Parexel promotes Peyton Howell, Amy McKee to strengthen company’s medical, scientific focus

Massachusetts: Parexel announced the promotions of Peyton Howell to the newly-created role of Chief Operating and Growth Officer and Dr Amy McKee has been appointed as the Chief Medical Officer and Global Head, Oncology Centre of Excellence. These moves are designed to strengthen the company’s medical and scientific focus and support its continued record growth through closer alignment of all aspects of strategy, sales and delivery to delight customers, build repeat business and lead the market in the next phase of drug development transformation.

As Chief Operating and Growth Officer, Howell will lead Parexel’s operational delivery, strategy and growth. She joined Parexel in May 2018 and most recently was President, Consulting and Chief Commercial & Strategy Officer, leading the company to record new business growth and the creation of a patient-focused strategy.

Jamie Macdonald, Chief Executive Officer, Parexel, said “The promotion of Peyton Howell to this expanded role is a natural extension of her significant contributions to the growth of Parexel over the past four years and along with her tremendous energy and passion for serving our customers, patients and colleagues. Broadening the scope of her strategic leadership to now include our operational delivery units further enhances the support we’re able to provide to our customers’ development programmes. We’re excited for this next chapter and wish both Peyton and Amy every success in their new roles.”

Howell has more than 25 years of leadership experience in the healthcare industry, including several leadership positions with AmerisourceBergen, a Fortune 20 company, most recently as President for Health Systems and Specialty Care Solutions, a $50 billion business unit. Currently, she represents Parexel on the Board of Directors for the Association of Clinical Research Organisations (ACRO) and serves on the Board of Directors of Tandem Diabetes Care, a medical device manufacturer. She holds a Masters in Healthcare Administration (MHA) from the Ohio State University and 2020 was named a Luminary by the Healthcare Businesswomen’s Association (HBA).

As Chief Medical Officer and Global Head, Oncology Centre of Excellence, Dr McKee will provide patient-focused medical and scientific leadership globally in support of the company’s Phase I to IV clinical trials. With nearly 20 years of FDA regulatory, clinical research, bench science and clinical medicine experience, she will provide strategic oversight for the company’s therapeutic/medical and scientific centres of excellence to drive growth and innovation, including collaboration with key stakeholders to strengthen Parexel as a collaborative drug development partner and establish market-leading, patient-centred teams.

Commenting on the appointment, Howell shared “We are thrilled to appoint Amy as our new Chief Medical Officer as we expand our therapeutic expertise to align with the fastest-growing areas of patient need. With her proven track record in the design and implementation of complex and innovative clinical development programmes across a broad spectrum of therapeutic areas — with a particular specialisation in oncology — we have no doubt Amy will have a tremendous impact as we accelerate innovations to bring new therapies to patients.”

Dr McKee joined Parexel in February 2019 as Vice President, Regulatory Consulting Services and before joining the company spent 11 years with the FDA during which time she served as Deputy Centre Director, Oncology Centre of Excellence; Supervisory Associate Director, Office of Haematology and Oncology Products (OHOP) and Deputy Office Director of OHOP. She is a board-certified Paediatric Haematologist-Oncologist with specific expertise in the treatment of neuroblastoma and holds a Doctor of Medicine degree from the Tulane University School of Medicine in New Orleans, La Dr McKee currently serves on the Board of Directors for BioCryst Pharmaceuticals, Inc.