The Satellite Trials Group of Emory (STaGE)

Satellite Trials Group of Emory (STaGE) 

Bringing clinical research to patients where they receive care. 

The Satellite Trials Group of Emory (STaGE) is a distributed clinical research network built to expand access to cutting-edge trials across Emory Healthcare’s community hospitals. Rather than asking patients to travel to a single academic campus to take part in research, STaGE brings the research to the patient — deploying coordinators, investigators, and study activities to the hospitals where care is actually delivered. 

The access gap we are working to close 

Clinical research in the United States has historically been concentrated at main academic medical centers. At Emory, that has meant Emory University Hospital, which holds roughly 25% of Emory Healthcare’s nearly 3,000 beds. The other 75% — the community hospitals where most patients with sepsis, pneumonia, heart failure, COPD, and other common, time-sensitive illnesses are admitted — have largely sat outside the clinical research enterprise. 

Under the conventional model, participation in a trial depends on a fortunate alignment: the right patient arriving at the right hospital while the right investigator and study team happen to be available. Most patients never see that alignment. They receive their care close to home, never learn about a relevant trial, and miss the chance to be part of the next generation of medicine. STaGE was created to change that. 

Our approach 

STaGE operates as a fluid, distributed team across multiple Emory community hospital sites. Centralized screening and study oversight are paired with on-the-ground teams — clinical research coordinators, nurses, investigators, advanced practice providers, and data scientists — who travel to wherever a candidate patient is located. 

Several elements make this work: 

• A portfolio of complementary trials runs at the same time, so coordinator effort stays steady and patients can be matched to the study that best fits their clinical picture. 

• Every coordinator and investigator is cross-trained on every active study, so any team member can support any enrollment at any site. 

• Candidates are identified through centralized screening across all participating sites, with mobile teams mobilized as opportunities are found. 

• Communication and infrastructure are shared across sites rather than duplicated — one network, many points of access. 

What we study 

STaGE’s current work focuses on sepsis and septic shock — conditions overwhelmingly cared for in community hospitals and which, despite decades of progress, still carry mortality rates of 30% or higher. Active and recent studies include novel therapies for sepsis-associated acute kidney injury, an inhaled treatment for viral pneumonia, a wearable technology for tracking sepsis recovery at home, and a diagnostic for streptococcal pneumonia. Several of our trials evaluate extracorporeal therapies — a class of treatment typically available only at large academic centers, and now, through STaGE, offered to patients in Emory’s community hospitals. 

Who participates 

STaGE includes seven clinical research coordinators, nine faculty investigators (seven of them early-career), and a broader supporting team. By creating a structure that crosses sites, STaGE also opens a meaningful path into clinical research for clinician-scientists who practice at community hospitals — physicians who joined an academic institution to do science but who, under the traditional model, would have had no realistic way to lead or contribute to trials at the point of care. 

Impact 

• Hundreds of patients have enrolled in STaGE studies, with our team frequently among the top-enrolling sites on a given trial. 

• Approximately $10 million in study-related funding has been awarded to STaGE-affiliated work. 

• STaGE members have been listed as authors on more than 100 peer-reviewed manuscripts. 

• Our footprint continues to grow across Emory’s community hospital network. 

Looking ahead 

Our goal is to expand STaGE to additional Emory community hospitals and to demonstrate that distributed, network-based research is a model other health systems can adopt. The majority of care in this country happens in community hospitals. Those patients have the right — and we as clinicians have the responsibility — to ensure they have access to the latest advances in care. 

STaGE runs a coordinated, two-track research program designed to keep a steady pipeline of trials moving across Emory’s community hospitals — so that patients in those hospitals have ongoing, real opportunities to participate in cutting-edge research. 

Trials 

1. Funded (sponsored) studies 

We carefully select sponsored studies based on feasibility, clinical importance, and whether we are in a position of equipoise. Our sponsors include pharmaceutical companies, biotechnology firms, and medical device manufacturers. 

Our portfolio is built to be complementary rather than competing. Studies are chosen so that: 

• Trials do not cannibalize one another. When a patient is eligible for more than one study, our team can match them to the option likely to offer the greatest potential benefit. 

• Screening is simplified and streamlined across the portfolio, so the same patient encounter can surface opportunities across multiple active trials. 

• Study activities are harmonized, so a single, cross-trained team of coordinators and investigators can support every active enrollment at every site. 

This portfolio approach is what makes a distributed, community-hospital-based research operation viable. It keeps coordinator effort steady through the natural ebb and flow of enrollment, lets us deploy a mobile team to wherever a candidate patient is admitted, and ensures that there is almost always a trial available for the patient in front of us. 

2. Investigator-initiated and unfunded studies 

In parallel, STaGE maintains a large portfolio of investigator-initiated and unfunded research, including: 

• Retrospective analyses 

• Biorepository investigations 

• Quality initiatives 

• Prospective observational studies 

We also support federally and non-profit funded investigator awards held by STaGE faculty. 

These projects extend what STaGE can ask and answer beyond any single sponsor’s agenda, and they create meaningful research roles for the early-career clinician-scientists practicing at Emory’s community hospitals — physicians who, under the traditional academic-center model, would have had few realistic paths into clinical research at the point where care actually happens. 

Study Portfolio (download as a PDF)

Critical Care & Sepsis Research

Current Studies

Pipeline Studies

Past Studies

Unfunded / Exploratory Programs

• Division of Pulmonary, Allergy, Critical Care, and Sleep Medicine (PACCSM)

• The Emory Critical Care Center (ECCC) 
  
  
• Emory Critical Illness Research Center (E-CIRC)
  
  
• APP Critical Care Fellowship 
  
  
• Rollins School of Public Health   
  • REAL Student Program  
    
    
• Emory University Rollins School of Public Health Department of Biostatistics
  • Biostatistics, Epidemiology & Research Design (BERD) Center 

Templates 

•  White paper template

Useful Links  

• DOM Research Administration
• OCR - Office of Clinical Research
• OSP -Office of Sponsored Programs
• IRB  -Institutional Review Board
• PubMed