Gavin Nichols Appointed as IT Exec at Parexel

Biopharmaceutical services provider Parexel has appointed an ex-Bioclinica executive to lead its informatics business as the company builds its digital offerings.

Gavin Nichols, Bioclinica’s ex-chief information officer and executive vice president (EVP) of technology, joins Parexel in a similar role as EVP of informatics and IT. Nichols will be responsible for driving the development of technology-enabled services to streamline clinical development, data management and navigation through the regulatory process of drug development. He leaves Bioclinica after serving over one year in the role of EVP of technology.

Prior to Bioclinica, Nichols served leadership roles at Quintiles (now IQVIA), Perspectum Diagnostics and Cetara. The breadth of his expertise spans wearable technology, data analytics, recruitment, electronic health records and consumer apps.

“Gavin’s extensive experience leading global technology teams in the pharmaceutical and healthcare space provide the perfect blend of expertise to drive the development of innovative technologies and solutions for our customers in a constantly evolving and growing clinical trial landscape,” said Parexel Chief Executive Officer Jamie Macdonald in a statement.

Technically-driven solutions are becoming increasingly important in today’s clinical trials to recruit and retain more patients, accelerate study completion times and drive down costs. In addition to managing the logistics and operations of both national and international clinical trials, sponsors must also factor in time and resources dedicated to meeting regulatory standards.

In 2019 alone, Parexel has been avidly recruiting new members to meet all of these needs. To support their regulatory efforts, they welcomed four former senior executives from the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in February; to enhance their presence in emerging Asian markets, they brought on ex-Johnson & Johnson executive, Dr. Makoto Sugita in June, to lead its Japanese branch. The company is also trying to expand its oncology expertise, appointing former deputy director of the FDA’s Oncology Center of Excellence, Dr. Amy McKee, to help build its oncology initiative.

Now, Nichols joins the contract research organization to take data-driven solutions to the next level.

“We look forward to his leadership as we work to grow our [Parexel Informatics] business and deliver a best-in-class technology infrastructure, practices and systems for the global Parexel organization,” Macdonald concluded.