As part of an effort to foster strong site relationships—to optimize timelines and deliver rapid study startup for global clinical trials—and establish the foundation for successful collaboration across the duration of a study, North Carolina-based CRO INC Research has promoted Carol Aliyar to senior vice president, study startup.

Aliyar will be responsible for leading the company's global site engagement and study startup efforts including study startup operations, site identification, site startup and activation, ethics and regulatory submissions/approval and patient recruitment.

"Developing long-lasting relationships with clinical research sites is critically important to our ability to deliver best-in-class clinical development solutions for our customers," said Alistair Macdonald, COO of INC Research. "Study startup is an essential phase in this process because it serves as the initial interaction point with sites and customers and defines the relationship for the duration of the trial. The appointment of an experienced and dynamic leader for this important function demonstrates our commitment to delivery of innovative and effective site selection and startup strategies that provide valuable time-saving results for our customers."

Under Aliyar’s direction, INC Research's team will deliver a personalized and integrated approach that optimizes the startup experience through strengthened collaboration and improved information exchange with site partners.

"With 48% of studies failing to meet enrollment targets and more than 11% unable to recruit a single patient, the industry faces many challenges today in trial execution," said Aliyar. "My team is committed to establishing partnership principles with sites to ensure they are motivated and well supported to deliver on enrollment targets, which are vital to a study's success. The depth of this support will showcase the strength, reliability and consistency of our proven process."