Boyds builds on growth plans with clinical operations hire

Leading pharmaceutical and biotech product development consultancy Boyds has further strengthened its clinical operations offering with the appointment of Pippa Bjaaland as a Senior Clinical Research Associate (CRA), as part of an ongoing recruitment drive to grow in-house CRA expertise.

Pippa brings more than five years’ industry experience in clinical operations and joins Boyds from Syneos Health where she was a Senior CRA working on Phase II-IV studies, primarily in oncology. Prior to this, she worked as an in-house CRA at PRA Health Sciences.

Pippa holds a BSc in Psychology from the University of Essex, as well as an MSc in Cancer and Clinical Oncology from Queen Mary University of London, with her dissertation focused on antibody therapies for lymphoma.

As part of Boyds’ growing clinical operations team, Pippa will support clients with clinical trial monitoring, site set-up, site feasibility and handling ethics submissions.

Under the guidance of Dr Karen O’Hanlon, Boyds’ Vice President of Clinical Operations, the team has gone from strength to strength following Boyds’ acquisition of Blue Duck Consulting Ltd in September 2019, which enhanced its clinical and medical affairs offering and brought clinical monitoring under its regulatory and medical monitoring support services umbrella.

Most recently, the Clinical Operations team has played a key role in numerous human challenge studies and vaccine studies over the last 18 months.

Dr Karen O’Hanlon said: “I am delighted to welcome Pippa to Boyds. Her in-depth knowledge of the CRA role alongside her considerable expertise in running oncology studies will be a huge asset to both our clients and the Boyds team.

“In spite of the challenges brought about by COVID and delays to many clinical studies, we are seeing a rise in demand for our CRA and clinical project management services, with our ability to oversee and manage clinical trials from start to finish meaning clients can access support at all stages of the clinical trial process, beginning at the early stages with site set-up, recruitment, feasibility studies and monitoring, all the way through to the study closeout.”

Commenting on her appointment, Pippa said: “I am thrilled to be joining the clinical operations team at Boyds. Its close-knit dynamic really appealed to me, as being able to bounce ideas and challenges off each other and work collaboratively is key in our field. I’m excited about the breadth of the role and having the unique opportunity to work across all areas of clinical operations to deliver a comprehensive and flexible service for Boyds’ clients.”

Karen adds: “The CRA team at Boyds also has an extensive international network of trusted CRAs which enables us to set up and run trials across the globe for our clients. We are looking to continue on our current growth trajectory with the aim of supporting more clients and, as a result, identify therapies for the benefit of patients globally. Pippa’s appointment is the first in a series of hires that we plan to make to support this growth.”

To find out more about current opportunities in the Clinical Operations team at Boyds, please visit the Boyds’ careers page.