Fourth Annual BioSciences Forum
About our speakers
William K. Atkinson . Paula Brown Stafford . Myla Lai-Goldman . Michael Kowolenko
William K. Atkinson
President and CEO
WakeMed Health and Hospitals
William (Bill) K. Atkinson, Ph.D., MPH, a Greensboro, N.C., native, has over 20 years’ experience as a hospital president and chief executive officer in rural and urban settings in several states. He is only the third CEO in the 46-year history of WakeMed Health & Hospitals, an 851-bed private, not-for-profit multi-hospital system which is one of the top health care providers in the state. Its heart program is North Carolina’s largest, and WakeMed is one of Wake County’s largest employers.
Atkinson is recognized nationally for his leadership in disaster preparedness, emergency medical services, and workforce development, and for his work in reducing gang activity. He lectures frequently on innovation diffusion in healthcare. In 2007, he was named the Business Leader of the Year by Business Leader Magazine and Who’s Who 2006 by Metro Magazine. He also received the American Red Cross Humanitarian Award. He is the 2004 recipient of the James O. Page/JEMS International Leadership Award for contributions to emergency medicine and the North Carolina Hospital Association’s Distinguished Service Award, the Leader of the Year Award from Leadership Raleigh and the Gordon Smith, Jr. Award from the Alice Aycock Poe Center for Health Education.
He has served as chairman of the North Carolina Hospital Association (NCHA) and the NCHA’s Center for Hospital Quality and Patient Safety. He is a delegate of the American Hospital Association’s Regional Policy Board 3. Atkinson also serves as chair of the North Carolina Institute of Medicine and is chair-elect of the Greater Raleigh Chamber of Commerce and the Research Triangle Regional Partnership. He also serves on the boards of the North Carolina Chamber and Wake Technical Community College, and is a commissioner with the North Carolina Health & Wellness Trust Fund. He co-chaired with Ann Goodnight the successful Friends of Wake County school bond drive. He also co-chaired North Carolina’s WorkFirst Business Council, and continues to believe in the importance of economically healthy communities as the foundation for healthy residents.
Atkinson has a doctorate in public policy and master’s degrees in public health and public policy, and is a graduate of the Executive Management Program of Yale University. He holds adjunct faculty positions in the schools of public health and medicine at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and in the School of Public Health at the University of South Carolina - Columbia. He is a member of the North Carolina State University’s Kenan Fellows Board of Advisors.
Myla Lai-Goldman, MD
Medical Director, Chief Scientific Officer and Executive Vice President
Laboratory Corporation of America, Holdings (LabCorp)
Myla P. Lai-Goldman, M.D. has served as Executive Vice President and Medical Director since April 1998. Dr. Lab-Goldman was also the Company's Chief Scientific Officer from April 1998 to May 2008. Dr. Lai-Goldman oversees the Company's Quality Assurance, National Medical Oversight (Pathology), Technical Assessment/New Technology/Research and Development, and coordination of all Technology Assessment programs. Dr. Lai-Goldman is Board Certified in anatomic and clinical pathology and serves as a member of the Executive Committee of the Company. Dr. Lai-Goldman, who holds a medical degree from Columbia University, was named Senior Vice President of the Company in 1997 and held the position of Medical Director for the Center for Molecular Biology and Pathology from 1991 to 2006 (with Roche Biomedical Laboratories ("RBL") and subsequently the Company). Dr. Lai-Goldman joined RBL in 1990.
Paula Brown Stafford, MPH
Executive Vice President, Global Biometrics and
Chair, Enterprise Data Council
Quintiles Transnational
Paula Brown Stafford joined Quintiles in 1985 as a biostatistician. She is currently executive vice president of global biometrics and transformation within Quintiles Clinical Research Organization and chair of the Enterprise Data Council. Additionally, she leads the Enterprise Transformation Unit and Enterprise Data Council within the company.
Stafford has held numerous positions during her 20-plus years with Quintiles, including positions in project management in the United States and Europe; business development, scientific operations, and general management.
In addition to her role at Quintiles, Stafford is a member of the Board of Directors of CDISC (Clinical Data Interchange Standards Consortium) and the Foundation Board of the School of Public Health at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. She is also a member of the Industry Advisory Board to the BioSciences Management program at North Carolina State University College of Management.
Stafford holds bachelor’s and master’s degrees in public health, both from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, with her specialization in biostatistics.
Michael D. Kowolenko, PhD
Senior Vice President
Wyeth Biotech Technical Operations and Product Supply
Michael D. Kowolenko, Ph.D., has extensive leadership experience in the biotech industry, having worked with several of the world’s major biotechnology companies. In October 2007, he was named senior vice president of Wyeth Biotech Technical Operations and Product Supply (TO&PS), providing strategic and operations leadership perspective to ongoing integrated and cross-functional global business decisions. This includes the development, implementation and maintenance of a global capacity and site network strategy for all biopharma and vaccine products and franchises at seven global sites.
Before joining Wyeth Biotech, Kowolenko held leadership roles with Biogen Idec, where he advanced to the role of senior vice president of pharmaceutical operations & technology; Bayer Corporation, where he served in various roles, concluding as vice president for quality assurance at the company’s Clayton, N.C., operations; and Bristol-Myers Squibb, where he also served in several roles, concluding as manager of immunotoxicology in the department of biologics evaluation
His major professional accomplishments include developing metrics driven operations organization for Biogen-Idec, expanding operational capabilities in all international manufacturing and quality sites while driving down costs and improving success rates. He also developed industry leading approaches to compliance and process control currently considered “best in class” by regulatory agencies, and implemented continuous improvement programs and activity-based accounting training for executives.
Kowolenko is active in professional organizations including the National Association of Corporate Directors, Manufacturing Leadership Board (Corporate Executive Board), American Association of Immunologists, Parenteral Drug Association, and the American Society of Quality.
He received his bachelor’s in pharmacy, master’s in pharmacology , and Ph.D. in medical laboratory sciences, immunology, from Northeastern University in Boston, Mass. He completed an NIH NRSA Post-Doctoral Fellowship in Biochemical Immunology at Albany Medical College. He also has completed several management skills training programs, including one at Notre Dame’s Management Development Center.