News

MetrumRG is pleased to welcome Ted Gilbert as our Quality Director, reporting to Heidi Seaborg, our Senior Director of Compliance and Contracts.

In his new role, Ted will be responsible for developing and executing the strategy for our quality assurance (QA) program. In addition, he will oversee MetrumRG’s quality management system to ensure compliance with our standard operating procedures, good practice quality guidance (GXP), and regulatory requirements.

“Our client relationships are built on a foundation where our scientific expertise and technology are matched with a rigorous commitment to quality and standards,” Seaborg said. “Ted’s background and strong track record with quality assurance and compliance will allow us to deepen that commitment. He will be an important addition to our team and our culture.”

Ted joins MetrumRG from Anju Life Sciences in Fort Lauderdale, FL, where he was Senior Director of Quality and Compliance, Clinical Division. At Anju, he rebuilt the company’s QA program and hosted more than 40 client audits each year, building trust with customer QA groups and reducing overall audit findings by half.

Ted earned a Bachelor of Science in biology from Delaware Valley College in Doylestown, Penn., and a Master of Business Administration in finance from LaSalle University in Philadelphia. He is a Certified Manager of Quality/Operational Excellence from the American Society for Quality and holds a Project Management Certification from the Project Management Institute.

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Welcome back to our blog series: Employee Spotlights! MetrumRG values our employees as both team members and individuals. This series features new employees each month and provides professional and personal insight, so we can celebrate our individuality and commonalities. 

Welcome to the final post of a three-part blog series reflecting on the ACoP (American Conference on Pharmacometrics) 13 meeting held October 30th - November 2nd, 2022.

In the previous (second) post of the series we explored machine learning (ML) methodologies, specifically, Shapley values to aid in interpreting ML models. In the first post we discussed the realistic goals, reasonable scope, and perspective on the effort required to integrate artificial intelligence/machine learning (AI/ML) in pharmacometrics. Today, we dive deeper into several specific applications of large-scale ML projects providing additional insights to pharmacometric projects. 

Pharmacometrics-specific ML approaches for classically challenging models 

Welcome to the second post of a three-part blog series reflecting on the ACoP (American Conference on Pharmacometrics) 13 meeting held October 30th - November 2nd, 2022.

In the first post we discussed the realistic goals, reasonable scope, and perspective on the effort required to integrate artificial intelligence/machine learning (AI/ML) in pharmacometrics. If you missed the first post of this series or need a refresher, check it out here.

MetrumRG is pleased to welcome Dr. Eric Sobie and Dr. Katharina Wilkins to our Translational and Systems Pharmacology (TSP) group. Eric is joining as a Group Leader, Principal Scientist II, and Katharina as a Principal Scientist I.

This is a three-part blog series reflecting on the ACoP (American Conference on Pharmacometrics) 13 meeting held October 30th - November 2nd, 2022.

Several weeks ago I finally had the opportunity to attend my first ACoP in person after the pandemic, and I was especially excited for the talks and discussions around artificial intelligence/machine learning (AI/ML) in pharmacometrics. After reflecting on the conference I noticed some themes, which tie in nicely with the internal MetrumRG discussions, projects, and viewpoint on AI/ML. 

Tariffville, Connecticut – Metrum Research Group has been named to the 2022 Marcum Tech Top 40, an annual awards program recognizing Connecticut’s fastest growing technology and life sciences companies.

At Metrum Research Group (MetrumRG), we are driven by the goals of improving health and defeating disease, particularly where there are unmet needs. We strive to deliver the highest quality scientific and quantitative support for decision-making in biomedical research, development, and therapeutics.

Passion is driven by purpose.

Many believe that you have to bring passion to the workplace. Yet, perhaps passion isn’t just an input, but also the result of a conviction that what you do is purposeful. As author and speaker Simon Sinek said so well, “Passion is an output developed by working toward something we believe in.”

I’ve thought about the concept of passion and purpose a lot after recently having the honor of becoming Chief Executive Officer of Metrum Research Group (MetrumRG). This company’s mission has fueled my own passion for the last seven years. Marc Gastonguay founded MetrumRG as a mission-driven organization. We were set up to build and serve a community of scientists who gave their own time, talent, and treasure to improving health and defeating disease. From my very first exposure to the company, it became clear to me that the whole team was united around the purpose and mission of MetrumRG. I couldn’t help but be filled with the same passion to improve health and defeat disease. 

MetrumRG sits at the intersection of science and technology. Our deep base of scientific expertise and experience is matched with cutting-edge technology to best equip our community and customers to make informed decisions in their effort to defeat disease. I am enthusiastic about the next phase of MetrumRG as we continue to invest in all aspects of our people and our business. I am blessed to be surrounded by a stellar executive team, as well as the entire MetrumRG family who tirelessly strive to do their best work, build each other up in excellence, and serve our various stakeholders with compassion and empathy. Much of my focus will be on working closely with Matt Riggs, Bill Knebel, and Joydeep Bhattacharyya to empower our team to be their best selves. 

I’m very much looking forward to continuing the deep dialogue we have with our scientific community and customers. You cannot serve people without listening to their ambitions and challenges. In the coming months, I will seek to deepen relationships with our key stakeholders and find ways to better support their meaningful work.

Lastly, I want to spend a moment to express my gratitude to Marc for what he has built at MetrumRG. We are in a strong position for growth because of his initial vision and the countless hours and heart he invested in the company. I am honored that he would extend his trust in me to lead MetrumRG in our next chapter. The mission he articulated for MetrumRG remains, and it will forever be the foundation of our future vision and strategy. I'm grateful he will continue to serve on our board and that he remains a strategic advisor to us.

All of us at MetrumRG are united in our mission, and that is what drives our passion. I am inspired by this team’s connection to our mission, whether expressed in building advanced mathematical models, or developing infrastructure tools, or tackling administrative and operational challenges. I am excited to be a catalyst for MetrumRG’s evolution as an organization, and I am honored to be surrounded by the best team and partners as we continue to grow and evolve as a company.

Passion is indeed the result of meaningful work. Passion also is a blessing, and, like all blessings, it is something to be shared. It is my goal and my privilege to reinforce and strengthen the vital work we do at MetrumRG. It is my hope that everyone in our broader circle would experience the same purpose-driven passion that guides us.

“Don’t concern yourself with being the best. Instead, focus on doing your best and the rest will fall into place.”

It was 29 years ago today that my advisor, Sorell Schwartz, shared those words of wisdom with me upon the successful defense of my doctoral dissertation at Georgetown University. I am not sure that I completely understood the nuance of the message at that time, but years of experience and perspective have been enlightening. I’ve learned that a focus on doing your best is a powerful and liberating approach to science, business, and life in general.

The 29 years that followed were characterized by my best efforts to pursue the advocacy, growth, and application of the science of pharmacometrics in the fight against disease. In that time, my path wandered across experiences at the FDA, academia, a non-profit, and 3 different start-ups, including the last 18+ years leading Metrum Research Group… all at full speed and full intensity.

After nearly three decades of this sort of career intensity, it is time for me to slow down a bit and spend more time with my family and on other interests in my life. It’s also time to empower others around me to do their best. That is why, today, I am stepping down from the role of CEO at MetrumRG, and Michelle Johnson begins an exciting new journey as our incoming chief executive (https://news.metrumrg.com/press-release-2022-10).

A focus on doing your best is well aligned with the pursuit of a meaningful purpose and an impact that reaches far beyond any one individual, whereas a focus on being the best often becomes the purpose itself. Doing your best encourages a perspective of team vs. self, it emphasizes collaboration vs. competition, it allows for the priority to be impactful work vs. an ambitious assessment of standing.

It is in that spirit that Jeff Hane and I founded Metrum Research Group in 2004 as a company with a mission to improve health and defeat disease. The idea was to build a team of expert quantitative scientists, support them with leading-edge technology and business infrastructure, and empower the team to do their best… growing the science in our community and delivering high quality services to our biomedical industry partners. Of course, we intended to do all of this while creating a great place to work, too.

As with any business, there were challenges along the way with plenty of opportunities to learn and improve. As our team evolved and innovated, we learned of the tremendous potential for open science (open source software, open models, open courseware) to grow the community, our sphere of influence, and the market itself, sharing knowledge openly and creating opportunities for our business and the entire sector. We recognized the incredible synergy between quantitative sciences and emerging technologies, becoming the first in our industry to fully embrace high-performance cloud computing and ultimately creating a technology solutions business unit to complement our quantitative science services. Most importantly, we learned that our people are the most essential element of our business and we aimed to create a culture of empathy, transparency, trust, kindness, inclusion, and service to others.

Over the past few years, I’ve come to understand that doing my best as CEO of MetrumRG means doing everything I can to prepare our team and company for the future success of our mission, even if that means stepping aside so that others will have a greater opportunity to grow and rise to the challenge of doing their best.

It is, therefore, with full trust and confidence that I have asked Michelle Johnson to lead the next phase of the MetrumRG journey as our new Chief Executive Officer. As our Chief Operating Officer, Michelle was exceptional, demonstrating invaluable leadership skills and a strong understanding of our mission and culture. Michelle led business operations functions, was responsible for oversight of our finances, and created lasting relationships with our staff, our partners, and other stakeholders. As part of our executive team, she was an instrumental voice in every key business decision during her tenure. I know that Michelle is committed to the continued pursuit of the MetrumRG mission and founding principles and I’m excited to see how she will apply her unique talents, skills, and vision to the leadership of our company.

The company has never been in a better position to embrace the tremendous potential for quantitative sciences and technology in the biomedical industry. Michelle and our executive team, Bill Knebel, Matt Riggs and Joydeep Bhattacharyya, form a unified partnership, each bringing individual skills and knowledge that combine to form a solid foundation for the future of MetrumRG. Together they empower our team of expert scientists, service-driven operations staff, and innovative technology engineers to do their best work. I am confident that our team is as ready as ever to continue engaging in strong collaborations with our customers and community and to deliver lasting impact on patients’ lives.

My journey with MetrumRG has been incredibly rewarding. I thank God for this experience and for all the amazing people who have contributed along the way. I am grateful to our families, our employees past and present, our customers and business partners, academic collaborators and trainees, colleagues in regulatory agencies, and all the passionate scientists and engineers in our community. Your guidance, trust, loyalty, partnership, support, and friendship have enabled MetrumRG to make a difference and we look forward to your continued alliance long into the future.

It is truly a blessing to be able to turn over leadership of the company on my own terms at a time when MetrumRG’s future is incredibly bright. The mission to defeat disease is still unfulfilled and it will be my privilege to serve Michelle and the executive team in an advisory role on the board of directors as they continue the important work of MetrumRG. This will be new territory for me and I am committed to doing my best.

MetrumRG is excited to welcome Dick Brundage, Pharm.D., Ph.D., FISoP, FCP as Principal Scientist II and a member of MetrumRG’s Science Advisor group. As a Science Advisor, Dick will provide strategic support and technical guidance for clients and staff during the planning and execution of our quantitative-based decision support services.  He will also enrich MetrumRG’s open-source training materials and long-standing commitment to pharmacometrics education.