Infectious Disease & Vaccines 

Patrick McLeroth, MD, is the Vice President and Global Therapeutic Area Head for Infectious Diseases and Critical Care and is based in Pennsylvania, U.S. Dr. McLeroth has more than 23 years of clinical trial experience including as a principal investigator and roles of increasing responsibility at Fortrea focused on planning and execution of infectious disease and critical care clinical development from first-in-human (FIH) to registration and post marketing trials. Dr. McLeroth has provided significant contribution to several approved antibiotics and has co-authored more than 20 papers in infectious disease. Since 2008, he has worked as the lead medical monitor on multiple protocols covering all aspects of infectious disease, including HIV, hepatitis B, hepatitis C, influenza, bacterial infections, fungal infections, tuberculosis and vaccines. 

Prior to joining Fortrea, he worked at Chase Brexton Health Services, Inc. in Baltimore, MD, as Director of HIV Medicine and Research, and was Principal Investigator on more than 30 protocols between 2002 and 2008. Dr. McLeroth completed his MBBCh degree at the University of the Witwatersrand in South Africa and his internship at the Baragwanath-Chris Hani Memorial Hospital in Johannesburg. Dr. McLeroth completed his fellowship in infectious disease and his residency in internal medicine at St. Luke’s-Roosevelt Hospital in New York City, one of Columbia University’s hospitals. Dr. McLeroth has been with Fortrea, formerly Labcorp, since July 2008.

Sonia Preston is a Senior Director in Strategic Delivery & Growth for Infectious Diseases and Critical Care and is based near Salt Lake City, Utah. Sonia has more than 25 years of clinical research experience including working as a study coordinator for the VA and in a university setting, in major pharma and for the CRO industry in senior positions of leadership in both project management and strategy. Her therapeutic focus within the last five years has been in infectious and immunological diseases, multiple therapeutic areas of rare diseases, renal, cardiovascular, and pulmonary indications. She has been in drug development in Phases I-IV with expertise in pediatric studies and hybrid study designs. 

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.

Andrew Cwiertniewicz, MSN, RN, is an accomplished professional with extensive expertise in vaccine clinical development. Based in Pennsylvania, he serves as a Senior Delivery Director for Infectious Diseases and Critical Care. Throughout his career, Andrew has more than 20 years of experience working with pharmaceutical companies such as Pfizer and Sanofi, and within Contract Research Organizations (CROs). Prior to these roles, Andrew also worked directly with patients in various healthcare and research institutes providing him direct site experiences in research studies. 

Andrew's work has spanned the entire spectrum of vaccine clinical development, from infants to older adults, and his efforts have contributed to vaccine licensing on a global scale as well as notable efforts in several pandemics. He possesses in-depth knowledge of all phases of vaccine development, including clinical research and clinical trial strategy. 

Andrew earned his master’s degree in nursing from Drexel University, bachelor’s in nursing from Cedar Crest College and a graduate nursing degree from St. Luke’s School of Nursing. Andrew served more than 15 years in the United States Army Reserve as a Lieutenant Colonel, Executive Officer for the 8th Medical Brigade (New York, NY). He is a veteran with more than 28 months on active duty for Operation Iraqi Freedom and Operation Enduring Freedom. He is a graduate of various military officer programs, military medicine programs and schools including chemical, biologic, nuclear and explosive warfare. Andrew joined Fortrea in July 2023.

AnnMarie DiGiacomo is an Associate Director in Strategic Delivery & Growth for Infectious Diseases and Critical Care and is based in San Diego, California. AnnMarie has more than 25 years of clinical research experience including in academia, biotech/pharmaceutical and the CRO industry. Her expertise focuses on planning and execution of Infectious Disease, Vaccines and Critical Care with experience in clinical development from first in human to registration. She has held regional and global positions of increasing responsibility in program delivery, with primary focus in Interstitial Lung Disease (ILD) and more recently, COVID-19 trials. AnnMarie has provided significant contribution to the FDA approval of treatment for patients with Idiopathic Pulmonary Fibrosis. 

AnnMarie earned her bachelor’s degree in biology from the University of Southern California. She joined our company in 2003.

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. Anna-Karina (Karina) Putineanu, MD, is a Senior Medical Director for Infectious Diseases and Critical Care and is based in Brussels, Belgium. Dr. Putineanu has more than 27 years of experience as an MD, with senior and extensive global pharmaceutical experience, in the medical, clinical, development and leadership fields. Her experience includes medical and operational leadership of multiple Phase I to IV clinical research programs in a multitude of indications, including pediatric, complex, and rare diseases as well as the development of both therapeutic (drugs and biologics) and vaccine products. Her therapeutic areas of interest and expertise include infectious diseases, immune-inflammation, vaccines, respiratory, non-malignant hematology and rare diseases. 

Dr. Putineanu has a strong record of team leadership at the global level, having built and led teams in Europe, U.S. and Asia. Besides the industry/CRO expertise, Dr. Putineanu collaborates with the European Commission in the evaluation of healthcare/medical projects. 

Dr. Putineanu earned her medical degree from Carol Davila University of Medicine & Pharmacy, Bucharest, Romania. Dr. Putineanu joined our company in 2017.

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.