Tesheia Harris is the founder, a Board of Directors member and the Chief Executive Officer for the Clinical Trials Access Collaborative. Ms. Harris has more than two decades of visionary leadership, including developing, leading, and building successful programs at three separate Universities. Most recently she served as the Director of Clinical Research at the Yale School of Medicine, where she was instrumental in the development of the Yale Center for Clinical Investigation (YCCI), a center specifically formed to catalyze and grow clinical research at Yale. After leaving Yale, Ms. Harris launched the Harris and Howard Consulting Group, a specialty practice focused on clinical research across multiple sectors, including academic medicine, large clinical practices, community hospitals, and private equity. Ms. Harris began her research career in the biotech industry before moving to academia. After leading clinical trials programs at two other institutions, she rejoined Yale in 2005 where she has been the driving force behind the launch, development, and success of YCCI since its inception, holding the roles of Deputy Director, Chief Operating Officer, and Chief Strategy Officer, prior to launching her own consulting practice.
Ms. Harris’s career has focused on the development of clinical research programs and support infrastructure. Partnered with the late, Dr. Robert Sherwin, she helped to lead Yale to become one of the original 12, Clinical and Translational Science Awards (CTSA) to be funded by NIH in 2006, along with successfully leading Yale through three subsequent renewals and continuous funding of ~$230 million total funding including the infrastructure award; faculty, pre/post-doctoral, and student training awards; and various linked awards. Over this same period, she aided in and oversaw the critical infrastructure, growing industry sponsored trials revenue. In this role she was responsible for overseeing the clinical research for thousands of single and multisite trials, including hundreds of national and international trials where Yale was the sponsor of the trial and / or as the lead site.
Ms. Harris also has a remarkable series of accomplishments as a national leader in clinical research administration and program development, including the co-founding of the Cultural Ambassadors program, helping to shepherd many innovations in the use of technology including the EHR and research management systems, mentoring and coaching staff, along with leading many national efforts. She served as the Yale Leader for the School of Medicine’s MOU and partnership with the FDA Office of Minority Health and Health Equity and, along with the other Network Partners, developed and led the Equitable Breakthroughs in Medicine Development (EQBMED). Ms. Harris is a member of The National Academy of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine’s Forum on Drug Discovery, Development, and Translation and serves as a member of the external scientific advisory board for multiple CTSA institutions and the University College of London’s Biomedical Research Center’s Advisory Board. She was one of the team leaders for the Clinical Trials Transformation Initiative (CTTI) on clinical trials diversity and a former member of the National CTSA Consortium Steering Committee. Ms. Harris has served as a consultant for several academic centers and clinical practices interested in establishing clinical research programs and is nationally recognized for her expertise in the design and setup of clinical research programs. Most recently, she has co-authored the EQBMED Site Maturity Assessment Model, which is a holistic, collaborative, site-driven, and formative assessment carried out with potential sites to catalogue their current capabilities and identify opportunities for growth in conducting industry-sponsored clinical trials and enriching diversity of those trials.
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The Learning Phase includes:
Connecting Clinical Trial Sponsors: Bringing sponsors and local EQBMED-selected sites together to work as partners.
Sharing Key Learnings: Sharing important lessons learned from these partnerships.
Building Robust Infrastructure: Creating a strong support system that continues to support the growth and aspirations of local sites.
