Taking the Reins, Looking to Grow

Mar 25, 2021 at 01:16 am by pj


Lora Parahovnik, PhD, named CEO at Accel Research Sites

 

Arriving only a year ago just as the Covid-19 pandemic was ramping up, Lora Parahovnik, PhD, was named CEO of Accel Research Sites of Lake Mary after having served as the company’s vice president of clinical operations.   

Parahovnik is a globally experienced leader in clinical research, clinical affairs and operations, translational and basic research, scientific writing, educational training and grants submission at a world-class level. She is a skilled clinical trials expert with over seven years of experience in full cycle clinical project management including administering, directing, supervising, and coordinating multiple projects concurrently from conception to completion. She has provided multi-regional and national leadership in the execution of the scope of work, objectives, the quality of deliverables and other clinical operations activities directly impacting the health care system.

She joined the Accel team in March 2020, just as COVID-19 grew to global proportions, and she helped lead the team in multiple clinical trials for vaccine candidates across trial sites contributing to enrollment of a significant sample size for COVID-19 vaccine trials.

As CEO, Parahovnik looks to grow connections with researchers, providers, and the community to focus on decentralized platforms and deliver high-standard patient-centered clinical research.

“In addition to the Covid-19 prophylaxis, diagnostics, and treatment trials, Accel Research Sites is the multi-therapeutic multi-center for clinical research that provides therapeutic areas and expertise such as multi-therapeutic family medicine, musculoskeletal, cardiology, dermatology, women’s and men’s health, gastroenterology, vaccine, endocrinology, immunology, pulmonary, healthy adult & elderly, ENT, CNS, psych, oncology and pediatrics,” she explained.

“The fight against COVID-19 proves just how essential clinical trials are for the good of all people and the advancement of the medical field,” Parahovnik said.

Demand for services doesn’t show signs of letting up any time soon.

“The coronavirus pandemic brought some novel vaccines by major pharmaceutical companies to fight the virus, which has led to a rapid increase in clinical trial demand from 2020 onwards,” she said.

Accel Research sites participate in Moderna, Pfizer, Novavax, Janssen (J&J) vaccine studies, as well as multiple COVID-19 diagnostic and treatment clinical trials at all sister sites – eight clinical research units and over 20 embedded sites network.

“I’m incredibly proud of what the Accel Research Sites team has accomplished, and I look forward to building on our strengths as CEO,” Parahovnik said.

She plans to see the company expand organically and inorganically, develop the decentralized platform and hybrid models, bring the trial to the patient, and expand with more therapeutic areas.

“Clinical trials are necessary for the development and improvement of all medical treatments offered to the public. We believe that expansion of locations comes in alignment with the services provided to our patients and customers and we would like to develop “patient-centered” trials with more available virtual access to any clinical trial at site,” she said.

Parahovnik previously worked as a vice-president of clinical research with a global medical device company. She holds a Doctor of Philosophy and Master of Science degree from Technion-Israel Institute of Technology. She also earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Pharmaceutical Chemistry from Bar-Ilan University in Israel. And she serves as adjunct faculty in the science department at Valencia College, East Campus, Orlando.

Accel Research Sites provides novel treatment options in all major therapeutic areas. It has more than 30 locations, including a 62-bed Phase 1 unit in Florida and units in Georgia and Alabama. Accel Research Sites has enrolled more than 12,000 patients in more than 1,000 trials since its inception in 1998.

For more information about Accel Research Sites, visit accelresearchsites.com

 

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