WIRB-Copernicus Group (WCG), a provider of regulatory and ethical review services and software to support clinical research, has promoted Lindsay McNair, M.D., M.P.H., M.S.B., to chief medical officer.

“As a physician, clinical investigator, consultant and former academic institutional review board (IRB) member, Dr. McNair brings her extensive experience of both drug development and the ethical oversight of research to our organization,” said Donald A. Deieso, Ph.D., WCG chairman and CEO. “With this powerful background, Dr. McNair will support WCG’s clinical professionals and clients in making decisions that create efficient and effective clinical development programs that respect and protect the well-being of clinical trial participants.”

McNair will guide the activities of more than 50 clinicians including physicians, nurses and biosafety experts. She has more than 15 years’ experience providing medical guidance on clinical development strategies and study designs for new drugs. In previous roles in the pharmaceutical industry, she has delivered medical oversight for all phases of clinical studies in a variety of therapeutic areas, including multiple oncology indications, hepatitis C, psoriasis and multiple sclerosis. In addition, Dr. McNair provides ethical guidance, having founded the Human Subject Protection Committee at Vertex Pharmaceuticals.

McNair is an adjunct associate professor at the Boston University School of Public Health, and was a member of the Boston University Medical Center IRB. She also is a member of The World Council for Ethical Standards; the Ethical Protocol Development Committee at the Multi-Regional Clinical Trials (MRCT) Center, which is administered by Harvard; the ethics committee for Care Dimensions, formerly known as the Hospice of North Shore and Greater Boston; and Public Responsibility in Medicine and Research (PRIM&R).