As clinical research continues to evolve, site networks are becoming larger and more global. With scale comes an important question: How do you grow without losing the local identity, culture, and participant-centered mission that make research sites successful in the first place?
That was the focus of a recent episode of SCRS Talks, the podcast from the Society for Clinical Research Sites (SCRS), hosted by Jimmy Bechtel, Chief Site Success Officer at SCRS. In the episode, Jimmy sat down with Lauren Chazal, Chief Business Development Officer at Headlands Research, to explore the business of research and what it takes to scale a site network while preserving what matters most.
A Career Rooted in Sites
Lauren’s perspective is shaped by a career that began at the ground level, literally. Growing up in a family-run clinical research organization, she worked nearly every role within a site before eventually moving into finance, private equity–backed site groups, and global research organizations. That journey ultimately brought her to Headlands Research in 2018, shortly after its initial investment by KKR.
Today, Headlands Research has grown into a global network of 23 research centers and more than 650 employees. But as Lauren shared on the podcast, that growth was never about scale for scale’s sake.
“One of the most precious things about our space is the culture that we develop at our single sites,” Lauren said. “When you start to bring those sites together as part of a larger organization, there’s such a balance between keeping that individual site culture and bringing in best practices to produce the highest-quality data at scale.”
Culture as a Competitive Advantage
Throughout the conversation, both Lauren and Jimmy emphasized that culture is not a “soft” concept but a differentiator. Participants, sponsors, and partners all feel the impact of culture through consistency, trust, and the overall experience of working with a site.
Rather than forcing sites to conform to a single mold, Headlands Research has taken a deliberate approach to preserve what makes each site unique while supporting them with centralized resources, allowing them to focus on participant care and trial execution.
A key part of that strategy has been retaining and empowering site leaders following acquisitions. By offering leadership roles and influence across the network, Headlands Research has been able to maintain continuity while fostering collaboration.
“We stepped away from sites that weren’t aligned early on,” Lauren shared. “At the end of the day, we stayed true to what we believed in, and that’s helped maintain our culture and sense of community as we’ve grown.”
Scaling Access and Diversity Without a One-Size-Fits-All Approach
Another major theme of the episode was access to diverse participant populations. Lauren was clear: inclusive drug development is foundational to good science and ethical research.
Headlands Research’s strategy has included investing in geographically diverse research centers, forming public partnerships (including a well-known collaboration with Pfizer), and building site-specific outreach plans that reflect the needs of each community.
“There’s no silver bullet,” Lauren noted. “It has to be bespoke to each site. We have individual, tailored plans to ensure we’re reaching diverse participant populations in a meaningful way.”
The takeaway? Diversity and access must be embedded into daily operations, not treated as an add-on or afterthought.
The Overlooked Business Realities of Site Operations
While participant centricity was a recurring theme, Lauren also spoke candidly about the business realities of running research sites and how those realities are sometimes overlooked.
Simple operational decisions, such as closing a study midday, can have a ripple effect. Participants may have taken time off work or arranged childcare, only to find the opportunity abruptly removed. These moments affect trust, retention, and a site’s ability to recruit for future trials.
“Participants choose us,” Lauren said. “They don’t have to come to us. So making participation easy and respectful of their time benefits everyone, including sponsors.”
Advice for Site Leaders Looking to Grow
As the conversation wrapped up, Jimmy asked Lauren what advice she would give site leaders navigating consolidation and growth. Her guidance included:
- Continue evolving. Don’t rely on the same approaches used decades ago. Participant access, engagement, and site culture all need constant innovation.
- Keep staff and participants at the center. Growth should never come at their expense.
- Choose partners carefully. Joining a network is a long-term commitment. Shared values, aligned goals, and mutual respect matter.
“It’s a marriage,” Lauren said. “Take your time, don’t feel pressured, and make sure it’s the right fit for the long term.”
A Back-to-Basics Reminder for the Industry
This conversation served as a clear reminder that sustainable growth in clinical research is built on fundamentals, such as culture, participant centricity, and thoughtful partnerships.
As Jimmy noted in closing, these principles are often talked about, but much harder to execute well. Headlands Research’s experience shows that with intention and consistency, it is possible to scale without losing your identity.
Listen to the full episode here.