Todd Darwin Bridges, RPh – Global President

Mr. Bridges joined Drug Safety Institute (DSI) – Rockville, the Regulatory Affairs subsidiary of Brand Institute (BI) in May 2018 as Global President. Prior to joining DSI, Mr. Bridges was the Director of the Division of Medication Error Prevention and Analysis (DMEPA) in the Office of Surveillance and Epidemiology at the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA). He has more than thirteen years of DMEPA experience with three of those years as the Director of DMEPA. As Director of FDA’s DMEPA, Mr. Bridges supervised the review of approximately 500 proprietary names each year, and since joining DSI has overseen 1,119 brand naming projects.

As Director of DMEPA, Mr. Bridges was responsible for supervising the premarket review and approval of proposed proprietary/brand drug names, labels/labeling, packaging, product design, United States Adopted Names, biological product proper name suffixes, and human factors studies in order to reduce the potential for medication errors with products regulated by the Center for Drug Evaluation and Research (CDER). DMEPA conducts review and analysis of post-marketing medication errors submitted to CDER to determine if regulatory action such as label/labeling revisions, names change, product redesign, or post-marketing communications to stakeholders is needed. DMEPA also works with external stakeholders, regulators, and researchers to better understand the causes of medication errors and the effectiveness of interventions at preventing them and provides guidance to the pharmaceutical industry on drug development considerations from a medication errors perspective.

Mr. Bridges has contributed to FDA policy and guidance related to medication errors, represented FDA as a member of the National Coordinating Council for Medication Error Reporting and Prevention as well as the Joint Commission’s Patient Safety Advisory Group, and was responsible for establishing FDA’s ongoing membership with the International Medication Safety Network. In addition to his FDA experience, Mr. Bridges has thirteen years of pharmacy practice and supervisory experience prior to joining FDA. He has also received specialty training in medication error prevention and analysis from the Institute for Safe Medication Practices.

Mr. Bridges earned a BS in Pharmacy from Virginia Commonwealth University’s Medical College.

Sophia Fuerst, MS, MBA – President, Nonproprietary Names Division

Ms. Fuerst joined Drug Safety Institute’s Nonproprietary (USAN/INN) Names Division as Managing Director in 2005, and was promoted to President in 2007. Ms. Fuerst was formerly Director of the USAN Program at the American Medical Association (AMA) and served in various positions during her 18-year tenure with the Program, including AMA senior staff scientist in the area of Drug Nomenclature. She was involved in negotiations between the USAN Council, pharmaceutical manufacturers, and foreign nomenclature agencies. From 1986 to 2005, Ms. Fuerst was responsible for reviewing submissions, classifying compounds, creating new stems when appropriate and approving and adopting new USAN names. Ms. Fuerst worked as a consultant, from 1999-2000, to the Secretariat of the INN Programme at the World Health Organization (WHO/INN) in Geneva, Switzerland. Ms. Fuerst holds a B.S. in Biology/Chemistry (pre-med) from St. Joseph’s College, an MS in Medicinal Chemistry from the University of Chicago and an MBA from Governor’s State University in Illinois.

Sandra Van Laan, BS – Senior Vice President, Regulatory Affairs, Nonproprietary Names Division

Ms. Van Laan joined Drug Safety Institute’s Nonproprietary (USAN/INN) Names Division as Vice President, Regulatory Affairs, Nonproprietary Division in 2006, and was promoted to Senior Vice President, Regulatory Affairs, Nonproprietary Names Division in 2022. Prior to joining DSI, she worked for 26 years at the American Medical Association (AMA). Ms. Van Laan was the Associate Secretary to the United States Adopted Names (USAN) Council and a Senior Research Associate at the AMA within the Division of Science and Technology where she provided pharmaceutical expertise to AMA staff for several publications including Current Medical Information and Technology (CMIT), Current Procedural Technology (CPT) and the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA). In her role with the USAN Program she provided structural and mechanistic compound analysis to accurately categorize newly submitted names into the appropriate stem classification and shared the responsibility for devising new stems within the taxonomy of nomenclature, when appropriate. The AMA USAN Program is responsible for evaluating and approving nonproprietary names. She supplied guidance to pharmaceutical companies on the preparation of submissions to the USAN Council and negotiated name candidates with the members of the USAN Council and INN Expert Committee to obtain scientifically appropriate nonproprietary names for worldwide use. Ms. Van Laan has worked closely with the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), Center for Biologics, Evaluation and Research (CBER), and the United States Pharmacopeial (USP) Convention for the standardization of nonproprietary nomenclature and has participated in regulatory strategic planning sessions and intellectual property protection discussions pertaining to nonproprietary names.

Ms. Van Laan co-chaired the Pronunciation Committee that developed the USAN Pronunciation Guidelines that are in use today.

Lisbeth Reyes, B.S. – Director, Creative Projects

Ms. Reyes joined DSI – Miami, Nonproprietary Division as Technical Nomenclature Associate in 2010 and was promoted to Director, Creative Projects, Nonproprietary Names in 2021. Prior to joining DSI, she crafted proprietary nomenclature in BI’s Creative Department as a Creative Name Developer. She earned a B.S. in Microbiology /Chemistry from the University of Miami in Coral Gables, Florida, and applies her background and creative experience to craft nonproprietary names that seamlessly marry science and creativity.

Jestimary Garcia, M.S., B.S. – Creative Team Supervisor

Ms. García-Justiniano joined DSI – San Juan, Nonproprietary Division as Creative Supervisor, Nonproprietary Names and recently began working as a medical science writer support. Prior to joining DSI, she worked as a bioinformatic assistant at Ponce Health Sciences University. She earned B.S. degrees in Industrial Microbiology and Biology and a M.S. in Biomedical Sciences from the University of Puerto Rico at Mayaguez.

Madhuri Jain, M.S. – Creative Team Supervisor

Ms. Jain joined DSI – Mumbai, Nonproprietary Division as a Creative Nomenclature Support in 2021 and was promoted to Creative Team Supervisor, Nonproprietary Names in 2023. Prior to joining DSI, she had 5 years of experience in EU-Regulatory Affairs for Life cycle management of drugs. She earned a M-Pharma in Pharmaceutical Chemistry from the University of Mumbai, India, and applies her background and creative experience to craft nonproprietary names that are seamless.

Royden Lobo, M.S. – Creative Team Supervisor

Mr. Royden Lobo joined DSI – Mumbai, Nonproprietary Division as Creative Team Specialist in 2022 and was promoted to Creative Team Supervisor in 2023. Prior to joining DSI, he worked as a Scientific Officer at Positive Bioscience, and as a Biocurator at PierianDx. He earned his B.S. and M.S. degrees in Biotechnology from the University of Mumbai, India.

Aishwarya Mohorikar, M.S. – Nonproprietary Nomenclature Support

Ms. Mohorikar joined DSI – Mumbai, Nonproprietary Division as Creative Nomenclature Support, Nonproprietary Names. Prior to joining DSI, she worked as a microbiologist for Taj Lands End and patent analyst for IIPTA. She earned B.S. and M.S. degrees in biochemistry from Mumbai University, India.

Neha Updhyay, Ph.D. – Creative Nomenclature Support

Dr. Neha Upadhyay has joined DSI- Mumbai, Nonproprietary Division as Creative Nomenclature Team Specialist. Before joining DSI, she worked as a project staff at two international research projects funded by Department of Science and Technology (DST), Government of India. She obtained her Ph.D. in Pharmaceutical Chemistry from Bharati Vidyapeeth’s College of Pharmacy, University of Mumbai in India.

Nirajkumar Pandey, M.Sc. – Creative Nomenclature Support

Mr. Nirajkumar Pandey joined DSI – Mumbai, Nonproprietary Division as Creative Nomenclature Specialist, Nonproprietary Names. Prior to joining DSI, he worked as a Research Analyst in Analytical Solutions Ltd. and Research Assistant in Reliance Ltd. He earned B.S degrees in Chemistry and M.S. in Organic Chemistry from the University of Mumbai, India.

Georgeta Basturea, Ph.D., M.S., B.S. – Vice President, Medical Science

Dr. Basturea joined DSI – Miami, Nonproprietary Division as Director, Medical Science, Nonproprietary Division. Prior to joining DSI, she an Assistant Scientist and Senior Research Associate at the University of Miami. She earned a B.S. in Physics, M.S. in Biophysics from University of Bucharest, Romania and a Ph.D. in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology from the University of Miami.

Dorianmarie Vargas Franco, Ph.D. – Medical Science Writer Team Supervisor

Dr. Vargas Franco joined BI-Puerto Rico Nonproprietary Division as Medical Science Writer Team Specialist. Prior to joining BI, she worked as a Postdoctoral Associate in neuromuscular diseases at the University of Florida, Pediatrics Neurology Department. She earned a B.Sc. from the University of Puerto Rico, Cayey, and a Ph.D. in Genetics and Genomics from the University of Florida.

Sonali Pradhan, Ph.D., M.Sc. – Medical Science Team Supervisor

Dr. Pradhan joined DSI in a Nonproprietary Division as Medical Science Writer Support. Prior to joining DSI, she worked as a Research Scholar at East China Normal University, Shanghai PR China. She earned a M.Sc. in Biotechnology from Mumbai University, India and Ph.D. in Environmental Engineering from East China Normal University, Shanghai PR China.

Sangita Shah, Ph.D. – Medical Science Writer Team Supervisor

Dr. Sangita Shah has joined the Medical Science-Nonproprietary division of the DSI/Brand Institute as Medical Science Writer Support. She has a Ph.D. in Life sciences from Jadavpur University, Calcutta, India and a Master of Science degree from University of Calcutta, Calcutta, India.

Aysha Saniya, M.Tech, B. Tech – Medical Science Writer Support

Aysha Saniya joined BI-India, Nonproprietary Division, as a Medical Science Writer Support. Prior to joining BI, she pursued an internship in Genomic Research at Kyvor Genomics, India. She earned an M.Tech and B.Tech in Biotechnology from Rajalakshmi Engineering College, an affiliate of Anna University, Chennai, India.

Sayed Hasan, Ph.D. – Medical Science Writer Support

Bharti Khichi currently works as a Medical Science Writer Support for the Medical Science-Nonproprietary division of the Brand Institute. She has been part of the BI for the past 6 months. She obtained a Master of Pharmacy (MPharm) in Pharmaceutics & Medicinal Chemistry in 2008 from Rajiv Gandhi Proudyogiki Vishwavidyalaya (RGVP) University, Madhya Prades, India.

Dr. Haseeba Tasneem joined BI as Medical Science Writer Support, Non-Proprietary division. Prior to joining BI, she worked as a Medical Reviewer with Indegene Pvt Limited, Bangalore. She earned BDS & MDS from Dr. NTR University of Health Sciences, Vijayawda, Andhra Pradesh.

Prameswari Kasa, M.Sc., Ph.D. – Medical Science Writer Support

Dr. Kasa joined BI-India, Nonproprietary Division as Medical Science Writer Support, Prior to joining BI, she worked as a Subject Matter Expert-Editor for PLOS ONE journals at Newgen Knowledge Works Pvt Ltd, Chennai. She earned M.Sc. in Biotechnology from Bangalore University, Karnataka, and a Ph.D. in Biotechnology from Sri Padmavati Mahila Visvavidyalayam (Women’s University) Tirupati, Andhra Pradesh, India.