After graduating, Wilma took up a position in clinical research because she was keen to utilise the medical knowledge she built up during her degree in order to directly impact on improving health care.
Wilma worked initially as a Clinical Research Associate for Kendle, a Contract Research Organisation, and thereafter for Janssen-Cilag (Johnson & Johnson) both in the Netherlands and in the UK. During this time she developed a keen interest in the area of ‘quality’ and the regulatory infrastructure that governs clinical trial activity.
In 2005 she moved to Birmingham to take up the position as the first Quality Assurance Manager within the Cancer Research UK Clinical Trials Unit (CRCTU), where she was responsible for setting up a Quality Management System and a Monitoring Team. Outside the CRCTU she was involved in national and international committees, such as European Clinical Research Infrastructures Network (ECRIN) and the MRC/DH/MHRA Risk-Stratification Sub-Group.
In 2012 Wilma moved to a University-wide Clinical Trials Quality Assurance Manager post, initially focussing on the University's CTIMP portfolio, and in the later years expanding into non-CTIMPs and any other clinical research governed by e.g. the Human Tissue Act. In January 2016 she was appointed the Head of Clinical Research Compliance.