshall. His numerous distinctions include: the Edmund Randolph Award (the highest civilian award given by U.S. Department of Justice), The Litigator of the Year by American Lawyer (2017, chosen as the sole Grand Prize Winner of all the lawyers in the United States), Appellate MVP by Law360 numerous times (most recently in 2017), winner of Financial Times Innovative Lawyer Award in two different categories (both private and public law) (2017), one of GQ's Men of the Year (2017), 40 Most Influential Lawyers of the Last Decade Nationwide by National Law Journal (2010), and 90 Greatest Washington Lawyers Over the Last 30 Years by Legal Times (2008). He has appeared on virtually every major American news program, as well as on Stephen Colbert and House of Cards on Netflix (where he played himself).

Christopher J. Kaufman is a partner at Shook, Hardy & Bacon LLP in Kansas City, Missouri. He is a member of the firm's Product Liability Practice Group and concentrates his practice primarily on defending complex mass tort product liability actions involving the pharmaceutical and medical device industries. Chris has experience in all aspects of litigation in state and federal court, including multi-district litigation and other consolidated proceedings. Chris completed his undergraduate and law degrees at the University of Kansas. Chris is a Young Lawyer Co-Liaison to the Drug and Medical Device Committee

Amy Todd Klug is Associate General Counsel, Litigation and Corporate Operations for Daiichi Sankyo, Inc. in Basking Ridge, New Jersey, where she manages litigation matters, legal operations and supports the Company's and its affiliates' Boards of Directors as Assistant Corporate Secretary.

Sherry A. Knutson is a partner in the Chicago office of Tucker Ellis LLP. She has more than two decades of experience in product liability and toxic tort cases, with an emphasis on defending pharmaceutical and medical device companies. She has served as national coordinating counsel in multiple pharmaceutical mass torts and as lead counsel in several coordinated proceedings in Chicago. Sherry is ranked in Chambers USA in Product Liability & Mass Torts (Nationwide).

Janet H. Kwuon is a product liability litigation partner in Reed Smith's Life Sciences Health Industry Group, Janet's experience includes numerous class actions and multi-district litigations. As a former Los Angeles County Deputy District Attorney, Janet has significant trial experience. She has an extensive counseling practice, which includes internal and government investigations, FDA compliance, promotional material and medical education assessments, clinical trial contracts, adverse event reporting, U.S. and foreign regulatory audits, litigation risk assessment, and corporate quality systems training.

Veronica M. Lei is Counsel in the Litigation and Legal Compliance group at Eli Lilly and Company in Indianapolis, Indiana. Ms. Lei manages the defense of her company in pharmaceutical pricing and False Claims Act matters and responds to federal and state governmental requests for information She previously advised on issues relating to the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, counseled her company's Ethics and Compliance function, and oversaw the company's internal, privileged investigations. Prior to joining Eli, Ms. Lei was an Assistant U.S. Attorney for more than six years in the Boston U.S. Attorney's Office, specializing in asset forfeiture and financial investigations. She began her career as a litigation associate at Sonnenschein Nath & Rosenthal LLP (now Dentons) in Chicago and then clerked for the Honorable Morris E. Lasker on the U.S. District Court in the District of Massachusetts. Ms. Lei graduated from Harvard University School of Law and from Columbia College, Columbia University.

Melanie A. Leney is a Corporate Attorney at Otsuka Pharmaceutical Development & Commercialization, Inc. Ms. Leney concentrates her practice in litigation, commercial contracts, and general business advice. She earned her J.D. from Rutgers School of Law-Camden, and her B.A. from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Christopher (Chris) Loder is Vice President and Head of External Communications and Issues Management for Bayer U.S. A New Jersey native, Loder has more than two decades of communications experience working at both public relations firms and in-house corporate communications teams. He specializes in media relations, litigation communications, social media and reputation, and crisis and issues management. Loder joined Bayer in January 2014 from Pfizer, where he was a senior director of worldwide communications, serving as one of the lead global spokespeople for corporate matters. Previously, he spent six years at Merck where he worked on legal and executive communications and was a primary spokesperson during the company's 2004 withdrawal of Vioxx. Before joining the communications industry, Loder was a reporter and deputy bureau chief for The Star-Ledger of Newark, N.J.

Margaret C. O'Neill is a partner at Goodell DeVries in Philadelphia, PA. Her practice focuses on product liability defense in matters involving pharmaceuticals, medical devices, and material handling equipment. She has experience at all stages in litigation, including MDL and coordinated state court procedings. Margaret is a graduate of the University of Pennsylvania Law School. She is a Young Lawyer Co-Liaison to the DRI Drug & Medical Device Committee

Ron Peleg is a litigation partner at Meitar Liquornik Geva Leshem Tal. Ron regularly defends multinational companies in complex litigation, particularly class actions. Ron also specializes in the field of pharmaceutical law, and led the defence of the largest pharma cases in Israel, including: Vioxx, Avandia, Crestor, Zyprexa. Ron is the DRI International Country Chair for Israel and consistently selected as a leading practitioner by Who's Who Legal Product Liability Defense & Life Science.

Lyn P. Pruitt is a partner at Mitchell Williams. Lyn has been trial and lead counsel on numerous national trial teams defending class actions, pharmaceutical and medical products. She is a Fellow in ACTL, member of the IATL, Litigation Counsel of America, member of DRI Drug and Device Committee, ABOTA, American Inns of Court, Arkansas Bar Foundation and recognized in International Who's Who of Product Liability Defense Lawyers, Business Lawyers, and Mid-South Super Lawyer.

Gail Rodgers is a partner in the New York City office of DLA Piper. She concentrates her practice in pharmaceutical and medical device litigation, mass torts and government and internal investigations. Gail represents clients on a wide variety of compliance matters, including the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) as well as advising and enhancing compliance programs in response to investigations. Gail has extensive experience in a wide variety of state and federal litigation, including providing strategic advice at each stage of litigation, managing national discovery teams, and implementation of national resolution programs. Gail serves as the Vice Chair of the DRI Drug and Medical Device Committee.

Steven F. Rosenhekis one of Canada's leading litigation lawyers. A senior partner in the Litigation, Class Action and Product Liability Groups, Steven acts in high-stakes commercial litigation cases and defends significant class actions, claims and regulatory proceedings. He serves as national litigation counsel to major national and international manufacturers, distributors, and a wide array of other businesses. He regularly acts as national defence counsel in Canadian proceedings involving product liability class actions and regulatory proceedings in multiple international jurisdictions. Steven is widely recognized for his skills as a senior trial and appellate lawyer before all levels of Court in Canada, and a wide range of administrative and regulatory bodies. Steven's expertise as a leading Canadian litigator has been recognized by the Canadian Legal Lexpert Directory, Benchmark Canada, and Who's Who Legal.

Robert R. Simpson is a shareholder at Carlton Fields, focuses on pharmaceutical and medical device litigation. Rob handles nationwide litigation relating to anticoagulants, hip implants, pelvic mesh, nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, and atypical antipsychotic medications, among other products. He has been first or second chair trial counsel in more than 25 cases that have gone to verdict. He has managed all stages of pre-trial proceedings, taken and defended depositions of key expert, C-Suite and other company witnesses throughout the United States and Europe, and has briefed and conducted Daubert and Frye challenges..

Erik W. Snapp defends pharmaceutical, medical device, automotive and consumer products clients in consumer fraud class actions and product liability/mass tort litigation. He also handles regulatory and internal investigations in the United States and Europe, and has advised clients on compliance and ethics programs. He has been recognized by The Legal 500 US for his product liability and mass tort defense practice in the areas of consumer products.

Brennan J. Torregrossa is Assistant General Counsel in GlaxoSmithKline's litigation department. In this role, he represents the company in product liability litigation, consumer fraud class actions, government investigations, and commercial litigation. Brennan has received Legal 500's Corporate Counsel 100 Rising Star Award and Philadelphia Business Journal's Corporate Counsel Award. Prior to joining GlaxoSmithKline, Brennan was a partner at Dechert LLP in the Product Liability practice group.

Lola Velazquez-Aguilu is a Litigation and Investigations Counsel at Medtronic. Lola joined Medtronic in October 2018 and currently manages a broad range of civil litigation including securities, tax, and products liability. Prior to joining Medtronic, Lola served as an Assistant U.S. Attorney in the District of Minnesota, where she was assigned to the white-collar and public corruption section of the criminal division. While at the U.S. Attorney's Office, Lola prosecuted large-scale financial crimes including bank fraud conspiracies, mortgage fraud, investment fraud, embezzlement, and tax fraud. Before joining the U.S. Attorney's Office, Lola was a litigation associate at Dorsey and Whitney; she also clerked for Retired Minnesota Supreme Court Justice Alan C. Page and U.S. District Court Judge Ann D. Montgomery.

Marta L. Villarraga, Ph.D., RAC is a Principal in Exponent's Biomedical Engineering practice. Dr. Villarraga has expertise in biomechanics and biomaterial-tissue interactions of medical devices. She has conducted technical evaluations of orthopedic, spinal, plastic and reconstructive surgery urology, urogynecology, general surgery, women's health, and diagnostic medical devices. She uses her technical expertise for due diligence, regulatory submissions, regulatory compliance, risk management, postmarketing surveillance, product development, product liability, and intellectual property matters. She often provides technical justifications for premarket or postmarket medical device evaluations in regulatory or compliance matters.

Rebecca K. Wood is co-leader of Sidley's Food Drug and Medical Device Regulatory practice and the D.C. Healthcare and FDA group. Until recently, Becky served as Chief Counsel to the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), where she was the principal legal advisor on major initiatives addressed by the Commissioner and agency leadership. Prior to her government service, Becky had nearly two decades of experience counseling FDA-regulated entities in company-threatening litigation in trial and appellate courts.

Michael C. Zogby co-chairs Drinker Biddle & Reath LLP's Products Liability and Mass Torts Group and Pharma and Life Sciences Group. He has served as trial counsel, national liaison counsel, and discovery counsel in a variety of aggregated litigations, including products liability, pharmaceutical and medical device, class action, consumer disputes, intellectual property, trade secrets, and multidistrict proceedings. Mike also has significant experience counseling clients in litigation and coordinating cross-border discovery involving Asian and European companies.