EMA's Dr Stella Blackburn joins Quintiles

Quintiles has appointed Dr Stella Blackburn as vice president and global head of risk management for its real world and late phase research group.  

The development and commercial services group said Dr Blackburn's new role would see her assist with areas such as the interpretation of pharmacovigilance legislation and ensuring regulatory compliance.  

They are key areas for Dr Blackburn, who joins Quintiles from European medicines regulator the EMA where she spent more than 16 years in various roles, most recently as the risk management development and scientific lead.  

Cynthia Verst, president, real world and late phase research at Quintiles, said: “Stella's experience developing innovative risk management solutions is a tremendous addition to our team. Throughout her career, Stella has forged cross-sector partnerships to develop comprehensive risk management policies and processes designed to protect patients and advance clinical research worldwide.”  

In her new role Dr Blackburn will be responsible for leading the group's risk management efforts in the US, EU, Australia and Canada.  

She said: “Together with my colleagues at Quintiles, I aim to provide best-in-class solutions for real-world and late phase evidence development across the global healthcare system and to further develop risk management practices to benefit patients throughout the world.”

Before joining the EMA, Dr Blackburn worked in hospital medicine and also spent more than 11 years in the pharmaceutical industry in a variety of leadership roles.