Berkeley Research Groups Adds Healthcare and Life Sciences Compliance and Risk Management Experts

EMERYVILLE, CA--(Marketwired - Nov 10, 2014) - Berkeley Research Group has expanded its team of top healthcare and life sciences compliance professionals with the additions of Rosemary Weghorst as a director and Katherine Norris as a principal in the firm's Washington, DC, office.

Ms. Weghorst, who joins BRG on December 1, advises medical device manufacturers and distributors, pharmaceutical companies, and hospitals in corporate compliance matters, with significant experience in determining domestic and international fair market value paid by life sciences companies to healthcare providers. She also advises on compliance matters related to sales and marketing practices, including sales representative activities, speaker programs, and key opinion leader arrangements. Her work includes advising clients on preparing, implementing, and monitoring requirements related to Corporate Integrity Agreements (CIA) and Deferred Prosecution Agreements (DPA), as well as functioning as a government-mandated Independent Review Organization (IRO). She has also been active in crafting policies and procedures and advising clients on conducting compliance risk assessments. Additional areas of focus have included physician education, publication practices, grant reviews, third-party audits, compliance due diligence, and clinical trial adherence. Before joining BRG, Ms. Weghorst worked in positions of increasing responsibility at several of the world's leading global consulting companies.

Ms. Norris is a compliance expert with significant experience both in-house and as a consultant in the life sciences industry. She specializes in the development, implementation, and management of compliance and ethics programs, focusing on commercial, clinical, post-market, and medical affairs functions as well as implementing and managing the requirements of CIAs and DPAs. Ms. Norris has performed and provided support for extensive internal and external investigations of alleged healthcare fraud and abuse spanning multiple federal and state agencies simultaneously. She also provides subject-matter expertise and training on a wide range of topics that affect regulatory compliance in the life sciences industries.

Both Ms. Weghorst and Ms. Norris join BRG as the firm's Health Analytics practice grows its strong Corporate Compliance and Risk Management (CCRM) service offering. Collectively, BRG's experts have decades of experience in areas such as healthcare policy, finance, care delivery and clinical economics, reimbursement, operations, regulatory compliance, and health data and data management, as well as investigations, litigation, and dispute resolution. While healthcare and life sciences are core strengths, BRG's CCRM experts have been retained by companies across a broad range of industries on internal control, compliance and anti-bribery and anti-corruption prevention, detection, and investigations both domestically and abroad.

According to Ed Buthusiem, one of BRG's leaders in the CCRM area and former general counsel at a global medical device business and senior executive at GlaxoSmithKline, "With their deep knowledge of the pharmaceutical and medical and dental device fields, Rosemary and Katie represent great additions to our team. With compliance matters becoming increasingly important for everyone in the health fields, clients will be very happy to have Rosemary and Katie's experience and expertise available."

"Pharmaceutical companies and device manufacturers continually face regulatory issues due to the complexity of compliance laws," said Mr. Buthusiem. "Both Rosemary and Katie have shown a great talent for advising clients in crafting compliance strategies. They also have significant experience advising clients on preparing for and implementing DPAs and CIAs to avoid further difficulties down the road. We are delighted to have them on our team."

"BRG has brought together a great team of experts who have a deep knowledge of the challenges faced by pharmaceutical companies and medical and dental device manufacturers. The firm is able to provide clients with a complete understanding of the business challenges they face in ensuring compliance with regulators. I look forward to being part of the team at BRG," said Ms. Weghorst.

About Berkeley Research Group, LLC

Berkeley Research Group, LLC (www.brg-expert.com) is a leading global strategic advisory and expert consulting firm that provides independent strategic advice, data analytics, authoritative studies, expert testimony, and regulatory and dispute consulting to Fortune 500 corporations, government agencies, major law firms, and regulatory bodies around the world. BRG experts and consultants combine intellectual rigor with practical, real-world experience and an in-depth understanding of industries and markets. Their expertise spans economics and finance, data analytics and statistics, and public policy in many of the major sectors of our economy, including healthcare, banking, information technology, energy, construction, and real estate. BRG is headquartered in Emeryville, California, with offices across the United States and in Australia, Canada, Latin America, and the United Kingdom.