A Bespoke Central Lab Model to Support Vaccine Trials

Cindy Markham, Chief Commercial Officer, LabConnect

Cindy Markham has more than 25 years of leadership experience in public and private full-service CROs where she has led the global expansion of Phase II-IV business, along with business support functions, resulting in substantial organizational growth. She brings a deep understanding of customer challenges in drug development and is known for driving transformation. Cindy’s customer-centric approach is derived from experience in operations and commercial. She is passionate about serving customers and creating high-performing teams that do the same. Most recently, Cindy served as SVP, Commercial for PPD, a large, global CRO. She earned a Master’s in Public Health from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

April Peltier, Senior Director, Site Operations, LabConnect

April Peltier has been with LabConnect for two years. She brings global cross-industry production experience in life sciences, aviation and automotive to our team. She holds an MBA from King University in Bristol, TN, and has specialized training in production, lean process design, implementation and sustainment, project management, marketing, and sales. She aspires to acquire her DBA in leadership to continue to grow personally, and to give back to her community.

During her time with us she redesigned the production flow process for improved efficiencies and throughput for our kit build operation. April and her team have worked to strengthen supplier relationships enabling us to deliver clinical trial kits faster, with high quality standards. Over the past two years, April and her team have increased clinical trial kit production by over 60 percent to meet growing business needs. She is also a key leader in starting our kit-building operations in the Netherlands as we continue to grow our global footprint.

April and her team are committed to carrying out the noble LabConnect mission: We create healthier communities by accelerating the development of new medicines for patients around the world.

Laila Esmail, Director, Client Services, LabConnect

Laila Esmail is the Director of Client Services over the Large Pharma and Vaccine Segment. Laila is responsible for leading a team of managers, project managers and strategic client managers, strategically supporting clients within the pharmaceutical industry. With a background in biology (BA), biotechnology (MS), and an MBA from California State University, Channel Islands, Laila brings over 20 years of industry expertise including regulatory, compliance, vendor and CRO management. During her time at LabConnect, Laila has been able to continually improve study management processes and act as a client advocate.

Amber Davies, Director, Biospecimen Operations, LabConnect

Amber Davies is the Director of Biospecimen Operations at LabConnect. Amber brings over 20 years of experience in clinical and preclinical, biological sample management, complex analytical testing profiles, and research vendors for the development of novel therapeutics. She is responsible for leading a team of scientists, sample management professionals, and project managers strategically supporting clients within the pharmaceutical industry. She also has extensive experience in leading activities in process development and quality control, as well as analytical development and lifecycle management. During her time at LabConnect, Amber has been responsible for scientific oversight, clinical phase projects, and sample management of numerous pharmaceutical products.

Jack Bradley, Executive Director, Business Development, LabConnect

Jack Bradley is an executive director of business development at LabConnect.  Jack brings with him 20 years’ life science industry experience, with the last 10 specifically in contract research.  He is responsible for managing the East Region of North America and the associated team of business developers, as well as personally working with a small number of strategic accounts and partnerships.  His expertise lies in structuring clinical trials for biotech, mid-size and large pharma sponsors for central laboratory and clinical research & development services.  Jack currently works strategically at program and greater portfolio levels to assist LabConnect clients with standard and niche analysis, specimen management, data management and FSP solutions through adaptive trial designs and scaling globally in multi-region studies.  Jack holds a bachelor of arts from Wake Forest University.