Ep 2.22: Jill Fikowski on Designing Trials That Communities Actually Want to Join (2/3)

In Part 2 of our conversation with Jill Fikowski, founder and CEO of Changemark Research + Evaluation, we get into what good community engagement actually looks like in practice not as a checkbox, but as a core design principle.

Jill opens with a clear answer to what good looks like: involve community from the very beginning and not just at the consent stage, not just in an advisory board email, but in protocol design, recruitment strategy, and how findings are shared.

Jill walks us through a Quebec youth cannabis and psychosis study that surpassed both its enrollment and retention targets simply by asking participants what they needed before the protocol was finalised. 

We also get into the tension between industry-sponsored research and genuine community care.  

Part 2 or 3