SCOPE is proud to announce the recipient of the 2026 SCOPE Site Innovation Award, recognizing creativity and impact in solutions that reduce site burden, improve trial execution, and strengthen the site perspective in clinical research operations. This award highlights innovations that deliver practical, measurable improvements to site workflows, participant access, and trial connectivity, offering models that other organizations can learn from and adopt.
A New Model for Connecting Patients to Clinical Trials
The 2026 Site Innovation Award honors TrialScreen and the Association of Multisite Research Corporations for their collaborative solution addressing a persistent challenge in clinical research: the “last-mile” connection between interested patients and research sites. The award was accepted by Elisa Cascade, Chief Growth Officer, Head of Americas at TrialScreen.
Many individuals who are motivated to explore trial participation struggle to complete referrals because accurate site contact information is often missing or outdated in public trial registries. This breakdown in the referral pathway can prevent engaged patients, caregivers, and their clinicians from successfully connecting with sites, even when relevant trials exist.
The winning innovation focuses on improving trial discovery and site connection by ensuring that patients and their care teams can find up-to-date contact information and evaluate fit before sharing personal details. By combining technology that surfaces study information in a patient-friendly way with a systematic effort to validate and update site contact details at no charge, this approach closes a key operational gap and helps motivated individuals reach the right clinical research teams more reliably.
Linking Site and Participant Experiences
The significance of this innovation lies in its focus on the site experience as much as the participant experience. Clinical trial sites often invest considerable time and resources in recruitment, only to see referrals fail to arrive or reach the wrong inbox. That inefficiency can slow enrollment, reduce site productivity, and increase the administrative burden on site staff.
By improving the accuracy of contact data and simplifying the connection process, this model helps sites spend less time chasing administrative barriers and more time engaging with potential participants. This type of operational improvement aligns with broader goals in modern trial design — to streamline workflows, reduce friction for study staff, and make it easier for patients to participate.
A Model for Broader Adoption
The 2026 Site Innovation Award celebrates real-world innovation that can inform the broader clinical operations community. Innovations that reduce site burden, improve connectivity, and enhance the participant experience are not only beneficial in isolation, but also demonstrate how practical problem-solving and partnership can lead to widely adoptable best practices.
Congratulations to TrialScreen and AMRC on receiving the 2026 SCOPE Site Innovation Award and for advancing approaches that help both sites and participants find each other more efficiently in the complex landscape of clinical research.