Our People
W. Neil Palmer • President & Principal Consultant
Neil Palmer is President and Principal Consultant of PDCI Market Access Inc (PDCI) a leading pricing and reimbursement consultancy founded as Palmer D’Angelo Consulting Inc (PDCI) in 1996. He leads a senior team of market access professionals with pricing & reimbursement engagements covering Canada, Europe, and the United States. In December 2006, PDCI became a subsidiary of RTI Health Solutions of RTP North Carolina where Neil served as global vice president before re-acquiring the company in 2009. Prior to PDCI, Neil worked with the Canadian Patented Medicine Prices Review Board (PMPRB) where his responsibilities included policy development, overseeing the price review of patented medicines and conducting economic research. Prior to the PMPRB, he worked with the Health Division of Statistics Canada where he was responsible for economic and statistical analysis of health care costs and utilization. After completing his studies at the University of Western Ontario, Neil began his career in Montreal with the research group of the Kellogg Centre for Advanced Studies in Primary Care. He has written extensively on pharmaceutical pricing and reimbursement issues and is a frequent speaker at pharmaceutical conferences in North America and Europe.
Ben Faienza • Vice President, Market Access and Government Affairs
Ben Faienza has joined PDCI as Vice President, Market Access and Government Affairs effective June 9, 2011. Ben was most recently Vice President, Canadian Operations with i3 Innovus where he led all operational aspects of Health Economics and Outcomes Research projects in Canada. Prior to i3, Ben spent several years with Bayer Inc. as Director of Federal Affairs and Pricing, Head of Public Policy and in various leadership roles in Health Economics. Ben will be based in the Toronto area and will provide PDCI clients with expertise in a range of market access and government relations projects.
Janice D'Angelo • Senior Advisor
Janice is transitioning from a full time role as Vice President to a part-time role as Senior Advisor effective July 2011. Janice will be less involved in the day to day operations but will be working on select pricing/PMPRB projects so that PDCI clients may continue to benefit from her expertise and experience.
Janice has over 20 years of regulatory experience with the federal government of Canada. From 1991 to 1996, she was employed by the PMPRB with responsibility for operational policy development, the resolution of non-standard reviews and a wide range of compliance activities. As Chief of Compliance, she oversaw the application of the Excessive Price Guidelines by the Board's Compliance Officers. Prior to 1991, Janice conducted economic and statistical analysis for the National Energy Board (NEB) related to Canada's oil supply and demand and was responsible for various regulatory activities including the advancement of export application through the NEB's public hearing process.
Patricia Carruthers-Czyzewski • Pharmacist-Consultant
Patricia Carruthers-Czyzewski is a pharmacist with expertise in drug information, hospital pharmacy and clinical and regulatory experience. She worked as Coordinator of a regional drug information service and as a Clinical Coordinator for the Ottawa General Hospital. Over a period of 10 years, Patricia worked for the Canadian Pharmacists Association first as Editor of the French edition of the Compendium of Pharmaceuticals and Specialties (CPS), then as Coordinator of Professional Services, Editor-in-Chief and Secretary to the CPS Panel working on General Monographs, as pharmacist-consultant for the Canadian Pharmaceutical Journal, and as Editor of the Nonprescription Drug Reference (Patient Self-Medication). As a consultant for Sintera Inc since 1998, Patricia has worked on a variety of projects including the reformatting of the Product Monograph for Health Canada, transformation of registration processes for the Pest Management Regulatory Agency (PMRA), and development of a strategy for increased dissemination of the Canadian Adverse Reaction Newsletter to physicians for the Marketed Health Products Directorate (MHPD). She has held various government positions, including Scientific Advisor to the PMPRB for 4 years and as consultant on the first edition of the New Drugs Pipeline Monitor for the PMPRB. More recently, she worked as risk communication specialist for the MHPD and since 2010, as Unit head of the Risk Communication Unit for MHPD.
Contact Patricia Carruthers-Czyzewski
Arvind Mani • Director, Market Access and • International Policy
Arvind Mani, MBA, MA, is the director of market access and international policy with PDCI Market Access in Ottawa, Canada. Mr. Mani has provided expert knowledge to companies, governments, and international associations on pharmaceutical pricing, regulatory, market access, and patent issues and is responsible for contributing to pricing and reimbursement policy and analysis projects. Mr. Mani holds an M.B.A. from the University of Ottawa and an M.A. in international affairs from Carleton University, Canada.
Elizabeth Resch • Director, Business Development
Beth manages PDCI Market Access’ business development initiatives and marketing operations. She studied at McGill University and received a Bachelor of Science from the University of Saskatchewan with a major in Nutrition Sciences. Before joining PDCI, Beth previously worked in the pharmaceutical industry, clinical research and the public and private health care sectors.
Emmanuel Lazaridis • Senior Manager, Market Access
Emmanuel joined PDCI in May 2011 as Senior Manager, Market Access. Emmanuel was most recently Sr. Manager, Program Management with Amgen Canada supporting the launch of a new drug into the Canadian market. Prior to Amgen, Emmanuel spent several years with IMS Health in Canada and the U.K., in various roles in marketing and consulting. Based in PDCI’s Ottawa office, Emmanuel brings many years of industry experience and extensive analytical skills that will provide a significant contribution to PDCI’s pricing and market access projects.
Jean-François Belanger • Manager, Information Systems
Jean-François is responsible for the management and marketing of PDCI Market Access's information systems, including the Canadian Drug Claims and International Prices databases, the website, and the development of new information services for our clients in the pharmaceutical industry. Jean-François graduated from the University of Ottawa and received an Honours Bachelor in Commerce (co-op), with options in Marketing and in Management Information Systems.
Contact Jean-François Belanger
Ara Salazar • Market Access Manager
Ara Salazar, Market Access Manager, manages and coordinates successful formulary listing submissions to the national Common Drug Review, F/P/T drug plans, and private payer drug plans. Ara maintains a strong working relationship with drug plan managers, ensuring access to the most up-to-date and accurate information with regards to wide-ranging drug plan policies and regulations. She also assists in the preparation of budget impact analyses and reports for each public drug plan. Ara is also responsible for the research, writing and updating of the C-MAP™ Canadian Drug Benefit Plans (CDBP) Reference Guide, which is a comprehensive resource with detailed information on the policies and procedures of the provincial and federal prescription drug programs. Ara has coauthored articles and reports on national and international pharmacare, pricing trends, market exclusivity, and economic trends in the pharmaceutical industry.
Nancy Paul-Roc • Pricing Associate
Nancy Paul-Roc, M.Sc., is a Pricing Associate at PDCI Market Access. She provides assistance in the areas of pricing and reimbursement. She has also coauthored articles and reports on pricing trends in the pharmaceutical industry. Ms. Paul-Roc studied at the University of Montreal and holds a Master's degree in Pharmaceutical Sciences, specialized in Drug Development. During her Master’s degree, she completed an 8-month internship at sanofi-aventis Canada in the Health Economics and Health Outcomes Department where she helped in the creation of market access documents and analyzed costs for economic evaluations.
Kaitlyn Proulx • Market Access Associate
Kaitlyn provides assistance in the areas of pricing and reimbursement. Ms. Proulx has studied at the University of Ottawa and holds a Bachelor of Science with Honors in Biopharmaceutical Sciences and an option in Genomics. Over the course of her degree, Kaitlyn worked at Health Canada within the Marketed Health Products Directorate in the Regulatory Advertising and Risk Communication Section.
Irina Long • Manager, Market Access
Irina Long joined PDCI as Manager, Market Access in August 2011. Irina brings with her extensive experience with budget impact modeling, market access assessments, patient-tracking studies, policy analysis, and patent litigation projects. Prior to joining PDCI, she served as a Senior Consultant with IMS Health Consulting, Manager of Economic Research at IMS Brogan, and GPM® Product Manager at Brogan Inc. Irina has a Bachelor’s degree in Economics from Queen’s University, an MSc. in Natural Resource Economics from the University of Guelph, and is a Certified Product Manager.
Courtney Nelson • Junior Pricing and Reimbursement Associate
Courtney Nelson has joined PDCI Market Access as Junior Pricing and Reimbursement Associate. She holds a Master’s of Arts degree in public administration focusing on health policy analysis. As part of her graduate work Courtney studied Health Economics at the University of Arizona. She first developed an interest in the pharmaceutical industry and policy when completing her Bachelor of Journalism degree. Courtney has worked in strategic policy with the federal government and with non-profit organizations.
Alyssa Fong • Junior Pricing and Reimbursement Associate
Alyssa Fong joined PDCI Market Access in August 2011 as a Junior Pricing and Reimbursement Associate. She graduated from the University of Ottawa and holds a Honours Bachelor’s degree (B.Sc, CO-OP) in the Biopharmaceutical Sciences with a specialization in genomics. She comes to us with a varied co-op work experience in both the private (Iogen Corporation) and public (Health Canada and Canadian Food Inspection Agency) sectors. Among other things, she will be assisting us in researching and writing pharmaceutical pricing and reimbursement assessments for new drugs and medical devices; the preparation of submissions to the Patented Medicine Prices Review Board (PMPRB), Common Drug Review (CDR), and public/private drug plans; and research for consulting projects and reports as needed.
