Turning Pain Into Progress: How Sonia Prashar Built a Mission Around Mental Health

In this episode of Power to the Patients, Brandon Li and Sonia Prashar, Founder and CEO of AIM Trials, sit down to discuss how hybrid and decentralized clinical trial models are reshaping mental health research. Sonia shares how her personal experience with postpartum depression inspired a mission to reduce patient burden, expand access, and improve data quality, while challenging stigma and outdated research assumptions along the way.

In this episode of Power to the Patients, host Brandon Li speaks with Sonia Prashar, Founder and CEO of AIM Trials, about the future of psychiatry research and why patient-centric innovation is no longer optional. Drawing on more than 18 years of clinical research experience across multiple therapeutic areas, Sonia explains how hybrid and decentralized trial designs are expanding access to underserved communities, improving retention, and generating cleaner, more representative data.

Sonia also opens up about her own journey through postpartum depression and cultural stigma, revealing how her lived experience pushed her to build research models that treat patients as people first, not data points.

What You'll Learn:

- How hybrid and decentralized trial designs reduce patient burden while improving retention and data quality

- Why patient experience and psychological safety are essential to accurate psychiatry data collection

- How lived experience - including postpartum depression and stigma can fuel meaningful research innovation

- Why rural and underserved populations are critical to building diverse and representative study cohorts

- The operational challenges sponsors often overlook when designing protocols

- How AI tools and telehealth can enhance research without replacing human connection

- The role of informed consent conversations in managing placebo response and encouraging honest reporting

- Why failures and setbacks often teach site leaders more than their biggest wins

About the Guest:

Sonia Prashar is the Founder and CEO of AIM Trials, a leading clinical research site specializing in mental health studies across pediatric, adult, and geriatric populations. With more than 18 years of experience spanning drug and medical device research, Sonia has built a reputation for advancing patient-centered, hybrid, and decentralized trial models that expand access, improve retention, and generate more representative data. Her work integrates clinical research, regulatory excellence, and innovative technologies to modernize psychiatry research while reducing patient burden and stigma.