June 18, 2025 • 18 mins
Steve Satek joins Dr. Michael Koren to share his journey from bench researcher to founding his own community clinical trial site. The entrepreneur describes how he pioneered embedding clinical research directly in Chicago neighborhoods to form a strong integration with the community. He talks about the importance of building trust through education and by helping the community where you are. They talk about how a strong relationship with your community members is vital to the success of research and patient outcomes.
Be a part of advancing science by participating in clinical research.
Have a question for Dr. Koren? Email him at askDrKoren@MedEvidence.com
Listen on Spotify
Listen on Apple Podcasts
Watch on YouTube
Share with a friend. Rate, Review, and Subscribe to the MedEvidence! podcast to be notified when new episodes are released.
Follow us on Social Media:
Facebook
Instagram
X (Formerly Twitter)
LinkedIn
Want to learn more? Checkout our entire library of podcasts, videos, articles and presentations at www.MedEvidence.com
Music: Storyblocks - Corporate Inspired
Thank you for listening!
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Announcer (00:00):
Welcome to MedEvidence, where we help you
navigate the truth behindmedical research with unbiased,
evidence-proven facts hosted bycardiologist and top medical
researcher, Dr.
Michael Koren.
Dr. Michael Koren (00:11):
Hello, I'm Dr .
Michael Koren, the executiveeditor of MedEvidence, and I'm
really excited about thispodcast.
Today I have a really neatfellow who is actually a pioneer
in the clinical researchindustry and he and I are going
to talk about how we getclinical research into
communities.
So welcome, Steve Satek, toMedEvidence! Thanks for being
(00:32):
part of what we're doing.
Steve Satek (00:33):
Thank you.
I'm really happy to be here andto share my experiences.
Dr. Michael Koren (00:36):
That's great.
So, Steve, you were justgetting me up to speed a little
bit on your background, and wehave a lot of cross-currents,
which is kind of neat.
We'll talk about some of those,but for the audience, why don't
you just start us off byletting us know a little bit
about your background and howyou ended up doing clinical
research?
Steve Satek (00:53):
Yeah, sure, Thank you.
So I think it all honestly.
My career here really startedwith my parents, who always
instilled this like bubble ofcuriosity; always had me
inquiring and researching things, even as a young kid.
And, um, I actually went intocollege and got a degree in
biochemistry and molecularbiology, because it actually had
that science aspect to it.
(01:14):
I started out as a benchresearcher, which was a kind of
a natural flow for that, butthen I realized I wasn't getting
enough, social interaction andand, communication with people
as opposed to Petri dishes, so Imoved into the clinical trial
space.
It was kind of a naturalprogression and I started as a
coordinator.
I love the research aspect ofeverything we're doing, trying
(01:36):
to help people and trying to getnew drugs out there to make
societies better.
I started out at Northwesternas a bench researcher and moved
into the Chicago Center forClinical Research where I worked
with Dr.
Michael Davidson and KathleenDrennan, who kind of took me
under their wings and reallyhelped me grow to who I am today
.
Dr. Michael Koren (01:55):
Two legendary names in our business, for sure
.
Steve Satek (01:59):
Yeah, exactly, you know, and I just I really
appreciated their style ofleadership and mentorship.
They were more than leaders,they were truly mentors and it
wasn't necessarily like the timewe spent in meetings, that they
told us what to do and how todo things.
It was more like, at the end ofthe day, Kathleen or Michael
just coming by my office andjust sitting down and talking
and really trying to help liftme up a little bit to grow to
(02:21):
who I am.
Dr. Michael Koren (02:22):
Yeah, well, and you've done incredible
things during your career.
So you were at Chicago Centerfor Clinical Research, kind of
learned the business, and thenyou went off on your own.
So tell us about that journey.
That must've been scary.
Steve Satek (02:35):
You know it's scary , but that's what part of being
an entrepreneur is all about.
You know, I always laugh thatpeople, even in my neighborhood
of Chicago people say, oh, theyshould put a coffee shop here or
they should put a donut shophere.
And I always say who's they andit's they, is you and it's who
an entrepreneur is, Is theperson going out there and doing
(02:55):
that.
So after working with Michaeland Kathleen at Chicago Center,
I ended up going to a coupleother jobs and gain more
experience and leadership in theindustry and eventually I just
realized that you know, the cityof Chicago has a- It's a huge
city and the number of researchcenters that are there it's very
(03:17):
, very small comparative to thesize.
So I just saw that there was aneed, especially in my community
.
I live on the north side of thecity and honestly, there was
very little, if any, researchbeing done up there and if you
had to join a clinical trial youhad to commute all the way
downtown to Northwestern or Rushor University of Chicago, which
frankly is not very convenientfor a lot of folks out there to
(03:39):
get on the L and head down thatway.
So I wanted to bring researchto a community as opposed to
actually bringing a community toresearch.
And so that's why I opened upthe research center in it's a
community called Andersonvilleand I just you know, and I know
that the community that I livedthere for now it's up to 34
years or something.
(04:00):
I just know it really well andI know that there's people who
want to help other people andpeople who want to get involved.
It's kind of that altruistictype of community.
So it was a perfect place toopen it and starting from
scratch and you yourself startedsomething from scratch you
really have to lay a foundation.
Dr. Michael Koren (04:18):
Yeah, so tell us about that.
Did you go to a bank and get aloan, or how'd you start with
the initial capitalization?
Or you have to.
You take on a big lease, a lotof, a lot of financial burdens
on entrepreneurs.
Steve Satek (04:30):
Yeah, you know.
So, yeah, I did go to banks andstarted on that process and
then, as I was moving towardthat, my business partner, my,
we decided to actually shift itto more angel investors.
So we had a lot of friends outthere who had some money that
they were willing to to investand they believed in us.
They understood the businessplan, the need for for research
(04:51):
in Chicago, so it ended up beinga, just private donations that
actually helped not reallydonations, cause they got their
dividends back and that sort ofstuff, but, that allowed us to
actually not be beholden to abank, and that sort of stuff.
So it was kind of scary doingthat, and you know, I think in
(05:11):
any business starting out thefirst few years, you're you're
going to have tough times, andyou know you got to, like, make
sure you get your head abovewater, and eventually we did.
And I think what we had to do,though, and getting away from
the financial matters into moreof the community development, I
thought it was really, reallyimportant that we establish a
(05:31):
presence in the community andbrand awareness in the community
through education.
So it took a lot of communitytalks at libraries, at park
districts, at senior centers,and we were doing two, three
talks a week, just to just whatis clinical trials.
It wasn't (05:49):
What is "My center at the time was called great
lakes clinical trials.
it wasn't.
What great lakes was it was"What is research?
What does it mean to getinvolved?
Um, and I think that's reallyimportant, not only for just the
general public, especially forum underrepresented communities
out there who really are afraidof clinical trials, and we
needed to kind of break throughthat stigma with a very personal
(06:11):
approach.
And you know, just doing an adand paper or TV or radio is just
not going to do it.
We needed to actually seepeople talk to them face to face
and we did a significant amountof that to build up our brand
awareness.
Dr. Michael Koren (06:23):
I love that.
I absolutely love that it getsinto a couple of concepts.
But I have a few specificquestions first.
So what year did you startGreat Lakes Clinical Research?
Steve Satek (06:32):
That was we incorporated in 2013.
Dr. Michael Koren (06:35):
Okay, so still, you know, a little bit of
a rough time just coming out ofthe Great Recession, a little
bit of a risk there.
And what kind of studies wereyou able to find in the
beginning to kind of lift you up?
Steve Satek (06:47):
Yeah, you know one of my career paths that happened
in the mid-2000s.
I was working for acomputer-based cognitive testing
company called Cognitive DrugResearch and honestly, that's
what really started to developmy entrepreneurial spirit.
It was a British company and Iopened up the North American
(07:08):
headquarters in Chicago andbuilt up an entire team there
and through that experience Ireally got involved in memory
research.
And even before that we weredoing a lot of Alzheimer's work
MCI Alzheimer's prevention.
Before that we were doing a lotof Alzheimer's work MCI
Alzheimer's prevention.
So when I started my center Ihad quite a number of contacts
in the industry and was able tosecure some really good trials
(07:30):
in the area of Alzheimer'sdisease and mostly prevention.
Also, prevention was a kind ofa hallmark of the work that
we've done at Great Lakes.
Dr. Michael Koren (07:40):
Nice.
Was that at all related to thebench research you did or
unrelated?
Steve Satek (07:48):
No, actually completely unrelated.
I actually started out inoncology and the bench research
was all in oncology and my firstcouple of studies I did as a
clinical trialist was inoncology.
I left that all behind when Ileft Northwestern in the early
90s.
Dr. Michael Koren (07:59):
Interesting, interesting.
So one of the things that youmentioned that is super
fascinating to me and we'regoing to spend the rest of our
time together focusing on thisissue is the concept of getting
people engaged in clinicalresearch, educated in clinical
research, without necessarilyrecruiting for a specific
(08:21):
clinical trial, and there's twoexpressions that I like to use
to help people understand this.
One is just the concept that theindustry should be looking at
research-ready patients andultimately finding the right
study for them, rather thantrying to find a perfect patient
for a trial that has veryarcane inclusion-exclusion
(08:44):
criteria, and, unfortunately,most of the work that we do now
is we're given thisinclusion-exclusion criteria,
which isn't necessarilyreflective of the way we think
about things clinically, and theexpectation is that we go out
and find those people.
But the approach that you usedactually is something that I
align with philosophically,which is let's tell a lot, a lot
(09:07):
of people about research, andonce we tell them about research
, then the biggest barrier togetting them involved in studies
is gone, which is that they'renot scared, they're excited,
they know what the valueproposition is.
So, before I go to the nextthing, why don't you comment on
(09:37):
that?
Steve Satek (09:37):
Yeah you know I think it comes down to building
trust in these communities.
n d what I think what'simportant is not to just be
there when there is a study, butto be there at all times, and
be present in the community.
That means, maybe its doingtalks, maybe it's actually just
being there to support thatcommunity on one of their own
personal initiatives thatthey're doing.
Maybe it's something unrelatedto research complete, like maybe
there's a food bank in an areathat they need some volunteers
and you send people there tohelp support them.
So you ingrain yourself withina community at all times and you
use education to get people tounderstand what clinical trials
(09:59):
are about and when a study isavailable that's right for them.
Then they're a little bit moreapt to actually come in and
participate in research.
And we were talking about thisearlier.
But it's not only the peoplethat you're connecting with who
would come into research, butit's their family members, it's
their neighbors and they starttalking.
What a great experience we hadat that clinical trial center.
And one of the important thingsI think we did early on and
(10:23):
continue to do was we would goto these communities, we'd offer
these educational systems andwe'd embed in the community, but
then we would have thecommunity come into our research
center, come visit, come seewhat the center is like.
What?
Because there's there's amysterious cloak around a
research center.
People don't know what it is.
It's a regular doctor's office,basically.
But people don't understandthat, and so we would bring the
(10:45):
community members and some ofthe leaders and the influencers
within those communities to thecenter, walk them around, show
them the steps of a clinicaltrial, like what happens, in
what rooms do they have and whatpeople are you going to meet
with?
That actually goes a very, verylong way to building what you
need to do to get out into acommunity.
Dr. Michael Koren (11:03):
Yeah, I love that.
And the other concept that we'retalking about is how things go
viral, and you're alluding tothat, and the statistic I like
to share is that when you ask ageneral population that hasn't
been involved in research beforeare you interested in clinical
research and this has been doneboth in the US and Europe, and
(11:25):
only about 40% of people in theUS say that they would be
interested in clinical researchas a care option.
In Europe it's actually lowerthan that.
But if you ask people that haveactually completed a research
study, would you do another one?
97% to 99% of patients say theywould do another one.
(11:46):
So there's very few productsout there that you have
skepticism before people areintroduced to them, and once
they are introduced, they loveit and they want to come back
and do it again.
So this concept of going viraland people doing multiple
studies and then spreading theword to family and friends, I
think is a real relevant one.
I don't know if that's beenyour experience.
Steve Satek (12:01):
Yeah, exactly, and I'm impressed by your knowledge
of the numbers and I can'trecall them off the top of my
head.
But one of the other numbersthat I always thought was
impressive in a bad way was thenumber of those folks who have
never been approached aboutresearch from their primary care
physician.
And that is, I think, wherewe're missing a huge opportunity
, because people trust theprimary care physician, they're
(12:22):
going there, they're actuallywatching their lives as they
grow older, and if their doctorwould say, hey, have you thought
about a clinical trial, itwould be a total different world
.
But it's a very low percentageof people who have ever been
approached.
Dr. Michael Koren (12:34):
Yeah, I'm familiar with that.
I think the last number I readwas only 8% of people in their
whole life have ever beenapproached about doing a
clinical trial.
So imagine that, given the factthat there are literally
thousands of clinical trials outthere at any given time grass
(12:55):
effo
Steve Satek (12:55):
l have people who are sitting around the kitchen
table saying have people peoplehave have have hey, I went into
the center, this is whathappened.
It was really great andhonestly I say you sit around
the kitchen table but a lot oftimes we have that kitchen table
coming into our clinic alltogether.
The family would come in tohelp support their loved one in
the research process,particularly in the Alzheimer's
(13:15):
disease and memory loss area.
You have a lot of children indifferent relatives that will
come in with the family and Ithink that that's an important
concept.
It's not always just one personjoining a clinical trial.
Yeah, technically that oneperson is signing the informed
consent form, but it's actuallythe family members, the clergy
around them, the neighbors, thecommunity that are supporting
(13:36):
that person in clinical trials.
Dr. Michael Koren (13:38):
Yeah, so we'll finish up our discussion
with two things.
First, can you think ofsomebody, Steve, a patient, who
had a profound experience inclinical research at your center
in Andersonville, Chicago,which, by the way, I visited,
and it's a fabulous place,completely embedded into the
(14:06):
local community.
I've never actually seen a sitequite as well embedded in the
community, really part of thefabric of the community.
So you did a fabulous job ofmaking that happen.
So congratulations on that.
But I was wondering if youcould think of an anecdote of
somebody that came to youafterwards and said, wow, this
was transformative in my lifesomebody that came to you
afterwards and said , this wastransformative in my life
Steve Satek (14:24):
Yeah, I can actually think of really two
really good examples.
One is more of a experience ofwhat it is to get into clinical
trials.
The other one is more of amedical one.
But we've had a number ofindividuals, especially during
the pandemic, that joinedclinical trials and had joined a
trial for a vaccine, forexample, and had never even
thought about being in a trialbefore, and at the end of their
sessions they were like that wasa really great experience.
(14:44):
Their doctors were fantastic.
They actually spent time withme.
They're not rushing in and outof the exam room to get to the
next patient.
They're sitting there makingsure that all their questions
are answered, that there'snothing left That's that's
ambiguous.
So we heard a lot of reallypositive feedback about that.
I'm really proud of our team atour center who actually do care
(15:05):
about our patients and want tomake sure that their issues are
being addressed on a personallevel.
From a medical perspective, oneof the early studies we did at
Great Lakes was a complexregional pain syndrome study.
It's a devastating paindisorder.
We had our very first patienton that study was using crutches
(15:26):
to actually walk, because theyhad difficulty with this disease
and, honestly, by the end oftheir session their
participation in this study,they were walking without the
crutches and so and this diseasedoes not have good treatments
out there right now.
So this access to thesemedications that are more
innovative, during a clinicaltrial process, help this
(15:49):
person's quality of lifedramatically, and when you see
that happen it brings tear toour eyes, Like, literally, our
staff just um wants to embracethem and it's it's.
It's so moving that we'veimproved people's lives.
Dr. Michael Koren (16:04):
I love that, I love that.
And then my final question isthat you recently retired, so
how's that going?
And, um, do you still have thebug?
Is it possible that at somepoint we may see you, uh, come
out of retirement?
Steve Satek (16:19):
You know, I, I don't know, um .
And that's the beauty of and Iam right now.
I think when I did retire and Iretired last fall I was still
very, very involved in theresearch community, nationally
and internationally, speaking atconferences and that sort of
thing.
I was very, very busy.
I probably was putting work inthe industry before myself, and
(16:40):
so what I've done in retirementis really kind of focus on
myself internally and kind ofself-improvement sorts of things
, whether it's physical ormental health, and that, I could
tell you, is going absolutelyfantastic and I'm happy as a
clam, still believe completelyin the clinical trial industry
(17:01):
and I will support it however Ican.
So I have still volunteered mytime for certain organizations
like the Global Alzheimer'sPlatform Foundation, the Society
for Clinical Research Sites.
I've actually spoken at some oftheir conferences just to offer
, you know, my area of expertiseand, honestly, stepping out of
it for a bit and actuallylooking at the industry from a
different viewpoint, I think Iactually can offer some unique
(17:22):
perspectives because I'm notbogged down with the day to day.
Now you asked me about will Iget involved in a more bigger
way down the road?
I don't know, but my whole planof retirement is really to kind
of like dump my brain, geteverything out of my brain and
then see what kind of fills inmy brain.
But one thing that will neverleave is that I have some
incredible friends, colleagues,that are all still in the
(17:46):
industry and I will always be bytheir side to support them and
what they're doing, whether it'sthrough mentoring other people.
I had great mentors in my lifeand I think it's my job to
return that that experience toyounger people in people in the
industry, so I can help mentorthem to be better at what they
do.
So I will always do that sortof thing.
(18:06):
I'm not going to say what I'mdoing, what I'm not doing,
because I don't know, and I willsee what happens.
Dr. Michael Koren (18:19):
Steve, this has been a delightful
conversation.
I know from the viral nature ofdoing clinical research.
There's a really good chancewe'll probably see you again in
the industry.
I won't be surprised to be on astage with you at a conference
talking about the value ofreaching out to the communities
to get people involved inclinical research.
And thank you so much for beinga guest on MedEvidence!.
Steve Satek (18:33):
Great Well thank you very much.
It's been an honor.
Announcer (18:35):
Thanks for joining the MedEvidence podcast.
To learn more, head over toMedEvidence.
com or subscribe to our podcaston your favorite podcast
platform.
Welcome to MedEvidence, where we help you
navigate the truth behindmedical research with unbiased,
evidence-proven facts hosted bycardiologist and top medical
researcher, Dr.
Michael Koren.
Dr. Michael Koren (00:11):
Hello, I'm Dr .
Michael Koren, the executiveeditor of MedEvidence, and I'm
really excited about thispodcast.
Today I have a really neatfellow who is actually a pioneer
in the clinical researchindustry and he and I are going
to talk about how we getclinical research into
communities.
So welcome, Steve Satek, toMedEvidence! Thanks for being
(00:32):
part of what we're doing.
Steve Satek (00:33):
Thank you.
I'm really happy to be here andto share my experiences.
Dr. Michael Koren (00:36):
That's great.
So, Steve, you were justgetting me up to speed a little
bit on your background, and wehave a lot of cross-currents,
which is kind of neat.
We'll talk about some of those,but for the audience, why don't
you just start us off byletting us know a little bit
about your background and howyou ended up doing clinical
research?
Steve Satek (00:53):
Yeah, sure, Thank you.
So I think it all honestly.
My career here really startedwith my parents, who always
instilled this like bubble ofcuriosity; always had me
inquiring and researching things, even as a young kid.
And, um, I actually went intocollege and got a degree in
biochemistry and molecularbiology, because it actually had
that science aspect to it.
(01:14):
I started out as a benchresearcher, which was a kind of
a natural flow for that, butthen I realized I wasn't getting
enough, social interaction andand, communication with people
as opposed to Petri dishes, so Imoved into the clinical trial
space.
It was kind of a naturalprogression and I started as a
coordinator.
I love the research aspect ofeverything we're doing, trying
(01:36):
to help people and trying to getnew drugs out there to make
societies better.
I started out at Northwesternas a bench researcher and moved
into the Chicago Center forClinical Research where I worked
with Dr.
Michael Davidson and KathleenDrennan, who kind of took me
under their wings and reallyhelped me grow to who I am today
.
Dr. Michael Koren (01:55):
Two legendary names in our business, for sure
.
Steve Satek (01:59):
Yeah, exactly, you know, and I just I really
appreciated their style ofleadership and mentorship.
They were more than leaders,they were truly mentors and it
wasn't necessarily like the timewe spent in meetings, that they
told us what to do and how todo things.
It was more like, at the end ofthe day, Kathleen or Michael
just coming by my office andjust sitting down and talking
and really trying to help liftme up a little bit to grow to
(02:21):
who I am.
Dr. Michael Koren (02:22):
Yeah, well, and you've done incredible
things during your career.
So you were at Chicago Centerfor Clinical Research, kind of
learned the business, and thenyou went off on your own.
So tell us about that journey.
That must've been scary.
Steve Satek (02:35):
You know it's scary , but that's what part of being
an entrepreneur is all about.
You know, I always laugh thatpeople, even in my neighborhood
of Chicago people say, oh, theyshould put a coffee shop here or
they should put a donut shophere.
And I always say who's they andit's they, is you and it's who
an entrepreneur is, Is theperson going out there and doing
(02:55):
that.
So after working with Michaeland Kathleen at Chicago Center,
I ended up going to a coupleother jobs and gain more
experience and leadership in theindustry and eventually I just
realized that you know, the cityof Chicago has a- It's a huge
city and the number of researchcenters that are there it's very
(03:17):
, very small comparative to thesize.
So I just saw that there was aneed, especially in my community
.
I live on the north side of thecity and honestly, there was
very little, if any, researchbeing done up there and if you
had to join a clinical trial youhad to commute all the way
downtown to Northwestern or Rushor University of Chicago, which
frankly is not very convenientfor a lot of folks out there to
(03:39):
get on the L and head down thatway.
So I wanted to bring researchto a community as opposed to
actually bringing a community toresearch.
And so that's why I opened upthe research center in it's a
community called Andersonvilleand I just you know, and I know
that the community that I livedthere for now it's up to 34
years or something.
(04:00):
I just know it really well andI know that there's people who
want to help other people andpeople who want to get involved.
It's kind of that altruistictype of community.
So it was a perfect place toopen it and starting from
scratch and you yourself startedsomething from scratch you
really have to lay a foundation.
Dr. Michael Koren (04:18):
Yeah, so tell us about that.
Did you go to a bank and get aloan, or how'd you start with
the initial capitalization?
Or you have to.
You take on a big lease, a lotof, a lot of financial burdens
on entrepreneurs.
Steve Satek (04:30):
Yeah, you know.
So, yeah, I did go to banks andstarted on that process and
then, as I was moving towardthat, my business partner, my,
we decided to actually shift itto more angel investors.
So we had a lot of friends outthere who had some money that
they were willing to to investand they believed in us.
They understood the businessplan, the need for for research
(04:51):
in Chicago, so it ended up beinga, just private donations that
actually helped not reallydonations, cause they got their
dividends back and that sort ofstuff, but, that allowed us to
actually not be beholden to abank, and that sort of stuff.
So it was kind of scary doingthat, and you know, I think in
(05:11):
any business starting out thefirst few years, you're you're
going to have tough times, andyou know you got to, like, make
sure you get your head abovewater, and eventually we did.
And I think what we had to do,though, and getting away from
the financial matters into moreof the community development, I
thought it was really, reallyimportant that we establish a
(05:31):
presence in the community andbrand awareness in the community
through education.
So it took a lot of communitytalks at libraries, at park
districts, at senior centers,and we were doing two, three
talks a week, just to just whatis clinical trials.
It wasn't (05:49):
What is "My center at the time was called great
lakes clinical trials.
it wasn't.
What great lakes was it was"What is research?
What does it mean to getinvolved?
Um, and I think that's reallyimportant, not only for just the
general public, especially forum underrepresented communities
out there who really are afraidof clinical trials, and we
needed to kind of break throughthat stigma with a very personal
(06:11):
approach.
And you know, just doing an adand paper or TV or radio is just
not going to do it.
We needed to actually seepeople talk to them face to face
and we did a significant amountof that to build up our brand
awareness.
Dr. Michael Koren (06:23):
I love that.
I absolutely love that it getsinto a couple of concepts.
But I have a few specificquestions first.
So what year did you startGreat Lakes Clinical Research?
Steve Satek (06:32):
That was we incorporated in 2013.
Dr. Michael Koren (06:35):
Okay, so still, you know, a little bit of
a rough time just coming out ofthe Great Recession, a little
bit of a risk there.
And what kind of studies wereyou able to find in the
beginning to kind of lift you up?
Steve Satek (06:47):
Yeah, you know one of my career paths that happened
in the mid-2000s.
I was working for acomputer-based cognitive testing
company called Cognitive DrugResearch and honestly, that's
what really started to developmy entrepreneurial spirit.
It was a British company and Iopened up the North American
(07:08):
headquarters in Chicago andbuilt up an entire team there
and through that experience Ireally got involved in memory
research.
And even before that we weredoing a lot of Alzheimer's work
MCI Alzheimer's prevention.
Before that we were doing a lotof Alzheimer's work MCI
Alzheimer's prevention.
So when I started my center Ihad quite a number of contacts
in the industry and was able tosecure some really good trials
(07:30):
in the area of Alzheimer'sdisease and mostly prevention.
Also, prevention was a kind ofa hallmark of the work that
we've done at Great Lakes.
Dr. Michael Koren (07:40):
Nice.
Was that at all related to thebench research you did or
unrelated?
Steve Satek (07:48):
No, actually completely unrelated.
I actually started out inoncology and the bench research
was all in oncology and my firstcouple of studies I did as a
clinical trialist was inoncology.
I left that all behind when Ileft Northwestern in the early
90s.
Dr. Michael Koren (07:59):
Interesting, interesting.
So one of the things that youmentioned that is super
fascinating to me and we'regoing to spend the rest of our
time together focusing on thisissue is the concept of getting
people engaged in clinicalresearch, educated in clinical
research, without necessarilyrecruiting for a specific
(08:21):
clinical trial, and there's twoexpressions that I like to use
to help people understand this.
One is just the concept that theindustry should be looking at
research-ready patients andultimately finding the right
study for them, rather thantrying to find a perfect patient
for a trial that has veryarcane inclusion-exclusion
(08:44):
criteria, and, unfortunately,most of the work that we do now
is we're given thisinclusion-exclusion criteria,
which isn't necessarilyreflective of the way we think
about things clinically, and theexpectation is that we go out
and find those people.
But the approach that you usedactually is something that I
align with philosophically,which is let's tell a lot, a lot
(09:07):
of people about research, andonce we tell them about research
, then the biggest barrier togetting them involved in studies
is gone, which is that they'renot scared, they're excited,
they know what the valueproposition is.
So, before I go to the nextthing, why don't you comment on
(09:37):
that?
Steve Satek (09:37):
Yeah you know I think it comes down to building
trust in these communities.
n d what I think what'simportant is not to just be
there when there is a study, butto be there at all times, and
be present in the community.
That means, maybe its doingtalks, maybe it's actually just
being there to support thatcommunity on one of their own
personal initiatives thatthey're doing.
Maybe it's something unrelatedto research complete, like maybe
there's a food bank in an areathat they need some volunteers
and you send people there tohelp support them.
So you ingrain yourself withina community at all times and you
use education to get people tounderstand what clinical trials
(09:59):
are about and when a study isavailable that's right for them.
Then they're a little bit moreapt to actually come in and
participate in research.
And we were talking about thisearlier.
But it's not only the peoplethat you're connecting with who
would come into research, butit's their family members, it's
their neighbors and they starttalking.
What a great experience we hadat that clinical trial center.
And one of the important thingsI think we did early on and
(10:23):
continue to do was we would goto these communities, we'd offer
these educational systems andwe'd embed in the community, but
then we would have thecommunity come into our research
center, come visit, come seewhat the center is like.
What?
Because there's there's amysterious cloak around a
research center.
People don't know what it is.
It's a regular doctor's office,basically.
But people don't understandthat, and so we would bring the
(10:45):
community members and some ofthe leaders and the influencers
within those communities to thecenter, walk them around, show
them the steps of a clinicaltrial, like what happens, in
what rooms do they have and whatpeople are you going to meet
with?
That actually goes a very, verylong way to building what you
need to do to get out into acommunity.
Dr. Michael Koren (11:03):
Yeah, I love that.
And the other concept that we'retalking about is how things go
viral, and you're alluding tothat, and the statistic I like
to share is that when you ask ageneral population that hasn't
been involved in research beforeare you interested in clinical
research and this has been doneboth in the US and Europe, and
(11:25):
only about 40% of people in theUS say that they would be
interested in clinical researchas a care option.
In Europe it's actually lowerthan that.
But if you ask people that haveactually completed a research
study, would you do another one?
97% to 99% of patients say theywould do another one.
(11:46):
So there's very few productsout there that you have
skepticism before people areintroduced to them, and once
they are introduced, they loveit and they want to come back
and do it again.
So this concept of going viraland people doing multiple
studies and then spreading theword to family and friends, I
think is a real relevant one.
I don't know if that's beenyour experience.
Steve Satek (12:01):
Yeah, exactly, and I'm impressed by your knowledge
of the numbers and I can'trecall them off the top of my
head.
But one of the other numbersthat I always thought was
impressive in a bad way was thenumber of those folks who have
never been approached aboutresearch from their primary care
physician.
And that is, I think, wherewe're missing a huge opportunity
, because people trust theprimary care physician, they're
(12:22):
going there, they're actuallywatching their lives as they
grow older, and if their doctorwould say, hey, have you thought
about a clinical trial, itwould be a total different world
.
But it's a very low percentageof people who have ever been
approached.
Dr. Michael Koren (12:34):
Yeah, I'm familiar with that.
I think the last number I readwas only 8% of people in their
whole life have ever beenapproached about doing a
clinical trial.
So imagine that, given the factthat there are literally
thousands of clinical trials outthere at any given time grass
(12:55):
effo
Steve Satek (12:55):
l have people who are sitting around the kitchen
table saying have people peoplehave have have hey, I went into
the center, this is whathappened.
It was really great andhonestly I say you sit around
the kitchen table but a lot oftimes we have that kitchen table
coming into our clinic alltogether.
The family would come in tohelp support their loved one in
the research process,particularly in the Alzheimer's
(13:15):
disease and memory loss area.
You have a lot of children indifferent relatives that will
come in with the family and Ithink that that's an important
concept.
It's not always just one personjoining a clinical trial.
Yeah, technically that oneperson is signing the informed
consent form, but it's actuallythe family members, the clergy
around them, the neighbors, thecommunity that are supporting
(13:36):
that person in clinical trials.
Dr. Michael Koren (13:38):
Yeah, so we'll finish up our discussion
with two things.
First, can you think ofsomebody, Steve, a patient, who
had a profound experience inclinical research at your center
in Andersonville, Chicago,which, by the way, I visited,
and it's a fabulous place,completely embedded into the
(14:06):
local community.
I've never actually seen a sitequite as well embedded in the
community, really part of thefabric of the community.
So you did a fabulous job ofmaking that happen.
So congratulations on that.
But I was wondering if youcould think of an anecdote of
somebody that came to youafterwards and said, wow, this
was transformative in my lifesomebody that came to you
afterwards and said , this wastransformative in my life
Steve Satek (14:24):
Yeah, I can actually think of really two
really good examples.
One is more of a experience ofwhat it is to get into clinical
trials.
The other one is more of amedical one.
But we've had a number ofindividuals, especially during
the pandemic, that joinedclinical trials and had joined a
trial for a vaccine, forexample, and had never even
thought about being in a trialbefore, and at the end of their
sessions they were like that wasa really great experience.
(14:44):
Their doctors were fantastic.
They actually spent time withme.
They're not rushing in and outof the exam room to get to the
next patient.
They're sitting there makingsure that all their questions
are answered, that there'snothing left That's that's
ambiguous.
So we heard a lot of reallypositive feedback about that.
I'm really proud of our team atour center who actually do care
(15:05):
about our patients and want tomake sure that their issues are
being addressed on a personallevel.
From a medical perspective, oneof the early studies we did at
Great Lakes was a complexregional pain syndrome study.
It's a devastating paindisorder.
We had our very first patienton that study was using crutches
(15:26):
to actually walk, because theyhad difficulty with this disease
and, honestly, by the end oftheir session their
participation in this study,they were walking without the
crutches and so and this diseasedoes not have good treatments
out there right now.
So this access to thesemedications that are more
innovative, during a clinicaltrial process, help this
(15:49):
person's quality of lifedramatically, and when you see
that happen it brings tear toour eyes, Like, literally, our
staff just um wants to embracethem and it's it's.
It's so moving that we'veimproved people's lives.
Dr. Michael Koren (16:04):
I love that, I love that.
And then my final question isthat you recently retired, so
how's that going?
And, um, do you still have thebug?
Is it possible that at somepoint we may see you, uh, come
out of retirement?
Steve Satek (16:19):
You know, I, I don't know, um .
And that's the beauty of and Iam right now.
I think when I did retire and Iretired last fall I was still
very, very involved in theresearch community, nationally
and internationally, speaking atconferences and that sort of
thing.
I was very, very busy.
I probably was putting work inthe industry before myself, and
(16:40):
so what I've done in retirementis really kind of focus on
myself internally and kind ofself-improvement sorts of things
, whether it's physical ormental health, and that, I could
tell you, is going absolutelyfantastic and I'm happy as a
clam, still believe completelyin the clinical trial industry
(17:01):
and I will support it however Ican.
So I have still volunteered mytime for certain organizations
like the Global Alzheimer'sPlatform Foundation, the Society
for Clinical Research Sites.
I've actually spoken at some oftheir conferences just to offer
, you know, my area of expertiseand, honestly, stepping out of
it for a bit and actuallylooking at the industry from a
different viewpoint, I think Iactually can offer some unique
(17:22):
perspectives because I'm notbogged down with the day to day.
Now you asked me about will Iget involved in a more bigger
way down the road?
I don't know, but my whole planof retirement is really to kind
of like dump my brain, geteverything out of my brain and
then see what kind of fills inmy brain.
But one thing that will neverleave is that I have some
incredible friends, colleagues,that are all still in the
(17:46):
industry and I will always be bytheir side to support them and
what they're doing, whether it'sthrough mentoring other people.
I had great mentors in my lifeand I think it's my job to
return that that experience toyounger people in people in the
industry, so I can help mentorthem to be better at what they
do.
So I will always do that sortof thing.
(18:06):
I'm not going to say what I'mdoing, what I'm not doing,
because I don't know, and I willsee what happens.
Dr. Michael Koren (18:19):
Steve, this has been a delightful
conversation.
I know from the viral nature ofdoing clinical research.
There's a really good chancewe'll probably see you again in
the industry.
I won't be surprised to be on astage with you at a conference
talking about the value ofreaching out to the communities
to get people involved inclinical research.
And thank you so much for beinga guest on MedEvidence!.
Steve Satek (18:33):
Great Well thank you very much.
It's been an honor.
Announcer (18:35):
Thanks for joining the MedEvidence podcast.
To learn more, head over toMedEvidence.
com or subscribe to our podcaston your favorite podcast
platform.
Popular Podcasts
Crime Junkie
Does hearing about a true crime case always leave you scouring the internet for the truth behind the story? Dive into your next mystery with Crime Junkie. Every Monday, join your host Ashley Flowers as she unravels all the details of infamous and underreported true crime cases with her best friend Brit Prawat. From cold cases to missing persons and heroes in our community who seek justice, Crime Junkie is your destination for theories and stories you won’t hear anywhere else. Whether you're a seasoned true crime enthusiast or new to the genre, you'll find yourself on the edge of your seat awaiting a new episode every Monday. If you can never get enough true crime... Congratulations, you’ve found your people. Follow to join a community of Crime Junkies! Crime Junkie is presented by audiochuck Media Company.
24/7 News: The Latest
The latest news in 4 minutes updated every hour, every day.
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.