May 29, 2013 ·
Leave a comment
We were inspired by a recent PharmaLive story on Lilly’s new initiative highlighting the key work that medical professionals undertake at the company during all facets and phases of drug discovery and development.
The story notes that over 500 physicians, 700 pharmacists, and 1400 medical research scientists work at Lilly, and the company is touting their work with the medical community to bring new treatments to market, all while keeping patient needs first.
While many are either skeptical or unaware of these interactions, the article speaks to why we are in the business of what we do at Thought Leader Select—delivering key information to pharmaceutical, biotechnology, and medical device companies so that external relations officials at companies like Lilly can optimize their medical community interactions in the service of patients.
Companies in life science disciplines utilize key opinion leaders in medicine in a host of ways to ensure that new treatments target unmet medical needs and have the best impact possible on patient outcomes. Their collaborative work results in clinical research, patient advocacy, bioethics, regulatory compliance, and medical education, all key drivers in medicine today.
Thought Leader Select is proud that our work in identifying and profiling the right key opinion leaders and medical centers of excellence to collaborate with industry in these many contexts and more optimizes these industry/medical community relationships for ... read more »
TAGS: 
biopharmaceutical biotechnology Eli Lilly ethics and transparency health outcomes industry-based medical professionals key opinion leaders in medicine KOL engagement KOLs Lilly medical device medical research scientists medical treatments patient care Patients Matter Most pharmaceuticals pharmacists PharmaLive physicians Thought Leader Select
February 26, 2013 ·
Leave a comment
For Immediate Release
February 21, 2013 (CHAPEL HILL, NC) Thought Leader Select, a North Carolina-based key opinion leader strategy company, announces the hiring of Heather Langan as research director.
In her new role at the company, Langan will lead profiling and engagement planning related to the skills and experience of both leading physicians and other health care professionals, as well as medical centers of excellence that advance the medical science. Life sciences companies use this research and advice for better strategic decision-making for collaborations with medical experts, as industry works with these experts to bring new treatments to market for better patient care and better public health outcomes.
Langan arrives at Thought Leader Select after a decorated career in human services, working and leading teams in developmental disabilities, family therapy, and mental health. In her most recent role at Duke University’s National Center for Child Traumatic Stress, Langan led quality assurance and continuous improvement at the premier center of excellence in the area of child trauma, influencing the treatment decisions in evidence-based clinics around the country.
Heather Langan holds two bachelor’s degrees, in philosophy and psychology, from the University of Utah. After graduation, Langan also earned a pair of master’s degrees in psychology and counseling, from Stephen F. Austin University and North ... read more »
TAGS: biopharmaceutical centers of excellence developmental disabilities Duke University family therapy health care professionals Heather Langan Human Services key opinion leaders KOL engagement KOL engagement planning KOL identification KOL profiling leading physicians medical research medicine mental health National Center for Child Traumatic Stress patient care Paul Meade public health outcomes Thought Leader Select
October 18, 2012 ·
Leave a comment
October 18, 2012 (CHAPEL HILL, NC) Thought Leader Select, a Chapel Hill, NC-based consulting firm serving the biopharmaceutical, medical device, and diagnostics industries, announces the commencement of a national engagement focused on medical centers of excellence in obesity with a top U. S. biopharmaceutical company.
The company, part of a select group of global leaders in drug development for products treating the condition of obesity, approached Thought Leader Select for support with a variety of collaborative efforts, including medical science liaison outreach to leading universities, medical schools, teaching hospitals, and specialty clinics in this area. Having already worked with Thought Leader Select to form rosters of key opinion leaders in endocrinology, primary care, nursing, pharmacy, and long-term care in the treatment of type I and type II diabetes and obesity, the company has now chosen Thought Leader Select to pinpoint the leading centers of excellence in the treatment of obesity in the United States.
Known for the versatility of applications for its in-house research and analysis, Thought Leader Select’s research group will assess the skills and experience of selected centers, detailing the collaborative activities of leading physicians and other health care professionals, including registered nurses, physician assistants, nurse practitioners, clinical pharmacists, and medical researchers, the people who advance the science of medicine and patient care, through basic and clinical research, scientific journal ... read more »
TAGS: basic research biopharmaceutical industry biotechnology Brian Castle centers of excellence identification centers of excellence profiling centers of excellence strategy clinical pharmacists clinical research drug development endocrinology health care professionals key opinion leaders KOL identification KOL profiling KOL strategy long-term care medical device industry medical diagnostics medical researchers medical schools medical science medical science liaison outreach nursing obesity obesity centers of excellence obesity KOLs patient care pharmaceuticals pharmacy physician assistants physicians primary care medicine registered nurses scientific journal publishing specialty medical clinics teaching hospitals Thought Leader Select Thought Leader Select consulting group Thought Leader Select research group treatment guidelines type 1 diatbetes type 2 diabetes universities
May 2, 2012 ·
Leave a comment
By Brian Castle and Kristen Smithwick
At Thought Leader Select, we have the privilege of working with a group of people who are always mindful of our company’s place in the big world of healthcare. We view our mission as a simple one, and that is to go about our work in ways that will always ultimately promote better patient care and public health outcomes.
We collaborate, through a strategic approach, with a variety of partner companies in the healthcare space—companies developing and commercializing pharmaceuticals, biotech treatments, medical devices, and diagnostics—as well as thousands of thought leaders, key advisors, and medical centers of excellence across more than 18 therapeutic areas covering over 50 diseases and conditions that affect millions of people around the world.
This week, we are proud to launch a new expression of our company’s mission and what we see as our responsibility to our partners across healthcare and the patients we all serve. We are proud of our team’s heritage in multiple areas of healthcare—our people have led industry teams working in brand and product commercialization, predictive medicine, and strategic planning, and they have also performed critical research work and delivered clinical care to patients alongside leading physicians in many of the top medical centers on multiple continents.
On our new Our Mission and Responsibility page, you’ll see a ... read more »
TAGS: biotechnology corporate mission corporate social responsibility diagnostics diseases drug commercialization healthcare key opinion leaders medical centers of excellence medical devices patient care patients pharmaceuticals physicians predictive medicine public health outcomes scientific community strategic planning therapeutic areas Thought Leader Select thought leaders
September 8, 2010 ·
4 comments
Rhonda Napier joined Thought Leader Select as a research manager in the spring of 2010, after serving the company for two years as a researcher. A graduate of West Virginia University (bachelor’s degree in exercise physiology) and Marshall University (master’s degree in adult fitness and cardiac rehabilitation), Rhonda worked in research and clinical practice as an exercise physiologist for 13 years.
During her time at the Ohio State University College of Nursing, Napier led National Institutes of Health-funded research on the effects of exercise on hypertensive women. More recently, her work at the Gillings School for Global Public Health at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill focused on quality and access to healthcare.
The Thought Leader Select Blog sat down with Rhonda to discuss her skills and experiences, as well as her contribution to the work of Thought Leader Select.
TLS Blog: Good afternoon, Rhonda. Why did you join Thought Leader Select?
Rhonda Napier: I had the good fortune of meeting the company’s leadership team through my husband, Chris, after he became acquainted with them. That was back in 2008, and they had an opportunity for me to come into the company as a researcher. The idea of exclusively doing research for me was odd, because I had been a clinician for so many years—but I became ... read more »
TAGS: biopharmaceutical biotechnology cardiology clinical trials excercise physiology Gillings School for Global Public Health health care professionals healthcare access healthcare quality hypertension key opinion leaders KOL engagement KOL identification KOL mapping KOL profiling KOL research KOLs Marshall University medicine National Institutes of Health Ohio State Buckeyes Ohio State University College of Nursing patient advocacy patient care pharmaceutical physicians Rhonda Napier Thought Leader Select thought leaders University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill West Virginia University
May 4, 2010 ·
Leave a comment
New press release out today from the offices of Thought Leader Select.
5/4/2010 (CHAPEL HILL, NC) Thought Leader Select, a North Carolina-based firm dedicated to delivering superior key opinion leader (KOL) management solutions to the biopharmaceutical industry, announces the completion of large speaker validation project for a top-20 US pharmaceutical company.
The pharmaceutical client contracted Thought Leader Select to validate the skills and experiences of a legion of health care professionals for the company’s speakers bureau. The firm asked Thought Leader Select to look at over 1,000 specialists, primary care physicians, nurses, pharmacists, and other important health care providers across several key dimensions, including: experience speaking within the medical community, clinical research involvement, publishing history, developing treatment guidelines, and active patient care.
Thought Leader Select’s validation process empowered the client with the knowledge that they were engaging experienced speakers with demonstrated experience in clinical practice, research, and speaking. The study’s findings also enabled the client company to determine fair market value (FMV) honoraria compensation for these health care providers.
“I thought it was only natural to ask Thought Leader Select to do this validation work for us,” stated the brand director for the client company. “They get so close to the data and have a real understanding of who these key opinion leaders are and why they are so important. Their methodology is so ... read more »
TAGS: biotechnology clinical research drug development health care professionals key opinion leader KOL KOL engagement KOL identification KOL management KOL profiling Maher Noureddine nurses patient care pharmaceutical pharmacists physicians publishing speaker validation speakers bureau Thought Leader Select treatment guidelines
April 21, 2010 ·
Leave a comment
Pharmaceutical manufacturers will face longer regulatory approval times and lower reimbursement rates in the years ahead according to new IMS data. A recent IMS release summarizes market forecasting data, including reduced drug spending by public payers and more extensive reviews of new therapies.
To navigate effectively through these new challenges, pharmaceutical companies will need a collection of knowledgeable key opinion leaders (KOLs). Physician KOLs and payer experts (both public and private) can advise companies on various issues critical to gaining reimbursement in a timely fashion.
Through its exclusive deep profiling methodology, Thought Leader Select has identified, profiled and recommended customized teams of physician and payer KOLs for specific advisory activities in more than 57 countries around the world. In our experience, larger panels of payer and physician KOLs with diverse experience in pharmacy, health economics, health outcomes, public and private formularies, and patient care enable pharmaceutical manufacturers to discuss reimbursement issues quickly and act nimbly on expert guidance.
Read more IMS forecasts here.
TAGS: biotechnology drug reimbursement drug spending formularies health economics health outcomes IMS Health key opinion leaders patient care Payer KOLs pharmaceutical pharmacy physician KOLs public payers regulatory approval Thought Leader Select
