The clinical trial industry is still abuzz after the amazing 2021 SCRS Site Solutions Summit in Hollywood, Florida. From the informative workshops and collaborative exhibit hall discussions to the receptions, everyone walked away with an enlightened perspective to push the clinical trial space forward. The team at Devana Solutions has assembled some of its thoughts and highlights from one of the industry’s biggest events of the year.
Devana Solutions CEO and Co-founder, Barry Lake, participated in several workshops and panels. He kicked off a Friday afternoon session with a discussion on the future of decentralized, patient-centric clinical trials with Irfan Khan, CEO of Circuit Clinical,
Paul Evans, CEO of Velocity Clinical Research, Jeff Kingsley, CEO of IACT Health & COO of hyperCORE, and Kristen Andrews, Senior Director, Labcorp Drug Development.
“This workshop brought together some of the sharpest minds and most accomplished professionals in the clinical trial industry to form a powerful ‘think tank’ to kick off our first day, and we had perspectives from both the site and Sponsor/CRO sides,” said Lake.
SCRS’ Site Solutions Summit is all about advancing the clinical trial industry forward, including advancements in purpose-built technology, such as Devana Solutions.
One technology-related panel discussion, of which Lake participated, also included RealTime CTMS’ CEO, Rick Greenfield. RealTime CTMS and Devana Solutions have a current API-integration, providing a multitude of benefits to their mutual clients. Lake and Greenfield both emphasized that “interoperability” of tech systems is fundamental to site success and ultimately, sponsor and CRO success.
“Technology, like what Devana Solutions offers, must meet the needs of all parties involved, from sites and CROs to sponsors,” Lake said. As this industry evolves, “there may never be a common platform utilized by the entire industry.”
While the workshops and panels offered incredible insight into where the clinical trial industry is headed, it was the open dialogue between all industry stakeholders that really laid the foundation for success.
Devana Solutions’ Vice President of Operations, Linda Parks, met with several of our partners and acknowledged that the dialogue helps lead a mutual learning process. “Each conversation reveals more, and what we take away from SCRS’ Site Solutions Summit is invaluable. We enjoyed hearing from colleagues about the specific technology pain points that are preventing them from making data-backed end-to-end decisions to their clinical trial operations,” said Parks.
Director of Strategic Partnerships, Emily Wike, optimistically saw conference attendees step back and view their processes from a higher altitude. “The interest in Devana grows more with each conference. For those that just learned about Devana, their eyes were opened to a whole new way to manage their clinical trials,” said Wike.
While our out-of-the-box solutions are certainly beneficial, it’s Devana Solutions’ unique ability to customize its technology to each research organization’s specific needs and processes that is pivotal. “No research organization wants to be constrained during the study startup process, and they certainly shouldn’t be constrained by a technology forcing major process change,” said Shenefield. “One-by-one, people who stopped by our booth were amazed at the level of customization that we provide as a partner, to unlock those key insights that shape better clinical trial business decisions,” said Shenefield.
At this year’s SCRS Site Solutions Summit, while our main focus was to bring about a positive shift in the clinical trial space, being face to face and sharing an occasional fist bump or handshake, was an overdue and welcomed experience.
If you stopped by our booth, you may have enjoyed a few of the fun activities we hosted, like meeting Devana, the Huntress, live and in the flesh.
Devana had quite a few friends stop to take photos with her, including Aspen Insights, LLC and Optimed Research.
Others stopped by our booth for a chance to win a Starbucks gift card through an archery contest; hit the bullseye and win! Devana Solutions helps research organizations stay on target, after all, and we witnessed some pretty decent marksmen.
Longtime friend of Devana Solutions and client-partner, Craig Koch of Velocity Clinical, took dead aim and nailed the bullseye.
Those who were new to the innovative Devana Solutions technology scheduled a demo at the booth. Wike summed up the reaction from demo participants, “I was told by many, after viewing a demo, that we caused them to rethink their current processes. The most common customer need discussed was around growing research organizations; they are simply too busy and growing too quickly to be able to manage their clinical trials in spreadsheets or other systems that are not clinical trials industry-specific. They were relieved to know that Devana existed as a solution.”
Once the demos and exhibit hall fun came to an end, attendees migrated to the awards ceremony and dinner on Saturday night.
Devana Solutions would like to congratulate both Pfizer and PPD as the SCRS Eagle Award recipients as Sponsor and CRO of Choice, respectively, as well as the Christine K. Pierre Site Impact Award recipient, Michele Cameron, Director of Clinical Research, Clearwater Cardiovascular Consultants. We would also like to recognize industry veteran and HCA Healthcare’s VP of Research and Compliance, David Vulcano, and the contributions he has made to the clinical trial industry thus far and are excited to see the mark he makes as the new Honorary President of the Society for Clinical Research Sites.
Will we see you at the 2022 SCRS Site Solutions Summit? With plans already underway, next year’s Summit is to take place October 7th through 9th, with Site Symposiums starting on October 6th. We are already making our plans and we can’t wait to see you, once again!
“There is so much to benefit from attending the SCRS Site Solutions Summit, spending quality time and exchanging insights with our industry partners. Our team is already discussing how to make the 2022 Summit even better than the last,” said Lake.
But don’t wait until 2022 to talk to us! and discuss your clinical trial data management pain points now. Let’s find a solution today! Please reach out to us using the contact form below.