Dinner Short Course





Short Courses

Monday, May 18, 2026 6:00 PM – 9:00 PM

SC1: AI Implementation in Practice: A Hands-on Short Course (Bring Your Laptop)

Agentic AI is reshaping how clinical operations teams work not by replacing judgment, but by handling the repetitive, rules-based, and data-intensive tasks that consume disproportionate time and slow trial operations. This hands-on short course equips clinical operations professionals with both the conceptual foundation and the practical tools to identify, evaluate, and prioritize AI automation opportunities within their own workflows. Part A: Introduction to Agentic AI. Explore what distinguishes a true AI agent from a conventional chatbot: the capacity to perceive context, reason through a multi-step plan, act using tools, and learn from outcomes across the autonomy spectrum. Part B: Demo of an Agent. A live walkthrough of an AI agent completing a clinical operations task end-to-end from intake, retrieval, drafting, validation, and human review Part C: Agentic Usecase Scoring & Prototyping. Using a Scoring rubric, participants score their own candidate use cases across Impact and Feasibility to generate a ranked roadmap that identifies Quick Wins for immediate consideration, Strategic Projects scoped for phased investment.
6:00 PM AI Implementation in Practice: A Hands-on Short Course (Bring Your Laptop)

Instructors:

James Farrelly, Vice President, Head of Agent Product, Pfizer Inc.

INSTRUCTOR BIOGRAPHIES:

Photo of James Farrelly, Vice President, Head of Agent Product, Pfizer Inc.
James Farrelly, Vice President, Head of Agent Product, Pfizer Inc.
Photo of Prasanna Rao, Chief Products and Innovation Officer, Saama
Prasanna Rao, Chief Products and Innovation Officer, Saama
Prasanna Rao is a distinguished AI practitioner and industry thought leader, currently serving as the Chief Products and Innovation Officer at Saama Technologies. With over 30 years of experience in information technology and analytics, including more than a decade in healthcare and life sciences, Prasanna brings a wealth of knowledge and expertise to his role. Previously, as Global Head of AI/ML, Clinical Data Sciences at Pfizer Research & Development, Prasanna worked closely with stakeholders, vendors, business SMEs, machine learning developers, and data scientists to foster innovation and advance the adoption of AI in clinical data sciences. His tenure at IBM Watson as a Watson Solution Architect was marked by significant achievements in implementing AI systems for a diverse range of clients. An accomplished speaker, Prasanna regularly presents at major industry conferences, including SCDM, DIA, SCOPE, DPharm, Tufts University CSDD, and Outsourcing Clinical Trials (OCT). He is also the holder of an IBM patent titled "Monitoring Clinical Research Performance," further cementing his status as a leading authority in leveraging technology for clinical development in the pharmaceutical industry. Prasanna continues to drive transformative advancements in AI and machine learning, delivering groundbreaking solutions to accelerate clinical research and development.
Photo of Sachin Karnik, Senior Director, AI Strategy Lead, R&D AI Portfolio Development, Pfizer
Sachin Karnik, Senior Director, AI Strategy Lead, R&D AI Portfolio Development, Pfizer
Sachin Karnik is a senior AI and digital transformation leader with more than two decades of experience advancing enterprise-scale innovation across life sciences, clinical development, and commercial organizations. He specializes in translating emerging technologies into practical, high-impact solutions that accelerate decision-making, streamline complex workflows, and deliver measurable business outcomes. His work emphasizes patient-centric approaches across both clinical and commercial development, ensuring technology innovation meaningfully improves experiences and outcomes. Sachin brings a pragmatic, business-first perspective grounded in real-world implementation, responsible AI adoption, and long-term value creation at scale.

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