Fourth Hurdle Consulting was founded in 1999 by the three directors, Pippa Anderson, David Grant and Adam Lloyd. Together they have more than 45 years’ experience in both the UK and international pharmaceutical industry and combine expert skills in health economics and outcomes research with an understanding of pharmaceutical and medical technology industry processes and priorities. The directors provide active input to projects and are strongly supported by a skilled team of highly qualified
professional staff.

Pippa Anderson MSc — Director Pippa Anderson’s specialist experience is in qualitative research relating to health care and health economics, measurement and valuation of health, and in the communication of value evidence to health care decision makers through the medium of the Value Dossier - the crucial end product of outcomes research programmes. A founding director, Pippa established Fourth Hurdle Consulting in 1999 together with David Grant and Adam Lloyd. This followed a twenty-plus year career in the pharmaceutical industry within sales, clinical research and consulting, as well as in health economics and outcomes research. Her responsibilities as Senior Head, Global Health Outcomes at Glaxo Wellcome R&D, underpin her expertise with extensive managerial and international business experience. Pippa maintains an active involvement in client projects and Fourth Hurdle's strategic consulting services.

David Grant MBA — Director David Grant specialises in providing strategic advice, particularly for products in early development and is a co-founder of Fourth Hurdle Consulting. He has led client projects relating to burden-of-illness reviews, reimbursement and market access environmental analysis, prospective data collection and publications for product support. After graduating with a degree in microbiology, David spent five years in clinical research before taking an MBA at the London Business School. He then moved into management roles in the pharmaceutical industry, most significantly those involving clinical development and new product marketing in Japan. For four years, David worked in the field of health outcomes research at Glaxo Wellcome, heading a team of health economists supporting local operating companies. This role gave him an important insight into the practical application of economic and outcomes data in a variety of world markets.

Adam Lloyd MPhil — Director Adam Lloyd is a specialist in economic analysis and economic modelling. Adam graduated from the University of Oxford with an MPhil in economics. Before co-founding Fourth Hurdle Consulting, he spent seven years conducting economic evaluations of health technologies at the consultancy National Economic Research Associates, and then at Glaxo Wellcome. At Fourth Hurdle Adam has extensive experience of leading economic evaluations of products in clinical development and post-launch, decision-analytic and Markov modelling, making submissions to NICE and to the SMC, and in using health economics in reimbursement and marketing activities in continental Europe.

Julia Hutchinson MSc — Senior Health Economist (currently on maternity leave) Julia Hutchinson has been working in health economics since 1999. In addition to a Bachelor's degree in psychology she has a Master’s degree in health economics from City University. Prior to joining Fourth Hurdle, Julia worked at RTI Health Solutions in Manchester. Since joining Fourth Hurdle in 2000, Julia has worked on a number of economic evaluations of clinical trial data, constructed economic models relating to pricing and reimbursement decisions across Europe and the US and undertaken qualitative research relating to factors influencing the uptake of interventions in the UK market.

Paul Mernagh MCom — Senior Health Economist Paul began work as a health economist in 2001 after completing an initial degree in economics followed by a Master’s degree in economics from the University of Sydney. Prior to joining Fourth Hurdle in October 2007, Paul has worked at M-TAG Australia (now part of IMS) and Health Technology Analysts in Sydney. Over this time, he has been a consultant to both the private and public sectors as well as acted as a government appointed evaluator of health economics submissions. Additionally, Paul was involved in a cost-effectiveness assessment that ultimately led to a national screening program for colorectal cancer in Australia. Paul has applied his specialisation in economic modelling in support of reimbursement submissions for both pharmaceuticals and medical devices in a number of therapeutic areas in both Australia and globally.

Ana Nazir MSc — Senior Health Economist (currently on maternity leave) Ana Nazir has been working in health economics since 1994. In addition to her Bachelor’s degree in economics, Ana has a Master’s degree in health economics from the University of York. Prior to joining Fourth Hurdle, Ana worked at the London School of Economics and the Centre for Health Economics Research and Evaluation in Sydney, Australia. Ana has taught on a number of Master’s degree programmes in Australia and the UK. She has experience in project and RCT management. Ana has conducted a number of economic evaluations, analysis and modelling, and projects relating to pricing, reimbursement and market access across Europe.

Emma Bloomfield MBA — Senior Health Systems Analyst Emma Bloomfield joined Fourth Hurdle in November 2004 and is the company’s Senior Health Systems Analyst. Emma has specialist knowledge of the UK NHS and the way in which its structures and working impact on the launch and uptake of pharmaceuticals. She has a degree in Economics and Politics from the University of York and a MBA (Healthcare) from City University, London. Emma began her career in the pharmaceutical industry with Smith Kline and French. She later joined the NHS at St Bartholomew’s and the Royal London Hospitals and held management posts in Neurosciences, Cancer Services, Renal Services and Clinical Project Management. She has worked with most specialties within the hospitals, advising on service development and clinical planning. Emma is currently a lay member of an executive committee at the Whittington Hospital, London.

Cate Scott MSc — Business Communications Manager Cate Scott joined Fourth Hurdle Consulting in 2005 and specialises in improving the quality of business communications including e-based information provision. As well as holding project management responsibilities, much of the focus of her work is the production of value dossiers. On graduating from the London School of Economics, Cate worked initially in international marketing. After completing a M.Sc. in Computer Science, she took up an academic career, lecturing for over ten years before moving in 2002 to the Centre for Educational Development at Imperial College, London, where she worked in the development of electronic learning initiatives. She contributes expertise in electronic documentation production and on-line information dissemination. Cate continues to maintain active links with UK Higher Education.

Yumi Asukai MSc — Health Economics Analyst Yumi joined Fourth Hurdle Consulting in September of 2006. She holds a Bachelor’s degree in Political Science from Stanford University and a Master’s degree in Health Policy, Planning and Financing from the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine and the London School of Economics. Prior to studying for her MSc in the UK, Yumi worked in San Francisco and Tokyo in healthcare & business consulting. Her work focused on comparative studies of health policies between Japan and the US, complemented by analyses of primary data.

Kevin Bowrin MSc — Health Economics Analyst Kevin has over nine years’ experience working in health care most of which has been with the UK NHS. Prior to joining Fourth Hurdle, Kevin was a Commissioner at Ealing Primary Care Trust (PCT) where he worked as part of a team responsible for overseeing the PCT system for managing commissioning within the Payment By Results (PBR) framework and implementation of commissioning strategies to tackle health inequities. While working at Ealing PCT Kevin also developed forecasting models for demand management and cost containment to inform the strategic planning process. Kevin also worked as the Manager of the Health Economics Unit at the University of the West Indies; there he was part of a team who developed the unit’s corporate and marketing strategy. In addition to a bachelor degree in economics and management and a post-graduate diploma in computer science, Kevin has a DipHE in nursing.

Amanda Holman MSc — Health Economics Analyst (currently on maternity leave) Amanda holds Bachelor degrees in Commerce and Arts, with first class honours in psychology, from the University of Western Australia. Prior to joining Fourth Hurdle in 2006, Amanda worked as a survey manager at the Australian Bureau of Statistics, where she was responsible for data collection, estimation and publication of national labour force statistics. Amanda recently completed a Masters degree in Health Policy, Planning and Financing at the London School of Economics and the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine.

Laura Mungapen MSc — Health Economics Analyst Laura Mungapen joined Fourth Hurdle in October 2006, on completion of a MSc in Health Economics and Health Policy obtained at the Health Services Management Centre, Birmingham University. She previously worked on the cost-effectiveness of a new vaccination policy in Japan. Laura also holds a BSc in Biomedical Sciences from King’s College London, which included a year’s experience working in toxicology in France, where she trained as a study director for preclinical studies.

Frode Ravndal MSc — Health Economics Analyst Frode joined Fourth Hurdle Consulting in July 2007. He graduated from the Norwegian School of Economics and Business Administration with a Bachelor’s degree in Economics in 2005. He subsequently completed his Master’s degree in Health Economics at the University of York. Prior to joining Fourth Hurdle he worked for the World Health Organization (WHO) performing statistical analysis of health care expenditures in developing countries, and he has experience of conducting systematic reviews and economic modelling on behalf of pharmaceutical companies.

Anna Roberts BSc — Health Economics Analyst Anna Roberts holds a Bachelor’s degree in physiology and pharmacology from Southampton University. Anna joined Fourth Hurdle in 2000 and has experience of data collection studies, environment analysis and value dossiers. She also has ten years’ experience in all aspects of clinical trials, from protocol writing through ongoing study management to the preparation of final study reports. Anna has managed clinical trials and case note reviews across numerous therapeutic areas including cardiology, CNS, rheumatology, oncology, psychiatry and immunology. She has managed single and multiple-centre studies in both hospital and GP settings. Anna is currently taking an MSc in Health Services Research and Technology Assessment.

Claudia Roeder Ph.D – Health Economics Analyst Claudia holds a degree in pharmacy from the Humboldt University, Berlin, following that she completed a PhD in health economics which focussed on assessing the cost effectiveness of antidepressants utilising meta-analysis. Prior to joining Fourth Hurdle in March 2007 she worked for 10 years in the pharmaceutical industry in Germany and the UK. She worked as a project manager in drug development, gaining substantial experience in developing products from concept generation to launch. With extensive experience in Regulatory Affairs she has an in-depth understanding of the European drug application processes.

Penny Watson MSc – Health Economics Analyst Penny joined Fourth Hurdle Consulting in October 2007. She graduated with a first class honours Bachelor’s degree in Politics and Economics and a Master’s degree in Economics and Health Economics from the University of Sheffield. As part of her masters, Penny has gained experience in econometric analysis and decision-analytic modelling. For her masters dissertation Penny generated a Markov model to analyse the cost-effectiveness of trastuzumab (Herceptin).

Jodie Webber MHEcon — Health Economics Analyst Jodie completed her Masters in Health Economics from the University of Queensland (UQ), Australia, in 2005. In addition, Jodie holds a post-graduate Diploma in Economics and a Bachelor of Arts (Economics) from UQ and a Bachelor of Nursing from the Queensland University of Technology (QUT). Jodie has over seven years experience working within health care in Australia. Prior to joining Fourth Hurdle, Jodie was a Health Economics Research Officer for the Centre for National Research on Disability and Rehabilitation Injury (CONROD), Australia. In 2005, Jodie was seconded to the Queensland Evaluation Group (QEG), which evaluates the submissions made by pharmaceutical companies to the Australian Pharmaceutical Benefits Advisory Committee (PBAC). Prior to Jodie’s postgraduate her experience includes clinical nursing, and a position as a State Project Officer, which involved business plan development for government funding, facilitating state-wide education of nursing staff, development of risk assessment tools and revision of clinical policies and guidelines.

Eifiona Wood MSc – Health Economics Analyst Eifiona Wood joined Fourth Hurdle in April 2005. She has a Bachelor’s degree in pharmacy from the University of Wales Institute of Science and Technology, a Postgraduate Certificate in pharmacoeconomics from Monash University, Australia and a Master’s degree in health economics and management at the University of Sheffield. Previous work experience includes eight years as a hospital pharmacist specialising in oncology at the Royal Marsden Hospital, London and the Epworth Hospital, Melbourne, Australia. During this period, she fostered an interest in health economics and took up a position as health economist in the Australian pharmaceutical industry, preparing health economic dossiers for submission to the Australian pricing and reimbursement authorities. Recent projects that she has worked on include economic evaluations, value dossiers and facilitating the design of RCTs as a platform to obtain optimal economic information.

Sue Abel BA — Administrator/Librarian Sue Abel has a degree in humanities from the Open University. Over the last ten years Sue has worked in key administrative roles in both commercial and public sector organisations. Prior to completing her degree her experience included working as a programmer/analyst for an international building company where she was responsible for developing and supporting national and worldwide IT systems. Sue contributes to the smooth running of the office, assists with client project administration and also co-ordinates financial matters for the aegisnet companies.

Sally Helps CIM Dip — Marketing Co-ordinator Sally Helps has a Postgraduate Diploma in marketing and an HNC in business and marketing. She has extensive marketing and administration experience and has worked in a number of key sales and marketing positions for large commercial companies. Sally has the key function of coordinating marketing initiatives for both aegisnet and Fourth Hurdle, as well as supporting administrative processes across all the aegisnet member companies.

Daiva Kofmanaite BA — Financial Controller Daiva Kofmanaite has a Bachelor’s degree in business technology and business management as well as formal qualifications in accountancy. Daiva is the company's financial controller with responsibility for sales and purchase ledger and credit control. She is the main point of contact for clients and suppliers on all financial issues. Within the company she also plays an important role in tracking resource utilisation in projects and making sure they are delivered within budget and on time.

Tom Smith — Operations Manager Tom Smith joined Fourth Hurdle Consulting as Office Manager in January 2006. For the previous ten years he managed an IT training organisation with many multi-national corporate clients. Prior to this, he spent over 20 years with BT where he was latterly responsible for the management and co-ordination of training and development throughout the UK. Tom has also been involved with post-launch medical education for the Pharmaceutical Industry. At Fourth Hurdle he manages the day to day running of the office and ensures all documentation meets the required standards.