Nobody Knows What Clinical Research Is

Nobody Knows What Clinical Research Is

From Note to File: A Clinical Research Podcast by Brad Hightower

March 2, 2026 · 29 min

About this episode

Brad and Denali discuss the awareness gap in clinical research among health systems and vendors, insights from the VIVE conference, and various related topics.

In this episode of Sticky Notes, Brad and Denali debrief from the VIVE conference in LA, where they discovered just how little most health systems, CIOs, and IT vendors really understand about clinical research. From translating basic terms like CTMS and CRC into plain language, to explaining why research even matters to hospitals and health plans, we dig into the massive awareness gap between care delivery and clinical trials. We also get into: -Why research divisions inside hospitals are often ignored or siloed -How vendor messaging has to completely change when talking to health systems -The rise of real-world data (RWD), claims data, and EHR data in regulatory decisions -New FDA guidance on Bayesian statistics and using historical data -The shift toward one pivotal trial and what that could mean for sites, CROs, and sponsors -Whether we're trying everything except just running better randomized clinical trials -How conference culture is changing – from hard-sell BD apps to real community (looking at you, Save Our Sites) Plus, in true Sticky Notes fashion, there's some talk about National Pistachio Day, renting guitars to shred at conferences, and why pistachios look weird but…

People in this episode

Host: Brad Hightower

Guest: Denali

Topics covered

  • clinical research
  • health systems
  • vendor messaging
  • real-world data
  • FDA guidance
  • randomized clinical trials
  • conference culture

Keywords

  • clinical trials
  • CTMS
  • CRC
  • Bayesian statistics
  • EHR data
  • real-world data
  • health plans
  • pivotal trial

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: FDA, VIVE conference, Save Our Sites

Places: LA

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