Experts in the fields of clinical trials, patient advocacy and biotechnology innovation will gather at the OCT Southeast 2025 conference in Durham-Raleigh, North Carolina. Image credit: Shutterstock / DCStockPhotography.
As patient voices get amplified across platforms, finding effective ways to further enhance participation and let patient-driven inputs drive clinical research is becoming increasingly important.
An upcoming conference is set to explore this and other issues relevant to participants and sponsors who drive clinical research at pharma and biotech companies and research institutions. The upcoming 14th Annual Outsourcing in Clinical Trials (OCT) Southeast 2025 conference, to be held 1–2 April, will also provide a platform for key stakeholders to explore the latest trends in outsourcing strategies and revenue models.
On the first day, Richie Khan, cofounder and COO of the patient advocacy consultancy Canary Advisors, will set the tone for the conference with a talk on why the patient voice is critical in clinical development. Subsequent discussions by Gabriela Feldberg, head of portfolio strategy at Evinova (part of AstraZeneca); Bianca Green, head of Clinical Program Diversity at UCB; and Ros Cheetham, clinical operations vice president at Macrogenics, will continue to deliberate on how the patient-centric considerations can increase the chances of success in a trial.
Green will also lead a talk on diversity initiatives in clinical trials, later that same day. While patient diversity, in terms of race, age, sexual orientation, geography and more, has been deemed key in clinical research in the last few years, recent news has cast a shadow on the future of these initiatives. Under the Trump administration, several funding cuts proposed at research institutes and agencies have recently targeted diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) initiatives, some of which have been challenged in US courts.
Another session in the afternoon will touch upon the role of community organisers in improving the perception towards clinical research across patient groups.
The second day of the conference will encourage delegates to tap into their individual on-the-ground experiences to provide insights during sessions that focus on clinical partnerships. From a strategy perspective, a panel will explore a popular question in the outsourcing space: whether a full-service outsourcing (FSO) or functional service provider (FSP) model might foster the best sponsor-outsourcing partner relationship. Stacey Curelop, director of clinical operations, Mycovia Pharmaceuticals; Jesselle Simeon, director, clinical operations and contract management at Adverum Biotechnologies; Michael Hickey, vice-president, clinical operations, at BIO-Path Holdings; along with Robert Loll, SVP of business development at Praxis Communications, will discuss the pros and cons of each model, and the ideal strategy for a small or medium-sized biotech.
The conference will also provide a platform to discuss the BIOSECURE Act, a hot button issue in the outsourcing world, in a talk led by Matthew Barnes, director of portfolio management at Virpax Pharmaceuticals.
The 14th Annual Outsourcing in Clinical Trials (OCT) Southeast 2025 conference takes place on 1–2 April in Raleigh-Durham Research Triangle, North Carolina. Check out the detailed agenda for the two-day conference.
The OCT Southeast conference is organised by Arena International, which is part of GlobaData, the parent company of Clinical Trials Arena.
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