Leaders in innovation

Board-certified medical oncologist and nuclear medicine physician with over 20 years of hands-on experience in medical oncology and nuclear medicine and 15 years in the pharma industry. Her expertise spans various domains, including clinical development, regulatory affairs, safety, and medical affairs. Orchestrated successful product launches across diverse therapeutic areas including immunotherapies, targeted therapies, and cellular therapies. 

As a medical affairs expert, she has collaborated with healthcare professionals, patients, and payers to optimize treatment outcomes. Her deep understanding of trial design, patient recruitment, and data analysis has been instrumental in bringing novel treatments to patients.

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.

Dinesh has over 27 years of industry experience with over 26 years in EU/US regulatory strategy and submissions in in all phases of development (phases I-IV) in a variety of indications including orphan. He has led several meetings with FDA, EMA and MHRA.

Experienced with new chemical entities, biologicals and more recently cell & gene therapy products e.g., AAV2. Dinesh was the global regulatory lead for the early Pfizer pain portfolio up to proof of concept.

He has therapeutic and regulatory experience in Ophthalmology, Neurology, Pain, Rare Diseases, Respiratory, immunology, dermatology, diabetes type 1 and 2, biosimilars. Has supported and led strategic submissions such as IND, fast track, breakthrough, PRIME, orphan designations, pediatric plans.

Friedrich is a board-certified Endocrinologist and Internal Medicine specialist who has >25 years experience in clinical trials and medical practice. He was trained in clinical research and Internal Medicine while working at the Medical University Vienna (Austria) where he was Associate Professor for Clinical Pharmacology. In 2009 he gained an MSc in Public Health from the University of London. He published >50 research papers in peer reviewed journals. His clinical research focus is on Diabetes, Obesity, Endocrinology and Liver Disease (MASLD/MASH, cholestatic liver disease).

Ken has over 30 years Clinical development experience across CROs, pharma & Biotech. He has significant experience from Pre-clinical validation, Global Clinical development planning, Program study execution and reporting, including licence application and approval to post registrational medical affairs activities.

With significant experience leading project management groups globally for over 20 years, through his 8 year tenure at FORTREA he transitioned from leading the PM group into a leadership role integrating the end to end solutions for Labcorp from preclinical through clinical & Laboratory services. In his current role he globally leads the Strategic Delivery and Growth team for Oncology, who are tasked with establishing compelling strategies aligned with our customers clinical development needs from FTIH Phase I to pre and post registrational study planning and delivery.

The primary focus for his team is leveraging the internal and external resources available to ensure a robust data driven study delivery strategy is established for clients needs and then working closely with the operational team to ensure delivery of that strategy. Although aligned to Oncology this team is truly cross therapeutic in background and experience from Cell and Gene therapy, immune-Oncology, radiotherapeutics, auto-immune disease and beyond to devices.

Dobrica Neric, MD, is a Medical Director for Oncology, based in Belgrade, Serbia. Dr. Neric is a specialist of Internal Medicine and sub-specialist of Medical Oncology and has more than 20 years of clinical experience as a physician. He has worked in several medical departments in primary, secondary and tertiary medical care institutions, including the General Hospital of Uzice to Institute for Oncology and Radiology of Serbia in Belgrade. His main focus are several areas within Medical Oncology with strong clinical background in all Internal Medicine departments (especially Cardiology). 

Dr. Neric graduated and completed further education of Internal Medicine specialization and Medical Oncology sub-specialization, on Medicine Faculty of University of Belgrade, Serbia. 

Dr. Neric started his CRO career as a Medical Officer and Medical Monitor and he has joined our company in February 2023. Currently, he is involved in Fortrea clinical trials as a Project Physician, for the Phases I, II and III of clinical trials and also cooperates with other Fortrea departments on different projects.

Publications

• Biomarkers in head and neck squamous cell carcinoma: unraveling the path to precision immunotherapy

Peter Neupert serves as Fortrea’s Chairman and Interim Chief Executive Officer.

Mr. Neupert served as an Operating Partner at Health Evolution Partners, a private equity fund, from February 2012 to July 2014. Prior to joining Health Evolution Partners, Mr. Neupert served as Corporate Vice President, Health Solutions Group at Microsoft from August 2005 to January 2012, and as the founding Chief Executive Officer and Chairman of the board of directors of drugstore.com, which he joined in July 1998. Since 2013, Mr. Neupert has served as a director of Labcorp and as a director of Adaptive Biotechnologies Corporation. Mr. Neupert previously served as a member of the board of directors of NextGen Healthcare, Inc., a public software company, and several private companies. Mr. Neupert served as a member of the Board of Trustees of Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center from June 2007 to June 2020.

Mr. Neupert holds an MBA from the Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth College and a BA in Philosophy from Colorado College. Mr. Neupert was selected to serve on our board of directors because of his extensive knowledge and experience in the field of healthcare information technology and his experience as a director and executive officer of several public companies.

Paulo Nunes, MD, is an Oncology Medical Director based in Porto Alegre, Brazil. Dr. Nunes is a medical oncologist and epidemiologist with more than 10 years of experience in oncology clinical and epidemiological research both as an investigator and medical monitor and has worked both in the academic setting as well as in cooperative oncology groups. His main areas of scientific interest are early-phase clinical trials, epidemiological studies, and gynecological cancers. 

Dr. Nunes earned his medical degree from the Federal University of Rio Grande and completed his internal medicine residency at the Hospital de Clínicas de Porto Alegre, medical oncology residency at Hospital São Lucas da PUCRS, and a fellowship in gynecological cancer and phase I clinical research at McGill University, Montreal, Canada. He holds a master's degree in Epidemiology from the Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul. He joined our company in March 2022.

Publications

• Immune Checkpoint Inhibitors in Breast Cancer: A Narrative Review

Maksym Novikov, MD, is a Senior Medical Director for Fortrea, based in Maidenhead, United Kingdom. He serves as global lead project physician on assigned projects, providing medical expertise and support in the development and conduct of clinical trials. This includes reviewing feasibility of investigator sites and recruitment of trial subjects and performing feasibility risk assessment and data safety monitoring, develops and reviews protocols, case report forms and other data and materials on assigned projects. 

Dr. Novikov has more than 20 years of experience as a physician (surgeon), clinical researcher and medical director. Before Fortrea, he was Senior Medical Officer for Chiltern International in the UK. He also has held clinical research and medical monitoring positions with Novartis, AstraZeneca and other drug development and health care organizations. He joined Fortrea in April 2019.

Dr Jovan Obradovic is ophthalmologist, with more than 10 years of clinical and research experience in Ophthalmology and CRO industry. He spent 5 years in Clinical Center of Serbia as Ophthalmologist and 9 years as Medical Monitor in Clinical Research. He started his pharmaceutical career with Parexel before moving to Chiltern and later Covance (LabCorp) and Fortrea. His Ophthalmology Medical experience spans a variety of phase I ‑ IV clinical trials in retina, glaucoma, keratitis, rare diseases.

At Fortrea, Jovan serves as Medical Director, providing clinical and medical expertise and medical monitoring on assigned projects. In addition, he assesses the feasibility of the study and participate in bids and bid defenses, reviews the study protocol from a medical and scientific point of view, liaises with investigators, sponsor and other company’s functions on relevant aspects of the study, provides out of hours medical coverage for the Medical Monitoring of the project, Medical Support for Clinical Project Teams and Business Development, discusses issues arising from adverse events reported to Pharmacovigilance, Involved in the preparation of variety documents as required, provides consulting advice within company and to Sponsor, provides project specific and therapeutic area training to Company staff and Sponsor as well.

Jovan is based in Belgrade, Serbia.

Diane Ostang, Delivery Director, has a background in Biomedical Engineering and brings over 22 years of industry experience across various therapeutic areas, with over 18 years as part of Fortrea team. She supports project teams at portfolio level, escalates priority issues, and ensures delivery oversight. Diane prides herself in building strong relationships with sponsors and sites, recognizing how reducing patient burden and supporting site needs can make our program the study of choice even in competitive landscapes. ​

Diane is based in US (ET).

Ines Pagel-Langenickel, MD, is an Executive Medical Director of CVMER (cardiovascular, metabolic, endocrine and renal) at Fortrea. As a cardiologist, she has over 18 years of clinical research experience and has served as a principal investigator and co-investigator in several Phase II and III CV trials. Dr. Pagel-Langenickel’s areas of expertise include heart failure, myocardial infarction, CV outcomes, atrial fibrillation, cardiac amyloidosis, stem cell therapy as well as extensive experience with CV outcomes trials and endpoint adjudication. 

Dr. Pagel-Langenickel has an MD from Humboldt University of Berlin, completed a postdoctoral fellowship at NHLBI/NIH and earned an MBA from Mannheim Business School.

Zehra Nurgul Pamuklar, MD, PhD, is a Senior Medical Director of Oncology for Fortrea, based in Cary, North Carolina. Dr. Pamuklar has more than 20 years of experience in oncology clinical drug development in biotechnology companies and CROs. She has supported planning and execution of global oncology clinical development projects from early phase to post approval, within medical affairs and clinical development organizations, and management of pharmaceutical, academic and regulatory interactions. 

Dr. Pamuklar graduated in medicine from the Ankara University School of Medicine, Ankara, Turkey; she has a PhD in Physiology/Immunophysiology and a Master of Science Degree in Clinical Research Management from Duke University, Durham, NC. 

Before joining our company in 2019, Dr. Pamuklar provided medical management of Phase I to Phase III immuno-oncology/oncology clinical trials in non-small cell lung cancer, hepatocellular carcinoma, bladder cancer, esophageal carcinoma, melanoma, pancreatic cancer, prostate cancer, urothelial cancer, colorectal cancer and head and neck cancer.

Lingjuan Pang, MD, is a Medical Director of oncology for Fortrea Clinical Development Service, based in Guangzhou, Guang Dong Province, China. Dr. Pang as a member of our global team of Medical Monitors has significant medical and pharmaceutical expertise with 14 years in the industry. She has vast knowledge of oncology therapeutic experience across Phase I-III. She has built strong relationships with external research groups and Key Opinion Leaders (KOLs) to which our experience and success ensures optimal performance in clinical tirals. 

Dr. Pang earned her master degree from Sun Yet-sen University, Guangzhou, Guangdong, China, major in oncology in 2005. She joined our company in Jan, 2021.

Publications

• Biomarkers in head and neck squamous cell carcinoma: unraveling the path to precision immunotherapy

Plamen Penev, MD, PhD, is a Board-Certified endocrinologist and Executive Medical Director leading a group of five other endocrinologists in the Cardiovascular, Metabolic, Endocrine and Renal therapeutic areas at Fortrea. 

Dr. Penev completed his PhD training at Northwestern University, followed by residency in Internal Medicine at Saint Louis University and fellowship in Endocrinology at the University of Chicago and has over 25 years of combined patient care and clinical research experience in academia and industry.

As a member of our global team of Medical Monitors, Dr. Yi Pi has significant medical and pharmaceutical expertise with more than 15 years in the industry and academia. He was certificated for specialized clinical practice in Cardiac Surgery and internal Medicine of Cardiology and had performed as the Principal Investigator and Medical Monitor, fully engaged in both designing and implementing clinical research in China National Center for Cardiovascular Diseases, Fuwai hospital and Duke Clinical Research Institute. 

After joining our company in 2021, Dr. Pi has been working as lead/regional physician on multiply early phase studies, as well as confirmatory trials in treatment areas including Oncology, as well as Cardiology, Endocrinology, Respirology, Neurology, Dermatology and Rare Diseases. Dr. Pi earned his medical degree from Xiangya School of Medicine and Master of Health Science degree from Duke University School of Medicine.

Martine Poelman, MD, is an Executive Medical Director, Oncology, for Fortrea, based in Brussels, Belgium. She provides medical and scientific support to help advance drug development in hematological malignancies for Fortrea clients. Dr. Poelman brings more than 30 years of experience in clinical research and development as a physician and medical director, specializing in pediatrics and oncology, to Fortrea. Before assuming her current position, she served more than 15 years as Global Head of Oncology Research for Fortrea, providing medical monitoring for more than 200 clinical trials. Before joining Fortrea, she served as Clinical Research Physician, Hemato-Oncology-Infectiology, for Eli Lilly in Brussels. Before going into research, she served as Bone Marrow Transplantation and Hemato-Oncology Physician for the Department of Pediatric Oncology, Wilhelmina Children’s Hospital, in The Netherlands. Martine joined our company in November 1996.

Publications

• The Evolving Landscape in Multiple Myeloma: From Risk Stratification to T Cell-Directed Advanced Therapies
• Mechanisms of immune modulation in the tumor microenvironment and implications for targeted therapy

Isabella Presch, MD, MBA, is a Senior Medical Director. She is a certified pediatric surgeon with more than 10 years of clinical experience across therapeutic areas in academia as well as private and public hospitals. Her pharmaceutical industry experience spans over 20 years across several indication, incl a focus on hematologic rare diseases across Phase I–IV.

Dr. Presch has broad experience in global clinical development developing and overseeing product developments collaborating with internal and external stakeholders, including the FDA, PMDA, EMA, PEI and reimbursement agencies. She also has supported global and local medical affairs leading launches of disruptive treatments in rare hematologic diseases and immunology and has significant experience in supporting due diligences.

Dr. Presch is a strategic, cross-functional global leader supporting rare disease, advanced therapies and pediatric clinical development activities across several therapeutic areas. She was recognized in 2022 with the prestigious Labcorp Chairman´s Award for her outstanding contributions.