KEYNOTE SPEAKERS
- Dr. Ria Benkő
- Prof. Dr. Erem Bilensoy
- Dr. Zelma Faisal
- Dr. Gellért Karvaly
- Prof. Dr. Damijan Knez
- Dr. Herta Pálfi
- Dr. Liis Preem
- Dr. Kelli Randmäe
- Dr. Barbara Sterle Zorec
- Dr. Miia Tiihonen
- Dr. Ayca Yıldız-Peköz
Ria Benkő
Associate Professor, University of Szeged, Institute of Clinical Pharmacy.
Ria Benkő is qualified as a clinical pharmacist and ID pharmacist at the University of Szeged, Hungary. She received her PhD in clinical pharmacology and drug utilisation research. She is an associate professor at the Institute of Clinical Pharmacy, at her Alma Mater. She worked as a part-time ward pharmacist at different clinical units and currently she is the chief pharmacist of the University Pharmacy, responsible for the medication services of inpatients on nearly 2000 beds and the affiliated community pharmacy units. Her main research focus is quality of medication use, primarily focusing on antibiotics. She is the current chair of the European Drug Utilisation Research Group (EuroDURG). She is one of the national focal contact points for Hungary in the European Surveillance for Antimicrobial Consumption (ESAC-net) and WHO GLASS.
Prof. Dr. Erem Bilensoy
Full professor, head of department
Pharmaceutical Technology at Hacettepe University Faculty of Pharmacy, Turkey
She graduated from Hacettepe University in 1992 and obtained a dual PhD degree (co-tutelle) in 2002 from Université Paris-Sud and Hacettepe University, under the supervision of Dominique Duchêne and Atilla Hıncal. Her doctoral work focused on amphiphilic β-cyclodextrins as novel excipients for the development of nanospheres and nanocapsules.
Prof. Bilensoy has authored 108 SCI-indexed research articles, 17 international book chapters, and holds 9 patents. Her work has received over 3,700 citations with an H-index of 34, placing her among the top 0.5% of researchers in the field of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences. She has delivered more than 55 invited lectures and over 200 oral and poster presentations at national and international scientific meetings.
She is the founder of BioGalenica, a startup company located at Hacettepe Technopolis, providing R&D, training, and consultancy in pharmaceutics, drug delivery systems, formulation development, nanomedicine, non-biological complex drugs, 3D printing technologies, regulatory sciences, and bioavailability/bioequivalence evaluation.
Prof. Bilensoy is the editor of the book Cyclodextrins in the Field of Pharmaceutics, Cosmetics and Biomedicine: Current and Future Industrial Applications (John Wiley & Sons, 2012). She has received numerous scientific and professional awards, including the Science Award of the Turkish Pharmacists’ Association (2018), and has been honored as an Honorary Member of the Hellenic Society on Nanotechnology for Health Sciences (2017) and the Hungarian Society for Pharmaceutical Sciences (2018). In 2019, she was awarded the title Doctor Honoris Causa by Carol Davila University of Medicine and Pharmacy.
She has held several national and international leadership roles, including President of the European Federation for Pharmaceutical Sciences (EUFEPS) from 2015 to 2019, and currently serves as Past President, Executive Committee member, and PSMO representative to the FIP Board of Pharmaceutical Sciences. She is Vice Chair of the FIP Special Interest Group on Drug Delivery and Manufacturing, a Board Member of the European Cyclodextrin Society, Chair of the EUFEPS Network on Bioavailability and Biopharmaceutics, and a Board of Trustees member of the European Pharmacy Students’ Association (EPSA). She is also an Editorial Board Member of Open Nano, Frontiers in Medical Technology, Journal of Pharmaceutical and Biotech Industry and Advances in Drug Delivery and Formulation. Prof. Bilensoy has chaired and served on scientific committees of numerous international conferences and is currently the Chair of the International Pharmaceutical Technology Symposium (IPTS).
Her research interests focus on targeted and cholesterol-directed nanoparticles for cancer therapy, nanomedicines to overcome multidrug resistance, cyclodextrin-based delivery systems, mucosal and oral nanoparticle formulations, omics-guided nanomedicine development, inkjet and 3D/4D printed drug delivery systems, and regulatory approaches to bioavailability, bioequivalence, and non-biological complex drugs.She lives in Ankara, Türkiye, is married, and has one daughter.
Further information: www.erembilensoy.com | www.erembilensoy.com/lab
Zelma Faisal, PharmD, PhD
Clinical Pharmacist, University of Pécs, Institute of Clinical Pharmacy
She graduated as a pharmacist from the University of Pécs in 2017. She earned her PhD in Toxicology from her alma mater in 2021. Following this, she began working as a clinical pharmacist resident at the Clinical Center of the University of Pécs, where she obtained her clinical pharmacist qualification in 2023. In 2024, she also completed a degree in Pharmacy Economics. In 2025, she completed the nine-month Harvard Medical School Postgraduate Medical Education Certificate Program, the ’Clinical Science Scholars at Semmelweis’ Program.
She works as a clinical pharmacist in the psychiatric field, and she is involved in the education of pharmacy students as well as postgraduate training programs. She is a member of a research group that focuses on the standardised electronic documentation of medication-related interventions in inpatient care.
She is a member of the Hungarian Chamber of Pharmacists, the Society of Hungarian Toxicologists, and the Hungarian Society for Pharmaceutical Sciences – Hungarian Society of Hospital Pharmacists.
Gellért Karvaly
Adjunct professor Gellért Karvaly graduated at the Faculty of Pharmacy, University of Szeged as a pharmacist and an English-Hungarian pharmaceutical translator. He obtained his PhD degree in 2008 based on his research in the field of military toxicology, and has been affiliated with Semmelweis University (Budapest, Hungary) as a researcher since 2013. Gellért’s current research interests include therapeutic drug monitoring, pharmacokinetic modeling, microsampling of biological fluids, and targeted metabolomics. He holds 1 patent, has 62 scientific publications and a Hirsch-index of 11. He supervises PhD students, mentors resident pharmacists, and trains undergraduate pharmacy students participating the student research program.
Gellért is a board-certified clinical laboratory pharmacist with 18 years of experience in clinical laboratory diagnostics. He joined the Department of Laboratory Medicine, Semmelweis University in 2015, and has been the head of the laboratory of Mass Spectrometry and Separation Technology since 2017 with a focus on introducing novel clinical laboratory tests for therapeutic drug monitoring (TDM) and the integration of reporting TDM results with data science.
He is a member of the International Association of Therapeutic Drug Monitoring and Clinical Toxicology, the Hungarian Society of Hospital Pharmacists, and the Hungarian Society of Laboratory Medicine.
Assoc. Prof. Dr. Damijan Knez
Assistant professor and researcher
Department of Pharmaceutical Chemistry, Faculty of Pharmacy, University of Ljubljana, Slovenia
His research focuses on the structure-based design, synthesis, and biological evaluation of small-molecule enzyme inhibitors and fluorescent probes, primarily targeting proteins involved in neurodegenerative diseases, including cholinesterases, amyloid-β, monoamine oxidases, caspase-1, and caspase-6. He is the author of 90 original research and review articles and three granted international patents. In 2023, he received the Slovenian Research and Innovation Agency Award for a high-impact publication. He is also the principal investigator of a University of Ljubljana-funded start-up programme focused on the development of caspase-1 and caspase-6 inhibitors.
Herta Pálfi, DVM
President of the Hungarian Regulatory Affairs Association,
Chair of the Regulatory Committee at the Hungarian Pharmaceutical Manufacturers’ Association
Herta graduated as a veterinarian from the University of Veterinary Sciences, Hungary. After a few years of experience as a regulatory affairs specialist in a company manufacturing veterinary medicinal products and vaccines, Herta joined Gedeon Richter as the global head of RA operation being responsible for supporting development, filing marketing authorisation applications and maintenance of marketing authorisations. After 25 years of experience in the pharmaceutical industry currently she is the Chair of the Regulatory Committee at the Hungarian Pharmaceutical Manufacturers’ Association, Budapest. She has been appointed as the President of the Hungarian Regulatory Affairs Association and is a Joint Lecturer at the Faculty of Pharmacy, Semmelweis University.
Dr. Liis Preem
Research fellow and lecturer
Institute of Pharmacy, University of Tartu, Estonia
She obtained her PhD in Pharmacy from the University of Tartu in 2022, with doctoral research focusing on the design and characterization of antibacterial electrospun drug delivery systems for wound infections. She currently continues her work on novel multifunctional wound dressings and the development of analytical methods for the evaluation of complex pharmaceutical systems.
Dr. Kelli Randmäe
PhD candidate in Pharmacy at the Institute of Pharmacy, University of Tartu
Her work specializes in electrospinning, physicochemical characterization of nanofibrous materials, antimicrobial efficacy testing, and the development of in vitro and in vivo wound infection models to describe the microbial systems in those models and evaluate the performance of electrospun antimicrobial materials in complex wound environments.
Dr. Barbara Sterle Zorec
Assistant Professor of Pharmaceutical Technology at the Faculty of Pharmacy
University of Ljubljana.
She obtained her PhD in Pharmacy in collaboration with the Faculty of Electrical Engineering, where her doctoral research focused on dermal and transdermal drug delivery. Her work explored active enhancement techniques, including electroporation, laser microablation, and ultrasound, and involved developing experimental protocols to improve transdermal transport. Although her PhD research was rooted in biomedical engineering and skin drug delivery, her current work focuses on solid dosage forms within pharmaceutical technology. She is particularly engaged in engineering matrix and core–shell microparticles, which serve as dry pre-formulations for printing cartridges in inkjet (2D) printing technology. In parallel, she works on the preparation and characterisation of solid dispersions aimed at enhancing drug solubility and stability, employing conventional manufacturing techniques such as spray drying, electrospraying, hot-melt extrusion, and high-shear granulation. Dr Sterle Zorec teaches courses in Pharmaceutical Technology, Industrial Pharmacy, Pharmaceutical Processing Equipment, and Packaging and Stability of Dosage Forms, and leads laboratory classes in Pharmaceutical Technology and Industrial Pharmacy within the Master’s programmes in Pharmacy and Industrial Pharmacy. She brings extensive experience from both academia and industry, having worked as Head of the Quality Control Department immediately after completing her PhD, as well as in biomedical engineering and pharmaceutical research. She has completed international research placements in Belgium, New Zealand, Austria, and Serbia, and has received recognition such as the L’Oréal–UNESCO National Award for Women in Science. She has authored numerous peer-reviewed publications, regularly presents her work at international conferences, and mentors both Master’s and doctoral students, integrating advanced experimental design and interdisciplinary approaches throughout her work.
Dr. Miia Tiihonen Ph.D. (Pharm.)
Associate Professor, Head of Clinical Pharmacy, University of Eastern Finland
School of Pharmacyenior researcher, Head of the discipline of clinical pharmacy. School of Pharmacy, University of Eastern Finland
Leadership: Head of the discipline of clinical pharmacy. The discipline is established in 2022, the role has been to develop research strategy and teaching to support the strategy for the clinical pharmacy. Student projects include collaboration with other disciplines in School of pharmacy and other schools in University of Eastern Finland as well as Finnish Health and Welfare areas.
Teaching experience in general: From 2012. Teaching in multiple courses in School of pharmacy. Development of the curriculum of “Expertise in medication reviews” included in Bachelor of Phar-macy degree. Development of curriculum of Clinical pharmacy studies in MSc of pharmacy stu-dents. Coordinator of clinical pharmacology course for medical students (From 2023).
Funding received for developing of teaching: 2023. Developing the learning environment for su-pervisors of projects outside of university, e.g. pharmacies, hospitals, nursing homes.
Assoc. Dr. Ayca Yıldız-Peköz (PhD. Pharm)
Professor of Pharmaceutical Technology
Istanbul University, Turkey
Ayca Yıldız-Peköz is an at the Istanbul University, Türkiye, whose work focuses on innovation and entrepreneurship in pulmonary and nasal drug delivery. She obtained her Euro-PhD via Istanbul University and Cardiff University (UK) under the EU’s Marie Curie EuroPhD Programme.