Binaytara Launches SCD TrialOps Simulation Lab to Close the Sickle Cell Disease Trial Readiness Gap

Binaytara is joining forces with oncologists from Augusta University, University of Tennessee and Methodist Comprehensive Sickle Cell Center to develop a gamified simulation training program that prepares care teams to run Sickle Cell Disease (SCD) trials that enroll patients who have historically been left out of research.

Binaytara has been awarded a grant from Pfizer's SCD Capacity Building program to develop the SCD TrialOps Simulation Lab, a gamified training initiative designed to strengthen clinical trial execution in SCD across the United States.

Sickle cell disease affects an estimated 100,000 Americans, yet up to 57% of U.S.-based SCD trials close before reaching full enrollment. Much of that shortfall traces back not to a lack of willing patients, but to fragmented trial workflows, an underprepared workforce, and care teams that have not had the chance to practice coordinating across disciplines before a trial goes live.

"Trial participation is of utmost importance to improve the trajectory of sickle cell disease,” said Dr. Girindra Raval, Associate Professor of Hematology and Oncology for the Medical College of Georgia at Augusta University, and one of the clinicians leading the development of this project.

Traditional continuing education (CE) has focused on disease knowledge. Yet CE has rarely addressed the operational skills, such as managing eligibility during a vaso-occlusive crisis or coordinating a rapid interprofessional response for a gene therapy protocol, that determine whether a trial site succeeds.

SCD TrialOps is built to close that gap. Rather than delivering lectures, the program places multidisciplinary teams (MDT) inside branching and scenario-based simulations that mirror the pressure and pace of real trial execution. Participants will move through five sequential modules covering eligibility assessment, trial startup, MDT coordination, decentralized trial execution, and protocol deviation prevention, followed by a capstone simulation that scores performance in real time.

Why this matters for people living with sickle cell disease

Sickle cell disease shortens life expectancy by more than 20 years on average in the United States, and people living with it often face barriers to consistent, specialized care between crises. Every trial that closes early because a site could not enroll enough participants is a missed chance to move new treatments closer to patients who need them, and the burden of those missed chances has fallen hardest on communities that already face the steepest barriers to care. Preparing care teams before a trial opens, rather than troubleshooting after enrollment stalls, is one concrete way to change that pattern.

What SCD TrialOps means in practice

• Care teams practice trial scenarios before real patients are involved, so avoidable errors surface in training, not at the bedside.

• Training covers decentralized trial models, including remote enrollment and community lab integration, so patients do not need to live near a major academic center to take part in research.

• Every participating team's performance is measured against the same objective standard, creating a shared benchmark for trial readiness across institutions.

• Findings will be published and presented publicly, so the sickle cell community and a broader research audience can see what worked.

Leveraging innovative AI and mobile technology

The program runs on Binaytara's proprietary OncoBlast platform, which is expanding beyond its original scope to support randomized controlled trial enrollment and management using AI-driven simulation. That expansion includes training for decentralized clinical trial workflows: remote enrollment, electronic consent, and integration with community labs. These are the tools that allow patients outside major academic centers, including many from historically marginalized communities, to take part in cutting-edge trials that have too often required travel and logistics only a fraction of patients can manage.

By running realistic simulations instead of standard lectures, the AI-driven training on OncoBlast lets care teams surface and correct costly errors, such as mishandling eligibility during a crisis, before those mistakes ever reach a real trial or patient. This technology-first approach also expands who can participate in cutting-edge research, since decentralized trial tools like remote enrollment and community lab integration let patients outside major academic centers, particularly in historically underserved communities, take part in trials that historically required travel few could manage.

Every decision a participant makes inside the simulation feeds a composite Trial Readiness Score, built around decision accuracy, protocol deviation risk, and workflow efficiency. The goal is measurable: a 25% improvement in trial workflow decision accuracy, a 30% reduction in simulated protocol deviations, and demonstrated gains in multidisciplinary coordination, tracked across baseline, midpoint, and post-program assessments.

"Every missed enrollment opportunity delays progress for patients waiting for new therapies”, said Dr. Binay Shah, president and co-founder of Binaytara. “This technology will enable us to prepare research teams through realistic simulation, making high-quality clinical trials more accessible, efficient, and equitable."

A collaboration grounded in clinical practice

An invitation to sickle cell foundations and advocacy partners

Binaytara built SCD TrialOps because trial access is a health equity issue as much as it is an operations problem. We know sickle cell foundations, community health workers, and patient advocacy organizations are often the first to hear when a family cannot reach a trial site, and the first to hear when a promising treatment never made it to their community at all. We would welcome the chance to hear from organizations working directly with sickle cell disease patients and families, whether that means sharing this program with your network, connecting us with care teams who should be part of the pilot, or simply comparing notes on where enrollment breaks down in practice.

Organizations interested in following the program's progress, sharing it with their networks, or exploring a collaboration can reach Binaytara using the contact information below.

What happens next

SCD TrialOps was awarded under Pfizer's educational grant program, but Binaytara designed it with an eye toward a larger purpose in the near future: a feasibility pilot that could inform larger-scale trial readiness initiatives across other disease states. Results will be shared through peer-reviewed publication and presented at the American Society of Hematology annual meeting, extending the program's reach beyond the initial cohort of 100 to 140 participating clinicians.

Binaytara will share additional details on the project's implementation timeline, site activation process, and evaluation milestones as they are finalized in the coming months.

Connect with the SCD TrialOps Team

Whether you're a clinician interested in participating, or a sickle cell foundation or advocacy organization interested in partnering or sharing this work with your community, we'd like to hear from you. Contact us: [email protected]

About Binaytara

Binaytara is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit with 19 years of experience advocating, educating, and innovating to improve cancer care. The organization runs more than 60 in-person accredited oncology and hematology conferences across the United States annually, operates an implementation science research institute, leads cancer healthcare policy advocacy, and coordinates global oncology programs in Nepal, Nigeria, and the United States. Binaytara is dedicated to improving access to cancer care and reducing the burden of cancer on patients and communities worldwide.