KASTx Ventures is pleased to announce Janet Petrillo is joining our team as Director, Clinical Development. Petrillo’s passion for clinical trial development began when she completed her Master’s degree in Medical Science from the University of Calgary. Petrillo found a natural match for her compassion and medical research skills, starting her career in trials for HIV and AIDS treatments in the early 90s.
“We were dealing with a vulnerable population primarily,” she explained, “and we did study after study, until we finally locked into a new and effective treatment. So it was just very rewarding.”
She eventually moved into neuromuscular treatments and has since established herself as both a national and international top performer in clinical research communities. She has led the development of small scale clinical trials into phase one, two and three level trials, making these potential treatments for rare disease available to the patients that need them.
“When I started about 11 years ago in neuromuscular clinical studies, there was only a handful of studies,” she said, “and to lead the way into carving [the University of Calgary] into a well-known research centre for neuromuscular studies and doing all three phases of research, I’m proud of that for sure.”
Despite the impressive accomplishments in Petrillo’s work, she said the reason she continues to be passionate about clinical trials is the hope they give the patients. Not just the patients who will one day hopefully benefit from the treatments, but the ones participating in the trials as well.
“For example, most ALS patients are actually very altruistic in that very few of them are in the study to directly benefit themselves,” she said. “But they know their participation is helping to move science forward, whatever we find out from the study, and they get great reassurance with that. So I find clinical trial work incredibly meaningful.”
At KASTx, Petrillo said she’s excited to learn and grow alongside the “dream team” of experts with an impressive and diverse toolkit, and the potential to make great strides in the medical research field.
“I think the opportunities are going to be incredible in terms of discovering what is cutting edge and what is going on in research,” she said, “and we’re really going to be able to bring some translational research to the forefront in development and clinical research.”
KASTx is equally excited to have her as a part of their team, helping them to develop today’s best science into tomorrow’s best medicines.
“Janet’s years of expertise and passion make her an invaluable member of our team,” said Lawrence Korngut, KASTx founder and partner. “Her international reach will help the ground-breaking biotechnologies we believe in to have a greater and more immediate impact globally.”
