With more than 35 years of experience in biopharmaceutical services and consulting, Paula helped build the CRO industry and the preeminent CRO in the industry, Quintiles. Her three-decade career at Quintiles culminated in serving for five years as President of Clinical Development, the largest business unit within Quintiles (now IQVIA).
In 2017, Paula joined Novan, Inc. and is currently Chairman of the Board, President and Chief Executive Officer. She is a Board member of AMR, an integrated network of investigator sites, and co-founder of Habergeon LLC. Paula is also an Adjunct Professor in the Public Health Leadership Program at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Gillings School of Global Public Health.
For her outstanding contributions to healthcare and pharmaceutical development, Paula was honored with a Distinguished Alumna Award from her alma mater, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Paula provided expert testimony in the U.S. Congressional hearing on the topic of modernizing clinical trials: “21st Century Cures”, a bill later approved by the House of Representatives in 2015. She has been named as one of the 10 top women in biotech by FierceBiotech.
Paula holds a bachelor of science and a master’s in Public Health, both from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, with a specialization in Biostatistics. In 2018, she co-authored the best-selling book, Remember Who YOU Are, with Lisa T. Grimes.