A Global Approach
Welcome to A Global Approach, a series celebrating our international Catalyst Oncology team members and their passions for the work they do for our clients. These spotlights highlight some of our team across the world working to inspire people to design and deliver better clinical trials.
Inês Vale De Gato
Inês Vale De Gato, Associate Director, Central Site Services – Europe, Catalyst Oncology, joined Catalyst more than two years ago from Lisbon, Portugal, after 12 years working for the biggest contract research organizations (CROs) in multiple therapeutic areas and in large oncology projects from Phase I through IV. Inês feels a sense of responsibility and accomplishment that her work can contribute to the life of someone with cancer. She has global experience in regulatory, clinical operations, study start-up, start-up team management, and site activation project oversight.
At Catalyst Oncology, Inês manages a team of global site activation managers and clinical trial associates, as well as being the main escalation contact for global regulatory and ethics submissions, and site activations. Inês also oversees the operational execution of assigned regulatory and start-up activities within the scope of the clients’ contracts. This guarantees Catalyst Oncology global projects run smoothly and the trials are approved and activated for our clients in multiple countries as quickly as possible.
She develops Central Site Services standard operating procedures (SOPs), ensuring Catalyst and our clients properly follow the European regulations. Inês is a certified expert in the European Union’s Clinical Trials Information System (CTIS) regulatory submissions and leads strategy for submissions.
Working in a global environment from Europe Inês enjoys the people and multinational cultural environment and her work with different regulatory and startup processes.
“Working for a global company gives me a greater sense of responsibility. A single decision has a direct impact on the trials, employees, my team, and the structure and processes. That’s the global impact,” Inês explains. “It allows me to think from a global perspective, not from one country.”
She is proud of the quality Catalyst Oncology brings to our submission packages in all countries, but it is the people and culture of Catalyst that help make her day brighter.
“I really live the Catalyst core values, and I care about my colleagues. The lesson ‘Love and know your people’ is a valuable part of the company’s culture,” Inês says. “It gives me a strong sense of achievement when I coach and train my team. I see how they implement the learnings, as well as their career growth and development.”
Everything Ines learns keeps her motivated every day, especially when the project deliverables meet or exceeded expectations. She feels this reflects how committed and engaged Catalyst colleagues are with our clients and projects.
Each day of work is different for Inês. She meets with clients, study teams, project managers, and vendors. She coaches her team members daily, responding to questions and guiding them. In between she may prepare for bid defenses and attend them or respond to proposals.
Catalyst Oncology has staff around the world, such as Inês Vale De Gato, to support our clients’ oncology clinical trial work. Contact Catalyst Oncology to learn where we are and how our global approach exclusively serves the biotech oncology sector.
