Press Releases

CHAPEL HILL, NC - Jun 5, 2015 - For Immediate Release

Rho Chairman and Co-Founder Ronald W. Helms Inducted as a Fellow

Of the Society for Clinical Trials

Chapel Hill, NC  ̶  June 4, 2015  ̶  Rho, a contract research organization (CRO) focused on bringing new products to market through a full range of product development services, recently announced that its Chairman and Co-founder Ronald W. Helms has been inducted as a Fellow of the Society for Clinical Trials. The Society established the title of “Fellow of the Society for Clinical Trials” (FSCT) in 2005 to honor Society members who have made significant contributions to the advancement of clinical trials and to the Society. The SCT Class of 2015 Fellows were announced during the SCT 36th Annual Meeting, which was held at the Hyatt Regency Crystal City, in Arlington, Virginia, on May 18.

“Randomized, controlled clinical trials are the ‘gold standard’ for demonstrating that a new drug or medical procedure is safe and efficacious,” said Dr. Helms, who is also Professor Emeritus at UNC’s Department of Biostatistics.  “Every prescription drug any of us takes and virtually all the currently performed surgical and other medical procedures had to be tested and proven by at least two RCCTs.   Since the 1970s members of the Society for Clinical Trials - including a number of Rho’s scientists and UNC Biostatistics faculty - have invented, tested, and adopted new RCCT designs and procedures that substantially shorten the time it takes to gain approval for new drugs and medical procedures.  It’s an honor just to be a member of the Society and to have an opportunity to be involved in such important work.  I am deeply grateful that the Society’s Fellows inducted me into their group.”

The Society cited Dr. Helms’ roles as organizer, designer, primary biostatistician, or leader of approximately 200 clinical trials, conducted mostly in the US but spanning all the populated continents.  He was also cited for early research in electronic data capture, in which clinical trials data are recorded directly to computers, bypassing paper forms, and “metadata-driven clinical trial data management systems.”  He is currently serving as overall Principal Investigator of Rho’s coordinating center for nine multinational research consortia that are currently conducting 92 clinical trials in the areas of asthma and allergic diseases, autoimmune diseases, and transplantation, funded by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases.  Helms also continues to develop methods to make clinical trials faster, less expensive, and produce higher quality results.

Professor Helms, who earned his PhD in statistics from NCSU and retired from UNC in 2000 after a tenure of 32 years, was previously inducted as a Fellow of the American Statistical Association, the world’s largest statistics professional organization.  He and wife and Rho co-founder, Mary Helms, reside near Chapel Hill June to October and in the Florida Keys October to June.

To learn more about Rho, please visit www.rhoworld.com.

About the Society for Clinical Trials

The Society for Clinical Trials, created in 1978, is an international professional organization dedicated to the development and dissemination of knowledge about the design, conduct and analysis of government and industry-sponsored clinical trials and related health care research methodologies. Visit www.sctweb.org.

About Rho

Rho, a privately-held, contract research organization (CRO) located in Chapel Hill, NC, provides a full range of clinical research services across the entire drug development process. For more than 25 years, Rho has been a trusted partner to some of the industry’s leading pharmaceutical, biotechnology, and medical device companies as well as academic and government organizations. Our commitment to excellence, our innovative technologies, and our therapeutic expertise accelerate time to market, maximize returns on investment, and lead to an exceptional customer experience. Please follow us on Twitter.

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