After qualifying as a Registered Nurse and Midwife Penny specialised in the field of Critical Care for many years. She moved into Clinical Research arena in 1987 joining Beechams Pharmaceuticals. Over the following 16 years she worked in Clinical Pharmacology managing and developing the Clinical Units in UK, Italy and Australia through the mergers of Beechams, SmithKline Beecham and finally GSK - culminating in her appointment to the position of Associate Director.

She was instrumental in the conception and development of the GSK Clinical Unit at Addenbrookes Hospital, Cambridge, working in collaboration with the University of Cambridge, British Heart Foundation and Addenbrookes Hospital culminating in a state of the art research facility that opened in 1999 and which gave the opportunity for industry to work alongside both academia and clinical world.

Following the merger of SmithKline Beecham and Glaxo Penny took up the position of Regional Director, Europe Business Strategy and Finance in Clinical Pharmacology and Discovery Medicine, working to ensure alignment of regional strategic plans and processes and to lead change initiatives

Penny left GSK in 2003 to consolidate her research experience and joined PPD as Project Director to work in later phase projects. During this time she undertook the management of multiple global Phase III studies across diverse therapeutic areas including a parallel programme of 6 Global Phase III studies in Type 2 Diabetics and 2 full service pivotal Phase III studies in Alzheimer’s which ran concurrently

Penny also holds a Diploma in Management.