About Trimaren
Building the Organization Behind the Science
Breakthrough science only reaches its potential when there's an organization capable of moving it forward.
Tamara L. McGrillen, SHRM-SCP
Founder & Managing Partner
Based in Massachusetts, I partner directly with life sciences companies through every stage of growth, from joining as the first employee and building from the ground up to leading HR through clinical development, rapid scaling, commercialization, and public-company operations. My experience, tools, and resources support companies across the U.S.
My career has been anchored in Human Resources, where I've built and led HR functions and teams and partnered with executive leadership on the people and organizational decisions that shape a growing company.
That experience is complemented by enterprise-wide leadership across Investor Relations, Corporate Communications, and Business Operations. It shapes how I approach HR: not as a function operating alongside the business, but as an integral part of how an organization grows and delivers on its strategy.
Credentials & Verification
Certified, licensed, and independently verified
SHRM-SCP
Senior Certified Professional, Society for Human Resource Management
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Commonwealth of Massachusetts
Licensed & Active
Women in Leadership
Advisory Board Member, University of New Haven
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From First Employee to Public Company
Experience across every stage of growth.
I've worked in private, stealth-stage, venture-backed, and publicly traded life sciences companies. I've built HR and business infrastructure from scratch, scaled teams, navigated restructuring and leadership transitions, and helped organizations prepare for commercialization and public-company operations.
That range of experience allows me to meet an organization where it is and build what it needs for its next stage.
Experience & Leadership
My experience has been shaped by leadership roles at Disc Medicine, Miach Orthopaedics, and Phio Pharmaceuticals. Today, I also contribute beyond Trimaren as a mentor to early-stage life sciences entrepreneurs and as a member of the Board of Advisors at the University of New Haven.
Why I Founded Trimaren
I founded Trimaren Human Capital Partners to bring that experience directly to startup, early stage, and growth stage life sciences companies. Growing companies often reach a point where their organizational needs outpace their infrastructure, but they may not yet need a full-time senior HR executive.
I work directly with founders and executive teams as a fractional or interim HR leader, strategic advisor, or partner on a focused initiative. Depending on what the organization needs, that may mean shaping the strategy, building the infrastructure, solving a specific challenge, or rolling up my sleeves and doing the work.
Why This Work Matters to Me
A personal commitment to the mission.
This work is personal to me. Like so many people who have built their careers in life sciences, I came to this space because of what is ultimately at stake: patients and families waiting for therapies that do not yet exist. That sense of purpose is what motivates me, and it is why I am so deeply committed to supporting the organizations working to bring new treatments forward.
I have spent my career inside these companies, not advising them from the outside. I understand what their culture feels like on the ground, the urgency, the resilience, and the shared belief in the mission that draws talented people to this work in the first place. I have seen how much that culture matters to a company's success, and how easily it can be lost when an organization scales quickly or navigates a difficult transition.
Protecting what makes these companies special is central to how I work. As I help build the people infrastructure a growing organization needs, I stay just as focused on preserving the sense of purpose and the culture that got it this far. That combination, strong foundations and an intact mission, is what helps great science reach the patients who are counting on it.
My Approach
Strategic perspective. Hands-on execution. Grounded in the business.
Growing companies don't need everything at once. They need the right people, processes, systems, and structure at the right time, tailored to the company's stage, priorities, and resources. I focus on building what is useful and sustainable rather than adding complexity for its own sake.
Because building the organization isn't separate from advancing the science. It's part of creating the path from scientific promise to patient impact.