CHARLOTTE, N.C., Nov. 18, 2025 — Advocate Health announced the formation of Advocate Health National Center for Clinical Trials, a first-of-its-kind, fully integrated solution designed to accelerate discovery by making participation in health care research part of the standard-of-care for its patients across the United States. With its 69 hospitals, over 1,000 care locations and nearly 6 million patients, this will be the nation’s largest and most inclusive clinical trial network.
Clinical trials have the power to change lives, but most eligible patients never get the chance to participate. Researchers also face challenges navigating an increasingly complex and time-consuming nationwide clinical trial system, but the corresponding structures that support that system haven’t evolved to reflect the increasing complexity. As a result, clinical trials are taking longer and costing more, reducing potential speed to market and decreasing the industry’s overall ability to deliver breakthrough treatments.
Advocate Health National Center for Clinical Trials is designed to change that paradigm by connecting people to trials in their own communities and by modernizing the clinical trial process through AI-powered tools, centralized data tracking and more.
“Only 5% of eligible patients across the nation participate in clinical trials. That needs to change. Today we are launching a new era for clinical trials by democratizing access to the latest treatments for patients everywhere, regardless of their zip code or the size of their town,” said Eugene A. Woods, CEO of Advocate Health. “The Advocate Health National Center for Clinical Trials is a cornerstone of our commitment to turn innovation into impact, making it easier for patients to find and enroll in life-changing trials, and enabling innovators to deliver new treatments more efficiently through what is now the nation's largest clinical trial network.”
Driven by the expertise of Advocate Health’s academic core at Wake Forest University School of Medicine, the Advocate Health National Center for Clinical Trials already offers a single institutional review board and is developing AI-powered matching to connect patients with the right trials as well as systems that centralize real-time data tracking and predictive analytics, all in the name of making trials more accessible, integrated and actionable.
Advocate Health National Center for Clinical Trials will operate across a full range of care settings, from academic centers to rural community clinics. With enrollment in clinical trials built directly into the workflows of health care providers, patients who are eligible for clinical trials will be easily identified and enrolled, reducing administrative burden, while care teams will be supported by centralized infrastructure and designated trial sites that can handle logistics, compliance and coordination.
“Advocate Health National Center for Clinical Trials will reshape clinical trials to meet the current moment and deliver for the future,” said Dr. Ebony Boulware, Advocate Health’s chief science officer and dean of the Wake Forest University School of Medicine.
By connecting researchers with relevant patients across demographics and geographies, the center aims to generate more robust data and accelerate the speed and accuracy of clinical trials. This effort will be especially critical in oncology, cardiology, neurology and rare diseases. More than 10,000 patients are already participating in trials for these diseases across Advocate Health.
“Research has shown patients who participate in clinical trials often have better outcomes and improved care experiences. And, when more people participate in trials we can drive more breakthroughs that benefit everyone,” said Dr. Jamy Ard, vice dean for clinical research at Wake Forest University School of Medicine. “With Advocate Health National Center for Clinical Trials, we will put in place the systems and means to make it easier for patients to access trials and more efficient for researchers working on important new treatments to get the robust, accurate data they need to be successful.”
Advocate Health National Center for Clinical Trials is working with pharmaceutical and biotechnology leaders to engage its patient population in relevant clinical trials. To learn more about working with Advocate Health National Center for Clinical Trials, please visit AdvocateHealth.org/clinical-trials.
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