Executive

Jeff has been the CEO at Alimentiv since October 2016. In May 2018, Jeff led the successful separation of the organization from its sole owner, Western University, to a Health Trust establishing the first social enterprise of its kind in North America.

Background

Jeff has a strong record of leading high-performing global teams that support the growth of global business units. His background in clinical research spans more than 20 years in the pharma and contract research organization (CRO) industries. Prior to his current position, he held senior positions with Alimentiv (formerly Robarts Clinical Trials) including Vice President, Clinical Operations and Director, Business Development. And before joining Alimentiv he was a Senior Director, General Medicine & Vaccines/Infectious Disease with PharmaNet (now Syneos). Jeff trained as a registered nurse, and holds a Bachelor Degree in Health Sciences (nursing).

Achievements

Jeff’s perspective on building a great company has been shaped from his experience working in a variety of ownership structures including government, private, public, private equity and venture capital. These experiences helped shape his vision for building a 100-year private company that pursues its purpose and putting people first ahead of shareholder returns. In May 2018, he was able to realize this vision with the transition of ownership of Robarts Clinical Trials to a Health Trust.

Ethos

“When leaders prioritize goodness in themselves and in others, they can create lasting cultures and tremendous value.”

Hershell has led the Clinical Research division since 2019. He is responsible for end-to-end clinical trial services and the continuous development of resources and capabilities.

Background

Hershell has over 25 years of experience in medicine development. Prior to this role, Hershell was Senior Managing Consultant at Navitas Life Sciences and held senior roles at GSK and ICON Clinical Research where he was the Director of Clinical Process and Change Management. He also has a strong CRO services delivery background resulting from years as a clinical trials project lead and CRA.

Achievements

Over the past 20 years, Hershell has defined strategy and provided leadership for major R&D process improvement and organization redesign initiatives to resolve current issues and enable future success. He drove implementation of a change management framework throughout the clinical research organization, implementing standard methodologies and tools for managing change and leading complex change initiatives to the expected benefit.

Ethos

“Be authentic, breathe, listen. The time is now. There is no other opportunity than this moment to give your very best.”

Vipul oversees the global Medical R&D initiatives and services. In conjunction with the executive team and senior medical advisors, he assumes overall responsibility for research strategy, as well as performance of the organization’s Medical R&D services including medical operations, medical imaging, precision medicine, medical writing, medical monitoring, medical/biostatics advisory collaborations and IBD fellowships. He also provides medical oversight for the design of clinical trials, protocol development and imaging R&D endpoints. Vipul was previously VP Medical Research & Development (2019-2021) and Director of Academic Research and Development (2016-19).

Background

Dr Jairath obtained his BSc (Pharmacology) and Medical Degree from the University of Leeds (UK), DPhil (PhD) in Clinical Medicine from the University of Oxford and post-graduate diploma in Clinical Trials from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. He is Professor of Medicine at the Schulich School of Medicine and Dentistry, and holder of the John and Susan McDonald Endowed Chair in Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD) at Western University.

His specialist clinical training in Gastroenterology was completed in London and Oxford, and he holds specialist certification in both Ontario and the UK. Prior to moving to Western in 2016, he was a National Institute for Health Research Clinical Trials Fellow at the Oxford Clinical Trials Research Unit and Consultant Gastroenterologist at Oxford University hospitals.

He is a practising gastroenterologist and specialist in inflammatory bowel disease, and his research interests in clinical therapeutics for IBD include design of clinical trials, development and validation of outcome measures for use in clinical trials, patient reported outcome measures and prediction modelling for response to therapy.

Achievements

Vipul has driven the development and validation of several novel indices for use in IBD clinical trials, like the UC-100 and the novel patient reported outcome measures, SIQ-UC and SIQ-CD. In addition, he was instrumental to the delivery of the REACT2 trial and to the design of the VERDICT trial, both of which are important clinical practice questions for patients with Crohn’s Disease and Ulcerative Colitis, respectively.

Ethos

“We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit.” — Aristotle

Mike has been CFO of Alimentiv since spring of 2021. He oversees the overall strategy and business operations of the company as well as leading the Finance/Accounting, IT, Legal, Quality Assurance, Facilities, and Enterprise Analytics areas at Alimentiv.

Background:

Mike is a senior executive leader with decades of demonstrated success in business transformation expertise. With more than 20 years of experience in the CRO space, his accomplishments have spanned driving growth within Venture Capital, Private Equity, Private and Public Organizations. Prior to Alimentiv, Mike was President of a US based technology company and before then he was CFO of BioStorage Technologies. He also spent nearly a decade in leadership roles at Covance (now part of LabCorp). Mike holds both undergraduate and graduate degrees in business administration.

Achievements:

As a founding executive of BioStorage Technologies, Mike was instrumental in driving the organization from start-up to an international market leading business, ultimately navigating the company through a strategic sales process and acquisition by Brooks Life Sciences (NASDAQ: BRKS). He has won awards such as “CFO of the Year” as well as recognized by the Association for Corporate Growth for its annual transaction honor.

Background

Amanda Harvey has worked in HR for nearly 20 years with a focus on business partnering, organizational development and change management across the manufacturing, financial services and staffing industries.

Amanda most recently held the role of People and Culture Director for Hays Canada where she built the Canadian operations first People and Culture function and supported the organization through rapid growth and the launch of multiple new business lines. She is experienced in leading large scale multi- disciplinary projects and is a big proponent of change management concepts. She is passionate about developing people and is a strong believer that the role of a leader is to serve as advocate for their people and to champion the culture and values of the organization.

Achievements

Amanda holds her CHRL designation and is an active member of the HRPA and Strategic Capability Network.

Ethos

“Authenticity encourages a culture where people feel more connected and loyal to the organization and its purpose, which helps attract and retain people to do their best”

Courtney Sweet is the Director, Imaging Project Operations at Alimentiv Clinical Trials and is responsible for providing leadership and oversight of the global activities and timelines related to imaging projects.

Courtney has 18 years of experience in the clinical research field spanning over a number of clinical operations positions in pharmaceutical and CRO companies. Courtney started her career in 1999 as a Clinical Trial Associate for a biotechnology company. She then spent 5 years as a CRA at Pfizer, monitoring Phase I – III studies across multiple therapeutic areas in North America.

Prior to joining Alimentiv, Courtney was a Clinical Study Manager and Associate Director of project management at Quintiles, overseeing project delivery for large global trials in oncology and rheumatoid arthritis. Courtney joined Alimentiv in 2013 as a Project Director. Over the past 4 years she has lead full service trials as well as imaging studies involving endoscopy, histopathology and MRE. Courtney holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Biology and Psychology.

Gabriela provides medical leadership for sponsor clinical trials, operational oversight for research and development projects, and medical input to the business development teams.

Background

Gabriela obtained her medical degree at the University of Medicine and Pharmacy Iuliu Hatieganu in Cluj – Napoca, Romania. Since then, she has acquired more than 20 years of experience working in the pharmaceutical industry in Canada in various leadership roles and across multiple functions including medical affairs, drug safety and pharmacovigilance, clinical research and real world evidence, and patient support programs. Prior to joining Alimentiv, Gabriela led a team of scientific professionals as a Medical Affairs Director in IBD.

Achievements

Since joining Alimentiv, through her multidisciplinary experience, Gabriela has been able to bring significant contributions to the development and implementation of organizational strategies and best practices. Her focus on the medical research and development area ensures a continued adherence to delivering high-quality research and science, superior customer service and people development.

Ethos

“I approach my role with the conviction that what we do matters for patients and physicians, and through our work we advance our mission to support human health. I believe it is important that every member of the Alimentiv team is authentic and brings their full contribution to the success of the organization.”

Since 2012, Jeremy has been responsible for leading and overseeing IT infrastructure and software development teams, operations and strategy.

Background

Jeremy is a graduate of the University of Western Ontario and began his career in IT in 2002. He has held several positions in not-for-profit, public and private life sciences environments, supporting thousands of users around the world. His credentials include Certified Information Systems Security Professional (CISSP), Certified in Risk and Information Systems Control (CRISC) and IT Service Management (ITIL) certifications.

Achievements

Jeremy has successfully led several large digital transformation and complex infrastructure migrations including the 2016 Robarts Clinical Trials head office and datacenter relocation, cloud adoption projects and multiple security initiatives.

Ethos

“People and process are fundamental to the success of any technology.”

Judi provides strategic leadership to the global activities related to Alimentiv’s full service clinical trial offering.

Background

Judi has spent more than 20 years working in clinical trial and portfolio project management, data management, and statistical services, with experience across many therapeutic areas at pharmaceutical, CRO and academic organizations.

Achievements

Judi takes pride in partnering with stakeholders to deliver high quality clinical trials. Judi started her career as a Data Manager and then Project Manager in the neuroscience therapeutic area, leading studies in Parkinson’s Disease and acute ischemic stroke. Prior to joining Alimentiv in 2020, she led the development of an academic clinical trial unit to support Investigator-led trials at the University of Toronto, which grew to an 80-person team and delivered more than 40 clinical trials in its first 7 years.

Ethos

I am most successful when collaborating with others.

Mike has led the business development and marketing teams at Alimentiv since 2015. His focus is finding solutions to clients’ ever-changing needs in the field of gastrointestinal research.

Background

Mike has spent his 30+ year career on the commercial side of the medical device and pharmaceutical industry. He has worked for companies in both areas and has a strong understanding of all aspects of the clinical research process. He listens to clients, understands the clinical trial at hand, and develops/presents accurate, clear and transparent plans.

Mike has a Bachelor of Science and an Honors Bachelor of Commerce.

Achievements

Mike counts as his achievements the growth of good organizations like Alimentiv that employ talented people and work together to drive drug development ahead.

Ethos

“Winning in business is not about satisfaction of one’s own needs and wants or getting the upper hand in a negotiation, but truly about working with great people, delivering high-quality work that meets our sponsors’ needs.”

Tom has been the Director of Finance at Alimentiv since 2012. His success in providing financial leadership for the organization contributes consistently to Alimentiv’s strategic direction.

Background

Prior to this role, Tom held senior financial positions at PharmaNet/i3 as it transitioned through three different ownership structures. He previously gained significant public accounting experience. He holds a CPA accounting designation and has an honours degree in business.

Achievements

Tom was instrumental in creating Alimentiv’s initial corporate structure and established its finance department and initial finance systems. He contributed to the restructuring of the organization in 2018 and continues to support structure and financing initiatives.

Ethos

“A steady hand at the wheel makes for a more productive and enjoyable journey in life, work and relationships.”