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We are thrilled to announce that life sciences industry veteran Holly Leslie has joined Auxilius as Vice President, Investigator Grant Solutions. With over two decades of experience spanning clinical trial operations, investigator site engagement, and data strategy, Holly brings a wealth of hands-on expertise and a passionate commitment to improving the clinical trial ecosystem.
In her new role at Auxilius, Holly will lead strategic initiatives for investigator grant solutions, shaping product roadmaps, guiding go-to-market execution, and working directly with sponsors and sites to build a more connected clinical trial ecosystem.
We sat down with Holly to discuss her personal motivations, her take on clinical trial data, and why she joined Auxilius to help transform the industry.
Auxilius: Holly, to start off, what originally drew you into clinical research and keeps you passionate about it today?
Holly Leslie: My journey started with a personal experience back in 1994 when my mother, Della, was diagnosed with glioblastoma. For those not familiar, glioblastoma is a fast-growing brain cancer that originates in the supportive glial cells of the brain and spinal cord.
My family participated in a clinical trial, and that experience ignited a lifelong desire in me to drive meaningful change in how trials are run. My entire last 20 years has been an evolution of asking: How do I help the other Dellas of the world, as well as help the caretakers? I would like to say that this experience helped to shape my personal mantra, which is to leave it better than you found it, whether that's work, people, or the world at large.
Auxilius: Having worked across sponsors, CROs, and sites, what big operational gaps have you seen that made you decide to join Auxilius?
Holly Leslie: Throughout my career, I’ve seen how deeply siloed and fragmented clinical study management and data systems remain. Sites put up with cumbersome status quos, while sponsors and CROs struggle to connect operational metrics with financial oversight. Joining Auxilius feels like the culmination of 20 years spent challenging that status quo. CROs and sponsors often manage clinical data across disparate tools, but Auxilius offers a unified picture connecting enrollment tracking, financial forecasting, and accounting insights into a single source of truth.
Auxilius: How does having that unified picture change how teams manage trial budgets and sites?
Holly Leslie: Sponsors and CROs treat their enrollment metrics with intense passion, but often struggle to get their hands on financial data in a way that's useful. Auxilius enables teams to get the full picture, looking at how enrollment translates into accounting, identifying sites tracking behind or ahead, and capturing operational facts clinical teams might otherwise miss. It also ensures that trial locations and sites are treated as true partners in the research process rather than isolated vendors.
Auxilius: Beyond financial unification, what big data trends are you watching in the clinical space right now?
Holly Leslie: The biggest trend right now is around data analytics. For example, people trying to get to the real source of truth and figuring out the true value of the data they're sitting on. One of the reasons that I’m joining Auxilius is because I feel that we are uniquely positioned because the product was built specifically to solve those core operational and financial visibility problems.
Auxilius: Everyone is talking about AI and automation lately. What’s your practical take on applying these new tools to clinical operations?
Holly Leslie: Applying automation to an efficient process magnifies efficiency but applying it to an inefficient process just magnifies the inefficiency. AI shouldn't be treated as a blanket solution for everything. I think that the real sweet spot is using technology to take routine, time-consuming administrative tasks off people's desks so they can focus on higher-value decision-making. It always comes back to balancing people, process, and technology.
Looking Ahead
"I can’t wait to get to work, as I feel like joining Auxilius is the natural next step in everything I’ve been building toward over the past 20 years," Holly shared.
Stay tuned to the blog to learn more about Holly’s impact at Auxilius and her take on the evolving life sciences landscape. Please join us in giving Holly a warm welcome to the team!
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