Winners of the U.S. Clinical Researcher of the Year competition were announced following an intense finals day hosted by partner SAS at its global headquarters in Cary, N.C.

The competition, organized by PharmaTimesand supported by professional organizations including the Association for Clinical Research Professionals (ACRP), CenterWatch and CORE, recognizes the clinical excellence of U.S. researchers through a series of competency-based challenges reflecting real-life scenarios, which are judged by a panel of more than 30 senior industry executives.

This year, 64 finalists from 17 research institutions, global pharmaceutical companies and CROs—including the Grunberger Diabetes Institute, Children’s Medical Hospital Central California, AbbVie, Alcon, Lilly, Chiltern, Covance, INC Research, inVentiv Health Clinical, Parexel,PPD and PRA—competed head-to-head for the titles.

PRA took the biggest prize, winning U.S. Clinical Company of the Year for its finalists’ achievements across the competition. "In the hustle and bustle of our day jobs, it is sometimes hard to find time to acknowledge the brilliance and expertise of our team members and what a fantastic job they do in driving forward clinical research. PRA is committed to identifying and developing extraordinary talent and is extremely pleased to be recognized in these efforts for the second year running as Clinical Company of the Year," the company said in a statement.

Meanwhile, Covance took the top spot for Clinical Team of the Year, Narvelle Delabruere of Children’s Hospital, Central California won the Study Nurse title, Rebecca York of PPD won New CRA of the Year, Allison Tallon of INC Research took the title of Experienced CRA of the Year and Promise Lawrence of PRA won Project Manager of the Year.

"I am so appreciative of the U.S. Clinical Researcher competition,” said Delabruere, “as it afforded me the opportunity to challenge my knowledge and application of good clinical practice and applicable federal regulations."

Carol Parish, who organized the team finals simulation, said, “It’s been a great competition this year. Everyone rose to the challenge, as we really tested the team dynamic. All of the team finalists were tremendous, and the team that took the Pharma truly deserved their win.” Parish is senior director, clinical development, head EU and EMAP at Stiefel, a GSK company.

The key theme of the 2013 competition was strategic partnering. Eileen Daniel, senior director, development operations at Endo Pharmaceuticals and new chair of the U.S. competition’s executive committee, said, “In every clinical program, we carry out highly regulated work across vast networks of people and motivations. To be effective, clinical researchers at sites, at CROs and at sponsor companies have to demonstrate an adeptness and a creativity in problem-solving that is a match with the depth of their technical skills. The U.S. Clinical Researcher of the Year competition creates a unique experience that highlights and promotes these needs."

The list of winners and finalists can be found at www.usclinicalresearcher.com, with photography and videos of competition highlights.

“SAS was delighted to once again host the finals of the U.S. Clinical Researcher of the Year and welcome the nation’s top clinical researchers to our global headquarters,” said Dan Cain, senior director for SAS Health and Life Sciences. “We fully support this initiative, which aims to recognize and encourage the tremendous work done by professionals within the U.S. clinical research fraternity. SAS works closely with the life sciences industry to generate insights from the wealth of data resulting from clinical trials, and is helping to provide infrastructure to accommodate clinical trial data transparency efforts, a key initiative for the industry as regulators continue to demand more clarity and uniformity. We congratulate the finalists and winners for their tremendous achievement and wish them continued success.”

The competition represents a huge collaboration between pharma, CROs and site management organizations, all aligned around a common goal of recognizing and encouraging talented clinical research professionals. This initiative shows what can be achieved by cross-industry collaboration. The PharmaTimes team congratulates and thanks all of the winners, finalists, business partners and sponsors.

The competition will be covered in the December issue of PharmaTimes magazine. If you are interested in learning more about the 2014 competition, contact donna@pharmatimes.com.

The U.S. Clinical Researcher of the Year competition thanks all of the organizations that supported this year’s event: Chiltern, CORE, INC Research, inVentiv Health Clinical, PRA, PMG Research and SAS, and the executive committee, comprising ACRP, ACRP, SCRS, Alcon, AstraZeneca, CenterWatch, Endo Pharmaceuticals, GSK, MSD, Shire, Sanofi and Stiefel.

The 2013 winners are:

Clinical Team: Covance

Project Manager: Gold—Promise Lawrence, PRA; Silver—Sarah Connell, PRA; Bronze—Adrienne Stoudenniure, PRA

Study Nurse: Narvelle Delabruere, Children’s Hospital, Central California

New Clinical Research Associate: Gold—Rebecca York, PPD; Silver—Lee Steen, PRA; Bronze—Kelly Little, PPD

Experienced CRA: Gold—Allison Tallon, INC Research; Silver—Matt Eaton, Alcon; Bronze—Scott Stockmyer, Parexel

U.S. Clinical Company of the Year: PRA