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 brings more than a decade of experience in clinical research, trial optimization, and strategic development across the healthcare and wellness landscape. He specializes in complex disorders that require integration of biological, psychological, and social approaches, helping organizations translate cutting-edge science into real-world solutions.
At Episteme, he leads clinical trial optimization, assessment review, and trial automation, and advises wellness startups and established brands on positioning, market research, and investor readiness, bringing the same scientific standards to commercial strategy that he applies to trial design.
Abraham serves on the Board of Directors of the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) New York State, where he chairs the Wellness and Research Committees. His research has been published in leading journals and has influenced emerging standards of care.
Brian Silston, PhD
Brian holds a PhD in Psychology from Columbia University, an MS in Neuroscience and Education from Teachers College, Columbia, and a BA in Business Economics from Brown. His research spans the effects of anxiety, stress, and fear on learning, memory, and behavior, and motivational influences on cognition, with work published in top-tier journals including Nature.
Before his academic career, Brian spent nearly two decades in investment banking, most recently as a principal at a merchant bank, advising and investing in dozens of transactions across industries and stages. He has co-founded several technology companies and served as chief data scientist. He is also co-director of the Center for Brain, Mind and Society at Columbia, which develops programs to improve emotion regulation in youth.
At Episteme, Brian brings that combination of psychological science, capital markets, and data to funding strategy, behavioral research, and the design of the firm's trial platforms.
Minor Gordon, PhD
Minor is a data and software architect with over 15 years of experience in industrial research, product development, and professional services. He holds a PhD in computer science from the University of Cambridge, where his research focused on concurrency strategies for high-performance servers.
He has contributed to numerous early-stage startups and co-founded three, including a software-as-a-service platform for email marketers that was acquired in 2022. His work spans cultural heritage, finance, life sciences, manufacturing, marketing, media, and social impact, with recent focus on data governance, integration, and reuse.
At Episteme, Minor leads the engineering behind unified source tracking, remote patient monitoring, and trial automation.
Jaclyn Bendt
Jaclyn is a Registered Dietitian with experience across clinical research and healthcare settings. She earned her BS in Health and Rehabilitation Sciences from The Ohio State University, specializing in Medical Dietetics.
At Episteme, Jaclyn leads brand and creative work and analyzes patient populations, therapeutic landscapes, and competitive insights to guide evidence-based recruitment and marketing strategies. Her expertise spans both physical and psychological health conditions, allowing her to identify trends and opportunities across diverse populations.
She also hosts a healthcare podcast where she interviews leading practitioners and researchers on emerging trends in the field.
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