Rolland-Yves Mauvernay President and Founder, Debiopharm Group

Dr Mauvernay completed his medical studies at the Faculty of Medicine and Pharmacy at the University of Strasbourg, France and later obtained his Ph.D. in Biology, Bacteriology and Pharmacy. In 1953, he established RIOM Laboratories, in Auvergne, France and purchased several pharmaceutical laboratories and various rare molecules. In 1973, he sold RIOM and in 1979, founded Debiopharm S.A., a biopharmaceutical development company which fully funds and develops innovative therapeutics. He later created Debio R.P. S.A., specialising in the development of sustained-release advanced drug delivery systems and manufacturing. In 1993, he founded Debioclinic S.A., a clinical research organisation in Paris and in 2005, added Montreal-based Debiovision Inc. to the company.

Today, Dr Mauvernay heads a group of 300 employees, supported by 500 external experts, who are responsible for research and development.

Thierry Mauvernay Executive Vice President, Debiopharm Group

Mr Mauvernay received his Master of Science in Economics in 1975. He then obtained a degree (MBA) from the 'Institut d'Administration des Entreprises’ and a ‘Diplôme d'Études Supérieures Spécialisées en Marketing’ (MA) in Clermont-Ferrand, France in 1976. In 1978, he founded an international cosmetics company, which he later sold but continued to manage until July 2001, when he joined Debiopharm S.A. as Executive Vice President with direct responsibilities for the Finance and Administration Department. In 2006, Mr Mauvernay handed over his operational activities within Debiopharm S.A. and has since been focusing on the administration, finance and strategy of Debiopharm Group. He is also administrator of the Debiopharm Group companies.

Kim Bill Vice President, Corporate Development, Debiopharm Group

Mrs Bill graduated from the National University of Singapore with a degree in Pharmacy and later pursued an MBA from the University of Hull in the UK. Previous job experiences include Marketing Executive at Diethelm Singapore Pte Ltd; Product Manager and Marketing Director at Les Laboratoires Servier in Paris, France and Serono as Director of Scientific Affairs in the Asia-Pacific Region and Marketing Director in the International Operations in Switzerland. She joined Debiopharm S.A. in 1998.

Lucienne Cicurel Director, External Affairs, Debiopharm Group

Dr Cicurel received her Licence and Diploma in Medical Biology from the University of Geneva (Switzerland) and then obtained a Master's equivalence as well as a Ph.D. in Biochemistry/Immunology at the University of Illinois (Chicago, USA). Previous job experiences include post-graduate research at the Wistar Institute, University of Pennsylvania (Philadelphia), USA), the National Cancer Institute in Frederick (Maryland, USA), as well as at the University of Geneva. Later on, at Novartis Consumer Health (Nyon, Switzerland) she became Head of General & Skin Pharmacology, Project Manager then Portfolio Manager as International Category Director. She joined Debiopharm S.A. in 1997.  

Pietro Scalfaro Director, Business Unit Diagnostics

Dr Scalfaro graduated from the Faculty of Medicine, University of Lausanne, Switzerland in 1989. He received his M.D in Gastroenterology in 1992 and practiced for over 13 years paediatric and intensive care medicine in Switzerland, Australia and France. His research interests were related to artificial ventilation, with a focus on innovative monitoring, diagnostic technologies and infectious diseases. He joined Debiopharm S.A. in 2002. After being project leader advancing and integrating the preclinical, clinical and other activities of the Alzheimer and virology programs, he held various senior management positions, and he created in particular the project and portfolio department. In 2008, he became head of Debiopharm Group’s business unit for diagnostics and personalised medicine.

Maurice Wagner Director, Corporate Affairs & Communications, Debiopharm Group

Mr Wagner obtained a PhD in law (intellectual property) from the faculty of law of the Lausanne University in 1978. He started his career in the healthcare industry in 1975 at Hoffmann-La Roche: he held various functions in Basel (Intellectual property, law and pharma marketing), in the UK (pharma marketing, anaesthetic drugs) and in Belgium (public affairs at a European level). In 1996, he became head of the international and European fragrance and flavour industry trade associations in Brussels and Geneva, before taking on the responsibility of the European medical technology trade association in Brussels, in 2002. He joined Debiopharm Group in 2008.