Management team
Dr James Sawyer MFPM - CEO
Following a clinical career in general medicine and anaesthetics, James moved to the pharmaceutical industry in 1993 holding leadership positions in major companies including Sanofi, AstraZeneca and Roche before founding Prism in 2001.
James’s clinical development experience spans all phases of clinical research. He has driven regulatory interactions for many compounds and is the author of several expert reports filed at European and North American Agencies. James has published widely across a variety of therapeutic areas including migraine, bone metabolism, asthma and HIV. James continues to devote part of his time to drug development consultancy.
Carol Hills PhD – COO
Carol’s career spans 20 years in the pharmaceutical and medical communications industries.
After gaining a degree in Natural Sciences from Cambridge University, Carol spent 8 years in preclinical research at Glaxo, where she completed a PhD in receptor pharmacology. Carol then moved to a career in medical communications, leading the editorial development of a range of products. Carol expanded her experience in medical marketing at AstraZeneca, working across all aspects of global brand development and communication for several oncology brands. Before moving to Prism, Carol was Scientific Director at a communications agency providing strategic input to communication plans and leading the development of medical education programmes.
Doug Wright – Head of Client Services
Doug’s career in medical communications began in 1997 following completion of a life sciences degree. He has held a number of senior commercial positions within the agency world and completed various successful secondments directly within industry as an integrated member of both publication and brand teams.
This insight and appreciation of client pressures, priorities and preferred ways of working and how agencies can either add to or subtract from these pressures through the service they provide, helps Prism’s current clients enjoy consistently high levels of service. He brings an in-depth understanding of how individual tactics are best set up, managed and successfully delivered. He has worked with pharmaceutical, biotech and medical device companies of all sizes to set up and deliver large communication plans and individual tactics at a global, European and country specific level.
Doug’s particular areas of interest are in supporting clients establish or optimise their key opinion leader programmes, identify key stakeholders and run insightful advisory boards; strategic publication plans; medical education programmes and developing new products and services to meet specific client needs.
Michael Vaughan – CFO
After gaining a degree in Economics and Statistics at The University of Leeds, Michael spent 4 years in practice and earned his Chartered Accountancy qualification.
He was awarded the regional prize for the highest pass mark in the final year. Michael then joined Reed In Partnership where he was rapidly promoted to Head of Financial Accounting. In this role Michael significantly improved the relationship between Reed and The Department For Work and Pensions, resulting in Reed being recognised as the best in class supplier for quality and timely data provision. In January 2007 Michael joined Wolters Kluwer Health as the European Financial Controller where he developed a broad knowledge of the pharmaceutical and medical communications industries. Michael joined Prism in August 2010 and brings a wealth of finance experience and an understanding of how to organise and lead best in class finance departments. He knows how to provide clients with professional, timely and accurate financial interactions.
Nigel Brooksby - non-executive chairman
Nigel has more than 35 years’ experience in the life sciences industry, culminating in his position as chairman and managing director for Sanofi-Aventis UK and also successfully leading the UK’s Association of the British Pharmaceutical Industry (ABPI) for two years.
His career has seen a meteoric rise from beginning as a sales rep to become one of the UK’s leaders in the pharmaceutical industry. In 2010 Nigel was made chairman of the board of trustees of the Primary Care Cardiovascular Society and has recently been invited to join the advisory board of the Imperial Clinical Trials Unit at Imperial College London. In May 2010, the secretary of state for the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills appointed him as a member of the Industrial Development Advisory Board. Nigel joined Prism as non-executive chairman in September 2010; in this capacity Nigel’s will assist Prism to further develop its business across key regions and will help place the company in an optimal position for expansion into new markets.