Accelerating Clinical Research: Challenges, Opportunities & Technologies for Real-Time Decision Making by CROs and FSPs

(Moderator) Venu Mallarapu, VP, Global Strategy & Operations, eClinical Solutions

Venu Mallarapu is a digital innovation leader with over two decades of experience in business and IT advisory, strategic consulting, relationship and delivery management to global life sciences organizations. As eClinical Solutions’ Vice President of Global Strategy and Operations, Venu is responsible for strategic development to meet global demand for the company’s platform and service offerings. He brings his expertise in collaboration and building teams to drive adoption, market expansion and innovation of the elluminate Clinical Data Cloud and eClinical’s Biometrics Services, ensuring current and future clients recognize value as industry needs evolve.

Venu is a subject-matter expert in clinical, regulatory, quality and safety & pharmacovigilance functions, and has delivered Strategy & Transformation Advisory Consulting to top global pharma, biotech, vaccine and medical devices clients. He has spoken at various life sciences and tech industry events.

Katrina Rice, Chief Delivery Officer, Biometrics Services, eClinical Solutions

Katrina Rice is an accomplished Chief Delivery Officer with an impressive career that spans over 20 years and includes advancement into increasingly demanding leadership roles. With a solid history of leading business transformations and managing global portfolios, she is as much at home scaling operations as she is in developing strategies that drive revenue growth. At eClinical Solutions, Katrina was recently promoted from Executive Vice President of Professional Services to Chief Delivery Officer. She has previously held various technical roles at Lockheed Martin Energy Group and Bayer. Katrina holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Computer Science from Alabama Agricultural and Mechanical University and a Master of Science degree in Computer Science with Advanced Applications from the University of New Haven.

In her free time, Katrina is an active participant in several organizations including the Healthcare Businesswomen’s Association and Women of Color in Pharma. She is also a Member of Chief, a private network for women in senior leadership roles, a Board Member of the Central Connecticut Coast YMCA, and a Member of the Delta Sigma Theta Sorority Incorporated.

Mahesh Iyer, ex Vice-President, GDO Innovation Lead and Head, GDO India, Parexel

Mahesh Iyer previously lead the Innovation and Technology function for Parexel and was India Head for Global Data Operations,  Mahesh Iyer has over 25 years of experience in research and development in healthcare and has been responsible for guiding many products through the development life-cycle throughout his career at Novartis, Bristol Myers Squibb and Boehringer-Ingelheim.

Prior to his role at Parexel, Mahesh was a co-founder of Sineflex Solutions LLP, a consulting firm focused on enabling and accelerating innovation in the healthcare space.  He was also the head of the BIRAC funded med-tech accelerator located at the Centre for Innovation and Entrepreneurship, IIIT Hyderabad.  Mahesh continues to be responsible for mentoring startups in the medtech space, and helping them scale their products and solutions.

Mahesh brings a strong analytical mind-set, deep insights into healthcare development and a proven record of implementing innovative solutions in the healthcare domain. Mahesh is passionate about enhancing industry academia collaboration; he set up one of the first part-time Ph.D. program in Statistics for Novartis associates, teaches at a number of Indian universities and has chaired multiple conferences over the years. He is Past-President of the Indian Association for Statistics in Clinical Trials and Past-President of the International Indian Statistical Association, India Chapter.  He was recently featured in the Top-100 AI leaders in India.

Apart from his functional activities, Mahesh has led various organizational developmental activities and trainings. He is a certified coach in the areas of emotional intelligence, assessment centers, and psychometric evaluations. Mahesh has completed his Ph.D. in Statistics from Temple University, Philadelphia.

Lori McDermott RN, BSN, MSc, PMP, Chief Operating Officer, LumaBridge

Lori McDermott is a driven and passionate clinical operations and drug development executive with nearly 25 years of industry experience. Ms. McDermott is currently the Chief Operating Officer of LumaBridge, a growing and cutting edge Clinical Research Organization specializing in the conduct of clinical trials in oncology. In this role, she leads the workforce and business strategies to support growth and profitability of the company while engaging with biotech and pharmaceutical clients to deliver their drug development programs.  ​

Before joining LumaBridge, Ms. McDermott held the position of vice president of clinical development and regulatory affairs at Heat Biologics and Pelican Therapeutics, where she was responsible for building out a full clinical operations department to drive forward the clinical development of 4 novel oncology assets. In the years preceding her work there, Ms. McDermott held Director and Management roles across biotech, pharma, and CRO settings and developed expertise in creating and leading high performing teams. ​

Ms. McDermott began her career in the hospital, providing bedside care as a registered nurse before transitioning into the clinical research industry. Ms. McDermott is PMP® certified and holds a bachelor’s degree in nursing from Neumann College as well as a Master of Science from Drexel University School of Medicine.