Built around what patients deserve.
Pioneer Research started with a question: what would clinical research look like if it were genuinely built around the patient experience — not just the protocol?
Five years later, we're answering that question every day. Through our research facility, our network of community physicians, and a team that treats every patient with the care and respect they deserve, we're showing that clinical research doesn't have to feel cold, transactional, or impersonal. It can feel like care.
How Pioneer Research started.
Pioneer Research was founded in 2021 with a simple belief: clinical research is one of the most powerful ways to bring healthcare to the communities that need it most.
For patients without insurance, without consistent access to specialists, or without the resources to try advanced treatments, clinical trials can be the difference between waiting and getting answers. Between hoping and being seen. Between being told there's nothing more to do and being given a real shot at something better.
But that promise only works if the research itself is done right — and if the patients participating actually reflect the communities the medicine is meant to help.
Today, too many clinical trials are run with patient populations that don't look like the people who'll eventually take the medication. When trial populations don't include the diverse communities that will use the drug, no one — not the FDA, not the doctors prescribing it, not the patients taking it — can be fully confident the treatment will work the same way for them. That gap matters. And it's one of the things Pioneer Research was built to close.
So Jeff Somerstein started Pioneer Research with a few clear commitments:
Build a team that reflects the community we serve
— bilingual, culturally fluent, and made up of some of the most experienced clinical practitioners in Miami.
Hold the highest standards of quality
— because patients are trusting us with their health, and sponsors are trusting us with their most important work.
— they're not numbers, not "subjects," and not enrollment statistics. They're people giving their time, their bodies, and their trust to advance medicine, and that deserves our absolute respect.
Treat every patient with dignity
— through our research facility in South Miami and our network of partner physician practices, we bring trials directly to the communities that need them.
Make access real, not theoretical
Five years later, that's still the work. We've grown — more studies, more partner practices, more patients who've come back to participate in second and third trials because the experience was so different from what they expected. But the founding mission hasn't changed: research that includes everyone, done with the rigor and respect everyone deserves.
Research for Everyone. That's the tagline. But more than that — it's the reason Pioneer Research exists.
What guides our work.
Five years in, the principles that started Pioneer Research are the same ones we live by today.
Quality is non-negotiable.
Every protocol, every patient visit, every data point. We hold ourselves to the highest standards in clinical research because that's what sponsors expect, what regulators require, and — most importantly — what patients deserve. Quality isn't something we add. It's how we operate from the start.
Patients are people.
Every person who walks through our doors is treated with the dignity, attention, and respect they'd want for their own family. They're known by name, not by participant ID. They're heard. They're understood. They're never just a number in a study.
Patients are people.
When clinical trials don't include the diverse communities that will eventually use the medication, we can't be confident the treatment works equally well for everyone. That's why we build our team to reflect our community, why we partner with physicians embedded in real neighborhoods, and why we work in two languages — because the people who deserve access to advanced treatments include everyone.
Diversity matters.
Our team includes some of the most experienced clinical practitioners in Miami — board-certified physicians, seasoned coordinators, and operational staff who care deeply about getting the work right. We hire for skill and character, and we hold ourselves to standards that go beyond what's required.
The team behind Pioneer Research.
The people who lead our work — clinically, operationally, and culturally.
Jeff Somerstein
Founder & Site Director
Jeff founded Pioneer Research in 2021 with a mission to make clinical research accessible to the diverse communities of South Florida. He leads the firm's operations, business development, and patient recruitment strategy — drawing on more than 15 years of experience operating businesses in growth-stage industries before turning his focus to clinical research. At Pioneer Research, he works closely with the firm's principal investigators and clinical team to ensure operational excellence in every study — and serves as the primary point of contact for sponsors and CROs evaluating the firm.
Ana Elosegui, MD
Medical Director & Principal Investigator
Dr. Elosegui leads clinical operations at Pioneer Research, with a current focus on vaccine research where she has successfully enrolled hundreds of patients across multiple studies. Board-certified in Family Medicine and trained in both ophthalmology and family practice, she brings more than a decade of principal investigator experience across Phase I–IV trials — spanning vaccines, infectious disease, diabetes, respiratory conditions, autoimmune disease, women's health, cardiovascular disease, and more. Bilingual in English and Spanish, Dr. Elosegui ensures that every patient at Pioneer Research is seen, heard, and cared for with the rigor and respect they deserve.
Vinod Chainani, MD
Principal Investigator, Cardiology
Dr. Chainani is a board-certified interventional cardiologist with subspecialty training from the University of Miami / Jackson Health System and Ochsner Clinic Foundation. As Principal Investigator at Pioneer Research, he leads cardiovascular studies including trials in heart failure, acute myocardial infarction, atrial fibrillation, and atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease. A Fellow of the American College of Cardiology (FACC) and the Society for Cardiovascular Angiography and Interventions (SCAI), he has published in peer-reviewed cardiology journals and maintains an active interventional cardiology practice in South Florida.
Joseph J. LaConti, MD
Principal Investigator, Rheumatology
Jeffrey founded Pioneer Research in 2021 with a mission to make clinical research accessible to the diverse communities of South Florida. He leads the firm's operations, business development, and patient recruitment strategy — drawing on more than 15 years of experience operating businesses in growth-stage industries before turning his focus to clinical research. At Pioneer Research, he works closely with the firm's principal investigators and clinical team to ensure operational excellence in every study — and serves as the primary point of contact for sponsors and CROs evaluating the firm.
A facility built for clinical research.
Pioneer Research operates a 3,000 square foot clinical research facility in South Miami — purpose-built for the work, not retrofitted from another use. Every space, every workflow, and every piece of equipment was designed with one goal: to run clinical trials with the rigor sponsors require and the comfort patients deserve.
Dedicated patient exam rooms
— private, comfortable, and equipped for full study visits
Dedicated consenting area
— quiet, private space where patients can take their time to discuss participation
On-site clinical laboratory
— for sample processing, centrifugation, and lab work
Cold IP storage with battery backup
— continuous temperature monitoring and backup power to protect investigational product integrity
On-site clinical laboratory
— for sample processing, centrifugation, and lab work
Dedicated monitor workspace
— sized for co-monitors and multiple sponsor representatives during simultaneous monitoring visits
Our location at 9159 SW 87th Avenue places us directly across from major South Florida hospital systems and at the center of the communities we serve — accessible by car, public transit, and within reach of the partner physician practices in our network.
Where we're headed.
Five years in, Pioneer Research is just getting started.
We're growing — expanding our partner physician network into more South Florida communities, deepening our therapeutic capabilities in vaccines, cardiology, rheumatology, and beyond, and continuing to invest in the people, infrastructure, and operational discipline that make our work possible.
The mission hasn't changed: research that includes everyone, done with the rigor and respect everyone deserves. What's changing is the scale — more patients reached, more sponsors served, more communities included in the work that matters.
Let's start a conversation.
Whether you're scoping a study, exploring a partnership, or considering participation in research — we'd love to talk.
Reach us directly: bd@pioneerresearch.com · (305) 420-5541