Julio G. Martinez-Clark on BioAccess and Accelerating First-in-Human Clinical Trials Globally

On the Underdog Physician Podcast, Anish interviews Julio G. Martinez-Clark, CEO of BioAccess, about his path from electrical engineering in Colombia and an MBA in Boston to building a contract research organization focused on medtech first-in-human and early-phase OUS trials. He explains how his brother Pedro’s work revealed major U.S. barriers—IRB delays, FDA uncertainty, investigator access, patient recruitment, and high costs—driving startups overseas, and how BioAccess professionalized trials in Latin America, growing to ~40 employees and expanding to Australia, Eastern Europe, and biopharma. Julio shares how the pandemic forced remote proctoring with OR cameras and iPads, enabling 33 procedures and Zoom-based consent. He discusses why independent hospitals and patient access dynamics speed trials in Latin America, early regulatory confusion in Colombia that led BioAccess to push legal changes, team-building lessons, bootstrapping vs fundraising, launching and rebranding his podcast to Global Trial Accelerators, and his legacy goal of maximizing human impact, including updating Colombia’s clinical research law.

00:00 Welcome and Guest Intro

00:41 Julio’s Origin Story

02:59 BioAccess Is Born

05:02 Scaling Across Regions

05:43 Pandemic Trial Reinvention

08:42 Why LatAm Moves Faster

12:12 Regulatory Roadblocks

14:26 Building a Winning Team

17:13 Bootstrapping and Funding

19:14 Launching the Podcast

22:37 LinkedIn as Growth Engine

25:17 Life, Travel, Balance

27:29 Legacy and Law Reform

29:53 Closing Thanks