Journalist Bios

Kimberly Ha, Global Editor

kimberly haKimberly started out as a financial journalist in Hong Kong specializing in healthcare M&A, and was the lead sector specialist before transferring to New York to launch this product in 2007. In 2011, based on her extensive coverage of Alzheimer's disease, she was nominated by the Alzheimer's Association and was ultimately selected to be a National Press Foundation Fellow. Kimberly has a BA in Psychology from New York University.

Coverage Areas:

  • M&A
  • Financing/VC financing
  • Neurology
  • Diabetes
  • Oncology
  • Cardiac devices
  • Emerging market trends
  • Asia healthcare and drug development

Europe

Kirsty Barnes, Editor, EMEA

Kirsty’s previous roles include editor of pharmaceutical industry breaking news websites, where she was honored among the place winners of the 2006 Awards for Excellence in Health Care Journalism (AHCJ). Prior to this, Kirsty has worked as a senior medical writer and a biomedical scientist in Sydney and London, having obtained a Bachelor of Biomedical Science, majoring in pathology, at the University of Technology, Sydney (UTS).

Coverage Areas:

  • EU drug development
  • Diabetes
  • Cardiovascular
  • Anti-infective drugs
  • CROs and CMOs

Abigail Moss, Assistant Editor, EMEA

Abigail Moss recently completed a Masters degree in Clinical Neuroscience from King’s College London, where she worked on an independent research project on a functional magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) investigation of psychopharmacological modulation. She also has a BSc (Hons) in Psychology and has previous experience working in mental health. Prior to joining the mergermarket group, Abigail worked at the department of Law at the University of Westminster, where she completed her undergraduate degree, for a project investigating miscarriages of justice.

Coverage Areas:

  • Oncology
  • Urology
  • Women's health
  • Psychiatric disorders
  • Neurology – Parkinson’s disease, Huntington’s disease, ALS, stroke, epilepsy

Surani Fernando, Journalist

Surani worked for a contract pathology laboratory for clinical trials in Sydney after graduating , from Sydney University in 2005 with a Bachelor of Medical Science with a focus on medical microbiology and infectious diseases. In 2009 she completed a Masters in Health Communication. During her Masters, she completed an internship at The Medical Observer, an Australian GP magazine.

Coverage Areas:

  • Genitourinary health
  • Pulmonary
  • Pediatric

Niharika Midha, Journalist

Niharika has an MSc in Biomedical Engineering with Medical Physics from Imperial College London and a BEng in Biotechnology from Visvesvaraya Technological University, India. Most recently she has worked as a researcher in Biomedical Engineering at Imperial College London and prior to that at the Indian Institute of Chemical Biology, investigating novel techniques in cancer therapeutics. Niharika speaks English and three Indian languages: Hindi, Punjabi and Bengali.

Coverage Areas:

  • Drug Development

North America

Jennifer C. Smith-Parker, Senior Journalist, D.C. Correspondent

Jennifer C. Smith-Parker was previously associate news editor at FDA Week, covering FDA regulatory policy for all FDA-regulated product areas. She also worked at The Monitor, where she covered health, environment and science issues, including a year-long project on indigent healthcare services. At the paper she was awarded the Texas Medical Association’s Anson Jones journalism award for an article on breast cancer. Jennifer graduated from New York University with a BA with Honors in History and Journalism.

Coverage Areas:

  • Pain
  • CMS/payer reimbursement policy
  • Healthcare reform and legislation
  • CROs, CMOs/manufacturing and Biosimilars
  • Orphan Drugs
  • Generics
  • Chronic kidney disease
  • Bleeding Disorders

Anusha Kambhampaty, Journalist

Anusha Kambhampaty graduated from New York University with a BA, double majoring in Psychology and Journalism with a concentration in pre-medical studies. She was also Senior Editor of The Medical Dialogue Review, an undergraduate research publication that focuses on topics in health, medicine and bio-ethics. She has also performed research in neurology and electro-diagnostics. She covers drug development for BioPharm Insight.

Coverage Areas:

  • Cardiovascular
  • Alzheimer's/Cognitive disorders
  • Autism
  • Psychiatric indications (addictions)
  • Muscular dystrophy
  • Stem cell therapies/gene therapies

Christine Livoti, Journalist

Christine Livoti has worked with NABsys, the Slater Technology Fund, and with Landmark Ventures.She graduated from Brown University with a Bachelor and Masters of Science in Biology. She has published on her research in tissue engineering.

Coverage Areas:

  • Diabetes
  • HIV/HCV
  • Sequencing technology
  • Diagnostics
  • Academic collaborations/early-stage licensing

Kotaro Yoshida, Journalist

Kotaro was most recently a PhD candidate in Immunology at Duke University Medical Center, focusing primarily on developing cancer vaccines. He has an MS in Biology with specialization in immunotoxicology from New York University, and has been published in a number of journals. He completed his undergraduate studies at Johns Hopkins University with a double major in Biology and Mathematics.

Coverage Areas:

  • Medical Devices

Casey McDonald, Journalist

Casey was previously an associate at Opus Point Partners, a prominent biotech hedge fund, where he wrote and developed strategic business plans to attract investment capital for biotech start-ups. He was also a science reporter at BioTechniques, and has prior work experience in a variety of different roles including clinical research coordinator, grant writer, biostatistician and research consultant. Casey has a Masters in Biology from the University of Dayton.  He also did graduate studies at the Mount Sinai School of Medicine in New York from 2006-2008.

Coverage Areas:

  • Rheumatology
  • Ophthalmology

Leon Hulli, Editorial Analyst

Leon was most recently an analyst at Moody’s Investors Service. He has also been a research associate and conducted internships at Boston University School of Medicine, Harvard Medical School and Genzyme.  He has a BS degree in biomedical engineering from Boston University.

Juliana Wexler, Analyst

Juliana was previously working as a HIV public health advocate at Jacobi Medical Center in New York, where she was involved in both research and recruiting participants for clinical trials. She has also been a research assistant at both Columbia University, as well as the University of Michigan. Juliana graduated with an individualized BA degree in Health Care and Health Disparities from the University of Michigan.

Asia-Pacific

Ying Huang, Bureau Editor, China Healthcare

Ying has been a reporter since 2007, with US-based healthcare newswires covering the pharmaceutical, biotech, and medical device markets. Her geographic coverage included companies in China and South East Asian countries including Singapore, Taiwan, Thailand, Vietnam, the Philippines, Malaysia and Indonesia. She was most recently SE Asia/China Healthcare Reporter at PharmAsia News, Elsevier Business Intelligence. Ying has a Masters in International Public Health from the University of Westminster and a Bachelors in Biotechnology, from Jinan University.

Coverage Areas:

  • China healthcare market

Hideya Yoshimoto, Journalist, Japanese Healthcare

Hideya was previously a research assistant at Osaka City University School of Medicine, as well as a research analyst at market research firm, Cegedim Strategic Data. He graduated with a degree in mathematics from the University of California, Santa Barbara. He also has experience as a lab technician at Stanford University School of Medicine.

Coverage Areas:

  • Japanese healthcare/pharma market