Sequoia Clinical Research’s CEO Dan White and CMO, Dr. Tom Kreamer explain what it takes to merge three site organizations into one network.
Dan White, CEO, and Dr. Tom Kreamer, CMO, Sequoia Clinical Research, describe the work of unifying three independently run site organizations as fundamentally cultural, built on top of operational groundwork.
White explains that while technology, hiring, and HR integration are necessary functional steps, the real challenge is bringing three distinct organizational cultures underneath one shared culture, starting with the “nuts and bolts” of HR, process, and SOPs before tackling deeper integration. Dr. Kreamer frames this as creating shared culture and common standards while still preserving each site’s unique relationships with its own physicians and patients, so consolidation doesn’t come at the expense of local trust.
That same tension between standardization and local flexibility carries into how the network centralizes recruitment and e-source. White notes that most incoming sites initially rely on paper documentation, with physicians filling out notes as they would in any standard practice. Moving to e-source gives leadership near real-time visibility into what’s happening across sites, from recruitment activity to revenue. He adds that e-source also lets coordinators and physicians continue documenting patient discussions as usual, while shifting the e-source-to-EDC data entry burden onto office staff, freeing coordinators to focus on direct patient care.
Dr. Kreamer reinforces this from an operational standpoint, describing centralization as what allows the organization to function as one true network rather than five separate locations, creating greater efficiency and consistency while enabling the company to scale without sacrificing quality.
