Site Voice Champion Dr. Bill Smith

Dr. William (Bill) Smith, CEO of Alliance for Multispecialty Research (AMR) and the 2024 Christine K. Pierre Site Impact Award winner, unpacks the industry's biggest challenges—from investigator shortages to study oversaturation—and why site advocacy is more critical than ever. With over 40 years in clinical trials, he reflects on SCRS Founder Christine K. Pierre’s lasting legacy and how he continues to amplify the site voice in research.

Transcript

Jimmy Bechtel: 0:00

Welcome to SCRS Talks provided by the Society for Clinical Research Sites. Thank you for joining us as we explore the latest insights, trends, and innovations shaping clinical research today. I'm Jimmy Bechtel, the Vice President of Site Engagement with the Society, and today I'm joined by Dr. William Smith, the CEO and Principal Investigator Of AMR clinical research. Dr. Smith is the 2024 recipient of the Christine K. Pierre Sight Impact Award, and he's here to share a little bit more about that award and what it means for him. Dr. Smith, it's great to have you. Always a pleasure to have any conversation with you. If you wouldn't mind, Dr. Smith, I'd love to first start us off and learn a little bit more about you, your background, and of course, how you've been involved with SCRS over the years.

William Smith: 0:47

Thank you again and really appreciate this opportunity. I'm a physician. I am quadruple boarded, have been doing clinical trials for over 40 years. Currently, I am the CEO of AMR, a site group with 32 locations across the country. I cannot say enough about how excited I was to win the Christine Pierre Award and what this meant to me. Christine was a real visionary in establishing SCRS and to see, to be recognized as contributing to her memory and to the world of clinical trials meant a lot to me personally, as well as professionally. I've currently done over 2, 000 clinical trials and started with almost 40 years ago doing trials for cardiac patients where there were not a lot of medications available even to treat simple things like high blood pressure, hyperlipidemia, much less the more complex acute MI therapies, et cetera, that are, currently available. This grew over time with the need to go into other areas where we saw that experienced investigators were needed to help increase trials in these areas as well. And as I've mentioned previously, Christine's vision for a site group that had a voice where we could be heard at the table rather than being the last people to be considered. The sites and our, our patients that really made these trials possible. I've been involved in SCRS since Christine transitioned from site solutions and was part of the initial, leadership group and as for advice to new investigators is to find a mentor, to find somebody you can work with that can help you navigate the increasingly complex world of clinical trials and help you to enjoy this journey rather than getting bogged down in some of the details by their more overall view. So thanks again for allowing me to pontificate and we look forward to SCRS continuing to grow and thrive and give the sites a voice at the table.

Jimmy Bechtel: 4:14

That's great. Dr. Smith. I know that you're a tremendous mentor and inspiration to several individuals in the industry, both currently and those that have left the industry. You're well deserving of this award and your accomplishments as you have mentioned, are truly numerous. Dr. Smith, I would ask and congratulations of the award, if you wouldn't mind expanding on what the award and that recognition means to you both professionally and personally. You had mentioned that it impacted you in both ways, so I'd love to dig into that a little bit more and hear from you as to what that means.

William Smith: 4:48

You know, to have the 1st of all, Christine was a true visionary and many of us could never have imagined how rapidly SCRS was able to grow and the depth of the need for a site voice. So, to be mentioned in the same context as Christine and to be recognized was just a real moment. I almost teared up at the award ceremony. Professionally, it just has further validated the efforts that myself and others have and are making to give the sites the voice that we need in this drug development process. And specifically to be able to not just advocate for ourselves, but for the patients and subjects that we represent in these trials as well.

Jimmy Bechtel: 6:05

That's excellent. Dr. Smith. Thank you. And I couldn't agree more. It's been something, a big shoes to fill for a lot of us in the industry. And it's been so rewarding to see individuals like yourself and others really step in to those shoes and continue her work. I think you've mentioned it and it does ring true that the community that she had built the foundation of SCRS continues to carry her vision forward and really be empowering to sites. And that's a lot of what Christine was aimed to do was really empower the research site. So, you shared some about how you've seen this vision evolve. You've been there since the beginning and continue with SCRS. What do you think still needs to be done to continue or to further amplify the voice of the research site?

William Smith: 6:53

Well, I think that we've made progress on many issues: monthly payments versus quarterly payments, more realistic patient stipends, and there clearly are other areas, holdbacks where there's been some progress. But there are constantly new issues arising that have a really negative impact on sites. The oversighting, a sponsor choosing twice as many sites as they really need for a study is a huge negative for the sites, but also for our subjects, in that they're expecting to be in a study, but then there are inadequate supplies or investigational product, because too many sites were enrolled in the study, and the sponsors were not able to deliver what was needed to enroll these subjects, so they're clearly training and the need for a new investigator pool are expanded. When I go to investigator meetings, I see far too much white hair and bald heads compared to What I saw 20, 30 years ago so we are not adding enough new investigators to the pool to meet the needs of an ever expanding pharmaceutical industry and an ever expanding need for new products for the health of the world.

Jimmy Bechtel: 8:45

Those are great examples, Dr. Smith. I know that we have a lot of work to do. And as you've stated several times now, there's been a tremendous amount of work done and your leadership and contributions to that work was something that we wanted to make sure was recognized through the CKP award this year. And so I hope that everyone on the line was able to listen to some of those accomplishments and can reflect back on some of what we've done and your contributions individually to the work that we still need to do at SCRS. So Dr. Smith, thank you. Thank you for your time today. And from us at SCRS and myself, another congratulations to you and your recipiency of this year's award. It's well deserved. I can't think of another better person that could have won the award this year. So thank you so much. And again, congratulations.

William Smith: 9:30

Thank you. I'm honored.

Jimmy Bechtel: 9:32

I would also like to add for everyone listening to make sure that they don't forget to explore other site focused resources made available on our website, myscrs. org, which would be in addition to the SCRS Talks program made available throughout the year. All of our various other publications and webinar opportunities, as well as a wealth of other knowledge and content for upcoming engagements and connection opportunities. Site Solution Summits can't be missed, and they are also available on our website for additional information. Thanks again for listening and tuning in, and until next time.