Dr. Karshenas comes to WVU from Abbott Laboratories, where he was the privacy officer and director of patient support services. He previously worked as the director of clinical operations at Kendle International and is happy to return to the Morgantown area.
“I went to work for Abbott Laboratories in California, but my wife Gaby and I missed Morgantown, the people, the community and the opportunity to be affiliated with the University,” Karshenas said. “It was the right decision for me to come back to Morgantown.”
Karshenas has more than 23 years of leadership and experience in diagnostic laboratories, medical devices, clinical research, regulatory compliance, healthcare and patient-driven services and support environments.
He has also worked with large companies, such as Roche, Becton-Dickinson (BD), Siemens and Thermo-Fisher.
“I will be bringing my industry perspectives into academic applications,” Karshenas said. “Drawing upon my 23 years of experience on the industry side, I hope to synthesize academic curricula to prepare future research investigators and research professionals in their use of clinical trials applications. This is a unique effort – to have a commercial organization like the CPRC working to develop academic curricula.”
The WVU Clinical and Pharmacologic Research Center is a contract research organization serving the research needs of the pharmaceutical industry by conducting clinical trials of medications being developed for use in the United States and elsewhere. Among the types of studies performed are bio-equivalency studies, required to establish that generic medications have the same properties as their name-brand equivalents, and pharmacokinetic studies, which measure how drugs are absorbed and used by the human body with and without food.
The CPRC is a division of the WVU Research Corporation. Its offices and clinical facilities are located near the WVU Health Sciences campus, allowing faculty members to provide medical and scientific oversight to the center.
“Dr. Karshenas’ expertise in the conduct of clinical trials and studies adds a natural dimension to the School of Pharmacy’s education and research mission,” Patricia Chase, Ph.D., Gates Wigner Dean of the WVU School of Pharmacy, said. “The CPRC will be an excellent model for our Pharm.D. and graduate students to understand the rigors of clinical studies that result in generic drug approvals. We are delighted that Dr. Karshenas has joined WVU.”
