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From a 20,000-foot view of how artificial intelligence (AI) is already reshaping the conduct of clinical research and what its future uses may bring, to insights on innovative models to promote pathways into the profession, to a summary of trends in data strategies for health equity and inclusion in Europe, to an in-the-trenches chat on the basics of site budgeting best practices for clinical trials, ACRP 2025’s closing day activities on Sunday (April 27) continued to cover the broad spectrum of challenges and opportunities facing the enterprise in these exciting times.

Signature Series speakers took on more of the clinical research enterprise’s “big picture” topics at ACRP 2025 on Saturday, focusing on the implications for clinical trials teams of the recently updated ICH E6(R3) Guideline for Good Clinical Practice, and on how seasoned professionals are enacting meaningful change in their organizations for the betterment of trial implementation and management.

With recent federal actions upending business as usual for many stakeholders in the clinical research enterprise, some of its thought leaders pondered the big question of “Where does clinical research go from here?” during Friday’s (April 25) first Signature Series gathering at ACRP 2025 in New Orleans.

At the latest meeting of the Association of Clinical Research Professionals (ACRP)-led Partners Advancing the Clinical Research Workforce (PACRW) consortium, the focus for these extraordinary times in human subjects research was on what levers need to be pulled by the consortium’s members to “bend the curve” toward a better future for stakeholders in what is often an under-recognized and under-resourced segment of the larger healthcare workforce. 

As the theme of this year’s ACRP Clinical Trials Day program celebrates, we are collectively powered by purpose; yet, we are often distracted from it as inefficiencies in how we collaborate bog us down in our day-to-day. According to Advarra’s 2024 Site-Sponsor-CRO Collaboration Survey, less than half of sites said their relationship with sponsors is collaborative, and just 31% said they had a collaborative relationship with CROs.