Clinical Trial Podcast | Conversations with Clinical Research Experts

Why do qualified candidates apply to role after role in clinical research and never hear back?
In this episode of the Clinical Trial Podcast, we unpack what's really happening behind the scenes in the hiring process.
Getting hired isn't just about your technical skills. It's about how hiring managers assess risk, how recruiters decide who to champion, and who actually gets attention versus who gets ignored.
Kunal Sampat is joined by Giovanni Lauricella, Co-Founder and CEO of Lifeblood, an executive search firm specializing in MedTech. With over 15 years of experience placing board members, C-suite leaders, and cross-functional talent globally, Giovanni brings a unique perspective from inside the hiring process.
In this episode, you'll learn:
Why strong candidates get filtered out before interviews
What hiring managers are actually looking for
How recruiters decide who to advocate for
What it really takes to break into and advance in clinical research
If you've ever felt stuck in your job search or wondered why the process feels like a black box, this conversation will give you a clearer understanding of how hiring decisions are actually made.

What separates strong clinical research from misleading conclusions?
Often, it comes down to study design.
In this episode of the Clinical Trial Podcast, Kunal Sampat sits down with Dr. Thomas Newman, Professor of Epidemiology and Biostatistics at UCSF and co-author of Designing Clinical Research, to break down how observational studies actually work.
While randomized controlled trials are often considered the gold standard, observational studies are essential in many real-world settings. But they come with challenges including bias, confounding, and misinterpretation that can lead to flawed conclusions if not handled correctly.
Dr. Newman shares a practical framework to help you design better studies, interpret results more critically, and build a stronger foundation in clinical research.
In this episode, you'll learn:
When observational studies are more appropriate than randomized trials
A practical framework for designing observational research
Key threats to validity: bias, confounding, and chance
How to interpret associations vs. causal effects
Strategies for dealing with confounders in analysis
How to approach statistics with more clarity and confidence
About the guest:
Dr. Thomas Newman, MD, MPH, is a Professor of Epidemiology and Biostatistics at the University of California, San Francisco. His work focuses on applying epidemiologic methods to important clinical problems in child health, including neonatal jaundice, infections in newborns, and cholesterol screening.
He is widely recognized for his contributions to clinical research education and is co-author of Designing Clinical Research and Evidence-Based Diagnosis.
Why this episode matters:
If you want to grow in clinical research, you need more than surface-level knowledge - you need to understand how studies are designed and where they can go wrong.
This episode helps you think like a clinical researcher.

Bringing a high-risk cardiovascular device from concept to patient care requires more than innovation - it requires carefully designed clinical trials, strong operational execution, and close collaboration with regulators and physician investigators.
In this episode of the Clinical Trial Podcast, Kunal Sampat speaks with Nicole Haratani about how cardiovascular device clinical trials are actually designed and run. Nicole is Vice President of Clinical Affairs at Supira Medical and has spent more than two decades working in medical device clinical research, particularly in cardiovascular technologies.
Nicole shares insights from her experience leading clinical and regulatory programs across feasibility and pivotal trials, and explains the operational realities behind Class III device studies.
In this episode, we discuss:
How cardiovascular devices move from concept to clinical trials
Designing feasibility and pivotal trials for Class III devices
How inclusion and exclusion criteria are developed
Challenges in patient recruitment for cardiovascular studies
Collaborating with key opinion leaders and investigators
Working with the FDA during the PMA process
Career advice for professionals interested in medical device clinical research
If you're interested in cardiovascular device development, clinical trial operations, or building a career in medical device research, this episode provides a practical look at how complex device trials are executed.

Clinical trial budgeting remains one of the biggest bottlenecks in study startups, driving delays, rework, and frustration across sponsors, CROs, and research sites.
In this episode of the Clinical Trial Podcast, recorded live at Research Revolution, a clinical research conference hosted by Florence Healthcare, we take a hard look at why clinical trial budget negotiations continue to break down—and what experienced operators are doing differently.
This conversation brings together sponsor, site, and consultant perspectives to unpack the real drivers of delay, including slow escalation pathways, unclear or inconsistent budget justifications, misaligned expectations, and communication gaps between stakeholders.
Rather than rehashing theory, this episode focuses on practical, experience-driven insights you can actually apply.
In this episode, you'll learn:
The most common causes of delays during clinical trial budget negotiations
How sites can create clear, defensible budget justifications without triggering endless revision cycles
What sponsors look for when approving higher-than-expected line items
Best practices for internal rate cards, fee schedules, and budgeting templates
How improved communication and transparency can reduce negotiation friction and speed study startup
This episode features insights from:
Kristen McKenna, Senior Manager and Investigator Contracts Lead at Pfizer
Heidi Castle, Director of Business Development at Mercy Research
Matt Lowery, CEO and Principal Consultant at The Pathways Group
If you're involved in clinical trial budgeting, contracting, or study startup - whether at a sponsor, CRO, or research site - this episode offers practical insights to help you navigate negotiations more effectively and avoid common pitfalls.
Listen to the episode to hear how sponsor, site, and consultant leaders approach clinical trial budgeting and study startup.

Risk-based monitoring has been discussed in clinical research for more than a decade, yet many organizations still struggle to implement it in a meaningful and effective way.

In this episode of the Clinical Trial Podcast, we sit down with Dr. Artem Andrianov, a leading expert in clinical data quality and risk-based quality management, to unpack what risk-based monitoring really means in today's regulatory landscape. 

Artem has over 25 years of experience in the pharmaceutical industry and is the CEO and cofounder of Cyntegrity a company that specializes in data driven risk management in clinical trials.

Together, they explore how the industry has evolved from traditional monitoring approaches to a more holistic model centered on risk-based quality management and quality by design. 

Dr. Andrianov shares practical insights on common misconceptions, why simply reducing monitoring is not a strategy, and how technology and analytics can be used to proactively manage risk.

The conversation also examines the changing role of CRAs, and the growing expectations from regulators and inspectors.