Leaders in innovation

Susanne Schmidt, MD, PhD, is a Senior Medical Director of Fortrea’s Rare Diseases, Advanced Therapies and Pediatrics Team (RAPT). She is a Board-Certified pediatrician with more than 14 years of clinical experience across multiple therapeutic areas including pediatric gastroenterology and rare diseases. 

Dr. Schmidt has 10 years of industry experience in the CRO environment, which includes projects in pediatrics, rare diseases and advanced therapies (gene therapy, RNAi) across many indications and all phases of development. She also has broad experience supporting projects across all pediatric age groups including premature neonates.

Verena brings more than 25 years of clinical research experience, with 17 years in global project management across Phase I to Phase IV. She has more than 16 years of experience at Fortrea and offers extensive operational background in respiratory indications, including sinusitis, pharyngitis, bronchitis and pneumonia. 

In her previous role as Director of Project Management, Verena provided oversight for several international studies in Asthma and Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD). She currently provides functional support from a strategic perspective to our teams.

Vikas Mohan Sharma, MD, joined Fortrea in December 2023 and serves as its Global Head of Neuroscience and Ophthalmology therapeutic areas. He is a recognized industry leader with more than 23 years of experience in healthcare and clinical development, known for his expertise in research ethics and patient safety. 

Dr. Sharma has held various leadership roles in healthcare, CROs and the biopharmaceutical industry and is considered a key opinion leader in the field of drug development. He leads and collaborates on various industry, consortia and non-governmental efforts to advance progress in precision psychiatry, digital biomarkers and the use of technologies to address healthcare access and “last mile” challenges. 

In his most recent role with Boehringer Ingelheim, Dr. Sharma was responsible for the end-to-end clinical development strategy and execution of early and late-stage products, as well as leading global clinical development, medical affairs and scientific relations teams spanning multiple therapeutic areas. With 16 years of clinical experience in psychiatry and as an investigator in CNS trials, Dr. Sharma has a track record of success in developing and executing first-in-class, “blue ocean” and “beyond the pill” product strategies for pharmacological as well as digital assets. He is known to champion early investment in biomarker development and has a passion for bringing the right stakeholders together. 

Dr. Sharma also serves an independent ethics expert with the European Research Council and other non-governmental organizations. He is passionate about helping children with special needs and volunteers for this cause by sharing his time and expertise. He earned his MD in Psychological Medicine from Seth Gordhandas Sunderdas Medical College (GSMC) and the King Edward Memorial (KEM) Hospital in Mumbai, India.

Dr. Cheerag Shirodaria is the Vice President and Cardiovascular/Metabolic Therapeutic Area Head at Fortrea. He has over 25 years of clinical experience as an interventional and clinical cardiologist and remains on the Faculty at Oxford University Hospitals. He is an expert in cardiac imaging, having completed his doctoral thesis at the University of Oxford on the role of cardiovascular MRI in the evaluation of vascular function. He is also co-director of the coronary computed tomography angiography (CCTA) service in Oxford. He is also co-founder and Chief Development Officer of Caristo Diagnostics, an AI image analysis company that has developed proprietary AI image analysis technology that quantifies cardiometabolic risk associated with coronary inflammation plaque and adipose tissue characteristics. He has supported multiple companies through regulatory interactions, protocol development and Scientific Advisory Board interactions. 

Dr. Shirodaria received his medical degree from St. Bartholomew’s Hospital Medical College in London, his medical doctorate from the University of Oxford and his MBA from London Business School.

Hannah has more than 12 years industry experience focused on healthcare communications, patient insights and input, recruitment and retention solutions and patient support programs. Her experience spans Phase I-III global trials across range of therapeutic areas including neurodegenerative conditions with specific experience in Alzheimer’s Disease, ALS, Multiple Sclerosis, Parkinson’s disease, neuropathy and pain. 

She is driven by a strategic mindset to identify and understand the experiences, challenges and needs of patients and their families and build targeted data-driven recruitment strategies that enable truly patient-centric studies.

Vitaliy Solskyy, MD, PhD, is an OB/GYN doctor by background (Institute of Pediatrics, Obstetrics and Gynecology, AMS of Ukraine) and holds a PhD in the field of gynecological endocrinology. He has authored around 40 scientific publications, did participate in numerous OB/GYN forums around the world, along with presenting at several big national and international congresses. Dr. Solskyy has joined Fortrea (formerly Labcorp/Covance) in 2015 and overall has more than 20 years of clinical research experience running global studies, 15 of which in management roles of increasing responsibility. He has a passion for women’s health with the dedication of his career to this field and has participated in numerous Phase II-IV studies in a variety of women’s health indications, including last eight years predominantly managing and overseeing several large women’s health programs.

Norberto Soto, MD, is Senior Medical Director for Infectious Diseases and Critical Care and is based in Philadelphia, USA. Norberto has more than 25 years of clinical research experience with academia, biopharma and CROs, focused on planning and execution of infectious disease, inflammation and general medicine clinical development from first in human to product registration. He has held regional and global positions of increasing responsibility in fields of infectious diseases, rheumatology, respiratory, gastroenterology, cardiovascular, hematology and urology. 

Norberto has co-authored three book chapters, and author/co-authored more than 30 papers in infectious diseases. Norberto earned his medical degree from the Escuela Colombiana De Medicina, Bogota, Colombia and completed his Internal Medicine residence and Infectious Diseases fellowship at Maimonides Medical Center in Brooklyn, NY. Prior to joining Fortrea, Norberto worked as Research Physician at National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) in the National Institutes of Health (NIH) in Bethesda, MD, and held various clinical development positions in pharma and biotech companies. He has been with Fortrea and the legacy companies since 2013.

Alvin Tan is a Director of Strategy Delivery & Growth for Infectious Diseases and Critical Care and is based in Singapore. Alvin has more than 20 years of clinical development experience across operational delivery and global project management, covering all phases of research. He is trained in pharmacology and started as CRA, CRM and PD with increasing responsibility in regional project management and clinical operations to his current position with responsibility to provide operational strategy and planning for studies regionally and globally. He brings extensive experience in designing clinical trial strategy and recommending operational success factors and site selection across multiple therapeutic areas. He aggregates expertise of peers to create value for customers in supporting them to bring innovative medicines to patients faster and efficiently. Alvin joined our company in 2022.

Darby Thomas, PhD, is the Scientific Director of Fortrea’s Rare Diseases, Advanced Therapies and Pediatrics Team (RAPT). She has more than 20 years of experience in virology, cell and molecular biology, gene and cell therapy and biotechnology. 

She also has broad experience in adeno-associated virus (AAV) gene therapy with roles in CMC, discovery, translational development and patient advocacy for several AAV-focused companies including AGTC, StrideBio, and Sio Gene Therapies with an emphasis on rare neurological diseases and ophthalmology. 

Before the formation of Fortrea, Dr. Thomas was the Director of the Labcorp Enterprise Cell and Gene Therapy team. She also worked as the Director of Rare Diseases at Intrexon, where she gained translational experience developing AAV and plasmid-based gene therapies as well as gene-modified cell therapies for the treatment of rare skin disorders.

Carrie Thompson is a Director in Strategic Delivery & Growth for Infectious Diseases and Critical Care and is based in Sheffield, UK. Carrie has over 18 years of clinical research experience, 14 of which with Fortrea. Her experience working in CROs and investigator-led settings, includes Phase I-III clinical trial execution, delivery and strategy. Carrie’s therapeutic experience spans multiple areas, including hematology, rare diseases and IBD. For the last six years, Carrie’s therapeutic focus has been infectious diseases, specializing in CHB with expertise in hybrid and platform study designs, overseeing operational delivery at a global level. 

Carrie earned her MSc degree in Clinical Research at the Welsh School of Pharmacy, Cardiff, S. Wales and completed an executive MBA programme at York St John University, UK in 2022.Sonia is a certified Green Belt in Six Sigma and has been certified as a Project Management Professional (PMP) since 2003 and remains an active member of the Project Management Institute. She earned her master’s degree in operational management from the University of Washington. She joined our company in 2006.

Dr. Todorova is a board-certified Neurologist and Parkinson’s Disease (PD) and Movement Disorder-focused medical expert with 19 years of clinical research experience. She has mainly worked with patients with neurodegenerative conditions and demyelinating diseases. Dr. Todorova is a member of the International Parkinson and Movement Disorders Society, a chapter author for textbooks in PD and has contributed to 14 publications in international medical journals, 13 of which are in PD and movement disorder as well as 16 abstracts or oral presentations in international medical journals/conferences in movement disorders.

Yulianna Tymovska, MD, PhD, is Senior Medical Director based in Brisbane, Australia. Dr. Tymovska has 20 years of clinical experience, specializing in Oncology (extensive clinical experience in breast, head and neck cancer, melanoma, and gynecology malignancies diagnostic and treatment, as well as research in mechanisms of tumors resistance to anti-cancer treatment and immune oncology). 

Dr. Tymovska has more than 15 years of clinical research experience as a clinical trial investigator and medical director (monitor) providing medical expert oversight and monitoring of clinical trials, contribution and scientific expertise to study design, and regulatory documents, work in cross functional team on all phases of the studies and trials including feasibility assessments, design process, education efforts, and management of medical information. 

Dr. Tymovska earned her medical degree and completed clinical oncology postgraduate training in Bogomolets National Medical University, Kyiv, Ukraine, and PhD training in Kavetsky IEPOR of NAS of Ukraine. She joined our company in Jan 2023.

• 33 years in industry with experience in pharmaceutical and medical device product development 
• 28 years in Project Management roles 
• Career spans both CRO and Pharma/Biologics/Med Device roles 
• Project Manager/Project Director on two Fortrea home hemodialysis studies 
• Experienced in set up and conduct of hemodialysis studies

Veerle Van De Velde, MD, currently works as a Global Project physician in the IGM therapeutic area (TA). In this role, she is responsible for overseeing global trials, mostly in rare respiratory indications. Tasks include protocol development and feedback, team training, site communication, data review and interpretation, DMC and adjudication support, data review meetings, assistance with CSR writing. Drawing on more than 25 years of experience in the pharmaceutical and CRO industry, Dr. Van De Velde gets involved in business development activities and may also act in a consultant role as part of a molecular development team. 

Dr. Veerle Van De Velde obtained her medical degree in 1995 and worked as a sub-investigator in the Respiratory Department of the University Hospital in Ghent. She started her career in drug Development in the respiratory area in a hospital setting and spent four years doing clinical research in Phase II, III, and IV trials in asthma, COPD, respiratory infections and pulmonary oncology under the guidance of Prof R.A. Pauwels. As a sub-I, Dr. Van De Velde was responsible for recruiting patients, administering patients’ project-specific procedures, compiling CRF data, collecting adverse event information, and timely reporting to sponsors and ethics committees. She has experience in both basic and clinical research, with expertise in rare respiratory disease and IPF. Later, she worked as a project physician in a variety of indications and was responsible for overseeing global clinical trials, medical data review and team training both internally and externally.

Laura Vidal, MD, is a certified medical oncologist with extensively experience in oncology drug. She holds two fellowships in Clinical Drug Development from the Royal Marsden hospital, London and the Princess Margaret Hospital, Toronto. She spent 15 years in clinical and academic positions specializing in the field on oncology and drug development. Throughout her career, Dr. Vidal has authored or co-authored dozens of peer-reviewed journal articles and received numerous health and research awards. Her research interests are focused on early phase development of targeted agents, molecular and imaging biomarkers and anticancer immunotherapy. She holds a thesis title from the London University in oncolytic viruses from her pre-clinical and clinical work in reovirus (Reolysin®). 

She joined our company in December 2020. Dr. Laura Vidal is the Medical Head of the Oncology group in EU. She contributes to the development of Fortrea policies involving medical, safety and therapeutics; serves as point of contact for key clients on business and studies oversight; manages relationships with investigators/sites for clinical trials, and mentors clinical research physicians and medical directors across the company.

Liang Wan, MD, PhD, is a Medical Director for Fortrea in Shanghai, China. He serves as lead project physician on clients’ drug development projects, provides medical/scientific expertise to project teams, reviews protocols and medical data, and is responsible for medical and safety monitoring on assigned projects. 

Dr. Wan has more than 25 years of experience as a physician, research clinician and medical director with therapeutic experience in oncology, gastroenterology, and hematology. Before joining Fortrea, he was Medical Director for IQVIA in Shanghai, serving as Global or Regional Medical Advisor on assigned projects. He began his career as a surgeon and clinical investigator at Shanghai Jiao Tong University Rui Jin Hospital. Dr. Wan joined our company in May 2019.

Friedrich (Fritz) Wieser, MD, is an OB/GYN who received his MD from the Vienna Medical University (Vienna, Austria). After completing his gynecology residency at the Dept. of Gynecology at the University Hospital in Vienna, he did a fellowship in Reproductive Medicine at UCSF in San Francisco, CA. 

Dr. Wieser has over 20 years of clinical and research experience in a broad range of indications including endometriosis, fibroids, menopause, contraception, gynecological cancer and medical devices. 

Before joining Fortrea as Medical Director, Dr. Wieser was a Global Medical Director at Merck KGaA (Darmstadt, GE) and served as Assistant Professor in the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology at Emory University School of Medicine in Atlanta, Georgia. During that time, Dr. Wieser served as an NIH-funded investigator and sub-investigator for many gynecology studies and lead several global women’s health programs.

Reigetsu Yoshikawa, MD, PhD, is a Senior Medical Director for Fortrea in Osaka, Japan. She contributes to the development of medical strategies and execution of clients’ clinical programs and provides medical/scientific expertise to project teams. Dr. Yoshikawa has more than 30 years of experience as a physician, medical director/advisor, and professor of medicine in Japan. 

Before joining Fortrea, she was Senior Medical Advisor for Eli Lilly and previously served as Senior Medical Lead for Dainippon Sumitomo Pharma in Japan. Dr. Yoshikawa has served on the editorial boards of several peer-reviewed journals and has authored or co-authored dozens of articles, presentations, and abstracts. She joined our company in January 2021.