ECRON ACUNOVA

Leadership Team

Ayaaz Hussain Khan, PhD
Sr VP – BA/BE

		Ayaaz Hussain Khan, PhD Sr VP – BA/BE As the Senior Vice President – BA/BE Services, based in Manipal Dr Khan brings with him an experience of conducting over 250 BA/BE studies and has been part of various regulatory audits like USFDA, ANVISA, AFSSAPS-France and DCGI India. He started his career with Ranbaxy Research Laboratories where he was responsible for method development and validation of drugs and / or metabolites for BA/BE studies using LCMSMS. He was sponsored by Ranbaxy Labs for a Senior Research Fellowship for Doctoral Research at Hamdard University. After his stint with Ranbaxy, he was in-charge of the pharmacokinetic unit at Orchid Healthcare, Chennai responsible for biostudies with the clinical team with the credit of conducting over 22 studies in the in-house centre. Dr Khan moved to GVK Biosciences, Hyderabad as Principal Scientist. As a Project Director, he was responsible for the conduct of BA/BE studies and has managed the facility of 4 clinics with 144 beds and the bioanalytical facility. Dr Khan has completed PhD in Pharmaceutical Medicine with specialization in Clinical Pharmacokinetics from Jamia Hamdard University, New Delhi. He completed M.Pharm from BIT, Ranchi and is a gold medalist in pharmacy from his graduating University from The Tamil Nadu Dr. MGR Medical University, Chennai. Dr Khan is a member of Indian Pharmacological Society.

Bernd Wagner, PhD
Dir QA & Regulatory

Ernst Bluemner,
MD & MSc
Director Biometrics, Europe

		Ernst Bluemner, MD & MSc Director Biometrics, Europe Dr Bluemner has been with Ecron Acunova since 2001. With over 25 years enriched experience in Clinical Research, he is responsible for various aspects in the project progress namely planning, data management, statistics and medical writing. Dr Bluemner has provided biometrical guidance for numerous multi-national clinical trials (phase II - phase IV) in Western and Eastern Europe as well as in South America. The key areas include oncology, cardiovascular diseases, gastrointestinal diseases, skin diseases, and hormone replacement therapy. Prior to Ecron Acunova, he had been with Max Planck Institute for Plasma Physics as Data analyst and programmer in Garching (Germany) and as Director Biometrics at Staticon International in Martinsried (Germany). Dr Bluemner is a member of the German Society for Medical Informatics, Biometrics and Epidemiology (GMDS) and the International Biometric Society. He is also a member of the Drug Information Association (DIA). In 1993 he was awarded with the E.W. Baader prize in Industrial Medicine. Dr Bluemner is an MSc in Mathematics and was awarded an MD by the Ludwig Maximilian University in Munich (Germany).

Liong Hui Cien Linda,
Director Operations, South East Asia

		Liong Hui Cien Linda Director Operations, South East Asia Liong Hui Cien Linda as Director Operations, South East Asia is with Ecron Acunova since 2012. In this role Linda will be responsible for expansion of Ecron Acunova into the new geographies in South East Asia. She will also be responsible for the delivery of all the clinical trial related operations. She will also mentor and guide the clinical operations team within SE Asia. Prior to joining us, Linda was working with Singapore Clinical Research Institute Pte. Ltd. as Head of Strategic Operations and Quality Assurance. She was responsible for clinical research networks, Clinical Operations Efficiency Research, Contract Management and Financial Management and Continuous process improvements, etc. Linda worked in various capacities in Novartis and Eli Lilly group companies in the past and was also responsible for establishing the Novartis Philippines Clinical Operations. During her early stint of experience she had worked as Pharmacist at three different hospitals. Linda has over 18 years of experience with healthcare and clinical research industry. She has extensive functional experience in clinical operations & data management, strategic business, quality assurance and training. Linda has completed Bachelor of Science (Pharmacy) from National University of Singapore and MSc in Clinical Pharmacy from Queen’s University of Belfast. She also has an MBA from University of Western Australia, Perth.

Christian Drummer,
Adj. Prof., MD
Global Medical Director

		Christian Drummer, Adj. Prof., MD Global Medical Director Adj. Prof., Dr Drummer joined Ecron Acunova in 2008 as a Medical Manager. He has over 25 years of professional experience. He has continuously expanded medical and safety services. Currently he is Head of Medical Services and Pharmacovigilance. Since 2011, he is Global Medical Director. Adj. Prof., Dr Drummer is certified specialist in clinical pharmacology. He participated in approx. 150 studies, in many cases as project leader and medical expert (“LKP”). He is member of various scientific societies like American Society of Hypertension, American Physiological Society, German Society of Pharmacology and Toxicology, German Society of Physiology, PV working group of German Society for Good Research Practice. He held different positions at the Klinikum Innenstadt of University of Munich, the Institute of Aerospace Medicine and at CobraMed before he joined Ecron Acunova. He was awarded MD by the University of Munich (Germany) and a habilitation in clinical pharmacology at the University of Aachen (Germany).

Sabine Kuehnau, PhD
Director Marketing & Contracts

		Sabine Kuehnau, PhD Director Marketing & Contracts Dr Kuehnau has been with Ecron Acunova since 1992, actively involved in the Company development from a national to an international full-service CRO. She was responsible for project management and proposal management as per client needs in the pharmaceutical, biotech and device industry. Subsequently she was responsible for the supervision of project performances, cost control, proposals, personnel affairs and day-to-day business. Dr. Kuehnau has managed more than 100 national and multi-national clinical projects (mainly phase II - phase IV), performed mainly in Western and Eastern Europe. The key areas include rheumatology, gastroenterology, gynecology, pulmonology, dermatology, cardiovascular diseases etc. Prior to ECRON, Dr Kuehnau began her career in 1991 as a medical writer. In addition, she has been the Production Manager according to AMG (German Drug Act) in 2006 and 2007. Dr Kuehnau is a member of the German Society for Pharmaceutical Medicine (DGPharMed). She is an MSc in Biology and was awarded a PhD by the Faculty of Biology of the University of Constance (Germany).

Natalya Volkova, MD, PhD, MBA
General Manager – Russia

		Natalya Volkova, MD, PhD, MBA General Manager – Russia Dr. Volkova is General manager – Russia and EA expert on conducting global clinical studies in Central and Eastern Europe. She has experience in seeking marketing authorization for drugs and devices in countries of this region. She is highly qualified and has more than 10 years’ experience in the pharmaceutical and CRO industry. Dr. Volkova has served as the Head of Eastern European Operations of CROs – bioRASI, LLC and Ergomed Clinical Research, where she managed a strong multifunctional team and played a very active role in building the operational structure of the entire company and was responsible for operations in Russia and Eastern Europe. She has been international project manager for the big clinical studies for innovator sponsors as well as for global generic company’s clinical endpoint studies. Dr. Volkova is a medical doctor with clinical practice experience in general medicine. She has taught medical students as a Senior Research Fellow at the I.M. Sechenov Medical Academy Moscow. Dr. Volkova received PhD in internal medicine and received her a MBA in the Management of Innovation at the Russian Presidential Academy of National Economy and Public Administration in Moscow. She is the author of more than 11 scientific publications and member of several medical and scientific societies.

Leadership Team

Ayaaz Hussain Khan

Christian Drummer

Liong Hui Cien Linda

Natalya Volkova

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