Our Team

Paul Meade
President
Paul Meade has more than 25 years of healthcare industry experience. Paul has spent most of his career working directly in the pharmaceutical industry for Merck then GlaxoSmithKline. He has held a variety of positions within sales and marketing, international marketing, business planning and research and development (R&D). Read more »

In his last position at Glaxo as worldwide commercial director for Predictive Medicine, Paul was responsible for developing global commercial strategies and marketing plans for a variety of therapeutic and diagnostic products and services. Some of his prior managerial positions include group director of business planning and strategy development, international director of marketing, product director, product manager and sales representative.

In 2000, Paul began sharing his expertise with top companies as a consultant to the pharmaceutical, diagnostic and biotechnology companies. His project work has spanned areas such as competitive intelligence structures, communication of clinical trial results, integration of pharmaceutical and diagnostic companies, patient flow analysis, branding, trademark management, publication planning and tracking, health outcomes, advisory board optimization, biomarker assessment, oncology development programs, and other lifecycle management projects.

Paul is also often quoted by trade journalists who rely on his expertise. He has published several articles in leading healthcare journals, such as Pharmaceutical Executive, MedAdNews, PharmaVoice, etc.

Paul received a Master of Science degree in Biomedical Sciences from the University of Guelph in Canada, and a B.Sc. from Acadia University. He also spent one year doing research in the area of cancer. He is currently working on a Masters in Public Health at the University of North Carolina.

Lisa Smith
Executive Vice President of Research
Lisa Smith ensures recommendations are based on the most leading-edge information available. She has overseen staff responsible for delivering large- and small-scale consulting projects on a variety of topics for the healthcare industry. Read more »

Lisa has offered strategic and operational counsel to a number of top pharmaceutical companies in marketing, medical affairs, clinical operations and other such areas. Her most recent projects have addressed improvements in the clinical trial publications process, market dynamics for new indications, advisory board improvement, Thought Leader evaluation and selection processes, trends in health outcomes, and clinical operations productivity.

Lisa brings years of experience in research, writing and interviewing to her position as vice president at Thought Leader Select. A former award-winning journalist, she covered the pharmaceutical and chemical industries for several daily newspapers before becoming a consultant.

Lisa graduated with honors from the University of Michigan.

Kristen Smithwick
Vice President of Sales & Marketing
Kristen Smithwick leads a team of sales and marketing professionals to promote the research services provided by Thought Leader Select. With more than a decade of experience in helping healthcare companies improve marketing effectiveness, she has developed and managed strategic marketing plans, brand building and promotional campaigns, and customer growth and loyalty programs. Read more »

Kristen has also assisted numerous top companies in various industries – including healthcare, technology and banking – on a variety of strategic and operational issues. Through competitive landscaping, market research, extensive interviews and surveys, she has helped a broad range of clients improve business performance. Selected areas of expertise include Thought Leader evaluation, consumer marketing and branding, effective marketing structures and processes, contact center excellence, and ideal staffing, structures and budgets across business functions.

Kristen has been quoted in a number of publications over the years, and her work has been featured at numerous executive conferences. Kristen graduated with honors from Duke University.

Neil Mellor
Director, Canadian Operations
Neil Mellor has over 24 years of pharmaceutical experience both in Canada and in Europe. Neil has worked for large companies such as Merck, GSK and Pfizer and has also worked with medium and specialty pharma companies. Neil has spent the majority of his background in sales, marketing and business development and has been involved with over thirty products in numerous therapeutic areas. Read more » Neil brings a great deal of first-hand experience in managing advisory panels and working with key opinion leaders. In addition, during 2008 Neil was President of the Canadian Healthcare Licensing Association (CHLA) and currently serves as the CHLA Past President and Treasurer. Neil is married, has two daughters and lives in Markham, just north of Toronto.

From 1999 to 2004 Neil was Senior Product Manager for Pantoloc®, a proton pump inhibitor used to treat heartburn. During this time Pantoloc exceeded $200m in annual sales and was listed by IMS as the fourth largest pharmaceutical product in Canada. Prior to Solvay, Neil spent 3 years working with Pharmacia Consumer Healthcare (now Pfizer) in Sweden working in International Marketing for the brand Nicorette®. During this time his focus was on public relations activities where he worked with the World Health Association and other international bodies to integrate nicotine replacement therapy into tobacco control programs.

Neil has a Bachelor of Arts in economics from the University of Victoria, in British Columbia.

Mary Ellen Jones
Sales Executive
As Thought Leader Select sales executive, Mary Ellen Jones brings over 15 years in medical publishing, sales, and advertising expertise selling journal advertising, as well as, CME and non-CME programs to pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies and their advertising agencies. Read more » Throughout her career Mary Ellen has represented a variety of competitive markets – Primary Care, Internal Medicine, Ob/Gyn’s, Physician Assistants and Nurse Practitioners. She is also the 2004 recipient of the Association of Medical Publications Nexus Sales Representative of the Year Award for Specialty Journals.

Mary Ellen graduated from The College of New Rochelle, New Rochelle, NY, and is also a Certified Personal Trainer & Nutrition Consultant. Mary Ellen is located in Flemington, New Jersey and can be reached at mejones@thoughtleaderselect.com or (908) 528-7374.

Maher “Max” Noureddine, PhD
Director of Research Development & Chief Scientific Officer
Max Noureddine brings to Thought Leader Select an extensive background in scientific research that has provided additional depth to our research team. Max received his BS in Biology with honors from Radford University, his MS in Molecular Biology from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro, and his PhD in Biology/Molecular Genetics from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Read more » He completed a postdoctoral fellowship at Duke University Medical Center, where he published many articles on the genetics of Parkinson Disease. More recently, he was a Research Fellow at the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences/NIH, where he studied the tumor suppressor gene p53 and genomic variations that confer cancer susceptibility in the human population. Dr. Noureddine joined Thought Leader Select in 2007 and complements the team's ability to provide a deep understanding and objective validation of the qualification of Thought Leaders. He is also responsible for in-house technology and development of the company’s line of competitive services and solutions.

Clarissa Noureddine, DVM, MS
Research Manager
Clarissa Noureddine is a research and project manager for Thought Leader Select, as well as the team leader in staff training and development. Clarissa’s extensive medical experience in veterinary medicine provides the company with a deeper understanding of disease processes, treatment methodologies, use of pharmacological agents, and an inside perspective to the doctor-to-pharmaceutical industry interaction. Read more » In her role of supervising and conducting project research for Thought Leader Select, Clarissa’s focus is on delivering thorough, accurate, and understandable research. This focus is carried over into her training and development of staff members, as she trains the research staff to approach the research in an objective, systematic, and standardized method. Clarissa received her B.S. (Magna cum Laude) from the University of Florida and her M.S. in Molecular Biology from the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, followed by her Doctor of Veterinary Medicine from North Carolina State University. Clarissa practiced small animal veterinary medicine for four years before joining Thought Leader in 2006.

Cammie Brannan
Senior Research Associate
Cammie Brannan leads Thought Leader Select’s KOL relationship team to interface directly with Thought Leaders to understand their experiences, skills and areas of interest. Cammie brings many years of relationship management and data collection and analysis experience to the Thought Leader Select team. Read more » Her past roles in management consulting and as a finance team leader have given her insights into concise, knowledge-driven methods for data gathering and presentation. She has led office teams in developing data collection procedures and written manuals to maintain these processes. As a consultant, she has offered practical and in-depth guidance on using data to develop better projection strategies and cost analysis. She transitioned into the pharmaceutical industry five years ago, bringing her technical expertise with database management and thorough recordkeeping skills.

Research Staff
Thought Leader Select has a number of researchers with varying backgrounds who conduct primary and secondary research on Thought Leader Assessments. Depending on the type of Assessment, these researchers may be assigned to participate in data gathering, data analysis, data entry, or database management.