Jennifer Byrne has served her entire professional career in the field of clinical and medical research. Over the span of her career she has participated in the development of hundreds of life- saving and life-improving medications and treatments. Jennifer currently serves as the President and Chief Executive Officer of PMG Research, one of the largest independent clinical research site organizations, composed of 120 actively practicing physician investigators and a dedicated team of 140 clinical research coordinators, site support professionals, and a top-tier management team. During her tenure at PMG Research, the company has participated in an estimated 6,000 clinical trials within private medical practices, free-standing independent research sites, hospitals, and academic medical centers. Through her work with PMG Research, she has led the company’s research team to enroll over 100,000 clinical trial participants. It has been through these experiences that Jennifer has become passionate about the need for increasing general public awareness and promoting education about the individual and societal benefits of clinical trial participation. She also has a keen interest in bringing forth innovative strategies and process improvements to ultimately have a positive impact on new drug development. Jennifer currently serves as the Chair of the Mentorship Committee for the Society of Clinical Research Sites (SCRS), she is an Advisory Board Member for the Wake Forest Institute of Regenerative Medicine, and has been a conference speaker and active member of the Drug Information Association. In addition, she has served on the Board of Directors for PMG Research. Jennifer earned a B.S. degree from Texas A&M University and actively participates in ongoing leadership development and executive management seminars.
Amanda Wright, Executive Director Amanda began her career in Clinical Research in 1998, working as a Clinical Research Coordinator within the PMG Research organization and has since served in various clinical operations capacities within the Winston-Salem research site and the PMG Research network support team. For a number of years, Amanda's responsibilities centered around patient recruitment and today, serves as Senior Director of Client Services, leading the teams within PMG Research responsible for business development, client services, feasibility, communications, and patient engagement and recruitment. Amanda was responsible for the first formal patient recruitment team at PMG Research in the early 2000s, and is currently leading teams charged with developing new strategies and processes for the centralization of feasibility, patient recruitment, and patient engagement across the PMG network in order to provide Sponsor and CRO partners with high-value services beyond the traditional research site model while delivering an exceptional experience to participants.
Amanda is a member of the PMG Research team that has forged several strategic partnerships between PMG Research and Sponsor and CRO organizations. These partnerships are novel within the industry, and include executive-level decision makers across the organizations. She has initiated collaborations with strategic partners in the areas of risk-based monitoring, patient engagement, quality, and feasibility designed to improve the clinical trials enterprise for all stakeholders. Amanda believes that building consensus while creatively collaborating with a diverse range of contributors is essential to adapting to the changing pharmaceutical landscape while keeping the patient at the forefront of the innovation.
Amanda has been an active Greater Gift Initiative team member since its inception in 2010, and an advocate for building awareness and participation in GGI with Sponsor, CRO, and research site partners. She is excited to be a part of GGI in her new capacity as Executive Director, and looks forward to furthering its mission to recognize clinical research participants through the donation of vaccines to children in developing countries in new and innovative ways.
Adam Chasse has had a long and distinguished career in clinical research since entering the industry in 1995. He is currently COO of RxTrials, Inc., a management, training, and consulting firm that helps research sites, sponsors, and CROs optimize operational performance. Prior to that he pioneered the concept of strategic alliances between research sites and industry while with Quintiles, where his many management roles included leading the global program for strategic alliances with large health systems. Adam represents RxTrials on the Metrics Champion Consortium's clinical operations steering committee, and has served on the Multi-Regional Clinical Trials (MRCT) project steering committee, ACRP’s membership committee, and the Site Solutions Summit advisory board. Adam holds a Master of Healthcare Administration degree from the Gillings School of Global Public Health at the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill, and is a member of the Delta Omega Honorary Society in Public Health.
Ann Kottcamp, VP of Client Services, MMG Ann has been involved in patient recruitment for more than 15 years, where she helped oversee and implement over 175 recruitment campaigns. Ann is responsible for leading MMG teams in program development and execution, creative development, production, program analysis, and budget management. Prior to coming to MMG, Ann served as leader of both Argonauta Communications and PRP. Ann also worked on the preclinical side at the National Institutes of Health (NIH). Her research was a collaborative effort spanning both neurological disorders and strokes (NINDS), and mental health (NIMH). Additionally, she worked at Louisiana State University Medical Center in the department of pharmacology through a grant from the National Institute on Drug Addiction (NIDA). During this time she co-authored several papers for industry publications. A veteran in the industry, Ann is well known for her experience in and understanding of patient recruitment.
Mark Lacy is founder and CEO of Benchmark Research – a growing and dynamic firm with a network of quality investigative research sites throughout the United States. Mr. Lacy’s active participation with the Association of Clinical Research Professionals (ACRP) has encompassed serving as Chair of the Site Manager’s Forum, Chair of the Finance Committee, being elected to the Board of Trustees; and in 2005 being honored as a recipient of the Meritorious Service Award. Mr. Lacy also serves on the Board of Advisors for The Center for Information & Study on Clinical Research Participation (CISCRP), and as a member of the Executive Committee for the PharmaTimes U.S. Clinical Researcher of the Year competition. In 2010, Mr. Lacy was selected by Entrepreneur Magazine as one of the top five “Established Entrepreneurs” for his success in growing Benchmark Research, and was recognized in 2011 by PharmaVoice as one of the 100 most Inspiring People. This entrepreneurial approach has extended into his formation of VaxNet, a nationally prominent research network focusing on vaccines, of which he is the CEO. Prior to founding Benchmark Research, Mr. Lacy earned a B.A. degree from The University of Texas at Austin; and held several prominent positions in state and national politics, including service under a Presidential Administration.
Karen Nowatkoski, Senior Director, Site Alliances, PAREXEL
Karen has been involved in clinical research for over Twenty - five years. In her current role, Karen is responsible for developing strategies to improve patient enrollment in order to meet customer expectations through the Alliance Site Program at PAREXEL. Karen has vast experience managing global clinical trials, including executive level responsibility for the successful and collaborative leadership of clinical operations management, site management, clinical monitoring teams, process/system development, global project management and project delivery, business development and pricing support. During this time, she has worked in the pharmaceutical, CRO, and private practice environment always striving to deliver medicine in a more streamlined, cost effective manner.