Designing a Multi-Stage Research Program to Enable Proactive Prevention Conversations

Our Challenge: A global pharmaceutical company sought to understand disease prevention discussions between healthcare providers and patients but lacked a clear understanding of how providers perceive risk, prioritize prevention, and navigate barriers in real-world practice. Existing knowledge was fragmented, making it difficult to identify where to intervene, which hypotheses to test, and how to translate insight into practical support over time. 

Our Unique Approach: We designed a staged, mixed-methods research program grounded in behavioral science to systematically build insight and reduce uncertainty. The approach combined literature review, pilot qualitative and quantitative research, and iterative hypothesis refinement, followed by larger-scale surveys and follow-up interviews with PCPs and pharmacists to deepen understanding and validate findings. 

Successful Outcomes: The client gained a clear, multi-year research roadmap linking early hypothesis generation to large-scale validation and actionable recommendations. The program established a durable evidence base to inform future educational resources, scientific messaging, and prevention strategies, culminating in peer-reviewed manuscripts and a symposium to share findings.