E-Advocates Tech-savvy individuals are developing new tools and solutions to expand the healthcare industry’s horizon and address its biggest challenges.
Katrina Monique Rice Finding Solutions When Katrina Rice decides she wants something, she goes after it. That assertiveness came to the fore when she began looking for ways to help her son, Mitchel, who was born with sickle cell anemia. With a long-standing love for technology and extensive experience in computer science, her son’s health issues inspired her to use this background to make a difference in drug development. Then, when she lost her mother to breast cancer, Ms. Rice was further inspired to seek out new technologies and processes that could be applied to clinical trials that would safely improve the speed, accuracy, and flow of clinical data so more experimental drugs could become available to those who need them the most. After joining Bayer HealthCare Pharmaceuticals in 1998 as a senior clinical programmer analyst, Ms. Rice soon got involved in seeking new ways to enhance drug development through the use of electronic data capture. She also was charged with conducting training sessions to teach members of her team how to use the technology as well as educate them about the value of EDC. Today, Mitchel, who is almost 15, is already following in his mother’s footsteps. Ms. Rice says he excels in math and science and is starting to look into colleges, despite only just entering high school. With a dream to become an engineer, Mitchel inspires and motivates Ms. Rice to continue her pursuit to find better technologies that will help in the discovery and development of new medications that will help him throughout his life. Ms. Rice believes that technology is the future of the pharmaceutical industry, and she draws motivation from others who embrace this same thinking. Having joined eClinical Solutions during its early stages, Ms. Rice attempts to bring continuous growth to the company and provide motivation and passion around the work she and her colleagues perform every day. In working with clients, Ms. Rice brings to the table not only enormous experience and knowledge, but also a passion and care for the final result. Always on a quest to learn more, Ms. Rice aspires to obtain a doctorate in public health with the hopes to either teach or work for a state or federal agency. She also would like to inspire others to realize and build on the benefits that technology brings to clinical trials. Ms. Rice believes it’s imperative that the industry begins to understand how technologies such as EDC, ePRO, EHR, and so on, can open new opportunities for drug development and address many of the current challenges companies face. Beyond her technical expertise, Ms. Rice is a people person. She listens to those she works with and gets to know them individually, which allows her to ensure each person is given the opportunities for further career growth. Ms. Rice’s approach to mentoring, or teaching, is to break down barriers and understand how individuals respond to certain situations. She says teaching is a way to give back to others and share what talents and gifts one has to ensure someone else succeeds. In addition, Ms. Rice never gives her team an assignment or task she herself is not willing to perform. And although she sets tough goals and has very high expectations for her team, she works side by side with them to ensure they can accomplish these tasks. Personal challenges inspired Katrina Rice to seek out new technologies that could be applied to clinical trials to safely improve the speed, accuracy, and flow of clinical data. Katrina Rice used to dress up as Chuck E. Cheese’s “big mouse." Name: Katrina Monique Rice Current position: Director, Electronic Data Solutions, eClinical Solutions Date and place of birth: Oct. 23, 1969; Huntsville, Ala. Education: M.S., Computer Science, University of New Haven, 2003; B.S., Computer Science, Alabama Agricultural and Mechanical University, 1993 First Job: Cashier at a convenience store First Industry-related Job: Senior clinical programmer analyst, Bayer HealthCare Pharmaceuticals Alternative profession: Teaching Giving Back: Her church’s audio and video ministry, women’s ministry, and scholarship committee Connected Via: LinkedIn, Facebook Words to Live by: Be humble in your heart; be grateful for the gifts and talent you have been blessed with and love others Assertive. Fashionable. Whether Andrew Newbigging is climbing a figurative mountain in terms of clinical technology or the actual thing, he is a driving force in achieving peak performance. His colleagues call him “the king" of clinical technology integration. Over the past five years at Medidata Solutions, Mr. Newbigging, senior VP of development, has been at the forefront of the company’s effort to bring interoperability across clinical development solutions. His global team, made up of 80 software engineers across the United Kingdom, United States, and Japan, is responsible for building the seamless flow of data between the Medidata Rave electronic data capture and clinical data management system and a range of other critical clinical technologies. From IVRS to ePRO to safety to clinical payment systems, Mr. Newbigging’s team has enabled sponsors around the globe to expand their capabilities through best-of-breed technologies and improve their end-to-end clinical research process. In motivating others, he follows a philosophy of openness and willingness to try new things and integrates new ideas and methods into his approach to projects. As an example of Mr. Newbigging’s expertise and innovation, Medidata was the first company to launch a Web services API platform through its Developer Central product, the first e-clinical community created solely to enable other innovative companies to create integrations with Medidata Rave. He has also championed CDISC standards; his team led the CDISC certification work for Medidata’s products. The company is the first, and still only, company to be fully CDISC certified, an accomplishment of which Mr. Newbigging is extremely proud. As a result of Mr. Newbigging’s efforts, Medidata has since formalized its technology partner program, leading the charge to work with more than 13 companies. With the promise of cloud computing growing, Mr. Newbigging is setting his sights on adopting and adapting the architectures to provide the clinical research industry with guaranteed reliability and performance for validated systems. He is passionate about the innovations and integrations that can be made possible through technology, and he has been central to moving several Medidata products to the cloud. He also wants to explore the potential of new database systems for managing large volumes of clinical and genetic data, which will become more and more critical with the evolution of the healthcare system. A self-proclaimed computer nerd, Mr. Newbigging draws immense joy from bridging the gap between technologies and applying his expertise to problems that people are wrestling with in their daily lives. Andrew Newbigging Scaling New TechnologY Heights Determined. Calm. Name: Andrew Newbigging Current position: Senior VP, Development, Medidata Solutions Date and place of birth: March 1967; Whitehaven, U.K. Education: B.A., Natural Sciences, Cambridge University First Job: Technology consultant, Price Waterhouse Management Consultants First Industry-related Job: Business systems analyst, University College London Hospital Alternative profession: Professional violinist Professional mentor: Alan Montgomery, CEO, Integral Solutions Giving Back: His family sponsors a Sri Lankan child through Plan International Andrew Newbigging plays the violin in orchestras and chamber groups. Andrew Newbigging • The Integration King Andrew Newbigging, Senior VP, Development, Medidata, cycles 20 miles to and from work at the company’s U.K. office. Family: Wife, two daughters Hobbies: Playing the violin, cycling, mountaineering Reading List: Dynamo: Amazon’s Highly Available Key-Value Store by Guiseppe DeCandia, et al; Confusion by Stefan Zweig; Moby Dick by Herman Melville; New Finnish Grammar by Diego Marani Favorite Book: Nicholas Nickleby by Charles Dickens Favorite Movie: Doctor Strangelove Bucket List: Cycle from Land’s End to John O’Groats, U.K.; become fluent in Mandarin Chinese Inspired by: Glen de Vries, president, Medidata connected via: LinkedIn Favorite Smartphone App: The UK Met Office weather application Life Lessons: Hiring the right people for your team is critical to your future success – only hire people you’re 100% certain about Under The Cloak of Invisibility: An airplane cockpit Time Travel: Back to May 29th, 1913, the Theatre des Champs-Elysees in Paris for the premiere of Stravinsky’s The Rite of Spring and the accompanying audience riot With a background in science and a natural bent for technology, Andrew Newbigging has created a niche in the life sciences. While at the University College London Hospital he was able to use his technical expertise and appreciation of the skills of physicians and nurses to roll out a variety of computerized systems and solutions that helped improve patient care. During his first week at the hospital, he learned about the challenge of integrating different functions under a single solution. A new patient administration system had just been implemented and many users were unhappy with functionality, performance, and lack of training. He had to tour the hospital departments, interview irate users, and work out an action plan. Several months later, he and colleagues stabilized the system and ironed out the major frustrations. Inspired by the promise of clinical research and helping others through medicine, he later co-founded InferMed Ltd., a company that competed head-to-head with Medidata, the organization that would eventually hire him away. As an innovator, Mr. Newbigging, senior VP, development, at Medidata has an incredible sense of direction, but that doesn’t always apply across the board. While leading a team of Medidata colleagues on a mountaineering expedition in the English Lake District, he misread the map and took them up the wrong mountain, only realizing his mistake when they reached the top and could see their intended destination, Helvellyn, in the distance. Mr. Newbigging travels extensively, splitting his time between London and New York, and while he loves what he does, travel does have its downside. For one, the flying can be tedious and Mr. Newbigging wouldn’t be averse to slipping into the cockpit unnoticed just to make the trip less dull. Katrina Rice • Adding it All Up After exploring her interests in math, programming, and science through undergraduate and graduate studies at Oak Ridge National Laboratory for the Department of Energy, Katrina Rice found herself drawn to the technical aspect of drug trials, which would pull her into the life-sciences industry. She joined Bayer HealthCare Pharmaceuticals in 1998 as a senior clinical programmer analyst, and was soon involved in seeking ways to enhance drug development through the use of electronic data capture and conducting training sessions to teach users its value. Throughout her career with Bayer, she was involved in or led projects to help facilitate and advance the processes involved with the company’s drug discovery and clinical research programs. Since joining eClinical Solutions as director, electronic data solutions, Ms. Rice has been instrumental in managing EDC deployment, helping life-sciences and pharmaceutical clients adopt and evolve clinical technologies. The foundation for her advancement to where she is today was set when Ms. Rice was tasked with leading a global cross-functional team to deploy a new software system for three Phase III studies. These clinical studies were highly visible and part of the strategic direction of the organization, and her work in leading this team helped her to become a subject matter expert on the functionality of the system. And as someone who commands attention in her profession, she believes first impressions count and dresses the part. Outside of work, Ms. Rice is active with her church, the Community Baptist Church in New Haven, Conn. She served as church treasurer for more than seven years, and she has worked on several other auxiliary committees as well. She also is very active with the Audio and Video Ministry, as well as the Women’s Ministry and Scholarship Committee. Katrina Rice, Director, Electronic Data Solutions, eClinical Solutions, has been instrumental in managing EDC deployment, helping life-sciences clients to adopt and evolve clinical technologies. Family: Husband, Michael; son, Mitchel; two sisters Reading List: The Innovator’s Dilemma: When New Technologies Cause Great Firms to Fail by Clayton M. Christensen; The Future Of Management by Gary Hamel; Act Like a Lady, Think Like a Man: What Men Really Think About Love, Relationships, Intimacy, and Commitment by Steve Harvey Favorite Book: The Coldest Winter Ever by Sister Souljah Favorite Movie: Steel Magnolias Bucket List: Lose 50 lbs; travel the U.S. in an RV with her husband; build her dream home Inspired by: Her son Life Lessons: Always stay one step ahead of others and never expose everything you know Time Travel: Back to her youth, growing up with no cares, just having fun; to the future to visit her son’s home and spend time with her grandchildren
