r-connect About Us

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About Us

r-connect supported the Interdisciplinary Platform on Benefit Assessment

Interaction between HTA and authorisation

Where to find us

r-connect is based in Basel (Switzerland), the home of some of the largest pharmeceutical companies in the world.

Our address is:

r-connect GmbH
Hauensteinstr. 132
4059 Basel
Switzerland

Who we are

Jörg Ruof, PhD Founder r-connect	Besides my enthusiasm for Market Access and Medical topics, beekeeping has always helped me to r-e-connect to the bare essentials. Bees have a fascinating approach to successful collective decision-making and produce some exceptionally healthy products. This is exactly what a health system should aim to do: optimize collective decision-making and ensure that healthy products are reaching patients.
Jörg Ruof has a solid educational and academic background (MBA, Edinburgh Business School and Professor of Medicine, Hanover Medical School) and a huge amount of work experience in various clinical, academic, and industrial environments. Key milestones in his career are: MD, PhD at the University of Witten/Herdecke, Germany Practical training in internal medicine and rheumatology at the Hanover Medical School The design and conduct of the Hanover Costing Study, an analysis of a major set of real world health services data Development, transcultural adaptation, and methodological validation of various instruments to capture Patient Reported Outcomes Presentation of health economic and regulatory data sets to the US Federal Drug Administration and to international health authorities in the United Kingdom, Norway, Sweden, etc. Leading an HIV sales team in the 5 Boroughs of New York Leading the Franchise for novel biologic treatments in Rheumatoid Arthritis and introducing RoActemra into the German Market Leading the Market Access / HTA Team of Roche Germany between 2011 - 2016

Sonja Merkesdal Associate r-connect	In 2019, Sonja Merkesdal joined r-connect. Sonja’s vast experience in medical writing, her in depth knowledge of methodological and statistical approaches and her passion for patient centric Health Technology Assessment are an ideal fit with r-connect's aims and focus.
MD, PhD at Hanover Medical School Diploma in Economic Sciences University of Hagen Internship Internal Medicine, Hanover Medical School, Germany Associate Professor for Health Economics at Hanover Medical School Author of ~50 peer-reviewed scientific publications on Health Economics / Health Outcomes / Public Health subjects

Charles Piwko President CHP Pharma	To run global projects, r-connect, Basel, Switzerland and CHP Pharma, Toronto, Canada have ventured into a strategic partnership.
Charles Piwko holds a Pharmacy Doctor degree, a PhD in Pharmacology, and a MSc in Health Administration. He performed his Master Thesis at the University of Toronto and the Hospital for Sick Children in Toronto from 2002-2005 and was previously Manager of Pharmacy 12 in Zurich, Switzerland from 1996-2001. From 1994-1996 he held a position in the Department of Preclinical CNS-Pharmacology at Novartis Pharma AG in Basel.

Elaine Julian Founder & Managing Director TRI-connect	With the global relevance of HTA increasing, in particular with recent developments in EU HTA, Elaine Julian is bringing valuable experience in international environments in both Pharma and Diagnostics (Medical Devices & IVD) to r-connect.
PhD & PostDoc at the University of Queensland, Brisbane, Australia MSc at the Queensland University of Technology, Brisbane, Australia BSc at Heidelberg University Over 10 years professional experience in the Biotech, Diagnostics and Pharma sectors