• London-based CRO Premier Research Group hired David Fitts, MPH, Ph.D as executive director, biostatistics. Fitts comes to Premier from EMD Pharmaceutical, part of German-based Merck KGaA, where he was vice president of the clinical R&D unit’s global biostatistics and data services group. Fitts will now be responsible for all of Premier biostatistics operations in the U.S.

• Synomics Pharma Service s, a Wareham, Mass.-based analytical services CRO, appointed John Pirro as vice president and chief operating officer. Prior to Synomics, Pirro was vice president and general manager of MDS Pharma Service’s North American bioanalytical unit. Pirro has also held positions at Charles River Laboratories, Bayer and Bristol-Myers-Squibb.

• Pharm-Olam International, a Houston-based CRO, hired Sean Alan Reade as vice president of global regulatory affairs. Reade was most recently director of regulatory affairs at PPD. He also was vice president of regulatory affairs at UCB/Celltech.

• Boston, Mass.-based CRO Parexel’s technology unit, Perceptive Informatics, appointed Wade Wirta to vice president of group’s clinical IVRS (interactive voice response systems) business. Wirta was with Pfizer for 13 years, most recently as its director of supply chain informatics group.

• Symyx Technologies, a research & development software provider, appointed Gerard Abraham as president of the company’s research support software, Symyx Tools.

• Holmes Biopharma appointed Mark Slama to the position of associate director of clinical operations for the company’s CRO subsidiary, Qualia Clinical Services. Slama joined Holmes Biopharma from MDS Pharma Services where he held several clinical management positions.

• Cheryl Ray, M.D. was appointed as a scientific adviser to Oregon-Wis.-based CRO Next Generation Clinical Research. Ray is the founder and president of Madison Institute of Neurological Disorders, or the “The Mind Group.”

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