Central Kentucky Research Associates, an AMR Company

Founded in 1991 by Deborah Dyer, RN, BSN and the late Jacqueline Smith, RN, BSN, CKRA was Kentucky’s first independent clinical drug research facility. Located in Lexington, Kentucky, CKRA-AMR has conducted more than 600 Phase I –IV trials. The center has 20 beds which allows for the conduct of overnight studies. Staff includes five full-time clinical research coordinators with 2 coordinator assistants. The center also employs has 3 recruitment specialists. These staff members have over 75 years of combined clinical research experience. The Alliance for Multispecialty Research, LLC (“AMR”) is a fully integrated network of clinical research sites that performs clinical research trials to support pharmaceutical companies in developing new drugs. Founded in 1994, the Alliance for Multispecialty Research served as the hub for an alliance of high-quality research sites that wished to share marketing, business development and best practices for clinical research. AMR staff provided business development and marketing for the alliance members, and in certain cases provided central budgeting and contracting for studies that used the majority of the AMR sites. Most of the sites adopted the same or complimentary Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs), trial management software, and best practices for research, and collaborated on multi-site projects. In 2016, 11 of the members, representing 19 locations, agreed to merge their businesses into a single limited-liability company.