Nicole Villemarette-Pittman, PhD
System-level research strategy that grows clinical research portfolios and connects emerging therapies to patients.
Clinical research executive and applied biopsychologist. Twenty years building research programs in academic medicine and a multi-state health system with expertise in trial operations and infrastructure, workforce development, strategic partnerships, and innovation.
- 20+
- years building research programs
- 175
- research staff supported
- 550
- active clinical trials annually
- 10,000+
- study participants served annually
01 About
For 18 years I supported clinical research in an academic environment, growing clinical trial operations, developing faculty research portfolios and driving GME scholarly activity requirements. A research program I built in epilepsy grew into a neurology-wide role, supporting physician investigators and integrating new treatments into teaching clinics and inpatient units.
In 2022 I joined Ochsner Health, a large multi-state health system, to lead research operations in the Neurosciences and Cardiology Research Centers of Excellence. Within months, an innovation team focused on 3-D modeling and mixed-reality application development joined my portfolio.
When research turnover was climbing system-wide and positions were going unfilled, I started an ACRP competency-based clinical research internship: a full-time, paid workforce development program that trains people for research roles in a healthcare setting.
In my third year I served as System Director during an executive leadership transition, supporting 175 staff across 550 trials. As the organization set out to expand its clinical trials network, I restructured and expanded the regional multispecialty research teams in Baton Rouge, Lafayette, and Shreveport.
Revenue and profit grew under my leadership. Turnover decreased. Investigator engagement and satisfaction increased. Neurosciences achieved a 4-fold jump in early phase trials.
02 Leadership, partnership, innovation
| Role | What I did |
|---|---|
| Recent key leadership roles | |
| Director, Clinical Research | Strategic planning, administration, infrastructure development, and operation of all clinical research activities across 7 teams and 6 cost centers, each generating up to $2.5 million in annual revenue. |
| Director, Clinical Research Internship | Developed, launched, and ran an ACRP competency-based research internship program, establishing a system-wide talent pipeline. |
| Leadership + internal partnerships | |
| Lead, Multidisciplinary Cellular Therapies Research Team | Built and ran a team of research nurses and coordinators from 4 subspecialties to support cellular therapies research, working with more than a dozen clinical teams to bring new treatments to patients. |
| External partnerships | |
| Vendor relationships | Co-developed research protocols with dozens of industry and commercial partners — answering clinical research questions, measuring healthcare economic outcomes, and improving AI-assisted technology built for use in a healthcare environment. |
| Strategic relationships | Worked with clinical operations leaders to attract and secure strategic partners who integrated research and new technology into clinical care, widened patient access to emerging therapies, and left behind sustainable, scalable infrastructure with a return well beyond any single project. |
| Partnerships that support innovation | |
| Healthcare partner to start-ups | With an internal ventures team, local start-up organizations, and individual companies, evaluated new healthcare products for feasibility, adoptability, utility, clinical efficacy, and economics. |
| Supporting clinical innovators | Served on an internal team that registers, evaluates, formalizes, and supports tools, products, and concepts created by faculty and staff. |
03 What sets me apart
I understand the natural tension between clinical operations and investment in research, and I know how to navigate it.
I have spent more than two decades facilitating applied research with physician investigators, building the infrastructure that supports them, and creating strategic plans for growth at the individual, department, and system level.
I value partnerships with clinical operations leaders and understand the synergy needed to distinguish centers of excellence in specialty care.
Research is a differentiator for destination care centers. I will work to integrate research into clinical strategies to set your institution apart from the rest.
04 The role
The role I’m looking for
An executive role responsible for building, scaling, or transforming a research, neuroscience, or clinical innovation enterprise — one that brings clinical research, technology, data and informatics, partnerships, academic programs, workforce development, and innovation together into a nationally visible platform.
Working with your organization’s leaders, I will:
-
Diversify research revenue
Grow industry, commercial, philanthropic, and strategic partnerships so the portfolio is flexible, sustainable, and resistant to market fluctuations.
-
Build a talent pipeline
Train the research workforce you need rather than just compete for it. Improve competence and confidence while reducing turnover.
-
Integrate research into clinical care
Make clinical trials part of patient care, so access to emerging therapies becomes a reason patients choose you.
-
Foster employee innovation
Give physicians and staff a real path from an idea to an evaluated, formalized, supported product.
-
Build engaged teams
Teams empowered to keep improving the research and healthcare ecosystem after the launch is over.
Partner with me to use research to become a regional or national leader in emerging therapies.
05 Contact
Nicole Villemarette-Pittman, PhD
Clinical Research Executive
Applied Biopsychologist
Greater New Orleans
Hiring leaders, boards, and search partners: tell me about the role and the organization. A full CV is available on request, and I answer my own mail.