Del Smith Shares How Acclinate Aims to Improve Representation in Clinical Trials
President Jeff Stone and Rotarian Craft O’Neal with Tom Shufflebarger
This week, the Rotary Club of Birmingham (RCB) welcomed Rotarian Dr. Del Smith, Co-Founder and CEO of Acclinate, a company dedicated to improving representation in clinical trials. A U.S. Army veteran and former Dean of the College of Business and Public Affairs at Alabama A&M University, Smith shared his journey from Atlanta and Houston to Alabama, where his passion for solving big problems led him to launch Acclinate alongside co-founder Tiffany Whitlow.
Smith described how personal experiences with healthcare disparities and the science of pharmacogenomics sparked the idea for Acclinate. He recounted the company’s early days, winning Alabama Launchpad in 2020, weathering the pandemic, and choosing to headquarter the company in Birmingham after experiencing the city’s unique spirit of collaboration and support.
Smith shared that Acclinate now partners with seven of the world’s top ten pharmaceutical companies, using its patented platform to engage over 160,000 people from diverse communities and increase representation in clinical research. The company recently closed $7 million in Series A funding, led by Fortune 500 company Cencora and joined by Labcorp.
Smith emphasized that Birmingham’s ecosystem—anchored by supportive investors, early commercial clients, and a welcoming community—has been critical to Acclinate’s rapid growth. He underscored the importance of Rotary’s Four-Way Test, noting that its values align with how he leads his company and life.
Bio for Del Smith
Dr. Del Smith has an extensive background spanning healthcare, IT, higher education, and business, which he harnesses to champion health equity. He is the Co-Founder and CEO of Acclinate, a company integrating community-building and applied AI to enable historically marginalized communities to make informed health decisions about clinical trial participation. Before Acclinate's inception, Dr. Smith dedicated 14 years to higher education, primarily as a business professor, culminating as an HBCU business school dean. He also brings experience from notable healthcare companies such as McKesson and Memorial Hermann Health System. His research on the success factors of minority-owned businesses has been recognized and featured in esteemed journals like the Journal of Business Research and the Journal of Developmental Entrepreneurship. A U.S. Army veteran, Dr. Smith holds a Ph.D. in Business from the University of Alabama.