Eileen Hilton, MD - Chief Executive Officer

Dr. Hilton is the President and Chief Executive Officer of BRANY. Prior to joining the Alliance, Dr. Hilton conceived and developed the Clinical Research Program at North Shore-Long Island Jewish Health System.

Dr. Hilton has served as the Director of the Office of Grants and Contracts and Director of the Institutional Review Board at Long Island Jewish (LIJ) Medical Center. Clinical positions include Directorships of the Lyme Disease and the Travel and Immunization Centers at LIJ.

Dr. Hilton is a Professor of Clinical Medicine at the Albert Einstein School of Medicine. She is the author of numerous peer-reviewed articles, chapters, and books. She graduated from Columbia University, College of Physicians and Surgeons and holds board certifications in Internal Medicine and Infectious Diseases.

Kimberly Irvine, CIP, CIM - 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-Complaint Informed Consent Process,” and is a Certified IRB Professional.

Joanne Nicholson - Chief Financial Officer

Joanne Nicholson heads BRANY’s Finance Department. She is responsible for all aspects of financial reporting and cash management, and monitors all financial activity for each clinical trial. As a part of this process, Ms. Nicholson oversees Hospital and Investigator site payments ensuring that all payments are made in a timely manner.

Prior to joining BRANY, Ms. Nicholson was a senior manager with KPMG, LLP where she spent the first 10yrs of her career servicing primarily healthcare providers and pharmaceutical companies. In addition, she 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.

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.

Raffaella Hart, BS, CIP, CIM - Director of IRB

Raffaella Hart is the Director of the BRANY Institutional Review Board (IRB) and the IRB staff. She directs multiple committees in the review of new and ongoing research projects. Her main responsibilities include implementation of Federal regulations and institutional policies and procedures for the ethical conduct of research involving human subjects. Along with the IRB staff, she assures accurate and effective documentation of IRB meetings and decisions, and maintains database files and correspondence for all BRANY research projects in compliance with applicable regulations.

Prior to 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 and is a certified IRB Professional.

Michael Belotto, MPH, CCRC, CCRA - Director, BRANY Institute of Research Education

Michael Belotto is the Director of the BRANY Institute of 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.

Camille Peloso - Business Development Manager

Camille Peloso is the Business Development Manager. 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 and Marketing Director of a major corporation.

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.

Ted Fuertges - Business Development Consultant

Ted Fuertges serves as sales and marketing consultant for BRANY and the investigative sites. He also serves as a consultant and marketing liaison for Research Billing Solutions, a Division of BRANY (RBS). RBS offers investigative site receivable management, which includes revenue tracking, billing, collection, reconciliation, and detailed financial reporting on clinical trial accounts receivable and revenue. Mr. Fuertges has 15 years of similar consulting and marketing experience working with hospitals and medical centers by handling client financial administration.

Mr. Fuertges is a graduate of the University of Dayton with a degree in Marketing.

Eileen Summers - Business Development Associate

Eileen Summers joined BRANY in 2004 after serving 21 years on the New York Police Department. Eileen previously held an administrative position at BRANY and was promoted to Business Development Associate in 2007. She works with the business development staff in ensuring that all study documents are current and accurate. Ms. Summers is also responsible for updating the BRANY database with new sites and contacts who are a part of the BRANY Alliance.

Eileen is a graduate of Queens College with a degree in Psychology.

Melissa Lopez - Senior Grants Manager

Melissa Lopez is a Senior Grants Manager who negotiates budgets and contracts between sponsor companies on behalf of the investigators. She is also responsible for regulatory preparation and submission to the IRB and is the key contact person for both the sponsors and the investigators. She collectively works with the study staff and sponsors to ensure all clinical trials can begin in a timely fashion. Ms. Lopez began her career at BRANY as a Grants Assistant in August 2004, was promoted to Lead Grants Assistant in December 2004, to Grants Manager in May 2005 and to Senior Grants Manager in January 2007.

Ms. Lopez is a graduate of Iona College with a degree in Computer Science

Shoba Ramnarine - Billing and Collections Supervisor

Shoba Ramnarine supervises the day-to-day operations of the Billing and Collections department, ensuring that the department's operations flow smoothly and efficiently. This includes the process of billing clinical trial sponsors for study progress, and ensuring timely collection of funds owed. She acts as a financial liaison between the sponsors of the trials and the sites conducting them, ensuring that all data is complete and accurate and that research sites are appropriately compensated.

Ms. Ramnarine began her career at BRANY as a Billing and Collections Coordinator and was promoted to her current position in February 2005. She is a graduate of York College with a degree in Medical Billing and Coding.

Nat Krieger - Senior Billing and Collections Coordinator

Nat Krieger's responsibilities as Senior Billing and Collections Coordinator include communicating with research study coordinators and Principal Investigators in order to facilitate billing for study progress on a timely basis. Mr. Krieger also closely monitors collection of payments from sponsors for research conducted and ensures the accuracy of payments received. He works directly with both sponsors and investigators to resolve any billing or payment questions, which may arise during the course of the study.

A graduate of Indiana State University with a degree in Business Administration, Mr. Krieger has previously worked in billing and collections for various hospitals as well as private entities in the NYC metropolitan area.

Michelle Turchiano-Rodriguez, CIP, CIM - Assistant IRB Department Manager

Michelle Turchiano-Rodriguez is the Assistant Department Manager for the BRANY Institutional Review Board. Her primary responsibility is processing new project submissions, as well as coordinating and follow-up of IRB meetings. Ms. Rodriguez ensures submissions are processed in accordance with the applicable regulations, and she assists in documentation of IRB decisions through maintenance of database files and relevant correspondence.

Prior to BRANY, Ms. Rodriguez spent two years at an executive recruiting firm in Midtown NYC, where she started as Data Entry Clerk and ended her term as Office Manager. She is a graduate of CUNY Hunter College with a Bachelor's Degree in Political Science and a minor in Economics/Accounting, and is a Certified IRB Professional.

Urvashi Arora - IRB Coordinator

Urvashi Arora joined BRANY in July 2005 as an Associate IRB Coordinator. In June 2006, she took on the role of Project Coordinator to perform internal audits in conjunction with the BRANY IRB Standard Operating Procedures to ensure regulatory compliance, as well as oversaw the administration of BRANY's Institutional Biosafety Committees (IBCs), which review projects involving recombinant DNA and gene transfer.

Currently, Ms. Arora works as an IRB Coordinator, focusing on new project submissions. She ensures these submissions are processed in accordance with applicable regulations and assists in documentation of IRB decisions through maintenance of database files and relevant correspondence.

Ms. Arora has a Master's degree in Psychology from Adelphi University and a Bachelor's degree in Psychology from Stony Brook University. She is currently pursuing a Master's in Public Administration from New York University with a specialization in Health Policy and Management.

Melissa Robilotto - IRB Coordinator

Melissa Robilotto is an IRB Coordinator for the BRANY Institutional Review Board. Ms. Robilotto began her career at BRANY as an IRB Assistant in August of 2005, and became an IRB Meeting Specialist soon after. Her primary responsibilities now focus on ensuring modifications to previously approved research are processed efficiently and in accordance with applicable regulations. Ms. Robilotto assists in documentation of IRB expedited review decisions through maintenance of the IRB database and relevant correspondence.

Ms. Robilotto is a graduate of John Jay College with a Justice Studies degree. Her focus was on the protection of human rights.

Christopher Holman - IRB Coordinator

Christopher Holman is an IRB coordinator for the BRANY Institutional Review Board. As a coordinator, Mr. Holman assists the IRB in facilitating the ethical conduct of research in human subjects, reviews research applications, and presents any discrepancies to the research staff. His responsibilities are managing IRB meeting agendas, ensuring timely analysis of reviews for new and ongoing research projects, and facilitating the communication across committee members, sponsors, investigators, and their research staff. Prior to BRANY, Mr. Holman was a staff sergeant in the US Air Force and recently returned home from deployment to Afghanistan. Mr. Holman is a graduate of Delaware Valley College with a Bachelor's Degree in Business Administration.

Erika Jorquera - Associate IRB Coordinator

Erika Jorquera is an Associate IRB Coordinator for the BRANY Institutional Review Board. Her primary responsibility is processing applications for continuing review. Ms. Jorquera ensures timely and substantive continuing review of ongoing research by the IRB, and she assists in documentation of IRB decisions through maintenance of database files and relevant correspondence. Erika is also fluent in Spanish.

Ms. Jorquera is a graduate of Nassau Community College with an Associate in Applied Science Office Technology Executive and graduated with honors from SUNY College at Old Westbury with a Bachelor of Arts in Spanish Language, Hispanic Literature and Culture.