Recently, I interviewed Bridget O’Keeffe, President and Co-Founder at Anchor Clinical Solutions. We had a great talk about what led her into the field of clinical research, her interests in the future of clinical trials and the industry, and even what Bridget’s day-to-day schedule looks like.
I decided to do these interviews with the staff at Anchor Clinical Solutions to give you a glimpse into their world and their focus. Clinical trials/clinical research has taken on a life of its own over the last few decades, and now we are in a time of fantastic technology that makes the processes work more efficiently. It is interesting to see how the staff first became enthused about this field, and how they plan to focus on finding solutions to health risks, treatments, and even disease control.
There will be plenty more interviews in the time ahead, so we’ll get a few different perspectives from team members at Anchor Clinical Solutions. This will also be a good chance for our audience to become familiar with the C-level staff at the company. Who knows, you might even find yourself doing business with them soon.
INTRO
What led you to specialize in your area of science or medicine?
When I was in college, I was in a biology lecture where the professor was conducting a lecture explaining ribosomes and the translation of RNA into proteins. I was stunned and fascinated that people could figure out these processes without directly viewing them with their eyes. This and other similar experiences motivated me to pursue research and complete a doctorate in molecular and cell biology at UC Berkeley.
How do you see your expertise shaping the future of clinical research?
Our goal at Anchor is to help biotech companies avoid mistakes that can cost them a lot of time and money and in some cases even jeopardize their existence. Matt and I both experienced programs and entire companies being shut down because of strategic mistakes that we believe could have been avoided if those companies had had the appropriate guidance and support. I believe that the potential loss of groundbreaking drugs due to preventable funding failures is a critical concern in clinical research. One of my mottos is "no innovative medicine left behind because of a mistake-driven burned-out runway.”
We are also anticipating that clinical trials and research will go through substantial changes with the development of generative AI tools – improving communications, data accuracy, and quality and shortening timelines. We are continuously identifying and evaluating potential solutions for our clients, with the goal of leveraging these benefits of evolving technology as soon as possible.
Writer's Note: According to research, we are seeing movement of AI in protocol development and optimization, patient recruitment and matching, clinical documentation, data analysis and monitoring, medical imaging analysis, patient communication, literature review and evidence synthesis, and regulatory documentation.
What’s a scientific or medical breakthrough that you’re particularly excited about?
It's hard not to say CRISPR right off the top of my mind. I think it or improved technologies stemming from it have great potential to address a lot of unmet medical problems, especially among rare diseases. In oncology, advancements in cell therapy – treating patients with modified immune cells (e.g. CAR-T cells) – and in the inhibition of the oncogenic RAS signaling pathway are important recent medical breakthroughs that are also very exciting to me.
What’s one challenge in clinical trials you’d love to see solved in the next five years?
Patient access to clinical trials – improving recruitment and informed consent to maximize benefits for both patients and the field of research. It is currently estimated that only 7% of patients with cancer participate in clinical trials. Many people have never even heard about clinical trials, and patients and their caregivers may not understand the overall benefits they could receive because of trial participation, given the degree of attention that is provided in clinical trials. Slow recruitment of patients into clinical trials is one of the primary causes of delays in research and the advancement of medicine, and I believe this is a great loss of opportunity for patients.
What advice would you give to someone starting out in clinical?
Learn as much as you can about the ecosystem of clinical research – how different federal agencies and functions work and how they are interconnected; meet people in all areas of clinical research to determine what their pain points are, as well as to build your network; reach out to your network of experts to get information as quickly as possible – they are the best resource; never shy away from asking questions when you don't know something in order to realize your full potential.
DAY-TO-DAY ACTIVITIES
What does a typical workday look like for you, and what’s your favorite part of the day?
With my partner and some of our clients on the East Coast and me based in San Francisco, I participate in early morning check-in meetings that I take as soon as I wake up. In most cases I'll at least get a hot cup of tea - mostly to warm my hands, and a bit to help wake me up!
During the rest of the day, I work directly on client deliverables, check in on our contract employees to support them in their work and to supplement their work with training, develop new materials that our business can use for current and future clients, and address other administrative needs of the business.
My favorite part of my days is interacting with clients and being a part of their teams in problem solving.
How do you unwind after a particularly challenging day or project?
Most of the time by treating myself to a soak with a book in my Japanese-style bathroom.
Do you have a go-to productivity tip or tool that helps you stay on top of things?
I personally need to have a to-do list to keep me on track as my mind is continuously spinning with ideas. Currently I use Excel to track my task list and OneNote to keep all my meeting and research notes, and I am on the lookout for new tools that can streamline things more for me.
What’s a skill or quality you think is essential for success in your field?
Respect – ALWAYS – and empathy. Ultimately it is a team that achieves success, and I believe that respect and empathy are the key ingredients to achieving a well-functioning team that is empowered to focus on its goals.
MISCELLANEOUS
If you weren’t working in clinical science, what career would you choose?
I would like Joanna Gaines’s job, if I had her creativity!
What’s a book, podcast, or movie that has inspired you recently?
Lessons in Chemistry by Bonnie Garmus inspired me even more to promote girls and women in STEM and pursuing careers in any area that interests them.
Writer's Note: For background, in the book or movie, Elizabeth Zott is a talented chemist whose husband dies tragically in an accident while Elizabeth is pregnant with their daughter. Facing financial difficulties and workplace discrimination, Elizabeth takes a job hosting a cooking show called "Supper at Six." She approaches cooking like chemistry, teaching suburban housewives about molecular chemistry through cooking while encouraging them to expect more from their lives.
What’s your favorite way to celebrate a project milestone or success?
I like to take my family out to dinner as a formal way of acknowledging and sharing my successes with them. It gives me an opportunity to talk with my kids about my work, including the challenges and how our teams successfully addressed those challenges, as well as how we ultimately achieved success.
They are usually curious about the examples; we have good conversations around them, and this sometimes also leads to funny tangents! It's one of my ways of role modeling for them – both the learnings and the celebration of success. I like to do the same to celebrate their successes.
If you could work on any dream project, what would it involve?
I would like to work with someone like Melinda Gates or MacKenzie Scott in promoting women's causes.
You have been a big advocate for supporting women in the industry. Where does that motivation come from?
First are my parents – they always encouraged me to follow my passions in life and provided constant moral support for me in my science and business career pursuits. I have often observed that girls and women lack enough of this type of encouragement, and I want to be a contributor in providing this kind of support.
There is also a mentor. When I was in graduate school for my doctorate in molecular and cell biology, I tutored a pharma business executive in the background science to help her feel more comfortable in her interactions with researchers at her company. She became a role model and eventually a mentor to me. I have always been in awe of her will and determination to make an impact in her roles without letting scientific knowledge gaps slow her down.
And finally, my motivation comes in part from personal experience and personal feelings about current statistics on women in the workplace. At times during my career, I have experienced a feeling of not being treated with similar levels of deference as my male colleagues, particularly when it came to advising on decisions based on my experience and knowledge, which was as strong as or stronger than that of the male colleagues. I felt that I had valuable expertise to contribute, but I had to go an extra mile to prove it before leadership was willing to listen.
I am grateful that we have come so far, even since my parents’ generation, in inclusivity of women in the workplace; however, I don’t want us to be naïve about the work that remains to be done to continue progress. It pains me to see the statistics that show how relatively little representation women have in the higher roles of management and leadership. In my small way, I want to help other women avoid the challenges I experienced and be inspired to pursue their ambitions for contribution at all levels of research and business.
Writer's Note: Some examples follow:
• Only about 10% of Fortune 500 CEOs are women
• Approximately 30% of university presidents are women
• In STEM fields, women hold less than 25% of senior faculty positions
• While women make up about 80% of healthcare workers, only about 20% of healthcare executives are women
• Roughly 25% of hospital CEOs are women
• About 30% of healthcare company board members are women
LOOKING AHEAD
Where do you see clinical research heading in the next decade?
More streamlined by gen-AI tools.
What’s a professional goal you’re excited to work toward?
I am currently excited about achieving an Executive MBA degree at Haas School of Business, at UC Berkeley in the spring of 2025. The EMBA program at Haas has been a great experience in learning about different aspects of business, good business practices, and effective leadership, and I'm looking forward to putting my learnings into practice full-time.
In the midterm, I am excited about growing Anchor Clinical Solutions to support as many biotech companies as possible in being successful in clinical trials and research. I am also thrilled to partner with others in the development of clinical trial software, in the early stages of leveraging generative AI in clinical research.
Long term, I would like to be a CEO of a biotech company because I think I can be effective at leading a company in translating innovative science to a realized benefit for patients. There is a large unmet need for leaders who understand science, clinical research, and business, all of which I am passionate about. I am also particularly passionate about leadership – different styles and their effectiveness under different scenarios, approaches for motivating employees to be their most innovative and engaging selves, developing employees and teams to achieve the most progress for the company, etc.
And again, this ambition is also driven by my desire to be a role model for other women to motivate them to pursue executive careers and continue to improve those statistics!
What do you hope readers or industry peers learn from your experiences?
It is so important to reach out and ask others for help when you need to educate yourself or simply get more bodies and minds onto the team to support you in your work.