Top US Clinical Researchers Recognized at Major Event

LONDON, November 13, 2012 /PRNewswire/ --

Winners of the prestigious PharmaTimes US Clinical Researcher of the Year competition have been announced at a ceremony hosted by competition partners SAS.

Finalists from 15 companies including AstraZeneca, GlaxoSmithKline, INC Research, Parexel, PharmaNet/i3, PPD, PRA International, and Shire competed head-to-head for the awards. Laura Falcone of Meridian Clinical Research was named Study Nurse of the Year while the Project Manager category was won by Kathy Goin of Endo Pharmaceuticals. PRA International took both the New and Experienced CRA awards (Elizabeth Watson and Hillary Denny, respectively) and PRA also took the overall Clinical Company of the Year title. Winner of the Clinical Team of the Year was MSD.

Supported by the Association of Clinical Research Professionals and CenterWatch, and sponsored by SAS, US Clinical Researcher of the Year - created in 2009 - has quickly become established as an important barometer of quality standards for the country's clinical research fraternity.

"The competition is a great forum to showcase unique talents within our industry," observed Susan Romberg, vice president, clinical operations Americas at sponsors PRA. "This is a quality program with top-level representation from across the biopharmaceutical industry, offering participants broad exposure to clinical development experts while cross-checking their skills with their peers," added Andrew Townshend, vice president, alliance development at sponsors INC Research.

"We applaud the winners' efforts to focus on how to more effectively use resources in the current economic and reform environment, and to solve clinical trial challenges, based on real-world scenarios, all without compromising patient safety or data quality," said Graham Hughes, MD, chief medical officer for SAS Center for Health Analytics and Insights.

Sean Morgan-Jones of competition organizers PharmaTimes and Chairman of the Executive Steering Committee, added: "It is increasingly evident that organizations are going to have to collaborate like never before if the industry is to survive. I think the work of the Executive Steering Committee is a wonderful example of collaboration to recognize and encourage great clinical researchers."

The US Clinical Researcher of the Year competition would like to thank those organizations that have supported the event: SAS, ACRP, CenterWatch, PRA International, INC Research, IDIS, Benchmark Research, Stiefel (a GSK company), Chiltern International, PharmaNet/i3 and Small Planet Events.

For a full list of winners and photographs go to: http://www.usclinicalresearcher.com/Winners.aspx, e-mail [email protected] or call +44(0)20-8487-9108.

SOURCE US Clinical Researcher of the Year