PPD recently hired Dr. Deborah Covington as global head of observational studies and pregnancy registries. In this role, she will provide leadership and direction to the company’s late-stage group and serve as a member of the strategic and scientific advisory team. Her appointment follows the global expansion of the company's late-stage research services, which include Phase IIIb-IV clinical trials, epidemiology, registries, observational studies and safety surveillance studies.

Covington has more than 30 years of clinical research experience in epidemiology, maternal and child health. Prior to joining PPD, she spent eight years with another global CRO where, in a series of roles of increasing responsibility, she provided scientific guidance and oversight of registries and epidemiology. Dr. Covington has served as a consultant to the World Health Organization in planning pregnancy registries for malaria and HIV in Africa and was an invited guest at a U.S. Food and Drug Administration expert model workshop to develop best practices on recruitment and retention in pregnancy registries.

“With the growing role of registries in understanding drug safety risks, Dr. Covington's leadership provides us a strong foundation for expanding our services in this area across the globe,” said Lori Eberhardt, vice president of global late stage research for PPD, in a press release.

Dr. Covington said, “A balanced, scientific approach is critical to the success of a registry. I look forward to working with our clients to develop and conduct registries that are scientifically rigorous and produce meaningful, reproducible results that will ultimately improve patient outcomes.”