Who We Are
Founded in 2003, The Center for Information and Study on Clinical Research Participation (CISCRP) is a first-of-its-kind nonprofit organization dedicated to educating and informing the public, patients, medical/research communities, the media, and policy makers about clinical research participation and the role that each party plays as a participant in the process. CISCRP’s staff and board of advisors have highly diverse backgrounds - from the clinical research, healthcare and advocacy communities. CISCRP’s funding comes from a wide variety of sources including individual donors, government and research institutions, foundations and corporations.
CISCRP Board of Directors
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Ken Getz, Founder and Board Chair
Ken Getz is a Senior Research Fellow at the Tufts Center for the Study of Drug Development, where he studies R&D management and operating models, investigative site, outsourcing, and study volunteer trends and policies. Ken is also the founder and owner of CenterWatch. A well-known speaker at conferences, symposia, universities and corporations, Ken has published more than 200 articles and chapters in peer-review journals, books, and in the trade press. He is the author of two nationally recognized books for patients and their advocates titled, Informed Consent: A Guide to the Risks and Benefits of Volunteering for Clinical Trials and The Gift of Participation, and the recipient of several awards for innovation and scholarship. Ken has held a number of board appointments in the private and public sectors, including serving on the Institute of Medicine's Clinical Research Roundtable, the DIA Foundation, the Consortium to Examine Clinical Research Ethics, and the Clinical Trials Transformation Initiative.
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Sharon Terry, Board of Director, CISCRP
Sharon Terry is the President & CEO of Genetic Alliance. She is the founding Executive Director of PXE International, a research advocacy organization for the genetic condition pseudoxanthoma elasticum (PXE). She is at the forefront of consumer participation in genetics research, services and policy and serves as a member of many of the major governmental advisory committees on medical research. In 2009, Sharon received the Research!America Distinguished Organization Advocacy Award and she has recently been named an Ashoka Fellow. |
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Diane Simmons, President and CEO
Diane Simmons, CISCRP’s President and CEO, has extensive experience in managing a nonprofit. For over ten years, she ran a $5 million United Way agency where she was responsible for the development and implementation of the agency’s strategic plan and she managed the functions of membership, marketing, programming, and finance. Prior to her involvement in running a nonprofit, she rose through the ranks of Citibank/Citigroup to Vice President of Management Development and Training, then Chief of Staff to the head of Citibank Visa/MasterCard, and then to Vice President of Citigroup Insurance Marketing generating $80 million business income annually. |
Leadership Team
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Zachary Hallinan, Director of Development
Zachary Hallinan is CISCRP's Director of Development. A graduate of the University of Pennsylvania, he collaborated there and at the Georgia Institute of Technology on drug-discovery and natural products research, designed internationally-implemented science curricula, and coordinated development activities at three US-based non-profit science and education organizations prior to joining CISCRP. He has been recognized for his work and scholarship by both the American Chemical Society and the National Science Foundation. |

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Jim Brinning, Director of AWARE for ALL
Jim Brinning, CISCRP’s Director of AWARE for All spent ten years at the height of the HIV/AIDS pandemic, developing training programs, workshops, surveys and marketing strategies for the AIDS Action Committee of Massachusetts for both infected and at-risk individuals and communities. In 1999, the Boston City Council passed a resolution in recognition of his pioneering work, especially in communities of color. It was estimated that over 20,000 attended his workshops alone in that period. He was also part of the HIV Vaccines Trials Network (HVTN), a national public-private partnership developed by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAD) to combine the different skills and talents of private industry and academic researchers to work together to move favorable HIV vaccine candidates out of the development pipeline and into human testing. He managed client advisory boards and educational campaigns to raise public awareness about the importance of such research, culminating in a Gubernatorial proclamation declaring HIV Vaccine Awareness Day in Massachusetts. As program director of the Governor’s Task Force on Crimes, he developed statewide community outreach programs to raise public awareness on that issue and targeted programs for students, law enforcement and at-risk communities. In that position, he also worked on the first of its kind anti-bullying best practices guide in Massachusetts and the annual hate crimes report for Massachusetts that gathered and analyzed statistics from the state’s various law enforcement agencies.
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Brian Letourneau, Research and Public Service Administrator
Brian is CISCRP’s Research and Public Service Administrator. Before joining CISCRP, Brian gained experience working on clinical trials at a major Boston hospital. Additionally, he spent time working with patients in physical rehabilitation and mental health treatment settings. His prior work with non-profits includes completing a capacity-building project with a NGO in Benin and volunteering at a Boston-based crisis helpline. Brian received a Bachelor of Science degree in psychology and international affairs from Northeastern University. |

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Niki Eastley, Webmaster and Project Manager
Niki Eastley is CISCRP's Webmaster and Project Manager for the Search Clinical Trials Search Engine. Prior to joining CISCRP in 2006, Niki spent 5 years at CenterWatch where she managed the Clinical Trial Listing Service and the CenterWatch.com website. Niki graduated from Boston College, receiving a BA in Communications. |
Interns |
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David Kates, University of Chicago
John Anderson, Suffolk University |
CISCRP Board of Advisors
Diana L. Anderson, Ph.D.
President & CEO, D. Anderson & Company
John Benbrook, CEO
MMG
Bonnie A. Brescia
Founding Principal, BBK Worldwide
Evan Brett
Vice President, Clinical Trials Media
Dr. Marylou Buyse
Chief Medical Director, SWHP, Scott & White Healthcare
Dr. Robert Califf
Vice Chancellor for Clinical Research, Duke University
Director,
Duke Translational Medicine Institute
Joan A. Chambers
Chief Operating Officer, CenterWatch
Scott H. Connor
Vice President, Marketing, Acurian, Inc
Dr. William Crowley
Professor of Medicine & Director of Clinical Research, Massachusetts General Hospital
Peter A. DiBiaso
Clinical Development Operations, Vertex Pharmaceuticals
Victoria Dwyer DiBiaso, MPH, RN
Head of Protocol Feasibility & Patient Enrollment
Genzyme
Sarah Ebner, MBA, MPH
President, Investigator Support Services, Inc., and Director of Sales,
Phone Screen
Yolanda Fleming
Project IMPACT, National Medical Association
Dr. Jorge Guerra
Sr VP, Global Clinical Operations, Biogen Idec
Courtney Gray Haupt
Vice President, Healthcare, Edelman
Barbara Kephart
Manager, Patient and Investigator Recruitment and Retention, Roche, Pharma Development – US
Felix A. Khin-Maung-Gyi, Pharm. D.
CEO, Founder, Chesapeake Research Review, Inc.
David Knepper, MS, MBA
Head of Continuous Improvement, GMO, Forest Labs
Dr. Greg Koski
Associate Professor of Anaesthesia, Harvard Medical School & VP, Ethics & Professional Conduct, MGH
James Kremidas
VP Customer Solutions Business, Quintiles
Timothy S. LaCroix, MBA
Engagement Partner, Business Development, Premier Research
Mark Lacy
President & CEO, Benchmark Research
Christine Pierre, RN
President & CEO, Rx Trials, Inc.
Kay Ryan
Director of Clinical Research Operations, MGH Clinical Research Program
Bernard Schwetz DVM
Former Director, United States Office of Human Research Protection
Marjorie Speers, Ph.D.
President and CEO, Association for the Accreditation of Human Research Protection Programs
Darby Steadman
Patient Advocate
Linda Strause Ph.D.
Executive Director, Oncology Clinical Operations, Vical Incorporated
Laura Watkins, Ph.D.
Principal, Dovetail Associates
Ms. Myrl Weinberg
President, National Health Council
Nancy Zeleniak
Associate Dean of Communications, Duke University
CISCRP 2010 Annual Report