By Robert Stephens
Jessica Branning ’14
CEO and Founder, ClinCloud Pre-pandemic focus ClinCloud trials for memory loss Mid-pandemic pivot COVID tests and trials Jessica Branning ’14’s company, ClinCloud, was only 15 months old when COVID-19 crashed upon us. It was not, however, a fragile toddler in the clinical research industry. “We’ve been overcoming obstacles every day from the time we launched in October 2018,” says Branning, who majored in biology. She credits her ability to move quickly in the complex field of clinical testing to her liberal arts experience at Rollins. Her business sense? “It came from my psychology classes. The instructors showed me how to merge analytical and logical thinking.” Her health-care expertise? “I was on track for medical school but took a class in clinical trials my last semester and realized ‘this is how I can make a positive mark in the world.’” Branning differentiated her company with a techforward mindset. When COVID hit, ClinCloud didn’t need Zoom or Microsoft Teams. “We’d developed our own app,” she says. “We’d already been doing virtual screenings with trial patients.” Her team, which started with three people in 2018 and this year has grown to 28, was so far ahead that they helped clinics around the country transition to virtual models. “If our competitors find cures, everyone wins,” she says. ClinCloud also started trials for the novel coronavirus after Branning negotiated with pharmaceutical companies and secured a second office. The company was then chosen to run trials on Regeneron, whose antibody cocktail has drawn global attention. “I’ve seen medications that help Alzheimer’s patients, but they get stuck in the approval process. The response to COVID has proven that clinical trials don’t have to take years and years. This isn’t scary. This is about improving the quality of lives.”
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t Rollins I learned how to merge analytical and logical thinking. — Jessica Branning ’14
