This dynamic session celebrated the power of pragmatic clinical trials embedded in everyday care. The program featured TED-style presentations from three leading scientists whose innovative research has helped transform clinical practice across the health system. 

Through real-world examples, speakers highlighted how pragmatic trials can accelerate evidence generation, improve patient outcomes, and drive meaningful system-wide change. A moderated panel will follow, exploring lessons learned, implementation challenges, and future directions for integrating research into care delivery. Whether you're a clinician, researcher, or health system leader, this event will inspire new ways to bridge science and practice.

A moderated panel discussion followed, exploring lessons learned, implementation challenges, and future opportunities for integrating research into care delivery. The session inspired clinicians, researchers, and health system leaders to explore new ways to bridge scientific discovery and clinical practice. 

Speakers

Clark Files

Clark Files, MD

Professor and Section Chief, Professor, Pulmonary, Critical Care, Allergy and Immunologic Diseases

 D. Clark Files is a Professor of Medicine at Wake Forest University School of Medicine. He is pulmonary and critical care physician-scientist with a focus on severe pneumonia, acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) and sepsis. His interests are in translational research and clinical trials in critically ill patients.   

Kevin Gibbs

Kevin Gibbs, MD

Associate Professor, Director Acute Care Clinical Trials (Section on Pulm CCM)

Dr. Gibbs joined Wake Forest University School of Medicine in 2015.  He practices clinically as a medical intensivist at Atrium Health Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center.  Within, the Department of Internal Medicine/Section on Pulmonary, Critical Care, Allergy and Immunology, he serves as the Director of the Acute Care Clinical Trials Team.

In this role, Dr. Gibbs leads conventional explanatory randomized clinical trials and pragmatic comparative effectiveness trials in hospitalized and critically ill patient.  His research focuses on two forms of respiratory life support: emergency tracheal intubation and mechanical ventilation with the goal of improving outcomes for the sickest patients in the hospital.

Marc Kowalkowski

Marc Kowalkowski, PhD

Associate Professor, Hospital Medicine, Department of Internal Medicine 

Dr. Marc Kowalkowski is Associate Professor in the Section of Hospital Medicine at Wake Forest University School of Medicine. He serves as a leader for Research in Hospital Medicine and is Associate Director of the Center for Health System Sciences (CHASSIS) and Co-Director of Wake Forest CTSA Pragmatic Trials Consultancy Service. As a health services researcher and epidemiologist, his work focuses on optimizing acute care delivery, particularly for older adults with complex conditions like sepsis. Dr. Kowalkowski is Principal Investigator and Co-Principal Investigator on multiple NIH, AHRQ, and foundation-funded studies, including pragmatic evaluations of interventions to improve post-sepsis outcomes and the expansion of Hospital at Home programs. 

Nicholas Pajewski,

Nick Pajewski, MD

Dr. Pajewski is a Professor in the Department of Biostatistics and Data Science at Wake Forest University School of Medicine (WFUSM), where he also serves as the Co-Director of the Center for Health System Sciences (CHASSIS) and Co-Director of the Health Informatics Program of the Clinical and Translational Science Award (CTSA).

His experience broadly spans biostatistics, clinical informatics, and the conduct of traditional and pragmatic clinical trials, many of which leverage data and tools from the electronic health record (EHR) and have been embedded in primary care.

He leads informatics and analytic activities for Atrium Health’s participation in the PCORI Health System Implementation Initiative (HSII) and co-directs a pragmatic trials consultancy service as part of the Wake Forest CTSA.

Jessica Ann Palakshappa

Jessica Palakshappa, MD, MS

Associate Professor of Internal Medicine (Secondary Appointment in Epidemiology and Prevention)

Dr. Jessica Palakshappa is an Associate Professor of Internal Medicine and critical care physician-scientist. Her research focuses on improving outcomes for critically ill adults through implementation science and pragmatic clinical trials. Dr. Palakshappa is the recipient of an NIH Career Development Award (K23) focused on preserving cognition for older adults during and after ICU care and has been awarded additional funding to advance patient-centered interventions that bridge acute care and long-term recovery for patients with respiratory failure and sepsis. She is committed to integrating evidence-based practices into clinical workflows to advance the science and practice of critical care medicine. 

Joseph Rigdon

Joseph Rigdon, PhD, MS

Associate Professor of Biostatistics and Data Science

Joseph Rigdon is an Associate Professor of Biostatistics and Data Science at the Wake Forest University School of Medicine. He holds a PhD and MS in biostatistics from UNC Chapel Hill and spent 5 years as a statistician in the Stanford University School of Medicine prior to Wake Forest. His research focuses on causal inference, treatment effect heterogeneity, preventive medicine, and collaborative biostatistics. A unifying theme is making statistical methods and results more accessible and actionable to broad audiences. He leads the Biostatistics, Epidemiology, and Research Design (BERD) group in the Wake Forest Clinical and Translational Science Institute. He is the current recipient of a PCORI methods award to study a new approach for patients, researchers, and doctors alike to understand and discuss treatment effect heterogeneity.