Are Clinical Trials in North America Going the Way of the Oldsmobile?

David M. Dilts, PhD, MBA, Professor, Owen Graduate School of Management
Professor, Vanderbilt University School of Engineering (VUSE)
Director, Engineering Management Program
Co-Director, Center for Management Research in Healthcare, Vanderbilt University

Monday, January 26, 2009
3:00 - 4:30 PM
Davis Centre 1302, University of Waterloo

View Video of Presentation in HI Alive Archive: Research Seminars Archive 2008-2009

Abstract

Clinical research in general, and clinical trials in specific, have undergone revolutionary changes in the past twenty-five years. Unfortunately, the processes and operations necessary to develop and support such trials have not kept pace. This talk will discuss results from a three-year study of oncology clinical trial development processes. This presentation will discuss the similarities of these data with the problems previously faced with organizations such as those in the automotive industry. If clinical trial processes do not improve, it is the conclusion from this research that organizations that develop such clinical trials in America will end up where players in the automotive industry are today, i.e., either out of, or nearly out of business.

About the Speaker

Dr. Dilts holds the only joint professorship between the Owen Graduate School of Management (OGSM) and the Vanderbilt University School of Engineering (VUSE). He is Director of Engineering Management Program and is Co-Director of the Center for Management Research in Healthcare. This center, funded in part by the National Cancer Institute (NCI), WebMD, and others, has as its primary mission the exchange of knowledge between the management and healthcare to dramatically impact practice of medicine. One research stream, funded by the NCI, is to apply management principles to significantly reduce the time and steps required to open oncology clinical trials. This research has completed in-depth examinations of four NCI-designated comprehensive cancer centers, two major oncology cooperative groups, the NCI Cancer Therapy Evaluation Program and the NCI Centralized Institutional Review Board. Dr. Dilts’ work has been published in over 160 articles, conference papers and presentations, book chapters, books and monographs. This research has been supported by grants totaling nearly $10 million in the past decade. Dr. Dilts previously was a professor in the Department of Management Sciences and the School of Optometry at the University of Waterloo.