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 CARE 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 CARE Awards.

Jeff Bockman
EVP, Oncology Practice Head, Defined Health

Jeff Bockman is EVP, Head of Oncology at Defined Health. He was a Senior Research Scientist developing oligonucleotide therapeutics for viral diseases and cancer at Innovir Laboratories in collaboration with Sidney Altman at Yale. Prior to this, Jeff was Assistant Research Professor at The George Washington University School of Medicine. He received a BA from University of California at San Diego, a PhD from the University of California at Berkeley on prions in collaboration with Stand Prusiner at UCSF, and an MA in Creative Writing from New York University. Jeff is a member of LES, AACR, ASCO, ASH, SIC, ASGCT. and NYAS.

Laura Brown
Pharmaceutical Training Consultant Course Director
University of Cardiff

Joan A. Chambers
VP, Marketing & Strategy
ClinX

 Joan provides marketing and strategic planning, guidance, and direction to the ClinX companies—ClinEdge, BTC Network, and GuideStar Research—to further build their presence and growth of current and future service lines within the clinical trials enterprise. She is responsible for creating and implementing Internal Marketing and Sales strategy yearly and reporting on key performance indicators monthly for growing the departments. Joan has the ability to lead, motivate, mentor and establish trust and loyalty at all levels internally and externally.

A well-known speaker at industry conferences, Joan has presented on a wide variety of topics specific to the clinical trials enterprise. In the course of her career, she has also published in clinical trade journals. For five years, she was an instructor for Barnett International's CRA/CRC programs on the site identification/qualification process. Joan is on the Board of Directors for Greater Gift, The Center for Information and Study on Clinical Research Participation (CISCRP), the US PharmaTimes Steering Committee for CROY, Steering Committee for Pharma Intelligence/Informa Clinical & Research Excellence Awards, 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’s 20+ years in the health life sciences industry includes eight months with SCORR Marketing as a Senior Strategic Advisor; over seven and a half years with CenterWatch as COO; two and a half years with Cambridge Healthtech Institute as Senior Director of Marketing & Operations-Publications; two and half years with the Tufts Center for the Study of Drug Development at Tufts University as Director of Strategic Marketing & Development; seven and a half years with Thomson CenterWatch as Senior Director of Marketing & Sales; and four years working for PAREXEL International as Site Selection Specialist. Joan holds a B.S. in Marketing.

Denis Curtin
Chief Scientific Officer
mProve Health

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

Michael Rice
Principal
Defined Health

Mike leads Defined 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 Defined 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.

Mike holds an MBA, with a concentration in Biotechnology from the Alfred Lerner School of Business and Economics, at the University of Delaware, an MS in Molecular Pharmacology from Thomas Jefferson University and a Bachelor of Science degree in Biology from the University of Delaware. Mike studied the molecular basis of cancer at the Kimmel Cancer Institute and is recognized for his extensive intellectual property and publication portfolio pertaining to cancer genetics, recombinational DNA repair, gene therapy, diagnostics, and agricultural trait improvement.