Marla A. Phillips, PhD – More than 28 Years Experience
Expertise
Phillips founded Pathway for Patient Health in 2017 to lead a team of Chief Quality Officers across pharma, device, diagnostics, animal health and consumer goods. The team’s mission is: Mobilizing Enterprise-wide Effectiveness”, recognizing that quality drives outstanding business and patient outcomes. Through the Chief Quality Officer Team, Phillips has led the Fit-for-Purpose (QMS Agility) initiative, the development of the Adaptability and Agility Maturity Model, and the Quality Science Education Program. The Quality Science Education Program provides free enrollment to any student in the world for 3 industry-developed college-level courses in the science of quality (product, process and systems quality). The program has grown from 13 students at Xavier University in the Fall of 2019 to 1,000+ students from 220+ universities on 5 continents by Fall 2023 (just 4 years!). Pathway also gives this education to universities to offer for academic credit, including Clemson, Rutgers, Xavier, La Salle, Minnesota, Georgia State, etc.
Prior to Pathway, Phillips founded Xavier Health in 2008 at Xavier University, where she advanced the industry with FDA officials and Pharmaceutical and Medical Device professionals. Phillips initiated conferences in pharmaceuticals, medical devices, combination products and artificial intelligence. The MedCon conference is arguably the #1 medical device conference in the nation. FDA established the Xavier University Artificial Intelligence Working Groups as one of its initial 8 Collaborative Communities, and with FDA, Phillips launched the AI World Team. Phillips led multiple global initiatives, including the development of the Good Supply Practices (GSPs) with a team of FDA officials, pharmaceutical and medical device experts, and supplier organizations.
Phillips began working in the pharmaceutical industry for Merck in 1996 where she took on roles of increasing responsibility, culminating in position of Head of Quality Operations at the Merck North Carolina facility. Marla holds a B.S. in Chemistry from Xavier University, and a Ph.D. in Organic Chemistry from the University of North Carolina – Chapel Hill.
Sectors | Segments | Applications
Pharmaceuticals, Biopharmaceuticals, Medical Devices and Diagnostics: Quality, Manufacturing, Validation, Laboratory, Regulatory Affairs, Regulatory Agency Inspection Management and Outcomes, Failure Investigation, Audits, Supply Chain Reliability and Resilience, External Manufacturing.
Clients | Companies
The Chief Quality Officer Team includes the heads of quality from AstraZeneca, CSL Behring, Elanco, Eli Lilly, Fisher & Paykel Healthcare, Gilead, Glaukos, illumina, J&J, Merck, P&G, and Thermo Fisher. Many companies are corporate members of our programs, team members of our initiatives, and volunteers supporting our students and universities.