Increasing Clinical Trial Diversity — Innovations to Overcome Barriers to Trial Participation

Maimah Karmo, President & Founder, Tigerlily Foundation

Maimah Karmo is the Founder/CEO of the Tigerlily Foundation (Tigerlily) and a 16-year survivor of breast cancer. On February 28, 2006, at the age of 32, Maimah was diagnosed with Stage 2 triple negative breast cancer. She had no family history. While undergoing her second round of chemotherapy, she resolved to create an organization to educate, empower, advocate for and support young women affected by breast cancer. The Tigerlily Foundation was born post her second treatment. Tigerlily provides breast health, educational, empowerment wellness and transformational programs to young women and works to end disparities of age, stage and color.

Monica Eason, Clinical Operations Portfolio Leader, Roche

Monica has been with the Genentech/Roche organization for 30+ years, where she currently holds the position of Clinical Operations Portfolio Leader. In this role, Monica provides strategic direction and operational excellence in the planning and execution of clinical trials. She is a champion and contributor for advancing Genentech’s D&I efforts, including retaining and attracting diverse talent, as well as developing strategies for inclusivity in clinical trials. She is an admired coach, mentor and advocate who believes in giving back to her community and to others.

Monica sits on the Board of Directors of the Delta San Francisco Peninsula Foundation who provide four-year scholarships to underserved students and financial literacy education to the Bay area community. She is an ambassador for the Women of Color in Pharma (WOCIP), which is a global professional society focused solely on the engagement and empowerment of women of color in pharmaceuticals and other life sciences.

Dr. Irfan Khan, Founder & CEO, Circuit Clinical

Irfan Khan, MD, Founder and CEO of Circuit Clinical®, is a cardiologist who has served as a Principal Investigator on both therapeutic and device clinical trials for more than a decade. Delivering on his company’s mission, Dr. Khan is passionate about improving access, diversity and equity in clinical trials, increasing community engagement and fostering the patient experience through education and empowerment.

Over the last six years, he has overseen Circuit Clinical’s growth to reach more than 2.5 million potential participants across 60 healthcare sites, which include multi-specialty physician practices, Accountable Care Organizations and Federally Qualified Health Centers. His work at Circuit Clinical has also included the creation of TrialJourney™, the first-ever ratings and reviews platform for clinical trial participants and people seeking clinical research as a care option.

Dr. Kashyap Patel, MD, CEO, Carolina Blood and Cancer Care Associates

Kashyap Patel, MD is CEO of Carolina Blood and Cancer Care Associates. He has a practice with eight providers and is President of the Community Oncology Alliance. He interacts regularly with the US congress and Senate as well as White House on healthcare policy related issues for cancer patients. He is a consultant Medical Director for the Blue Cross Blue Shields of SC. He is also the Medical Director of the International Oncology Network. He authored a book titled, Between LIFE and DEATH; from despair to hope.

He is Associate Editor in Chief of the EBO publication at the American Journal of Managed Care. He has a special interest in health care disparities, value-based care and end-of-life care. He has had extensive research experience in the field of oncology and has published and/or presented over 80 articles/abstracts in journals and/or meetings (nationally and internationally). He has had research merit awards for research in cancer including ASCO merit awards during fellowship. He has received numerous awards including Living the Mission Award and Lifetime achievements awards from national cancer associations (ACCC, NCODA). In India, he worked as a journalist for the Indian Express Group and was a photojournalist. He has started a foundation to support uninsured cancer patients and all proceeds from the book sales will go to 501C3 foundation-No One Left Alone (NOLA).

He has been interviewed and featured in multiple national media including The Washington Post, The New York Times, CBS News, NPR and more.

Michelle LaBruyere, Head of Operational Delivery, Enterprise Wide Business Unit

Michelle is currently the Head of Operational Delivery of an enterprise-wide strategic relationship with a large pharma partner as leader in a dedicated business unit. Her role ensures alignment with the client and their partners, creating a collaborative culture of agile, disciplined and committed delivery teams. She is responsible and accountable for all Labcorp services including but not limited to clinical pharmacology/Phase I, late-stage full service, FSP and laboratories inclusive of Labcorp Central Laboratories (CLS), bioanalysis and diagnostics with operational leaders from each of these service lines reporting directly to her. Prior to this role she was a leader in Oncology TA, having dedicated over 20 years to oncology drug development at Labcorp.

Michelle has a diverse background in both oncology project management and strategy development. As a Sr. Director of Project Management and Portfolio Delivery for over eight years, she provided overall leadership of our global oncology portfolio, Phases I-IV with specific focus and passion for early development. Michelle has over 27 years of industry experience, spanning the full lifecycle of global oncology studies. Her educational background is in nursing, and she holds a Bachelor of Science in Nursing (BSN).

Dr. Oren Cohen, MD, President, Clinical Pharmacology Services and Chief Medical Officer, Labcorp Drug Development

Oren Cohen, MD, joined Labcorp Drug Development in December 2017 to serve as Head of Clinical Pharmacology Services and Chief Medical Officer (CMO). Oren has extensive clinical development experience, most recently from Viamet Pharmaceuticals where he was CMO. He brings more than 30 years of healthcare experience to the role, including several senior medical and operational leadership positions at another global CRO, including Chief Medical and Scientific Officer and Global Head of Early Clinical Development.

Oren received his MD from Duke University and served his internship and residency at The New York Hospital, Cornell Medical Center in New York City. He completed his infectious diseases fellowship at the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) and stayed on to become an Investigator in the Laboratory of Immunoregulation where he conducted basic and translational research on the immunopathogenesis of HIV infection under the supervision of Dr. Anthony Fauci. He served on the national antiretroviral guidelines panel and ultimately served as Assistant Director for Medical Affairs for NIAID.

Oren has published scientific papers in Science, The New England Journal of Medicine, The Lancet, The Journal of Clinical Investigation and Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, among others. He is a Fellow of the Infectious Diseases Society of America and a Consulting Professor of Medicine at Duke University Medical Center.

Elizabeth George, Senior Director, Diversity & Inclusion, Site and Patient Engagement, Labcorp Drug Development

Elizabeth is passionate about having adequate representation of populations with disease in clinical trials. She is leading the Diversity & Inclusion in Clinical Trials initiative at Labcorp Drug Development with a focus on making clinical trials more inclusive of diverse participants. Her prior role was Director, Clinical Trial Diversity at GSK, where she successfully led strategies and solutions to enable the enrollment of representative participants in clinical trials.

She has extensive experience leading large scale digital transformation projects, developing transformative business strategies, managing all phases of project lifecycle from conception through product launch and a deep knowledge of pharmaceutical R&D processes. She is a thought leader and has been invited to speak at numerous conferences on the importance of inclusive clinical research. Elizabeth is an active board member of the Healthcare Businesswomen’s Association (HBA) Suburban Delaware Valley chapter and leads the Marketing and Communications team as the Director-at-Large and works with the HBA to support the growth and development of women across the life sciences industry.