New group to aid Dayton-area clinical research, recruit medical firms

Bryan Bucklew, president and chief executive of the Greater Dayton Area Hospital Association, says Ascend is launching a clinical research organization. THOMAS GNAU/STAFF

Bryan Bucklew, president and chief executive of the Greater Dayton Area Hospital Association, says Ascend is launching a clinical research organization. THOMAS GNAU/STAFF

A new organization in Dayton will open the door to more medical research in the area and could draw in medical firms around the U.S. looking to outsource research.

Ascend Clinical Research will contract with hospitals and private companies on research projects for new medical devices and pharmaceutical drugs. The clinical research group was announced today and is the latest project to come out of Ascend Innovations, which is working with the Greater Dayton Area Hospital Association and Cincinnati-based Kaleidoscope on bringing health care solutions to market.

Locally, there’s clinical research already happening at Wright State’s Boonshoft School of Medicine, but Ascend Clinical Research brings support and data analytics to all hospitals in the region and could attract outside medical firms from other parts of the country to contract on research work, said Bryan J. Bucklew, president and CEO of the Greater Dayton Area Hospital Association.

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“We think we can be very competitive, if not significantly more competitive than other entities out there to do clinical research and clinical trials,” said Bucklew, citing the expertise of their staff and the breadth of hospitals under GDAHA’s umbrella.

Ascend is already doing clinical research for software its developed to help detect if an athlete has a concussion.

Ascend Clinical Research’s launch will be funded through the larger $6 million investment that launched Ascend as a joint venture formed between Dayton Children’s Hospital, Kettering Health Network and Premier Health Partners. The organization will hire staff for jobs like data analytics and principal investigators but employees will be added depending on what projects they are contracting on.

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Mark Wysong, owner of a private consulting firm who is working with Ascend, developed the business plan for the clinical research organization and said in a statement that they are set up to help companies or teams that want to outsource clinical trial and research support services, including assisting with health care analytics and access to patient data.

“We have markets ripe with opportunity and organizations that are in need of solutions to efficiently move their ideas from concept and clinicals to approvals and manufacturing,” he said.

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