In 2018, the Bridging Clinical Research and Clinical Health Care Collaborative will bring together industry leaders from pharma, biotech, CROs, healthcare organizations, advocacy groups and the FDA to advance the participation of patients and physicians in the conduct of clinical trials. The conference will be April 4–5, 2018, at the Gaylord National Resort and Conference Center in National Harbor, Maryland.

“Poor recruitment is the leading cause of failure in clinical trials. Less than 3 percent of patients and physicians participate,” said Cinda Orr, president and CEO of SCORR Marketing. “For quite some time, I have watched our industry try to determine how we can change this, but we have not made significant progress. As I am passionate about helping patients, I have established the Bridging Clinical Research and Clinical Health Care Collaborative with the support from health science colleagues and organizations so we can actualize a solution.”

The keynote speaker for the conference is Janet Woodcock, M.D., director of the Center for Drug Evaluation and Research at the FDA. Representing patients will be T.J. Sharpe, cancer survivor and patient advocate. Additional speakers have already been scheduled from 2bPrecise, Allscripts, HCA Healthcare, IBM Watson Health, INC Research and Sarah Cannon. Elligo Health Research, Allscripts, and INC Research are sponsors and Applied Clinical Trials, CenterWatch and FierceBiotech are media partners.

“This conference is at the core of what we do and we are proud to be a sponsor,” said John Potthoff, co-founder and CEO at Elligo Health Research. “Just think what a significant impact we could make if we could get just an additional 3 percent of patients and physicians to participate. That would double the opportunity for patients to participate in clinical trials in the U.S.”

There are numerous ways to engage in the conference—attending, exhibiting, speaking or sponsoring. For more information on how to get involved, visit the website at www.bridgingclinical.com.

The Bridging Clinical Research and Clinical Health Care Collaborative is sponsored by SCORR Events, a division of SCORR Marketing, a marketing and communications firm in the health science industry. SCORR Events was established to provide education, collaboration and opportunities for industry professionals to advance health sciences.