Sr. Director, Corporate Development
Johnna Pezzullo, RN, BSN started her nursing career working on a medical-surgical unit, then moved to work on a step-down unit for post-CABG patients. She later worked on a telemetry unit, and then onto Intensive Care and CCU. While working in the ICU, she had an opportunity to work in the Clinical Trials Department for Dermatology and became the Director of Dermatology Clinical Trials for the hospital. Knowing that clinical research was her future, she decided to venture out on her own and co-founded Independent Research Nurses, Inc. with her business partner, Lynne Haughey. This was initially established as a staffing agency to provide study coordinators to physicians conducting clinical trials. However, it quickly evolved into a research site, later named Omega Medical Research. For 26 years, she was co-owner and President and CEO of Omega Medical Research, which became the largest, free-standing, women-owned, dedicated research center in Rhode Island. Recognized as a top tier clinical trial site, Omega Medical Research was frequently sought out by Sponsor’s and CRO’s to participate in their clinical trials. Omega Medical Research conducted over 80 vaccine trials and over 500 clinical trials before being acquired by Velocity Clinical Research. Johnna finds that being a part of the process that brings new therapies and treatments such as HIV, H1N1, and now COVID-19, to patients is extremely rewarding. She enjoys being able to see clinical development from the ground up and to appreciate how much the site research work has an impact on the lives of others. She looks forward to Velocity Clinical Research setting itself apart from other network companies by focusing on quality of data collected, and remaining at its core, focused on gratitude for all the volunteers that participate in clinical trials. When not at work, Johnna loves walking through the woods to hunt for mushrooms and encourages every aspiring mushroomer to carry a compass! Her favorite holiday is Halloween and she strives to have the scariest house on her street. Her youthful goal of being a rock star or ball room dancer fell by the wayside when she discovered that she could neither sing nor dance. Fortunately, she also knew she wanted to be a nurse, and the rest is history!
