In this episode of The Endpoint podcast, Liam is joined by Andrea Bastek, the VP of Innovation at Florence Healthcare, a company at the forefront of streamlining clinical trial workflows. With a background in biomedical engineering and experience in the medical device industry, Andrea brings a unique perspective on the intersection of technology, regulation, and patient-centricity in clinical research.
Together, we explore the evolving landscape of clinical trials—from the challenges of regulatory complexity and stakeholder collaboration to the fear of failure that can stifle innovation. Andrea shares her insights on lessons clinical trials can take from other industries, like aerospace, to improve operational efficiency and reduce friction in trial execution.

We also dive into the delicate balance between technology and human touch, questioning whether more technology is always the right answer for patient engagement. Andrea highlights the growing role of AI and data-driven solutions while emphasizing the importance of maintaining human oversight in trial management.

Expect a thought-provoking discussion on the future of clinical trials, the integration of disparate systems, and the need for a more agile approach to innovation. Whether you're in drug development, technology, or clinical operations, this episode offers key insights into how innovation can reshape the clinical trial industry.

On this week's podcast, Liam is joined by Aqil Ahsan, the founder and CEO of Kognitic, and Jaseem Mahmmdla, the co-founder and technologist behind their innovative AI-driven platform. Aqil has a background in mechanical engineering, having worked in automotive and aerospace industries, where he developed a passion for automation. Jaseem brings over 25 years of experience as a technologist with expertise in data analysis and product design, focusing on improving drug development processes. These passions led them to co-found Kognitic, applying automation and advanced technology to the clinical trial space.

In this episode, we explore how automation and AI are reshaping the pharmaceutical industry, delving into the challenges of data collection, patient recruitment, and trial efficiency. We discuss the importance of real-world evidence, efficacy benchmarking, and the critical role of natural language processing in accelerating drug development. The conversation also touches on the gap between pharma and other industries in adopting automation and the potential of AI to revolutionize clinical trials. Prepare for an insightful discussion on the future of drug development and how AI is transforming the industry and much more.

Ilya Gluhovsky and Paul Neyman join Liam on this week’s podcast episode. Ilya has an extensive background in software development, machine learning, and AI, with leadership roles in companies like Ancestry.com and Rally Health, and is now the co-founder of Areti Health, a company focused on revolutionizing patient recruitment in clinical trials using generative AI. Paul, with a background in computer science and sales, has successfully scaled multiple startups and now drives the sales strategy at Areti Health. In our discussion today, we dive into the challenges of patient recruitment in clinical trials, explore how generative AI is transforming the process, discuss the importance of personalized and culturally sensitive patient engagement, and uncover the future potential of AI in improving clinical trial efficiency and outcomes. We also touch on the misconceptions about AI in healthcare and a new standard for patient interaction and retention in clinical research, and much more.

Scott joins Liam on this week’s podcast episode. Scott has built an impressive career focused on patient recruitment and experience and DCT across several prominent companies, including Accenture, Verily, and also is a part of Decentralized Trials & Research Alliance (DTRA) as a Member Board of Directors. In our discussion today, we delve into a range of topics relating to recruitment and patient experience, we discuss what patient centricity means, explore how Scott would deliver clinical trials if he had a blank canvas, we explore what most people don’t know about patient recruitment and uncover what innovations Scott is most excited about and much more.

Sandy joins Liam on this week’s podcast episode. Sandy is the Vice President of Commercial Operations at MMS. Sandy has built an impressive career focused on strategic pricing across several prominent companies, including Syneos, PPD, Quintiles, and more. In our discussion today, we delve into a range of critical topics, including the distinction between price and value in the industry, what’s broken in the current trial model between sponsors, CROs, and sites, and why we shouldn’t rely on past pricing models to shape the future. Additionally, we explore Sandy's backstory on how she entered the clinical trials space, her unique process for helping groups demonstrate value over price, and much more.

Jeff joins Liam on this week’s podcast episode. Jeff is a seasoned executive within the pharma and CRO space. Jeff is currently the President at The Luna Group Consulting. He was previously the CEO of Alimentiv, in which he scaled it from an academic spin out to a specialised CRO focused on GI. In our discussion today we discuss all things CRO, we understand how the space works, the relationships amongst stakeholders, understand where the industry gets it right and wrong and take a deep dive on leadership and so much more.

Ted joins Liam on this week’s podcast episode. Ted is the Director of Business Development at Probity Medical Research. Probity Medical Research (PMR) is a leading clinical research consortium with over 70 clinical trials sites. PMR's network conducts clinical trials in Aesthetics, Allergy / Immunology, Cardiology, Dermatology, Rheumatology and Vaccines. In todays session we explore all things enrollment. We discuss the psychology at sites, how to create a high performing site, the relationships between site, CRO’s and Sponsors, investing in sites, and throw in a few stories and analogies for good measure!

Scott joins Liam on this week’s podcast episode. Scott is VP and Global Head of Drug Development at Novotech. Founded in 1997, Novotech is a global full-service clinical Contract Research Organization (CRO) focused on partnering with biotech companies to accelerate the development of advanced and novel therapeutics at every phase. In this session we explore Scott’s origin story, discuss it means to him to put patients first, dive into ways we can deliver trials differently and some of his biggest lessons learned over the years in the clinical trial space and much more!

Kris join Liam on this week’s podcast episode. Kris has 25+ years of global experience in brand development across a variety of sectors - including Life science. He is currently the Director of Client Engagement at Six Degrees. Six Degrees is a Psycho-Sensory Brand Building Agency. The company focuses on combining psychology-based tools and techniques with sensory branding methods to create real and lasting brand impact. In this session we dive into understanding what psycho-sentory branding is and the value it has in clinical trials.

Jenn and Richie join Liam on this week’s podcast episode. Jenn and Richie are founders of Canary Advisors. Canary Advisors is a boutique consultancy that works with organizations on patient focused drug and device development. They work with biopharmaceutical, nonprofit, and regulatory groups to better understand disease impacts, unmet needs, and patient preferences. In todays session we discuss what patient advocacy is, where do Sponsors get it wrong and what we can do about it and understand the patient FDA process and much more.

Joel White joins Liam on this week’s podcast episode. Joel founded Marketcap Consulting, LLC in 2021 to help companies increase the valuation and effectiveness of their business by improving their financial performance and strategy. Prior to this he has worked with groups such as Synteract, Chiltern, Parexel, PRA. In todays session we discuss the current clinical trial landscape and economy, discuss how to price services and talk about current tension between CRO’s and sites and much more.

Vatche Bartekian joins Liam on this week’s podcast episode. Vatche is the Founder and President at Vantage BioTrials. Vantage BioTrials is a Canadian CRO that delivers clinical trial management services to clients in the pharmaceutical, biotechnology, and medical device sectors. Prior to this Vatche worked with groups such as Pfizer, Covance and PPD. In todays session we discuss about the concept of quality by design, how AI could support research and much more.

Vincent Cafiso joins Liam on this week’s podcast episode. Vin is the founder and Managing Consultant at Practical Compliance Results. It’s here that Vin helps medical device and IVD companies be ready for FDA inspection. In this session, we discuss a wide range of topics relating to compliance, quality assurance and quality systems. We discuss the principles of regulation and how companies can prepare for inspections and audits and much more.

Scott Whitt joins Liam on this week’s podcast episode. Scott is the President and General Manager of Triad Clinical Trials, a premier research clinic located in beautiful Greensboro, North Carolina that serves the Triad region. In this session, we discuss topics including Scott's journey from consulting for firms such as IQVIA, Deloitte, and United Health to buying a clinical research site. We explore the dynamic and kinetic world of research. We dive into how he and his team tripled Triad’s performance, discuss some misalignments with site and sponsor, and much more.

Tiffany Ashton joins Liam on this week’s podcast episode. Tiffany is the Director of Operations at ClinEssentials. ClinEssentials provides training and tools for Clinical Research Associates (CRA), Clinical Trial Managers (CTM’s) and more. In this session we explore a range of topics including, Tiffany’s journey into clinical trials, some of the problems of running a being a CTA and CTM and how you can solve them, considerations for Biotech and Pharma when running a trial and much more.

Dan Sfera joins Liam on this week’s podcast episode. Dan is Co-Founder of Yuma Clinical Trials. Yuma conduct multi-therapeutic clinical trials and align with clinicians and specialists to bring study opportunities to the underserved Southwestern Arizona region. Dan is also the Co-Founder of CRA Academy, and owner of The Clinical Trial Guru, where he shares his knowledge of clinical trials. In this session we explore a range of topics including, Dan’s journey into clinical trials, some of the problems of running a research centre and how he solves them and much more.

Stacy Hurt joins Liam on this week’s podcast episode. Stacy is the Chef Patient Officer (CPO) at Parexcel. It’s one of the largest clinical research organizations (CROs) and provides the full range of Phase I to IV clinical development services to help life-saving treatments reach patients faster. In this session we explore a range of topics including, Stacy’s inspiring journey from caring for her son and battling cancer to becoming a patient advocate, along with other topics such as how in her new role as CPO she is leading the charge on helps Sponsors be more patient centric and much more.

Barry Lake joins Liam on this week’s podcast episode. Barry is the CEO and Founder of Devana Solutions. Devana Solutions is a cloud-based platform that has been created specifically for clinical research sites that helps improve start up efficiency and capture performance metrics, thereby aligning both Sponsor and Sites. In this session we explore a range of topics including, the value of having site metrics at your fingertips, how technology is enabling sites to better manage their operations, how important it is to align sites, CRO’s and Sponsors when running clinical trials and much more.

Jimmy Bechtel joins Liam on this week’s podcast episode. Jimmy is Vice President of Site Engagement at the Society for Clinical Research Sites (SCRS). SCRS is a global organization that unifies the voice of the clinical research site community to create greater site sustainability. They are an influential voice for sites and an active partner in industry-wide initiatives and dialogues focused on improving the clinical research enterprise. In this session we explore a range of topics including, how sites are dealing with the ever evolving technology landscape shift with DCT, the opportunities and how SCRS can support sites.

Sean Karamchandani joins Liam on this week’s podcast episode. Sean is Partner at Persistence Capital Partners, a Private Equity Firm based in Canada. Persistence focuses on high-growth opportunities in the healthcare field. One such area that Sean specialises in is Clinical Trial Research Sites. In this session we explore a range of items including, how sites can better prepare themselves for delivery/enrolment and a potential sale. Understand how to calculate the value of a site and how the site ecosystem and landscape is changing, touch upon technology that may help sites and much more.

Dr Jeff Kingsley joins Liam on this week’s podcast episode. Jeff is the CEO and founder of IACT Health, chair and COO and founding member of hyperCORE International, and the host of Riding in Cars with Researchers, a clinical trial podcast. IACT Health, is a research management organisation with 17 wholly owned and integrated clinical research offices throughout the Southeast US. Recently IACT has announced a strategic alliance with LMC Manna Research and have close to 40 wholly owned sites in US and Canada. In this session we explore frameworks for effective clinical trial delivery - E. Q. T. CS. How to run a successful site management business and much more. This is a masterclass in research at site.

Brad Hightower joins Liam on this week’s podcast episode. Brad is the CEO and founder of Hightower Clinical and the host of Note to File, a clinical trial podcast. Hightower Clinical is an integrated clinical trials company that works directly with physicians to unlock patients at site. In this session we discuss the ups and downs of operating trials at site, how the DCT movement is changing the landscape, how integrated care and research serves the patient and much more.

Liz Beatty joins Liam on this week’s podcast episode. Liz is the Chief Strategy Officer at Inato. Inato is a clinical trial marketplace that aims to create greater engagement across a more diverse population of doctors and patients. In this session we discuss a number of trends relating to sites, such as diversity, operating in a digital world, how the sites need a voice in clinical research and much more. We also explore some of the lessons Liz has learned over the years in a variety of different operational roles.

Kunal Sampat joins Liam on this week’s podcast episode. Kunal is a clinical coach & host of The Clinical Trial Podcast, he is also the director of operations at Ceribell, Inc. Kunal has a special interest in working with key opinion leaders and sites to boost recruitment in clinical trials. So inevitably we discuss our shared passion of patient recruitment, from different perspectives (both a site and sponsor), understand how sites can leverage workflows to optimise performance and much more.

Dan Hydes and Richard Yeatman join Liam on this week’s podcast episode. Dan (CEO) and Richard (CTO) are the co-founders of Ignite Data. Ignite Data is technology platform that reduces the burden of monitoring and source data verification. In our discussion we discuss the pains of monitoring and source data verification. Understand the barriers and impact it has on trials and most importantly what can be done to resolve it, plus much more.