Vicky Lewko

Managing Director, Healthcare Practice Co-lead, Head of Digital Health for North America, BCW

Ms. Lewko is Managing Director and Healthcare Practice Co-Lead at BCW, currently the largest practice in BCW North America. She has over 20 years of experience providing strategic counsel to digital health brands, globally. In her role at BCW, Ms. Lewko also serves as the Head of Digital Health for North America, providing leadership and counsel to clients across the practice, as well as serving on the global digital leadership teams. Her focus is driving measurable and meaningful action grounded in performance media and analytics for global brands and franchises. Ms. Lewko recently received an honorable mention for Outstanding Agency Professional at the 2023 PR Week Health Conference.

Tami Dennis

Executive Vice President, Head of Healthcare Earned Media for North America, BCW

Ms. Dennis has extensive experience across the health sector, having led media relations strategy and execution for some of the world’s leading healthcare companies. Her clients and her colleagues rely on her to identify – and create – potential inflection points and opportunities within the news cycle.

Prior to her agency work, Ms. Dennis was the Executive Director of Media Relations for UCLA Health and the UCLA School of Medicine and served as the Executive Director of Communications for City of Hope Comprehensive Cancer Center. At both institutions, she developed media strategies that increased positive placements in media across the county.

Ms. Dennis brings a deep journalism background to her work, having worked as an editor at various newspapers, most notably at the Los Angeles Times, where she was the Health/Medical Editor as well as the Vice President of Health/Medicine for the Tribune Co., the former parent company of the LA Times.

Tami holds a bachelor’s degree in in journalism and mass communications from the University of Georgia.

Morry Smulevitz

Senior Vice President, Corporate Affairs, Exact Sciences

Mr. Smulevitz brings nearly 30 years of progressive and award-winning communications and corporate affairs leadership to Exact Sciences, advancing and protecting corporate reputation and the competitive position of iconic healthcare and consumer brands for Fortune 500 companies.

Prior to joining Exact Sciences, Mr. Smulevitz served as Vice President of Global Corporate Communications for Walgreens Boots Alliance, the largest retail health and pharmacy across the U.S. and Europe. Before joining WBA, Mr. Smulevitz led U.S. Public Affairs at AbbVie. He also served in numerous global communications leadership roles at Eli Lilly and Company. At AbbVie and Lilly, he supported the launch in major countries around the world of more than 20 new medicines, indications and devices across all disease states.

Mr. Smulevitz earned his bachelor’s degree in communications from Indiana University and completed executive education programs at Columbia University and Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University. He is a frequent guest speaker in the communications industry and was a two-time appointed member of the Indiana Governor’s Council on Physical Fitness and Sport.

moderator

Surani Fernando

Healthcare journalist, writer & podcaster

Surani Fernando is a seasoned healthcare journalist and editor with over 13 years experience covering the biopharma industry. A Sydney native, she started her investigative journalism career in London covering clinical trials, M&A and financing deals for BioPharm Insight, later moving to New York to continue her work as an enterprise journalist and editorial leader for GlobalData and Reorg. She is now based in Madrid working as a freelance journalist, consultant writer and podcast producer. In November 2023, she launched the Raising Biotech podcast.