Meet the Organisation

The Paperless Lab Academy is organized by three industry domain experts, who are independent advisors operating from Europe with consultancy practices throughout the globe.
The Paperless Lab Academy project was initiated by Peter Boogaard 6 years ago, in which Isabel Muñoz-Willery and Roberto Castelnovo joined in 2015.
Our joint efforts are focused on creating the ideal learning platform for those considering consolidating, integrating and simplifying scientific data management systems.
See press release at the #PLA2017: PLA Announces new management yet same objectives


Mark Newton
Principal of Heartland QA, an independent consultant with 30+ years of experience in pharmaceuticals as a laboratory scientist, then as a QA professional, supporting LIMS systems, standalone lab instruments, lab informatics and metrics, validation, quality systems, and data standards. Has been deeply involved in data integrity and data integrity training to people in QC Laboratories, Manufacturing, and IT.
Current Chair of the ISPE Global Documents Committee
Current co-leader of the ISPE/GAMP Data Integrity Special Interest Group
Co-author for “GAMP Guide: Records and Data Integrity” April, 2017
Co-author of "Harmonizing USP <1058> and GAMP for Analytical Instrument Qualification" Schuessler, Newton, Smith, Burgess, McDowall. Pharm. Engineering, Jan/Feb 2014
Co-editor of the GAMP Good Practice Guide "A Risk-Based Approach to Compliant Computerized Laboratory Systems" Nov. 2012.

May Roca
Chemist from the University of Barcelona, May is working at Dow Chemical Iberica in Tarragona for more than 20 years.
She started in R&D Plastics, working on different development projects (at-line; on-line; off line type of instruments) which have required transfers to the Netherlands and to Germany.
She then expanded to TS&D support type of projects, with specific analytical needs or methodologies to be implemented or developed. Afterwhat, she moved to the Manufacturing Department leading the 3 onsite Labs. Nowadays she´s statistical manager in the Data Services department providing support to their internal customers (plants, labs ...) for a better use of their data and delivering talks on how they address the Industry 4.0 and the Big Data concepts at Dow.

Rik Pepermans
Bridging the worlds of R&D and IT for global programmes that transform the way science is done in Unilever R&D, like enabling eScience. Key topics were introducing the use of an ELN to capture exploratory research, creating a repository of scientific data for modelling, and computer simulations of products.

Sofie van der Meulen
Sofie works for the Dutch Data Protection Authority. In her position as senior supervision officer she focuses on privacy in the healthcare sector.
Before joining the Dutch Data Protection Authority, Sofie has gained broad experience dealing with various kinds of legal issues in both profit and non-profit environments.
In her previous position as attorney at law in the field of life sciences, Sofie specialized in legal and regulatory issues related to medicinal products and medical devices, with a special focus on medical software, big data and data protection.

Patrick Pijanowski
Mr. Pijanowski brings over 30 years of professional experience related to laboratory operations and scientific informatics.
Throughout that time, Pat has served in various roles focusing upon LIMS, Electronic Laboratory Notebooks, laboratory instrumentation and related scientific data systems.
During the past 6 years, he has managed a Pharmaceuticals & Life Sciences consulting practice within LabAnswer, and delivered strategic advisory services to many of the world’s top life sciences organizations. Prior to joining LabAnswer, Pat served as the Chief Operating Officer for LabVantage Solutions, and prior to joining LabVantage, he served as the General Manager of the LIMS business unit within Applied Biosystems.
Pat is today the Managing Director at Accenture Scientific Informatics Services after the acquisition of labAnswer by Accenture