Emmes opens North Carolina office and plans hiring drive

Maryland-headquartered Emmes wants to tap North Carolina’s drug research community through a new regional base.

The clinical research organization (CRO) opened the office in Wilmington last week, framing the move as a part of a planned staff recruitment drive in the region.

Company president Rhonda Henry said, “the new base in Wilmington will allow us to draw from the deep clinical research talent pool in the area, which includes seasoned professionals as well as new graduates from UNC Wilmington's undergraduate and graduate clinical research programs."

This was echoed by Emmes CEO Christine Dingivan who said "Wilmington is a center for clinical research innovation and creating this new office will encourage even more collaboration and idea-sharing among our employees in the area.

“We are thrilled to expand our presence in a community viewed as an incubator for the CRO industry."

She added: "Our employees began working remotely at the onset of the pandemic, and we continue to offer a flexible approach. Employees have the option to work from home, office, or a combination. Although we have opportunities for in-person meetings and events, we don't mandate that employees come to the office a certain number of days a week.”

At present Emmes has about a dozen employees in the greater Wilmington area and expects the number to grow as recruiting efforts continue.

The new office continues the expansion program Emmes’ has followed for the past few years. Since December 2020, the CRO has expanded its reach from the US, Canada, and India to countries throughout Europe and the United Kingdom.

With the Wilmington hub, Emmes now has 19 offices in strategic locations throughout the world.

Most recently, Emmes set up a dedicated unit to support cell and gene therapy clinical trials. Just prior, the CRO reorganized its ophthalmology trials unit in a move that followed shortly after it bought Milwaukee, Wisconsin-based Clinical Edge.

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