Rich Muser
Enterprise Architect – Digital
Acorda Therapeutics
The Digital Swiss Army Knife
Rich Muser is a multi-faceted digital architect who came to pharma after spending 15 years in tech consulting where he developed a deep understanding of programming, app development, server engineering, and enterprise scalability—all while working with and leading diverse teams. Now at Acorda, he is essentially a go-to special ops guy ready for any technical challenge. From integrating digital strategies into the clinical trial recruitment process to ameliorating a brand’s digital execution, Rich can do it all.
When it comes to clinical trials, companies can take a set it and forget it approach. Clinical trial sites raise awareness of the study and rely on TV or radio ads to support the programs on a one-off basis. But Rich saw an opportunity for something better. Collaborating with the medical and clinical operations team, the team created an end-to-end program that could be scaled across all clinical trials, allowing Acorda to find the right patients and support them throughout the process using an effective media tactical mix. Acorda’s new overarching digital clinical trial programs now include a website for each trial, a call center to support patients, and a variety of awareness and outreach tactics to attract potentially eligible patients.
But that’s just one example of how Rich can use his expertise to solve problems as every department at Acorda is quick to call on him for insights. Collaborating with Ampyra’s consumer team, he led efforts on the back-end of an Assessment Survey tool to help patients with adherence, while laying out the survey’s data flows in a way that would support analytics insights while also ensuring regulatory compliance. He also worked with human resources to revamp the company’s internal performance review tool. And he streamlined the process to make it easier for Acorda’s employees to register to participate in walks in support of MS patients (which Rich regularly attends). The company went from using spreadsheets to track participation to an automated and integrated system.
Currently, Rich is excited by the notion of connected health as he continues to work on projects that will be ready for the world of tomorrow.
