Leadership

Our leadership team consists of industry experts that can help guide you through every step of your clinical trial. 

Michael J. Woods

Chief Executive Officer

Steve Powell

Chief Financial Officer

Melissa Nezos

Executive Vice President, Clinical
Operations

Karen Whitman

VP, Corporate Quality & Training

Carol Tseng, Ph.D.

VP, Biostatistics

Tingting Li, Ph.D.

VP, Biometrics

Lisa Squibb, Ph.D.

Associate Vice President, Clinical Data Management

Trisha Rose

Associate Vice President, Business Development – HTS

Laurie Parrish

Associate Vice President, Corporate Partnerships

Earl Webb
Henry, M.D.

Consulting Scientist, Board of Directors & former Chief Medical Officer

Eugenia Henry, Ph.D.

Consulting Scientist, Board of Directors & former Chief Scientific Officer

Michael J. Woods

Chief Executive Officer

Michael Woods serves as Chief Executive Officer for Firma Clinical, applying his nearly 35 years of experience in supporting the developmental needs of pharmaceutical, biotech, and device companies. Prior to joining Firma, Mr. Woods served as Chief Executive Officer for Schulman IRB.

During this time Mr. Woods led a period of unprecedented growth and success at Schulman, during which Schulman expanded service offerings, customer base and geographic scope to become a global provider of research compliance services.

Throughout this expansion, Schulman maintained a pristine regulatory track record and an outstanding reputation for the quality of their services.

Before joining Schulman, Mr. Woods held several senior management positions in the medical device and biopharma services industry, including Aradigm Corporation where he led Business Development efforts to secure co-development and strategic partnering deals with pharmaceutical and biotech companies worldwide.

Throughout his career in the drug and medical device industries, Mr. Woods has had the opportunity to play a key role in the development of dozens of innovative products and services for a variety of organizations. He is in demand as a member of various commercial and non-profit Boards, industry collaboration efforts, and as a sought-after speaker at numerous conferences, all of which is a testament to his broad understanding of how to maximize the efficiency and effectiveness of development collaborations.

Mr. Woods has a MS with Honors in Molecular Biophysics and Biochemistry from Yale University, and a BS, cum laude, in Biology and Chemistry from Walla Walla University.

Melissa Nezos

Executive Vice President, Clinical Operations

Melissa Nezos is Executive Vice President of Clinical Operations at Firma Clinical Research where she leads the Clinical and Project Management teams responsible for delivery of home health. Melissa has worked for over 20 years in a number of global organizations within Clinical Operations, Project Management, and Process Change departments. Her experience spans both large and mid-sized CROs, overseeing large, multi-continent clinical operations teams. Melissa has brought her extensive clinical knowledge and expertise into the decentralized clinical trials arena and has been invited to speak at multiple conferences to present.

Recognized within the industry as a champion for progression, Melissa has been instrumental in delivering global organizational change initiatives. She has been an Executive Steering Committee member for several external organizations, advocating progression and promoting change within the industry.

As an advocate for data driven and technology-led solutions, she has leveraged her ability to work across operational functions to successfully implement innovative clinical monitoring and data quality strategies. Melissa lives in Cary, North Carolina with her husband and 2 children. When her twins are not keeping her busy, she is an active volunteer for several local organizations within the Triangle.

Carol Tseng, Ph.D.

VP, Biostatistics

Carol Tseng is serves as VP of Biostatistics for Firma Clinical Research with her 15 years of both hands-on and senior level clinical research experience in both pharmaceutical and contract research organizations. Carol led the biostatistics and programming teams supporting all phases of clinical trials in drug development including many NDA and sNDA global submissions and approvals. She played key roles in growing and developing the biostatistics team in Firma.

Prior to Firma, Carol worked at inVentiv Health (has become Syneos Health) and Bristol Myers Squibb. Dr. Tseng received her Ph.D. in biostatistics from University of California, Davis.

Tingting Li, Ph.D.

VP, Biometrics
Dr. Tingting Li has 15 years of CRO experience leading and overseeing statistical and programming teams. At Firma, she is responsible for the overall strategy for Biometrics, including project management, resourcing, timeline, team development, client relationship, etc. She is also a hands-on Biostatistician, particularly focused on DMC/DSMB work. She served as unblinded independent statistician for more than 50 global program-wide Phase 2b-3 clinical trials. And she presented and led 200+ DMC safety and efficacy meetings. Tingting received her MPH in Epidemiology and Ph.D. in Toxicology from the University of Washington. She resides in Seattle with her three children.

Lisa Squibb, Ph.D.​

Associate Vice President, Clinical Data Management

Dr. Lisa Squibb has worked in Data Management and Data Sciences in the pharmaceutical industry for over 30 years. Prior to leading the Data Management group at Firma, Lisa led teams most recently at Boehringer Ingelheim. She has contributed to diverse clinical developments over her career in immunology, neuroscience, sexual medicine, diabetes, cardiovascular health, and pain management. Lisa has been a session chairperson and a speaker for sessions at the Society for Clinical Data Management, where she continues to be a member.

Lisa holds a Ph.D. in Health Psychology, a Master of Business Administration in the area of International Business, and a Master of Public Health. Lisa is also a volunteer Emergency Medical Technician in her local town of Monroe, CT and has been involved in providing emergency services for over 15 years. She is a proud mom of two sons and her border collie, Beau.

Trisha Rose

Associate Vice President, Business Development – HTS

Trisha graduated with a BS in Marketing Communications from Columbia College Chicago. Trisha has more than 20 years of business development and sales experience focused on high-profile consumer goods and services, pharmaceuticals, and clinical research. Her experience ranges from boutique agencies to startups and large CRO and Pharma companies. She has specifically been working in business development for home health and decentralized clinical trials since 2015. As part of her remit at Firma, Trisha continues to focus on sales growth, process improvements, sales team building and training, partnership expertise, DCT strategy and innovation.

Trisha resides in the Chicago suburbs with her husband and four children.

Laurie Parrish

Associate Vice President, Corporate Partnerships
Laurie graduated with a BS in Marketing from the University of North Carolina, Wilmington in 2004. Laurie has over 15 years of sales operations experience within the clinical research, healthcare, and health technology industries, working for large global companies. Laurie has had success with managing diverse teams across all functions of proposal management, contracts, data analytics, training, quality, vendor management, clinical supplies, and logistics. She is focused on strengthened teams, improving process, expanding technologies, and strengthening partner relationships. Laurie is a native to Nashville and is home based in Collierville, TN with her husband and 5 boys.

Earl Webb Henry, M.D.

Consulting Scientist, Board of Directors & former Chief Medical Officer

Dr. Henry is the former Chief Medical Officer for Firma Clinical Research and co-founder of H20 Clinical (now doing business as Firma Clinical Research).

He currently serves in a consulting role with Firma. Dr. Henry provides medical expertise for Firma’s clinical programs. Prior to H2O, Dr. Henry served as the Co-Chief Medical Officer of InVentiv Health and Chief Medical Officer of InVentiv Clinical Solutions.

Dr. Henry’s previous positions include: Head of Clinical Research and Regulatory Affairs at Cephalon, Inc.; Head of Clinical Research at Guilford Pharmaceuticals; and Global Head of Central Nervous System Clinical Research at the Sandoz Research Institute. He started his pharmaceutical career at Pfizer Central Research after being on staff at Boston Children’s Hospital and Harvard Medical School.

Dr. Henry received his medical degree from the University of Chicago (Pritzker) School of Medicine and his bachelor’s degree in Chemistry from the University of Illinois. He was a medical intern at the University of Chicago Hospitals and Clinics and trained in neurology and neuropathology at the Longwood Neurology Program in Boston, which included the Peter Bent Brigham Hospital, Beth Israel Hospital and Boston Children’s Hospital.

Eugenia Henry, Ph.D.

Consulting Scientist, Board of Directors & former Chief Scientific Officer

Dr. Henry brings more than 29 years of both hands-on and senior level clinical research experience in large pharmaceutical, biotechnology and contract research organizations. Eugenia has served as a statistical consultant and DMC member for many clients and has vast experience in communicating with the FDA for design and statistical issues. To date, Dr. Henry has been actively involved in 56 NDA/sNDA/ANDA/PMA submissions with 52 approvals.​

Dr. Henry has leveraged her extensive expertise to create successful data management and statistical services companies such as HHI Clinical Research and Statistical Services which was sold to InVentiv in 2004. Dr. Henry then co-founded H2O Clinical Research in 2011 which merged with Pharma Start in 2016 and was rebranded to Firma Clinical Research in 2017. She has also served in similar roles at Pfizer as the head of Biostatistics and Data Management for the Department of Clinical Pharmacology and Experimental Medicine and at Novartis as the head of Biostatistics and Data Management for Medical Affairs. Dr. Henry received her Ph.D. in Biostatistics from the University of Missouri, Columbia.​