In September 2026, the NIH Pragmatic Trials Collaboratory published the first installment of a special 4-part educational podcast series covering facets of pragmatic trial design that are essential to the success of embedded research. Episodes are published monthly and will draw on expertise and experience from the NIH Collaboratory trials:
- Designing Fit-for-Purpose ePCTs (Wendy Weber, ND, PhD, MPH; Adrian Hernandez, MD, MHS)
- Piloting and Assessing Feasibility (Sebastian Tong, MD, MPH; Greg Simon, MD, MPH)
- Defining Hybrid Trials and Their Uses (Brian Mittman, PhD; Devon Check, PhD)
- Selecting Endpoints and Outcomes (Patrick Heagerty, PhD; Emily O’Brien, PhD)
Episode 1, available now on the Living Textbook, sets the stage with a conversation between National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health (NCCIH) Director Wendy Weber and NIH Collaboratory co-PIs Adrian Hernandez and Lesley Curtis. Access resources related to this episode.
Rather than asking how to design a trial for a healthcare setting, Weber recommended that investigators flip the question for themselves: Is there any way I can answer this question outside of a healthcare setting?
“[If the answer is no], those are the trials that need to be done in the super complex, very busy clinical setting… Because these trials are hard and they are challenging, but they answer extremely important questions to patients and providers and policymakers and payers,” said Weber.
The series will provide investigators with the latest knowledge on how to design embedded pragmatic trials that are both feasible and capable of producing actionable evidence. Future episodes will be published on the fourth Tuesday of each month through the end of 2026.
Listen to the podcast. For alerts about new episodes, subscribe for free on Spotify, Amazon Music, Apple Podcasts, or SoundCloud.