"PHARMExcel are the best team I’ve worked with in clinical research. They are talented and committed individuals with great expertise in the regulatory landscape as well as delivery of clinical trials."
Principal Investigator
Yvanne Enever
(Founder/Chief Executive Officer)
Yvanne Enever is Founder and Chief Executive Officer of PHARMExcel, an award-winning, full-service Contract Research Organisation (CRO) providing Phase I-IV clinical research services to the academic, biopharma, and medical device industry. Since its inception in 2009, PHARMExcel has enjoyed rapid organic growth to become a leading CRO in UK and European early phase trials.
Before founding PHARMExcel, Yvanne worked as a senior leader in clinical research heading up an academic Clinical Trials Unit (achieving spin out status) and then moving on to establish University College London’s R&D unit, where she served as Assistant Director of Clinical Trials.
Yvanne is a leading voice at clinical conferences including The Research Quality Association International QA Conference , The 8th Annual European Medical Device Investigator Initiated Study Conference and the Institute of Clinical Research Symposium and was a member of the RQA Medical Device Committee. She is co-author of recent publications in the Lancet and Journal of Infection.
Yvanne holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Critical Care, a Post Graduate Diploma in Management and is currently undertaking her PhD at UCL.
Russell Wheatcroft
Chief Operating Officer
Russell Wheatcroft is Chief Operating Officer of PHARMExcel, joining the company in January 2023. Russell has over 30 years commercial and operational experience across multiple sectors including 20 plus years at senior levels within Life Sciences and Healthcare.
Russell brings a breadth of experience to the company from his experience in managing the delivery of highly regulated solutions to the pharma, biotech and healthcare sectors with a global focus. His knowledge covers products, services and consultancy-based solutions incorporating drug, medical device and laboratory services to global private & public companies plus healthcare providers, including the NHS.
Added to this, he has extensive M&A, AIM and investor experience. Russell is focused on enhancing the significant success the company has seen since its inception whilst supporting the market leading solutions provided by the PHARMExcel teams.
Margaret Irwin
(Head of Clinical Operations)
Margaret joined PHARMExcel in October 2020 as our Head of Clinical Operations. Margaret has over 25 years’ experience in the clinical research industry.
She started her research career in 1992, at Covance CRU Leeds leading clinical/technical teams in complex, technical FTIM Phase 1 trials. In addition, she was instrumental in the units first MHRA inspection under the new accreditation scheme. Margaret was also involved in validation for a brand new aseptic Pharmacy and Human Appetite Lab located on the site. Margaret then moved to a Site Management Organisation as Head of Clinical Operations whose speciality was Dementia, Pain and Diabetes, covering 5 clinics in the North of England. She then worked at Quintiles as Director of Clinical Operations, initially working as Programme Director with a sponsor in a partnership setting, covering Oncology, Cardiovascular, Infectious Disease in all phases and therapeutics areas.
Prior to moving to PHARMExcel, Margaret worked for 5 years at UBC Late Stage Ltd as Director Clinical Site Services Europe, responsible for all the site management and monitoring activities across EU and ROW.
Margaret has a BSc (Hons) in Bioscience and Health
Dani Harrison
(Head of HR & Well-Being)
Dani joined PHARMExcel in April 2019 as Office Manager and Human Resources Representative. She has now moved into the role of HR/Well-Being Manager. Dani has over 30 years of Office Management and HR experience starting her career within the banking sector. Dani was appointed as PA to the Senior HR Advisor for the City and West End Region for NatWest, where she studied for her Diploma in Human Resource Management and Post Graduate Certificate in Management (CIPD & PGCM). Following this, Dani was promoted to Compensation & Benefits Consultant and involved in many aspects of HR management.
In 2009 she moved into the education sector, undertaking finance and administration roles within various Primary Schools.
Anna Norris
(Head of Finance)
Anna joined PHARMExcel in April 2020 as Financial Controller. She is ACA qualified and has over 20 years’ experience working in accounting and finance roles. After 3 years training in a small audit firm she spent 16 years at the UK subsidiary of a Spanish owned fragrance wholesaler where she progressed through various positions to become Finance and Administration Director. Anna then spent 2 years as Head of Finance and Administration at a tech start-up, setting up and developing a new finance function.
Allyson McLean
Head of Quality Assurance
Allyson has a career which spans over 20 years, with extensive clinical, quality and compliance experience across the Pharmaceutical, CRO and health care industries.
Originally, with a nursing background, she moved into clinical research as a site coordinator/ research nurse; trained as a CRA with Quintiles and then moved into QA, initially within a Phase 1 unit. From there, she has worked across Pharma R&D departments, in various quality and compliance roles, including establishing and maintaining Quality Management Systems; regulatory inspections and audit; risk assessment; quality improvement, to name a few. She has previously led the design and implementation of inspection awareness/readiness activities both within the UK and Globally within various companies.
Allyson has a BSc in Nursing with Health Studies from Napier University, Edinburgh and MSc focused on Quality Management in Scientific Research & Development, from Cranfield University.
Katie Howe
Head of Marketing
As the Head of Marketing at PHARMExcel, Katie is responsible for creating and accelerating the company’s marketing strategy and brand recognition in the UK and Europe.
She is focused on driving the company’s vision to become the chosen CRO of choice in early phase clinical research studies for academic and biotechnology sponsors.
Katie has over 20 years’ experience in B2B marketing, specialising in marketing strategy, brand awareness and lead generation in the UK and international markets.
Throughout her career she can be accredited with many “firsts” – including launching the first ever online learning platform for engineering practitioners; developing the Institution of Engineering & Technology’s first commercial webinar programme and launching the first mobile phone donation campaign for a Hospice charity.
Katie holds a BA in Business Studies and German from Swansea University, and the Digital Marketing certificate from the Institute of Data & Marketing.