To mark World Clinical Trials Day 2025, held on 20th May each year, we're launching our 'Inside the site' series. This day exists to celebrate the clinical research workforce. Our series will continue this celebration, spotlighting a different member of research staff across our partner sites each month. We will discuss their journey into clinical research, the approach to trial delivery at their site, their reflections, and hopes for the future of research.
This month, we sat down with Tracey Robinson, Director of Clinical Research at Willis Knighton Health in Shreveport, Louisiana, to hear about her journey in clinical trials and how her team is leading research delivery across multiple sites.
With over two decades of experience in research - spanning urology, oncology, paediatrics, and more - Tracey brings deep insight into what it takes to run successful clinical trials.
Like many in the field, Tracey “fell into” clinical research after being introduced to the field by a college friend's aunt. Since then, she has never looked back. From coordinating urology trials to leading a multi-site research team, her journey has been shaped by strong mentors and a dedication to patient-centred care.
“Once you're in research, it pulls you in. Its a big world, but it feels like a small world.”
Willis Knighton Health has five research locations across Shreveport and Bossier, there's a river that divides the two cities. All their investigators have their own clinics that they run. This flexible, investigator-led approach allows the team to draw patients from a wide geographic area, sometimes over 250 miles away.
But with that flexibility comes complexity. Every location means a new set of logistics.
“There's a lot of moving parts. If you used to be able to see eight patients in a day, you now have to decrease that because of your travel between locations.
We split our research offices into hubs, because each location is about 20 minutes apart. If the team know the study coordinator will be working out of one location that day they can plan to work out of the nearest office.”
Adjustments like these allow the research staff to work effectively and meet the physicians where they are.
Whether it’s a family with a busy schedule or one of their physicians, Tracey’s team prioritise consistent communication and follow up.
“Say you scheduled a a patient a month ago, you need to follow up the day before. Especially with us travelling. This can be a message or call to say 'Hey! I'm going to meet you this morning.'
That's one of the things we practise to make sure we're consistent and no visits are missed."
With the physicians, it's about supportive collaboration to keep the trial running smoothly day to day.
"We're professionals who know the processes and procedures for the research aspect. They are experts in their speciality. We put those two together and it works."
She also credits her experienced team:
“Between our coordinators and investigators, we have over 100 years of combined experience. That kind of institutional knowledge is rare."
In all trials, especially paediatrics where nerves are typically high for site visits, Tracey believes the staff-family relationship and delivering a great patient experience is the key to reducing dropout rates and maintaining engagement throughout a trial.
"It's about how you connect with your patients and having the personality to build a personal relationship.
One of my coordinators was an oncology coordinator and she's still has patients five years ago still reaching out to her. It's just that bond that you know"
Tracey sees Little Journey as a useful digital tool for supporting these relationships. She highlighted that, for children, they are used to using their phones or a tablet to access information so digital tools are more important.
“I really like the approach and how you personalised the app to our site. I think it's very engaging for kids, it's educational and can put them at ease.
I haven't seen something like this for trials and we're so excited to use it."
Tracey also shared a common challenge, the disconnect between protocol design and real-life delivery. From vague inclusion criteria to competing timelines across multiple studies, she advocates for sponsors and CROs to request and action site feedback.
"It's not always black and white. There are a lot of things in protocols that are grey. We have had some amendments change because of our site feedback, especially when we've been the first site on a trial.
One study could have 7 vendors. Sometimes they have to realise they're not the only study. We all put priority on every study, we really do. But life happens and there may be times where we don't have your data in the five days planned. But we will always do our best."
At Little Journey, we work hard to ensure our digital solutions are boosters not blockers for research teams like Tracey's. Check out insights from our Site Success Manager, Asyah (a former paediatric research nurse), on how we build trial tech that works for research sites.
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We're proud to partner with passionate site leaders like Tracey who are shaping how research is delivered in their communities. Thank you for sharing your story!
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