Tarek Samad, Ph.D., is Executive Vice President and Head of Research & Development at Lundbeck, where he is responsible for the global R&D strategy and execution across the full innovation continuum, from drug discovery through late-stage development. A seasoned biopharmaceutical executive, he brings more than 20 years of experience leading organizations across biotech, and global pharmaceutical companies.Before becoming Head of R&D, Dr. Samad led Lundbeck's Global Research organization and Corporate Patents function. Previously, he served as Chief Scientific Officer at Immunitas Therapeutics and held senior leadership roles at Sanofi and Pfizer. Throughout his career, he has overseen multidisciplinary teams advancing innovative therapies in multiple therapeutic areas.Tarek holds a PhD degree in molecular and cellular biology, from Louis Pasteur University in Strasbourg, France and two master’s degrees in molecular & cellular biology and biotechnology & genetic engineering.

Morten Grunnet, Ph.D., is Vice President and Head of Neuroscience at Lundbeck. He also serves as an Honorary Professor at the University of Copenhagen and Chief Scientific Officer at Acesion Pharma. During his studies and career, he has published > 150 peer review scientific papers and patents. Dr. Grunnet has held a full professorship at the University of Copenhagen for over a decade and has extensive experience in leading large-scale research collaborations. He has co-founded Poseidon Pharmaceuticals and Acesion Pharma and was in 2016 named Life Science Entrepreneur of the Year in Denmark. Throughout his career Morten has held numerous research and leadership roles, and since 2021 he has been Head of Neuroscience at Lundbeck. 

Miriam Frieden, Vice President and Global Head of Corporate Business Development at Lundbeck. She brings more than 20 years of leadership experience across the pharmaceutical and biotechnology industries, spanning R&D, corporate strategy, external innovation, and business development. Before joining Lundbeck in 2025, she spent more than a decade at Novo Nordisk in senior business development and R&D leadership roles. As Vice President at Novo Nordisk of Global Search & Evaluation, she established and led the company's global external innovation function, shaping partnering strategy and leading the evaluation of licensing and acquisition opportunities that contributed to several major transactions. She holds a Ph.D. in Chemistry and an Executive MBA.

Lily Ting, Ph.D., Senior Director of External Research & Innovation at Lundbeck. Lily leads Lundbeck's efforts in the Boston innovation ecosystem. She brings over 15 years of experience in external innovation spanning drug discovery, venture creation, strategic partnerships, and portfolio development across academia, biotech, and global pharma. Prior to joining Lundbeck, Lily held leadership roles at Takeda Pharmaceuticals, PureTech Health, and Commense, where she built and managed strategic collaborations, evaluated emerging technologies and therapeutic platforms, and worked closely with researchers, entrepreneurs, investors, and executives to translate scientific innovation into impactful medicines. 

Senior Director, Head of Area in Lundbeck Neuroscience and External Partnering Lead for External Research and Innovation. With nearly 20 years in Lundbeck, Novo Nordisk and IBM focusing on drug discovery and development, his experience spans discovery and late-stage drug development, over a broad set of therapeutic areas within as well as areas outside CNS, rare diseases as well as diabetes and obesity. He has been the Research lead behind several of Lundbeck’s recent research partnerships, including collaborations with Iambic, Logica, DCAI and Contera Pharma, and was a key driver of Lundbeck’s first Research AI strategy. In addition, he has significant late-stage program experience from Lundbeck's largest marketed medicines, Rexulti® and Vyepti®.  He holds a Ph.D. in Neuroscience and an M.Sc. in Human Biology, complemented by a Graduate Diploma in Finance and a postgraduate Diploma of Advanced Studies in Pharmaceutical Medicine.

Since August 2021, Gregor has been VP and Head of BD & Licensing, Search and Assessment at Lundbeck. In this role, he and his team are responsible for the global search, scientific evaluation and business case support of assets, research programs and technologies from early research to late clinical development and commercial stages. Prior to this role, Gregor spent 5 years as Senior Director of Scientific Licensing (Neuroscience), within Janssen Business Development, the pharmaceutical companies of J&J, leading the identification and evaluation of clinical stage assets and companies for licensing and M&A. Before moving into Business Development, Gregor was Head of Neuroscience Medicinal Chemistry EU at Janssen for 12 years, where he led discovery teams in Belgium and Spain towards the identification of clinical drug candidates in the areas of Alzheimer’s disease, schizophrenia and depression. In addition, Gregor was also extensively involved in identifying external drug discovery opportunities and prosecuting research collaborations with a variety of academic, biotech and pharma partners. Gregor started his career within the Medicinal Chemistry depts. of SmithKline Beecham and GlaxoSmithKline, where he spent 7 years in the Neuroscience area. Gregor is a co-author and co-inventor on over 110 scientific publications and patents and has been an invited speaker and panelist at several international conferences. 

Agne Valentin, M.Sc., Director of Strategy and Operations at Lundbeck, has more than 20 years of experience across strategy, business development, commercial execution and project leadership – with over a decade in the pharma industry. She currently leads strategy and execution initiatives within the External Research & Innovation team and is one of the key drivers in fostering early-stage strategic partnerships across the global neuroscience ecosystem. Agne’s previous experience at Lundbeck includes leading enterprise-level initiatives in the CEO office, while prior to joining Lundbeck in 2021, she held roles spanning business development, strategy and commercial execution, including commercial leadership in acquisitions and divestments.

Stacie Weninger, Ph.D., is a Venture Partner with F-Prime. She is a neuroscientist, biotech leader, and investor with more than 20 years of experience building, advising, and backing innovative neuroscience companies. Her work focuses on advancing early-stage therapeutics through strategic collaboration, investment, and advisory roles, helping translate foundational scientific discoveries into novel medicines and enduring companies.

Dr. Weninger received her Ph.D. in neuroscience from Harvard University and a B.S. in chemistry with highest honors from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.