Public health expert Mark Thompson has been appointed vice president of Westat’s clinical research practice, bringing decades of experience in real-world data and real-world evidence to the company.
Reporting to Sunitha Mathew, vice president and practice director, Thompson will conduct the organization’s work to expand its advanced real-world evidence analytics capabilities, Westat announced from its Rockville, Maryland headquarters on Thursday.
Mathew said that Thompson’s focus on applications of RWE and advanced analytics “will spark innovation and growth,” for Westat.
“Our team of clinical and epidemiological researchers, bioinformaticians, and data scientists is excited to work with him to address our federal and commercial clients’ challenges,” she said.
Throughout his more than 30-year career, Thompson has held positions at both government and industry organizations and has earned international recognition for his expertise in influenza and COVID-19 vaccines.
He previously worked at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, during which he served as principal investigator on domestic and international investigations of disease burden, immunogenicity and vaccine effectiveness, including studies centering pregnant women, infants, older adults and health care professionals.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, Thompson was a principal investigator for two of the CDC’s primary vaccine evaluation platforms.
Before his time with the CDC, Thompson led a clinical practice guidelines project at Kaiser Permanente Northern California. He has held a number of other private sector roles with large companies, including Ford, General Motors and AT&T, where he worked to better disease management and preventative care for their personnel.
In a recent role at Novavax, Inc., he advised the organization on developing real-world data to estimate the effectiveness of its COVID-19 vaccine.
“We are thrilled to welcome Mark Thompson to Westat. His expert leadership will provide invaluable insight as we grow our RWD/RWE and vaccine effectiveness portfolios,” said Westat President and CEO Scott Royal.
