The Anti-Paper Pusher - A PharmaVOICE 100 Spotlight

Sheila Rocchio of PHT

By Taren Grom, Co-Founder and Editor-in-Chief, PharmaVOICE

Sheila Rocchio doesn’t just know ePRO, she lives ePRO. She has been an industry standard bearer for moving electronic patient reported outcomes from its infancy more than a decade ago to the forefront of clinical trial efficiency.

Ms. Rocchio’s mission has been to get biopharma companies to abolish paper and embrace ePRO to collect the voice of the patient directly and without distortion. Today, the FDA and EMA strongly suggest using ePRO for clinical research to collect patient data, in large part to Rocchio’s passion and advocacy. Rocchio is a highly sought after speaker and thought leader on the topic, and colleagues and customers alike give her credit for guiding regulators to advocate for and sponsors to adopt ePRO technology.

Not only does she believe ePRO is the right way to go from a business perspective as VP of marketing at PHT Corp., a leader in the space, but that’s the right thing to do from a patient perspective. Sheila believes that the biggest challenge in the industry today is moving to a model where therapies are truly cost-effective to develop and to reimburse. She says with a global population that will soon reach 9 billion, there have to be ways for the industry and governments to collaborate in mutually beneficial ways to develop and deliver effective medicines to all of the people who need them. Sheila is all about delivering on that goal.

She is bringing ePRO to the next level by introducing a wide range of ePRO modalities from handheld eDiaries, to the Web, to the first ePRO smartphone app. Smart, driven, talented, passionate are just a few of the adjectives that colleagues use to describe this dynamic game changer. She is committed to continuing to develop products that PHT can bring forth to help researchers keep patient-driven eData at the center of clinical research and expand into disease management to help truly improve health outcomes.

She credits her boss, Phil Lee, and her CEO, Steve Raymond, the founder and Chief Scientific and Quality Officer, and former boss Linda Beneze with providing mentorship and guidance throughout her career, as well as her eldest sister. In turn, Sheila is devoted to paying it forward and considers mentoring one of the most enjoyable things about her job. She works closely with members on her team to discuss long- and short-term career goals to figure out how together they can achieve those goals in ways that are great for the individual and the company. She draws inspiration from her family, particularly her three young children, and her husband, whom she says helps her find the funny side of things.

She also draws a great deal of inspiration from PHT’s clients, who she says are working on innovative new therapies that have the ability to dramatically improve health and treat disease. Rocchio says their dedication and passion for their work inspires her to work harder and help PHT deliver even better products that help the research process.


Learn more about Sheila through her PharmaVOICE 100 feature in the latest issue of PharmaVOICE.

To learn more about PHT Corp., visit www.phtcorp.com.

Check out the other 99 PharmaVOICE 100 honorees at www.pharmavoice.com.