Hazel Tapp and Rowena Dolor sit next to one another with microphones in front of them as they discuss the challenges of integrating research into primary care.

Scroll to the bottom of the page to view a discussion between Rowena Dolor, MD, MHS, from Duke University, and Hazel Tapp, PhD, from Atrium Health, about the challenges of integrating research into primary care.

The First and Last Mile: Primary Care

April 2025 DCRI Think Tank Spotlight

June 3, 2025

Primary care serves as the foundation of healthcare delivery for millions of Americans, yet its potential as a platform for clinical research remains largely untapped. Despite being the entry point for most patients into the healthcare system and the setting where many diagnoses are established, primary care practices face significant barriers to participating in clinical trials. This represents a missed opportunity to generate real-world evidence that could transform how we prevent, diagnose, and treat both common and rare conditions.

The April 2025 DCRI Think Tanks meeting "The First and Last Mile: Primary Care" brought together cross-disciplinary experts from health systems, academia, regulatory agencies, funders, industry, and patient organizations to address this critical gap by exploring:

Leveraging primary care evolution: Capitalizing on recent advances in team-based care, new payment models, and technological innovations like unified medical records, telehealth, and AI to make clinical research more feasible and efficient in primary care settings.
Building sustainable research infrastructure: Strengthening practice-based research networks with centralized support systems that minimize the burden on individual practices while maximizing recruitment potential through trusted patient-provider relationships.
Designing fit-for-purpose trials: Moving beyond traditional post-approval studies to implement pragmatic trial designs that integrate seamlessly into primary care workflows and generate actionable evidence for real-world patient populations.

Meeting attendees underlined that successful integration of clinical research into primary care will require coordinated investment in infrastructure, workforce development, diversified funding strategies, and collaborative research models that deliver value to patients, clinicians, health systems, and industry partners alike.

Read the Meeting Summary

Watch the videos of our strategic collaborators and read the meeting brief to learn more about the landscape, challenges, and next steps discussed by our partners at this meeting.

Meeting co-director Rowena Dolor, MD, MHS, from Duke University, and Hazel Tapp, PhD, from Atrium Health, discuss the challenges of integrating research into primary care settings.

Meeting co-director Russell Rothman, MD, MPP, from Vanderbilt University and Marshall Chin, MD, MPH, from the University of Chicago, discuss strategies to embed clinical research into the primary care setting.