Mark has a Master’s Degree in the Practice of International Management from the University of McGill Canada. Member of the Board of the ABPI (the Industry Association in the UK), Mark represented the Pharmaceutical Industry in discussions on the NHS Performance Improvement Programme (QIPP); access to medicines; and pricing; through meetings with Government Ministers and officials in the Department of Health; Department of British Innovation and Skill; and the NHS.
As a member of the Executive Board of RX&D (the pharmaceutical Industry body in Canada), Mark led the renegotiations on prescription medicines’ pricing with the Federal Government through the Patented Medicines Pricing and Review Board (PMPRB). As the Industry representative for Ontario, Mark worked with the provincial government to facilitate the inward investment from Global R&D companies into the province and co-hosted a workshop at BIO in San Diego, with global leaders in R&D.
In addition to his Company and Regional President roles, Mark led the commercial input into drug discovery, development, and licensing for AstraZeneca for several years. He provided the commercial leadership in the cross-functional teams for the development and launch of Crestor (Rosuvastatin), Brilinta (ticagrelor), and many early compounds going from the discovery phase into development.
Mark retired from AstraZeneca in August 2013, after which time he took up his consultancy and advisory roles.
Dr. Illes is an internationally recognized author, lecturer, and mentor. She is a co-founder and Governing Board Member of the International Neuroethics Society, a member of the Dana Alliance for Brain Initiatives, and a former member of the Internal Advisory Board for the Institute of Neurosciences, Mental Health and Addiction (CIHR) and of the Forum on Neuroscience and Neurological Disorders of the Institute of Medicine (IoM). Her most recent books are The Oxford Handbook of Neuroethics (Oxford University Press, 2011) and Addiction Neuroethics (Elsevier Press, 2012). Dr. Illes is the past Chair of the Committee on Women in World Neuroscience (WWN) for the International Brain Research Organization (IBRO) and a Canadian representative to the IBRO US-Canada Regional Committee. She was a Fellow at the Canadian Academy of Health Sciences (2011), a Fellow Royal Society of Canada (2012), and a Fellow of the American Academy for the Advancement of Science (2013).
