In healthcare, a space where progress often feels painstakingly slow, true changemakers are those who reimagine the path forward—not just in labs, but in the way communication, collaboration, and connection take place.
This is precisely where Julie-Ann Cabana makes her mark. As the Chief Marketing Officer at Altasciences, she reshapes the conversation around drug development. At the core of her work lies a deep belief that drug development is about the people—patients, researchers, families—and how they are impacted by the speed and efficiency of innovation. With an approach that blends storytelling, strategy, and an unwavering commitment to faster, more accessible healthcare solutions, Julie-Ann has redefined what it means to market the solutions available to support life-changing advancements.
However, Julie-Ann’s journey into this space wasn’t a straight road. It was a deliberate choice guided by purpose. Initially set on becoming a doctor, Julie-Ann took a different route, one that led her not to operating rooms but to boardrooms, where she found a way to drive impact on a larger scale. Today, she is proud to work for Altasciences, a CRO/CDMO whose mission is to shorten the gap between drug development and the lives it transforms.
Her story is one of passion, adaptability, and the power of a visionary mindset. But to understand Julie-Ann Cabana, let’s first understand the ‘why’ behind her work, and why her leadership in healthcare is nothing short of inspiring.
A Journey Fueled by Purpose
Julie-Ann always knew she wanted to be in a leadership role—one where she could make a real impact on people’s health. Initially, she thought that meant becoming a doctor. She pursued a pre-med program in Kinesiology (Exercise Science) and was even accepted into medical school. But something inside her urged her to take a different path—one that led her to the business side of healthcare, where she could contribute in a broader way.
No matter what direction she chose, one thing was certain: she wanted to be part of the healthcare industry, playing a role—no matter how small—in bettering people’s lives. That passion stemmed from two of the most important people in her life: her grandparents.
Julie-Ann expresses that she was fortunate to grow up close to her grandparents, and they were more than just family, they were her role models. Their stories of life in Italy and surviving World War II, and the deep values they held, shaped her understanding of resilience, compassion, and the importance of a society that cares for all. As they aged, she witnessed their struggles with heart disease and diabetes. But thanks to modern medicine, they were given more time—time that allowed her to share more memories, hear more stories, and truly appreciate the moments they had together.
Those extra years with them fueled her passion for science and ultimately led her to a career in drug development. It became more than just a profession—it became a mission: to help others have more time with the people they love.
From Science to Strategy
Julie-Ann’s career in life sciences began in 1998 at Origenix Technologies, a biotech company in Montréal. In 2003, she joined CTBR Bio-Research (now Charles River Laboratories), starting in account management and later becoming Head of Marketing for the Montréal facility. In 2008, she took a leap, moving to China as Director of Business Development for Charles River Laboratories Shanghai, later serving as Head of Global Marketing for Charles River Preclinical Division.
She loved living in China and didn’t want to leave, so her journey led her to join WuXi AppTec in 2011, where she served as Executive Director of Business Development. In 2014, after having lived in China for over six years, her former boss and mentor, Chris Perkin, the CEO of Altasciences since 2010, offered her an opportunity to move back to North America. She found her true home at Altasciences, starting as Executive Director of Business Development and growing into her current role as Chief Marketing Officer.
Today, Julie-Ann takes immense pride in working for a company like Altasciences, a company deeply committed to safely accelerating drug development and improving lives. Every day, she contributes to efforts that help people live longer lives. Because at the heart of it all, it’s about more than science. It’s about giving people more time: more time with their families, more time to create memories, and more time to do what they love. And for Julie-Ann, that’s a mission worth dedicating a lifetime to.
Humanizing Healthcare Marketing
Spanning careers across Canada, China, and the United States, Julie-Ann has had the privilege of seeing firsthand how different markets, cultures, and industries approach healthcare and business. Each experience shaped her perspective, but one realization stood out, “no matter where you are in the world, the most impactful messages are those that feel human.”
So, when she led the rebranding of Altasciences in 2019, she knew the company’s marketing couldn’t be just another corporate message. It had to be a conversation, not just communicating company to company, but person to person. Julie-Ann and her team set out to break away from traditional industry norms, mirroring Altasciences’ corporate strategy in how they presented themselves.
Breaking the Mold in Drug Development
“The conventional drug development process is like an obstacle course—fragmented, slow, and burdened with unnecessary complexity,” says Julie-Ann. Sponsors often work with multiple contract research organizations (CROs), each specializing in just one piece of the puzzle. This forces the sponsors to juggle different vendors, coordinate between siloed teams, and navigate endless handoffs, adding layers of time, cost, contracts, and frustration.
The team at Altasciences saw an opportunity to change this. Instead of viewing early-phase drug development as a step-by-step process, they approached it as a single, integrated continuum, just like their clients do. They created Proactive Drug Development, a model that consolidates services under one roof, allowing key activities to happen in parallel rather than sequentially. The result? A faster, more collaborative, and more agile journey that minimizes handoffs, facilitates communication, and reduces both costs and headaches for sponsors.
Revolutionizing Drug Development with Seamless Integration
Altasciences’ significant footprint spans nine facilities across Canada and the U.S., complemented by a strategic presence in the UK. What sets the company apart is its specialization in seamless, end-to-end early-phase drug development. The array of services offered—preclinical and clinical solutions, drug formulation, manufacturing, analytical services, bioanalysis, and the full scope of supporting CRO services—positions Altasciences as an all-in-one drug development solution for sponsors.
Altasciences’ vision is to be the one-stop solution for outsourced early-phase drug development, whether for one study or an entire program. The company decided to focus on early-phase drug development as this is a complex and critical time in a sponsor’s journey, where an integrated approach can make a big impact. Altasciences knew that by integrating early-phase drug development, it could help sponsors reach critical decision-making milestones sooner, so that they can make informed decisions about the later phases of their journey.
The company’s mission is to offer clients a simple, integrated outsourcing solution with a focus on customer service that removes the need for multiple service providers during the early stages of drug development. Whether for one study or an entire program, Altasciences is committed to helping clients reach critical decision-making milestones sooner by improving ‘speed and ease’ from lead candidate selection to clinical proof of concept with the goal of getting better drugs to the people who need them, faster.
As a partner, Altasciences continuously looks for ways to build its relationships through communication and range of capabilities, offering scientific guidance and creating an environment that provides value for their clients, as well as growth for their employees.
Altasciences brings all the traditionally separate early-phase drug development phases under one CRO/CDMO – with teams and systems that talk to each other and operations that are centrally coordinated, using integrated platforms so the client never has to repeat themselves as they move their new drug through the development process. This removes the need for multiple service providers and centralizes scheduling, finance, and overall communication for clients. In turn, this helps clients get better drugs to the people who need them, faster.
At Altasciences, every client relationship is more than a transaction, it’s a partnership. From the earliest stages of development, the team is committed to guiding sponsors through the complex journey of bringing new drugs to market. Their clients’ goals become their own, driven by a foundation of communication, transparency, dependability, honesty, and sound science. With a hands-on, collaborative approach, Altasciences often supports multiple phases of a program, allowing them to gain deep insight into each project’s unique challenges. This continuity enables them to anticipate needs, streamline transitions, and provide seamless support through every stage of early-phase drug development. This is what Altasciences means by “moving in unison to deliver a big impact, with a personal touch.”
A Brand Built on Innovation and Trust
Julie-Ann and her team have built Altasciences’ brand on three core pillars that define who the company is and how they want it to be recognized:
- Seeing opportunities: By partnering with industry leaders fluent in early-phase drug development, sponsors can unlock new possibilities.
- Moving with confidence: Working side by side with clients, adapting to their needs, and proving Altasciences can help them achieve their research goals.
- Outsmarting issues: Anticipating hurdles before they arise, keeping projects moving forward, ensuring clients are always ready for what’s next.
These pillars come to life in everything Altasciences does, including its tagline: Moving in unison. It reflects the company’s approach as a forward-thinking CRO—helping biopharmaceutical companies save time, seize opportunities, and maximize value.
Altasciences brings the expertise of a large CRO but with a flexible, personal touch across its integrated early-phase drug development capabilities. Acting as an extension of its clients’ teams, Altasciences goes beyond expectations to support their success, always available and always looking ahead.
In an industry that often leans heavily on data and formality, Julie-Ann and her team took a different route: one that highlights the people behind the science. Their marketing acknowledges the seriousness of the work but does so with a human touch—through storytelling, lifestyle imagery, and even humor, elements rarely seen in the field.
They also embrace modern, engaging formats that go beyond traditional white papers—audiobooks, social-media-friendly videos, and personal insights into the life of the staff and CEO. Because at the end of the day, drug development isn’t just about science, it’s about people. And that’s exactly what Julie-Ann wants Altasciences’ marketing to reflect. Her focus is to put faces to the science, ensuring Altasciences’ management, scientific, and operational teams’ credentials and reputation are visible—because behind every achievement is a real person who cares about making a difference.
Visually, Altasciences has broken away from the industry norm. Instead of the traditional blue seen in healthcare, the company chose green—a color that represents health, growth, and success, values that align with its mission. Altasciences’ imagery focuses on people, highlighting the activities and experiences that individuals can enjoy when they feel well, showcasing the positive impact of their work.
To expand its market presence, Altasciences produces a wealth of content and maintains a strong global footprint across multiple channels, including several industry media sites and magazines, Google Ads, Business Wire, LinkedIn, YouTube, its blog, and podcast platforms. In addition, the Altasciences team writes scientific journal articles, presents innovative research at 50+ global conferences a year, hosts symposia, webinars, and podcasts, and is featured in industry cover stories.
The impact of this approach is clear. In the last two years alone, Altasciences has earned nine industry awards and has been featured in 30+ publications. The company has been recognized by Clinical Leader and Life Science Leader for excellence in contract research, awarded a 2024 CRO Leadership Award for Capabilities, and named a Top Contract Manufacturing Organization by Pharma Tech Outlook. Altasciences’ Co-Chief Operating Officer was also selected as a judge for the Fierce Life Sciences Innovation Awards 2024.
These awards and recognitions aren’t just accolades, they validate who Altasciences is as a company and reinforce the messaging it creates in marketing. They highlight the company’s commitment to excellence, innovation, and partnership in drug development. Being recognized by industry leaders shows the trust and confidence sponsors place in Altasciences and demonstrates that the company isn’t just part of the conversation—it is helping shape the industry’s future.
An AI Integrated Future
Julie-Ann is of the opinion that a promising path for innovation in drug development lies in leveraging the power of artificial intelligence (AI). She says AI has the potential to revolutionize drug discovery and early-stage development by analyzing decades of data from academic and government research, biotech companies, pharmaceutical firms, and contract research organizations. It can uncover patterns and correlations that would be nearly impossible for human researchers to detect alone. These insights can help identify the most promising lead candidates, increasing the chances of a drug progressing beyond Phase I. Additionally, AI could reduce the number of studies needed to demonstrate safety and efficacy, ultimately saving research animals’ lives and lowering drug development costs.
Leading Marketing Team Like No Other
“Part of the key to Altasciences’ success has been the people on the marketing team,” says Julie-Ann. “Each member brings a unique skill set, forming a team that is not just efficient but also highly strategic and creative. It may be a small team, but its impact is anything but small—because every individual contributes in a way that maximizes the collective strength,” she adds.
Julie-Ann is grateful for her team of visionaries who see the big picture and are able to identify trends and opportunities before they emerge. There are strategists who translate complex ideas into clear, compelling messaging that resonates with the audience. Creators and designers bring the brand to life with engaging visuals, storytelling, and innovative content that cut through the noise. Digital experts ensure every campaign is data-driven and optimized, helping Altasciences reach the right audience at the right time. And at the heart of it all, collaborators keep everything moving, ensuring alignment across teams, fostering relationships, and maintaining the high standards that define their work.
Because of this diverse mix of talent, Altasciences’ marketing team can challenge industry expectations, drive engagement, and build lasting relationships with its audience. While larger marketing teams might rely on sheer numbers, Altasciences’ marketing team relies on agility, creativity, and deep expertise to make an outsized impact. This is what sets the company apart—not just in what it does, but in how it does it.
Just like the company itself, the marketing team isn’t afraid to challenge the status quo—they push creative boundaries, experiment with new formats, and find innovative ways to capture attention in a crowded industry.
From leveraging cutting-edge digital tools to producing compelling multimedia content and hosting engaging thought leadership events, the team consistently thinks outside the box to ensure the brand stands out—just as Altasciences does across operations, science, and regulatory efforts.
By aligning the marketing strategy with Altasciences’ commitment to innovation and people, the marketing team doesn’t just talk about transforming early-phase drug development; they demonstrate it in everything they do. Their ability to disrupt, adapt, and evolve fuels their impact, ensuring that Altasciences continues to be recognized as the forward-thinking partner the industry needs.
Beyond Recognitions and Awards
We asked Julie-Ann about what it meant to her to be recognized on the cover of this magazine and how this recognition feels. To which she says, “Being on the cover is more than just a personal milestone—it is a testament to the collective passion, creativity, and dedication of the entire marketing team at Altasciences.”
To her, marketing isn’t just about campaigns or branding; it’s about storytelling that resonates, forges connections, and drives real impact in the industry. And none of that would be possible without the brilliant minds that surround her. From strategy to execution, content to design, digital to events, each marketing team member plays a critical role in shaping how Altasciences is perceived and experienced.
So, while her face may be on the cover, she makes one thing clear—this achievement belongs to the entire team. Their collaborative spirit, shared vision, and unwavering commitment are what make Altasciences stand out. This recognition is proof that when a small but mighty team works in unison, they can achieve big things.
A Legacy of Bold Leadership and Human-Centered Innovation
For Julie-Ann, leadership isn’t about playing it safe. It’s about taking risks, pushing boundaries, and giving your best without regrets. Her personal mantra, “Take a chance, give it your best, and you’ll never have regrets,” is more than just a phrase. It’s the guiding principle that has shaped her journey. It speaks volumes about her fearless approach to challenges, relentless pursuit of opportunities, and commitment to leaving a lasting impact in the healthcare industry.
But true leadership isn’t just about personal ambition—it’s about empowering others to carry forward the vision of progress. To aspiring leaders in healthcare, Julie-Ann’s advice is clear: be relentlessly curious, challenge the status quo, and embrace innovation at every turn.
The industry thrives on transformation, and those who dare to think differently are the ones who drive meaningful change. She emphasizes the human impact behind every decision, urging future leaders to lead with empathy, build diverse and resilient teams, and continuously seek growth—whether through successes or setbacks. Above all, she encourages them to keep their eyes on the bigger picture: shaping a healthier, more compassionate future for generations to come.
And for Julie-Ann, this isn’t just philosophy; it’s the legacy she hopes to leave behind. Her goal extends far beyond corporate milestones or industry recognition. She envisions a healthcare landscape where life-saving treatments reach people faster, where innovation breaks barriers, and where the next generation of leaders carries forward the mission of progress.
If Altasciences, the company she is proud to work for, can give people more time with their loved ones, improve their quality of life, and inspire future innovators to push the boundaries of what’s possible, then, to her, that is the most fulfilling legacy of all.
Julie-Ann Cabana’s journey is more than a story of leadership. It’s a testament to what’s possible when vision meets action. From redefining how drug development is marketed to challenging industry norms, she has crafted a legacy rooted in innovation, purpose, and human connection. But for her, the work is far from being done.
As healthcare continues to evolve, so will the need for bold thinkers, risk-takers, and changemakers who push the boundaries of what’s possible. Julie-Ann has already laid the foundation through her fearless approach to leadership.
Yet, her most significant impact may not be the strategies she has implemented or the recognition she has received, but the people she has inspired along the way. For Julie-Ann, success isn’t measured in milestones alone, but in the ideas sparked, the lives improved, and the future leaders emboldened to push even further. And if her career has proven anything, it’s that taking a chance, giving it your best, and leaving no room for regrets is the surest way to create change that lasts.
