In this episode of The Clinical Research Coach, host Leanne Woehlke sits down with Alen Hadzic, Founder and CEO of CT Scan, to explore how data, digital advertising, and AI are reshaping the way patients are enrolled into clinical trials.

Coming from a background in consulting, marketing strategy, and lead generation, Alen brings a fresh lens to one of the industry’s most persistent challenges—patient recruitment and enrollment. Rather than relying on traditional recruitment models, his company has developed a methodology called Predictive Enrollment Engineering, designed to calculate and optimize cost-per-enrollment using real-world advertising data.

Alen shares how CT Scan’s patent-pending AI platform, Dyno AI, analyzes millions of dollars in digital advertising performance across dozens of clinical research projects to model enrollment funnels—from ad engagement and qualification to phone contact, eligibility, and final enrollment.

During the conversation, Leanne and Alen discuss:

• Why traditional patient recruitment models often fail to deliver results

• The hidden friction points that cause patients to drop out of the enrollment funnel

• How digital advertising can be used to measure and optimize patient interest

• The importance of rapid follow-up and human engagement in improving response rates

• How CT Scan achieves a 65% phone answer rate through immediate outreach and optimized workflows

• Why focusing on cost per enrollment—not cost per lead—changes the entire recruitment strategy

Alen also shares his unconventional journey into the clinical trials industry—from early exposure to research through his physician father to a career in consulting and entrepreneurship that ultimately led him to rethink how clinical trials approach patient enrollment.

If clinical trial recruitment has ever felt unpredictable, inefficient, or frustrating, this episode offers a data-driven perspective on how AI, marketing science, and operational discipline could transform enrollment into a measurable and predictable process.

Tune in to learn how predictive modeling and digital marketing principles may help bring new optimism to clinical trial enrollment.

Alen Hadzic is a healthcare technology entrepreneur focused on bringing predictability and operational rigor to clinical trial enrollment. He is the Founder and CEO of CT SCAN™, a company developing systems to remove uncertainty from patient recruitment by engineering enrollment as a measurable process rather than a marketing outcome. His work centers on Predictive Enrollment Engineering™, a methodology that models each stage of the patient journey, from initial awareness through screening and enrollment, using probability-based performance metrics. The company’s patent-pending enrollment technology, DYNO Ai™, analyzes operational and advertising data to forecast cost-per-enrollment and reduce study timelines.

Hadzic holds a graduate degree from Columbia University and completed a Master’s in Innovation and Entrepreneurship at Vlerick Business School, a top-ranked European program in the field. His background combines business strategy, systems thinking, and applied analytics in clinical research operations.

Outside of his professional work, he is an active musician who records and performs his own material, playing guitar, drums, and vocals. He approaches both technology and music with a similar philosophy: structured systems can create reliable outcomes, but creativity determines how far those outcomes can be pushed.