Nneka Margaret Handschin (PhD) – Chief of Clinical Operations & Partnerships at INFIUSS Health

Nneka Margaret Handschin is the Chief of Clinical Operations & Partnerships at INFIUSS Health. Although Africans represent 17% of the global population, Nneka asserts that less than 2% of clinical research is performed in sub-Saharan Africa, despite its disproportionate share in the global disease burden and great genetic diversity.

For her, since it has been scientifically proven that ethnicities vary in their biology, pathology and response to treatment, African representation in clinical trials is not only a scientific necessity, but an ethical imperative. “People should only be given medicines that have been tested in their kind. A deviation from this ideal results in compromised efficacy and safety of marketed medical and pharmaceutical solutions in African patients.” Nneka said.

Nneka Handschin has 17 years of cumulative experience in pre-clinical research, clinical science and clinical operations, with over 13 years of experience in clinical operations in multinational pharmaceutical companies including Pfizer, Roche, AMGEN, GW Pharmaceuticals and Mitsubishi Pharmaceuticals, and contract clinical research organisations, including INC Research (now Syneos Health), Novella Clinical (now Quintiles) and ICON Plc.

She has also worked independently as a clinical research consultant and director in her own limited liability company, Premier Clinical Research Ltd UK, and as the Founder & CEO of ILLVMEA Clinical Research.

Nneka possess deep therapeutic insight in multiple therapeutic areas and is passionate about deciphering the therapeutic potential of plants in reversing chronic disease and promoting healing. She also loves to help people become the healthiest version of themselves by educating them on making healthy diet and lifestyle choices for disease prevention and health maintenance.

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At INFIUSS Health, they are referred to as the gateway to clinical research. They can connect you with participants, sites, and other clinical trial services. Whether you need specimen collection, consulting on regulatory issues, or site feasibility studies, INFIUSS can help.

INFIUSS Health is building the blueprint for its end to end, first of its kind, decentralised platform for running clinical research with a specific focus on the African continent. They are building highly study-specific and very flexible solutions that allow sponsors to find the right participants, sites, and primary investigators so that they can run fully remote, or hybrid, clinical research studies.

They are on a mission to decentralise access to clinical research by diversifying participant cohorts and shortening drug development timelines. They are doing this by providing access to African participants, private investigators, and sites.

Some of the services they offer include participant recruitment, data management, specimen collection, and clinical trial management. They provide solutions from Phase 1 to phase 4 studies, decentralised clinical trial solutions, and academic surveys.