Identifying The Best People To Run A Clinical Study (And How To Hire Them)

By Joe Arcangelo, inSeption Group

Scattered around the world are individuals endowed with brilliance and ingenuity, impassioned to work hard for success in a given arena, or possessing some combination of those attributes. They are tenacious and optimistic, undeterred by setbacks, and are driven by something esoteric or altruistic: in the outsourced clinical research space, that motivator is delivering effective therapies to patients faster and more efficiently.

These best and brightest among us, this top 20 percent of the population, exist in every job function, family, and place. They are the children’s hospital window washer who dresses as Spider-Man or the postal worker always ready with a joke — their presence brightens a place, making it a more positive and productive environment.

In clinical research, these “20-percenters” look for the camaraderie of others who equally value being part of something greater than themselves. Large organizations of almost any kind are hard-pressed to attract such exceptional people because large organizations must, out of necessity, design processes around the average worker. This dynamic has driven many 20-percenters from the mainstream of large biopharmaceutical firms and CROs to other avenues where they can excel professionally in a principled environment that values doing the right thing.