The electronic clinical outcome assessments (eCOA) firm THREAD has appointed Kim Boericke to be its first chief delivery officer. In her role, Boericke (pronounced “Berica”) will focus on supporting customers in implementing the THREAD platform to support decentralized clinical trial data collection.
In addition, she will assist THREAD with decentralized clinical trials, working to include patients from broader geographic areas and more diverse backgrounds in clinical research.
THREAD works with biopharma and CROs on decentralized clinical research and eCOA projects.
Before joining Cary, North Carolina–based THREAD, Boericke served as president, ICON commercialization and outcomes, where she focused on decentralized clinical trials. She is also the executive sponsor for the Network of Women (NOW) and PRIDE.
Boericke was the recipient of a 2021 Stevie Award winner for Female Executive of the Year.
She also serves as an independent board director for the Mapi Research Trust.
In part of series of articles profiling Women in Pharma, Boericke shares more details on her background and provides advice for young women pursuing senior positions in life science.
What do you find most inspiring in your new position?
Kim Boericke
Boericke: Today, we are seeing so much opportunity at the intersection of healthcare and technology, and in particular, innovation around how we conduct clinical research. I am excited to play a role in the evolution of our industry toward more patient-centric approaches for clinical trials. Also, to be part of the leadership at THREAD, a company committed to making clinical trials more efficient, flexible and inclusive by leveraging innovation to focus on the patient. It is inspiring to see this commitment.
What is thrilling about my new role as chief delivery officer is that I am exclusively focused on helping our customers deliver studies that reduce patient burden, better support sites and provide a more inclusive study design for patients around the world. We have the technology and tools to accomplish this work. I am excited to be driving this effort and guiding our customers toward more patient-centric trials.
Which projects are you most looking forward to as chief delivery officer?
Boericke: I look forward to working with our customers to design better clinical trials focusing on the patient. I will work to ensure that the patient’s voice is heard in protocol development, the right endpoints and outcomes are identified, and that trials can be run differently, leveraging decentralized tools to improve access and reduce barriers for participants and sponsors.
In addition, I will collaborate with my teams to continue growing our services to support the design, implementation and launch of more modern clinical research that maximizes THREAD’s technology platform in collaboration with our external partnerships.
I look forward to working with the executive management team to continue enhancing our mission, vision and strategy to align with the new THREAD organization as Modus, CureClick and inVibe become more embedded into the patient-centric services offering.
Do you have any advice to promote greater participation of young women in the life sciences and encourage them to pursue senior leadership roles?
Boericke: You have hit one of my work passions with this question. I have been very fortunate in my career to have had some great mentors and supporters that have given me opportunities to take on very different roles throughout my career. As a result, I have been able to build from an individual contributor role to an executive with a breadth of skills that have allowed me to significantly contribute to the success of all those organizations. My advice is several-fold:
- Manage your career and have a voice. Know where you want to go with your career, and make sure you tell someone (your boss) about your ambition. Do not assume you will grow in your career because someone notices that you are good and ready for the next role. It rarely happens.
- Find a mentor to work with you on a specific specialty or goal that you want to accomplish. A mentor is not there to grade your abilities but to help you leverage your strengths to grow. It’s also important to change mentors over time. Each mentor should be identified because they can specifically help you with that goal or that specialist focus.
- Get an executive sponsor within your organization. Identify a leader who is willing to be your advocate when you are not in the room. They will be there to help identify opportunities for you that will help you grow your career.
- Be visible. Actually, it is harder than you think in a global decentralized workforce. You need to be a part of initiatives or special projects that will give you exposure across the organization, not just within your department.
- Be open to new opportunities. Not every development or growth opportunity is straight up the ladder. Sometimes you must go sideways to move up. That is OK because you are building your toolbox of skills that will make you a more well-rounded leader.
- Finally, be you. You do not have to be less feminine to move up in the corporate world. You need to understand how to state your position, so it is understood by all by being concise, focused on the business and authentic.