Over the past thirty years, Jitske Beukema has built a remarkable career in clinical research, driven by one constant ambition: to help deliver better treatments to patients with serious medical needs. She started her career in 1988 as a nurse and trainee psychologist, step by step, moved into early-phase clinical research, international clinical trial management and ultimately entrepreneurship. Today, she is the founder and CEO of two clinical research companies; Research Drive, a late-stage clinical research company and Delphinium, a phase I clinic, based in the Netherlands.
Beyond the Bedside
Jitske Beukema began her career in 1988 as a nurse, working in hospital wards where she cared for patients who were often seriously ill. Early on, she was confronted with the reality that, despite the best care, there was not always enough that could be done.
What stayed with her were the patients for whom treatment options were limited — and the feeling that she wanted to be able to do more. Not only to care for people in that moment, but to contribute to better treatments for the future.
Working at the bedside gave her a deep understanding of illness, vulnerability, and the impact that the right treatment, at the right time, can make. It was this experience that led her to clinical research, where she saw an opportunity to be part of developing new therapies and improving outcomes for patients.
Her curiosity about people also led her to study psychology alongside her work as a nurse. She wanted to understand not just the disease, but the person behind it. That combination — practical clinical experience and genuine interest in people — became the foundation for everything she built later in her career.
Stepping Into Clinical Research
In 1992, Jitske Beukema took the step of moving from a hospital setting into clinical research. She joined a Phase I clinical research clinic, where new medicines are tested on humans for the first time. She learned everything about drug development, from clinical trial design to regulatory guidelines and monitoring patient safety. From the start, this environment suited her perfectly. Early-phase research combined what had always driven her: finding better treatments for patients that need better treatment.
Jitske Beukema brought the same thoroughness to research that she had brought to nursing. She never lost sight of the people behind the data. She believed that every participant or patient taking part in a clinical trial deserved the best possible care, clarity and respect at every visit. This combination of precision and humanity has characterised her career.
As Jitske’s career moved on, her work soon extended far beyond the Netherlands. She monitored malaria and HIV trials in African countries and in Bangkok, where research teams worked with limited resources and high patient pressure. These experiences reinforced her conviction that solid, carefully conducted research is essential if new treatments are to reach the patients who need them most.
Building Research Drive: Where Purpose Meets Practice
Research Drive BV: expert support for high-quality studies
With years of experience in Phase I and multinational studies,Jitske Beukema founded Research Drive BV to help pharmaceutical companies and sites design and execute clinical trials with innovative therapies. As CEO, she leads a team of highly experienced (bio)medical professionals who support clinical trials at hospitals across Europe to ensure these studies meet regulatory requirements and adhere to the highest quality standards, while safeguarding patient safety.
Research Drive works across indications and phases, but the common thread is the same.
Research Drive BV is that promise made real. As its Chief Executive Officer, Jitske Beukema leads her team built on three values: respect, integrity, and responsibility. The company works at the intersection of regulation and clinical practice, helping sponsors and study sites navigate complex trials while maintaining a standard of quality that holds up under any scrutiny.
Delphinium: Back Where It Began
In 2024, together with two female co-founders, both seasoned professionals in clinical research, Jitske Beukema started Delphinium, a phase I clinic on the campus of the University Medical Center Groningen. For her, it felt like returning to the part of research where she belongs. Early-phase trials sit at the sharpest edge of drug development, where new medicines are given to people for the very first time. It is a critical step that demands meticulous care and safety monitoring, while at the same time looking after the healthy volunteers who make this work possible.
At Delphinium, Jitske Beukema has shaped an environment where every aspect of science- safety monitoring, pharmacokinetics, and documentation meets the highest standards. Participants are treated not as research subjects, but as people who have chosen to make a difference for medicine and for others. She reminds her team of this often: behind every data point is a patient in medical need. That matters more than anything else.
Training the Next Generation
Through the Clinical Research Academy at Research Drive, Jitske Beukema is investing in something she believes matters as much as the work itself: the people who will carry it forward. Young scientists, many arriving straight from university, enter the academy and leave with a thorough understanding of every aspect of clinical research.
They leave understanding what good monitoring actually looks like when it is done well. They understand that a Clinical Research Associate helps physicians and research nurses think through a difficult protocol. A good CRA supports the site team with the organisation of the study and to comply to protocol and monitors the data to ensure the clinical data meets highest standards of quality. They ensure that all patients are well informed and sign informed consent, medication is supplied under the right conditions, all data is captured, and so on.
The Thread That Runs Through Everything
When asked what connects 1988 to the present, Jitske Beukema does not start with strategy, growth, or market position. Instead, she points to something more fundamental: trust — the constant that underpins every decision, every partnership, and every result.
She speaks about the trust of patients who rely on their doctor to provide the best possible care when treating their illness. She highlights the trust of volunteers who are receiving a drug tested in human for the first time. She reflects on the trust of colleagues who bring their best work every day because they believe in the standards and integrity of the organisation.
She also emphasizes the trust of clients who return year after year because of the consistent experience of working with a team that goes for the extra mile.
The legacy she is building is clear. Through Research Drive, through Delphinium, and through every CRA she trains, she demonstrates that rigorous research and a workplace where people feel respected and valued are not competing priorities, but mutually reinforcing ones. When those two come together, the quality of the work speaks for itself — every time.
Leadership, in Jitske’s view, is not about having all the answers. It is about creating an environment where the right questions are asked, where challenges surface early, and where people feel that their work truly matters. She has built this at Research Drive. She is building it at Delphinium. And through the Clinical Research Academy, she is embedding it in the next generation of professionals who will carry it forward.
