The Chief Medical Officer (CMO) is responsible for clinical development and medical oversight. They design protocols, define endpoints, and ensure trials meet ethical and regulatory standards.

CMOs build relationships with investigators and site staff who directly influence a trial’s success, ensuring sites are properly resourced and motivated.

Beyond individual trials, CMOs establish company-wide standards for patient-centric trial design, as well as engaging with patient advocacy organizations and Key Opinion Leaders in the relevant therapy area.

CMOs have a large influence on how recruitable a trial is – through defining Inclusion/Exclusion criteria, visit schedules, site burden, and overall protocol complexity.

They work closely with CROs, operational leads, and increasingly, patient recruitment specialists, to make sure the trial is safe and sound.

And the most successful CMOs understand that patient recruitment isn’t a downstream task, but something built into the design of the trial.