To mark Breast Cancer Awareness Month, we are joined in this moving and potentially life-saving mdtalk by Sheila Mikhail, Executive Director of Columbus Children's Foundation and Co-Founder and Advisor at Ask Bio. Sheila is a Lawyer, Business Leader, and Philanthropist. She received her Doctor of Law in Business Commerce from Northwestern University Pritzker School of Law in 1997. She has been featured in the Medicine Maker 2023 Power List, and, among many other accolades, was selected as EY Entrepreneur of the Year by Ernest & Young in Nov 2021. Sheila received a breast cancer diagnosis and after experiencing life-changing health inequality and an extraordinarily difficult journey to diagnosis and appropriate treatment, Sheila focused her efforts on philanthropy and advocacy by founding BC-Ruckus. BC-Ruckus seeks to increase awareness of breast cancer screening and diagnosis, as well as to campaign for equal access to potentially life-saving screenings that are not currently available to many in the US.

We recently hosted a very special live podcast recording. In place of our usual mdtalk, we facilitated a live round table of experts to discuss the impact of decentralisation in clinical trials. In this jam-packed, fascinating discussion, representatives from the patient community, sponsors, sites, and clinical operations all sat around the virtual table for the very first time to debate our common challenges: The barriers to participation in traditional clinical trialsWhy sites and sponsors might be reluctant to run a decentralised or hybrid trial, and how we can overcome these challengesWhat the future looks like for the clinical trials industry Host LaQuinta Jernigan, Chief Operating Officer at mdgroup, was joined by: Jameka Hill - Senior Director of Clinical Trial Health Equity at ModernaChristine Daniels - Cell Biologist at Ask BioEric South - President of the Gladiator ProjectMegan Liles - Vice President of Clinical Operations at ProKidney Corp

For this motivating episode of mdtalk, host LaQuinta Jernigan, Chief Operating Officer at mdgroup, was joined by Dr Eneida Nemecek.  Eneida is Medical Director of Clinical Research and Pediatric and Medical Oncology Doctor. at Oregon Health & Science University. Eneida is also dedicated to promoting diversity in healthcare and volunteers in a range of roles for incredible charities.  LaQuinta and Eneida discussed Eneida’s experience as a medical doctor and professor; how these experiences have influenced her to dedicate herself to making healthcare equitable; and the vital role clinical research plays in creating health equity.

For this episode of mdtalk, host and COO of mdgroup, LaQuinta Jernigan, is joined by Stephanie Katz, Director of mdgroup’s sister company, seacolehealth.   seacolehealth is a talent agency for healthcare and research professionals seeking flexible and rewarding opportunities to work in patient healthcare and clinical studies worldwide. Their nurses and healthcare professionals deliver remarkable patient experiences for traditional, decentralised, and hybrid clinical trials.   Stephanie is a registered nurse who joined the seacolehealth team in 2021. Before this, she worked at the renowned Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore, Maryland, USA, where she started as a nurse clinician before becoming a research nurse manager.

Episode 12 is a very special edition of mdtalk. Host LaQuinta Jernigan, Chief Operating Officer at mdgroup, is joined by Jennifer Kinnebrew, Shaniece Goodlow, and Maggie Settlemire. These incredible women have kindly agreed to join us to discuss their experiences of having children with rare diseases, and how we can advocate better care for everyone.

2022 was a big year for clinical trials.  From supply chain disruptions and staffing shortages to slowing the MedTech boom of 2021, we have weathered some significant challenges. In Episode 11 of mdtalk, host LaQuinta Jernigan, Chief Operating Officer at mdgroup, is joined by Tom Brazier, our Director of Decentralised Clinical Solutions and mdgroup’s Chief Executive Officer, Tarquin Scadding-Hunt.  They reflect on the past year and explore their predictions and hopes for 2023.

In Episode 10 of mdtalk, host LaQuinta Jernigan (mdgroup’s Chief Operating Officer) is joined by Caroline Jackson, mdgroup’s Executive Vice President of Patient Services, to discuss the pros and cons of hybrid clinical studies and explore how we can work to make clinical trials more accessible, cost-efficient and patient-focused.

Digital transformation in healthcare is a hot topic for clinical trial organisers and sponsors – and a complex one too.   In this episode, mdgroup’s Chief Operating Officer LaQuinta Jernigan is joined by Adam Spinks and Lyndon Johnson from 8fold Governance. Together, they delve into the challenges posed by the rapid advancement of medical technology and why compliance, good governance and patient-centricity are vitally important wherever technology is adopted.   Collectively, 8fold Governance has almost 100 years of combined experience in the UK health sector and provides end-to-end services for health technology companies including information governance, compliance, clinical safety, software development and more.

This episode focuses on disparity in clinical trial participation between patient populations, industry innovations to improve health equity, the accelerated movement towards decentralised trials – and what all this means for patient accessibility, diversity and engagement.    Our host LaQuinta Jernigan, Chief Operating Officer at mdgroup, speaks with Adam Samson, Head of Clinical Delivery Operations, RWE Clinical Trials at Walgreens, to understand the importance of trial design for health equity.   Adam is an expert at conducting clinical trials across multiple therapeutic areas as a coordinator, monitor, project manager, and executive within academia, sites, CROs, pharma, tech, and retail pharmacy. He currently serves as Head of Clinical Delivery Operations at Walgreens where his primary role is to operationalise existing locations to conduct clinical trials.   Adam also serves as adjunct faculty at The George Washington University in the Master's in Clinical Research Administration program, as well as serving as a core member in the Decentralized Trials & Research Alliance (DTRA) working group to map the participant journey in decentralised clinical trials.

This episode is focused on women's health, and how disparities in access to care due to race, culture and socio-economic status can and must be addressed. As well as discussing the causes and solutions to this issue, the hosts will also consider how healthcare accessibility relates to clinical research today. LaQuinta Jernigan, Chief Operating Officer at mdgroup, and co-host Sarrah Val, our Regional Sales Director for the Americas, speak with Christine Roy-McMahon MD, attending OB-GYN at Elmhurst Hospital HHC. Dr Roy-McMahon has a Major in neurobiology from the Florida International University Herbert Wertheim College of Medicine with a sub-specialism in benign gynaecological surgery, focusing on minimally invasive techniques. She primarily takes care of uninsured, underinsured and underrepresented minorities and is passionate about working on equity of care and access for those groups.

To mark Mental Health Awareness month this May, we are continuing our focus on mental health in this episode where mdgroup's Medical Director, Dr Art Lazarus, speaks with Dr Mary Morrison about topics including the stigma of mental health.   In this episode, Dr Lazarus and Dr Morrison discuss the following 3 topic areas: Mental health stigma and ramifications The importance of diversity and inclusion in clinical trialsThe future of mental health and substance use disorders research and the impact of underfunding

May is Mental Health Awareness Month, and in this episode, we will be shining a light on the future of clinical mental health research. Since the pandemic began, rising levels of mental health disorders have been recorded, highlighting the importance of clinical research and development like never before.   Dr Art Lazarus, mdgroup Medical Director, speaks with Dr Andrew Cutler, MD. Dr Cutler is the Chief Medical Officer at Neuroscience Education Institute and a Clinical Associate Professor of Psychiatry at SUNY Upstate Medical University.

We’re joined by Eric South, founder of non-profit organisation The Gladiator Project, which connects families impacted by brain cancer with the support they need to fight the disease, as well as fundraising for research to find a cure.   In this episode, we hear Eric’s remarkable story, from receiving his brain cancer diagnosis to the challenges he faced when finding a clinical trial, and building the incredible Gladiator Project to support others like him.

In this episode, we’re joined by Jameka Hill, Director of Patient Engagement and Advocacy and Clinical Trial Diversity at Moderna.    We dive into Moderna’s groundbreaking COVID-19 mRNA vaccine trial and the incredible commitment they put into achieving one of the most diverse clinical trials in history – even slowing down enrollment in September 2020 when it appeared they were failing to recruit enough Black, LatinX and Native American participants.

In our second episode of mdtalk, we discuss why increasing diversity in clinical trials matters, and the impact a lack of diversity has on equity in health care. Our second episode focuses on the importance of actively raising awareness of clinical research in minority communities, and how we can do that effectively.   Executive Vice President for The Americas, LaQuinta Jernigan, is joined by Dr. Allison Matthews, CEO and founder of Community Expert Solutions, as well as Rashaad Galloway and Dezbee McDaniel, co-founders of CliniSpan Health.

In our first episode of mdtalk, LaQuinta Jernigan, Executive Vice President for the Americas at mdgroup, speaks to Karen Correa PhD, VP, Head of Global Clinical Operations at Takeda, about the importance of increasing diversity and achieving true representation in clinical trials.   Karen has almost 30 years of experience in clinical research with a specialist focus on diversity and inclusion. In this episode, we explore why she’s so passionate about equal representation in medicine and what the industry can do to create a better, fairer healthcare system.

mdtalk shines a light on the most important issues surrounding clinical research, trials and patients.  Exploring ways we can make life better for patients taking part in clinical trials, improve access to healthcare and create better clinical outcomes, we speak to thought leaders and change makers across a range of organisations within the life sciences industry.