Citeline Awards 2021 Judges

JUDGES

Our commitment to awards entrants and attendees starts with the selection of independent judges who volunteer their time, experience, and consideration of the hundreds of entries to our various annual global awards.

The judges, invited from all core sectors of the clinical R&D industry, engage in the judging process independently by using their industry knowledge and experience to score entries against the entry criteria. The judges' scores are all combined, giving us the shortlist and winners.

Without the judges’ depth of knowledge and passion for supporting the clinical R&D industry, the Citeline Awards, would not be possible.

We take this opportunity to thank all our judges for their role in helping to ensure the integrity of the Citeline Awards.

Our 2021 Judges include:

Jeffrey Bockman
EVP, Oncology Practice Head
Cello Health

Laura Brown
Pharmaceutical Training Consultant Course Director
University of Cardiff

Dr Laura Brown is Course Director of the MSc in Clinical Research, University of Cardiff and a Training and QA Consultant. 

Dr Brown has held a number of international and senior management positions in the pharmaceutical industry. She has worked for several international companies including GlaxoWellcome, Hoechst Marion Roussel and Phoenix International.  

She was a member of the Editorial board of the Good Clinical Practice Journal for 10 years. She is author of several books including  Project Management for the Pharmaceutical Industry, a Practical Guide to the Clinical Trial Directive and several articles on the new EU Clinical Trial Regulation.

Joan Chambers
Senior Director, Marketing & Outreach
CISCRP

Joan develops and executes strategic marketing, promotional and outreach campaigns to support CISCRPs mission of raising awareness and understanding about clinical research and the important role it plays in public health.  Additionally, directs, plans, launches new initiatives for new growth opportunities.

A well-known speaker at industry conferences, Joan has presented on a wide variety of topics specific to the clinical trials enterprise. Joan is on the Board of Directors for Greater Gift, the US PharmaTimes Steering Committee for CROY, Steering Committee for Pharma Intelligence/ Informa Clinical & Research Excellence Awards (CARE), Steering Committee for PopUp Star and is an active member of the Association of Clinical Research Professionals (ACRP) and the Drug Information Association (DIA). Joan was on the Advisory Board for The Center for Information and Study on Clinical Research Participation (CISCRP) for over 10 years. In the course of her career, she has published in clinical trade journals and was an instructor for Barnett International’s CRA/CRC programs on the site identification/qualification process.

Accomplished and performance-driven marketing and operations executive with 20+ years of experience in the health life sciences with a successful track record in marketing and strategic planning, implementation, guidance and direction to companies and professionals. Ability to lead, motivate, mentor and establish strong relationships at all levels internally and externally. Strong professional networking and presentation skills among a wide range of industry business professionals.

George Gasparis
President
The PEER Consulting Group

George Gasparis has over 35 years of experience in the administration or conduct of human subjects research. Prior to founding “PEER”, he served as the Asst. VP and Sr. Asst. Dean for Research Ethics at Columbia University (CU), CU Medical Center (CUMC) from 2003-12, where he directed the IRB Office and compliance team. He worked at the Office for Human Research Protections (OHRP) for seven years and served as the Director, Division of Assurances and Quality Improvement from 2000-03, where he led the development of the OHRP QI Program and electronic submission of the Federalwide Assurance (FWA). He has also served as the Director, The George Washington University Medical Center (GWUMC) IRB and Research Pharmacy after serving as a Data Manager for over 40 clinical trials at GWUMC.

Laurie Halloran
President
Halloran Consulting Group

Laurie Halloran founded Halloran Consulting Group in 1998, originally operating out of an unfinished bathroom. Her time as a pediatric ICU nurse had inspired her to start a company that helps move new therapies through FDA processes to get them into the hands of patients desperately in need. By providing a strategic development team, innovative start-up companies could have access to world-class expertise at a fraction of the cost. Since its humble beginnings, Halloran has grown into a successful consultancy of like-minded experts who are dedicated to improving human health by making life science companies better at what they do.

Laurie has been named 2018 Women’s Business Enterprise Star by the Women's Business Enterprise National Council (WBENC) and has won a 2017 Enterprising Women of the Year Award from Enterprising Women Magazine. Halloran Consulting Group was also named an Inc. 5000 Fastest Growing Company for the past three years in a row. In 2015, Laurie was honored by the Boston Business Journal as a Woman of Influence, in 2010 was selected as one of the 100 Most Inspiring People in Life Science by PharmaVoice, and in 2009, she was awarded Clinical Researcher of the Year by the New England Chapter of the Associate of Clinical Research Professionals.

Marion Howard
Founder & Principal
Cambridge BioStrategies

Dr. Howard is Principal and Founder of Cambridge BioStrategies, LLC, a corporate and business development practice supporting biomedical companies at the interface of science, strategy and valuation.

She has over 25 years of experience in medical research, technology assessment and appraisal, and provides an in-depth understanding of the treatment landscape - including the molecular & cellular mode of action of therapies and translational research insights. Combined with competitive, commercial, regulatory and pharmacoeconomic considerations, this informs her counsel on corporate strategy, product positioning, development and commercialization.

Dr. Howard advises on early and late stage clinical trial designs across a wide range of therapeutic categories. Her clients include North American and European private and public biotech and pharmaceutical companies as well as venture capital firms.

She has been a mentor and reviewer for emerging technologies and companies for the Massachusetts Biotechnology Council (MBC) and has served on the Board of the Hypersomnia Foundation and the NTSAD patient advocacy group as well as on advisory boards of GSK, Shire and others.

Cliff Kalb
President
C. Kalb & Associates

Cliff Kalb is President of C. Kalb & Associates, LLC, a pharma consultancy in intelligence and strategy.

He has served for over four decades in a broad variety of senior level functions the industry. Cliff was Senior Vice President with Wood Mackenzie, where he provided thought leadership on life science industry issues and directed their knowledge based research and consulting practice.

Previously, he served as Senior Director, Strategic Business Analysis at Merck, heading their global intelligence function. Earlier in his career he worked for Marion, Pfizer, and Roche in sales, market analysis, health economics, public policy, marketing, licensing, business intelligence and business development building experience across virtually all therapeutic categories.

He also headed commercial development for a biotechnology firm affiliated with J&J.

Alison Messom
Chairman of the Board of Directors
Institute of Clinical Research

A molecular geneticist by training, Dr. Alison Messom has nearly 20 years of industry experience, working both within Pharmaceutical Companies and Clinical Research Organisations and is the current Chairman of the Board of Directors of the ICR.

With detailed experience of directing global clinical trials, Dr. Messom has worn many different hats during her career. She has had the opportunity to travel far and wide on business; lived in the UK, France and Switzerland, and gained operational experience in over 50 countries and line management in over 30.

During the course of her career she has line managed at all levels from CTAs through to Directors and VPs. At both i3 Research and ICON she helped build a new department of dedicated line managers for CRAs and also Start Up teams. While within the Pharma environment she line managed teams within Study and Project Management, Clinical Supplies, Translational Medicine, Data Management, Statistics, Informatics and IT – showing that line management skills are transferrable across functional areas.

Michael Rice
Principal
Cello Health 

Mike leads Cello Health’s Gene and Cell Therapeutics and Rare Diseases practices. He also co-heads the oncology practice focusing on hematologic malignancies and genetically defined cancers. Prior to Cello Health, Mike gained over a decade of experience creating new biotech ventures from academic inventions pertaining to nucleic acids and cellular platforms applied across monogenetic diseases and oncology. Industry positions involved translational research, strategic planning, technology transfer, finance and business development.

Ken Suh
President
Chatham Healthcare Advisors

Kenneth Suh is a visionary and pragmatic pharmaceutical executive with over two decades of business, commercial and development leadership experience. He was most recently the President of VIVUS, Inc., a NASDAQ listed pharmaceutical organization from July 2018 to October 2019. Under his leadership the organization increased top line sales by 29% and EBITDA by 45% compared to a significant decline in performance prior to his appointment. He was the founder of Willow Biopharma Inc., a private specialty pharmaceutical company based in Toronto. He served as President and CEO and Board Director of Willow from September 2015 to July 2018. He successfully led the transaction between Willow and VIVUS whereby Willow became a subsidiary of Vivus, Inc. on April 2018 and the management team of Willow took on management positions at VIVUS. He was the architect of the $135 million Pancreaze acquisition. He served as President and Chief Executive Officer and Board Director from 2013 to 2015 for KRIM Biopharma Inc., successfully raising over $225 million for M&A purposes. He also held various key marketing and sales positions with increasing responsibilities at Novartis Pharma Canada from 2006 to 2013. He received an Honours Bachelor of Commerce Degree from the University of Guelph, Ontario in 1999.