Revolutionizing Clinical Trials: How TrialClinIQ Is Building a More Equitable, Efficient Future for Drug Development

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Jul 24

Written By Nicole Kinsey

Neurologist Dr. Jontel Pierce – a new member of the StartUp Health community – is building TrialClinIQ to fix clinical trial recruitment through AI, equity-driven design, and firsthand insight. Starting with neurological diseases, the company aims to transform the entire drug development pipeline.

By Nicole Kinsey

The Challenge: A Broken Clinical Trial System

For Jontel Pierce, MD, a practicing neurologist and adjunct professor at the University of Houston College of Medicine, the challenges of clinical trial recruitment are deeply personal. As the owner of Mind Neurology Clinic and principal investigator at NeuroMind Clinical Trials, Dr. Pierce experienced these hurdles firsthand. In 2021, during her first role as a principal investigator, the trial site she worked with faced significant difficulties identifying qualified participants – highlighting systemic barriers she’s now committed to solving.

This isn’t just an operational issue – it’s a crisis that slows drug development and leads to therapies that don’t reflect or serve diverse populations. For example, recent Alzheimer’s drug trials included just 2–3% Black participants, despite the fact that Black Americans are at higher risk for the disease.

TrialClinIQ was born out of a need to fix this from the inside out.

Origin Story: From Neurology to Innovation

Dr. Jontel Pierce has always known she wanted to be a doctor. After completing medical school at Howard University and a neurology residency, she established a private practice in Houston and began mentoring students at the University of Houston. But as a physician working at the intersection of research and care, she saw firsthand how clinical trials – one of medicine’s most critical engines for innovation – were missing the mark.

The “aha moment” came during her experience as a PI, when she was shocked by how inefficient and inequitable the trial recruitment process was. Promising studies stalled not due to science, but because the right participants never made it through the door. That frustration, paired with a deep commitment to health equity, led to the founding of TrialClinIQ in 2024. The company’s mission is clear: increase access and representation in clinical trials while streamlining the recruitment process through modern technology.

Backed by deep domain expertise and a lived understanding of the problem, Dr. Pierce is building more than a company – she’s building a movement.

Under the Hood: Matching Patients to Trials with AI

At the heart of TrialClinIQ is an AI-powered platform that reimagines the clinical trial recruitment process from the ground up. Designed with both patients and researchers in mind, the product puts power into the hands of participants while solving major bottlenecks for clinical sites, sponsors, and providers.

Patients can sign up through a user-friendly application, where they give consent to securely share their health information. By connecting to electronic health records (EHRs) and leveraging data from sources like ClinicalTrials.gov, the platform uses artificial intelligence to match individuals with trials for which they are eligible. Instead of relying on inefficient methods like paper referrals, phone calls, or scattered social media ads, TrialClinIQ streamlines the process – making matching nearly instantaneous and significantly more accurate.

On the back end, academic research institutions, contract research organizations (CROs), and pharmaceutical companies have access to a centralized dashboard that simplifies outreach and participant engagement. Clinical trial sites can manage recruitment from one place, while physicians who aren’t directly involved in research can still refer interested patients to the platform, helping extend the reach of clinical studies into traditionally underserved communities.

Unlike existing recruitment models, TrialClinIQ is built with health equity as a foundational feature, not an afterthought. The platform is intentionally designed to reach diverse populations, including those historically left out of research, ensuring broader representation and more inclusive drug development. The initial focus is on neurological conditions such as Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, and epilepsy – areas where recruitment has long been a challenge – but the roadmap includes expansion across therapeutic areas and, eventually, international markets.

With TrialClinIQ, Dr. Pierce is creating more than a tech solution; she’s setting a new standard for how patients are recruited, matched, and included in clinical trials.

What’s Next: Building the Future of Inclusive Research

TrialClinIQ is currently building its MVP and preparing to onboard early customers in the coming year. The goal: to work with at least three research institutions or CROs within the first 12 months. By year three, Dr. Pierce envisions TrialClinIQ dominating the trial recruitment landscape, setting a new standard for how studies are staffed and executed.

Success won’t come without challenges; finding aligned investors and passionate team members are top priorities. But Dr. Pierce remains committed to staying at the helm as CEO, guiding the company with the insight only a clinician can bring.

TrialClinIQ’s vision has a far-reaching impact: faster drug development, more representative trial populations, and broader access to cutting-edge treatments. It’s a future where every patient, regardless of background or zip code, has a fair shot at participating in – and benefiting from – medical innovation.

Dr. Pierce and TrialClinIQ are proud members of the StartUp Health community, where they are advancing the health moonshot mission to democratize access to care and build a more inclusive future for health innovation.

Connect with TrialClinIQ via email

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