Beyond The Protocol

Redefining Access

• Melody Keel • Season 2 • Episode 4

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What Clinical Teams Miss About Patient Recruitment 

Equity in clinical trials isn’t about checking a diversity box, it’s about changing how we think, lead, and communicate.

In this episode featuring Alyssa Beck, Account Management Lead at 1nHealth and former Creative Strategist, we explore what access truly means in 2025 and why patient recruitment must evolve beyond convenience and assumptions.

👉 Why rural and underrepresented communities remain overlooked in clinical trial strategies
👉 How digital-first outreach can drive equity, if it's built with clarity, culture, and care
👉 What most clinical teams get wrong about recruitment messaging and patient trust
👉 How cross-functional alignment (Ops, Comms, Vendors) can close access gaps
👉 What it takes to lead with empathy and make recruitment truly inclusive

This episode challenges traditional mindsets and offers real-world insights for clinical leaders ready to rethink how trials reach and respect patients.

Welcome to Beyond the Protocol—where authentic conversations about clinical research happen.

Hosted by Melody Keel, bringing together diverse professionals from across the industry to share insights and experiences about what it really takes to deliver successful clinical trials.

This isn't about perfect processes—it's about real people sharing real solutions.

Let's go beyond the protocol.

That's all for today's episode of Beyond the Protocol—where we explore what it truly takes to deliver successful clinical trials. 

If you found value in today's conversation, please subscribe, share with your network, and leave a review. 

Have experiences or insights to share? Reach out and be part of the conversation.

Join us next week as we continue to discover what lies beyond the protocol.

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This Podcast is Sponsored by The Research Associate Group, Inc.

Melody Keel: Welcome back to Beyond the Protocol. I'm so excited to have our guest today, Alyssa Beth from One In Health. Um, join us and I just have to say that I got connected with one in Health. Um, earlier this year and I just think it's an incredible company turning the way we recruit for trials upside down. And I just am really a firm believer in the way that you guys are taking the approach to recruitment and clinical trials, and I'm all for it.

I'm glad to be connected with One In Helped and I'm really excited to have you on today. So welcome. 

Alyssa Beck: Thanks, melody. Thanks for having me. I'm really excited to, uh, to chat and kind of dig into some of these things. Yeah, and I think, I 

Melody Keel: think this is something that, um, just on previous discussions we've had, we both are pretty passionate about.

How does so about patient recruitment? Right. Um, and I, I think today's discussion really will be around redefining access, right? And, and what clinical teams are really missing about patient recruitment. And I think from someone who's been on the sponsor side and running trials and then supporting teens that are running trials, um, I can honestly say.

We miss this over and over and over again. And so I'm really happy to have this discussion with you and I wanna give you the opportunity to introduce yourself and tell us a little bit about your journey, how you got into clinical research, because like many of us, it's a different way, it's not a cons, a straight path.

Right. And I think your, your journey's really interesting. So I'm, I'm happy to share it with those that are listening in. 

Alyssa Beck: Thanks. Yeah, so I am the account management lead at One in Health. I've been at one in Health for a few years now. Um, and I think like some of us in clinical research, I really stumbled into it for better, for worse.

Um, I have a background in communications and, uh. Kind of digital creation. Digital production. And then, um, during the, you know, work craziness of the years following 2020, kind of stumbled into my current role and have just become really, really passionate about, um, reaching these patients online, connecting with them through digital media, digital storytelling.

So, uh, it's been a happy accident. Um, but it's something I've. I've really come to love. Um, and in the past few years I've lived in a mostly indigenous community and I've always, my entire life lived in rural communities aside from a few years in, um, St. Louis City. So, uh, I'm really passionate about finding ways to make clinical research and clinical trials accessible to folks who maybe don't have even healthcare access in the worst times.

Melody Keel: Yeah. Um, and I think, I love that you have the perspective of rural communities. Um, I grew up. I don't know if a lot of people know this, but I grew up as a preacher's kid and we were assigned a church in this little bitty town in the middle of nowhere, Kansas, and I did seventh through 10th grade there.

And, you know, it really helped shape me like many of the things I experienced in that very small town. Uh, it just gave me a really good foundation. But the flip side of that was there were so many things that were lacking and in terms of healthcare, um, education, access to programs, um, and you're just really kind of bubbled in almost.

And, uh, in one way it's good 'cause you're kind of in your own little bubble out there in the middle of nowhere America. But then you kinda also lose out on access to what's happening and, and, and being able to get into clinical trials, right, and not be left out of what's happening in some of the innovative, um, things that are happening.

Everywhere. Not just in our industry, but on all fronts. And so I think having advocates in rural America for all industries, all businesses, all types of social services is really important. So I'm glad, I'm glad clinical research has an ally in you for the perspective of, of rural communities and getting.

Getting research to the underserved communities. Um, I would love for you to share insight on what diversity in clinical trials means right now. Um, because I think diversity unfortunately, at the moment has many meanings. Um, and there often not positive associations with it. And so from my perspective.

Diversity isn't a race thing. It isn't just black or white or, or, or who's in, who isn't. Um, it's also an access thing, uh, as well. And I also think that science is unable to understand its full potential without diversity. So I would love to hear your perspective in how, um, that is impacting the work that you're doing at One in Health in terms of recruitment and trials.

Alyssa Beck: Absolutely. I think to me, and of course speaking as a white middle class woman, I have a very limited personal experience with diversity, but it's something I am super passionate about. I think that when we make our clinical trials and accurate representation of the actual world around us, we're only benefiting science.

Is what it gets down to. And we see that in very specific conditions where they do impact people with different genetic makeups very differently. Um, and I think it's equitable to find ways to make clinical research and cri clinical trials accessible to people who maybe wouldn't historically have access.

Or folks who historically have an inherent distrust of medicine and clinical research. Um, I think that especially in the 21st century. The digital recruitment and what we really focus on at One Health is the most equitable way to reach patients, and often it's the way that you get the most diverse patient subset because you're really breaking down the physical limitations of if you put a billboard up, you're only gonna reach people who see that billboard.

Or if you put pamphlet in a doctor's office, you're only gonna reach people who are able to regularly, the doctor's office. Versus all of us are online, all of us are scrolling Facebook, all of us are reading digital news. Um, I think that to me, like I said, it's the most equitable and the one of the easiest, um, and most high impact ways to reach a diverse audience set.

Melody Keel: I agree. I agree. And I know there are some incredible folks that I've met on LinkedIn that are passionate about equitable, diverse. Ways to access patient populations and they are kind of the flip side of the digital. Approach where there boots on the ground in the communities, in the churches, um, literally in the health centers and the urgent care facilities and, and doing patient education programs.

And I think what you're doing pairs with that, right? You, you have found a way to connect and, and merge that very important boots on the ground grassroots effort. So I'd love to hear your approach to that and how that's happening. 

Alyssa Beck: They're, I think they mesh really well together. And I think that when you cast a really wide net and you're trying to find patients in both ways, you know, very boots on the ground, one-to-one connection, plus a very robust wide net from a digital perspective, you're gonna reach patients who are looking for care in each of those two ways.

Um, I, I like to think about it almost in like a consumer sense, not in like a. Not as like consumer as a bad word in the healthcare space, but some of us, when we're looking for a doctor, you know, say I, were gonna go look for an OB GYNI might be the kind of person who's gonna go online and shop for the right doctor and read reviews, or I might be the kind of person who's gonna ask the women in my community.

Yes, those. Two different types of people could both find a clinical trial if you have both strategies going at the same time. So I think that the two pair really well together, and there's a digital aspect of that, like community engagement. There are so many online support groups and nonprofits have groups, whether they're led by an organization or just led by patients who are really passionate.

You can kind of tap into that as well. 

Melody Keel: Absolutely. I agree. I agree. Um, so we know what the traditional approach say recruiting for trials is, and it don't work so well. Trust me. I know. So what, what would you, how do you. Engage with clients who are, you know, you may be sitting across from across the table with a director of ClinOps who's bought you in Right.

To support, um, a study that is either has challenges, we're knee deep, we're behind on recruitment, or we know this is going to be a challenging study to recruit for. And we also would like certain populations and we have all these requirements, right? And, and we, we've thrown everything at it. Nothing's working.

Why? Why is it not working? Why is the traditional approach that we've been taking in over and over for years and years not working? 

Alyssa Beck: I think it comes down to at the very top line messaging where you're so used to seeing clinical trial ads, which I love seeing clinical trial ads in the Wild me do look picking them apart, and how can we make this better?

So many of them are advertising messages like, join a clinical trial. We need you for a clinical trial. Clinical trial near you. And a lot of patients are gonna scroll right past that because they either distrust clinical research or clinical trials. In general, they've never considered that a clinical trial might be right for them.

Maybe they think that because they have a certain condition, a clinical trial isn't even an option for them. Um, so I think that when we lead with that, like we need you join this trial messaging, we're alienating that subset of patients. The flip side that we've seen work really well at One Health is we lead with a kind of like, what's in it for me?

Uh, because at the end of the day, everyone's looking out for their own personal safety and self-interest, especially online. If we look at it in a like. What are they gonna get out of this experience, whether it is access to care, it is, um, you know, more in-depth conversations with a doctor who maybe they don't get to see regularly in their normal day-to-day life.

Maybe it's compensation. That's not a bad thing. If we can lead with what they're going to receive out of the, the exchange versus what we need to get from them. Yeah, I think that it's a empathetic, uh, empathetic message. Gonna break down some of that barrier of like, clinical researchers just want my data and they just want to use me and all this like bad historical kind of, um, language that we're used to hearing.

And then I think once you capture that attention and you capture that initial interest, you have to hold that patient's hand all the way to enrollment. Um. I really love clinical trial advertising, but I'll be the first to tell you that a snazzy beautiful ad is not gonna enroll your trial. It's gonna be people who enroll your trial.

So we should be using our advertising and our messaging as a tool to help the patient get to the site. Then to help the site have the next conversation, then to help that patient get enrolled and retained. 

Melody Keel: Agree. And I think, um, that is something that's near and dear to my heart in terms of the principal investigators and study coordinators and sites that are chosen to do research.

And we're in a time where, uh, we have these big site networks being created, right? Um, there's a lot of money coming into the site side from private equity and bcs and all of that. Um, but at the end of the day, if we don't make sure that we have. Investigators and sites in the rural communities, in the urban communities, um, in places where the doctors may not be, um, they, they look like the patient population that we're seeking.

If we don't do that, then it doesn't matter how great the site network is, um, and, and what the processes are in place and, and how many recruitment tactics we put into place. We won't have the patience because like you said, the advertisements can kind of let us know that this exists. Right? But if we don't have the patient connection and we're not able to educate them before there's a trial and we're not able to engage with them and build trust, and then when we have the trial, they trust the folks that are bringing them in and walking them through and keeping them in the study.

And then after the trial. You can't just let them go and break the trust, right? Because we then we have undone all the work that we did, and so we have still have work to do after we bring that patient in and get them through a trial. So I think the messaging. It's so important, and I fully agree with you, that understanding the pain points of our patients and what mean, what, what's important to them, what do they care about more so than our deliverables and our milestones and, and the data that we need to collect and why and how it benefits us as a company.

I think if we could switch that mindset, um, we would find ourselves in a lot better shape. And that's, that's one of the reasons why I really like what you guys are doing at One in Health. 'cause you get that. You can come in and get into the face of the sponsors and say, you're on the wrong side of it.

You're, this isn't gonna work until you get on the other side of what's important to the patients. 

Alyssa Beck: And it's also, I wanna underline that it's not just diversity for diversity's sake or access for accessibility's sake. It really is a commercial benefit to a sponsor to look at these smaller research sites in smaller communities, in rural areas.

We have worked on so many studies where a site in rural Arkansas outperforms a site in New York City or Dallas or la over and over. Oh, no, no. Yeah. We sponsors say, well, we need these big cities because we need a lot of patients and we need them very quickly, but. Just because they are in a, you know, high population density area does not mean that they have the procedures in place to get patients in the door quickly and to get them converted quickly.

So I think that, you know, we've worked with over 800 sites at this point, and. If you're just looking at population sized, you're really doing yourself a disservice when you're selecting sites. Not that those sites in big cities can't be incredible, but these little guys can as well, and some of them have built that relationship with the community over years and years.

Some of these tiny. Exactly. This is so in Dr. Smith, who I went to high school with and my whole family and I, you know, he, uh, he delivered me and my kids and I have a relationship with him. So I think when we broaden our horizons to look at PIs in smaller communities, it's not only the right thing to do, but it can be a commercial, um, benefit as well.

Melody Keel: Absolutely. Absolutely. And, and then we're speaking to pain points on all sides of the line, right. Of the circle. Right, 

Alyssa Beck: exactly. Well, it's too, I think that it's important for sponsors to realize that just because, um, you know, the, the town I went to high school in was Little Acts, Oklahoma, and it was teeny tiny.

I had like 50 kids in my graduating class. No one saw a doctor in little Acts, Oklahoma. Everyone saw a doctor in Oklahoma City. Yes. So just because we're talking about these rural communities does not mean you cannot activate PIs in the larger communities because these patients are willing to drive these patients They do every day.

Yeah, exactly. Um, I'm in a place right now where I need to make an eye doctor appointment and it's two hours away and I'm gonna have to take off work for it, but that's just part of my life. Living in a Remy a she lifestyle. Yeah. And people are, are willing, especially if the clinical trial is offering something that they couldn't otherwise have access to.

Melody Keel: Agree. Agree. So I think, um, lip bulb moment for me is, um, stop putting on the billboards. That there's a clinical trial. No one cares. They, we don't care about that. What we care about is how can this benefit me? Uh, does this mean I get to see a doctor more often? Um. Does it mean it may give me access to a treatment that was an option for me before, um, possibly that will work.

So I, I think, I think the shift is so important and training and helping the folks sitting in the chairs, the decision makers on the sponsor side and the CRO side that are partnering to get the sites in. I think there's a opportunity to really educate. Those that are responsible for site selection, because I can tell you, I, I've sat in meetings and LED site selection discussions where we have the decision makers, we have the medical director, we have the ClinOps director, and even maybe the chief medical officer, depending on the size of the company and how important this study is.

And a time and time again, we focus on the KOLs. Or now there's this piece coming in, you know, downstream when we're ready to, to commercialize the drug, we want this site to have been part of it. We want them to be familiar with the compound and know how to administer it. So make them a clinical trial site, even if they don't have any experience being a clinical trial site.

So like there's, there's this set of variables that's very present in the decision making process for selecting sites. Um. We go and we do a feasibility visit, and we say, how many patients can you give us in this trial? And we say, oh, we can do 100. Okay, great. You're selected. And that's just 

Alyssa Beck: value.

Melody Keel: It's just, it's just wrong. But yet we keep doing it over and over and over again. But what if we had in that site selection call discussions about where are our options in the, in the rural areas? Who's there, what positions or what boots on the ground organization is there that we can pair with and we can get them connected with the closest site right, to their rural community.

Like what if we had those discussions and really were proactively thinking about the patients that we want in our trial and how to make this accessible for them. What a difference, what a different outcome we would have in recruitment. 

Alyssa Beck: Yeah, and I think part of that is we have to have the data at these smaller sites to show the impact.

Everything we're doing at One In Health is all about tracking KPIs and like. We make decisions based on data. And when we recommend a site in a rural community or a smaller community, it's because we have historical data to say they know exactly what they're doing. They're gonna involve so many patients for you.

Their practices are on it. They're contacting patients quickly. And I think that if sites maybe focus some of their data gathering less on how many people live in my city and more so on. How quickly can I reach out to this patient? How quickly can I get them an appointment? How quickly can I convert just an interest loop patient into an enrolled one that is going to make them a more attractive choice to a sponsor if they have the data to back up, we know what we're doing.

Melody Keel: I agree. And I think a next, another side to that is when you have the data and, and one in health can share that data and say, this is what we know, these are the capabilities. The sponsor needs to be able to step in and say, okay, based on that we have to think a bit differently on how we support these sites.

Uh, can we get, create additional budget to provide the resources that's needed to do this additional reach out or to get these patients to where they need to go? 'cause there's more travel involved. Um, I think that. It's a collaborative effort and sometimes we just dump the responsibility and transfer this piece of the collaborative pie over to our vendor.

Like we say, okay, one in health, this is what we need. Go get us patients right and do it yesterday because we're behind on enrollment, so go figure it out. And that's just the recipe for not succeeding. Versus sitting down and understanding the data that you have and the recommendation and the suggestions that you feel as a sponsor we can incorporate to be successful.

Like more budget, um, more leeway with reimbursement for travel. Um, and it, if this patient needs to be on a smaller regional jet that are plane, right, commercial plane, and that might, that ticket might be $2,000. Then you know what? If you want these patients, then you might have to invest that way for us to get them.

So I think there's a lot of conversation needed about that. 

Alyssa Beck: And if you are willing to pay maybe, you know, 10, 20 grand to a site today to help get those patients in the door, it could save you two, three months between we have LPI with say millions of dollars. So when you like kind of broaden your. Your horizons.

Look at it from a big picture, budget perspective. Yeah. These little investments at the top can save you millions down the line and get your drug to market quicker, which is them going to make you millions down the line. Quicker. 

Melody Keel: More. Yeah. Faster. Yes. And I, I did have to put the shameless plug in here. I talk about this all the time, training and mentoring and helping the people that are running the trials, making the investment in those folks that make up your team.

Understand these things because a lot of times if you just have one perspective, one view, and you didn't have anyone to mentor you or help you see the very things we're talking about, you just don't know. So as a project manager, you just don't know that it makes sense to go back to your senior management and advocate for a bigger budget for X, Y, Z so that we can have these rural sites, we can go to these urban community areas that may not have the, the capabilities that the large city, big institutions do, but they can get our study enrolled faster.

Alyssa Beck: Faster. Yeah, absolutely. And I think we spend a lot of time working directly with. Um, you know, kind of the, the middle management of clinical research. You know, we talked to the C-Suite as sponsors, but we also work really hand in hand with the project managers and with the, and part of my job is helping them tell that story to their higher ups, to say, Hey, not only is this going to make the site's job easier and our job easier, but it's gonna be a commercial benefit if we can get more patients from these specific sites and we can kind of reallocate our resources.

So. I think that we're all very stuck in our job, in our little corner of the clinical research world. Um, and maybe things have been going the same way. They have been going for years and years, and so we're stuck in this habit. But if we can learn to speak across those kind of title lines at. Story that makes sense to the person who signs the check, we can get that budget for, you know, additional patient resources.

Melody Keel: Agree. I agree. And I think, um, it's unfortunate that you have to help the middle team, the boots on the ground team tell the story. Mm-hmm. I think that is very, that's very indicative of where we are, that. You're coming in to recruit, right? And to give guidance and a framework to make a trial successfully, uh, successful from a perspective of recruitment.

But at the same time, you're wearing a hat of mentoring and helping them understand how to story, tell or weed the story together to advocate for the needs of a study. And that's unfortunate to me. That's where we are missing the mark. Um. But 

Alyssa Beck: I think it's getting better. I do think it's getting better. I think that, yeah, I do see a lot of, I think I've only been in the industry for a couple years, but I mean even just got some battle scars even.

Um, but even, you know, when I first started a few years ago. Diversity was a box that people checked. Yeah. Just that they made a diverse trial. And now we're seeing more and more sponsors who are seeing the commercial impact, who are seeing the greater benefit of running their studies this way and going after a diverse set of patients and not limiting the patients that they're speaking to, to a specific set of patients.

So I think in the same way, this collaboration across sponsor teams and site teams and vendor teams. Um, when we are open to that kind of collaboration and we're willing to do a little bit of coaching, I know not everyone will, I know I, I pro maybe I overstep sometimes, but I would rather have an in-depth conversation with someone and help them do their job better and give them the resources they need to do their job better than just let things kind of, and not run the way they've always been run.

Melody Keel: Yeah, I know, I know. I, and I think, I think because of people. That have the mindset that you do, that's why we get the work done. Yeah. Um, but message to c-suite and senior management understand what the middle team has to go through and what they are doing, and the boots on the ground efforts they're making and the needs that they have so that when they come to you with a request or they say, this is why we need this, um, you're more open.

To understanding that and figuring out how to make it happen instead of saying, we haven't needed that before. So, no. 

Alyssa Beck: Yeah, absolutely. And see potential, like I think that we're so used to trials enrolling, uh. Behind schedule. And we're so used to recruitment being an uphill battle every step of the way.

It really doesn't have to be, it doesn't have to be hard. We kind of make it hard in some situations. So I think that, um, as we start to see more studies and roll ahead of schedule and more, um, teams really commit to their timelines. Sponsors are gonna be more believing and more trusting of, oh, we can get this done.

We can save millions, we can get it. To LPI on or ahead of schedule? Yes, it's possible. 

Melody Keel: I've done it. I've seen it done. Yes, it's possible. Uh, and it doesn't have to be, but when it does happen, it's so like, oh my gosh, rivers 

Alyssa Beck: done. It was accomplished. Just like, did you seem like crazy that it's finishing on time is something that's like, yes, it's an outlier.

Melody Keel: It's like. The rockstar team has made something impossible happen, but yet if we go into it with the expectation that we would, that it would happen. 

Alyssa Beck: Yeah, yeah. Absolutely. I think too, like, and, and maybe it's part of, maybe it's like a self-fulfilling prophecy that we, we expect it to finish behind schedule, so we accept.

Less than ideal timelines, and we just accept that it's gonna be behind schedule. But I think the sooner you start thinking about how to recruit your trial, the more likely you are to hit LP. You cannot build a recruitment strategy at FPI and expect to get there. I mean, we've, we've come in and rescued studies and help them get to LPI on time.

And so painful it happens. It it to stretch for the whole team. Why not start thinking about it when you're drafting your protocol? I'm, yeah, yeah, yeah. 

Melody Keel: And um, I know I have this like vision when, at the beginning of a study, even when the concept and they say, oh, a phase three study's coming, or phase two, we're gonna have to do this.

Um. It's just like this table I envision and who are the players that need to sit at the table? And oftentimes the vendors aren't even selected yet. Right? But we need to have our CRO partner at the table. We need to have our recruitment vendor partner at the table so that we can get the insight that often is siloed and not a lot until way later downstream in the process where it's almost too late.

To really make it effective to have the feedback and the guidance from the experts that help us get there. 

Alyssa Beck: Yeah. Especially I think the people who are the most boots on the ground. Yeah. Because they're going to be able to tell you, okay, what is the day-to-day challenge that is going to prohibit this study from getting enrolled?

What is the maybe protocol challenge that's gonna prohibit this study? Is this study un enrollable, we steady looking for? There are some, there really are some or impatient that maybe. Doesn't exist or doesn't exist in the quantity in which we need patients to enroll in this study. So I think that. And one of the reasons we're so open to and excited to collaborate with everybody from the sponsor to the site to the other vendors is that we recognize if everybody's not working together, the study's not getting filled, or it's at least not getting filled on time.

So if we can make friends with the sites, make their job easier, make friends with the CRO make their job easier, and then get the sponsor on board with the strategy. Everybody's working in this like really strong recruitment and enrollment machine. It just creates less system. 

Melody Keel: I think so too. I think the table needs to have more chairs, more seats at the table, and folks need to be invited to the table far earlier than they are.

Yeah. Totally. I, so what do you think is ahead for recruitment and the times that we're in? Um, I, I, I just read this morning from, um, a another big layoff at another large pharma company, massive layoff. And so how do you see us continuing, um, from the perspective of doing more with less? On all sides. Um, that's, that's the current trend right now, um, where everything is just getting condensed, but it feels like it's getting bigger at the same time.

Um. How, how are you, how will you all navigate the time that we're in now and continue the mission of recruitment and accessibility, um, and equity in trials? What? What's your plan? I'm putting you on the spot, but I would love to know, 'cause I just know it. It's heavy. It's heavy to me. When I read and I see my friends and I see my colleagues that aren't working for months and they're not getting hired, but I know the work is still there.

A lot of work is still there. So how are we gonna navigate this? 

Alyssa Beck: Yeah, it, it's, it's hard to log into LinkedIn these days, and of course it's much harder for those folks who are laid off, but I think it's, it's a heavy weight on the entire industry that I like the way you put it. Like we're asked to do a lot more with a lot less manpower.

I think part of it is going to be. Being more intentional and more efficient in the decisions we make about trials. Like I mentioned, like if we can't recruit a trial in two months less than we thought, that's sequentially millions of dollars saved. That's potentially jobs saved. You know, when the budget is cut down like that.

So if we can start being a little more intentional. I think we shouldn't be accepting lateness and running behind schedule. I think we should be building efficient systems instead of just accepting the systems that we've already worked within. Um, and those more intentional decisions, um, and data-driven decisions at the end of the day are going to save dollars and save jobs down the line.

Um, I also think that we're in an interesting. Spot with like a lot of AI and automation and I think that as resources dwindle in the industry, we are going to find a sweet spot where we are allowing these digital tools to do the job that digital tools are for, and then we're also investing in the human touch.

That also has to happen. I think that. When a new technology like AI or like any of these automation tools occurs, there's a period where we're trying to find that sweet spot. I think we're in that period where we haven't figured out exactly the, the balance between human and robot yet. Um, but I'm, I'm of the belief that we will find a way to use these tools and these digital platforms that allow humans to do the human things while, yeah.

Taking away some of the, the to-do list items that a robot could do. 

Melody Keel: Yes, I agree. I agree. Um, I, I, I have lots to say about AI and yes, it's hot topic. I feel that it just can't replace the human. And I agree with you. Finding the balance is where we're at right now. Um.

Everything is about balance, and I think in our industry, we find ourselves so out of balance so much of the time that we just operate in that space and we don't, we don't even have the time to figure out how to bring the balance back in, so, mm-hmm. Yeah, that's where we are. But I think we're, we all are acknowledging it and recognizing it and, uh, if we can get out of our silos right, and find a way to collaborate, we will find that sweet spot.

We will find the balance and the recruitment side of things will benefit from it. Considerably 

Alyssa Beck: potentially. Yeah, if we can, I mean, we use a lot of technology to track data and, you know, help us get the background information together and see the trends. But then there's still that human element of looking really hard at it and making the decision about recruitment or enrollment, um, or site selection.

So like, I mean, we're. We both said the same thing. I think we're, we're in a kind of flux position. I think we'll find a really sweet balance that, um, allows people to do what they do. I saw a tweet or something way back when it was called Twitter that was like, uh, you know, I don't want, um, you know, a robot to write music in books so I can answer more emails.

I want a robot to answer my emails so I can write more music in books. Yes, I think that we can take that same. Stance in clinical research and accept that like there are certain things that a human needs to do, let's free up more time for humans, especially at the site level. My goodness, to have human conversations.

Melody Keel: I agree. I agree. I think that is a perfect place for us to wrap up. Thank you, Alyssa. I think our conversation could, well, I know it could, 'cause we've had discussions already and I know they can close on. We can just take this down the road for the rest of the day. But I really appreciate you joining us and, and coming on the show and sharing your perspective about recruitment and how we can do better.

It's just really a discussion that's needed, how we can do better, and how we can stop doing the same old thing and go a different approach. And I think what One in Health is doing and what you and your team are doing is amazing, and I'm super excited to continue to see what you do and to work with you.

You and me both. So 

Alyssa Beck: I really appreciate getting to, to chat and I'm always happy to, to talk recruitment equity. Um, I'll yap about anything. 

Melody Keel: Oh yeah, me too, me too. All right, well take care and we'd love to have you back again. Thanks so much.

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Melody Keel

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