BRANY Team
Kimberly Irvine, CIP, CIM
Executive Vice President of Operations and Regulatory
Kimberly Irvine is the Vice President of Operations and Regulatory of BRANY. Her responsibilities include coordinating and implementing business processes that enhance BRANY’s efficiency. Prior to her promotion to VP of Operations at BRANY, Kimberly was the Director of the Regulatory Department where her primary responsibilities were in Contracts and Budgets.
Ms. Irvine began her career in Healthcare Administration at the Weill Medical College of Cornell University and subsequently obtained a position as a Business Manager for the Department of Medicine at LIJ. She has 18 years experience in Healthcare Finance.
Ms. Irvine graduated with honors from St. Johns University in Healthcare Administration. She has co-authored a book on the Health Insurance Portability Accountability Act (HIPAA) called, “Ensuring a HIPAA-Compliant Informed Consent Process,” and is a Certified IRB Professional.
516-470-6914 • kirvine@brany.com
Joanne Nicholson
Vice President and Chief Financial Officer
Joanne Nicholson runs BRANY’s Finance Department and oversees a team of staff dedicated to the financial oversight of each and every clinical trial. Ms. Nicholson is responsible for all aspects of fiscal management at BRANY, including budgeting, financial reporting, cash management and implementing fiscal policies and procedures. As a part of this process, Ms. Nicholson oversees Hospital and Investigator site payments, ensuring that all payments are made accurately and in a timely manner.
Prior to joining BRANY, Ms. Nicholson was a senior manager with KPMG, LLP where she spent the first 10 years of her career servicing healthcare providers and pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies. In addition, she has chaired several committees, including the New York State Society of CPAs Healthcare Committee (Nassau Chapter).
Ms. Nicholson graduated with honors from Adelphi University and is a licensed CPA.
516-470-6919 • jnichols@brany.com
Portia M. Rindos, RN, CCRC, CCRA
Director of Quality Improvement and Auditing
Portia Rindos is Director of our Quality Improvement team. Her responsibilities include auditing for regulatory compliance and GCP, monitoring of pharmaceutical, investigator-initiated and NIH trials. She is an expert in FDA regulations, ICH, OHRP and GCP. She is also a member of the BRANY Institutional Review Board. Ms. Rindos is an RN for over 25 years, including 12 years as a Clinical Research Coordinator and Clinical Research Associate. She is a former Nursing Care Coordinator for a Cardiothoracic Telemetry unit and Assistant Nursing Care Coordinator for an Intensive Care Unit.
Ms. Rindos graduated with honors from Molloy College in 1977 with a BSN. She has co-authored on several publications resulting from clinical research.
516-470-6913 • prindos@brany.com
Raffaella Hart, BS, CIP, CIM
Director of IRB
Raffaella Hart is the Director of the BRANY Institutional Review Board (IRB). She is a Certified IRB Professional (CIP) and has been involved in IRB administration for 10 years. Ms. Hart has overall responsibility for the activities of BRANY IRB, with a focus on implementing regulations and organizational policies. Along with the IRB team, she facilitates BRANY IRB's oversight of research involving human subjects and assures effective IRB operations. She and her team also facilitate BRANY's Institutional Biosafety Committee (IBC) Services and Conflict of Interest review services.
Ms. Hart had a primary role in the efforts leading to BRANY IRB's full accreditation from the Association for the Accreditation of Human Research Protection Programs (AAHRPP), and is responsible for maintaining the standards required by the accrediting agency. She has also served as a site visitor for AAHRPP.
Prior to joining BRANY, Ms. Hart was an administrative director for medical practices and several hospitals throughout the tri-state region at Financial Medical Management. Ms. Hart is a graduate of SUNY Binghamton with a Bachelor of Science in Psychobiology. A published author, Ms. Hart has recently co-authored an article that appeared in journal Seminars in Nuclear Medicine, and was a contributing author for the book How to Work In and Within IRBs.
516-470-6909 • rhart@brany.com
Michael Belotto, MPH, CCRC, CCRA
Director, BRANY Institute for Research Education
Michael Belotto is the Director of the BRANY Institute for Research Education. He also serves as a research compliance expert responsible for auditing sites to ensure investigators and investigator staff compliance with ethical and clinical guidelines and FDA regulations. He also serves on the BRANY Institutional Review Board.
Mr. Belotto was a paramedic in the New York City Emergency Medical Service for 10 years, with 7 years of experience in Hospital Administration.
Mr. Belotto is a graduate of New York Medical College where he completed a Masters in Public Health with a concentration in Epidemiology and Biostatistics.
516-470-6917 • mbelotto@brany.com
Carmela Houston-Henry BS, MS, CCRA
Director of Sales
Carmela Houston-Henry is Director of Sales for BRANY. Her responsibilities include
Developing CRO/Pharmaceutical/Device company relationships and marketing BRANY services including; investigator networks by clinical specialty, study procurement, education programs, Central IRB, auditing and monitoring services.
Prior to joining BRANY, Ms. Houston-Henry held various positions in the Clinical Research field including Senior Manager of Corporate Clinical Research, Senior Manager/Manager of Clinical Affairs, and Clinical Research Associate at various Clinical Research Organizations and Pharmaceutical/Medical Device Companies.
Ms. Houston-Henry is a graduate of North Carolina Central University where she completed her Master of Science in Family and Consumer Science. She is a certified clinical research associate and has co-authored several clinical research publications.
516-470-6979 • choustonhen@brany.com
Camille Peloso
Network Development Coordinator
Camille Peloso is the Network Development Coordinator. She serves as the liaison between the pharmaceutical companies and the investigators. Her responsibilities are to oversee that all upcoming clinical trials are sited with the appropriate investigators and that all correspondence is processed in a timely fashion.
Ms. Peloso is a graduate of Queens College with a Psychology degree. Past positions includes 17 yrs as an Executive Assistant for a Marketing Director of a major corporation.
516-470-6901 • cpeloso@brany.com
Rosemarie Spiler
Assistant Director, Grants and Contracts
Rosemarie Spiler is the Assistant Director of the Grants and Contracts Department. She oversees and assists with the day-to-day activities of the Regulatory Department. She functions as the key contact person between pharmaceutical companies, sites, investigators and research coordinators for Regulatory, Contract and Budget issues. Ms. Spiler has over 15 years of health care related experience.
Prior to working at BRANY, Ms. Spiler was an Accounts Receivable Specialist at a large academic medical center.
516-470-6925 • rspiler@brany.com
Alexi Morillo
Program Director - Medicare Coverage Analysis
Alexi Morillo is the program director for the
Medicare Coverage Analysis (MCA) and Research Billing Compliance department at
the Biomedical Research Alliance of New York (BRANY). He works with research
institutions to ensure projects meet the requirements of Medicare reimbursement
for clinical trials involving devices and drugs. Upon review of clinical
trial projects determined to be eligible for Medicare coverage under National
Coverage Determination 310.1, Mr. Morillo provides his findings on BRANY MCA forms
and billing grids which provide a road map for billing items/services. He also
provides assistance to research sites in Medicare billing compliance
self-audits.
Before joining BRANY, he worked closely
with principal investigators for six years at New York University (NYU) School of Medicine in various roles that included
data management, Research Coordinator, Supervisor, and Clinical Research
Management Coordinator. Mr. Morillo’s
career at NYU began at the Cancer Institute
before joining the Office of Science and Research Office of Clinical Trials. As
a Clinical Research Management Coordinator, he managed a portfolio of over 200
clinical trials a year with responsibilities that included oversight of the
budget, contract, and research project finances. Mr. Morillo also served on NYU’s
Data Safety Monitoring Board and Cancer Institute’s Internal Audit Committee.
Mr. Morillo also worked at The Floating
Hospital where he was a Clinic Coordinator and Quality Improvement/Compliance
Associate. He also served as Chairperson
for the Safety and Compliance Committee and was a member of the Core Values
Committee.
Mr. Morillo was a certified Clinical
Research Coordinator by ACRP in 2007 and graduated from the University of Phoenix
with a Master of Business Administration.
516-622-2042 • amorillo@brany.com
Maureen Hurst
Compliance Auditor
516-470-6984 • mhurst@brany.com
Eileen Summers
Relationship Manager - Business Development
516-470-6933 • esummers@brany.com
Ryan Washington
Manager - Business Development
516-470-6974 • rwashington@brany.com
Michelle Rodriguez
Assistant Director - IRB
516-470-6969 • mrodrigu3@brany.com
Erika Jorquera
Associate IRB Coordinator
516-470-6965 • ejorquer@brany.com
Andrea Waldron
Associate IRB Coordinator
516-470-6906 • awaldron@brany.com
Melissa Robilotto
IRB Coordinator
516-470-6975 • mrobilot@brany.com
Shoba Ramnarine
Billing and Collections Supervisor
516-470-6927 • ramnarine@brany.com
Nat Krieger
Senior Billing and Collections Coordinator
516-470-6915 • nkrieger@brany.com
