Name: Sean Stanton

Position: CEO & Co-Founder at K2 Medical Research

Bio: K2 Medical Research co-founder Sean Stanton has dedicated the last 28 years of his career to creating successful, high-performing research sites. In this latest endeavor, Sean leads a dynamic team of dedicated researchers in connecting the innovative solutions of clinical research to the health problems in our country. Sean has led the start-up of 26 clinical trial sites, six inpatient hospitals, and 19 outpatient clinics. More than 5,000 clinical trials have been conducted at these sites, leading to more than 50 drug approvals in therapeutic areas including general medicine, mental health, neurodegenerative disease, oncology, vaccine, women’s health, diabetes, pain, heart disease, and sleep disorders. Sean brings innovative thinking and unique problem-solving skills to clinical research in all aspects of site practices, from purchasing and resourcing, to the use of benchmarking and metrics in business planning to guide strategic clinical trial practice growth. He is frequently sought as an industry expert to speak on topics including building successful clinical research sites, patient recruiting, particularly difficult to recruit populations and decreasing time to complete research studies, protocol design, site selection, patient reported outcomes and other areas. He has advised hospitals and institutions on research site growth strategy and mergers and acquisitions. He is a member of the Board of Trustees at Western University of Health Sciences in Pomona, CA., founding member of the DAVOS Alzheimer’s Collaboration (DAC), a board member of the Alzheimer’s Dementia Resource Center in Central Florida, Strategic Advisor to the Global Alzheimer’s Platform, a member of CEO, and sits on the board of directors for Young Presidents Organization (YPO).

Why I’m passionate about patient engagement: “As the CEO of K2 Medical Research, receiving the Patient Engagement Leaders Award is a deeply meaningful honor, made even more special by the fact that it came through peer nomination. This recognition underscores our unwavering commitment to placing patients at the heart of everything we do—from education and outreach to building trust in clinical research. It affirms the importance of meeting patients where they are, listening to their needs, and empowering them with access to cutting-edge care and innovation. This award reflects the dedication of our entire team and the partnerships that make truly patient-centered research possible.”