What happens when clinical research is redesigned around the needs, preferences, and lives of real people? In this episode of The Future Prescription: Inside the Trends, discover how sponsors and CROs are aligning clinical and commercial priorities to create smarter, more inclusive, and scalable studies.
About this episode
This episode explores Trend #4, “Care Reimagined: Patient-Centricity from Trials to Treatments” from The Future Prescription. TriNetX Chief Commercial Officer, Shields Carstarphen, sits down with the team at Ora—Cindy Markham, Chief Commercial Officer, and Courtney Roshau, Vice President of Operations Posterior Segment—to explore how patient-centricity is transforming the way trials are designed, delivered, and experienced. From decentralized models and wearable tech to empathetic engagement strategies, this conversation unpacks the innovations—and mindset shifts—driving a more human future for research.
Featuring Industry Leaders:
Moderator: Shields Carstarphen, Chief Commercial Officer, TriNetX
Shields Carstarphen invested 16 years of her career with PPD, a part of Thermo Fisher Scientific, and was most recently Senior Vice President of Commercial. Her leadership has been recognized for excellence both in sales and management performance. Shields’ career began in business development at Rho, Medifacts International, and TIBCO Software. She earned her bachelor’s degree at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
Cindy Markham, Chief Commercial Officer, Ora
Cindy has more than 25 years of leadership experience in public and private full-service CROs where she has led the global expansion of Phase II-IV business. She brings a deep understanding of customer challenges in drug development and is known for driving transformation. She is passionate about serving customers and creating high-performing teams that do the same. Prior to Ora, Cindy served as Chief Commercial Officer for LabConnect, a global central lab as well as SVP, Commercial for PPD, a large, global CRO.
Courtney Roshau, Vice President of Operations Posterior Segment, Ora
With 15 years of clinical operations experience exclusively in ophthalmology, Courtney is responsible for global operations, quality standards, and process optimization across Ora trials for Retina, Glaucoma, and other complex eye diseases. Her experience spans the globe, from first-in-human to pivotal programs including rare diseases and gene therapy trials, across the USA, Europe, LATAM, and APAC. Known for developing close site partnerships and building strategies to find challenging patient profiles for rare disease, Courtney is an innovator who frequently partners with pharmaceutical clients on new tools and screening methods to deliver clinical success.