Tuesday, June 28, 2005

Absence makes the heart grow fonder

She lives! She's just been very, very busy. Over the past month or so, I've gotten involved in much more project work than I should be, given that I'm really supposed to be building and executing a corporate strategy for validation, and then I've gotten a new job on top of it. I'm leaving my current CRO-ish atmosphere for the hallowed halls of a local (SE PA) Big Pharma, and I couldn't be happier.

It is an interesting shift in more ways than one. For the past nine years, I have worked on computer software within the pharmaceutical industry. With this new position, I'm shifting to an auditing role within "the business" as those of us in software often call it, and I'm not going to be working with computer systems any longer. If it sounds like a big difference, that's because it is. It's not that I'm not qualified to do what I'll be doing (and more on what I'll be doing later) but that the focus of what I do is shifting dramatically. It's an extremely exciting prospect for me.

As for what I'll be doing... The Big Pharma for which I will be working is in the beginning stages of an effort to establish, enforce, and measure against global criteria for all vendors used in the conduct of clinical trials, and that's what I've been charged with doing. I was brought on because of my experience in quality assurance and validation (I'll need both when auditing vendors) and I think I have a lot to bring to the company and to the position. Not to mention that it's an excellent opportunity for me, and definitely in the right direction.

So, short story long, that's why I've been away. I haven't wanted to discuss anything here before it was decided and certain, but now that it is, I look forward to resuming my regular every-so-often posting pattern.