The Participant's Story #5 with Ella Balasa

In this episode of The Participant's Story, we meet Ella Balasa and learn about her battle with cystic fibrosis and how she turned her diagnosis into a mission to to advance research and health as a patient advocate.   Ella shares her unique dual-perspective as a scientist and a Cystic Fibrosis patient, detailing a pivotal point in her mid-20s when she was disqualified from a landmark CF trial because her lung function sat just below a rigid 40% threshold—despite being part of the exact demographic that desperately needed the therapeutic.Key Industry Insights Shared:The Shift toward Digital Endpoints: Why the clinical research infrastructure must move beyond static lab measurements and leverage wearables, remote monitoring, and AI to track patient outcomes.Optimizing Decentralized Clinical Trials (DCTs): Reflecting on her experience with an early, fully-remote phase four medical device trial, Ella highlights why decentralized trials need innovative trial designs to maintain high compliance and reduce patient burden.Co-Designing with Communities: The strategic business and ethical advantages of bringing patient populations to the table before protocol design begins.👉 Listen to the full episode on your favorite podcast platform to hear how patient centricity and digital evolution are transforming drug development.The Participant's Story is sponsored by Curavit www.curavit.io