Podcast
Innovating Clinical Trials
Hosted by Liam Eves and Ted Trafford · EN
Welcome to Innovating Clinical Trials, the podcast designed for clinical research professionals eager to deepen their understanding of clinical trials through concise, insightful segments. Join your hosts, Liam Eves and Ted Trafford, as they uncover the core issues in clinical research, reflect on the industry, and challenge conventional wisdom.
Ted Trafford - https://probitymedical.com/
With 30 years of experience in clinical research, Ted serves as the Director of Business Development, driving business growth and leading Feasibility and Site Relationship teams at Probity Medical Research, a clinical trial site administrative support company with a consortium of 75+ sites across four countries. As a writer and speaker, Ted contributes to thought leadership and strategic initiatives in the clinical trials industry, leveraging his extensive experience and creative approach to drive meaningful discussion and progress for Sponsors, CROs, Sites and Technology Vendors.
Liam Eves - https://www.theendpointpodcast.com/
Liam's held executive roles in SMOs and CROs, and led all major functions of trial delivery. His journey into the field began unexpectedly after an injury ended his career as a professional footballer. Over the years Liam has optimized trial delivery methods / systems for effective enrollment and trial delivery. Currently, he focuses on building and advising companies in the clinical trial space.
Opinions expressed are those of the participants and not their employers.
31episodes
Episodes
Newest firstAll episodes
Ep 2.23: Jill Fikowski on Why Participants Drop Out and What to Do About It (3/3)
6d ago00:13:59Tap to summarizeIn the final episode of our three-part series with Jill Fikowski, founder and CEO of Changemark Research + Evaluation, we get into one of the most persistent problems in clinical research: retention.Jill unpacks why participants drop out and it's rarely what sponsors assume. From there, we get into the pressure that lands on research coordinators when enrollment is behind, the practices that pressure produces. We also look at what happens after the last visit particularly in psychedelic trials and whether researchers have a responsibility that doesn't end when the database closes.Retention problems, Jill argues, are almost always inception problems. And solving them starts with a question most teams never ask.Part 3 of 3.
Transcribe →Ep 2.22: Jill Fikowski on Designing Trials That Communities Actually Want to Join (2/3)
1w ago00:21:25Tap to summarizeIn Part 2 of our conversation with Jill Fikowski, founder and CEO of Changemark Research + Evaluation, we get into what good community engagement actually looks like in practice not as a checkbox, but as a core design principle.Jill opens with a clear answer to what good looks like: involve community from the very beginning and not just at the consent stage, not just in an advisory board email, but in protocol design, recruitment strategy, and how findings are shared.Jill walks us through a Quebec youth cannabis and psychosis study that surpassed both its enrollment and retention targets simply by asking participants what they needed before the protocol was finalised. We also get into the tension between industry-sponsored research and genuine community care. Part 2 or 3
Transcribe →Ep 2.21: Jill Fikowski on on Substance Use, Stigma, and the Research That Actually Changed Policy (1/3)
1w ago00:13:56Tap to summarizeJill Fikowski, founder and CEO of Changemark Research + Evaluation, brings 25+ years of lived and professional experience in substance use and mental health research. In this episode we cover her work on the SALOME trial, one of the rare studies that directly changed policy. But it wasn't just the science. It was how they centered participants from the beginning.We also explore:1. How to design community engagement and knowledge translation into your trial from day one2. The gap between saying participants matter and actually building research around their humanity3. What happens when you ask participants at the end: "What could we have done better?"4. The difference between checking the box on community input and genuinely centering stakeholder voicesShe challenges us to confront how our biases shape every decision: who we enroll, what data we collect, what we do with findings, and whether we ever ask participants what they actually needed. Part 1 of 3.
Transcribe →ICT Ep 2.20: What Monty Python Can Teach Us About Clinical Trials
2w ago00:12:38Tap to summarizeClinical trials don’t become complex overnight, they get there one added process at a time.In this episode, Ted and Liam break down why the industry is so effective at adding new layers, but rarely takes the time to remove what’s no longer needed. Whether it’s protocols, systems, or workflows, each addition is often made with good intent, but the cumulative effect can be significant.They explore how this impacts sites in particular, increasing workload, creating friction, and ultimately making studies harder to execute. The discussion also highlights how relying on historical processes and “what’s worked before” can prevent teams from adapting to today’s reality.Most importantly, they challenge listeners to rethink how processes are designed, not just by optimising what exists, but by asking whether it should exist at all.A practical and thought-provoking conversation on reducing complexity and improving trial execution.
Transcribe →ICT Ep 2.19: Everyone Has a Plan Until the Trial Starts
3w ago00:12:09Tap to summarizeA 5 AM wake-up call. A perfectly planned setup. And a moment that never delivered.In this episode, Liam and Ted use a story about a missed “blood moon” to explore a deeper truth in clinical trials: expectations don’t always match reality. They discuss how similar frustrations show up at clinical trial sites, where small issues stack up and slowly erode motivation.They break down how friction at the site level, long trainings, broken systems, and unclear processes, gradually drains momentum. From pre-mortems to escalation paths, this conversation focuses on how to prepare for what will go wrong, even before it does.
Transcribe →ICT Ep 2.18 What Recruitment Is Missing: Time, Trust, and a Cup of Tea
4w ago00:13:44Tap to summarizeWhat does it actually mean to put the patient first?In this episode, Liam and Ted explore the role of empathy and human connection in clinical trials. From rushed pre-screening calls to a powerful story of pausing a consent conversation just to connect, they highlight how small moments build lasting trust.They also discuss why trust is rarely factored into budgets, despite being critical to recruitment, retention, and patient experience.A thoughtful conversation on why clinical research needs to see the person behind the data.
Transcribe →ICT Ep 2.17 Borrowing the F1 Playbook: What Formula One Gets Right That Clinical Trials Don't
Apr 1600:14:26Tap to summarizeWhat makes a truly high-performing team?Inspired by the precision of Formula One pit crews, where the difference between winning and losing is measured in milliseconds, Ted and Liam explore what clinical trial teams can learn from elite performance environments.Ted outlines six principles that drive high-performing teams: clear objectives, defined roles, mapped processes, and a culture of continuous improvement. Liam draws on his experience in professional sport to reflect on why teams that truly operate at that level are rarer than we think, and why clinical trials are no exception.The episode leaves listeners with one question: what if we did the debrief before the problem existed?
Transcribe →ICT Ep. 2.16 Leading Teams That Take Risks and Deliver Results With Frank Watanabe (3/3)
Apr 1300:13:57Tap to summarizeIn Part 3 of 3, Liam and Ted continue their conversation with Frank Watanabe, CEO of Arcutis Biotherapeutics discussing work-life balance, building social capital, and management vs. leadership.The conversation explores leadership at a practical level, from building trust across remote teams to creating flexibility that allows individuals to balance work and life in a way that works for them.Finally, he outlines his vision for Arcutis and what “meaningful innovation” really means focusing on solving real problems that matter to patients and clinicians.
Transcribe →ICT Ep. 2.15 Innovation, Risk and Building Great Teams With Frank Watanabe (2/3)
Apr 900:11:40Tap to summarizeIn Part 2 of 3, Liam and Ted continue their conversation with Frank Watanabe, CEO of Arcutis Biotherapeutics, focusing on what it takes to hire and build high-performing teams in high-risk environments.Frank shares how he approaches hiring beyond technical skills placing strong emphasis on cultural fit, risk tolerance, and the ability to innovate. The discussion also explores how to create a culture where people feel comfortable taking risks and learning from failure. From encouraging teams to challenge the status quo to fostering psychological safety through leadership, Frank outlines what it takes to build organizations that continuously improve.They also dive into aligning incentives, building a mission-driven culture, and ensuring that when a company succeeds, its people succeed too.
Transcribe →ICT Ep. 2.14 From Navy Officer to CEO: The DNA of Leadership with Frank Watanabe (1/3)
Apr 700:15:08Tap to summarizeIn this episode, Liam and Ted sit down with Frank Watanabe, President and CEO of Arcutis Biotherapeutics, to explore his journey from a Navy officer to a biotech executive and the leadership principles established along the way. Frank shares how his early experiences in the military and his transition into pharma and biotech influenced his approach to leadership, highlighting a key idea that defines his philosophy: leadership isn’t about authority, it’s about earning trust and loyalty.They discuss how operating principles can become the “DNA” of a company, not just words on a wall, and what it takes to embed culture into everyday decision-making.
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