Dr. Moira Gilchrist leads the global strategic and scientific communications for Philip Morris International (PMI). From bringing to life PMI’s fast-pace progress as it evolves into a smoke-free business and expands in areas outside the tobacco and nicotine space, to translating the science behind PMI’s smoke-free alternatives into information that policymakers and the public can easily understand, Moira and her team are at the heart of the company’s historic evolution. She regularly engages with public health authorities, media, and decision-makers around the world, demonstrating the benefits of scientifically substantiated, smoke-free products for those adults who would otherwise continue smoking and calling for risk-proportionate regulation that affords these people accurate information about and access to these better alternatives. In short, she plays a vital role in PMI’s transition away from cigarettes and its journey toward a better, smoke-free future.

Prior to her current role, Moira held several positions within PMI, including leading the
Reduced-Risk Products Corporate Affairs team, serving as director of Scientific
Engagement within the R&D function, and working in both product development and
commercialization.
Before joining PMI in 2006, Moira worked in the pharmaceutical sector for more than a
decade. She was a principal consultant within PwC’s and IBM’s pharmaceutical industry
consulting groups and held positions within both industry and nonprofit organizations as
a developer of drug formulations.
Moira holds a degree in Pharmacy and a PhD in Pharmaceutical Sciences, both from the
University of Strathclyde in Glasgow, Scotland.

Christopher Russell, Ph.D. is a behavioural scientist and Director of Russell Burnett Research and Consultancy Ltd (RBRC), Glasgow, United Kingdom. Dr Russell leads the design, conduct, and reporting of perception and behavioural research studies of reduced risk tobacco and nicotine products, including electronic nicotine delivery systems (ENDS, vaping products), heated tobacco products, and nicotine pouches. Studies are designed to yield a range of cross sectional and longitudinal evidence on: (i) the likelihood that tobacco users and non users will initiate use of a new product; (ii) how adult consumers actually use a new product in everyday life; (iii) how cigarette smoking behaviour changes over time concurrent with new product use (e.g., switching, reduction); and (iv) behavioural intentions, risk perceptions, and subjective effects of a new product. These sources of evidence can inform regulatory evaluations of the potential impact of marketing a new tobacco/nicotine product on future tobacco/nicotine use behaviour and population health.

Riccardo Polosa is the founder of the Center of Excellence for Accelerating Harm Reduction (CoEHAR - University of Catania, Italy). Dr. Polosa is a full professor of Internal Medicine at the same University and together with the 100-member CoEHAR research team with different specializations, they conduct several high-profile clinical and behavioral research in the field of smoking-related diseases. According to a bibliometric analysis, Professor Polosa is considered the most productive scientist in the world in the field of e-cigarette research.

Peter Beckett is co-founder of Clearing the Air (www.clearingtheair.eu), an information resource that helps users of safer nicotine products become advocates. Clearing the Air launched in February 2024 and covers campaigns across Europe and Latin America in both English and Spanish. In addition to the site, Clearing the Air offers free campaigning and lobbying help to organisations advocating for safer nicotine products. Before that, Peter spent ten years across a variety of political and regulatory roles in the vaping industry, starting as the campaign lead for the then-nascent vaping industry during the revision of the EU Tobacco Products Directive in 2013. He is a partner at EU public affairs firm Three Six One.

David Sweanor is an adjunct professor, Faculty of Law, and chair of the advisory board of the Centre for Health Law, Policy & Ethics at the University of Ottawa and has been actively involved in tobacco and health policy issues since the beginning of the 1980s. He has worked globally, and with numerous groups, including the International Union Against Cancer, World Health Organization, World Bank and the Pan American Health Organization and played a key role in achieving many global precedents in tobacco policy. He currently focuses much of his tobacco and nicotine related efforts on risk reduction strategies.

Christopher Russell, Ph.D. is a behavioural scientist and Director of Russell Burnett Research and Consultancy Ltd (RBRC), Glasgow, United Kingdom. Dr Russell leads the design, conduct, and reporting of perception and behavioural research studies of reduced risk tobacco and nicotine products, including electronic nicotine delivery systems (ENDS, vaping products), heated tobacco products, and nicotine pouches. Studies are designed to yield a range of cross sectional and longitudinal evidence on: (i) the likelihood that tobacco users and non users will initiate use of a new product; (ii) how adult consumers actually use a new product in everyday life; (iii) how cigarette smoking behaviour changes over time concurrent with new product use (e.g., switching, reduction); and (iv) behavioural intentions, risk perceptions, and subjective effects of a new product. These sources of evidence can inform regulatory evaluations of the potential impact of marketing a new tobacco/nicotine product on future tobacco/nicotine use behaviour and population health.

Professor Marewa Glover is one of New Zealand’s leading tobacco control researchers. She has worked on reducing smoking-related harm for 31 years. She is recognized internationally for her advocacy on tobacco harm reduction; and locally was a Finalist in the New Zealander of the Year Supreme Award in 2019 recognising her contribution to reducing smoking in NZ. In 2018, Dr Glover was appointed Tobacco Section Editor for the Harm Reduction Journal. In that year she also established the Centre of Research Excellence: Indigenous Sovereignty & Smoking, an international program of research aimed at reducing smoking-related harms among Indigenous peoples globally. The Centre’s research was funded with grants from the Foundation for a Smoke-Free World, Inc. (“FSFW”), a US nonprofit 501(c)(3) private foundation.

David Sweanor is an adjunct professor, Faculty of Law, and chair of the advisory board of the Centre for Health Law, Policy & Ethics at the University of Ottawa and has been actively involved in tobacco and health policy issues since the beginning of the 1980s. He has worked globally, and with numerous groups, including the International Union Against Cancer, World Health Organization, World Bank and the Pan American Health Organization and played a key role in achieving many global precedents in tobacco policy. He currently focuses much of his tobacco and nicotine related efforts on risk reduction strategies.

Konstantinos Farsalinos, MD, MPH, is a physician and senior researcher specialising in Public Health at the Universities of Patras and West Attica in Greece. He has conducted extensive research on smoking, tobacco harm reduction, and vaping since 2011, publishing over 90 studies and articles. Notably, he authored the first systematic review on the safety and risk profile of e-cigarettes in 2014; his research was influential in shaping the EU’s regulatory framework on vaping. In 2020, he was recognized as a Highly Cited Researcher for his significant impact in global science. During the pandemic, he published studies exploring the relationship between smoking, nicotine, and COVID-19.

Stefanie Miller is vice president of external affairs at Juul Labs Inc. Prior to joining Juul Labs, Miller spent more than a decade as a Wall Street analyst with expertise in political and policy risk to financial markets and companies therein, including the nicotine and tobacco industries. Miller began her career working for a former U.S. senator from her home state of Nebraska. She received her Master of Business Administration degree from Georgetown University and her Bachelor of Arts degree in economics and political science from the University of Nebraska.

CECILIA KINDSTRAND-ISAKSSON, SWEDEN Cecilia Kindstrand is Director of Public Affairs for Swedish Match, a company with tobacco harm reduction at the core of its business. The company divested its cigarette business in 1999 and is now offering products that are recognized as safer alternatives to cigarettes. She is based in Brussels and has worked extensively with the EU regulatory matters, especially the TPD 2014/40 a legislation banning the ‘proof of concept’ of tobacco harm reduction in 26 of the 27 Member States.

Jeannie is founder and managing director of JCIC International Consultancy specialising since 2011 in advocating for harm reduction policy. She was also recently elected to the States of Alderney parliament, a UK Crown Dependency. Jeannie was formerly Assistant Director of the International Legal Section of the Australian Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet and is a specialist in treaty law with an LLM from King’s College London including a dissertation on Emerging International Public Health Issues – Human Rights, Harm Reduction and the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC). Jeannie attended all negotiating meetings to create the FCTC during 2001 and 2003. Jeannie is an active commentator on tobacco harm reduction, alternative nicotine product policy and the therapeutic benefits of nicotine. She has recently published an article on using optional protocols to international human rights treaties enabling individuals to take cases against domestic government policy preventing their right to the attainment of the highest level of human health.

Peter Beckett is co-founder of Clearing the Air (www.clearingtheair.eu), an information resource that helps users of safer nicotine products become advocates. Clearing the Air launched in February 2024 and covers campaigns across Europe and Latin America in both English and Spanish. In addition to the site, Clearing the Air offers free campaigning and lobbying help to organisations advocating for safer nicotine products. Before that, Peter spent ten years across a variety of political and regulatory roles in the vaping industry, starting as the campaign lead for the then-nascent vaping industry during the revision of the EU Tobacco Products Directive in 2013. He is a partner at EU public affairs firm Three Six One.

Barnaby Page is editorial director of Tamarind Intelligence, the publisher of ECigIntelligence, TobaccoIntelligence and CannIntelligence. As a journalist he has been covering the worldwide reduced-risk nicotine sector since 2014, with a particular focus on public health and regulatory issues; in his current role he manages Tamarind’s editorial and reporting teams, producing a wide range of nicotine-related content. He has been participating in the Global Forum on Nicotine since its inception. Before coming into this field, Barnaby spent 30 years as a reporter and editor for newspapers, magazines and online services, specialising in technology and business. He is based near London.

Clive Bates has had a diverse career in the public, private and not-for-profit sectors. Starting out with IBM, he then switched career to work in the environment movement. From 1997-2003 he was Director of Action on Smoking and Health (UK), campaigning to reduce the harms caused by tobacco. In 2003 he joined Prime Minister Tony Blair’s Strategy Unit as a civil servant and worked in senior roles in the public sector and for the United Nations in Sudan. He is now Director of The Counterfactual, a consulting and advocacy practice focussed on a pragmatic approach to sustainability and public health.

Scott J. Leischow, Ph.D. joined the Mayo Clinic in 2012, where he leads the Research on Health Equity and Community Health (REACH) Program at Mayo Clinic Arizona, and co-leads Cancer Prevention and Control within the Mayo Clinic Cancer Center. He was formerly University of Arizona and also served as Senior Advisor for Tobacco Policy in the US Department of Health and Human Services and Chief of the Tobacco Control Research Branch at the National Cancer Institute of NIH. Dr. Leischow completed his doctorate in Health Education from the University of Maryland, and a postdoctoral fellowship in Behavioral Pharmacology from Johns Hopkins University. Dr. Leischow has received several awards, including the NIH Director’s Award. Most of Dr. Leischow’s research and publications focus on pharmacologic and behavioral treatments for tobacco dependence, along with systems and network approaches to public health. Dr. Leischow is past President of the Society for Research on Nicotine and Tobacco (SRNT).

Colin Mendelsohn worked as a medical practitioner, academic and researcher in smoking cessation and tobacco harm reduction for 40 years. He is the Founding Chairman of the Australian Tobacco Harm Reduction Association and was a Conjoint Associate Professor in the School of Public Health and Community Medicine at the University of New South Wales. He was a member of the expert advisory group that develops the Royal Australian College of General Practitioners’ national smoking cessation guidelines. He is actively involved in teaching, writing, and advocating for tobacco harm reduction.

David Sweanor is an adjunct professor, Faculty of Law, and chair of the advisory board of the Centre for Health Law, Policy & Ethics at the University of Ottawa and has been actively involved in tobacco and health policy issues since the beginning of the 1980s. He has worked globally, and with numerous groups, including the International Union Against Cancer, World Health Organization, World Bank and the Pan American Health Organization and played a key role in achieving many global precedents in tobacco policy. He currently focuses much of his tobacco and nicotine related efforts on risk reduction strategies.

Riccardo Polosa is the founder of the Center of Excellence for Accelerating Harm Reduction (CoEHAR - University of Catania, Italy). Dr. Polosa is a full professor of Internal Medicine at the same University and together with the 100-member CoEHAR research team with different specializations, they conduct several high-profile clinical and behavioral research in the field of smoking-related diseases. According to a bibliometric analysis, Professor Polosa is considered the most productive scientist in the world in the field of e-cigarette research.