Medidata Solutions, Inc. Leaders Honored Among PharmaVOICE 100 Most Inspiring People

Kara Dennis and Steve Smith Recognized for Pioneering Efforts to Advance Clinical Trials Through mHealth Technology and Patient-Centric Research

NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Medidata (NASDAQ:MDSO), the leading global provider of cloud-based solutions for clinical research in life sciences, is pleased to announce that two company leaders have been named to the prestigious PharmaVOICE 100 list. Kara Dennis, managing director of mobile health (mHealth), and Steve Smith, chief patient advocate, were selected among hundreds of nominees as two of the most inspiring people in the life sciences industry.

“Over the last decade, the PharmaVOICE 100 has become one of the premier awards in the life sciences industry”

Recently named a 2015 Rising Star by the Healthcare Businesswomen’s Association (HBA), Kara Dennis is helping to lead a new era in drug development through mHealth-powered clinical trials and patient-centric research. Over the last year, she has spearheaded several initiatives to unify wearable devices, sensors and apps with cloud-based technologies in a clinical trial setting. These initiatives include a joint method development project with GlaxoSmithKline; the completion of MOVE-2014, Medidata’s first sponsored trial, which evaluated whether mHealth tools can increase the rates of therapy adoption and drive better health outcomes for people with Type 2 diabetes; and the integration of Garmin’s vívofit activity tracker with the Medidata Clinical Cloud^® platform. More recently, Kara led the creation of an open-source connector linking Apple^® ResearchKit™ to the Medidata platform, and played a crucial role in a collaboration with Validic to expand access to patient-generated data from a broad range of consumer and medical-grade mHealth devices and apps.

Steve Smith became a patient advocate in 1990, when his son was diagnosed with a rare disease. He has since sought to modernize clinical research and has been actively involved in the national dialog on accelerating the development of cures for rare and life-threatening diseases. Steve is often called upon by patient advocacy groups to speak on the subject to a number of different organizations, including government officials, members of congress and the FDA. His collaboration with the EveryLife Foundation for Rare Diseases helped lead to the passage of the FDA Safety and Innovation Act of 2012, strengthening the agency’s ability to safeguard public health. Steve’s passion for transforming clinical development is brought to life in his role as chief patient advocate at Medidata, where he works with diverse stakeholders to understand the obstacles to developing therapies and to uncover more effective and efficient ways of conducting clinical trials. His advocacy work continues through his involvement with, among other things, the 21st Century Cures initiative—a bipartisan initiative of the US House of Representatives’ Energy and Commerce Committee that aims to improve drug discovery, development and delivery.

“Over the last decade, the PharmaVOICE 100 has become one of the premier awards in the life sciences industry,” said Glen de Vries, Medidata’s president. “This year, we are particularly proud to have two Medidata leaders recognized for their dedicated efforts to help our industry modernize drug development through the use of innovative technologies. Kara’s leadership in powering mHealth clinical trials and Steve’s passion for rare disease patient advocacy are an inspiration to all of us at Medidata. We are thrilled that PharmaVOICE agrees their vision, creativity and strong leadership qualities are worthy of praise.”

Kara and Steve become the tenth and eleventh Medidata leaders to be named to the PharmaVOICE 100, an annual list of individuals recognized for translating industry challenges into opportunities and pioneering new paths to success for the life sciences. Each year, distinguished honorees represent a broad cross section of the industry, including pharmaceutical, biopharmaceutical, biotechnology, contract research, clinical trial, research and development, patient education, patient recruitment, advertising, marketing, technology and many other sectors.

“We are thrilled to be able to share with the industry how Kara and Steve—two of Medidata’s inspiring leaders—are shaping the current and future ecosystem of the life sciences landscape through their pioneering efforts to make the patient experience more meaningful,” said Taren Grom, founder and editor, PharmaVOICE.

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About PharmaVOICE

PharmaVOICE is expressly written and designed to deliver the views, opinions, and insights of executives who are shaping the direction of the dynamic life sciences industry. PharmaVOICE reaches more than 29,000 subscribers every month in print and more than 100,000 readers through its online version, which contains original exclusive bonus content. PharmaVOICE’s unique horizontal editorial approach cuts industry silos, providing a holistic overview of the life sciences industry, addressing a range of topics from molecule through market. By engaging compelling personalities from diverse industry sectors, PharmaVOICE provides multiple perspectives on business challenges, trends, and topics. Editorial content sparks dialog, initiates debate, and opens the lines of communication to facilitate and improve business-to-business relationships. PharmaVOICE's multiple-perspective and in-depth original forums, feature articles, topics, and departments are audience-driven. PharmaVOICE provides executives with useful peer-to-peer insights on a broad range of life sciences business practices and topics.

About Medidata

Medidata is the leading global provider of cloud-based solutions for clinical research in life sciences, transforming clinical development through its advanced applications and intelligent data analytics. The Medidata Clinical Cloud^® brings new levels of productivity and quality to the clinical testing of promising medical treatments, from study design and planning through execution, management and reporting. We are committed to advancing the competitive and scientific goals of global customers, which include over 90% of the top 25 global pharmaceutical companies; innovative biotech, diagnostic and device firms; leading academic medical centers; and contract research organizations.