Careers Over Coffee is a new initiative coming out of FDLI’s Student Membership Program that offers student members the exclusive opportunity to engage in facilitated virtual discussions over coffee about different career paths in the food and drug profession. It is more important than ever to connect and share experiences which is why Careers Over Coffee will provide a virtual space for students to ask questions about their career path and network with each other. This student member-only benefit provides a chance to closely learn from and network with experienced professionals in the field.
Facilitators and Interest Areas
Introduction by August Horvath, Partner, Foley Hoag LLP
Anton Lesaca, FDA-OC, Assistant Chief Counsel
FDA, Medical Devices, and Law Firms
Steven Gonzalez, Associate, Ropes & Gray LLP
Food, Cannabis/CBD, Law Firm, Medical Devices, Pharma
Alexander V. Alfano, Associate, Axinn, Veltrop & Harkrider LLP
Law FirmBrigid Bondoc, Of Counsel, Morrison and Foerster, LLP
Medical Devices, Food, Pharma, Law Firms
AUGUST T. HORVATH, a partner in Foley Hoag’s Advertising & Marketing practice, is a noted advertising and antitrust attorney. He counsels clients on how to substantiate and defend marketing claims they wish to make for their products and services, helps them challenge false and disparaging advertising by their competitors, and assists them in managing relationships with competitors, customers and suppliers without running afoul of antitrust laws.
ANTON LESACA is an attorney with the FDA’s Office of the Chief Counsel, where he supports and assists in overseeing a variety of regulatory activities carried out by the Center for Devices and Radiological Health and other divisions within the Agency. Before his tenure with FDA, he was an associate with the Washington, DC office of Venable LLP where he worked on regulatory counseling matters under the laws and regulations of the Food and Drug Administration, Federal Trade Commission, Consumer Product Safety Commission, and related state-level entities. He graduated with his law degree from Emory University School of Law, and his bachelor’s degree from The George Washington University.
STEVEN GONZALEZ is an associate at Ropes & Gray LLP where he focuses his practice on FDA regulatory matters and advises life sciences and health care clients on a broad range of issues under the Food, Drug and Cosmetics Act and related laws. Steven routinely conducts regulatory due diligence in connection with corporate transactions involving drug, device, food and dietary supplement companies. Steven has also provided legal and strategic advice to FDA-regulated companies in government enforcement and litigation, advertising and promotion, and general regulatory compliance matters. While in law school, Steven was the President of the Harvard Food Law Society and worked on pro bono matters through Harvard’s Food Law and Policy Clinic.
ALEXANDER ALFANO is an associate in Axinn, Veltrop & Harkrider LLP’s Intellectual Property and Food and Drug Administration practice groups. His patent litigation practice focuses on biotechnology, pharmaceuticals, medical devices, diagnostics, and the life sciences. His experience includes pre-litigation client counseling, inter partes proceedings, cases brought under the Hatch-Waxman Act, and counseling relating to FDA matters.
BRIGID BONDOC is a food, drug, and medical device lawyer who counsels life sciences companies on a wide range of US Food & Drug Administration pre- and post-market regulatory issues. Brigid focuses on medical device, digital health, and in vitro diagnostic companies, as well as other companies whose radiation-emitting electronic products are regulated by FDA’s Center for Devices and Radiological Health. She has advised innovative product developers and manufacturers on key threshold FDA regulatory questions, and regularly advises established life sciences companies on issues such as clinical trials regulation, product approvals and clearances, advertising and promotional claims, and adverse event reporting obligations. Brigid regularly assists clients in developing strategies for approval and marketing and in identifying and mitigating regulatory risks. She also handles challenges to competitor advertising before the National Advertising Division and has served as FDA counsel in product liability cases, civil litigation, international arbitration, and FDA enforcement proceedings. Brigid is a graduate of the University of Tulsa, where she earned her BS in biochemistry before attending law school at Stanford Law School.November 10, 2021
1:00-2:00 PM ET
Registration is open to student members only and is first come, first served.
This is a complimentary virtual event.
For questions, please contact Tess Garraty.
