PDI introduces new division for clinical educators to optimize patient care and outcomes

Mar 3 2011

PDI, Inc. (Nasdaq: PDII) today announced the launch of a new division, EngageCE, that will offer expert clinical educators to work with health care providers in the management of chronic diseases in order to optimize patient care and outcomes. EngageCE clinical educators will help medical practices transition from providing routine health care to implementing recognized and recommended standards of care.

"We are proud to enhance our offerings with this latest service that expands the communications channels offered by PDI to reach health care practitioners," said Nancy Lurker, Chief Executive Officer of PDI, Inc. "As a company, we remain intensely focused on delivering value to our customers by developing, creating and acquiring the most effective tools and vehicles for communicating with physicians and other health care providers."

EngageCE will operate as a separate unit, the services of which align well with PDI's other promotional outsource services. These include: (i) on-the-ground dedicated and shared sales teams;(ii) Group DCA, a leader in e-detailing and digital communications; (iii) Pharmakon, offering interactive medical education programs among health care practitioners; and (iv) PDI VOICE, which offers teledetailing.

EngageCE will be led by John Beriont, with Robin Freeburg reporting into him.

Beriont joins PDI from Practice Therapeutics in Bridgewater, N.J., where he was President. During his tenure, he developed and led its clinical educator business and deployed the industry's largest clinical educator team. A seasoned industry professional, he has held positions in operations, sales and sales management at Johnson & Johnson and Bristol-Myers Squibb in a broad range of therapeutic areas. Beriont's experience also includes positions of increasing responsibility at Cegedim Dendrite, Health Products Research and Quintiles, where he developed significant competencies and experience in technology solutions, market analytics and field-based medical education solutions. He holds a B.A. from Gettysburg College and an M.B.A. from Rider University.

Freeburg comes to PDI from Practice Therapeutics, where she was Senior Vice President, Operations, and responsible for managing the clinical educator teams. A trained surgical/trauma Registered Nurse, Freeburg has also managed numerous other clinical educator projects with Quintiles. She holds a B.S. in Nursing from Elmhurst College, Elmhurst, Ill.

The primary focus of EngageCE will be to instill best-practice treatment standards and procedures among health care practitioners and engage in discussions on appropriate drug therapies. This will involve introducing new protocols that can proactively enhance patient and disease management, with the goals of preventing medical issues from becoming more serious and of improving patient outcomes. The secondary focus will be to provide patient education on medical treatments to improve patients' ownership of their disease.