Working with Stars: Meet Brian Perry
Brian Perry is one of the best PV database experts you could find. Read about how he got there, and his next mission. This is it fascinating…
How did you first become involved in safety databases?
I began working with safety databases in 1993 at Vertex Pharmaceuticals. As the primary IT person in the organization, I was asked to build clinical data management and drug safety systems from scratch, got to discover clinical systems and PV systems, and took the rest of my career from there.
What is the proportion of your work on PV since?
Approximately 60 to 70 percent of my work is on PV, with the remaining 30 to 40 percent involving clinical data management systems and related clinical technologies. I have probably worked with just about every PV system that's been out there in the last 35 years...
What projects stood out as especially memorable for you?
During the COVID-19 pandemic, companies were very early trying to get an Emergency Use Authorization for COVID treatments, and they had to get a PV system in place very quickly. I picked up a number of projects helping those organizations, and I think it was memorable because of everything that was going on in the world at the time and the feeling that I was able to contribute in some way.
What did you find unique in pharmaceutical industry regarding databases?
Before I started working in the industry, I did a lot of work with government contractors, all including requirements for formal validation and testing, which are similar to what pharma requires. The concept of formalized validation and strict change control/management was not new to me but seemed to be new for many IT newcomers.
What would you change in the PV DB world if you had a magic wand?
I would say better standardization between systems. Certainly, everyone have adapted to standards like E2B, and we are all reporting to the same regulations. But there are still a lot of things that are not standardized and that generally has created problems along the way.
What are the values that you think made you successful in your work?
I think a respect for the fact that the systems used in PV and in the clinical space have to be precise, function consistently, and very deterministically. That fits very well with my personality, which is very much in tune with the idea of precision, clear definition of purpose, and such. Once, a friend and I were working on validating a computer system, writing scripts, test scripts, and documentation. And we were just very deep into working on it. I looked up at her, and I said, we're really enjoying this, aren't we? And she looked back at me and said, it's so good that there's work out there like this for people like us. And we both laughed... You must love what you do!
Why did you move into consulting?
Because it allowed me to work on a broader range of systems, projects, and problems. My transition was unusual: while at Vertex, when I told the CEO that I wanted to leave and start a consulting business, he supported the project, helped fund the new company, and became my first client. That was the beginning of a successful business.
What is your experience with working with JPCC:
I am pretty new to working with JPCC, but I know some of the folks there already from my past. It is an amazing group of people, very talented, very accomplished people, and it is a pleasure to be part of it. Seeing the e-mail exchanges, people posting questions to each other and sharing information, is refreshing to see these days. I am honored to be part of a group of very accomplished folks in this space. It is great to be working with like-minded people.
What did you want to become as a child?
I was sure I would become an MD or a veterinarian. But in my teenage years, I realized that I could not deal with the perspective of losing patients. One of my good friends was a radiologist running one of the early CT scanners at our local hospital. It was fascinating. I would also go to a friend's veterinary hospital and realized that seeing animals die is part of the normal things that happen in a veterinary practice. I did not think I could do this, but I was certain that as soon as I started programming and using computers, I would use it in healthcare in some way. So, the fact that I ended up with life science and working in PV is not far from the original thinking. For me, it's always been about how I can apply my knowledge to improving lives.
What keeps you busy after work?
I have two aging cats with health issues; one is a cancer survivor thanks to an amazing oncology surgeon and care team but requires a lot of care (medications, fractioned meals). I spend a lot of time with them. In addition to that, I have a huge interest in computer history and teaching the history of computing. I have been assembling a bunch of vintage computers, restoring them, fixing them, and bringing them back to operation with a goal of opening a small museum here in Massachusetts. There is so much of the history of computing with roots here in Massachusetts.
What do you hope your legacy will be?
I would love to reinforce the understanding of the history of computing. AI is going to change healthcare dramatically going forward, and we are going to get new tools that I don't think we've even imagined yet. As we look at new things like AI and other technologies, remembering the past is important, so we don't repeat the same mistakes. I do want to make sure I leave the world in a better position to not forget a lot of the things that have happened in this space.
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