2009 Business Growth Awards: Service Category – Overall Success Story
It wasn’t just what Victoria Tifft saw in West Africa that changed her life — it’s also what she experienced firsthand.
Tifft, founder, president and owner of Clinical Research Management Inc., served in the U.S. Peace Corps in Togo, West Africa, in the field of infectious disease control. While there, she experienced firsthand the devastating conditions that people in third-world countries endure.
She not only witnessed but also became sick from those conditions, contracting malaria several times. She came back to the United States with the commitment to spend her life working toward the goal of providing treatments for infectious diseases.
She started CRM in 1996 and has already made an impact on what she committed to do. CRM is a full-service, contract research organization that supports the development of FDA-regulated vaccines, pharmaceuticals and medical devices for both government and commercial customers.
It’s grown from three employees in 1996 to more than 300 in 2009, with sales increasing by $6.1 million over the last five years.
Tifft won her first government contract to work on site at the Walter Reed Army Institute of Research to create and maintain the WRAIR Clinical Trials Center.
While the government sector is where it all started, Tifft recognized the need to expand the business beyond the government sector. In 2009, CRM launched a new division of the company called Clinical Solutions.
Throughout the past year, the clinical solutions department acquired numerous commercial customers, including hospitals, pharmaceuticals, academic institutions and bioscience companies.
This department has enabled CRM to support not only infectious disease research but other specialties, as well, including cardiology, neurology, oncology and dermatology.
Knowing to expand outside the government sector is one way that Tifft thought outside the box, which she motivates her team to do, as well.
As a result, CRM has been recognized for managing FDA-regulated clinical research programs, including trials centers, biopharmaceutical manufacturing facilities and basic proof of concept programs.
Tifft’s drive and dedication to think outside the box, along with her emphasis on teamwork, has helped her company meet its goals of increasing government and commercial business and bringing more jobs to Ohio.
How to reach: Clinical Research Management Inc., (330) 278-2343 or www.clinicalrm.com
