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.

Dr Roberto A Sussman (PhD University of London) is a full time senior researcher and lecturer at the Institute for Nuclear Sciences of the National University of Mexico. His main research areas are General Relativity and Cosmology, but he has conducted research in other areas of Physics, including peer reviewed publications on e-cigarette aerosols. He advocates for an appropriate regulation of Tobacco Harm Reduction products in Mexico and Latin America and is active in spreading scientific information on these products, as well as advising consumers on how to counter the rampant governmental disinformation and prejudice about them.

Summer Hanna, PhD serves as Head of Scientific Regulation on behalf of BAT. She is responsible for Group-wide scientific engagement to drive the awareness and acceptance of Tobacco Harm Reduction and the development of science-based regulatory approaches for reduced risk products globally. Dr. Hanna has held a variety of US and Global roles across Scientific Research & Development and Regulatory Affairs. She most recently led the development of the cannabinoid discovery science programme as part of BAT’s Beyond Nicotine strategy. Previously, Summer led teams within Reynolds’ FDA Submissions & Engagement team focused on their smokeless tobacco portfolio, along with previous roles in Analytical Research. Before joining Reynolds American in 2011, Hanna received her PhD in Analytical Chemistry from Wake Forest University. She currently serves as treasurer to the US Technical Advisory Group for ISO/ TC 126.

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.

Dr. Thomas Nahde is the Global Head of Harm Reduction & Engagement at Imperial Brands. He leads the scientific substantiation of Imperial’s next generation product (NGP) portfolio, as the business seeks to make a meaningful contribution to tobacco harm reduction. Thomas oversees a multidisciplinary team who conduct NGP scientific research, as well as educate, engage, and communicate the scientific results to a broad range of internal and external stakeholders. He is passionate about translating complex scientific research into meaningful health outcomes that benefit consumers and public health, and inspiring and developing others through empathetic, inclusive and authentic leadership. Thomas holds a Ph.D. in Biomedical Science and had previously held senior global and regional medical education & medical affairs roles at Smith & Nephew, and GlaxoSmithKline Consumer Healthcare.