Biography coming soon.
Sarah is a science engagement specialist focusing on harm reduction and science communication. She joined BAT in 2010 to establish R&D’s science engagement team to better communicate the science behind less-risky nicotine products to regulatory and general audiences. She drove a real change in BAT’s publishing strategy and created the visitor programme, science exhibition and a series of award-winning science reports – which showcased the company’s reduced risk product research in an accessible way. Prior to BAT, she held various publishing roles at Nature, Elsevier, Wiley and BioMedCentral. She holds a BSc in genetics and an MSc in plant genetics both from the University of Toronto, and her research has been published in Science. She is also dedicated to choral singing!
Bio coming soon!
Azim Chowdhury advises domestic and international corporations on regulatory compliance with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and its global counterparts, particularly focusing on vapor, nicotine, tobacco product and cannabis/CBD regulation, as well as food-contact materials.
He counsels tobacco, e-cigarette, e-liquid and CBD manufacturers, distributors, retailers, suppliers, and trade associations on matters relating to regulatory compliance, as well as public policy initiatives. Azim is nationally recognized as an expert on the Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act, which amended the Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act to give FDA authority over tobacco products, as well the Agency’s “Deeming Rule” which extended those authorities to previously unregulated products such as electronic nicotine delivery systems (ENDS), e-liquids, cigars, hookah/shisha, and heat-not-burn tobacco products. Azim also advises companies and trade associations on state and global law compliance, including in Canada, the United Kingdom, the EU, and China.
Dr. Autumn Bernal, PhD
PhD, Genetics, Genomics, Integrated Toxicology & Environmental Health – Duke University (USA) | BSc. Biology, Psychology – University of Oregon (USA)
Dr. Autumn Bernal is the Founder & Principle Scientist at ToxCreative, LLC. Dr. Bernal is a toxicologist with over 15 years of experience in toxicology study design, exposure assessment, and human health risk assessment. Her focal areas include safety assessments for product development and integration of non-clinical and clinical studies to evaluate potential human health risk.
As general manager, Paul is responsible for the Smithers Analytical Services lab located in Akron to support extractables and leachables studies for the medical device, pharmaceutical and food industries. The lab also provides chemistry support to Smithers existing analytical and physical testing laboratories.
Paul’s specialty areas of expertise include mass spectrometry with a significant background in small molecule structure elucidation. He also has extensive experience in extractables and leachables and other areas of packaging testing such as container closure integrity.
Paul brings over 35 years of experience in chemistry and leadership in the pharmaceutical industry. Most recently he was a Research Fellow and Manager of Trace Organic Analysis for Intertek Pharmaceutical Services. He has also worked at West Pharmaceutical Services, Drugscan, GlaxoSmithKline and Merck.
Paul holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Chemistry from Old Dominion University and a Master of Science Degree in Analytical Organic Chemistry from Villanova University. He also served his country in the United States Army.
