More cancer research organizations are turning to artificial intelligence (AI) to support protocol design. Parexel is one of those contract research organizations that has effectively incorporated AI into its cancer research efforts. However, Parexel’s competitive advantage is that this approach features a human-focused viewpoint. Parexel’s Chief Patient Officer, Stacy Hurt, draws on her experiences as a cancer patient undergoing chemotherapy and as a caregiver to identify patient burdens that AI-assisted protocol design might overlook.
Hurt’s vision of using AI for research design is shaped by her own experiences with her 21-year-old son Emmett, who was diagnosed with a rare chromosome abnormality. Hurt looks at “... clinical trials as if my son were participating in them because I’m very hopeful that cell and gene therapy will improve his life one day.” In addition, surviving stage four cancer shaped her approach to using AI-assisted protocol design. Hurt’s goal is to ensure that patients are in the technological loop at the earliest stages of clinical design.
When Parexel has a protocol, it runs it through proprietary AI tools to optimize it and reduce patient and caregiver burd...