Clerkenwell Health founders: Dr Henry Fisher (CSO), Tom McDonald (CEO), Sam Lewis (CFO) and George McBride (CCO)
Our Story
Clerkenwell Health was founded to ignite a movement that transforms brain and mental health research. We saw a third way with the insight that caring, supportive trial experiences are also the best way to scientifically test breakthrough CNS treatments.
Mental illness doesn’t fit neatly into boxes — it’s messy, complex, and deeply human. Yet too often, clinical trials for Central Nervous System (CNS) and psychiatric conditions have ignored this fundamental truth. They fail more than other types of trials because their designers fail to treat the 'subject' as a complex human being.
We created Clerkenwell Health because the profound lack of humanity in trials was hurting scientific progress, and ignoring the 1 in 4 people who will suffer from a mental illness in their lifetime. We reject the industry's one-size-fits-all approach, building The Clerkenwell Health Way specifically engineered for the unique demands of CNS and psychedelic research.
We're not building another research company. We're leading a movement that helps people get life-changing, progressive new treatments. Millions suffer without effective treatments, while life-changing clinical trials struggle to find participants. People need solutions. Research needs people. We wanted to bring them together — because no one should feel invisible when seeking help. And no research should fail because no one showed up.
A meeting of minds
Our story began long before our official launch in 2021. While completing his PhD in chemistry at Oxford, Henry began working with the UK's leading psychedelic research NGO, The Beckley Foundation. He later joined Volteface, the UK's first drug policy think tank, before founding a regulatory strategy consultancy.
It was here that Henry met Tom who had spent a decade in pharma and medtech at Accenture and IQVIA, working with some of the world's largest life sciences companies to improve patient care and harness clinical data. Both shared the same vision: a mental health research company that sees people, not participants, and proves that compassionate care delivers superior science.
Alongside CFO Sam Lewis and CCO George McBride, they launched Clerkenwell Health in early 2021 with a mission to bridge the gap between breakthrough treatments and the people who desperately need them.
From psychedelics to the full CNS spectrum
Our first projects broke ground in the emerging field of psychedelic-assisted therapy. We opened Europe's first commercial research site dedicated to psychedelic trials, designed specifically to support patients under the effects of psychedelics with dignity and care, earning coverage in The Guardian, The Times, Evening Standard, Sifted, Forbes and more.
While psychedelics remain an important focus, our methodology – The Clerkenwell Health Way – is now transforming trials across the full spectrum of CNS and psychiatric conditions, from depression and anxiety to dementia and other neurodegenerative disorders.
Because when you design trials around human dignity, breakthrough science follows.
The Clerkenwell Way
Our approach is built around four connected pillars that create a virtuous circle system:
Purpose-built site network – custom-designed facilities for psychiatry and psychedelic-assisted therapies, ensuring operational consistency and faster timelines.
Caring patient experience – every touchpoint designed to treat vulnerability with dignity, creating environments where people feel supported and valued.
Specialist trial design – specifically engineered for the unique scientific and therapeutic demands of CNS and psychedelic research.
Widespread trial promotion – bridging the gap between people seeking breakthrough treatments and the trials that can provide them.
This integrated system delivers quality data regulators will approve, in timelines that save sponsors up to 18 months and >30% in costs.
Why the UK?
The UK has become one of the world's most supportive environments for innovative drug developers. Progressive government policies – from the Innovative Licensing and Access Pathway to streamlined regulatory submissions – make it a globally competitive location for clinical trials. With world-leading academic institutions, one of the richest healthcare datasets globally, and a growing ecosystem of pioneering drug developers, the UK is uniquely positioned for breakthroughs in CNS and mental health research.
Looking Ahead
The next stage of our journey is bold: building a 5-site national clinical trial network across the UK.
Some of these sites will be integrated directly into NHS infrastructure – a first-of-its-kind model designed to overcome systemic challenges in patient recruitment, site performance, and trial delivery. By creating this network, we aim to make the UK the most attractive location in the world for CNS and psychiatric clinical research, where science and compassion work in harmony to create groundbreaking outcomes. It’s what we call ‘Science with Soul’.