LICR helps people to make strides in clinical research
Recognizing Hispanic Heritage Month
Americans celebrate National Hispanic Heritage Month from September 15 to October 15 by focusing on the histories, cultures and contributions of American citizens whose ancestors came from Spain, Mexico, the Caribbean and Central and South America. Latinos in Clinical Research (LICR) offers an opportunity to connect clinical researchers from all different parts of the world and from different clinical research backgrounds to network, learn and share. LICR would like to honor National Hispanic Heritage Month by profiling its own shining stars.
Daniel A. Perez, BS, CCRP, president and chief executive officer at MACRO, got into clinical research by accident. He had been a bench tech and a supply technician in a hospital setting. As he explained, “I was not feeling fulfilled, because I wanted patient interaction. I was looking for genetic markers for sudden cardiac arrest. About 95 percent of the patients were deceased, and I was working with their tissue samplees.”
He wanted to interact with patients but not as a doctor or a nurse. A mentor suggested that he become a study coordinator, giving him the chance to connect people and solve problems.
Daniel’s passion for clinical research developed when a new diagnosis forced him to face critical treatment options evolving only as fast as clinical trials allowed. During this experience, he recognized his fortune in benefitting from clinical research-fueled medical breakthroughs, as well as the unnecessary dysfunction and inefficiency that existed within this same space. To make an impact on the traditional clinical trial paradigm, Daniel entered the neurosciences department at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, where his talent and motivation led to several quick promotions within academia. As clinical research manager at Children’s Hospital Los Angeles (CHLA), Daniel fine-tuned his talents across all regulatory, managerial and operational aspects of clinical research.
“It was a ‘baptism by fire,’ because the phase 3 hemorrhage study we were doing required that the time from the hemorrhage to the time of taking the drug could not exceed 2 hours,” Daniel recalled. “Within 6 months, this became the highest enrolling and most diverse center in the United States. We needed four departments to collaborate – emergency, neurology, pharmacy and rehab – and I fell in love with making ‘many tentacles’ work together.”
After recognizing the amplified impact possible outside of traditional medical institutions, and experiencing MACRO as a clinical operations consultant, he made the leap to join the team full time. At MACRO, Daniel combines his meticulous operational acumen with his comprehensive research and regulatory expertise to help bring our vision into a tangible reality.
Today he is the CEO of MACRO. He had led its clinical research team by constantly questioning how things have always been done, and continuously evaluating the clinical research process through the lens of the human subjects on which they are based. Daniel cofounded the Coalition for Advancing Research Equity (CARE) and also serves as a founding board member for Clinical Trials in Color, a 501(c)(3) non-profit foundation with a mission to improve health outcomes in communities of color by increasing diversity and access to clinical trials.
“At MACRO, we’re able to take clinical trials that are fun and necessary and map out ways to be efficient for patients and doctors,” said Perez. “We’re trying to move drugs along clinical trials and get to market, avoiding the slow, arduous and expensive process of the traditional model. We took a drug that pharma wanted to give away for compassionate use and started a clinical trial with 20 people. We want to keep doing that.”
According to Perez’s LinkedIn profile, “Leveraging skills acquired from over ten years of progressive clinical research experience, I help pharmaceutical and medical device companies accelerate successful therapeutic launches by optimizing clinical site performance, enabling sponsors’ access to real world data to inform commercial success, and deploying inclusive multi-channel patient-centric participant recruitment/retention strategies that yield a diverse and representative patient population.”
While clinical trials need to meet FDA requirements, Perez seeks to run them “without killing creativity or innovation.” As he explained, “It dawned on me that this is where I needed to be. I know what patients need, and I know what matters to my demographic.”
At MACRO, Perez is responsible for providing expertise, guidance, and oversight to operational sites within the MACRO network (clinical, regulatory, finance, quality, training and information systems). He also oversees and executes on the development, implementation and updating of SOPs to ensure consistent, safe and efficient management of high-quality clinical trials and continuous improvements in fiscal integrity of clinical trial activities.
Perez facilitates the expansion of MACRO’s clinical trial portfolio by identifying, vetting, enlisting and coordinating third-party investigators and/or vendors and develops business infrastructure and facilitating growth of the company by setting strategic goals, benchmarks, metrics, and KPIs. He oversees financial resources, development and management of the company’s operations budget and clinical trials budget and oversees and guides all clinical trial budgets and contracts negotiations and executions. Finally, he is responsible for recruiting, hiring, training, supervising and evaluating all clinical research personnel.
Perez related that the company’s first hire was Hispanic and that much of the work force was Hispanic. Because the company is in Los Angeles, much of the work force is Hispanic. Now many of the clinical trial participants are Hispanic, and the company is trying to diversify more.
“We can’t teach people how to be empathetic or how to contribute more value, but I mentor anyone who asks,” Perez said. Some of our earliest patients have come from high school or college or from some other part of healthcare. He wants people to become comfortable with the idea of clinical trials as early in life as possible.
Perez acknowledged that he never really connected with Hispanic Heritage Month until this year. He added, “I didn’t see Hispanic people in jobs, especially in leadership roles. I realized that same reason why I struggled is why I have to be proud and intentional.”
He concluded, “Kids can feel a greater sense of pride when they can get to a place in life without compromising themselves. It’s important for everybody to have a sense of pride.”