Recent Industry Personnel Changes

Contract Research

Cincinnati-based CRO Kendle appointed Simon Higginbotham, formerly Kendle’s chief marketing officer, to president, replacing long time president and co-founder Chris Bergen.

Bergen helped start the company in 1981 with current chief executive officer, Candace Kendle.

“As we embark on the next stage of our corporate growth, it is imperative we have the dedicated leadership in place to support our needs as a larger global organization,” said Kendle. Bergen will remain in his role as chief operations officer.

In addition, the company appointed Alan Boyce to fill the position of chief marketing officer. Boyce held the position of vice president of Kendle’s clinical development in Europe and Africa from 2003 to 2007. He returns to Kendle after serving as chief operating officer at patient recruitment firm Synexus.

Wilmington, N.C.-based PPD appointed Mike Wilkinson, Ph.D, to the position of executive vice president of global clinical development. He will be responsible for all of the company’s phase II through IV trials in worldwide. Prior to PPD, Wilkinson was global head of internal medicine and vice president of project management at Quintiles. Before that, he served 27 years in the United States military, beginning with a career as a Navy Seal.

And after more than 16 years with the CRO, PPD’s Paul Covington, M.D. is retiring from his position of executive vice president and chief medical officer, effective June 30th. He will stay on in an advisory role for special projects through the end of the year and consult for the company thereafter. PPD stated it anticipates having a replacement in place by mid-2008.Covington, who is board certified in internal medicine, was in private practice in Clanton, Alabama from 1985 to 1990. He served as chief of staff and director of critical care and cardiopulmonary disease at a Clanton hospital. "Paul is one of the most talented physicians in our industry, and his leadership and unwavering commitment to excellence have played a significant role in the continued growth and success of our company," said Fred Eshelman, chief executive officer.

Wayne, Pa.-based CRO Encorium Group’s chief financial officer Lawrence Hoffman has resigned his post, effective May 2. Encorium stated Hoffman is leaving his post to pursue other interests. The company said it will begin the search for a new U.S.-based CFO immediately. "Larry has created a solid financial foundation that will support our ongoing global expansion and business development initiatives. On behalf  of the entire Encorium organization, we wish Larry good luck in his future endeavors and thank him for his  ole in the growth of the Company over the past four years,” said Kai Lindevall, M.D., Ph.D., chief executive officer, and Kenneth Borow, M.D., president and chief medical and strategic development officer,  in a joint statement.

Encorium also appointed Peter Asplund country manager of the company’s Swedish operations. He was formerly the director of marketing and business development at AstraZeneca. His previous posts also include director of business development at GlaxoSmithKline in the UK.

Laboratory Testing

St. Louis-based diagnostic testing company Biomedical Systems named Geert Dewulf, M.D. , managing director of the company's European operations, replacing Rita Jacobs who is set to retire following 27 years with the company. Dewulf will be based in Burssles, Biomedical System's European headquarters. Prior to joining Biomedical Systems, Dewulf held positions at Agfa Healthcare, where he served as Managing Director for Germany, Austria and Switzerland. Biomedical Systems provides centralized diagnostic testing (including cardiac safety and imaging) for clinical trials.

Technology

Ft. Lauderdale, Fla.-based eClinical provider OmniComm Systems promoted Stephen Johnson to chief operating officer. Prior to this position, Johnson was executive vice president of business development and professional services. He has been with OmniComm Systems since 2006, when he was appointed senior vice president of business development. "We have opened new offices in Bonn, Germany and Tula, Russia to support global clinical trials, we have built dedicated Professional Services and Clinical Services and Support divisions, built a bridge from Oracle Clinical to OmniComm through our OC Connect program and we have implemented our extremely successful CRO Preferred Partnership program. Steve has been the defining influence for all of these programs that were developed to provide quality deliverables to our customers. We look forward to benefiting from Steve's experience and dedication as he leads operations as our new COO," said OmniComm's chief executive officer Cornelis Wit.

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Recent Industry Personnel Changes

Contract Research

Raleigh, N.C.-based contract research organization (CRO) INC Research hired Richard Williams to serve as vice president of the company’s regulatory services. He will help lead the strategic consulting group and all other global regulatory activities. Prior to INC, Williams worked in senior regulatory positions at Merck and Pfizer.

UK-based CRO Premier Research Group hired Sebastien Duval to become the company’s business development director based in France. Prior to joining Premier, Duval was senior business director at the preclinical CRO, CIT. He has also held positions at Chiltern, Parexel and CEREP.

Waltham, Mass.-based CRO Parexel appointed Jacque Fisher to the position of vice president and general manager for its Medical Communications Services division. Fisher will head a group that assists Parexel’s clients to translate scientific information into less complex communications and will advise customers on their communications programs. Prior to joining the company, Fisher was president of Gardiner-Caldwell U.S., a former business unit of Thomson Healthcare. She also held senior-level positions at Page & Moy Marketing in the U.K.

Technology

Waltham-based eClinical company Phase Forward appointed Russ Campanello to senior vice president of human resources and administration. Campanello was the senior vice president at Keane, a worldwide tech consulting firm. Prior to Keane, he held senior roles at NerveWire and Genzyme.

BioPharma Services

Bethesda, Mary.-based United BioSource Corporation expanded its Ann Arbor based regulatory affairs group with the additions of Mark Ammann, Pharm.D., and LaVonne Lang, Dr. PH. Both Ammann and Lang are former regulatory executives at Pfizer.

Recent Industry Personnel Changes

Contract Research

Philadelphia, Pa.-based CRO Premier Research Group appointed Patrick Melvin to senior director, Clinical Trial Management, where he will specialize in Premier’s oncology business. Melvin – who started out in the industry as a CRA for a large CRO – has experience working on early phase trial designs and large late stage global projects.

Texas-based CRO ResearchPoint appointed Matthew Walker to the position of executive vice president, of business development & marketing. He will have responsibilities in sales, marking and leading the strategic growth of the company. Walker joined the CRO from Hart InterCivic, a provider of election services, geospatial system integration, and print solutions. Most recently he was senior vice president and general manager of the company. Walker also has experience in healthcare through Deloitte Consulting.

Cambridge, Mass.-based Outcome Sciences hired Francis Campion, M.D. to medical director or Provider Programs. He will work with hospitals and medical societies to develop outcomes programs. Campion works at Harvard Vanguard Medical Associates (HVMA) as the director of complex chronic care in its disease management program. Campion also practices internal medicine at HVMA’s Kenmore center. Formerly he served as the director of clinical information systems for the Atrius Healthcare System.

Research Triangle Park, N.C.-based Quintiles promoted Dipti Amin to senior vice president of its Strategic Research and Safety Services (SRS) and Medical and Regulatory Services divisions. Prior to the new role, Amin was senior vice president, Global Medical Services, Regulatory Affairs and Medical Writing, and Strategic Drug Development Unit.

Associations

The Association of Clinical Research Organizations (ACRO) elected David Spaight and Stephen DeCherney, M.D. as new officers for 2008. Spaight, current president of MDS Pharma Services, was elected Chair of the organization. DeCherney is the chief innovation officer for Quintiles and will serve as chair-elect for ACRO.

Consulting

Cambridge, Mass.-based clinical consulting company Cytel appointed Irving Dark as vice president of Cytel Clinical Research Services. Dark brings 15-years of experience in the drug development industry.  Prior to Cytel, Dark was vice president, Business Development and Operations for Veristat where we was involved with the company’s compliance activities to ensure adherence with regulatory and GCP guidelines. Dark also held several key positions at Parexel.

Recent Industry Personnel Changes

Contract Research

• U.S. and India-based site management company, Excel Life Sciences, appointed Dan McDonald as vice president of business development and has added Wayne Pines to the company’s board of directors. Prior to joining Excel Life Sciences, McDonald was senior vice president of strategic development at D. Anderson & Company and held various senior positions at CenterWatch, most recently as the company’s general manager. Pines is a consultant on regulatory issues, advertising and promotion, media strategies and crisis management involving biological products, pharmaceuticals and medical devices. He is currently president of regulatory services and healthcare at Washington, D.C.-based APCO Worldwide. He also spent seven years as associate commissioner for public affairs at the FDA.

• Parexel is expanding its late phase research services and has appointed Dr. Victor Kiri, formerly with GlaxoSmithKline, as director of pharmacoepidemiology within the company's Clinical Research Services business. Kiri's responsibilities include advising clients on the design and conduct of comparative observational studies, offering epidemiological analysis for compounds in development, and guiding strategic decisions regarding future areas of research and product development.

• Wayne, Pa.-based Encorium Group appointed Linda Nardone, Ph.D. as chief operating officer and executive vice president, reporting to chief executive officer Kenneth Barow, M.D. Nardone joined Encorium from Zila Biotechnology as general manager. She also held positions at Pharmacia, Sterling Winthrop, Immunomedics and Elusys Therapeutics.

Technology

• London-based clinical software company, InferMed appointed Martin Rouen as director of product development. Rouen joined InferMed from Alphameric Solutions as program and development manager. He will report directly to the company’s chief executive officer Duane Lawrence.

• Morrisville, N.C.,-based eClinical provider etrials appointed Michael Mickens vice president of sales and client services and Chuck Piccirillo to vice president of product development. Mickens will be responsible for leading the sales organization, creating and implementing a customer-focused, team-oriented sales strategy. Mickens joined etrials from Cerner Corp., as vice president of worldwide sales and business development. Prior to Cerner, he was vice president of worldwide sales and business development at QED Solutions. He has also held sales and business development positions Fiserv and Oracle. Prior to etrials, Chuck Piccirillo was at Hill-Rom's HealthCare IT Solutions business, Kodak, Carestream Health, and Nova MicroSonics.

Patient Recruitment

• Dallas-based patient recruitment firm D. Anderson & Company appointed Teddie Garrigan to the position of executive vice president, charged with leading the company’s project operations department. Garrigan was previously vice president and chief strategic officer for The Herman Group of Companies. She was also president and chief executive officer of strategic advisory company Seaborn Communications.

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Recent Industry Personnel News

Contract Research

Columbus, Ohio-based oncology CRO Prologue named Robert Stude the company’s new vice president of clinical operations. He will be responsible for monitoring services, site services, and clinical services groups. Prior to Prologue, Stude was senior director of monitoring and clinical services at Integrium Cardiovascular Research. He also held the position of senior director of clinical services for i3 Research. Prologue also promoted Phillip Banks to senior vice president of biostatistics and data management for the CRO. As a statistician, he is charged with overseeing the biostatistics, data management, and IT departments for Prologue.

Raleigh, N.C.-based CRO Quintiles hired cardiologist and clinical investigator Christopher Cabell, M.D.,  to provide expertise in its medical & scientific services group within the CRO’s clinical development operations. Cabell will also provide expertise for Quintiles ECG Services.

Pennsylvania-based CRO MDS Pharma Services hired cardiologist William Wheeler, M.D., to head the company’s cardiac monitoring and safety services division in North America. He will advise clients on study protocol design, cardiac monitoring and safety, and related regulatory issues. Wheeler was Spacelabs’ chief medical officer for its clinical trials services group. Prior to Spacelabs, he was vice president and chief medical officer for Aderis Pharmaceuticals, Wheeler also worked at Quintiles in the position of vice President of cardiovascular and critical care.

UK-based CRO Premier Research Group hired Tilly Beazeley to become the company’s business development director for its UK operations. Prior to Premier Research, Beazeley worked in data management and clinical operations at Omnicare. She also held business development positions at Chiltern.

Raleigh, N.C.-based INC Research appointed David Provost as vice president of late phase services. He will lead the unit’s the phase IV, patient registries, observational outcomes studies and safety surveillance studies unit as well.

Technology

eClinical provider etrials appointed Peter Benton to chief operating officer. Benton was held the position of interim COO since July. Prior to etrials, Benton held positions at Johnson and Johnson and brings 20 years of business experience to the role from various industries including life sciences, aerospace and industrial. Benton replaced Robert Sammis, who was made vice president of the firm’s client services group. Sammis served as chief operating officer since 2003.

UK-based eClinical company ClinPhone appointed Jason Liew as associate director of business development for Scandinavia. Liew’s role will be to develop client relationships in the region and carry out business development strategies for the regional market. He brings 13 years of lifescience industry experience. Prior to ClinPhone, Liew held positions at Statwood Ltd and BIAcore AB.

Recent Industry Personnel News

• Clinsys Clinical Research appointed Hartmut Schmied, M.D., to vice president, European Operations. He will be based in Dusseldorf, Germany. Prior to Clinsys, Schmied was Medifacts International’s executive director of European Operations and global head of clinical research. He also served in clinical development positions at Bayer AG.

• Zurich-based CRO PFC Pharma Focus appointed Ran Frenkel to vice president of business development. He is already the chief executive officer of PFC’s Israel subsidiary. Prior to joining PFC, Frenkel founded Israeli-based Actelion Pharmaceuticals.

• Michael Troullis has become the new chief financial officer of CRO Quintiles. He was acting CFO for the company since 2006, replacing John Ratliff when he became Quintiles’ chief operating officer. Troullis joined Quintiles in 1992 as director of finance, Europe. He previously held several positions at CooperVision, one of the largest makers of contact lenses, most recently as European Finance Director; and six years with global accounting firm KPMG in the UK. Troullis will report to directly to Dennis Gillings.

• DSG, a Malvern, Penn.-based eClinical company, hired Suzanne Lamerand as vice president, clinical data management. Prior to joining DSG, Lamerand was associate director of data management at McNeil Consumer Healthcare. She also was a consultant positions at Trilogy Consulting.

• Cypress, Calif.,-based early stage CRO West Coast Clinical Trials (WCCT) hired Yves Grenon as vice president of business development and strategic planning. Grenon was executive director of business development at Pharmanet – formally SFBC – prior to joining WCCT. He also served as senior director of business development at MDS Pharma for its European and Japanese markets.

• eClinical company Omnicomm Systems  appointed Dr. Yvonne Rollinger director of clinical operations. He will be based in Bonn, Germany. Rollinger came from rival EDC company Datatrak, where she was director of clinical service in Europe for seven years. She also served as a project coordinator for a U.S. based CRO.

• Waltham, Mass.-based CRO Parexel International’s consulting unit Parexel Consulting –appointed Dr. Hans Van Bronswijk to the position of principal consultant in its European Drug Development Practice. He will advise clients on clinical development and regulatory affairs. He served as head of clinical assessment for the Dutch Medicines Evaluation Board for nine years. Bronswijk served on the European Medicines Agency (EMEA) committee for Medical Products for Human Use (CHMP) for the Netherlands for six years. He also held regulatory positions at Novartis.

• Clinical Site Services (CSS), a Maryland-based patient enrollment company, appointed Kristen Chumley as senior media planner and buyer. Prior to CSS, Chumley worked for a large advertising agency as an assistant account executive.

Be sure to send your organization's latest personnel news via email to the editors at Clinical Trials Today!

Recent Industry Personnel News

• Wilmington, N.C.-based contract research organization (CRO) PPD promoted Susan Atkinson to senior vice president for global statistics and data management. Her duties will include overseeing electronic data capture operations and informatics. Atkinson began at PPD in 1991 as a senior biostatistician and most recently led PPD’s U.S. biostatistics, programming and data management operations.

• Whitehouse, N.J.-based pharmaceutical company Merck named David E. Kelley, M.D., as vice president of the company’s diabetes and obesity research franchise. His will lead the group's investigators in biomarker, experimental medicine and imaging activities to help optimize drugs through phase II clinical trials. Kelley spent 20 years at the University of Pittsburg studying insulin resistance and diabetes. He was most recently the director of the Obesity & Nutrition Research Center.

• London-based CRO Chiltern International’s Patricia Lovell-Hoare, the company’s executive vice president of regulatory affairs, as been invited to become a Fellow at the Royal Society of Medicine. 
• Gaithersburg, Mary.-based preclinical CRO Bridge Pharmaceuticals has restructured its executive management team after it hired Thomas Oakley as chief executive officer. Prior to joining Bridge, Oakley was founder and president of the consulting firm DTO Associates. Previously, he worked at the CRO Covance for nine years as global vice president of finance for its early stage group. Bridge also appointed Patrick Jeanmonod as chief financial officer and promoted Ronald Marler to chief scientific officer.

• London-based CRO Premier Research appointed Chris Nowell vice president of clinical trial management for the company’s international division. Most recently, Nowell was director of project management at Quintiles. He also has held clinical posts at Bayer.

• Cincinnati-based CRO Kendle appointed Thomas Smith, M.D., to vice president of medical affairs. He will lead the company’s global medical affairs organization in charge of the group’s medical directors who advise clients on protocol design, endpoint selection and inclusion/exclusion criteria. Smith was most recently a global medical director in that group. Prior to joining Kendle, he held various positions at Akros Pharma, Genzyme and Abbott.

Be sure to send your organization's latest personnel news via email to the editors at Clinical Trials Today!

Recent Industry Personnel News

• London-based CRO Premier Research Group hired David Fitts, MPH, Ph.D as executive director, biostatistics. Fitts comes to Premier from EMD Pharmaceutical, part of German-based Merck KGaA, where he was vice president of the clinical R&D unit’s global biostatistics and data services group. Fitts will now be responsible for all of Premier biostatistics operations in the U.S.

• Synomics Pharma Services, a Wareham, Mass.-based analytical services CRO, appointed John Pirro as vice president and chief operating officer. Prior to Synomics, Pirro was vice president and general manager of MDS Pharma Service’s North American bioanalytical unit. Pirro has also held positions at Charles River Laboratories, Bayer and Bristol-Myers-Squibb.

• Pharm-Olam International, a Houston-based CRO, hired Sean Alan Reade as vice president of global regulatory affairs. Reade was most recently director of regulatory affairs at PPD. He also was vice president of regulatory affairs at UCB/Celltech.

• Boston, Mass.-based CRO Parexel’s technology unit, Perceptive Informatics, appointed Wade Wirta to vice president of group’s clinical IVRS (interactive voice response systems) business. Wirta was with Pfizer for 13 years, most recently as its director of supply chain informatics group.

• Symyx Technologies, a research & development software provider, appointed Gerard Abraham as president of the company’s research support software, Symyx Tools.

• Holmes Biopharma appointed Mark Slama to the position of associate director of clinical operations for the company’s CRO subsidiary, Qualia Clinical Services. Slama joined Holmes Biopharma from MDS Pharma Services where he held several clinical management positions.

• Cheryl Ray, M.D. was appointed as a scientific adviser to Oregon-Wis.-based CRO Next Generation Clinical Research. Ray is the founder and president of Madison Institute of Neurological Disorders, or the “The Mind Group.”

Be sure to send your organization's latest personnel news via email to the editors at Clinical Trials Today!

CFOs in Demand at CROs

By Steve Zisson

On April 30 when PPD announced that Linda Baddour, chief financial and accounting officer, was resigning effective May 31, the contract research organization (CRO) added that Baddour would be providing consulting services to the company for the next six months to assist with the transition of her responsibilities to other members of senior management.

Well, that six months of consulting won’t be happening.

Just a few days after her resignation became effective, Baddour took a new job at competitor, PRA. That CRO named Baddour as executive vice president and chief financial officer. Baddour, who worked at PPD for 11 years,  replaced Matt Bond who resigned to pursue other opportunities.

"We are very excited to have Linda join us," said Terrance Bieker, chief executive officer of PRA. "She has the financial acumen and the proven track record we need to take PRA to the next level. This includes experience managing the financial systems of a fast-growing global firm, evaluating and integrating acquisitions and working well with investors. She has a background in our industry, having worked her way up to the CFO position for a leading, global contract research organization. We are looking forward to the perspective Linda offers and the contributions she will make.”

In this era of heightened financial regulations, CFOs are certainly in demand. Bond—Matt Bond—should have plenty of opportunities to pick from.

The chief financial officer at AstraZeneca showed there are plenty of options. On Wednesday, AstraZeneca said its CFO Jon Symonds plans to leave the company at the end of July to take a position with investment bank Goldman Sachs.

Symonds was reportedly passed over for the top spot at AstraZeneca and was expected to leave.

Steve Zisson is managing editor at Thomson CenterWatch.

Recent Industry Personnel News

Inclinix, a patient enrollment CRO based in Wilmington, N.C., has announced a series of personnel changes to the company’s executive management team. Inclinix promoted Robert Bernosky to executive vice president, strategic activities. Bernosky was formerly chief financial officer. That role will be filled by Jeffery Reiniche. Prior to Inclinix, Reiniche served in various roles at Click Commerce, Health Alliance and PriceWaterhouseCoopers. Bill Gwinn, formerly of Thomson MedStat and IMS Health, has joined the company in the newly created role of vice president, product marketing. And Robert Welch has joined the company as director, strategic accounts. Retiring from the Inclinix is senior vice president Bryan McIntyre.

Reston, Va.-based contract research organization (CRO) PRA International appointed Linda Baddour as executive vice president and chief financial officer. Prior to joining the company, Baddour was chief financial officer at the Wilmington, N.C.-based CRO Pharmaceutical Product Development (PPD). Baddour replaces Matt Bond who resigned to pursue other interests. Bond was appointed to the executive vice president role in 2006 after four years as the company’s senior vice president and CFO. Just last month PRA appointed interim chief executive officer Terrance Bieker to the position permanently. Colin Shannon was named president and chief operating officer.

London, U.K.-based clinical trials software firm InferMed appointed Duane Lawrence to the role of chief executive officer. Prior to InferMed, Lawrence was General Manager at MISYS Healthcare Systems, with responsibilities of operations in markets outside North America.

Dallas-based MedTrials reorganized its operational structure into four key divisions. Ivana Waller will continue will lead its business operations division. Barbara Richardson was appointed vice president of compliance and regulatory affairs, Bill Sams will serve as vice president of clinical operations and Kathy Labowitz will oversee the company’s biostatistics, data management and data services division.

Cincinnati, Ohio-based clinical services company Hill Top Research hired Paul Briggs as vice president and general manager of CRO services. Previously Briggs held positions at Fast Track Systems, Sentrx, Parexel and SCIREX.

WorldCare Clinical, a Cambridge, Mass.-based imaging CRO, hired Darlene Moscone as the company’s director of quality assurance and regulatory affairs. Prior to joining WorldCare, Moscone served as senior regulatory operations associate at Bristol-Myers Squibb Medical Imaging and senior regulatory operations specialist at Shire Pharmaceuticals.

Recent Industry Personnel News

• MDS Pharma Services, a contract research organization (CRO) based in King of Prussia, Pa. has named James Pusey as the company’s vice president and general manager of its global clinical development business. The group manages MDS’ late stage trials. Prior to MDS, Pusey was chief executive officer at the biotech company OrthoLogic. He also served as executive vice president for neurology at Serono and a vice president of marketing at AstraZeneca’s CNS, Pain and Infection group.

• UK-based eClinical company ClinPhone appointed Michael Smyth to the position of vice president of product management for the company’s Trial Management Solutions Group. He will be based at ClinPhone’s East Windsor, N.J. office. Prior to joining ClinPhone, Smyth was director of business development at Premier Research and more recently the head of global strategic accounts at VivoMetrics.

• Wilmington, N.C.-based CRO PPD named William Sharbaugh as the company’s new chief operations officer. Prior to joining PPD, Sharbaugh was vice president of global development at Bristol-Myers-Squibb and held various positions at Merck & Co. more than 10 years. Recently, the company’s chief financial and accounting officer Linda Baddour announced her resignation. She was with the company for 11 years. Until a replacement can be found, PPD has promoted Peter Wilkinson to vice president of finance and chief accounting officer and Brian Tuttle to vice president of finance and corporate controller.

• Clinsys Clinical Research, a Berkeley Heights, N.J.-based CRO, has hired three new executives for the company’s management team. Clinsys appointed Anthony Abruzzini, Ph.D., as vice president of global regulatory services. Prior to Clinsys, Abruzzini was senior vice president of regulatory services at INC Research and held various positions at Quintiles and Encelle. Clinsys named Linda Patricia Miller, M.D., as the company’s chief medical officer. Miller previously held positions of director of clinical research at Eisai and associate director of clinical development at Organon. The company also named John Hogan, MPM, to the position of CNS project director. He has held similar positions at Sepracor and INC Research.

• Boston, Mass.-based CRO Parexel International appointed Joe Avellone, M.D., to the position of corporate vice president of clinical research operations in both North and Latin America. Avellone was formerly the chief executive officer at Veritas Medicine. He also served as chief operating officer for BlueCross BlueShield of Massachusetts.

Recent Industry Personnel Changes

• Cambridge, Mass.-based CRO PROMETRIKA has hired Gretchen Richards to the role of director of clinical operations. In her new role, Richards will oversee the company’s new clinical management services group. The group will offer study assessment and planning, site selection, trial and regulatory management, and monitoring. Prior to joining the company, Richards served as director of clinical research at NUCRYST Pharmaceuticals and has held various roles at Parexel International, MacroChem, Hydridon, and Millennium Pharmaceuticals.

• Doylestown, Penn.-based ICON Medical Imaging, (formerly Beacon Bioscience) has made a series of appointments to its senior management team. The company appointed Kim Scanlan to senior vice president of clinical operations. Scanlan will be responsible for working closely with clients and regulatory authorities, and in developing strategic initiatives.  David La Point has been named senior vice president of client services and Jean Frissora joined the company as vice president of sales. ICON MEDICAL Imaging is a division of the Dublin-based CRO ICON LLC.

• King of Prussia, Penn.-based Omnicare Clinical Research has promoted Deborah Brewer to the position of senior vice president of global sales, marketing and new business initiates. Her previous position at Omnicare was vice president of international sales and marketing. She been involved in the clinical research for over 25 years and has held various positions in the CRO industry.

• The Clinical Data Interchange Consortium (CDISC) has added two directors to its board, Christopher Chute, M.D., and Paula Brown Stafford. Chute is a professor and chair for the Biomedical Informatics Department at the Mayo Clinical College of Medicine. He’s worked with various technical committees on standardizing health information and vocabulary. Stafford is the executive vice president of global data management at Quintiles Transnational. She leads a 1,200 person team and manages a $100 million data management project for the company. Stafford will take the position of Chair of the Board’s Financial Oversight Committee. CDISC’s board has a total of 10 directors.

• Conshohocken, Penn.-based eClinical firm Fast Track Systems has hired Fredric Cohen, M.D. to the position of vice president of clinical strategy. Prior to joining Fast Track, Cohen held various positions at Eli Lilly, Johnson & Johnson and just recently was president of Pharma Growth Strategies. Cohen will remain president of PGS while serving at Fast Track.

Recent Industry Personnel Changes

• New York-based eClinical firm Medidata Solutions has appointed Hugh Levaux to the position of vice president of product strategy. Levaux is the former chief executive officer of Ninaza, an electronic data capture company formerly based in San Mateo, Calif. Ninaza was acquired just this month by Octagon Research Solutions. Prior to Ninaza, Levaux held various positions at Quintiles, CareScience, and the RAND Corp. Levaux also worked as vice presient of Operations at the Lewin Group, a division of Quintiles, where he managed consulting projects on health economics, quality of life, and reimbursement.

• Allphase Clinical Research, a contract research organization (CRO) based in Ottawa, Ontario, has promoted Angelo Panzica to chief operations officer. He will be responsible for overseeing clinical operations and developing strategies for growing the company’s business. Panzica joined Allphase in 2005 with 20 years experience in the clinical trials industry.

• The Princeton, N.J.-based CRO PharmaNet Development Group has named Beverly Harrison as senior vice president of business development for the company’s early stage group. Harrison’s responsibilities will development phase I and bioequivancy business and the company’s bioanalytical laboratory services. She was previously a vice president at MDS Pharma Services. Harrison was also president of Trilliant Research and vice president for business development and chief business officer at Premier Research in Philadelphia, Penn.

• Cetero Research, a CRO based in Cary, N.C., has appointed Martin Tyson to the position of chief information officer. Prior to joining Cetero, Tyson held senior executive technology positions at GlaxoSmithKline and various CROs such as Quintiles.

• TrialStat, an eClinical firm based in Ottawa, Ontario, has appointed Peter Hunter to the position of chief financial officer and chief operations officer. Hunter founded Enterprise Venture Capital Fund and was chief executive officer of the real estate venture capital firm, the Sterling Group. He brings to TrialStat more than 20 years of experience in finance and strategic negotiations, and managed an independent financial consulting firm.

Be sure to send your organization's latest personnel news via mail to the editors at Clinical Trials Today!

Recent Industry Personnel Changes

• Premier Research Group, a Philadelphia-based contract research organization (CRO), appointed Troy McCall, Ph.D., as the company's new chief operating officer. He will be responsible for Premier’s global clinical trial operations. McCall is returning to the company after leaving Premier as vice president of business development to become president and chief executive officer of eClinical firm, Advanced Clinical Research Services (ACRS).

• Waltham, Mass.-based CRO Parexel named Matthias Grossmann, M.D. and James Wong, Ph.D., to the company's clinical pharmacology network. Grossmann and Wong have been appointed to vice president of the clinical pharmacology services. Prior to Parexel, Grossman was head of medical affairs at a pharmacology research group in Mannheim, Germany. Before joining Parexel, Wong was the director of clinical pharmacology at The Medicines Company and has held senior positions at AstraZeneca and Schering AG. Grossman will be based in its pharmacology facility in Berlin, while Wong will work out of the company's Baltimore unit.

• Cincinnati-based CRO Kendle has appointed Thomas Smith, M.D., to the position of global medical director. He will be responsible for providing medical expertise to the company's clinical development programs and provide insights for new client proposals. He will have a particular role in CNS related projects. Prior to joining Smith was a senior director of clinical research and development at Akros Pharma. He has also held various positions at Genzyme and Abbott Laboratories.

• Perceptive Informatics, the clinical trials technology subsidiary of Parexel, appointed Sina Adibi to vice president of software development and chief technology officer. Adibi was the former chief technology officer for Thomson Scientific, a division of Thomson Corporation.

Recent Industry Personnel Changes

• The Association of Clinical Research Organizations (ACRO) has elected new officers to its board. ACRO elected PharmaNet Development Group’s chief executive officer Jeffery McMullen to head the group as its chairman. David Spaight, president of MDS Pharma Services will assist in that role as chair-elect. McMullen replaces Candace Kendle, co-founder and chief executive officer of Kendle International.

• The Sarah Cannon Research Institute, a clinical research network based in Nashville Tenn. has appointed Dr. Gregg Fromell and Jonathan Perlin as new members to its board of governors. Fromell is the executive director of the Office of Human Research at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine. Perlin is the chief medical officer and senior vice president of quality for Hospitals Corporation of America (HCA).

• PharmaNet Development Group appointed Jean-Marie Houle, Ph.D. as vice president of clinical operations for the company’s Canadian subsidiary, Anapharm. The division performs bioequivalence and early-stage trials. Just last week PharmaNet replaced Anapharm founder and chief executive officer Mark LeBel with Johane Boucher Champagne, the company’s chief operating officer.

• Kendle named Martha R. Feller, Ph.D., to senior vice president of the company’s global clinical trial development. Feller will oversee Kendle’s phase II/III trial operations in North America, Europe, Asia Pacific, Latin America and Africa. Prior to the promotion, she led the company’s clinical development operations in North America. Before joining Kendle in 2004, Feller held positions at Proctor and Gamble Pharmaceuticals and has worked in the CRO and pharmaceutical industry for more than 30 years.