ABOUT THE CO-CHAIRS

Truus Janse studied chemistry at the Free University in Amsterdam. She passed her doctoral exam (comparable to Master's degree) in organic chemistry in 1973, continued her study in Leiden and received her pharmacist qualification in 1976. After one year of experience as a community pharmacist, she moved into hospital pharmacy 1978. She worked as pharmacy head in several hospitals from 1982-1989.

Truus joined the Medicines Evaluation Board in The Hague in 1989 as Senior Registration Coordinator and two years later became Deputy Secretary of the Board. She became the Dutch representative in the Mutual Recognition Facilitation Group (MRFG) in 1995 and was a Member of this group until it changed into the Coordination Group (CMD(h) in 2005. She chaired the MRFG twice. In November 2005 Truus was elected chair of the new Coordination Group (CMD(h) for a 3-year term. Truus Janse has participated in many DIA meetings as a speaker and session/programme chair. She was a Member of the Programme Committee of the 2005 Euromeeting and Co-Track Chair of the Regulatory Track in 2006. She has been a Member of the Advisory Council of Europe since 2003 and continues to serve as a member of the Programme Review Committee of DIA Europe.

Dr. Beat Widler earned his Ph.D. in microbiology from the Swiss Institute of Technology in Zurich, Switzerland. Over the course of his career, he has gained experienced first as a research scientist in microbiology research and then for the past 22 years in the pharmaceutical industry. His experience covers drug regulatory affairs and clinical science, where he has participated in the planning and conduct of a major international drug development program. In 1993 he joined the Clinical Quality Assurance Department of Hoffmann-La Roche AG. In September 1997, Dr. Widler was appointed International Head of Clinical Quality Assurance. From 2002 to 2006, in addition to his functional responsibilities, Dr. Wilder served as head of the Welwyn Garden City (UK) Development site, giving leadership to a group of about 600 development professionals. In May 2004, Dr. Widler became a member of the Advisory Board of the Institute of Nursing Scientists at the University of Basel. He is ISO 9000/ISO 9001:2000 certified and a registered Lead Auditor with the International Register of Certified Auditors (IRCA).

Dr. Widler holds the diploma for Pharmaceutical Medicine of the Swiss Association of Pharmaceutical Professionals (SwAPP) and is an active member in a variety of international GCP working parties, incluiding EFPIA, DIA and EFGCP.