Research-grade thinking for companies that need to get it right.
Episteme is a research and strategy firm working at the intersection of science and business. We specialize in life science and wellness, and we serve two kinds of clients.
Clinical trials
Operations, platforms, and assessment expertise for sponsors, CROs, and sites that want their studies to hold up: scientifically, operationally, and in front of regulators.
See clinical servicesBusiness strategy
Brand, research, evidence, go-to-market, and funding for wellness companies, from first-round startups to established brands, in a category where unsupported claims get punished.
See business servicesWhy one firm does both
Most companies in health and wellness are strong on one side and weak on the other. Scientific teams struggle to tell a business story. Business teams make claims their science can't support. Episteme sits in the middle: clinical research rigor applied to commercial decisions, and commercial clarity applied to research programs.
Our background is in neuropsychology, clinical trial operations, and automation. We bring that same standard of evidence to brand strategy, market research, and fundraising.
Trials that produce clean data.
Poorly designed or inconsistently run trials waste time, money, and patient goodwill. Episteme brings hands-on clinical research experience, and purpose-built platforms, to teams that want their studies to hold up.
Trial operations
Consulting and automation that removes administrative drag without compromising compliance.
Operations consulting
Workflow review, site and vendor coordination, and process design for studies that are behind, over budget, or about to start and want to avoid both.
Trial automation
Automating the repetitive parts of trial management, from data reconciliation to document handling, so coordinators spend their time on patients and quality rather than logins and spreadsheets.
Trial platforms
Three systems we deploy and tailor to each study.
Unified source tracking
Most trials run on multiple platforms: EDC, eSource, imaging, central labs, wearables. Our AI-based system tracks source documents across all of them and consolidates everything in one place, so your team stops logging into six systems to find one file.
- Connects to the platforms your study already uses
- Flags missing or inconsistent source before monitoring visits
- One view for coordinators, monitors, and sponsors
At-home lab service
Pre-screening labs collected in the participant's home, so sponsors can qualify candidates before they ever travel to a site. Samples are collected either with the Tasso self-collection device or by a visiting nurse, depending on the panel and the population.
- Covers a wide range of pre-screening labs
- Device-based or nurse-based collection, matched to the protocol
- Cuts screen-failure visits and participant burden
Remote patient monitoring
Continuous data between visits: connected devices, symptom reporting, medication adherence, and ePRO, all flowing to the study team in one dashboard. The system also tracks participants' psychological state, giving sites an early read on motivation so they can intervene before someone drops out.
- Devices, symptoms, adherence, and ePRO in one place
- Psychological-state tracking to protect retention
- Configurable alerts for the study team
Assessment and endpoints
Our core specialty: making sure the measurements at the heart of your trial are accurate, consistent, and defensible.
Neuropsychological assessment review
Independent review of cognitive and neuropsychological assessments for scoring accuracy, rater consistency, and data integrity across sites. We catch the errors that quietly erode an endpoint.
Rater training and standardization
Training and certification programs that reduce variability between raters and sites before it shows up in your data, with ongoing calibration through the life of the study.
Protocol and endpoint consultation
Selection and design of outcome measures that are sensitive to the effect you're trying to detect and defensible to reviewers. Particular depth in complex disorders where biological, psychological, and social factors interact and measurement is hardest.
Wellness is crowded. Evidence is the differentiator.
The market is full of products that sound the same and claims that don't survive scrutiny. Investors, retailers, and regulators are all asking the same question: can you prove it? Episteme helps startups and established brands build strategy that is compelling and defensible. We specialize in life science and wellness, and the approach works for any company that wants decisions made on evidence.
Brand and positioning
Clear narratives that say what you do, who it's for, and why it works, written to hold up with consumers, partners, and investors alike.
- Brand development and messaging frameworks
- Competitive and landscape analysis
- Stakeholder engagement across patients, providers, and partners
Research and insights
Qualitative and quantitative research on your category, competitors, and customers. We find out what people actually believe and want, not what a survey template assumes.
- Market and consumer research
- Behavioral insights for product and engagement
- Organizational insights and internal assessment
Evidence and validation
An honest assessment of what your data supports, what it doesn't, and what it would take to close the gap. Where useful, we design and run the study. This is the work most brand consultancies can't do.
- Claims and evidence strategy
- Product and scientific validation
- Study design and execution
Go-to-market
Launch and growth planning grounded in the research above: channel, audience, and messaging decisions made with data rather than instinct.
- Launch strategy
- Channel and audience planning
- Measurement and iteration
Funding and advisory
Investors in health and wellness want to see that the science is real, the market is understood, and the team knows what it doesn't know yet. We prepare companies to answer those questions before they're asked.
- Data and evidence packages
- Pitch narrative and deck development
- Diligence preparation
- Fractional strategy and science advisory on retainer
Where a company is ready to raise, we work alongside our capital partners to support the round itself, from identifying the right investors to managing the conversations through to close.
Where science meets business.
Episteme was founded on a simple observation: most companies in health and wellness are strong on one side and weak on the other. We sit in the middle.
How we work
Evidence first
Every recommendation traces back to data: yours, ours, or the literature. If we can't support a claim, we say so, and we tell you what it would take.
Plain language
Rigor doesn't require jargon. Our deliverables are readable by scientists, founders, and investors alike.
Small by design
You work directly with the people doing the analysis. No account layer, no hand-offs to a junior team.
Two audiences, one standard
Whether we're reviewing a cognitive assessment or building a brand narrative, the question is the same: does this hold up?
Team
Clinical research, neuroscience, finance, and software engineering, in one small group. You work directly with the people below.
Abraham Goldring
Abraham leads Episteme's clinical and strategy work. He has spent his career on both sides of the line the firm sits on: as a clinical researcher for the U.S. government, designing and running studies in complex neuropsychiatric conditions, and as a consultant to pharmaceutical and wellness companies, from established pharma to technology-driven wellness brands, on evidence, positioning, and growth.
That combination is the point. He brings research-grade standards to commercial decisions and commercial clarity to research programs. His work has been published in leading journals and has informed emerging standards of care.
Brian Silston, PhD
Brian leads funding strategy and behavioral research. Before academia, he spent nearly two decades in investment banking, most recently as a principal at a merchant bank, advising on and investing in dozens of transactions across industries and stages. He has since co-founded several technology companies.
He holds a PhD in Psychology from Columbia University, where his lab focuses on cognitive decision-making, along with an MS in Neuroscience and Education from Teachers College, Columbia, and a BA in Business Economics from Brown. His research has been published in top-tier journals including Nature.
Minor Gordon, PhD
Minor leads the engineering behind Episteme's trial platforms: unified source tracking, remote patient monitoring, and trial automation. He has co-founded three companies, including a software-as-a-service platform for email marketers that was acquired in 2022, and has advised numerous early-stage startups on product and data.
He is a data and software architect with over 15 years in industrial research, product development, and professional services, with recent focus on data governance and integration in life sciences and marketing. He holds a PhD in Computer Science from the University of Cambridge.
Jaclyn Bendt
Jaclyn leads brand, creative, and audience work: how a company sounds, how it looks, and how it reaches the people it's for. Her recommendations are built on analysis of patient populations, therapeutic landscapes, and competitive positioning, so creative decisions are grounded in evidence rather than instinct.
She is a Registered Dietitian with a background in clinical research and healthcare settings, which gives her a working fluency in health and wellness claims that most creative leads lack. She holds a BS in Health and Rehabilitation Sciences from The Ohio State University, specializing in Medical Dietetics.
Let's talk.
Whether you're designing a trial, building a brand, or preparing to raise, the first conversation is free. Tell us what you're working on.
- Emailabraham@epistemeincorporated.com
- LocationNew York, NY