INNODIA Managing Team

This Unit serves as the primary touch point for all INNODIA Members and those desiring to join the Network. From managing the profiling process of all Members to scouting for exciting partnership opportunities, this Unit is at the forefront. 

After graduating as Interpreter and with a career spanning almost 34 years, Elena joined INNODIA with a rich background, first working in a multinational pharmaceutical company and later in the largest Italian charity funding research on rare genetic diseases.  

Now, Elena brings her wealth of knowledge in academic research to the service of our Members. Her unique blend of experience from both corporate and non-profit spheres positions her as the best reference point for the Network.

Elena gathers a comprehensive understanding of the diverse resources, expertise, and talents within the Network. By doing so, she ensures that INNODIA promotes the Members’ unique capabilities for the benefit of people living with Type 1 Diabetes.

Elena will also nurture the INNODIA community by organizing engaging and networking activities.  

Feel free to reach out to her for any assistance, ideas, or to share your expertise.

This Unit is at the forefront of accrediting, managing, and coordinating all INNODIA Members participating as Clinical Trial Sites. A dedicated team ensures that each INNODIA site is fully equipped to run intervention clinical trials contributing to the development of a network of excellent clinical trial sites expediting clinical development for the benefit of people living with type 1 diabetes.

Abby, a Doctorate of Pharmacy graduate from Ferris State University, worked at Spectrum Health in Grand Rapids, MI. She served as the lead Investigational Drug Service Pharmacist, overseeing approximately 150 investigational product intervention trials in both pediatrics and adults. These trials included Phase 1-3 studies, gene therapy, FDA emergency use authorizations, and single patient INDs. Abby has now relocated to Europe.

As the manager of CTS activities and engagement, Abby plays a pivotal role in orchestrating the seamless participation of INNODIA clinical sites in our collaborative initiatives. Her objective is to build and create mechanisms that support each site according to its unique needs.  

Abby's primary focus is on bridging the gap between INNODIA's commitments to medicine developers and the active participation of CTS. She works tirelessly to establish frameworks that optimize the engagement of sites, fostering an environment where clinical trials can unfold smoothly and efficiently. 

Nicole is a Health Communication graduate who has gained valuable experience as a project coordinator for the SWEET project, a network specifically focused on pediatric type 1 diabetes sites. In this role, she has developed strong organizational and management skills, handling various tasks with efficiency. Since July 2022, she has been working part-time in this position. Now, at INNODIA, she continues to expand her knowledge of type 1 diabetes, particularly in the clinical aspect. With her innate creativity, she strives to bring innovative ideas to her job, especially as the organization and Network continue to evolve.

Nicole plays a crucial role in facilitating accreditation activities and ensuring their smooth follow-up. Her primary responsibility is to optimize and maintain effective communication channels with the CTS on a wide range of operational matters. This includes coordinating meetings, providing timely updates, identifying opportunities for collaboration and contribution, and addressing any issues or concerns that may arise. 

This Unit works to ensure the ongoing development of INPACT - the INNODIA People living with Type 1 Diabetes Community - which is a major asset for INNODIA and the achievement of its mission. This Unit is focused on building and nurturing an expert and dynamic community, active in its role of providing adequate support to medicine developers in the design of patient-centric products. 

As a person living with type 1 diabetes and broad experience in advocacy and peer support, a background in translation and education, and extensive experience in oversight and coordination of projects in various fields, Ana brings both personal and informed perspective to the team.

Driven by her interest in the patient perspective and with a Masters in International Patient Advocacy Management, Laura brings 20+ years’ experience in the pharmaceutical sector, with extensive knowledge in medicine development, pharma dynamics and medical affairs initiatives.

Ana and Laura co-lead the development and consolidation of INPACT, driving the educational program and engagement initiatives, facilitating the patient-clinician relationship and the making patient-informed business decisions. They ensure that the voice of people living with type 1 diabetes is an integral part of the development of disease-modifying therapies in INNODIA. 

The role of this unit is to offer privileged access to data and samples collected on people with type 1 diabetes, at all stages of the disease, to the most advanced research and innovation labs, as well as to medicine developers. Collected at multiple time points, these elements can be the subject of a deep profiling to better understand the disease and promote the development of new therapies. 

Juan is a highly experienced bioinformatician with a PhD in Genetics. With over 10 years of experience, his expertise lies in analyzing “OMIC”, clinical, and genetic data to uncover biological mechanisms related to disease development and prediction. He is skilled in data management, including Federated Databases, and applying machine learning models to clinical data for stratifying clinical phenotypes.

Juan plays a crucial role in providing comprehensive answers and technical and scientific support to all requests relating to data, its use and analysis. Juan oversees the data digitalization processes, ensuring accuracy and completeness. He uses advanced statistical techniques to generate summary statistics, reports and interactive dashboards that provide valuable information to all INNODIA stakeholders. Juan ensures that data is used to its full potential, to the benefit of all stakeholders.

This Unit fosters and contributes to the overall efficiency and effectiveness of the organization by keeping all its stakeholders informed about the Network's activities, but also by highlighting all the skills and expertise brought together by its Members and INPACT associates. This is part of the drive to raise INNODIA's profile and promote it as a key player in type 1 diabetes. 

With a degree in communication and over 13 years' experience working in communication and digital agencies, Matthieu is now focusing on content production, using his skills to help people working in the field of type 1 diabetes, himself being a caregiver. 

Matthieu is responsible for planning and producing the content needed to raise INNODIA's profile and help the organization to achieve its objectives, both internally and externally. This is an opportunity to publicise the dynamism of INNODIA Network Members and the progress of their work.

Veerle, a music graduate from LUCA Music School of Arts, transitioned from being a music teacher and event planner in classical music to focusing on type 1 diabetes. With over 36 years of personal experience with the disease, she started translating the mySugr Application into different languages, prioritizing user-friendly language for individuals with type 1 diabetes.  
Since 2018, Veerle has been the communication representative for the INNODIA EU funded projects. 

Veerle is involved in INNODIA's communication on all the necessary platforms and social networks, and she is also in charge of organising and running events to give substance to INNODIA's mission. In this way, Veerle is helping to raise the profile of each of the Members and stakeholders. 

This unit serves as your primary point of contact with INNODIA.org for administrative matters, ranging from membership applications to financial management. It plays a central role in ensuring the smooth operation of INNODIA by managing the budget, overseeing expenditures, and ensuring compliance with the organization's protocols and procedures. 

Holding a Degree in Economics, Vanessa has the opportunity to spend 20 years managing her own company in the logistics industry. She has now transitioned to a new role as the Office Manager at INNODIA.org 

Vanessa is a privileged contact for all INNODIA Network Members and makes herself entirely available to provide them with the answers they need in her various areas of expertise. Vanessa is responsible for management of various administrative critical tasks: such as issuing invoices and making payments on time, planning Board and General Assembly meetings. 

Managing Director

Manuela is an immunologist by training, and she spent 20+ years in academic research, mainly focused on understanding the pathogenesis of type 1 diabetes. When she was Vice-Director of the San Raffaele Diabetes Research Institute in Milano (Italy), she decided to enter into a different path to reach a higher impact on patients and society. She then spent the following 4 years in leading managerial positions in international organizations focused on reducing the waste of talent, research, and funds in the biomedical field for the benefit of patients. She is now capitalizing on her scientific and managerial competencies, leading the Managing Team in INNODIA. 

Manuela ensures the smooth, efficient, and positive functioning of the Managing Team. She serves as the liaison between the team and the INNODIA Board of Directors. Manuela plays a key role as a facilitator, driving all the activities necessary for the development of INNODIA. She makes herself readily available to each of its stakeholders, dedicated to serving INNODIA's vision: a world without type 1 diabetes. Feel free to contact her!