Interview with Jobani Negron, Patient Recruiter

Sep 20, 2022 | Blog

Jobani Negron discusses barriers to research and potential solutions to expand participation from the local Hispanic Community. Jobani Negron is a patient recruiter at ActivMed.

In general, what interest do you see in clinical research from local Hispanic communities? Is it more or less than other demographic groups?

I feel there is less interest among Hispanic communities because these communities have many barriers, such as English-speaking skills, less knowledge about the specific language of clinical research, and the benefits of clinical research. In addition, there are fears of side effects, being uninsured or underinsured, and general mistrust. In many cases, there also can be a lack of transportation. The combined effects of these dynamics are significant.

How important is it to have a Spanish speaker on the recruitment team?

It is very important to have a Spanish speaker on the recruitment team because of the comfort a potential research participant needs to feel when they are informed of the types of services the Alcanza team provides. People must feel the understanding to be able to engage.

Have you witnessed specific concerns from Hispanic populations about clinical research participation? If so, what are they, and how does Alcanza address these concerns?

While engaging with the Hispanic population, I have encountered people’s interest in knowing more about clinical research participation. Alcanza can reach out and educate the Hispanic community, mainly by attending community events and employing Spanish-speaking employees in each department to be able to address the questions and concerns of Hispanic patients. Alcanza’s educational efforts emphasize the importance of health research. Like privacy, health research has high value to society. It can provide important information about disease trends and risk factors, outcomes of treatment or public health interventions, functional abilities, and patterns of care.

What do you see as the barriers to research for Hispanic patient populations, and how can Alcanza help reduce those barriers?

The lack of knowledge, resources, information, and trust. Alcanza can help reduce the barriers by educating Hispanic patients and providing material and information in the Spanish language. Alcanza can hire more employees from the local Hispanic population, so this community will feel comfortable engaging in clinical research. The practice of hiring Spanish speakers across the organization is not only beneficial for the local community; it also provides Alcanza with a competitive edge as national demographic patterns shift.

Jobani Negron, Patient Recruiter
ActivMed Practices & Research, LLC

Rachel Truxall is VP Study Start Up and Performance. She oversees central call center operations, community engagement, and study delivery across Alcanza’s network of sites.

With more than 20 years of combined experience in health care, public health, and leadership roles, Rachel most recently served as Director, Delivery of North America for AES/Synexus, PPD’s global network of clinical research sites, where she oversaw study site performance.

After starting her career as research assistant, early experience with community outreach catalyzed Rachel’s career focus and management progression in several patient advocacy and experience roles of increasing responsibility at research site networks.

Rachel is a licensed Registered Nurse, she earned a master’s degree in public health from the University of West Florida and a bachelor’s degree food science and nutrition from the University of Florida.

Bob Kinard is President and Chief Operating Officer of Alcanza Clinical Research, responsible for all Operations activities for the company, including Study Startup & Performance, Patient Engagement, Clinical Operations, and Quality, Compliance, Regulatory & Source. Additionally, he supports strategic initiatives, corporate development, and business development for Alcanza.

Bob’s career has primarily centered on health care operations in various senior leadership roles. Most recently, Bob served as Chief Operating Officer for GoHealth Urgent Care, an on-demand outpatient care provider with over 250 centers in 14 states. Prior to that, Bob was Executive Vice President for SCP Health, which manages ERs and other hospital-based practices for nearly 400 hospitals. Earlier roles include Vice President and COO/Physician Services for Vanguard Health Systems, and Senior Vice President and Chief Administrative Officer for e+CancerCare. Earlier in his career Bob was Chief Development Officer at Passport Health Communications and a Director in the KPMG Health Ventures practice, where he led corporate development and merger and acquisition transactions.

Bob graduated from Florida State University with a degree in finance and holds an MBA from the University of Alabama.

As Executive Director, Clinical Operations, Hollis Ryan leads site operations, with responsibility for site capacity and utilization planning, and clinical training.

Hollis has 18 years’ experience in clinical research. Her experience includes positions as Clinical Research Coordinator, Clinical Trials Administrator, Site Manager, Regional Director, and Director of Clinical Operations, managing over 200 Phase II – IV investigational drug and medical device trials. In these roles, her responsibilities included activities supporting protocol development, SOP writing, publications, process improvements, budget management, and overall execution of clinical trials.

Hollis earned a bachelor of science degree from Troy University and is a certified clinical research coordinator. She currently serves as President of the Central Alabama Chapter of the Association of Clinical Research Professionals (ACRP).

Jeremy Rigby is Chief Growth officer, with responsibility for driving organic growth of Alcanza’s sites, clinical technology platform implementation, and clinical research site operations management.

Jeremy brings more than 20 years of clinical research experience with roles in clinical operations, business management, and executive leadership. Most recently he served as President and Executive Director of Advanced Clinical Research, where he led the growth of a small clinical research site business into a regional network of clinical research sites that was successfully acquired by Velocity Clinical Research. His prior roles include clinical trial monitoring, clinical study management, CRA team management, and clinical project management at ZARS Pharma and ICON Clinical Research.

Jeremy earned a bachelor’s degree from Brigham Young University and a master of business administration degree from Duke University.

As Executive Director, Human Resources, Kara Chase develops and implements the company’s human resource strategies and initiatives across talent management, diversity and inclusion, employee relations, culture and engagement, compensation and benefits, and training and development.

Kara has 25 years of human resources experience, including more than 12 years in clinical research. With an expansive background in human resources leadership, strategy and management that ranges from small to large organizations, Kara brings specialization in post-acquisition cultural integrations. In 2012, she was the recipient of the Gold Best in Biz Award as Human Resources Executive of the Year, followed by the Silver Best in Biz Award as Human Resources Executive of the Year in 2013.

Kara earned a bachelor’s degree in human resources management and business administration from King’s College She holds both SPHR and SHRM-SCP certifications and is a member of the Society for Human Resource Management.

Interview with Jobani Negron, Patient Recruiter

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Rachel Truxall

Bob Kinard

Hollis Ryan

Jeremy Rigby

Kara Chase