Spotlight on Nicole Cureton: Championing Quality, Compassion, and Clinical Excellence

For Nicole Cureton, clinical research wasn’t something she pursued, it found her. In 2012, after several years in family/internal medicine and women’s healthcare, she stepped into a Clinical Research Coordinator role at a dedicated site in Omaha, Nebraska. What began as a leap into the unknown quickly evolved into a career rooted in purpose.

“I was completely naive to the processes and regulations,” Nicole shares, “but with healthcare experience and eye-opening GCP training, I quickly acclimated.” Over the next seven years, she wore many hats, leading participant visits, onboarding staff, managing delegation logs, and supporting site audits. Her work was hands-on, operational, and deeply connected to both data integrity and patient experience.

When COVID-19 disrupted her role in 2020, Nicole took time off with her children before joining a larger research organization. There, she helped build out a sub-department focused on source documentation within the QA team. As her role grew into management, so did her understanding of how quality oversight directly impacts patient safety and the credibility of trial data.

That insight led her to Profound Research, where she now serves as Quality Management Coordinator. “I leaped at the opportunity to focus 100% on quality,” Nicole says. “It’s a chance to shape the patient experience, even indirectly, in a powerful way.”

Nicole’s impact is felt far beyond processes and documentation. As Sara Schmidt, Head of Quality at Profound, puts it, “Some people bring positive energy into every room, they lift others up, ask thoughtful questions, and genuinely listen to understand. Nicole is one of those people. Her consistent optimism, empathy, and commitment to support site personnel are inspiring. We’re grateful to have Nicole’s talents and heart on our team.”

At Profound, quality is more than a compliance checkbox, it’s essential to fulfilling the mission of improving lives through advanced therapeutic options. Nicole plays a key role in monitoring compliance across research activities and documentation, helping ensure that issues are identified early and corrected swiftly. This not only supports audit-readiness but also strengthens data integrity, patient safety, and ultimately, access to groundbreaking treatments.

In a field where things rarely go according to plan, Nicole approaches her work with flexibility and focus. “If clinical research has taught me anything, it’s that if something can happen, it will, usually at the most inconvenient time,” she laughs. “That’s where prioritization and time management come in. I make myself available to respond quickly and help teammates solve problems fast.”

She also helps uphold one of Profound’s most meaningful commitments, preserving the patient-physician relationship. Through standardized training and clear SOPs, Nicole ensures that investigators understand their responsibilities and feel confident discussing clinical trials with their patients, building trust instead of risking it.

Looking ahead, Nicole is excited by the direction Profound is heading. “As the industry leans into a critical-to-quality mindset, our team is evolving with it,” she says. “We’re working to redefine quality management with a risk-based approach, scaling our impact on data integrity and patient care.”

When she’s off the clock, Nicole recharges at home with her husband, four kids (ages 14 to 23), and her five-year-old granddaughter. A self-described introvert, she enjoys cross-stitching, crime documentaries, and cuddles from her cats, with even more baby snuggles on the way when her second granddaughter arrives this fall.

In every thread of her story, Nicole embodies what quality really means at Profound Research: caring deeply, thinking critically, and acting with urgency to make a difference, one process, one patient, and one trial at a time.