COLUMBIA, Md.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Advarra, the company formed by the merger of Chesapeake IRB and Schulman IRB to create the premier provider of IRB, IBC and research compliance services in North America, announces its leadership structure.

Pat Donnelly, formerly Chairman of the Board of Directors for Chesapeake IRB, will serve as the Chief Executive Officer. Jeff Wendel, President and CEO of Chesapeake IRB, has been named Advarra’s President and Chief Operating Officer. Michael J. Woods, President and CEO of Schulman IRB, has been appointed to the company’s Board of Directors. Randall Hein will serve as President of Advarra Consulting, the organization’s global research quality and compliance consulting division. Tony Davis, President and Managing Partner of Linden Capital Partners, will become Chairman of the Board of Directors.

Other key management staff for Advarra include: Michele Russell-Einhorn, Chief Compliance Officer and Institutional Official; Scott Uebele, Chief Financial Officer; Nitin Uplekar, Chief Information Officer; Robann Cunningham, Senior Vice President, Business Development; and Lauri Carlile, Vice President, Operations.

“We are fortunate to have so many talented and experienced leaders from the legacy Chesapeake and Schulman management teams,” said Donnelly. “By forming Advarra, we leverage our mutual strengths to expand services and technologies while maintaining our robust standards of research review, efficiency and quality.I look forward to continuing to work with Jeff, Michael and the rest of the leadership group as we fully integrate the teams and establish the premier provider of IRB, IBC and global research compliance consulting services.”

About Advarra
Advarra, headquartered in Columbia, MD, provides institutional review board (IRB), institutional biosafety committee (IBC) and global research compliance services to clinical trial sponsors, CROs, hospital systems, academic medical centers and investigators. Its innovative technology and services put research participants first, ensuring the highest standards of research review to meet complex human research protection oversight requirements. Advarra’s cloud-based submission and review platform, the Center for IRB Intelligence (CIRBI), allows for a rapid review turnaround time and document accessibility. Advarra supports all phases of research across multiple therapeutic areas. For more information, visit advarra.com.